September 1st

Gathered in the room were Los Angeles Assistant District Atttorney Lauren Weiss, Court Secretary Patty Watson, and Detective Rosibel Ferrufino. They listened to Jordan Chandler, accompanied now by notoriously aggressive lawyer Gloria Allred. On this Wednesday, September 1, 1993, Jordan repeated his testimony. Two weeks earlier, Jordan had told Detective Ferrufino more than he had anyone. He said Michael used his hands and his mouth. Jordan described Michael's penis, "not circumcised" with "blotchy-pink" patches like a cow. Journalist Victor Gutierrez relates what Jordan told a close friend three years later: "I tried to tell the therapist and the authorities that Michael never made me do anything I didn't want to but the authorities had told me that Michael had seduced me by buying toys and expensive presents. ... I am 16 years old and I know what has happened. I think people are bothered by homosexual relationships but I'm not a homosexual. I just feel an attraction toward Michael and I had sex with him."

By the time Michael's 16, he's had his sixth and last Number One R&B single with The Jackson 5. When they peform that song "Dancing Machine" on Soul Train, Michael debuts his robot dance. He assumes the "space age design" the lyrics admire in an anonymous "sexy lady." The second verse sets up Michael's TV moves, but also serve as his own manifesto: "Rythmatic, acrobatic, she's a dynamite attraction / At the drop of a coin she comes alive, yeah / She knows what she's doing, she's super bad, now / She's here to really blow your mind." Michael delivers the lines, throws his head back to the beat, then spins twice. His arms wobble like there's a short-circuit somewhere. His feet twitch right to left, but Michael glides around. His brothers stop their routine to point as if it's a surprise. Michael's shoulders and pelvis sway in time as he returns to the mic. His blank pose gives way to a broad smile.

When Michael left Singapore's National Stadium on September 1, 1993, the dawn spread across Los Angeles. Jordan was not yet apprehensive while waiting to speak with Assistant District Atttorney Weiss. According to Victor Gutierrez, Jordan was often unsettled these days. There were journalists camped outside his house, and the mandatory tests for gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, and HIV. Jordan felt prodded, much like he did on the morning of July 16th. That day, with anesthesiologist Mark Torbiner's help, Jordan's father Evan pulled an overturned baby tooth. It was making the permanent one underneath come in crooked. Mark sedated Jordan with sodium Amytal for what uncle Raymond Chandler calls a "thirty-second procedure."

Some question why a barbituate known mistakenly as a "truth serum" was used for routine dentistry. U.S. Psychiatrists started conducting intravenously-effected "Amytal interviews" in the 1930s to examine the unconscious, not retrieve repressed memories. Evan used Amytal to bluff. According to Raymond, Evan told Jordan, "I know about the kissing and the jerking off." Victor says the father insisted, "I know about the kisses, the masturbation and oral sex." When he threatened to destroy Michael if Jordan lied, his son said "yes," almost inaudibly. That answer followed the question, "Did Michael touch your penis?"

September 1st ended with Michael back at the Raffles Hotel. He made it through another sold-out Singapore show, delayed two days by his backstage collapse. His MRI's showed no abnormalities. Elizabeth Taylor may or may not have been comforting him that night. Away from the public's view, it's difficult to know just how Michael passes the time. One Neverland Ranch staffer claims Michael's relationship with the icon "was hyped as a kind of camouflage." On her extended visits there, she'd dine alone. Michael was in his hideaway he could access through the door in his master bedroom closet. Ex-Neverland security chief Robert Wegner said Michael "could just get in and hide."

Whatever Michael was doing in his Raffles suite, Evan Chandler was in L.A., preparing himself. He was meeting with criminal attorney Arthur Baren. To Baren, Evan made his plea: "I want you to understand, I have no fear of an extortion charge. I have no fear of going to jail. I have one fear only, and that is there's going to be a deal made and I'm not willing to cut a deal." His son was across town, meeting more confidently now with the Assistant District Attorney. "I wasn't so nervous this time," he recalled. "Lauren was really nice. I think she knew I was telling the truth." More than a month later, she thanks Jordan for the interview with a letter: "I just wanted to let you know that the investigation of your case is proceeding full speed ahead. I expect that we will make a filing decision some time early next year. Hope all goes well with you at school and in your personal life. You are a great kid!"