Reflections of Light

Evelyn's Phone Call

"... Where are you?" Evelyn clutched at the phone, worry and concern flooding her body, alongside a fair amount of relief, the moment she heard the child's voice.

"Uh... My bedroom?" Came the small boys questioning reply.

Evelyn wanted to laugh with joy. At least the boy seemed to be fine, removing a weight of her shoulders.

"Yes William, and where is your bedroom?"

"At da top of the house!"

Evelyn rolled her eyes, humourously. "And where is the house?"

"Uh... don't know. Don't w'member."

Evelyn took a breath, thinking. "Okay... Is your mummy there with you?"

"No, she's downstairs."

"Okay... Is it just you and her in the house?"

"No. Dere's a man downstairs on da living room. He sleeps dere, and eats my cereal, and hogs da TV. He's a meanie."
Oh great, just what she'd feared. Luci, that foolish, foolish girl, what had she done?

Billy brought her out of her reverie. "Ev'lyn... Is Wesley dere? I wanna talk to her."

Evelyn ran her fingers through the front of her messily bound hair. "Yes, I am able to get her for you, however, can we just chat a little more first? Yeah?"

Billy sounded sulky as he replied. "F-i-i-i-ne."

"Thank you, Billy. Now, other than your cereal being eaten... " She said, maintaining a falsely calm and conversational tone, afraid that at any moment the small boy would either freak out, get annoyed or get bored, and hang up the phone.
"... Other than that, has anything... Happened? Anything a bit weird, bit odd, a bit unusual... Anything?"

"Mummy put baked potatoes in custard, and ate them wif a spoon like a pudding."

"Okay... Yes, I suppose that is a bit funny, but what I really mean is..."

"Do you want to talk to Mummy?"

"No, it's okay, I'd rather just talk to you..."
At the current second, Billy handing over to Luci would not be productive, as it was almost guaranteed that Luci would tell her nothing, and probably not even talk to her.

"But you called Mummy's phone."

"Yeah, well..."

"And you fought I was Mummy when I  an'sered da phone..."

"Yes, but..."

"Look, you're confusin' me, do you want to talk to Mummy or not?"

"I did, but not at the current second. I want to talk to you."

" 'Bout what? I watched Juwassic Park on Saturday, was so cool, have you seen it?"

"Yes, well..."

"Oh, Mummy's callin' me, gotta go. Bye!"

"Wait!" Evelyn butted in, a little too quickly.

"Wha-at?" Billy said irritably.

"Um... Can I talk to you later? Or you phone me? I promise I'll let you talk to Wesley next time."

"Okay." he replied non-committaly.
"See ya. Bye."

He hung up.

Evelyn slammed the phone down on the table, flopping down on a nearby chair, and throwing her face into her hands.
"Damn it. Damn it! DAMN IT!"