"So youse telling me that you two was siblings this whole time and ya never knew?" Romeo asked in disbelief, as Elmer told him the story.

"Exactly."

"But that makes no sense at all!"

"I knows it, but it's true!" Elmer grinned. Romeo nodded.

"Okay, so what about ya parents?"

"We didn't figure that out... We looked for a while, but we found nothin'." Elmer sighed.

"Really? Nothing at all? That's ridiculous."

"Again, Romeo, strange but true." The two were walking towards the lodging house a few days after Elmer and Smalls had made their discovery. Romeo brightened after a moment.

"What about the city records? They'd have information!" He started to turn in that direction. Elmer grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

"Wait a minute. You know those places don't like us because we don't shower every day and we's smelly." He said. Romeo shrugged.

"Yeah, but it's for the public to use. We's may not be perfect, but we's the public!" He took off, Elmer chasing after him. Ten minutes later, they arrived at the city hall to look at public records. The boys were taken into a room with numerous files on thousands of people in New York City.

"Hey, Elmer, what's ya last name?" Romeo asked, looking through the files.

"Shouldn't we wait for Smalls to get here? I mean, this is a big deal." Elmer replied with hesitation.

"Fine, I'll find the file. But we won't open it yet. Deal?" The other boy suggested. Elmer sighed anxiously. Part of him didn't want to open the file at all. If his parents were dead, he would rather not know. Finally, he nodded.

"Deal." He agreed. It took over an hour to get word to Smalls about what the boys were up to. However, she managed to get there as fast as she could.

"What's going on?" She asked hurriedly.

"The city records might know about our parents." Elmer replied quickly. Romeo had laid the file carefully on a nearby table. The three of them crowded around it as Elmer read through the files.

"Okay here we go. Dad moved here in 1881. I would've been three. You were just born. He came here with us... But not Mom." He sounded slightly disappointed.

"Does it say what happened to her?" Smalls whispered. Elmer checked.

" 'Spouse: Deceased 1881'..." His voice trailed off. They looked at each other for a long moment. Romeo was awkwardly standing in the corner.

"I'm so sorry guys..." He said quietly. Neither of the two answered him. They looked at each other. After a moment, Smalls spoke.

"Well... At least Dad is still alive..." She whispered. Elmer nodded.

"Maybe this will tell us where he is." He replied, looking through the file.

"Yeah! You're right!" Smalls perked up immediately. They looked for several minutes before finding the correct piece of paper.

"Here it is!" Elmer said right as they found it.

"Okay..." She read it out loud. "Currently resides in... Queens! Elmer! That's so near to us!" She said excitedly. For a moment, Elmer looked excited too, but then he paused.

"Smalls... Are we sure we want to meet him?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why would we want to meet the guy who abandoned us? Especially because we were so little then... He gave up little children." He explained. For a moment, she agreed with him, but then she shook her head.

"No... I want to meet him."

"Smalls, I don't think-"

"I want to meet him." she declared adamantly. Elmer knew he couldn't argue with her. Although he was uncomfortable with the idea, he had to admit he was a little curious about who his father was.

"Alright… We'll go meet him. But I still don't think it's a good idea."

"And why not? Elmer, he's our dad. Haven't you ever wondered what he was like? Haven't you ever you wondered what you inherited from him? Maybe he's the reason you're so much taller than me, or maybe you got your overwhelming protectiveness from him!"

"But he abandoned us! What kind of a father abandons his kids like that?" Elmer protested.

"Maybe he had a reason!" Smalls shot back. Her brother sighed.

"Fine. You're right. Let's find out where he lives and go see him." Elmer replied. Romeo, who had been standing in the corner watching all of this, cut in.

"Wait, you can't just go see him tonight!" Romeo said, stopping them. Smalls looked up.

"And why not?"

"Think about it. A guy hasn't seen his kids in fifteen years, and then they magically show up one day with no warning. Talk about the shock of his life." he pointed out.

"So… then what do we do? How do we tell him we're coming?"

"I dunno… maybe write him a note or something?"

"A note? Come on, there's got to be a better idea than that!" Smalls muttered. The two boys shrugged. Neither of them had a better idea. Once it had been agreed that they would leave him a note that evening, the three of them set out to decide what Elmer and Smalls would say to their father.