Born in Two Rock, Texas, Maurice was raised with his two older brothers and older sister. While not outright antisocial, being the youngest of four tends to make a body shy. The littlest goes last. He didn't have many friends outside of recess in elementary school and the age gap between him and his siblings was wide enough to make him into a 'tag along' rather than a playmate. He spent most of his time watching his mother in the kitchen when he wasn't playing outside. They were incredibly close--something his sister would grow to be very jealous of.
His mother was a jovial, rough and tumble trucker (a mothertrucker if you will) who retired around the time Maurice entered high school and she instilled an interest in mechanics in Maurice. His father did as well, still having many of the farm machines left around the property from his life of cotton farming and keeping cattle. Maurice took to it well and this being the early 1980's, there were plenty of robots on TV that might've had something to do with it too. He disassembled many remote controls, a VCR, and one blender.
He received his first guitar when he was nine and hardly big enough to hold it the right way. His dad was happy to teach him, also being a shy person. They bonded the most through this and for a short time, Maurice played acoustic at church with a few of the other kids. Music turned into a huge outlet for him and he became skilled at both reading and writing sheet music.
And then GLAM ROCK happened. It utterly captivated Maurice. Bright colors, big hair, plastic jackets and smoke! A love for theatrical concerts led him towards theater in general. He loved the idea of loud, showy, impressive songs that told stories. Jem and the Holograms, Sailor Moon, David Bowie, Queen, all these things put stars in young Maurice's eyes. He was thrilled when his parents let him join the middle school drama club. Maurice made a little pack of drama buddies which was a whole new experience for him. It was a special kind of nerdery and he was among his people.
Unfortunately, this was not to last.
When his sister became pregnant at the age of 17, their mother flew into a drunken religious rage that she would not surface from for many years. Suddenly the family did not match the perfect down-home southern christian aesthetic. Things changed suddenly and drastically in the Hutch household. A lot of pressure was put on the remaining 'good' children not to 'screw up' the image his mother had made in her head. At this point, Maurice's brothers were both 16 and Maurice was 14. They were pressured into business and other useful bread-winning things as they had both become interested in the newly appearing computer phenomenon. Her husband hid himself away in his shed and began a near endless task of building his own boat from scratch even though they were hundreds of miles from the nearest lake. His sister was hounded and guilted until the day of her daughter's birth. Her shotgun husband was almost forced to move in with them.
Maurice did not escape her wrath either.
With her head filled with the pressure of the church, she associated her youngest's son's gentle disposition and love for songs and sequins with homosexuality and weakness. These were 'sins' she would not allow in her family and she did everything within her power to stomp these interests out of Maurice while her husband looked on helplessly. Maurice's father, while loving, did not have the stiffest spine in the world—-a trait Maurice inherited. I feel it important to mention that Margret Hutch is a six-foot-two woman with arms like basset hounds. To a fourteen-year-old this roughly translates to the size and shape of a building. With her cheerful disposition buried under stress and shame, Maurice's mother became a threatening entity that would yank ears and pop jaws as she saw fit. He was pulled out of drama and shoved into football. Somehow she thought putting Maurice in an environment where he'd be constantly surrounded by sweaty half-naked boys would make him LESS likely to turn out gay. Good job.
This transformation erased any outgoing traits Maurice had developed in drama club and turned him into an introverted nervous wreck. Margret refused to allow his sister to move out of the house because she was convinced that she wouldn't know what to do with the child if she herself had done so poorly as a mother. His brothers didn't fair much better and took on as many after school activities as they could once they began driving to be home as little as possible. Maurice lost himself in comic books and rock and roll (the loud angry kind that drowns out yelling and doesn't have posters that are too colorful for his mother's tastes) and slowly but surely grew into a rebellious seventeen year old himself. And just grew in general.
Maurice is his mother's son. Though not quite six feet tall, Maurice's frame is an intimidating one and the boy suddenly found himself much larger than most of his peers. He was big, emotionally constipated, and stressed with a screaming toddler, a screaming mother, a screaming sister, and too many damn cats all in one house.
TIME TO BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF SOME FLUTE PLAYERS AND THEN CRY ABOUT IT LATER AWH YEAH SON.
Rat tail, black vest, popped collar and all, Maurice became the perfect picture of a 90's cartoon high school bully when he wasn't in the field house. He targeted the band and drama kids in particular out of jealousy, but anyone small enough to be shoved into a locker was fair game. Girls were exempt from this, however. His sister and mother both had put a sort of strange fear of women into him at an early age. Or more of a quaking respect. Along with the bullying, Maurice experimented with alcohol--most of which he stole from his mother's poorly hidden stash. It allowed him to relax and let a little more of himself out at parties that he wasn't exactly invited to and throughout the whole thing, neither of his parents found out about it. His mother was finally alerted by the school his senior year when Maurice had been found in a garbage can, unconscious, after finally picking a fight with the wrong person.
