Reality Shmeality

Chapter One

My childhood wasn't easy.

Kids loved bullying the artistic vegan boy named Flower.

That's right. My name is Flower. Flower Petal Vastag.

My father, William, was a stage technician and sound engineer. He worked for the classic rock bands you sing along to every time they play on the radio. My mother, Joy, was a painter and dabbled in yoga before it was trendy.

Dad was quiet and unassuming. He was short and round with powerful arms and a bulging nose. Mom was loud and vivacious. She had eyes that shined green and a disposition that seemed judgmental when, in reality, she was just quiet and self-conscious.

My parents, who were seemingly opposites, met at the bar where Mom worked to help pay her way through art school. He would peel the labels off of beer bottles and start tiny fires on the bar to get her attention. He was smooth like that. Or at least that's what he thought.

They married soon after meeting and had me not too long after that. Caring for a child was a lot for them to handle because the start of their relationship was based on a mutual desire to use drugs and listen to music, not raise a baby. They were thrilled about my arrival, however, and were caring and attentive parents from the start.

We moved from a small duplex with green shag carpet into a cookie-cutter home in a starter neighborhood. The street was full of tiny colorful houses and the block was surrounded by woods and a small pond filled with frogs and turtles.

It wasn't too long after we moved in that Mom became pregnant again and shortly after that Dad had his accident. A partial stage collapse crushed his leg to the point of obliteration. He was lucky he didn't lose the thing altogether, but he was never the same. It took multiple reconstructive surgeries and countless hours of physical therapy for him to learn how to walk again. And once he could walk, it was with a debilitating limp and, at times, excruciating pain. He was compensated financially for the trouble, but money was never important to him. It was the work he truly loved.

Things changed drastically in the years that followed. The accident took a major toll on the old man and his relationship with Mom. Dad became depressed and started drinking. Mom kicked him out multiple times but always let him back because he was a great father and always treated us with love and respect. He would never hurt a fly, only himself.