*references my story "A Child Of The Street"

*July 3 1965

Audrey noticed it first coming home from the shop that evening.

"Seymour!" she gasped swinging open the front gate with great force and racing ahead.

He was startled to say the least. Audrey didn't get far before she turned back to him beaming and waiting for him to catch up. That was when he noticed it. Sitting right in front of their front door was a brown package. He didn't know what he was expecting but it was bigger than he thought it might be. Just slightly larger than a shoebox. It sat there waiting for him.

Picking it up, it wasn't very heavy. It sounded like papers shifting inside and tried to hold it level. Up until now all he had had from his mother was a single folder. One of the few items that had come with them from Skid Row. It contained his mother's death certificate and Seymour's birth certificate. Both these items brought him great agitation but couldn't bare to leave them behind. It would have been like leaving her behind. It was also a gift from Mr. Stanley that he had given Seymour when he had first left The Home to work for Mr. Mushnik. Along with a small white envelope inside, which contained a single pink carnation which Stanley had found in her palm after she had passed. He didn't have anything of his father's. In fact, he didn't even have a name. It wasn't written on his birth certificate, or more that it wasn't finished being written. But it was the only hint he had.

They took the box inside and placed it on the table.

Lifting the lid with both hands Seymour couldn't help but laugh.

"Carnations?" Audrey asked leaning forward to glance in.

On top of all the items sat a dozen dried carnations.

"It looks like the rest of the bouquet."

Seymour reached in and lifted them as gently as he was able. Dried petals shed and rained down onto the other items. He placed them on the table and turned back to the box.

"Oh Audrey look!"

A magazine was curved in a J shape on the bottom and side of the box to fit. The colors were faded but he read white letters clearly on top of a picture of a suburban house: Better Homes And Gardens July 1940 10c

"Oh my goodness," she breathed.

He pulled it out and handed it off to her.

"Bizzare."

Seymour began to wade through the papers. There were around a dozen envelopes torn open; only about half still containing their letters. He pulled some out forming a pile on the table. It was underneath he noticed the photographs. Loosely thrown in the box were small sepia or black and white snapshots. On top he found one a child around the age of six who stood on the street he recognized as Skid Row. She wore a loose knee length jumper and short curly hair. In her arms she held a small stray cat, and she was smiling as if she was laughing. He glanced at the back where it was written "Alana April 1926"

He handed the photo to Audrey who awwed in response.

Seymour held the stack of photos in his hands and flipped through them. Most of them had his mother in it at a different age. She was usually with a different person or persons, none of which Seymour recognized or expected to. He stopped when Audrey grabbed his arm with her claw nails.

"Seymour! That's my motha'!"

Frantically he flipped back. Alana was in the middle of a group of four girls, all of whom were wearing very short skirts and curly hair, though hers were the only that looked genuine. He didn't recognize the two others but to her immediate left stood a taller girl with platinum blonde hair. He flipped the photo over and in faded pen read "Dorothy, Marianne, Alana, Louise June 1938"

"I didn't know they knew each otha'."

Seymour smiled. "No kidding."

He handed the photograph off to Audrey who held it close to examine.

"Wow," she breathed before putting it next to the other treasures.

Audrey noticed Seymour had come to another photo and stopped. There was his mother in her late teenage years standing in front of a car. Standing next to her was a man, taller and blonde. They stood almost too close to be friendly. Seymour bit his lip.

"Audrey…" he extended it out to her, "do you think this could be my father?"

She took the photograph in her hands. Immediately she flipped it over hoping to see a name or a date written here as well but it was blank. Audrey sighed in disgruntlement. She held the photograph up and glanced from it to Seymour and back.

"I don't know. You look so much like your motha' it's hard to tell."

Seymour twisted his mouth in frustration.

"Erik S was his name, right?"

Seymour nodded.

Audrey handed the photo back to him and pulled the stack of envelopes from the box and began to flip through, checking the return addresses for that name. After several moments she shook her head sadly.

"No. Nothing from him in here."

Seymour sighed and put the photograph on the table, nervously drumming his fingers.

"Are you okay?"

He nodded and looked up at her. "Yeah. Yeah I just thought maybe…"

She moved her hand to his arm and ran it up and down to comfort him.

"What else is there?" she asked in hopes of changing the subject before he got too emotional.

At the bottom of the box, hidden behind the papers and photographs, were books. Only two. Seymour pulled out the one on top. It looked as if it had been well loved with it's worn cover and dog eared pages. "A plant lover's guide to botany" read the title.

Seymour flipped it open and smiled. Along the borders of pages were notes in pencil in his mother's writing. He now knew where his love of plants had come from. The other book caught him off guard. By its colorful cover Seymour could tell already it was a children's book. He pushed the loose papers out of the way to get a better look.

"Audrey!" he gasped.

Seymour reached into the box and gripped it with both hands. "The Little Prince". Unlike the other this one looked new. It felt stiff like it hadn't been read before, as if just purchased.

"Why would she have this?" Seymour wondered aloud.

