Four seventeen year old friends walk home from school, laughing and joking with each other.
Dave’s parents are liberal and promote equality for all within the home. He’s a successful businessman, she’s a homemaker. They believe responsibility is a learned behaviour. They care but don’t need to worry about what the neighbours think. Dave has three sisters and four brothers.
Pete’s mother has cancer and relies on her son to look after his four younger siblings. His Dad is an alcoholic and hasn’t stayed with the family for over a decade. Neither of them works but relies on the State for income support. His mother doesn’t know nor care how others judge her brood.
Mike’s father and stepmother are strict and extremely conservative. One works in a government department, the other teaches. They believe in God and honest work. Appearance within the community is all important to them. They have four other children. She’s a stepmother to all, bar the youngest one.
Simon’s parents are akin to hippies, at times they have been known to wander about the house naked. He busks nightly outside the local theater, she designs jewellery. They advocate freedom of expression and regularly debate important issues of the day, over a glass of wine, with their only son.
All four of the boys attend the same school and are due to sit their final exam in a few weeks time.
Four Journeys (Extract)
