~* andy footwork
'' I don't want to ride the ferris wheel alone .. '' was the single line that started the existence of Andrew "Andy" Delten's life -- his mother, Nora-Lynn Maguillvary too chicken to hop on the seat preferred for two, quickly grabbed the closest male and dragged him on with her. A few rotations later, and she was feeling queasy, the pink cotton candy threatening to come back up and make a mess of a puddle in the bucket seat of the slowly moving round-about ride. A small squeeze of the man's bicep was all it took for him to offer the sly smile, her cheeks to redden, and the romantic summer of her senior year to be under way. He would bring her flowers picked fresh from his mother's garden; typically daisies, her favorite, and never chocolate as he coined she was sweet enough already, instead offering to share a two-scoop cone of key-lime frozen yogurt from their favorite place down the street.
It was entirely too 1950's for the late-80's and they romance grew more intense than sweet when they decided after graduation that small city of Winnipeg, Manitoba wasn't right for them and they packed up the small red pick-up and drove it all the way west to the coastal metropolis of Vancouver. This also served as an excuse to elope from disapproving parents, ever glaring at them with sidelong glances and attitude to match.
At only 19 years old, Nora-Lynn was declared pregnant.
Literally the apple of his father's eye before he was even born, Andy arrived at 4:50am after an extensive 36-hour labour, on August 2nd, 1992, to a happy couple and a fuzzy polar bear plushie that was instantly the wide eyed infant's best friend forever and ever! The childhood, with both parents living off of minimum wage jobs while his mother went to night school for nursing, was lackluster at best but with such an amount of love between them, it seemed to work out just fine until the day came that he was a toddler sitting on Daddy's knee watching mother walk down the aisle with the rest of the graduating class of the night school and accepted her diploma, new job and better life all in one night. She boasted her uniform happily her first shift, kissed him on the cheek before leaving, and told his father where dinner was, how long to heat it and left.
Routine became second nature, and after starting up elementary school, it became much more so; wake up, see mother, leave, go home to babysitter, wait until Daddy got home, wait until Mommy got home, ate dinner, spent the night (sometimes) together watching television or playing, and then go to bed content and with the taste of chocolate chip cookies in his memory, for Andy was a chubby child. Routines broke for a reason, however, and one broke almost too harshly when the world came crashing down around them with the simplicity of metal connecting with wood and his father's collision with a tree ending with his arrival at the same hospital his mother was currently on duty. It was apparently a heartbreaking scene, he wasn't there so he'd only heard stories from family friends and relatives, but he died 6 hours later on the operating table.
Now a widow and literal bastard, they found themselves moving in to a small two bedroom apartment above a coffee shop and the daytime job was moved to overnight for the premium and he was old enough, now fourteen, that he could spend the night's at home alone. Routines became a bitter, sour aftertaste after affect of what had transpired and he longed for something different, the start of high school not exactly on his forefront of excitement. Freshman year went through almost in a daze, a flawless movement of academics, learning to party, and figuring out that he could handle vodka very well, but tequila was a total different story. In fact, coming home for the first time with the alcohol still in his system, on his breath, eyes bloodshot, was the first time his mother had threatened him. Naturally, he felt responsible and he found a different outlet, for a brief period at least, in smoking until taking up both.
At sixteen he found his mother in a new relationship, literally found his tongue down her throat and a new type of anger in his stomach not yet felt. He came from money, she told him one night with a soft, worried smile on her face, explaining how she'll always love her father but she needed to provide, and this was how she could. Andy scoffed a 'whore!' at her and regretted that moment of his life ever since. It only made perfect sense when they moved, because he was, and she had his ring on her finger and the notion of not only Florida but Key West?, left a bitter taste in his mouth. But the jerkass bought him a red pick-up truck, just like his father's so he figured the dude wasn't all that bad and tended to look the other way when Andy used a fake ID to buy cigarettes.
He also didn't tattle to Nora-Lynn when he caught Andy's hand down his best friend Paul's pants.
Summer in Florida before his senior year in high school was going to prove eventful, new kid and all, he just couldn't freakin' wait.
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