He turned and handed it off to Audrey. Immediately she opened it up and began to wade through. Finding nothing, she closed it again and turned it in her hands.

"It looks as if she had just bought it. Why would she do that? Why would she be buying a children's book?"

Audrey froze with realization and glanced up. "Seymour… I think she bought this for you."

She handed it back to Seymour who abruptly took it in his hands and looked at it.

"But… but how…"

"Maybe she was getting ready to read it to you."

He stared down at the cover of the little boy on the planet until it's image became blurry with tears. Through this entire exchange he had held it together, but this is what broke him.

The phone felt clammy in his hands, or were his palms just sweaty?

A high pitched voice chirped from the other side, "Operator, how may I direct your call?"

Seymour answered before he could talk himself out of it. "The Skid Row Home for boys… please."

"I will connect you."

He heard the beeping of each connection on the other side and glanced over at Audrey. She was sitting at the table and smiling at him. She wasn't smiling a happy smile, but for support. As if to say, "I'm here for you." She really was. Seymour knew she would support him no matter his decision right now. If he hung up the phone right now she wouldn't give him a hard time about it. She of all people would understand. It would never be brought up again. And she was here supporting him now. She was standing beside him and brought such sweet understanding.

Suddenly he heard a voice on the other end that wasn't as cheerful as the others. "Skid Row home for boys."

Seymour opened his mouth to speak and glanced back at Audrey. She could tell by his expression he had gotten through and sat up in her chair.

"M… Is Mr. Stanley there? By any chance?"

"Yeah gimme a minute."

Seymour nodded and Audrey abruptly rose from her chair and went over to him. She leaned next to him and ducked her head next to the phone trying to hear. Seymour motioned to the other room where they kept the extension and she exited. Seymour heard shuffling on the other line and readjusted the phone to his other ear, drying his palm on his khakis.

"Hello?"

He bit his lip. "Hi Mr. Stanley… this is Seymour Krelborn."

"Jesus Christ."

Seymour didn't know quite how to respond and rubbed his hand on his face. He heard Audrey pick up the other line to listen.

"I got the box…"

He didn't hear anything.

"... and thank you for that. You'd never know how much…" He lost his words.

"Yeah."

For some reason Seymour felt relieved by his short answers. Mr. Stanley wasn't one for emotion. Seymour took a deep breath. "Sir, I have a question," he said, finding his confidence at last. "I don't know if you know but I figured I'd try."

"Sure."

Seymour glanced at the box resting on the table.

"In the box there were pictures. And I saw one… of my mother. S-she was with a man. I know you said you knew her and I was wondering if you knew if that could possibly be my father?"

"What'd he look like?"

Seymour was startled by his sudden response. "Umm… he was tall and blonde…"

"No, that's not him."

Seymour was silent. He heard Mr. Stanley exhale sharply on the other end as if he was very annoyed with himself.

"D… do you know who is?"

There was a silence that followed just long enough for Seymour to wonder if the call had dropped.

"...yes."

He gripped the phone tightly. Seymour heard Audrey gasp from the other room.

"You do?"

"Mhmmm."

Seymour brushed his hand against his brow. He had so many questions but they all got caught in his throat. Finally he choked out, "How?"

"She told me."

"She did?!"

It was true. Mr. Stanley had heard what the nurse had been just too far away to catch clearly. He'd heard. He had known. He had always known. Mr. Stanley exhaled sharply again. "I'm really sorry, Seymour. I never told you. I never told anyone. She wouldn't have wanted me to."

Seymour loosened his vice grip on the phone slightly.

"Y'know the last thing she asked me was to keep you safe."

Despite his sudden strike of panic, a smile spread on Seymour's lips. "She did?"

"That's why we kept you here."

He didn't need to explain, Seymour understood. His father was a bad man.

The next words came so calm and gently, as if Mr. Stanley had been waiting to say them for some time. "But I think enough time has passed. Would you like to know who he is?"

His emotions suddenly spinned. Did he?

He heard the extension hang up and Audrey reentered the room with wide eyes.

Seymour put his hand over the receiver. "What do I do?" he mouthed to her.

She shook her head and shrugged as if to say, "I have no idea."

He put his hand to his mouth to chew on his nails in nerves. Audrey stepped forward and rubbed her hand against his back for support. Seymour felt more calm.

"Y… maybe?"

"Here, I'll mail you information and you can read it yourself if you want."

Seymour nodded and smiled meekly. "Okay." He swallowed. "Sir, there is one thing I do want to know." Audrey held him as he spoke. He felt faint but she wasn't about to let him fall. "Is he still alive?"

"No."

Seymour felt all his anxieties leave him suddenly.

"I kept my eye on him. He died in Amsterdam a year or two after you were born."

Seymour raised his brow. "Was he deployed?"

He heard a chuckle on the other end which Mr. Stanley disguised as a cough. "He had gotten syphilis from a whore in France."

Seymour's mouth fell open.

"Karma if you ask me," was mumbled on the other end as if not quite for him to hear.

Seymour nodded. He was done talking.

"Thank you, sir. Thank you so much. For everything."