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The actual hotel where Silvio stayed....
He's alone in a Holiday Inn Express room in Miami. It's late morning, and the calendar reads only one week into the New Year.
A few months ago the man turned forty-five. He's satisfied that he's gotten all his affairs neatly in order, and that he's written thoughtful words to some friends and family members.
His home is just down the street where he lives with his mama and his sister. It seems he probably walked to this hotel, and with him was a concealed gun that he purchased less than a month ago. At some point, he places the gun in his mouth, launches the trigger, and fires – BLAAAAST! BOOOOM!
Reading about this tragedy soon after, my energy immediately drained heavily out of my body, my muscles rapidly went limp, and my thoughts dissipated to black. The word shock calls to mind, but that word seems so trivial here. It was more of a thunderslap, with electric ions piercing throughout my entire being. I. Felt. Dead. How ironic.
The striking impact was a thwack against my tender face, a throat razor nick that slices a nip of blood and skin. The sting was all consuming. I was wounded.
You see, I knew Silvio Horta. Well, kind of. Let me explain. But first, you must know who this gentle soul was.
Silvio created and produced the extremely popular television series, Ugly Betty. He did other things in the entertainment world, before and after this, as in creating his own production company called, Silent H, which was a play on words indicating the often mispronunciation of his last name. In Spanish, the "H" is always silent. He broke into the business by writing the film, Urban Legend, which became a cult hit, and starred a young Jared Leto, Alicia Witt, Loretta Devine, and Robert Englund.
This is where I come in.
After Silvio graduated from the Tisch School of The Arts at New York University, the first generation Cuban-American then moved to Los Angeles. He got a job spritzing perfume at Nordstrom's Westside Pavilion, one of the stores I worked at also, spritzing.
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