Chapter Twelve—Part 1
A father sees his son nearing manhood.
What shall he tell that son?
'Life is hard; be steel; be a rock.'
And this might stand him for the storms
and serve him for humdrum monotony
and guide him among sudden betrayals
and tighten him for slack moments.
'Life is a soft loam; be gentle; go easy.'
And this too might serve him.
Brutes have been gentled where lashes failed.
The growth of a frail flower in a path up
has sometimes shattered and split a rock.
A tough will counts. So does desire.
A Father To His Son (Lines 1-13) by Carl Sandburg
Luke sits at the one of the small circular tables in the cafeteria of Anchorhead Secondary School. Windy and Deak sit across from him, arguing about a holovid they have both recently seen. Luke is only partial paying attention to Camie, sitting next to him, as she reads the week's list of homework off of a sheet of flimsy. They had all graduated from primary school last month, only two weeks after Luke's twelfth birthday.
At the table next to theirs, Janek Sunber, Biggs Darklighter and Laze Loneozner were talking loudly about the latest podrace in Mos Espa. Gazing down at his datapad, Luke wishes they would be quiet. The Secondary School has unrestricted access to the HoloNet even when they are not in class. Since school started last week ago, Luke has been spending all his free time researching everything he can find about Anakin Skywalker.
The man who became Darth Vader and killed his mom.
Skywalker had been a hero of the Clone Wars along with his dad, Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi. Yet there isn't much information to be found about him. Skywalker's exploits in the war are well known, where he earned the nickname the Hero with No Fear. But there isn't much data about him prior to, or during, the Separatist Crisis. Luke has found rumors on the 'Net that Skywalker had died trying to protect Jedi children from Vader and the Stormtroopers.
But no one seems to be aware that Vader, the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet, and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker are the same person.
"Aren't you going to eat, Wormie?" Camie asks.
Luke scowls. On the second day of school, Laze had put dung worms in his lunch as a joke. The smell was so bad his dad had to come take him home so he could clean his clothes. Laze hadn't even gotten in trouble for it. The next day people started calling him Wormie and now even his friends used the stupid name. Luke takes a deep breath and releases his annoyance into the Force, like his dad taught him. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Laze, Janek and Biggs stand up.
"I want to finish reading this first," he says.
"Don't look, but Tank is headed this way," Deak says quietly. Tank is Laze's nickname. Luke thinks it is well earned. Only fifteen years old, Laze is already broad-shouldered and over two meters tall. The older boy is known for teasing the new kids and Luke knows his friends are scared of him.
"Not again," Windy mutters.
"I wish he'd just leave us alone," Camie sighs.
"Why are you always reading, Wormie?" Laze asks as he comes up behind Luke.
"I like reading," Luke says, imitating neutral tone his dad uses sometimes.
"You know only a gaggalak boy likes reading?" Laze taunted. That was Huttese for worm eating.
"You know only a wermo doesn't?" Luke retorts. His friends gasp, surprised that he would call Tank stupid.
Laze snorts and looks at the pad screen from over Luke's shoulder "Who is Anakin Skywalker?" he asks.
"Lord Vader's real name," Luke says casually. He never would have done so normally but he is really annoyed now.
Laze laughs derisively. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! If you believe that then you are too stupid to have this," Laze snatches the datapad out of his hand.
Luke stands up and faces Laze.
"Give it back," he demands.
"Or you'll do what?" Laze laughs.
In response, Luke charges the larger boy. Using the Force he leaps and with is right hand he delivers a palm-strike to Laze's collar bone. Luke lands lightly on his feet, slightly crouched, prepared for the counterattack. It doesn't come. Laze doubles over, grabbing his shoulder as the datapad falls to the floor, its screen cracking. Luke winces; he has had that datapad since he was a kid. While Luke knows his dad is not so bad off as they used to be, it is not like they have money to spare.
Gazing at Laze moaning in pain, the broken datapad beside him, Luke knows his dad is going to kill him.