Dreading the conversation, Amita opened the door.
"We've gotten a few calls.." one of the officers, a brunette woman, said. "About a child screaming and things being thrown against the wall."
"My son has a mild form of autism called Aspergers, and he's having a hard time adjusting to the fact that my husband and I are separated." Amita explained, as Suruli continued his very loud meltdown.
"May we see the boy?" the female officer, named Rose Gonzalez asked.
"Well...uh...sure, just keep in mind that he's only nine." Amita agreed reluctantly. So, she let them in.
"Where's your husband?"
"I don't know. Probably at home."
"Has he come here at any time tonight?"
"No." Amita answered.
"Hey there." Gonzalez gingerly approached the boy, who continued to throw things and say that he wanted to go home, though in a less intense fashion.
"Don't touch him, he'll react badly in the state he's in." Amita warned with concern.
"What's wrong?" Jake Robinson, Gonzalez's partner asked, but the boy ignored him.
"Suruli" Amita began calmly despite her frustration. "These nice officers want to talk to you."
"Moving sucks, I know." Robinson decided to try a different approach. "Especially if it's because of a divorce."
"I wanna go home."
"Where is home?" Robinson asked.
Suruli calmed down enough to give him the address of the Craftsman.
"That's a nice area." Robinson nodded. "I don't blame you for not wanting to leave."
"Where's your father?" Gonzalez asked.
"At home."
"I see." Robinson said. "You're home is a house, right?"
"Yeah"
"In apartments, everything is heard by everyone." Robinson explained.
"I'm gonna call my dad." the boy suddenly said, picked up the phone and dialed.
Alan answered it.
"Hello?"
"I want to go home." the boy told his grandfather without preamble.
"You are home." Alan said, gently. "You have two homes now."
"Could I speak to your father?" Robison asked.
Suruli gave him the phone.
"Good evening. This is Officer Robison of the Pasadena Police Department. Are you Suruli's father?"
"No. I'm his grandfather."
"Is his father there?"
"Is something wrong?" Alan asked.
"Your grandson got very upset, and he caused the neighbors concern."
As the officer was saying this, Charlie came into the house.
"My son just arrived. Here he is." Alan passed the phone, while mouthing the word, 'police'
"Hello?" Charlie asked, concerned.
"This is Officer Robison of the Pasadena Police Department. Are you Suruli's father?"
Charlie became worried."Yes, is he okay? What about his mother?"
"They're both physically fine. When was the last time you saw your son?"
"Just today, as he and his mother moved out. Why?"
"He started throwing things against the wall, disturbing the neighbors and yelling that he wanted to go home."
"I don't know if his mother told you, but he's got what is known as Aspergers, which is a type of autism."
"She did mention it, yes."
"His routine has been severely disrupted due to the move and the separation that my wife and I are going through." Charlie felt sad for the boy. "For him, routine is of utmost importance"
"He's calmed down somewhat"
"Good, can I talk to him?"
"Sure."
"Thank you, officer."
"Dad, I wanna go home." the boy told upon getting control of the phone.
"You are home. The apartment will be your home part of the time."
"I only have one home." the boy insisted.
"You mother and I told you that this day was going to come." Charlie told him gently."I know it's hard, but the time will go by, and you'll be back here, at the house.",
"It smells yucky." the boy griped.
As Charlie tried to reason with the child, the officers , seeing the Suruli had calmed down, left after telling Amita to get Suruli counseling.
"Dad wants to talk to you." Suruli told her and gave her the phone.
"I've got an idea. Hear me out before you say anything." Charlie said. " Why don't we do this. I'll move in with Dad at the guest house, while you and Suruli stay at the main house? We'll lead our separate lives, but Suruli's life won't be turned upside down."
"But it's you who grew up in that house." Amita pointed out. "I don't want to take it away from you."
"It'll only be temporary." Charlie promised.
"I already signed a lease."
"I'm not asking you to get out of it." Charlie said. "Just to give Suruli more time."
After some thinking, Amita accepted, and felt guilty about not having done enough to prepare Suruli for the upcoming changes. She had talked to him about them, and taken the boy with her apartment hunting sometimes.
After saying goodbye and hanging up the phone, Amita told Suruli. "We're going home."
"Okay." the boy seemed pleased.
"However, Daddy is gonna live with Grandpa Alan because of the separation." Amita added gently. "You'll sometimes sleep over like you have before."
"Okay."
So, mother and son packed, and returned to the Craftsman.
Suruli adjusted to the new routine: he would have dinner with Alan and Charlie three days a week, and sleep over some weekends, while staying at the main house the rest of the time.
