Hilcar was awakened by a quiet voice and someone pushing on his shoulder. “Grandpa. Grandpa.”
He turned his head and saw Jared kneeling next to him on the couch.
Jared rubbed his abdomen. “I’m hungry.”
Hilcar put Jared on his lap and smiled at him. “Of course, you are. I’m sorry grandpa’s being such a sleepy-head this morning.” He gave Jared a big hug.
As Hilcar led Jared by the hand into the kitchen, Jared asked, “Where’s mommy?”
Hilcar’s heart melted again, but he tried to be strong for Jared’s sake. He wasn’t sure what to say, but he managed to explain the situation in simple terms. “She and your daddy have gone away, so you’ll live with grandpa for a while. Does that sound okay?”
As innocent as could be, Jared answered, “Yeah.”
A tear rolled down Hilcar’s cheek, but he quickly wiped it away and stood up. He didn’t want Jared to think something was wrong and start asking questions that Hilcar couldn’t handle at the moment.
Hilcar didn’t feel like eating anything, so, after he got Jared some breakfast, he went back into the family room and sat down on the couch.
He remembered Manasto’s words, “...you must look after Jared,” and began to think about what he would tell people (and eventually Jared—when he got older) about the deaths of Jared’s parents and about how he would convince others he was Jared’s legal guardian. I’ll have to come up with the appropriate documents: a will and death certificates.
His thoughts turned from death certificates to coming up with a story about how Jared became an orphan. I guess I could go with something easy... like he lost his parents in a car accident in Los Angeles.
It seemed almost cruel to use something so ordinary as the cause of their deaths when, if they were killed, it would have been in a self-sacrificing act of heroism. But, not wanting to dwell on the cause of their deaths (especially if they were still alive), he moved his thoughts along. So, when will I say they died? He quickly decided, I’ll make it recent... like a month ago.
Hilcar began to wonder if, to the people on Earth, it would seem strange that an older man (and a widower, as well) would be taking care of a toddler. I’ll have to say that Jared didn’t have any other family to take him in. I suppose I could say that Meya didn’t have a good relationship with her family—so they refused to care for him—and Amron was our (my wife and mine) only son, so there were no siblings on our side of the family to take responsibility for him, either.
Responsibility... That word prompted Hilcar to think of what one of his Earthly responsibilities would be—work. Of course, he would only have to pretend to go to work, but Jared would still need to be in day care.
So, what’ll my career be? Nothing came to mind. Well, it should probably be something ordinary so that people don’t ask too many questions about it... He thought of accounting. Yeah. That’ll be fine.
Hilcar had come up with a good story, but being an older man (according to Earth’s standards) and having to raise his grandson alone was going to make living on Earth challenging. Additionally, he couldn’t use any of his powers around Jared or teach him anything about Teruvisa until Jared was old enough (that was what the Council, himself included, had decided would be best).
Hilcar groaned within himself, Aaah. The boy would be better off with his parents. Tears started to well up in his eyes, but he took a deep breath and tried to focus on what had to be done. No use in dwelling on what can never be.
Hilcar became determined to raise Jared the best he could, love him as his own son, give him a good life, and prepare him in subtle ways for the time when he would return to Teruvisa.