Decrease

Six Months Later

The boy stuffs the bills into his pocket and grabs the little girl's hand and says, "Thank you, mister. We'll be at the shelter on Monday."

They begin to walk towards the Piggly Wiggly when I yell out, "You promise?"

The boy stops when the little girl turns around and softly says, "We promise, mister. We'll be there on Monday." She smiles at me and the young boy tugs her hand as they continue to walk away.

As I watch the children disappear around the corner, I look at my watch and notice I'm five minutes late to my meeting with Aunt Ruth. I rush to Wyler's when I stop and notice a black limousine pulling away from the front of the store. I squint to see who is inside, but the windows are heavily tinted, making it impossible to see if there are any occupants. The limousine turns the corner quickly, as if it were deliberately trying to escape from me.

I cross the intersection and see Aunt Ruth standing inside the front door. Damn! Do I want to see her?

Reluctantly, I cross the street to enter Wyler's front door. As it slides open, Aunt Ruth is there to greet me. I step in and say, "Hello, Aunt Ruth. Sorry I'm late. I guess it took me longer to get here."

"That's okay, dear. I would have stayed all night if need be. Come. I have a booth for us with some hot tea waiting to be enjoyed. Come." She grabs my arm and tugs me along.

We reach the booth and Aunt Ruth removes her sweater. I sit, and then say, "I can't stay too long, Aunt Ruth. I have errands to take care of. What did you want to talk about?"

Aunt Ruth sits and pours the tea. "Do you take cream or sugar, Jonathan? Silly me, I can't remember. It's been quite a while since we've had tea together."

"Aunt Ruth," I sternly say, "I can't stay. What do you want?"

"Well, dear, we need to talk about us." She overlaps her hands on the table, leans forward, and continues to say, "I need to talk to my son about a few things."

Feeling sick to my stomach, I just want to get up and run away. Instead, I look into her eyes and remember something that I haven't seen since I was a boy. I can feel tears beginning to swell up in my eyes. Aunt Ruth takes my hands and gently says, "Jonathan, I know that Ted told you that I'm your mother and that Raymond was your father. I'm so sorry that it had to be kept a secret from you all of these years. But it was to protect you and Claire."

"Claire!" I exclaim. "If you were to protect us, then why are Claire and my son dead? Why? Why?"

"Please, Jonathan, hear me out. Please."

I pull my hands away from her and stuff them in my coat pockets. I look around wishing I could just run away and never see her anymore. "What is it you want to tell me?"

"A long time ago, when you were three years old, I found you sobbing in the corner of your bedroom. I knew what was bothering you. You didn't have much time left. Your illness was suffocating your entire body, and you were succumbing to heart failure, which would have eventually led you to your death. I couldn't bear to watch my little boy suffer only to die a painful death. I had to do something."

"Your father, Raymond, along with your Uncle Gerald and the other men in the photo, helped to make your suffering disappear forever. Unanimously, it was decided that you would be the first test subject for the serum Raymond invented to eradicate the disease within you and to make you a healthy, normal little boy." Aunt Ruth takes a sip of her tea, clears her throat and continues.

"After two agonizing days of trying to decide what to do, I was forced to make the decision to go along with your father. I watched you be injected, then frozen, only to be reborn again in hope that you would live a normal life. We didn't know if it was going to work, but we had to try. I was at the end of my rope, Jonathan. If there was one chance for you to become a normal human being, it had to be taken."