Margret, naturally, exploded. When she arrived to pick him up from school, a knock-down drag-out fight erupted between them in the parking lot. The authorities were almost involved. When the dust cleared, his mother realized what she had done to her son--and her entire family. She had been wrong about everything and in that, had broken a kid who had probably been on his way to turning out just fine. He (and she) were no closer to God than a hole in the ground. If she had ever failed as a mother, this was it. That year was another year of rapid change.
The house grew quiet as a tomb. His brothers moved away to start their own business. His sister was finally allowed to leave and move in with her husband and daughter--and soon to be second child. Maurice spent the rest of his senior year as an only child and a completely different person. Instead of the goofy musician or the hallway lurking bully, Maurice became a shadow in the background that wore clean shirts, kept short orderly hair, and didn't say a word to anyone.
Not one word.
Having had quite enough excitement for one lifetime, in his opinion, Maurice was happy to move on to college to learn how to be a mechanic so that he could be left alone in a garage all day. And maybe play his guitar. Once he moved into the dorms he discovered that he had no idea how to interact with people his own age. It's hard to go from being a drama nerd to a bully to a recluse to a normal human being again. It was here that Maurice rediscovered alcohol, but instead of partying with other college kids, he drank himself to sleep. His grades fell, his hair grew shaggy, and the freshman fifteen turned into something like the freshman fifty. He was more preoccupied by daydreams and listening to stuff on his walkman than doing anything social outside.
He did manage to loosen up a little bit. He would quietly play Sega with his roomie and let other people borrow his shop notes. Maurice started sporting what he called a 'rocker mullet' and proclaiming that the '80's would never die.' He fancied that it made him look too dangerous to talk to so he wouldn't end up embarrassing himself but really people just knew him as 'that quiet guy that never bothers anyone and will kick your ass at Mortal Kombat' and he liked it that way. His appearance did cause a few familiar faces from his bullying days to take different routs to class though. He pretended not to notice. He left music behind but still managed to snag one Shakespeare class. Sadly instead of joining in discussing the bard, he just listened and turned in his papers without making any friends. He felt a connection to the lyrical plays. Most of his time went into metal shop and automotive.
2/???
Born in Two Rock, Texas, Maurice was raised with his two older brothers and older sister. While not outright antisocial, being the youngest of four tends to make a body shy. The littlest goes last. He didn't have many friends outside of recess in elementary school and the age gap between him and his siblings was wide enough to make him into a 'tag along' rather than a playmate. He spent most of his time watching his mother in the kitchen when he wasn't playing outside. They were incredibly close--something his sister would grow to be very jealous of.
His mother was a jovial, rough and tumble trucker (a mothertrucker if you will) who retired around the time Maurice entered high school and she instilled an interest in mechanics in Maurice. His father did as well, still having many of the farm machines left around the property from his life of cotton farming and keeping cattle. Maurice took to it well and this being the early 1980's, there were plenty of robots on TV that might've had something to do with it too. He disassembled many remote controls, a VCR, and one blender.
He received his first guitar when he was nine and hardly big enough to hold it the right way. His dad was happy to teach him, also being a shy person. They bonded the most through this and for a short time, Maurice played acoustic at church with a few of the other kids. Music turned into a huge outlet for him and he became skilled at both reading and writing sheet music.
And then GLAM ROCK happened. It utterly captivated Maurice. Bright colors, big hair, plastic jackets and smoke! A love for theatrical concerts led him towards theater in general. He loved the idea of loud, showy, impressive songs that told stories. Jem and the Holograms, Sailor Moon, David Bowie, Queen, all these things put stars in young Maurice's eyes. He was thrilled when his parents let him join the middle school drama club. Maurice made a little pack of drama buddies which was a whole new experience for him. It was a special kind of nerdery and he was among his people.
Unfortunately, this was not to last.
When his sister became pregnant at the age of 17, their mother flew into a drunken religious rage that she would not surface from for many years. Suddenly the family did not match the perfect down-home southern christian aesthetic. Things changed suddenly and drastically in the Hutch household. A lot of pressure was put on the remaining 'good' children not to 'screw up' the image his mother had made in her head. At this point, Maurice's brothers were both 16 and Maurice was 14. They were pressured into business and other useful bread-winning things as they had both become interested in the newly appearing computer phenomenon. Her husband hid himself away in his shed and began a near endless task of building his own boat from scratch even though they were hundreds of miles from the nearest lake. His sister was hounded and guilted until the day of her daughter's birth. Her shotgun husband was almost forced to move in with them.
