Page 156 of Slumming It
"Sure, if you're five," he said. "But I was ten fucking years old. You want the truth? I wasgladthey wanted to get rid of me." He gave a hard scoff. "Sucked about the police report, though."
"But you're not listening," I said. "They didn't want to 'get rid' of you. They wereworriedabout you. That's why they contacted the police. They wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Yeah, right."
"They did!" I insisted. "And they looked and looked, but you weren't anywhere to be found – like you'd left in the middle of the night or something."
"Yeah, we got out quick," Reese said. "And you wanna know why?"
"Why?"
"Because my foster mom got a heads-up about the report."
"Fostermom?" My heart clenched with sympathy. "What about your real mom?"
"I don't have one."
"Well you must've atonetime."
"Yeah, well…she ditched me when I was two."
I was horrified to hear it. "Two years old? Why?"
"You'd have to askher, except you can't because she's dead."
My breath caught. "Of what?"
He gave another humorless laugh. "Hard living."
"Oh gosh," I breathed. "I'm so sorry."
"I don't want your sympathy," he said. "It was fine."
He was lying – if not to me, then definitely to himself. Still, for his sake, I tried to be positive. "Well at least you had somebody, right?"
"You mean my foster mom?" Reese gave another scoff. "She didn't take me in for free, I can tell you that. And hey,Iwas a good one."
"You mean a good kid?"
"No. A good meal ticket." He smiled with no trace of humor. "She got extra money by claiming I was disturbed."
I blinked. "Like…mentally disturbed?"
"Yeah, pretty funny, huh?"
I felt like shaking him. "Will you please stop saying that? None of this is funny."
"Eh, give it time."
I was still trying to assemble the pieces. "And what about your dad?"
"Never met the guy."
"But…do you know who he is?"
"Sure, I've got a name. But he's no Danish lord, I can tell you that."
"Well,obviously," I said. "But why does everyone think otherwise? I mean, the way everyone talks, you at least…" I wasn't quite sure how to put it.
