Page 17 - My FlipBook

but never really drank it. Sure he would engage in the
customary sip of ale at weddings and special events, but he
took off on his journey before developing a favorite or
spending any real quality time with beer. Gnurdleigh was a

misfit trapped in a world that did not appreciate him, who
daydreamed about a world made especially for him, one where
he mattered. Eventually, he lived just such an adventure, but it
went nothing like his daydreams. The rest of the universe,
however, was completely and irrevocably stuck in his
daydreams for countless eons.

When Gnurdleigh reached the age of accountability he was
given the modest inheritance left to him by his father, a bookie

who went mysteriously missing when his predictions proved to
defy all statistical probabilities of rightness. Growing up he was
often referred to as the 'son of a cheat'. He was chased and
beaten daily, if caught, by bullies and normal people alike. Life
was not fair to him, not one bit. His mother was a beautiful,
strong, overprotective woman who smothered him because he
had no father and she had no man to shower with affection.

She was lost in her grief from losing her husband and so never
had the ambition to move out of the working-class community.
All she wanted was to live peacefully and reminisce. She spoke
to Gnurdleigh as if he was a toddler long after he reached
puberty, both publicly and privately. He resented this,
naturally, and would spend as much time as he could just
outside the window at the local spaceport bar, hiding from the

Allan R. Emery 7