Maurice did not escape her wrath either.
With her head filled with the pressure of the church, she associated her youngest's son's gentle disposition and love for songs and sequins with homosexuality and weakness. These were 'sins' she would not allow in her family and she did everything within her power to stomp these interests out of Maurice while her husband looked on helplessly. Maurice's father, while loving, did not have the stiffest spine in the world—-a trait Maurice inherited. I feel it important to mention that Margret Hutch is a six-foot-two woman with arms like basset hounds. To a fourteen-year-old this roughly translates to the size and shape of a building. With her cheerful disposition buried under stress and shame, Maurice's mother became a threatening entity that would yank ears and pop jaws as she saw fit. He was pulled out of drama and shoved into football. Somehow she thought putting Maurice in an environment where he'd be constantly surrounded by sweaty half-naked boys would make him LESS likely to turn out gay. Good job.
This transformation erased any outgoing traits Maurice had developed in drama club and turned him into an introverted nervous wreck. Margret refused to allow his sister to move out of the house because she was convinced that she wouldn't know what to do with the child if she herself had done so poorly as a mother. His brothers didn't fair much better and took on as many after school activities as they could once they began driving to be home as little as possible. Maurice lost himself in comic books and rock and roll (the loud angry kind that drowns out yelling and doesn't have posters that are too colorful for his mother's tastes) and slowly but surely grew into a rebellious seventeen year old himself. And just grew in general.
Maurice is his mother's son. Though not quite six feet tall, Maurice's frame is an intimidating one and the boy suddenly found himself much larger than most of his peers. He was big, emotionally constipated, and stressed with a screaming toddler, a screaming mother, a screaming sister, and too many damn cats all in one house.
TIME TO BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF SOME FLUTE PLAYERS AND THEN CRY ABOUT IT LATER AWH YEAH SON.
Rat tail, black vest, popped collar and all, Maurice became the perfect picture of a 90's cartoon high school bully when he wasn't in the field house. He targeted the band and drama kids in particular out of jealousy, but anyone small enough to be shoved into a locker was fair game. Girls were exempt from this, however. His sister and mother both had put a sort of strange fear of women into him at an early age. Or more of a quaking respect. Along with the bullying, Maurice experimented with alcohol--most of which he stole from his mother's poorly hidden stash. It allowed him to relax and let a little more of himself out at parties that he wasn't exactly invited to and throughout the whole thing, neither of his parents found out about it. His mother was finally alerted by the school his senior year when Maurice had been found in a garbage can, unconscious, after finally picking a fight with the wrong person.
Margret, naturally, exploded. When she arrived to pick him up from school, a knock-down drag-out fight erupted between them in the parking lot. The authorities were almost involved. When the dust cleared, his mother realized what she had done to her son--and her entire family. She had been wrong about everything and in that, had broken a kid who had probably been on his way to turning out just fine. He (and she) were no closer to God than a hole in the ground. If she had ever failed as a mother, this was it. That year was another year of rapid change.
The house grew quiet as a tomb. His brothers moved away to start their own business. His sister was finally allowed to leave and move in with her husband and daughter--and soon to be second child. Maurice spent the rest of his senior year as an only child and a completely different person. Instead of the goofy musician or the hallway lurking bully, Maurice became a shadow in the background that wore clean shirts, kept short orderly hair, and didn't say a word to anyone.
Not one word.
Having had quite enough excitement for one lifetime, in his opinion, Maurice was happy to move on to college to learn how to be a mechanic so that he could be left alone in a garage all day. And maybe play his guitar. Once he moved into the dorms he discovered that he had no idea how to interact with people his own age. It's hard to go from being a drama nerd to a bully to a recluse to a normal human being again. It was here that Maurice rediscovered alcohol, but instead of partying with other college kids, he drank himself to sleep. His grades fell, his hair grew shaggy, and the freshman fifteen turned into something like the freshman fifty. He was more preoccupied by daydreams and listening to stuff on his walkman than doing anything social outside.
He did manage to loosen up a little bit. He would quietly play Sega with his roomie and let other people borrow his shop notes. Maurice started sporting what he called a 'rocker mullet' and proclaiming that the '80's would never die.' He fancied that it made him look too dangerous to talk to so he wouldn't end up embarrassing himself but really people just knew him as 'that quiet guy that never bothers anyone and will kick your ass at Mortal Kombat' and he liked it that way. His appearance did cause a few familiar faces from his bullying days to take different routs to class though. He pretended not to notice. He left music behind but still managed to snag one Shakespeare class. Sadly instead of joining in discussing the bard, he just listened and turned in his papers without making any friends. He felt a connection to the lyrical plays. Most of his time went into metal shop and automotive.