Chapter 1: Jonathon

My life was about to change and I didn't like it. I finished loading the last of my things into the back of my truck, snapped the cover in place, and went to the front. My mom was already sitting in the passenger seat, staring out the windshield.

I twisted the key and we were on our way to Florida. This wasn't a trip I was looking forward to.

Two days earlier, the police brought me home for the third time in a month and Mom was pissed. I'd been hanging with my friends and smoking a little weed. The cops caught us and took us home. Normally, kids my age would have been arrested, but because my dad was a cop, they cut us some slack.

Dad had been killed in the line of duty when I was twelve and I guess I never got over it. I can still remember the night the captain came to our front door and told Mom the bad news. The next few days were filled with the preparations for the funeral and the funeral itself. Like most cop funerals, Dad's was a big one. There were cops from almost every state and dignitaries from our state's capital.

Mom was an attorney so money wasn't a problem. Dad had a lot of insurance and there was a fund from the department to help out. After Dad was gone, I started to act up.

At first it wasn't anything serious, but my grades began to slip and by the time I was fourteen, I was barely passing. Part of it was my anger. I was mad at the world and most people in it. I started hanging with a tough group of guys and then the real trouble surfaced.

I was a loner except for a few friends. There were five guys in our group and none of us ventured very far from the others. At fifteen, we were all smoking and hanging around one of the local fast food restaurants.

Mom bought me the truck when I promised to start behaving and work on getting better grades. I buckled down and brought my grades up to a three-point average. I was careful not to get caught smoking and stayed out of trouble. That is until I had the truck.

When I turned seventeen, the age I am now, I stopped listening to Mom and ran wild. I picked up a few tickets, started drinking and smoking weed. This was like the previous times I was picked up for smoking, the cops were taking me home instead of to jail, but that was going to stop.

The officer that took me home told Mom it would be the last time they would show me any preferential treatment. The next time I got caught doing anything, I was going to jail. Mom thanked the officer and started in on me.

I sat and listened to an hour-long diatribe about my lack of responsibility, how I was ruining my and my mom's life, and how things were going to change. I thought I was going to lose my truck and be grounded for a while, but I was sorely mistaken. Mom sent me to my room, telling me she didn't want to look at me.

The next morning, Mom woke me up and told me to pack my things. I was dumbfounded!

When I asked what she was doing, she explained I was going to live with my uncle in Florida. Mom's older brother, Uncle Jason, lived in a town north of Tampa with my Aunt Andrea and my two cousins. Uncle Jason was the superintendent of the public school system in the town and my aunt was a teacher.

I hadn't seen them since the funeral. I remembered one of my cousins, Jackie, was the same age as me. Her younger sister, Mo, short for Moraine, was two years younger. As hard as I tried, I couldn't remember what they looked like.

It took threats of me running away to get Mom and Uncle Jason to agree to let me bring my truck to Florida. I was told I would lose my driving privileges the first time I stepped out of line.

Packing didn't take long. I only had a half dozen pairs of black jeans, about twenty tee shirts, all of them dark, and most with some hard-rock band's name printed on them. I also had a pair of dress pants and a good white shirt and tie. A few pairs of shoes, my leather jacket, and my wardrobe was complete. I also took my collection of music and several magazines I read at night, in the privacy of my room.

I begged Mom to change her mind, but she was steadfast with her decision. So, we were on our way south.