My Son

Just Doesn't Stop

CHAPTER NINE

Z

The Do-Not-Disturb sign at the counsellor's door kept me waiting my entire lunch break. A minutes before having to return to work, I approached the front desk lady and requested to make an appointment for the following day but she told me to just walk in as Mrs. Hayse was not busy at all. I casually pointed to the sign at the door and the bored looking receptionist gasped and place both her hands on her mouth. "That sign was....so sorry. We should've moved it after the other client left"

Annoyed, I left without having made an appointment. What kind of unprofessionalism is this? There might not be anything wrong with me anyway. Everybody's probably forgotten where they parked their car more than once. Eight times in the last two weeks for me, but still. I admit the last time I looked for it, I ended up involving the police and the security personnel of the mall.

*****

I was taken to the security control room where different screens were standing next to each other. My task was to simply search for my vehicle in all the parking spaces. No one believed a car could be stolen at a mall where coming in and out is highly scrutinized at all entrances and exits. I couldn't locate my BMW and my mind was already doing the extensive labour of reporting it missing, filling in paper work for the insurance company, replacing my bank cards and ID since I'd left everything inside my work bag inside.

Kelly called to find out what was taking so long to get cash and buy our tissue oils and I let her in on the incident. "Someone stole my car?!" she creamed in my ear. And only then did I remember we swapped cars and immediately spotted Kelly's Kia on the security screen. As I was about to explain the blunder to the security person who had just finished reporting the matter to the mall's manager, two police officials walked in, looking for me to make a statement.

Embarrassing is an understatement.

Following that, I absolutely had to do something drastic like therapy although I hadn't forgotten where I've parked since that day. I also haven't used Kelly's car since and yes, I've been parking my vehicle at more or less the same place.

That event left me frustrated and angry with myself but only for about ten minutes. As soon as I sat inside Kelly's car, Tandai called to say he's at the police station to report Asa missing. Mom was home with 'Father', crying and stressed. Naturally I began to stress about the entire situation and more. A lot of things could go wrong from just having to locate Asa. If this child doesn't show up, cops will have to go to mom's house to interview her about Asa's comings and goings. We can't have that. Ever since the 'Jesus' situation, we have done all we could to keep police away from anything we do. Mom doesn't really exist. She's Catherine now and Catherine doesn't have unique finger prints, an identity number or history.

Tandai was walking out of the station when I arrived and was a bit emotional. I was surprised and happy at the same time. He feels after all. Together we travelled to mom's house to figure a way forward and mostly comfort her. "Father' was there but somehow I could comprehend why he'd be the first to arrive. We were at work and mom had to reach out to someone she trusts. Someone who doesn't require an explanation as to why she waited two hours before reporting this. I still didn't pay 'father' much attention after the mandatory greeting.

*****
When Asa didn't walk out of his school gate where mom always picks him up from, she waited twenty minutes before walking inside the premises to try locate him. No teachers had seen him since the last bell rang and his last period teacher claimed to not have seen him at all in his class. He assumed the child was absent. We were relieved to hear all other teachers clearly recalled seeing him in their classes and promise he seemed well.