During one visit to see his mother, Hugh remarked, "A classmate's dad got outta jail early. He got Pa-roll or something. Could you get that?"
"Parole? I'm sorry, sweetie, but I don't qualify, not yet anyway. And then I have to apply for it."
"Oh..." Hugh's disappointment could be heard and seen on his face.
"The time will go by before you know it!" She made herself sound cheerful. "I miss you so much! You'll never know just how much."
The two sat at a small table in the visitor's area. Sarah sat on a table by herself to let mother and son bond. "Mortimer died."
"How?"
"Dunno. He died after lunch on Monday." The boy sighed.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"He was a nice rat. He never bit anyone."
"How's school otherwise? Does the teacher still give lots of homework?
"Yeah. Dad and Amita check it every day."
"Is it easy? Hard?"
"Math is boring."
"Just pretend it's money, and it'll be much easier," Rose advised.
"Okay."
"What are you doing for Thanksgiving?"
"Granpa Alan is gonna make a big dinner. Uncle Don and Aunt Robin are gonna be there."
"Is Granpa Alan a good cook?"
"Yeah!"
"Have you written to Santa yet?"
"I did. I asked for a TV for my room. I wanna watch cartoons in bed. Granpa Alan says that sometimes Santa brings something brings kids something better instead than what they asked for."
"Is that right?"
"Yeah."
"Sweetie, I'd like you to ask your father to come see me. I need to talk to him," Rose told the kid.
"Okay," Hugh agreed, curious. "Why?"
"Grown up stuff."
098098
With annoyance, Charlie came to see her, with Amita at his side.
"What do you want?"
"I wanted to talk to you guys about custody."
"Custody? You're still in prison," Charlie pointed out.
"I'll be eligible for Parole when Hugh is 15, but I wanted to get things straight."
"Like what?"
"That, when I get out, I''ll have him half the time."
"No," Charlie said adamantly.
"You don't even know if you're getting parole," Amita said diplomatically.
"My heart tells me that I will."
"Is this the same heart that told you to con all those people out of their money?" Charlie asked sardonically.
"A couple of the victims have turned religious and have forgiven me," Rose said. "They've agreed to speak at my parole hearing. I'm a different person now."
"Sure your are," Charlie said with doubt.
"I've been taking a writing course, and have a job. "
"A job?" Charlie repeated.
"A company made a deal with this prison so that inmates can work in the call center."
"Rose," Amita began. "Say you do get parole. You're going to need time for yourself, to get your life together."
"What I'm gonna need is my son back. As it is, I'm losing out on a good part of his childhood. He's always been my priority."
"That's why you did live a life of crime, huh? Because Hugh is so important to you?" Charlie snapped.
"You don't know what's it like," she began. "Especially with a kid to think about. As I'm sure you've noticed. They're kinda expensive."
"If you would have told me, I would have helped out with the expenses," Charlie scoffed. "Besides, what you wanted, was easy money."
"He never lacked for love, attention, or food with me!" Rose argued.
"How about this: when you get out, you can have him Christmas, some birthdays, alternate weekends, and three weeks in the summer?" Charlie proposed.
"Don't make me take you to court!" Rose warned.
"Go ahead. Take us to court," Charlie challenged her. "Let's see who the judge is going to prefer: the loving father and stepmother who have been raising him in a stable home, or the jobless felon of a mother?"
90009809089
As they drove home, Amita suggested, "Rose has a right to see Hugh. He is her son."
"She wants him to live with her half the time," Charlie countered. "When she gets out. That can't happen. My offer is more than fair."
0980890
By and by, December came. The couple went with Hugh, on a weekend to get a tree.
"Which tree do you like?" Charlie asked the boy, when they were at a lot, where Christmas trees were sold.
"Can I get a big one?"
"Sure!"
"How about that one?" Hugh pointed to a large tree, about seven or eight feet tall. For the longest time, he had wanted a large tree, but the apartments he had shared with his mom were always too small.
"Great! Let's get it!" Charlie agreed.
With great effort, Charlie, a lot employee and Amita tied it to the top of the car, as Hugh happily watched.
"It'll be your responsibility to water the tree," Amita told him.
"I will."
0909090909090909
During Hugh's Christmas break, he got homework, mostly involving math and reading books from the library. Charlie, having done some research, wrote word problems for the boy. One such problem was
"I give you forty dollars, and you end up spending twenty nine dollars on candy. How much would you have left?" Hugh, in a relatively short time solved it, only to there were more such as. "Let's say, you have own a store that sells TVs, and sold two TVs on costing 239, and the other, 855, in one day. How much money total did you get?"
