San Ysidro: 90 Minutes at McDonald's
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| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | San Ysidro: 90 Minutes at McDonald's |
| Author(s): | L.A. Carr |
| Date(s): | 1985 |
| Length: | |
| Genre: | gen |
| Fandom: | Simon and Simon |
| External Links: | |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
San Ysidro: 90 Minutes at McDonald's is a 1985 Simon and Simon story by L.A. Carr.
It was published in the print zine Sweet Justice #1
The story's topic is San Ysidro McDonald's massacre, which had just occurred.
It is an early example of Real World Events in Fanworks.
Summary
"All Rick and A.J. wanted to do was to stop for a Big Mac... but the date was July 18, 1984 and James Oliver Huberty had gone hunting for humans."
The Zine Art
art for this story, Mary A. Otten
art for this story, Mary A. Otten
Fan Comments
...the best story in this zine has got to be "San Ysidro: Ninety Minutes at McDonald's." It was compelling. The writing was very detailed and in the back of my mind I could hear a clock ticking away the minutes until help could arrive. It felt so real because it was someone's real story, or a variation on it. And, yes, the epilogue really hit home—it is all too easy to write off a tragedy as someone else's problem, isn't it?[1]
I'm not going to write that mile-long title. You tryin' to give Cannell a run fur his money? I'll just call it "the McDonald's story" and I know everyone will know the one I mean. As I told you in a personal letter, I read this one first. Doesn't everyone start in the middle? Or I should say the end since it's the last story in the zine. You know, the tragedy of this real-life event never hit home to me until someone I "knew" was placed at the scene. You did an excellent job, Lucy, and I felt the horror that the victims that day must have felt. Excellent job! [2]
"San Ysidro: Ninety Minutes at McDonald's": words nearly fail me on this one-- I! was literally glued to the page. I agree with the Postscript completely: a story like this does bring the horror of that terrible event so much closer to us. Gripping, powerful—I don't have enough adjectives. I thought it was very natural that Rick would think all over of Vietnam, during the siege—and that A. J. would think of the racquetball-court disaster. It was also touching how A.J. sort of "reverted," in his delirium—trusting and depending on Rick, as if he (A.J.) was a little boy again —and his ramblings to Rick about "did you ever wish you'd had a little sister?" and Rick's thoughts about all he'd done with A. J. as a kid was a great part of the story for me. Most of all, it was an enlightening experience for Rick—now at least he understands what their mother does go through over them, and even how A.J. had felt helpless and horrified when Rick was in 'Nam. Loved the ending, too. [3]