"I don't remember much, for I have spent so much of my life here with Kasper. But I will tell you what I do remember," Eleazar told me, "Lilya and I, our parents were very poor when they lived in San Fransisco. Before I was born, Lilya and my parents lived in many homeless shelters. They had to go to food pantries and soup kitchens just to have dinner each night."
There was a certain silence in the air that was heavy, tense. All this time Lilya had been so bitter, so... so hostile. I had been wondering what her problem was, but now I had a feeling for her that I hadn't felt since I met her. The feeling was easily identified as sympathy. I could tell Eleazar felt the same thing.
"However, my father soon got a job, and my mother was bent on her dream, having another daughter," Eleazar continued.
I asked, "Why did she wait to have another child?"
Eleazar shrugged. "Babies are expensive. Hospital bills, new clothes, more food. They just couldn't afford any of that."
"Oh," I said, blushing.
"Well, my mother had always wanted two daughters, so she when she realized she was pregnant, she, well she couldn't even contain her joy. They bought a bigger apartment, and my mother spent every moment preparing for her child's birth."
There it was again, another silence. I thought of his mother's joy, her elation, and her enchantment with having a child. It was so lovely that someone could have so much glee.
"So for nine months, she waited, and waited, and waited for her dream to be fulfilled. And one day, she rushed to the hospital in labor. She called my father, and he hurried there, and, and.... he never made it there."
After a silence, I asked, "What do you mean?"
Eleazar looked up with a grim look on his face. "There was a car wreck." he spoke through clenched teeth.
I looked down. "Oh."
We were very silent for a few moments. We couldn't even hear Kasper or Lilya. I think they went to hunt or fish.
Eleazar cleared his throat. "Lilya was already at the hospital. The baby was delivered and.... and my mother couldn't wait to see her beautiful daughter. She didn't even care that her husband was dead. All she wanted was her daughter. Nothing else in the world would suffice. And..... and then she saw me-" If I didn't know any better, I could've sworn I'd seen a tear run down Eleazar's face- "And suddenly everything changed. It was as if reality was hitting her in the face, really hard. She was realizing that her husband had died. She was realizing that she had no money. She was relaizing her debt. She was realizing she had two children to raise on her own now. She realized she couldn't afford to raise children on her own. But none of that would have mattered. The fact was, she didn't want a son. So she abandoned Lilya and I."
I was speechless. All this time, his mother had been so content and ecstatic with her child. But now... how could amother just abandon her children like that? And over just a gender?
After the longest silence of them all, Eleazar spoke. "Our mother didn't even arrange for an orphanage to take us. She didn't even name me. So, Lilya decided she was going to run away, and take me with her. So we ran back to our apartment to get as much as we could from the coin jar. And then, we headed to Mexico."
"Um, why Mexico?" I asked.
"Lilya was six at this time. She couldn't consider economic or family friendly places like a sensible traveler could. She was too young to spend her choice on prudence. She went where her childish imagination led her. Mexico."
"So, how did you meet Kasper?"
"Kasper was a pure blessing. Lilya and I were looking for food one day, and Kasper found us, living off of a few unripe berries. He took us in, and Lilya gave him the responsibility of naming me. Eleazar, he decided, as he planned to name his if he ever had a son. And that's how I was treated. Like a son. And Lilya like a daughter."
And the final silence. But instead of being heavy and somber like the rest, it was a light, glorious silence. As if we were looking into the future through a telescope, and bewitched by what we saw.
"Eleazar? Rose?" we heard. Standing up, I saw Kasper stroll inside with something in his arms, and a smile on his face. Behind him, Lilya walked slower, with a bag of fish in her arms. I compared this smug, proud Lilya to the strong, courageous one in the past.
"I hope you two are hungry. We have fish, and chicken!" Kasper exclaimed.
Eleazar grinned at Kasper. I now saw that Kasper really was like a father to him. And I felt that soon, Kasper would be like a father to me too.
