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“Um, she’s a friend who is a girl.”
“Oh.” He seemed disappointed. “She’s pretty for a girl.”
I snickered. “You have good taste in women. She is pretty.”
He studied me. “Do you like her?”
“You know, Harley, that’s kind of complicated right now. How about we discuss that another time?”
“Okay.”
“What grade are you in?”
“Grade?” He looked confused.
“Yeah, in school. You do go to school, right?”
He shook his head. “No. I took care of my mom until she went to heaven. I didn’t go to school.”
“Wait,youtook care of your mom?”
“Yeah, she was really sick, and I would help her get to the bathroom, clean up her messes, and make her food. I made her hot dogs all the time. That’s all I know how to cook, but we ran out of ketchup. I didn’t have any of that for a long time.”
“Did you two live alone?”
“Kinda.”
“Where was her sister?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. The day the police came to our house, they took me with them, and she showed up. I didn’t know her.”
“Why did the police come to your house?”
He shrugged again. “I guess they knew my mom was dead.”
My stomach rolled as I thought about the implications of that. “Did you know your mom was gone?”
“Um, I don’t know. She hadn’t moved or eaten in a few days. I thought she was just really tired.”
Suddenly, I thought I was going to be sick. “Harley, can you excuse me for a minute. I need to run back to the kitchen and tell the chef something.”
“Okay, can I have another soda?”
“Sure,” I told him and filled his glass before I rushed through the back door and almost plowed Candy over.
“What the hell!” she barked, and I started to bypass her, but she grabbed my arm. “What’s wrong?”
“He was alone with her dead body for a few days. He was taking care of his mother while she was sick, and she died, and he was with her for a few days until the police showed up.”
Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, my God. That’s horrible, Mike.”
I fell against the wall, staring at the ceiling. “I don’t know what to do here.”
Candy took hold of my arm. “Hey, we will figure it out. My sister is a child psychologist. She can talk to him and tell us what he needs.”
“He doesn’t even go to school.”
“What? He should at least have gone through kindergarten.”
