Plodding

“They were lucky people, Clark’s parents, lucky and unsurprised by their luck.” (Tobias Wolff, Flyboys 145). You could see it in their faces. Clark’s father always wore a haughty look, one that made you realize that this man could have anything he wanted, and that he knew you couldn’t. He had made a fortune investing and wanted the world to know it. He was invariably clothed in a hideous custard suit, one covered in frills, which somehow seem to accentuate his already sizable gut. Whenever he talked, he always sounded as though his moth was full of some disgusting dish. He would always try to impress you by using big words, which, ironically, he almost never knew the meaning of. Clark’s father however was not the most remarkable character in the family.
Clark’s mother had been born into a wealthy Irish family who own most of Dublin. Her father had built his company from the ground up. Orphaned at an early age, he had spent most of his childhood in the slums, until one day he entered a contest at his school. His classmates had always known that he was smart, but they had never comprehended the depths of his intelligence. The contest’s sponsor, an old-childless businessman, was so impressed by the boy’s intelligence that he brought him back to his home. It was here that Clark’s mother’s father learned the tools needed to succeed in life.
At age 25, he married a wealthy duchess, and used her money to build himself an empire. Theirs was a relationship not based on love, but rather mutual dependence. Soon after that Clark’s mother was born.
She grew up without ever learning the word no. What ever she wanted was hers, and she soon learned to use this to her advantage. She was an extremely bright child. Her father loved her for this, and because of it, her father gave her anything her heart desired. And while her father provided the gifts, her mother taught her how to be noble.
After her parents died, she began looking for a suitably rich husband. One starry night in Paris, she met Clark’s father. The two were a perfect match. Both rich, pamper, and pompous; they fell in love immediately. Nine months later, Clark was born.
A small, piggish looking boy, Clark seemed to have inherited none of his prodigious parents qualities, save for their intelligence. He lacked his mother’s drive, or her yearning for upward movement. He lacked his father’s cunning, or even his pompous attitude. He was an outcast in his own home. Without the love from his parents, Clark had two options. Slowly plod through life, or learn to fend for himself. Unfortunately, two years later, Clark is still plodding.