Catching back up :D Meet Victor

Yesterday's blog did not happen, and I do apologize as it was a dark day in the world of Andi Pray. However, today is a new day with lots of sunshine. Time to keep moving forward and see what is happening with our characters - especially with two blogs to catch up on.

Today we talk with Victor Cambridge; the hero in our story Haunting Footsteps. Victor was born in Kent England, where his father grew up, but was orphaned at a very young age. His mother, Irene, being of Huntingdon Irish pride, knew what she wanted when she met the handsome Englishman, Shaun Cambridge, much to the dismay of her father, Donovan Huntingdon.

Q&A: Good afternoon, Victor, and thank you for joining us here today. You have had quite a shock seeing your high school sweetheart standing right before you and the new high school principal. After voicing your concerns about moving the classrooms around, you turn and there she is. What were your first thoughts?

Victor: I don't think  I can say the actual words without the repercussions of being slapped by my grandmother afterwards. (Gives a nervous laugh and sits straighter in his chair.) But it did take me by surprise. For several nights in a row, I had reoccurring dreams about the last time I saw her and the condition she was in. It gave me hope that I would see her again. Now, as I'm talking with other math teachers in the upstairs hallway, I hear voices from downstairs and I take advantage of the possibility it could be this new principal.

Q&A: How did it strike you with his last name?

Victor: (Thinks for a moment with his lips pierced.) Odd. I think when the e-mail came through about Dr. Orion's illness and his retirement with the naming of his replacement is when the nightmares began. Hearing that name, St. Mark might have triggered some memories. At first, I thought about turning in my own resignation, but I thought maybe he had some answers. Turns out she was right there, white as a ghost, shaking, and her eyes glazed over. At first I didn't recognize her until she spoke and I turned to look her in the eyes. Then I knew it was Kinsey.

Q&A: So your first sense of overwhelming shock of actually seeing her there threw you for a loop. Then what? What were your first thoughts, that you can tell us, that went through your mind?

Victor: It was like I was that teenage boy again. The one who waited for ten years to find out what happened, where she went, and why she would not talk to me. The day Kinsey left school, she refused to talk to me. I thought she would get over it in a few days. Then weeks and months went by. The next I knew my grandfather sent me back to Kent to be with my father's family. As soon as I graduated with my degrees and went through the tests to come back to America to teach, I went straight to that school. It's where a part of me, a broken puzzle piece if you'll excuse the cliche, lived still. I knew I had to go back to find answers.

Q&A: How long were you back before your answers started arriving?

Victor: I taught one whole school year under a grant with the experiments of using the chemicals. I did not know if it would repeat and be funded again, but there I was. Another school year ahead of me and getting my inventory set up to match my lesson plans. And there she was looking as though she would pass out. Kinsey was not what you would perhaps consider delicate, but she was definately emotional. She tried to hide it a lot with joking around or going silent, but I could always see right through her. and I knew the instant I saw her, she was battling something. I thought it was just the connection with the principal, but then I remembered her daughter and learned who the father was. That's when the pieces started to come together and I could feel myself becoming whole. That's when I also knew I wanted to be a part of her life again.

Q&A: Ten years is a long time. What made you want to try again with Kinsey and be there for her?

Victor: I have white-knight-syndrome.  (Gives a small laugh before clearing his throat and being a little more serious.) My gram. I blame her. She would always tell me about my parents dating and how they fought against tradition and my grandfather's prejudices. I knew Grandfather would not be happy about Kinsey even moving back to the same small town as we were, let alone that we worked at the same high school; nor would he be happy with the fact that I wanted to start again. However, as my mom knew what was right for her and what she wanted, I knew what was right for me and what I wanted.

Q&A: Kinsey mentioned she felt like she was on parole with your grandfather. Do you think that is an over-dramatic statement?

Victor: No, infortunately. Kinsey was adventurous and always ready to try new things. I think after my parents died, my grandfather tried to raise me as he did my mother. He knew what was right for those he was in charge of and so they had to follow his rules. Kinsey did not necessarily disregard rules, but she loved to bend them as far as she could to see how much she could get away with. That spelt trouble for Grandfather, and so, yeah. He watched her like a hawk. She was too... outgoing... is perhaps the word I'm looking for. She was not of traditional convention. She wanted to do too much, prove herself, and have fun. Grandfather had a certain view point of how a young lady should act, and Kinsey was just the opposite.

Q&A: Do you think that is what the atrracftion? The rebellion against your grandfather?

Victor: Not the attraction in the whole. It was definately a piece of it. Kinsey just had this way of looking at things that always surprised me. You could give her an orange and she would tell a story about how it was a sun or an alien egg. You could give her an egg and she would say it was a precious treasure you had to hide from a troll who wanted to use its power to take over the forest. Easter was never boring when it came to egg hunts. They went on for hours as she kept re-hiding the eggs and everyone's candy.

Thank you, Victor for your time. We will hear more from you later on. But first, let's see today's excerpt.