Chances Are

Chapter 2 Growing Up with the Carmichaels

Miguel Montano Saavedra was born to a poor waitress named Carla Rosa Saavedra. She lived in a small apartment and worked in the nearby restaurant. She was so poor that when she went to work, she would bring her son with her because she couldn't afford anyone to take care of him in her absence. They lived a very simple life but baby Miguel seemed like a very happy kid. He never gave grief to his mother and he never cried or woke her up in the middle of the night. Unfortunately for the baby boy, his mother died of breast cancer before his 2nd birthday. The circumstances of his mother's death would've put Baby Miguel into the foster system but fortunately, his legitimate father came to claim him before the Department of Social Welfare could take him. Miguel's father though couldn't bring this illegitimate son to his home. So he asked his friends to help him care for the child until he was able to find a way to keep him without ruining his family. So this went on for a few weeks. Every few days, he would ask his friends to take care of the child until the friend could no longer acquiesce and that's when he was passed around to another of his friends. Until one day when Miguel's father met his long-time friend Matthew he was able to convince him to keep the child for longer. When Matthew agreed, he breathed a sigh of relief as he already felt sorry for his child being passed around like an unwanted pet. He also knew that Matthew would take good care of his baby boy. So Miguel was finally taken in by a real family. Once Matthew renamed him to Milton Casper, his old name and identity was lost and he now became Milton Casper Carmichael.

Growing up in the Carmichael home was a weird experience for Milton. For his 2nd and 3rd birthday, his young mind couldn't comprehend why other kids had birthday parties while he was given only one gift from Matthew, his father, and a small cupcake. At first Denise, his mother, tried her best to be good to him, but in time it became quite obvious to the young child that there was distance there. Denise never once hugged Milton as a young child while she showered gifts and love to his sister Jean. At the same vein, he realized that Jean, his sister, wasn't as close to him as he'd like. He would often try and play with her, but she would just ignore him and play with her dolls instead. He often wondered why his mother and sister were more distant but he did feel that their lack of affection was filled up by his father tenfold. He had questions in his tiny little brain but he never voiced them out. Finally before his 8th birthday he asked his dad why he still couldn't go to school like all the rest of the children his age. All Matthew could say was: "Son, we wanted you and Jean to go to class at the same time. As the older brother, it is your responsibility to watch over your sister. Is that okay?" Milton seemed to accept his father's explanation as he just said: "Yes dad, I understand."

And so it was the start of the new school year and it would be the first time Milton would step foot in the school. Jean had already studied Kindergarten there so she was more confident walking away from him and joining her friends. For the first few weeks Milton had a hard time blending in. He was two years older than everyone else and it seemed like he was behind even just the basic lessons the teacher tried to teach in class. Everyone was laughing at him and calling him names like dumdum and little big kid, among others. Milton was strong though and he never let any of his bullies get the best of him. No one dared bully him physically because he was bigger than everyone else. So all the taunting and mental bullying fell on deaf ears for Milton. He decided that the only way he could be accepted in the class was for him to get caught up in the lessons. So he asked his teacher to tutor him after every class. The teacher was impressed because of his mental fortitude and willingness to learn. So she did. After a few weeks, Milton was finally catching up with all the other kids. He was finally able to participate in the classes and the other kids seemed to bully him less. After a few weeks of trying hard to fit in, he finally felt like he belonged.

Milton finally started to have a level of normalcy in his life. He had friends, and even though Jean vehemently denied him as her brother, he was having fun and being like one of the kids again. Slowly he got over the idea that he was older than them and that he was different. He played tag with his other classmates. He had sleepovers and he grew to be comfortable with this new batch of friends and felt like he was part of a group finally. Sometimes his friends would still tease about mundane things but overall he was happy. Until one day...

It was one day in Milton's third grade, he saw his friends picking on this one kid. The child was scrawny and seemed to talk with a lisp. His friends was pushing the kid and mocking his voice. Finally Milton approached them and ordered them to stop. One of the bigger kids went up to Milton and said: "Hey Milt, look at our new classmate he talks like a retarded weirdo, what should we do about it?" With that he pushed the kid to the ground and laughed openly. Milton stood closer to the bully now until they were almost face to face. "Quit it now or else you'll have to deal with me!" The big guy stepped back a little bit, looked at him menacingly and left. Everyone else followed suit and as the last kid was a little further away, he screamed: "Remember this day Milton, you will regret choosing him over us!!!" Milton helped the kid up, tapped him on the shoulder and said: "Don't mind those people. Just because they always come in as a group, they feel like they can do whatever they want. They won't bother you anymore. I promise." "Thanks but why would you help me anyway? You don't even know me." "I've been bullied before and it sucks. So as long as I can help it, I'll always try to help anyone who needs it. By the way what's your name?" "My name is John Dylan. Once again, thank you for helping me." As the boys walked to class together, it became pretty obvious that they would share a bond and a friendship that would last a lifetime.

Ever since then, Milton and John Dylan became inseparable. Sure Milton lost all of his other friends, but he felt like they weren't real friends anyway. His friendship with John Dylan though was different. They would have sleepovers, have secret handshakes and they shared a level of geekdom that he couldn't open up with his other friends before. Both of them loved Star Wars and Harry Potter. Whenever they had sleepovers, they would watch the Star Wars movies and would have lightsaber fights using rolled up cartolinas and sticks.

John Dylan was indeed a little weird, but because of Milton, JD (that's what Milton called him) gained the confidence to move past his lisp and be a more adjusted kid. So it came to be, JD and Milton grew up together. As they reached middle school and high school, their friendship blossomed and they treated each other like brothers. In time though their friendship would be tested in ways both of them never thought would happen.