Finally, the day for Hugh to move in came. Amita and Charlie went to Sarah's house to pick him up. The boy waited for them with a duffel bag.
"Hi!" he said.
The couple greeted him back. After saying goodbye to his aunt Sarah, he got into the car.
"Are you sure you got everything you need?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah," Hugh replied.
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Soon, they arrived at the house. Don and Robin talked in the living room, while Alan cooked.
"Hugh, you remember Uncle Don and Aunt Robin?" Charlie asked as he, Amita and the boy came in.
"Hi Hugh!" Robin smiled. Don greeted the boy as well.
"I'm gonna put his bag in your room, sit down, relax," Charlie told the boy, who had visited the Eppes home once before.
"Grandpa Alan is making your favorite, mac and cheese," Amita told Hugh.
"Cool!"
Alan then came out of the kitchen to greet his grandson.
"Hugh! How are ya?"
"Okay."
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The six eventually had dinner in the dining room. Hugh liked the mac and cheese, but it couldn't compare to his mother's.
For desert, there was store bought pound cake. It went well until Charlie brought up occupations.
"Hugh, Aunt Robin is a lawyer, but for the government, and Uncle Don works for the FBI."
"The cops for the whole country?" Hugh sniffed. "People from the FBI took my mom and toys away. "
"They were just doing their jobs," Don said gently.
"That's what the mean lady said. She said that mom did stuff she wasn't supposed to do."
"More desert anyone?" Alan piped up, seeing no solution to the argument.
"I'll take like a second piece," Amita said.
"Anyway, I'm a mathematician, as you know," Charlie continued.
"I don't like math," the boy said. "It's boring."
"You just haven't gotten to the good stuff, yet," Charlie argued.
"Little Buddy, why don't you come with me to work one day?" Don asked Hugh, "I'll show you around. You could see what the FBI really does. It helps and protects people by catching bad guys. "
Hugh exclaimed defensively, "My mom is not a bad guy!"
Robin gave Don a warning glare. "Why don't we play a game?"
"How about UNO?" Amita thought it as a game the boy could play.
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The couple enrolled Hugh in the elementary school near their home, as it had better academic scores and it was closer to them.
"Hugh! Get up!" Charlie called out on the first day of the new school.
"Okay," the boy groaned and got up. Thankfully, Charlie did not have class until nine in the morning, so he made Hugh some oatmeal.
When the boy finally came to the dining room, dressed, he groaned. "I don't like oatmeal. I want coco puffs."
"Too much sugar," Charlie said.
With a sour face, he ate his oatmeal, and then it was time to go.
Charlie dropped him off, and then went to work.
After school, Hugh stayed in the after school program until four, when Amita picked him up.
"How was school?" she asked.
"Okay. We gotta class pet."
"Really?"
"A rat."
"What's its name?"
"Mortimer."
"How's the teacher?"
"She gave too much homework," Hugh complained.
"It's for your own good," Amita promised.
Hugh started playing a video game right when they got home.
"What about your homework?" Amita asked pointedly.
"Later."
"Now. Turn that off," she said firmly.
"Okay."
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Less than a week later, the principal called Charlie, and asked him to come to the school right away.
Charlie did so, and saw his son, sitting with a pout, on a chair in the office.
Before he could ask the boy anything, the secretary asked, "Are you Dr. Eppes?"
"Uh..yes.."
"The principal is ready to see you."
"Thanks." Charlie gave his son a look and walked towards the office marked "Principal". Then he knocked.
"Come in."
Charlie opened the door, to see a middle aged woman with salt and pepper hair and dark brown eyes. She wore a pantsuit. Near her aging desk stood a very full bookshelf.
After some polite greetings and introductions, Charlie asked, "What seems to be the problem?"
"Your son, Hugh, was caught selling pencils full of glitter during recess." She pulled them out of a drawer. "He charged two dollars each for them."
"Two dollars?" Charlie recognized the plain pencils he had bought the boy under all the glitter.
"When I had a chat with him, he said that it was for his mother's Christmas present."
"Ms. Wong, I am very sorry about my son's behavior," Charlie tried to explain. "It's just that his ...mother is in jail, and I only recently was made aware of his existence. DCFS just gave me physical custody, not too long ago."
"Do you have any other children?" Ms. Wong asked.
"No."
"What your son did was essentially put glitter all over some pencils and overcharge for them. That is a learned behavior."
"I assure you that he will unlearn it," Charlie promised. "He'll refund everyone who bought a pencil from him."
"He can return to class, tomorrow."
"You're going to suspend him?" Charlie worried.
"No, but he needs time to think about what he did. I had another student get him his homework."
"Thank you."
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During the ride back to Cal Sci, Charlie had a serious talk with Hugh.
"I thought you needed those pencils! You lied!"
"I just wanted to get my mom a Christmas present," the boy pouted.
"If you wanna earn money, then maybe you could help around the house more."
"Okay..."
"There'll be no TV or video games for a week."
During Charlie's next class, Hugh worked on homework. Afterwards, Amita came to Charlie's office with lunch.
"Why aren't you at school?" Amita asked the boy.
"He got into trouble for selling pencils with glitter," Charlie told her. "He can't watch TV or play video games for a week."
"Sounds reasonable," Amita said to show a united front in front of the boy. "Anyway, I brought lunch. I'll split my sandwhich with Hugh."
After lunch Hugh, wrote his mother a letter, while Charlie lectured in one of his graduate level courses.
Dear Mom,
I liked your story about the sikic kid. It was cool. My new school is okay. The principal is mean. She sent me home for seling pensils during resess. Aunt Sarah calls sometimes. Dad wont' let me watch tv or play video games for a week. Dad is nice though. I miss you.
Love,
Hugh
TBC