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He’s around seventeen when the restlessness he’s felt all his life comes to a head. He’s tired of the mundane; he wants to change the world. He’s tired of his interests being deemed impractical—or worse, unladylike. He’s tired of pretending to be somebody he just ain’t! He knows there’s got to be more to life than the monotonous creak of a perpetually-broken screen door. Something more out there that his family, bless their hearts, will never understand.
So that’s when he begins to formulate a plan of action.
No one can say he’s not a smart kid; he’s been tinkering and engineering with just about anything he can find for as long as he can remember. There’s bound to be a school somewhere that will take him for free—or close enough to it—and won’t look too closely at his paperwork. He doesn’t care how cheap or lowbrow or far away it is. All he needs is an escape, a change of scenery, a new chapter in his story.
Eventually, it’s Backupsmore U that fits the bill. In the months leading up to the start of term, he scrounges up as much cash as he can. He repeats a to-do list in his head near-constantly, as if forgetting one single item for a moment would cause his great orchestrated scheme to fall to shambles then and there. He speaks his intentions to no one but the raccoon lurking under his bedroom floorboards. He figures either she doesn’t give a damn, or she might be the only soul in the house on his side.
He ignores his relatives’ commentary on the increased bouncing in his knees.
The night before he intends to leave Tennessee, he swipes odds-and-ends of clothing from the drawers of siblings and cousins. He hacks off the vast percentage of the hair that—he hopes—will never be pulled into another plait so long as he lives. Without leaving so much as a simple note of farewell, he vanishes into the countryside darkness, books and banjo in tow.
When he reaches his destination, he introduces himself only as “F”. He is a new man taking on a new world, and is it ever thrilling. There will be time to sort out the rest; what matters is that here he can be himself, without anyone needing to know what came before.
What lies ahead, God only knows.