SANTA MARIA, Calif. — A light drizzle falls as the faithful press against a chain-link fence, praying for a glimpse of their savior. Inside the nearby courtroom, with a hairdo more frightening than a crown of thorns, Michael Jackson awaits judgment.
"Michael said himself that he'd slit his wrists before he'd harm a child," says a Jackson believer who identifies himself as B.J. Hickman Jackson.
It is not possible to verify names out here, or anything else for that matter. The enlightened and the deranged are indistinguishable, as in all religions.
Hickman Jackson, 18, says he dropped out of high school in Tennessee and made the pilgrimage by bus.
"We've Had Enough!" his sign says.
"Michael Is Innocent!"
Innocent of charges that he molested a young boy just down the road at Neverland ranch.
Innocent of charges; guilty of love.
"Michael loves children all over the world," Hickman Jackson says. "He wants to help children, not hurt them."
Hickman's cellphone rings to the tune of the Jackson hit "Beat It."
"Neverland ranch," he answers.
Some have called the pop icon a has-been, sure. But couldn't you say the same thing about all the saints?
"It's just sad," Dianne Horn says of Hickman Jackson and the pop star's other disciples, who refuse to believe the possibility that a man who likes to share his bed with children might have a problem.
Horn is handing out literature about the abuse of children. Someone has to speak up for Jackson's alleged victim, she says.
"They're lost, with no one and nothing in their lives," Horn says of Jackson's supporters. "They have such low self-esteem, and they look up to him like he's a god."
We're all lost, Dianne, and guess what:
The president can't save us, and neither can the pope. In this culture, we can't believe in the existence of anyone who isn't a regular on "Larry King Live."
Speaking of cable, satellite dishes have washed up in the neighborhood like giant seashells.
Across the street from the courthouse, Santa Maria attorney Joseph Gallas has rented his parking lot to CNN, which has assembled enough equipment to cover a holy war.
TV anchors walk down the street in full makeup.
A sign in a parked Toyota says, "France Supports MJ."
A homeless man air-strums a broken guitar, takes requests, then goes on break.
A phalanx of motorcycle cops stands by, waiting to escort Jackson back to Neverland.
