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Broken Home
by
Darren James Stott
Chapter 1
It was at his
own insistence that in September 1987, Brandon left
756 West Avenue and his father and stepmother's
care. Brandon would spend the next few years
bouncing around the metaphorical wilderness of
Stanton Harbor. Though he'd make two stops that
were a year in length, over the next four years he
would live in ten different houses, with ten
different families. Not one of them would feel like
home.
His first stop was the familiar turf of his
paternal grandparents' trailer outside Oakland.
From there he could take the bus into 'Oakey' each
morning, which allowed him to stay in the same
school and class, but even his classmates knew the
transition was hard. At his grandparents, he had
the sympathetic ear of his beloved grandmother
Gwen, and there were moments where he and
grandfather Arthur shared closeness, but he spent
much of his time by himself. It was yet another
step toward a larger, profound loneliness.
One day he helped his grandfather construct a
dollhouse for Gwen’s birthday. Brandon assisted by
methodically stapling miniature cedar shingles on
the roof of the structure. With wood that was left
over, Brandon built a crude chess set. He began by
drawing the shapes of the pieces on the wood, and
then laboriously whittling them with a knife.
Halfway through this process, his grandfather
showed Brandon how to operate the jigsaw, then left
the fifteen year old to his own devices, while
watching from the door. The boy would look up at
his grandfather for approval, and Arthur would tell
him, "Brandon, you’re doing good."
But Arthur was not always so kind with his words,
and Brandon found himself in the same father/son
dynamic he'd experienced three years previous with
father, Robert. Arthur was quick to pepper his
discussions with Brandon with criticism. In
Arthur's defense, Brandon could truly be a pain. As
his teenage years began, he constantly tested his
limits, and with so many parental figures - and
none with ultimate authority over him - he
eventually wore out his elders.
His family
painted a picture of a stubborn and obstinate boy
who wasn't interested in listening to any adults or
working. Petulance seemed to be an essential part
of his nature, as did laziness, in contrast to
everyone else in his family (even his younger
sister Mary-Kate had helped pay the bills with her
paper route.) "Brandon was lazy," as his father so
often said and, although he didn’t like it, he knew
it was probably the truth.
By summer 1988, Brandon had left Oakland to live
with Uncle Bill in San Diego. His uncle was
surprised to be given the responsibility. " I was
shocked they would let him live with me," he had
said in the weeks following Brandon’s arrival -
Although to Brandon, undoubtedly, it was an much
bigger surprise to be taken to live with his
pot-smoking, beer-guzzling uncle.
Bill was two years younger than his brother Robert
but far hipper, with a large record collection
(which Brandon later found solace in during those,
often frightening, occasions where his uncle had
gotten too drunk and too high and had decided to
smash the place up) Brandon’s biggest joy during
his months with Bill was rebuilding and old
amplifier he’d discovered in an old, unused closet
in the hall.
Those brief months spent with Uncle Bill in San
Diego were far from happy times for Brandon but, in
the light of things to come, they were by no means
the worst. That summer was representative of a
period of discovery for Brandon, a time in his life
when the fifteen year old truly felt something
stirring within him, something new and exciting. A
time which was spend rebuilding old amplifiers &
spending entire evenings by the lake just yards
from the back porch lost in thought, not really
paying much attention to the cold, and often for
Brandon, lonely world around him. Turning himself
inwards became his escape from everything bad in
his world; his drunken uncle, his ageing
grandparents who could no longer take care of him,
his many insecurities. But most of all, more than
anything else in his life, the one thing that
Brandon sought sanctuary from was himself...
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