They are in their late sixties when they inherit me.  I am eleven and pissed at the world.  My grandpa and the only woman I call Mom, even though she’s technically my step-grandmother, have divorced.  His drinking finally drove her away.  She leaves him and out of spite, he sends me along with her dog Sammy, to Florida to live with his best friends from an earlier era, when he flew planes in Alaska. 

Bill and Wanda get a kid and an extra poodle for their friendship. Roy follows us to Florida after the divorce but I never live with him again.  Except for a three-week cross-country trip to a family reunion when I’m 12, we never see each other, even though he lives next door.  He likes the bachelor life and he’s flying airplanes again.