30 – This Gift, This Curse

 

While Will was off talking to Mira, Mick was having a conversation of his own.

 

It began when he called home, his hands shaking as he dialed the number. He wasn't certain if he hoped they'd changed it or not.

 

They hadn't. His mother answered.

 

"Gillen residence."

 

Taking a deep breath, he said, "Mom?"

 

There was such a long pause he thought she'd hung up. Then she said, "Mick, is that you? Is it really you? Oh my God."

 

"It's me, Mom."

 

"Where are you? How are you?"

 

"I'm, umm… somewhere. And I'm fine. Honest. I'm going to… well, I want to get my GED but first I need some ID and well… to get that, I need a Social Security number and maybe a birth certificate and Will says I have the number because all babies do nowadays and…" He ran out of steam at that point. "Please, Mom, do you have it somewhere?"

 

Her reply was a scathing, "Who is Will?"

 

Trust her to go there. "He's a friend, and not the way you think. He's a teacher and he's pushing me to improve myself and… yeah."

 

"Come home, Mick. You can go to school here just as well as wherever you are and you won't be involved with perverts and such."

 

At that point he almost hung up on her. Instead he said quietly, "Mom, please find my Social Security number for me. That's all I ask. Then I'll be out of your hair again."

 

"But I…"

 

"Please, Mom."

 

She sighed. "All right. I know where it is. Just don't hang up."

 

"As if," he muttered, when he heard her set the phone down. "Might want to, but I won't."

 

Five minutes later she was back. She told him his Social Security number and added, "What's your address so I can send you your birth certificate?"

 

"Mom." He rolled his eyes. "I don't have an address. Geesh."

 

"Then where are you living?"

 

"Behind the nearest dumpster," he replied snarkily before apologizing. "Look, I have a friend with a place. I bet she'd let me get a letter from you there." He could almost visualize his mother looking relieved when he said 'she'. "Hang on while I look up her address." He waited a minute then gave her the address of the apartment building. "Promise you'll send it," he said afterward.

 

"Yes, Mick, I promise." She hesitated. "Will you call again, just to let us know how you're doing?"

 

"I'll try to. Well… yeah, I will. Maybe not often but, yeah. I gotta go, Mom. The guy whose phone this is wants it back now. Tell Dad I said hello."

 

"I will. And Mick, I love you. No matter what you've done, I still love you."

 

Without replying he hung up.

 

Yeah, tell that to someone who'd believe you.