Gothic-Horror.com

The Twisted Biography of the author

ANTON VON STEFAN.

.

Part two  - the middle years

 Poverty is a strange teacher.  Though the author may not have exactly excelled in the formal classroom at the age of 8, the lack of a solid financial background brought other forces to play.  As one parent worked, the other was forced to abandon the youth’s daily rearing in an attempt to better their lives.  As the mother* went back to university, the author was suddenly thrust into roles usually left to adults.  Therein he not only learned to cook and bake, but as funds were virtually non-existent, he also began to acquire first hand knowledge in the mechanical trade, virtually at the same time.  Learning by having to rebuild each machine one uses in the daily chores, as these second hand or aged devices broke down, ANTON VON STEFAN developed the dexterity and skills few children master before leaving elementary school.  Yet that was his lot.

Do not mistake the fact that the author became the family’s major caregiver, virtually running every facet of the household from that early age, as a terrible burden.  Few children really know that they are destitute and poor, and the author was never daunted or discouraged by responsibility put upon his young shoulders.  The sudden challenge rendered a new purpose to the child, and he not only developed the skills that would become a large part of his adult life, but his desire for enlightenment was honed to a level where his school grades actually rose.  Soon this hyperactive, highly imaginative monster was at the top of his class.

Upon the family’s expulsion from that warmongering land, the family returned to the land that had initially accepted them.  As both parents were unemployed upon their sudden return, the lad was not pressed into a boarding school.  They were too poor.  Instead, with the disciplines gleaned from their impoverished situation, the author’s own grades placed him into this exclusive college as a day student.  He wrote the college’s entrance exams with ease and was accepted under a special bursary set aside for the underprivileged.  Yet, with adolescence there came distractions, and one year the challenge to achieve the scholarship required was not fully met.  That one, single year, ANTON VON STEFAN's marks fell short.  Undaunted, the determined lad went directly to the headmaster and offered himself up as a slave.  As a private institution, the request was granted, and each classroom in the elementary part of the college was washed and painted with care.  This work was ungrudgingly completed and the hard lesson of failure learned.  The author graduated Magna Cum Laude with both an Arts and a Science major.

Few graduates of this most exclusive institution do not go on for their master or doctoral degrees, fewer still turn their backs upon higher education when they are near the top of their class.  Yet, money, or one should say the lack thereof, once more played its part.  The owner of the century old house the family had rented for almost two decades died, and they were about to be put out.  The aged parents were faced with a bleak and uncertain future, as failing sight and eventual blindness was having its effect on the author’s father.  Unemployment having struck his begetters numerous times, the author turned his back on a life of relative ease at a university of his choice and took on manual labour at a grain terminal on the waterfront of the city.  The plan was to remain a few years, put the family onto its feet, and then return to his studies.

It is often said that “the best laid plans of mice and men are often torn asunder” and so it was with the early life of ANTON VON STEFAN .  Hard work, and one’s willingness to see something through to its end, tempers an individual, and those that survive can truly be proud of their achievements.

While six employees started on the day our author first stepped foot on the docks, only two remained at the end of the first week.  Less than a month later, only the author remained.  Physically growing with the daily grind of shovelling grain by hand, time passed so quickly that three years passed in the blink of an eye.  Suddenly, there was an opening in a trade and a chance to return to school without having to depart from the workforce and the generous wages offered in recompense.  ANTON VON STEFAN jumped at the chance, and a four year apprenticeship ensued.  Then, with the daily challenges his employer presented the young journeyman, work became an enjoyable life that not only afforded a better situation for the family as a whole, but the funds were soon adequate enough to run a second household.  All-the-while maintaining the family’s home, the author moved out and into the heart of the city he worked in.  This return to the urban life was about to bring a permutation that would thrust the pen back into ANTON VON STEFAN's hand.  His love of writing was about to commence in earnest.  Yet, to truly comprehend this transition, let us peel back the pages of time to his final years at the college.

 *Note: As stated in part one, Twisted Biography, the Author's mother had died three years prior to his birth.  This is to say that, after bearing a son three years before, both son and mother were pronounced 'dead' in the operating room.  The doctors and staff abandoned the mother after these horrid prognoses, giving priority to only reviving the author's older brother.  This elder sibling was successfully brought round while the spirit of ANTON VON STEFAN's mother 'watched' the whole process.  Once she heard her offspring scream, she became aware of a 'presence' by her side.  This 'being' then called out to her to come (forward).  It was said to be a "kind, peaceful voice" which was emanating from a "bright light nearby".  Yet, as she saw the wonder of her child's revival, she had made an instant decision that her new born "needed" her, and she simply floated down and back into her corporal being.  The instant she lay down into that rigid form, one of the nurses noticed a twitch in the 'dead' being, and the staff turned their attention to the mother.  Thus, both mother and son survived. 

Go to: The Formative Years



Go to: Twisted Biography

Go to: Home Page