Only a Game (Olympus Drive Chronicles)

Chapter 35: It's hard to parent a child that disappears

Calypso

Thankfully, he can be bribed by most any food item.

"I have asked you to stop feeding that thing. I don't know what's taking them so long to come and get the scrap," my father says, lying on the sofa staring at his laptop.

"Here, do you like peanut butter with or without jelly---oh you put them both in your mouth at once okay," I say, nodding, as the child eats both sandwiches at the same time. "Poor baby. I think he's starving."

"I think he's actually not alive and doesn't have a sense of appetite."

"That's worse!" I say, making the boy another sandwich while he waits like a hopeful dog, "Why do you think you're so hungry, sweetheart?"

The boy lowers his head like he does when he tries to talk, frowning a little.

 "My—my—my---my mother---my mother she---she—she didn't feed me for---feed me for—a---a really---really long time," the little boy says, brushing his rich brown hair out of his eyes.

"That's horrible! Come visit me anytime you like; I'll feed you—"

"Please do not come back here---why didn't your mother feed you, foolish Mercury, or whatever it is you're calling yourself this century?" my father, not even phased, not looking up.

"I---I took something—that---that wasn't---mine," he lowers his fat sad eyes.

"That's not a reason to starve you to death! Poor precious," I say, hugging him impulsively. He seems surprised, but accepts a snuggle like a lonely street cat.

"And what did you STEAL?" my father is not a sympathetic person.

"A---a---a---a rock."

"What type of rock?"

Hiding his face in my shirt, "Sh—s-hs-hiny."

"That's not a reason not to feed him!" I say.

"Cally don't you remember how the Hope Diamond went missing a few years ago? Then it was mysteriously found in a Starbucks in the New World?"

"No, poor baby; nobody should be mean to you---please can I keep him?" I ask, hugging the boy as he eats the loaf of bread followed by the peanut butter.

"No! You cannot! I'm finding his mother and returning him to her as soon as is possible. Surely they have to do something with that calf he took?"

"But she's not nice to him!"

"You'll come to realize, Cally, that that creature is impossible to be nice to. It's the personification of crime and problems in a very speedy sarcastic package."

"That's an excuse," I say, petting the boy's head as he searches for crumbs, "Here, I'll get you more to eat."

"Stop feeding him!"