I stop mid-pass of socks. Irene McAllister. The Irene McAllister, Ireland’s most celebrated young adult author.
The Irene McAllister I’m covering in class, which makes me laugh. “Well Hughie, I guess I am teaching grandmom’s books.”
He takes the socks, placing them into the drawer before closing it. “They’re just okay. I’ve read better.”
I look at his bookshelf, noticing quite the mix of age appropriate and many young adult books that bat a bit above his reading age group. “Do you just read them because your grandmom wrote them? I think you might be a bit too young to read them.”
Hughie rolls his eyes. “Right. And who’s going to stop me?” Oh, this kid. Constantly bounced around, without what seems to be any consistent parenting.
Hughie zips up the duffle and drops it on the floor, kicking it under the bed. “Wanna play Mario Kart?”
27
It’s probably the tenth race I’ve lost in a row, which is disappointing for someone who played a lot of Mario Kart 64 back in the day, when I hear the apartment’s door close.
Niall’s head pokes in Hughie’s room, his eyes go wide when he sees me. “Danny, hey. Erm…I may have forgotten you were here. Thanks for keeping Hughie occupied.”
“Danny sucks at Mario Kart. You might want to reconsider dating him.”
“Hughie, what did we talk about last time you were here?” Hughie just stares at him. “Boundaries, Hughie.”
Hughie puts down the controller. “Right, right. I don’t ask about boyfriends. You can tell me about them when you’re ready.”
“Good job little lad. Now, listen here. I’m going to talk to Danny, privately, out in the hall. No eavesdropping. You’ll hang out in here and play some games, yeah?”
“Okay.”
“Good. Since you’ve been somewhat behaved, there’s a new Donkey Kong game in the drawer.”
We sit on the stairs outside the apartment, keeping an eye on the door. Other than Hughie inside, no one else is around.
“So, you met Hughie,” Niall says, drumming his fingers on the wall. “I think I need to fill you in on some details.”
“Might be nice. I got some of it, a bit from Hughie. After he made me breakfast.”
Niall chuckles. “He’s a kid but he is wiser than his years, and has learned to take care of himself. I just wish it was under better circumstances.”
Niall goes into the other reasons why he sees a therapist, about his family.
A father who abandoned his family when he was ten to a life of selling and, by default, doing drugs. Who was found dead by the time Niall was thirteen, found with two bullets in his chest outside a sketchy bar.
A mother, who valued her career ambitions over her children, without the desire to even dip a toe into the single mother role. Who left her children with babysitters and nannies, choosing to go on book tours and host dinner events for her industry friends rather than be home making dinner for her children. A mother, who provided an unstable environment for her two children to grow up in, with conflicting and sometimes a complete lack of rules.
A sister who, choosing not to heed the warnings presented to her, fell hard into her father’s footsteps. Skipped over the low-level drugs and dove right into cocaine, heroin, and occasionally meth. A sister who had multiple stints in rehab by the time she was twenty, and countless additional ones leading to where she is as of ten o’clock yesterday morning. But, somehow both lucky and unlucky, was able to keep sober long enough for Hughie to be born healthy.
And, despite it all, Niall is the rock. The one who keeps things barely together, with his only vices being reading and social drinks with friends. The one who has, despite it not being his choice, becoming more of a co-parent to Hughie than the typical fun uncle role.
“He said she, your mom, didn’t want to deal with him anymore. That’s such a cruel thing to say.”
Niall sighs. “Yeah, she said it. I was hoping he didn’t hear that. But I’m not all that surprised, given her stellar record as a parental figure.”
“I’m guessing his father isn’t in the picture.”
Niall looks back at the door. “I’ve only picked up on this in bits and pieces, but my sister used to pay some of her drug dealers with…favors. I think more than one, and she was mixed up with some bad ones. Even if we could find him, we shouldn’t. It would just make things so much worse for Hughie.”
“So…what now?”
Niall gives a sad laugh. “Not much of a choice is there, eh? My sister can’t keep a needle out of her arm. Mum’s pretty much said she’s checking out, that he either stays here or is threatening foster care.” He rubs his eyes, which have gone misty. “And I can’t let that happen, to put him into an even shittier situation than even I had. I love the kid, but part of me just wonders how to juggle it. Finding him school here, making sure he’s in activities, finding care for him when I’m working. Fuck, that’s going to be a fortune. Or maybe it will be cheaper to just hire another employee full-time. It’s just...it’s just a lot Danny. And I should have been more prepared for this moment than I am. I should have seen this coming.”
