15 Minutes of Fame

15 Minutes of Fame(Andrew Strauss) 15 minutes of Fame!!

I purposely do not describe the physical characteristics of my characters...
Andrew, Andrew, Andrew, Andrew!!!!

Hi Mr.Vantol, did you see Andrew? Mrs.Strauss was calling out her son, when she saw Rich Vantol, her neighbour, standing adjacent to her house.
He is right behind me, isn't he? A embarrassed Mrs. Strauss looked behind and saw her son smiling... Is this one of your Psychological experiments? A playful angry tone sounded in her voice..

Andrew laughed and so did Rich Vantol from the opposite end.

Get away from me young man, said Mrs. Strauss.

He is a mama's boy!!! Mr. Strauss (andrew's father) passed the slightly offhand remark.

NOOO .. He is not .. said Mrs.Strauss..

Ohh yeah he is .. lol, all of the family members started to laugh and Mrs. strauss quietly sulked away to continue preparing her food..

You owe me 20 bucks dad.. mom is obsessed with me, she likes to watch me from the corner of her eye...

Yes you are right. (It was andrew's parents marriage anniversary and all of the family's relatives and friends had gathered in their house for celebration and food) ...

In the kitchen, Sarah (Mrs.Strauss's sister), wanting to tease Mrs. Strauss even more, said her 18 year old son's past girlfriend looked like his mother, even wore hair like her, ala odepius complex...

shut your mouth sarah!! my son is not odepius, he just has good taste in Women :)

LOL !!! both the sisters laughed..Both the sisters were close. Sarah did not have kids due to her physical problems and she doted on Andrew as his second mother..

Andrew on the other hand enjoyed being the only child and loved to see his mom and aunt dote on him.. He respected his father although was a little upset with him since he had cheated on his mother, and yet maa had accepted and stayed within the marriage. This complex nature of his parent's relationship baffled him.

Day after the party, andrew and his mother went for some grocery shopping. They always did it together. Yes both of them were very close and why not, andrew was the only son who had good leadership qualities to speak of in life.

It was 7:30pm when the mother son duo stepped out. Since it was winter, it was dark and the parking lot was empty. They heard what looked like a commotion. they could see four punks who seemed teenagers harassing a old man. Andrew tried to hurry up to the car but Mrs.Strauss would have none of it, she started shouting and ran towards the commotion.. Strangely she could see her son stood still..

Mrs. strauss ran towards the commotion calling emergency. seeing her, the four punks ran away .. soon the police came and everyone was sent on their way. In the car, Mrs.strauss was very Angry over her boy.. she told Andrew straight away.. She did not expect her son to be a coward.. he tried to reason with her, she would have none of it.
Unless you see a gun my Son, fight!! and when you have a gun, learn to use it to protect. Do not be a coward and stay back.

She did not mention this to her husband and neither did Andrew. It was calm for a few days in the Strausse's household.

Andrew found a part time job for the weekends and used to take the subway to ride the city, to the place he worked. He worked as a waiter in a restaurant and after his night shift, he again took the subway to get back to his home.
He noticed a middle aged women as his only companion in the empty subway car. Suddenly he saw 2 Shabby looking men enter the car.. they immediately noticed him and her and sat nearby .. they asked him if he had a dollar to spare.

He gave them the 5$ tip he made at work.. they asked the lady for money as well, when she refused to give any, they got up and were about to walk away from her.
Andrew saw this as an opportunity, he wanted to impress his mother and feeling a little confident of himself, hit one of them hard. LO Behold, it worked, both of them ran away. The driver immediately stopped the subway train after the lady pulled the chain and the transit police arrested the men.. they took Andrew's statement and let him go..

strangely, the woman did not thank him ..

andrew reached his home and not wanting to disturb his mother and father with his heroic tale, he slept thru...

Morning my dear brave boy!! it was his mother. what? Said Andrew. honey, you are a Hero!! my Hero!!
she switched on the TV and andrew saw how the hungry media had made him a hero. He learnt the cops wanted to thank him, everything had changed suddenly..

wow, his father actually made him a cake... wow.. andrew's mother was ecastic. His aunt came over and congratulated the young boy who had become a HERO!! The neighbor girls wanted to talk to him .. it is such a good feeling he thought!!

Where is the lady , I do not see her anywhere, he thought... maybe she is afraid of the attention she would get.. she did not even thank me..


Three months after the dust had settled, Andrew no longer worked at the restaurant. He worked at a carpenter store now, earnt much better.. It was evening when he was taking the 7'0clock train back to home when he saw a familiar face.. it was the lady from that night..

He went over to her, she recognized him and remarked!!
Are you going to hit someone today?
Wait, what? he asked..
well how does it feel to be a hero?
Truly speaking : Good, he jokingly mentioned!
Yaa, you must be really proud of yourself, you hit someone who was non-threatening .. You did not have the courage to come out and to clarify things.. I came out but the Police and media shut me down ..she said!!
Maybe you are just like everyone else.. 15 minutes story, 15 minutes fame and 15 minutes a hero!!

Andrew walked slowly, realizing his 15 min status was just a gimmick!!