When he was ten, his father split, full of it, debt ridden. Two years later, see Alex and his mother bed ridden. Half-dead, sittin in their own sick, the scent thick. (Alex got better, but his mother went quick.)
Moved in with a cousin, the cousin committed suicide. Left him with nothing but ruined pride, something new inside. A voice saying "Alex, you gotta fend for yourself," and he began retreating and reading every treatise on the shelf.