Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:14 — 26.8MB)
A picture of Summertime fun on the streets is recounted by Richard, kids playing with a fire hydrant to keep cool. Fun can be carried too far, and cross the lines of being harmful, as we find when a couple juvenile delinquents rough up a shop keeper for their gangster boss. Richard is asked to talk to a condemned man aned Garret. His request is to ask for help in putting his kid brother off the fasttrack of life in a jail cell. It’s just the admirable cause to have Richard Diamond doing the crook, and society a favor.
Eddie Garret is the leader of his gang of boys, the Panthers, and under the influence of a gangster, Mr Parrish, they look at moving from petty crime to bigger rackets. Can Richard offer the guidance that Eddie needs? Will he be able to prove that there’s tough guys on the good side of the law to be role models? Maybe his attempts will only win him a thump on the head? Young Eddie might be facing his big time crime sooner than he thinks if that shop keeper he beat up dies from his injuries.
Taking another track, Richard tries to get to Eddie through his girlfriend. It’s looking like an uphill battle to convince Eddie what kind of help is actually good help for his young life. What’s the tender spot in Eddie’s life that might be his breaking point? Is he too far gone, and too hardened to be swayed to do what’s right?
His gangster bodss, Mr Parrish kidnaps Eddies’ girlfriend in hopes to use her as levrage to bury Edddie deeper into his life of crime. Instead, Richard tries to use the situation as a wake up call to show Eddie how ruthless his mentors really are. Will it work? Will Eddie reform? Bullets fly and more than one person is on the ground with holes in them. Listen for Richard’s voiceover as he presents the outcome of Eddie’s future. He even gets the chance for a little romantic crooning.
