"Ah, Marion is it? Sorry to keep you waiting pal, I'm Mr. Sheridan. I've been assigned to work with you now that the UP Department has been given your case. I see you've filled out some of the paperwork Karla gave you. Has anyone explained to you your current legal state?"
The boy was sitting quietly on the exam table, swinging his legs back and forth. He looked up after Ken's approach. He was a scrawny little thing, almost no meat on his bones and his brown hair was too long for his face but his clothes seemed in alright condition. Those had probably been supplied by the department for him though, so no credit could be given to his previous caretaker, Nadine, for that. Marion looked up at him with big eyes that seemed an almost unnatural blue.
"No, I mean yes, but I don't know exactly what's going on. The social worker yesterday said I'm a non-person now. Is that true?" Marion asked. His voice was quiet and unsure but calm.
"Well don't worry I'm here to try and explain what's going to happen to you. Your social worker is right; you are considered a non-person now so you've been brought here to the UP Department to be properly placed. Non-person isn't the proper political term for what you are though, technically, you're a U-Cit now. "
"Oh," Marion said before letting a silence fill the room. "Sir, if you don't mind me asking, why am I a U-Cit exactly? Have I done something wrong? I'm not a criminal or anything, sir, honest."
Marion's voice shook with a slight fear and Ken had to laugh. Children could be so ignorant sometimes. Of course the only non-persons Marion probably ever heard about were on the TV and such.
"Didn't your social worker explain it to you?" Ken said.
"Sort of but I don't understand. She said that Dad - I mean Randall- wasn't taking care of me anymore."
"Well the correct term is that he doesn't want you anymore. You're in grade four, right?"
"Grade five, Sir."
"Perfect! Well then you'll have done a small unit on law then. By legal definition, you are a person only if you're wanted. Now you're probably more familiar with the criminal cases. Adults who are frequent offenders or felons for example can be judged a non-person by a jury or can be signed off as unwanted by a petition of signatures. Non-persons aren't just criminals though, they include any minors who aren't old enough to support themselves and who haven't got a proper WP certificate. Without a proper certificate you're a liability to the country. All people have to be signed for at birth, it's called your Wanted Person certificate, or WP certificate for short. Any person or persons signing agree to take responsibility for you until you've reached a supportable stage and can be considered a person without the certificate."
"Oh, so Da-Randall- forgot to sign my WP form or something?"
"Not exactly. Randall did sign your form, but it was done under false pretences. He was under the impression you were his son but you're not. The court has exempted him from his duties to you and nullified his signature on your WP certificate. Since your birth mother, Nadine, didn't sign the certificate when you were born Randall's was the only signature on it. Now that he's exempt, you're an unwanted person, or an unwanted citizen: A U-Cit."
"Oh. I guess that makes sense," Marion reflected. "What happens to me now?"
"Well, these cases pop up all the time. It's why my department exists. Since you're not old enough to care for yourself we'll put you into one of the province's housing facilities until something comes up. That's why you filled out those forms, so we can put you in the system."
"In the system?"
"Since your real Dad is still out there somewhere, we're liable for you. If he wants you and decides to sign off on your WP certificate in the next year you can go with him. All he has to do is walk into the local UP branch and ask for your name and they'll track you down for him."
"So my real dad will come for me?"
"Well, we have to make it a possibility," Ken said as he looked over the forms. "Is that really how you spell your name? M-A-R-I-O-N?"
Marion nodded. "Yeah, Randall's not very good at spelling. At least that's what Nadine says every time someone asks about it."
Ken glanced over the paper work; the kid did a pretty good job filling it out although the legibility of his printing left something to be desired. They weren't complicated forms to fill even for kids, but Marion probably had practice filling out similar forms after the court case. Besides, it didn't seem like Nadine had done much of anything for him, he was probably used to taking care of himself. He missed a few things, but Ken could fill them out himself. Nobody really checked to make sure these things were completely accurate anyway. "Well it looks like you filled most of this out by yourself alright. I'm just going to go to the other room for a minute, there's the computer in that one that will let me put your file on the system. Then we'll talk about getting you moved into housing with other underage U-Cit's. There's some reading material here on them if you want to know more. I'll just be a minute or so."
Marion said nothing as Ken handed him one of the brochures on housing facilities they kept in every room. He took it with a polite nod but didn't read it. Ken left quickly, he didn't really have to use the other office, the computer in that room was connected, but he didn't feel like sitting with the kid more than necessary.
Pulling up a chair in the office next door and sitting down at the desk Ken made quick work of the file. After putting in all Marion's information from birthplace to completed education he sat back and contemplated where to start. There were only three large housing facilities in Ontario, which was more then average, but Ken was sure the only one with any room for Marion was in Toronto. They had the biggest facility in Canada but they wouldn't take a case like Marion. The closest one to them here was only an eight hour drive away in LaSalle. It was a boy's only facility (they had made the mistake of having a few mixed facilities twenty years ago but they just ended up making more work for the UP Department). The building could hold up to 238 boys in a pinch but only had beds for 195. Ken pulled up the stats for the facility on the computer. They had 211 boys living in there right now, which meant if Ken was going to have any chance of getting Marion in there he was going to have to call in a favour. So much for making this a quick case.
Normally he would just page Gracie to patch him through to the head office in LaSalle but he'd be put on hold. He had a friend, Hershel, who worked down there. He'd be better off just calling him directly and asking him upfront. Ken took out his cellphone and scrolled through the contacts until he found Hershel and dialled. It only rang twice before he picked up.
"Hey Hershel? It's Ken here, I've got a ten year old kid here I gotta house, think you can squeeze him in?"
"Sure I was just looking at a kids case that expires at the end of the month, can you wait until then?" Hershel asked.
"That's not going to work, he's already here. I gotta do something ASAP. Can't you squeeze him in within the next three days?"
"We're already past capacity as it is Ken."
"You still owe me for the Laban case Hershel, it's just one more. You and I both know you can fit at least another dozen kids in there."
"No can do Ken, we're pushing limits already. We got busted last month and management's been cracking down hard. You know how they are in December, they won't push limits this close to Christmas, it looks bad in the press. I'd love to help, believe me, but I can't make it happen. Why don't you try the facility in Toronto?"
Ken sighed, it was another dead end. "They'd never take him. Thanks anyway Hershel."
"Sorry pal. Hey, in case I don't see you before then have a Merry Christmas!"
"You too, say hi to Ella and the kids for me," Ken said before hanging up.
Ken put his phone down and stared at the screen of the computer. Now what was he going to do with the kid? If the LaSalle Facility couldn't take him he'd be forced to go through the smaller public branches, and those being run mainly by volunteer were stretched. The paper work for that would be at least another two week process just to sort it all out and there was no guarantee they'd even find somewhere for him. He'd be stuck here, and if he stayed here too long they'd be forced to put some staff on graveyard to accommodate him. He could still try to negotiate a bed with the facility just along the border of Manitoba but that was more paper work, more phone calls... and was it really worth it? This case had no hope; anyone walking in could see that. No one was going to sign off on his WP certificate before Marion's year expired and then they'd just do the lotus procedure. He might as well do the procedure now; he could write it off later.