Chapter 4

John's life path took a different turn. As a young boy he excelled in school. He always brought home straight A's on his report card. He was popular, outgoing and funny and he was definitely not an athlete.

Growing up, while the other boys in the neighborhood were outside playing baseball, John was content to stay indoors and watch his mother as she worked on her computer. He was always asking her questions and she never talked down to him, always giving him direct answers. He always had his head buried in books. His mother would give him classics written by Jules Verne, Mark Twain, and Robert Louis Stevenson. He was a frequent visitor to the public library, reading all the Hardy Boys novels and anything else that interested him.

At night, after supper, when his father sat in front of his computer and reviewed the financial news, they would discuss possible investment moves that his father could make. His father explained what the stock market was, what it represented, and how someone who paid attention to the current trends in the economy could accumulate wealth.

By the time he entered high school, John had accumulated over one hundred thousand dollars in his make-believe portfolio. His father would explain why the moves that he made were good or bad; why they made or lost money.

You would think that this type of behavior would make him a super nerd, a target of ridicule from all of the other students. It was because of his good looks and his sense of humor that the guys in school gave him a pass, and the girls wanted to go out with him. His mother had taught him how to dance at an early age and John never had any trouble getting a date for school dances.

Although he was a late bloomer, John did not shy away from the opposite sex. He had the expected father and son talk about sex but never pushed himself onto any of his dates. He was always a gentleman. He was not an angel, however. Several of his dates ended with extremely hot kissing and fondling.

By the time he entered his junior year of high school, he had a steady girl friend. At five-seven and one hundred thirty five pounds, with dark wavy hair, and dark eyes, John could have had his choice of almost any of the girls in his school. His girlfriend was short, blonde and had a great figure. They made a nice looking couple. Everything seemed to be going great until the beginning of his senior year. Suddenly, she began to become less interested in him, more distant. When he confronted her with his feelings she lashed out at him, telling him that she wanted a real man in her life, that he was not aggressive enough for her, that she was tired of being a virgin and she was not going to wait any longer for him to make the first move. She broke up with him.

John was heartbroken. He thought that being a gentleman, that not pressuring her to go further in their relationship, was what girls wanted in a man. Now he was confused. In addition to that, it was just not in his nature to be an aggressive type of guy.