For Erik

My childhood was a wreck. Sure, there were kids who had it worse than me, plenty in fact. But it was not a pleasant way to have grown up. I remember the adults around me always telling me that I was 'living through the best years of my life' and I would think 'if this is it, I'd rather be dead'. Having a narcissistic alcoholic for one parent while the other is far too busy just trying to earn a living so that we can actually do things like eat on a daily basis makes for a lonely, messed up kid.

My stepfather was not much better, he would have stepped in, except for the deal he made with my mother; because of that he was supposed to let her raise me her way. Would have been fine, had she not been ridiculously busy... and constantly making up excuses for my father, telling me that 'he means well' and that sort of tripe while he's been pretty consistently terrible while around and never even paying so much as a cent in child support.

My stepfather did, however, have a small coterie of minions that surrounded him, as any halfway decent businessman should. All kinds of different people from different walks of life, including a French ex-mercenary and a former freedom fighter from Lebanon. A heavily religious business partner born and raised locally. A security guard with absolutely no personality but an uncanny eye for the chessboard. A whole host of different people, all for different purposes. My stepfather kept them all on board simply by feeding them, as well.

One of these minions, an old (I thought of him as such at the time, being 12 to his mid-30s) Danish fellow by the name of Erik, who was ostensibly a mixture of IT and handyman, decided purely on a whim almost, to take me under his wing.

We would watch movies together, though his interests lay more towards science fiction rather than the horror that I was indulging in as a 12-year-old. However, growing up with the original Star Wars trilogy and the first 6 Star Trek films and original series... it was not a major stretch. We would pass books off to one another, as well. Dune was a favourite of both of ours, though we had come to it individually. We would play games, most notably the early Sierra games, such as King's Quest, Police Quest and the Quest for Glory games and the Wing Commander series.

While spending such time together, he was both keeping me out of mischief and dropping the occasional nugget of wisdom. While from the outside he was almost allowing me to do what I wanted he was able to keep control of the situation, as well. For instance, when I started getting into alcohol earlier than perhaps I should have, we would drink together but he would know when to stop and that gave me more of a sense of my own ability to control myself.

Erik helped me to learn how to deal with a great many of life's issues at a time where nobody else was around or seemed to care. For a few years after I moved out we still kept in contact, but that gradually became less and less as he spent more time with his nephew and my stepfather and mother split. It didn't help that he became aware that my stepfather was perhaps not all he had built himself up to be, either. Not necessarily by nefarious design; there was a bet that they had made regarding me. I had been given a computer and the bet was something to do with taking care of the machine. It was nearly 30 years ago, and some things are fuzzy, especially those that I don't think about very often... In any case, Erik took my side and won the bet. My stepfather had forfeited a meal at the Casino as his side of the bet. I don't think that meal ever happened... Erik was not pleased at that. Not to miss out on a meal at the Casino, that part of it didn't phase him in the slightest. No, his issue was that my stepfather had made a promise and broken it. He ceased working for him almost entirely after that.

Erik also had a profoundly disturbing sense of timing. If he said he was going to be somewhere at a certain time, you could be absolutely certain that he MEANT THAT SPECIFIC TIME. Not a few minutes before; DEFINITELY not after. I'd not sure if it was the boarding school or the navy that instilled that in him, but I think it was likely one of the two institutions...

In any event, I would not be half the man I am today without Erik having taken an interest in assisting to raise this young hellion with no appropriate parenting. His sense of honour has worked its way into my being, and while I am a little more lenient when it comes to timing (South Australian public transport will help with this, it is very flexible!) if you break a promise to me, that's it. No more chances after that.

If by some miracle you find yourself reading this, Erik; thank you. None of what you did for me was remotely close to an obligation on your part and I fully recognise that. I learned a great deal by your side, both physically and about just growing up and becoming a decent human being. You were the first person to take any kind of interest in what I was doing, and were it not for your guidance I doubt I would be writing today. Or at University. Shit, I might not even be alive if not for you. So thank you, once again, for everything.