Ty stared out the window of his small rented room feeling even more removed from his past. He could be living in a plush apartment now if he had gone to work for his dad. Everything had been prearranged. He had graduated with an Accounting Degree and a nice secure job was waiting for him.

Getting the degree had been one of the hardest things he had ever done. He had always enjoyed art and had become very good at portrait and landscape drawing. He was so good that he had a scholarship to an art school but never went. Instead he found himself barely eking out C’s and taking two extra quarters to finish.

He just couldn’t let his dad down. It was hard to say no to John Warren who lived his life like a mathematical equation…. husband plus wife equals two kids, one dog, a two-car garage and membership in the country club then son going to work with him in the business. It was hard for him to deal with any variation in plans.

The day before he was supposed to join the business, he had an epiphany. It wasn’t a bolt of lightning but a steady stream of awareness that brought him to a decision about his life. That day the accounting firm got together at the country club for a luncheon. Husbands, wives, families and friends were all there eating together in the main dining room.

Afterwards some of the men including his dad decided to play golf. He was paired with Joel Jenkins who was a few years older and had gone to the same high school. Joel talked about his two boys that played football just like him at Springdale High then he asked Ty if he knew so and so going down a mental list of people.

Joel, a member of the Kiwanis club looked the part with his short haircut and his light blue izod golf shirt. He talked about stock options, mutual funds and how much his mortgage and his two son’s braces cost. He showed a picture of his wife who also went to good old Springdale High and now taught first grade. She looked like she was forty even though she was in her mid twenties.

That night Ty dreamed he was married, had three kids with braces and a hundred-thousand-dollar mortgage. He was bald, fat, unhappy and still attending Springdale High where he was with people he had nothing in common with including his wife. Driving home with his wife and three clamoring kids in the back seat he passed artist friends talking and laughing in front of a café.

He felt like he was suffocating when he woke up and for a few seconds he thought it was real. After showering and dressing he went down to breakfast in a suit and tie sitting across from his dad who was really excited and proud to have his son working with him. They left in separate cars.

Feeling the tie tightening around his neck, Ty thought about waking up by a stranger every morning and going to endless Kiwanis meetings where he talked to Joel about kid’s braces, stock options and hundred thousand dollar mortgages. His art room was a nursery for their fourth child and his free time was spent walking the dog and picking up poop.

He passed the First and Second Federal of Palmetto, Florida then without thinking he found himself pulling into the Springdale First National Bank. He withdrew all three thousand two hundred and fifty-two cents of his savings account then just like that he was outside throwing his coat and tie into some bushes. He turned left onto Main Street then three blocks later turned South onto I-75. The sign said seventy-five miles to Orlando.

That night he called from a phone booth at the edge of the parking lot by the Hotel 6 he was staying at on the outskirts of Orlando. His lime green VW bug with a black vinyl sunroof that slid back was parked in front of his room and across the street a funeral home advertised aluminum caskets with different lining colors and patterns.

His dad tried to persuade him to come back and Ty just kept saying he had to get away. Deep down he knew he would always feel smothered in Palmetto and would always be just John Warren’s son. His mom got on the phone for a few minutes and fretted over his living situation but he assured her he was okay.

It was a weird feeling in the night waking up not knowing where he was for a second then suddenly realizing he was in Orlando. He felt alone and afraid but also a sense of a burden being lifted off of him. Eating breakfast at a McDonald’s the next morning he felt like he was beginning a great adventure as he thought about all the things he needed to do.