Chapter one - Newcomers

How can you explain the realities of life to an eleven year old? This is what Jeannie tried to make sense of as she attempted to explain why they had had to leave her boyfriend, and his almost step father in the middle of the night, and why they were now going to be living in little industrial Apple Creek and his bedroom was now a tent in the carport. How could she explain that his almost step father had done things with another woman, things she wasn't even sure he understood yet. She  had no choice but to explain it though. It was her duty,  to tell him, that again, their life was uprooted.

Annauch calmly watched his mother. She was on edge, her speech hesitant. He stayed quiet as she explained waht he had known long before she did, stuff that he had hid from her so she wouldn't be get hurt.

"So, this is temporary, okay?" Jeannie said, "As soon as I have a decent job we'll get a bigger place and things will be back to normal..."

Normal? Annauch thought. 'Normal' wasn't exactly paradise. 'Normal' was just one long string of men that her mother assured  would be the 'one'. Atleast the last one had come close to fufilling his mother's dreams of the traditional happy mom,pop, kid family. Which is why he had kept what he had known to himself. Unfortunantly she found out anyway, and here they were.

"Momma it's fine," Annauch finally interupted his mother's nervous explanation, "I like camping remember? It'll be fun. And I didn't like that that other town anyway. Or the guy. I just  pretended to like him."

Jeannie searched her sons face for a sign of a lie. He had become so well at hiding what he was really thinking though, that she couldn't tell if he meant what he had said. "So...you're really okay?" She asked.

"Yes, Momma, I'm fine. But I'm bored. Can I take off and explore the town?"

Jeannie nodded and watched her son quickly turn and begin for the door. Wait - why was she letting her little boy just take off into a strange town without any direction from her? What kind of mother *was* she! "Wait - Annie - be home, I mean, meet me, I mean-"

"There's a park downtown. I looked at the map. I'll meet you at sun down." He turned and left, quickly closing to the door behind him so his mother wouldn't feel the need to do anymore parenting. He was fine on his own. He always had been. It was him that had to look out for her, not the other way around. He grabbed his rusted bike that had been hauled on so many moves and took off down the gravely side street.

Jeannie stared at the door with a sigh, She was doing the best she could, she told herself. And Annauch was a good kid, so there really wasn't anything to worry about. He was well adjusted and happy. He was, right? She shook the thought out of her head. Yes, he was. He was fine. Now she had to go find work. She knew there was a small film studio and planned to apply there...for anything, just to get her foot in the door. She had plans this time, plans that did not involve another broken relationship and another forgotten town. With determination she headed out.

As she headed out of the studio a little girl looked at her and smiled. "Hi," She said her baby  voice.

Jeannie smiled instantly and walked up. "hello sweetheart."

"Don't know you," The little girl said, then whispered up to her father, "Who is she daddy?"

The father laughed. "You'll excuse her curosity. Apple Creek isn't the biggest city. Are you new or just visiting?"

"I'm new. I just moved in...I um..." her voice trailed off as she looked at the handsome face that spoke to her. She didn't want to tell him what she was doing there. That she was running from yet another relationship.
"You're daughter is adorable," She said instead, to change the subject.

"Thanks. She's just at that full of questions age. You know how it is with kids. Daddy, why this, Daddy, why that." He laughed. Such a great laugh.

Jeannie smiled slightly, "I do know, I have a son..." before she could finish she was interupted by a little boy about her son's age come up to the father.

"Hey dad - when are we going to eat?"

Jeannie looked down at the young boy. Such a perfect family. She wondered briefly what her own son was doing at that moment. This little boy looked so contented and well adjusted. Her dear annauch....was he doing okay too? She tried to look after him. She really did.

"It's rude to interupt," The father said to his son, then turned back to Jeannie, "By the way, my name is Phoneix. You were saying something about having a son?"

"Yes, his name is Annauch - annie for short. It's a native name, after my heritage. He's eleven now."

"Eleven? You must have been young when you had him."

Jeannie blushed. Too young. Not even out of her teens.

Phoneix noticed the reaction. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me to say. Hey - these kids need to eat, and I was going to just grab hotdogs and eat at the park. Do you want to join us? And your son...is he..." He looked around.

"He's meeting me at the park at sundown. He's...he's just very independent."

Phoenix smiled, "Some kids are.  I'm probablly overprotective of mine. Since we're both going to the same place, there's no argument in joining me?"

"No, um, that would be fine..." She looked up and met the kind warm eyes of the father. Uh oh, she thought. There was that feeling again. No, not this time. Friendship maybe, but nothing more. "Sure, I'd be happy to join you."

......Annauch stood at the entrance of the park and looked down at where his mom was situated on a picnic blanket. Where did she get a picnic and food? He headed down the slight slope towards her

He sat down  on the blanket. "What's with all this?" He asked, trying to hide the suspicion. Jeannie slowly chewed her hotdog, trying to decide the best way to explain the situation to her son. Before she could say anything Annauch asked, "Mom, is there a guy already?"

Jeannie swallowed her hotdog, trying to keep her composure. "Why would you ask that?"

"There is isn't there? One day and there's a guy?"

"It's different this time. He has kids-"



 "So he's married?"

"No, but-"

"Then it's not one bit different. Just this guy come with his own brat baggage-"

Jeannie stood up, "That's enough Annauch! These kids are not 'brat baggage' and neither are you."

"Sure mom." He tried to squash his annoyance. Not only would he have some guy to contend with now but some stupid kids as well. Well,one day he was going to be famous and he was going to own some huge mansion and never have to move and have only the people he wanted in his life. He hadn't quite figured out what he was going to get famous *at* yet, but it would be something.

"You better be  a lot more polite than this when they come for dinner," Jeannie said to her son, in her rarely used parental voice.

"There already coming to dinner?"

"It's so you can meet his son - so you can start making friends here."

Annauch stood up. "Sure mom. Friends for the next month? I'm going to go find the playground."

"Annauch-"

He was already running off . There was no point in shouting after him. Really, how did she expect him to act? Within one day there was a new man. But this was different. There was only friendship, for both her and her son. She was going to build a real life for them, she was going to work her way up at the studio and really become something, something her son could be proud of. And this time no man was going to get in the way.