Charlie eventually checked the five problems, and declared that two of them were wrong.
"You didn't carry the one," he told the boy. "Have you finished that book you got from the library?"
"No. It's boring."
"But you chose it."
"I wanna get another one."
"Stick it out," Charlie advised. "Then you can get another one."
09809809890
Finally, for Hugh, Christmas came. To his surprise he saw a bike, rather then a television laying under the tree upon going to it very early in the morning. He found a handwritten note:
Hugh: I've decided to give you a bike, because I saw that you didn't have one. I know you'll have much more fun with it.
Love
Santa
Later that, day, Charlie patiently taught him to ride. With enough practice, Hugh was able to ride to and from school, or a classmates home, as needed.
Sometimes, though, he'd come home late. One of his classmates had access to the new game, Hell Spawn thanks to an older brother.
"Where were you, Hugh?" Alan asked when the boy came in one evening during dinner. Everyone had served themselves.
"At a classmate's house"
"To study or play?" Amita asked suspiciously.
"Study," the boy quickly said.
"So your homework is ready for me to check it?" Charlie asked.
"Almost...," the boy said nervously.
"Finish it after dinner."
"Okay." The boy sat down to eat. "Any mail?"
"Not today," Amita said.
"Oh..."
"Maybe you should only visit your friends on the weekends," Amita suggested.
Hugh asked, "Why?"
"Because school comes first," Amita responded.
0980980
One evening at dinner, Charlie said, with a grin when everyone was served, "Amita has an announcement to make."
"I found a comet," Amita smiled.
"What's a comet?" Hugh asked.
"It's a small, icey body that goes across space," Charlie replied. "When it gets close to the sun, it displays a tail. "
"I'll show you a picture of one after dinner," Amita promised.
"That's great!" Alan approved.
Eventually, Amita published her findings, had them verified, and named the comet, Meyyalagi, after her late grandmother.
09090909
February came in the blink of an eye. Charlie and Amita discussed in bed what to do for Hugh's upcoming birthday.
"Let's take him and a few classmates to Chuck E. Cheese," Amita suggested. "Kids love it there. They can eat pizza, and play games. Plus there's no cleanup afterward."
"Sure!" Charlie agreed. "What about summer? I was thinking we could do Disney World."
He added , "When I was a kid, I wanted to go to Disney World, but Dad never saw the point."
"Why?"
"Because Disneyland was nearby."
"Oh."
"I tried to tell him that it wasn't the same thing, but he never listened," Charlie remembered. "What else could we do?"
"I need some time to do my research," Amita reminded him.
"What about Hugh?"
"We're taking him to Disney World," Amita said. "Most kids don't get to go anywhere."
"You're right," Charlie admitted.
At that moment, they heard a knock on their bedroom door.
"Who is it?" Charlie asked.
"Hugh. Can I come in?"
Amita, in a revealing night gown, threw a blanket over herself. Charlie sat in boxers and t-shirt.
"Yes," Charlie said. "What's up?"
Hugh didn't bother with a preamble, "I need a cell phone."
"A cell phone?" Charlie repeated. "But why?"
"What if I get kidnapped? What if there's a fire or something at school?"
"You're too young," Amita said firmly.
"A kid from my soccer team has one," the boy pouted.
"So?" Amita countered. "Cell phones are not for kids. We can talk about this when you're, say, 14."
"That's a long time," the boy protested.
Amita looked at the clock next to her side of the bed. "It's past your bedtime."
"Good night," Hugh sighed and left their room; closing the door behind him.
"We haven't gotten him his birthday present yet," Charlie remarked. "What about Hell Spawn? That new computer game? "
"Let's see what the rating on it is." Amita got her laptop from her canvas bag and looked it up. "It's rated T for Teen."
"What about a laptop?" Charlie suggested.
"A laptop! For a kid?"
"To do his homework and play video games on. I wouldn't have it hooked up to the net," Charlie said.
"He can do those two things on the desktop," Amita said.
"We could build it from different parts," Charlie said.
"That's too much."
"What do you suggest then?"
"A skateboard. I see him having lots of fun with it," Amita replied.
Charlie agreed.
098009809
At Hugh's birthday party, about ten boys showed up. Amita and Charlie gave them each a few tokens to play with after the extra large pizza had been eaten up by the group.
"Bet you three tokens I can beat you at air hockey!" Hugh challenged one of the guests.
"Sure," the other boy said, doubtfully and joined Hugh at the air hockey table.
As the kids played, Amita and Charlie relaxed.
"I hope he likes the skateboard-," the latter remarked.
"So do I."
TBC