Charlie tried to find solace in his work, but he deeply missed seeing his son every day, and being with Amita. He'd wake up, reach for her, only to find that that side of the bed was empty. After a few months, the divorce was finalized Charlie paid child support, but no alimony. Amita didn't want or need the latter. They both still co-owned the Craftsman. The arrangement stayed as Suruli seemed adjusted, happy and was doing relatively well.
Charlie started dating a police detective from the LAPD, twenty some years his junior, Sandra. They met during an investigation into a student of Charlie's, who had conned many people out of their money.
"Charlie. Why haven't we gone to your place?" she asked suspiciously one evening as they had dinner at hers.
"I live with my father in a guest house." Charlie admitted.
"Whose guest house?"
"Mine."
"Yours?"
Charlie explained. "My younger son, Suruli has Aspergers. For his sake, he and my wife live in the main house. My wife tried moving to an apartment but he got so upset that he started throwing things against the wall and yelling. Neighbors called the police, thinking it was a domestic disturbance."
"Really?" she didn't believe him.
"Look, we can have dinner at my place. I'll make arrangements with my dad. How about Friday night?"
"How do I know that you're not taking me to your guest house, while your wife is out somewhere?"
"Ex wife." Charlie corrected with a sigh. "I'll introduce you to her. ."
"I'll go." She agreed.
"Great."
Charlie left right after dinner, as Sandra wasn't in the mood to do anything else.
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The next day, Charlie went to Amita's office.
"I need a favor."
"What kind of favor?" Amita loooked up from grading.
"I need you to meet my girlfriend."
"Why?"
"She thinks that we're still married."
Amita looked puzzled. "What gave her that idea?"
"She wondered why I wasn't inviting her to my place, so I had to explain that I lived in my own guest house with my father. "
"Oh..." Amita now understood.
"And she's a cop, ..." Charlie shrugged.
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That Friday evening, around seven , Sandra arrived in the hope that her suspicions were wrong. Charlie was a very charming, considerate man, and very smart. Her training and experience made her wary. What if Charlie's wife was away and Charlie used someone else to pretend to be the 'ex wife'? What if he had lied all along about being divorced? Maybe the kid in the picture wasn't his? Soon, Charlie was there to meet her. Alongside him, Sandra saw a woman who looked to be of Indian descent, just like the kid in the picture Charlie had shown her once.
"Sandra, this is my ex wife, Amita." Charlie introduced the two women. "Amita this is Sandra."
"You look just like Suruli!" Sandra began to feel relieved,but asked. "How did you two meet?"
"I was his student, and then he became my dissertation adviser." Amita said. "Sometime after I finished it, and did another one we started dating and got married."
"Then Suruli was born." Charlie added.
"Well, I'd better get back to Suruli." Amita said quickly, feeling a bit awkard and amazed that Charlie chose someone much younger.
With that, Charlie and Sandra went inside the guest house. Charlie gave her a tour.
"My dad designed it himself." Charlie explained.
"It's a very nice place." Sandra continued. "I'm sorry I doubted you. It's just that there aren't very many people willing to do what you and Amita are doing, and I've seen lots of cons as a detective for the fraud division. They do and say all sorts of things."
Sandra spent the night, and just as she was getting out she ran into Amita and the boy, to the two women's chagrin.
"Who are you?" Suruli asked.
"A friend of Dad's." Amita told him. "Let's get you to you school."
Amita later called Charlie, telling him, "Next time you have a woman over, tell her to be more discreet. Suruli saw Sandra."
"I'll talk to Sandra." Charlie promised.
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"Looks like Amita has a date." Charlie said, as he looked through the window one Saturday evening. "I see a car getting into the driveway."
"She's got a right to see other people too." Alan reminded him. ."Amita didn't agree to live in the house so you could spy on her." Suruli was in the shower
"I'm treating her like I would any other neighbor." Charlie grew defensive.
Meanwhile, Amita and her date, Aandi ,talked. His parents came from the same part of India as hers and he was a writer of the show she consulted for.
"So..uh...your ex is next door? In the guest house?"
"Yeah." Amita answered from the kitchen, as she did the finishing touches on the dinner she made. "With my ex father in law. My son stays over sometimes like tonight."
"It's an interesting arrangement..." He mused."It's great that you two can put aside your differences for his sake."
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The next morning, her date brought her breakfast in bed. It consisted of French toast, with eggs and bacon on a bed tray.
"This looks delicious!" Amta exclaimed with a smile. She had made Hugh's old room hers. As the two were eating together, the phone rang.
Amita answered it "Hello?"
"Amita, it's me." Charlie said. "I'm taking Suruli to the California Science Center, but uh...your guest's car is blocking mine."
"I'll have him move his car." Amita promised. Their arrangement was interesting indeed.
TBC