Day Forty-two - That's not my name

But just before everything came to a head, there was one final summer for us. One that could have easily turned tragic, but it turned out to have its moments of magic. That summer we vacationed to the south, something we usually did every year, but we'd always stay with our family down there. There would be at least a couple of weeks spent there every year, and I always looked forward to those. But that last year, that last summer, we rented an apartment just for ourselves, and that apartment came with private access to a swimming pool, only for those who lived in the condos that flanked it. I didn't fully realize it then, especially because it was something that had never been a worry before, insofar as I'd been able to notice it, but apparently things weren't really going well financially for our family, and for that vacation to happen there had to have been some not so light borrowing from my grandparents. 

This might have been the driver that finally caused the split to happen - it would be made official a few months hence. So let's start looking at the truly bad part of this final summer we spent as a family : not only were there the financial issues I just mentioned, but there was a lot of violence too. And here's the truly weird thing : while I was aware that it was happening, I never saw any of it. I knew that things were not well, and bad things were happening between my parents, but things always seemed to happen out of sight. It was my brother who told me that he'd seen my father abusing my mother, and I had no choice but to believe him. Did it happen? Did it not happen? I'm sure it did. There were really no outward signs that I could see that would make me feel 100% sure, but it would not surprise me one bit that that's how things truly went down. 

Then, on the other hand, in those weeks I'd meet three guys who I'd bond with - a couple of English kids, Lee and Sean, who I'd meet in the swimming pool. Lee and his family were staying in the same condo as our family, and we hung around quite a bit. I think that what drew us together was our fondness for comics - he saw me reading a copy of Excalibur and immediately struck up a conversation. Before we left to go back home, I'd gift him that issue - he absolutely loved it, and he gifted me a commemorative WWF medal. Sadly, though, it wasn't the World Wrestling Federation, but rather the World Wildlife Fund. Sean, I can't recall now how we bonded or why, but we'd have a lot of fun playing in the swimming pool, chasing after one another.

This summer vacation also saw my brother scoring a really beautiful girlfriend - god, how I envied him. But then again, at that age, he was much more attractive to girls than my dumpy thirteen year old ass could ever be.