Thank you for choosing to read Last Men Standing (LMS), the third chronological story in The Holden Chronicles (HC). Last Men Standing is about a man's understanding of a curse that has been recognized as a blessing in all the generations of the family. This story chronicles his experiences in trying to change his life ultimately. This is the first chapter which introduces the main character into the story. Warning: This story is meant for adults. If you are under the legal age of 18 or do not wish to read experimental sexual topics, leave this story, and leave this site. Enjoy!
Chapter One : Last Men Standing
Sometimes having too much intellect can mean you can be equally serious with minor and major problems. It can lead people to be so critical about their existence that they throw their cares out the window. I'm not one to judge people, but in my dad and grandfather's line of the family, we became a sort between hippies, stoners, and surf-gurus. It got so bad that our blessings of having sons as our only offspring reversed on itself and literally killed off every single person in our line of the family. Sometimes it would get so bad that one couldn't live past 30 years of age (because he starved himself to death thinking that "one doesn't need food to live") or some wouldn't live as long just to see their grandkids.
Someone had to stop the curse from killing off my great-great-grandfather's family line (he was one of the sons who settled in Hawaii and was the actual person who would look like Gandhi), and that was my dad. He had a good balance between work, family life, and his high intellect. He wasn't overly intellectual about small problems, or even major problems for that matter. He was like the only person in my line of the family to keep his body healthy and save his intellect for the important things, like wooing my mom into marrying him or finding the most durable but most cheapest line of diapers for the baby (me).
He had been critical in the way his family line's life pattern unfolded. He was the first person to see that either family members would stone (smoke weed or other narcotics) themselves to death or die before seeing their grandchildren, if they even had grandchildren. He had made a decision to leave Hawaii, put his drug-infested and overly-intellectual background and try his luck somewhere else. Events prior to his decision had motivated him to choose it. A month before his choosing, my grandfather died of lung cancer. Two weeks later, my mother dies from diabetes (it was diagnosed two years before, yet she had an extreme case of sweet-tooth). Just think how that jump-started my father's decision.
Immediately, my dad and I (I'm an only child) packed our bags, wiped our grief-stricken foreheads, and left Hawaii with all the bad influences of having too much intellect behind and headed straight for the mainland, hoping that there was joy there.
We arrived in good old California. We were blessed to have one of my relatives allow us to stay, but for a price. The price of the rent wasn't too bad and my dad was able to pay for everything, which would be a room for me and a room for himself (my relative was filthy rich by the way, having a six-bedroom house and four cars on his driveway). We wouldn't stay for long, since living in a house ten times bigger than a island hut was a big step for my dad and he insisted in living in an apartment. He had this philosophy of getting rich and staying rich, and to not buy expensive things. He would always tell me if a rich man buys an expensive house, he isn't rich anymore.