PHOTO PROMPT © Jennifer Pendergast
Back then Horatio was a boy who preferred watching shapes shift in the clouds to math equations and book reports. His mother, a chemist, and his father, a civil engineer, left parent-teacher conferences tight-lipped and disappointed.
“It’s time you faced the real world, son,” his father said as he left him on the boarding school steps.
Fourteen year-old Horatio lasted a week. He hitchhiked to San Francisco and slept in the alley behind Millie’s Guitar Shop. Millie gave him room and board in exchange for cleaning up.
Now twenty and known as Archangel Michael, his band just won a Grammy.
[100 words] (and 100% fiction)
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields is the charming host of Friday Fictioneers.
Tao Talk 
Bravo
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Thanks, Ron.
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Excellent story and yes sad news, R I P Sinead O’Connor gone too soon 💜💜
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Thank you <3
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When my daughter and I were visiting colleges, they held a workshop on financial aid for parents and kids together. The speaker asked “How many parents have kids whose choice of major makes you nervous?” My daughter held up my hand for me and said, “You’ve got to be nervous. You’ll have two kids who are starving artists.” I wasn’t – but my daughter was, and eventually changed majors to become a starving social worker. The music major child makes more money than I ever did.
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I’m glad they chose what makes them happy. Cool that you have a social worker in the family and a music lover. Would like to hear more about their jobs if you care to tell.
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While parents can guide their children, at the end of the day, they shouldn’t try to somehow force them into a specific career. Not only will an individual who is completely unhappy about their line of work be miserable, but they also won’t excel, which in turn will trigger even more unhappiness.
I briefly heard about Sinead O’Connor’s untimely death. I always thought her rendition of Prince’s “Nothing Compares to U” was pretty powerful. The song was the reason I got her album “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got” on CD at the time it came out. That said, she had been off my radar screen for 25-plus years.
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I agree on trying to control kids. I always liken it to holding a spring down with your thumb. Once you lift your thumb the spring bounces off to where it wants to.
Here is my post on her from 2020: https://tao-talk.com/2020/03/28/women-music-march-21-sinead-oconnor/
I was reading today that she was working on a new album. Some sources say she was in deep grief over losing one of her sons last year.
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Aww, I hoped it was a true story with a happy ending 😍
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I’m sure it is in a generic way. I was shocked to see Sinead passed away as it is very close to her story in many ways :(
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Yes I read of her passing too.
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Fourteen is a scary age to go off on your own!
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Some are virtually given no choice :(
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Great story. Simply, straightforward, and complete.
Of course, it slides by all the challenges he must have faced along the way.
But you hear of these ‘dreams come true’ stories all the time.
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Trish, thank you very much. He is blessed to have been taken under the wing of Millie, or things might have gone very differently. I bet he writes damfine songs too :)
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This is shocking…I knew nothing about it until I read it on Randy’s site a few minutes ago. What a lovely voice she had…and it was so sad about her son last year…I can’t imagine that.
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A great story of how children need to find their own way in life. Nicely done.
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Thank you, James.
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Life is too short to do the things you hate if you can help it. I’d say the protagonist flew.
I woke up to the Sinead news. Pretty sad. I hope she is flying between the clouds.
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<3
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Excellent, well done.
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Thanks MrBinks!
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He did indeed face the real world but in his way.
The video you’ve chosen is, and will always be one I love. What a person, what a life, what a loss.
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Well said, Keith. Me too on the Sinead video :(
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Dear Lisa,
Not everyone’s reality is the same is it? Glad things worked out for Horatio. Well done. So sad about Sinead O’Connor.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Rochelle, so true and yes. Thank you.
Shalom,
Lisa
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A great story. If you want to stay in your kids life, let them live their own life. And Sinead is a great, great loss. Such a sad strong life.
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Well said in all respects, Gabi.
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How difficult it is to put your own ambitions for your child to one side. Lovely story.
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Yes it is, Sandra. Thank you for reading and your comment.
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Great story Lisa, and love your tribute a beautiful soul inside and out, I hope is at peace ❤️
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Ange, thank you so much. The WP GIM (ghost in the machine) is at it again :)
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not sure why that comment has come out as anonymous it’s Ange 😊
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Thank goodness for Millie. She seems more forgiving than Horatio’s parents.
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Millie’s a good ol’ gal who likes to cultivate the arts in her own way. Horatio’s parents trapped in a box.
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Poignant piece. I’ve know several students over the years whose creative spirits were squelched by hardworking parents who hated the idea of their child becoming a. “starving artist.” It’s true, though, that very few actually have the talent to make it over the haul. Sinead O’Connor was one who made it. I didn’t know she had died.
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Linda, not sure if I knew you were a teacher. I bet you saw a lot of different things over the years. Even if that’s true, to have a dream and to work for it is a teaching experience in and of itself. If they would have let Horatio do his thing under their supervision he may have reached that conclusion himself. By driving him away with their expectations and extreme decision to put him in boarding school, they lost that opportunity and put him in grave danger (it could have gone SO much worse for him.) Thank you very much for reading and your seasoned by experience comment <3
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Thanks. I taught for several years. Went back to school at age 50 to get a masters so I could do private practice counseling. I’ve always been thankful for the years of experience I had rearing my own kids, and teaching, before becoming a therapist.
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I can see you have a passion for helping <3
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Glad Horatio got to fulfill his dreams. Nice story.
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Thanks much, Will :)
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i suppose he’s one of the lucky ones. :)
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Yes, I suppose he is :) Thank you for reading and your comment, Plaridel.
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Nice remembrance even if it is fiction.
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Dawn, thank you, glad you enjoyed the story.
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Nicely done. I see why you put 100% fiction because it reads so real. 👍
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Thank you, Brit :)
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I wonder if more great art would be created if more parents were supportive or if the path you described in your story provides more fertile artistic fodder. It probably depends on the person.
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I think adversity builds a lot of character in a person. My thought is that the only way he could create great art was through the path he took. Sounds weird but it’s what I believe.
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I don’t think it sounds weird at all. What would Vincent Van Gogh, Edgar Allan Poe, Marvin Gaye, or 2Pac’s art look like without their tortured souls?
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Good for him!!
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For sure. Thanks, Laurie!
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