Suzie’s House 412 : Signing Your Life Away

Gene tried to act cool, but he had to swallow more than once to get the lump of nervous tension down. He sat at the dining room table with a stack of legal papers in front of him and the eyes on him. Mrs. H., her lawyer, and that social worker, Kathy Vargovich, all sat around the table and stared.

“I’m puzzled,” Mrs. Vargovich said. “Did you not want this?”

“I… Yes. I want this.” Gene didn’t look her in the eye when he said it, though it was mostly the truth. Instead he sat there with a pen in his hand and stared the papers down.

“You are, of course, welcome to read through it all,” the lawyer said. “If you have any questions, I will be glad to answer them.”

“Um… yeah… just, just give me a minute.” Gene tried to focus on the words, but they got jumbled right away. “So this is…?” He held the top page up.

“A Consent to Adoption form. It’s standard.”

Did that mean this paper said he wanted to be adopted? He did. He wanted to know that no one could take him away from Mrs. H. as much as she did. So it shouldn’t matter that he signed this. Right?

“There really is no rush,” Mrs. Vargovich said. “I wasn’t able to convince his biological father to sign the Termination of Parental Rights forms. Not that it matters. It just means more paperwork for me since he refuses. And a world of hurt for him.” She smiled like a mean woman even though she really wasn’t.

“How’s that going?” The lawyer took a sip of coffee and leaned into the table like what they were doing here was no big thing.

Well, of course. It wasn’t like the lawyer was signing his life away. Or that it was either of their dad’s that was about to get in a bunch of trouble.

“About what you’d expect. I’m glad I don’t have to pay legal fees. Speaking of which, I hear you are doing this pro bono.”

“That’s how it’s on the books at the law firm, but Suzie and I cut a deal – free legal advice in exchange for free meals. Frankly, I think it’s the best deal I’ve ever made.”

“It’s no problem for me. I’d be cooking anyway.” Mrs. H. shrugged. Then she caught Gene’s eye. “Gene, are you worried about your father?” Mrs. H. talked all sympathetically. “You don’t want to go back to him, do you?”

“No! No, I don’t ever want to go back to that. But…” Gene shrugged.

“But he’s your father and took care of you in his own way for a very long time.” She smiled sympathetically.

“This…. this wouldn’t mess things up for my mother, though. Right? If she ever comes back for me?”

“She abandoned you.” Mrs. Vargovich said it nicely, but it didn’t feel nice at all.

“But… what if she came back anyway? If she ever came for me, I would still want to go. I think.”

“Even though you haven’t seen her since you were five?” The lawyer looked surprised.

“Is that really so weird?”

“No. No, just that I didn’t expect it. Suzie, if she comes back, what will you do?”

“If I’m sure she won’t hurt him again, then ‘ll have to let him go, won’t I? If he really wants to go…” Mrs. H. turned from the lawyer to Gene. “But in my heart you will always be one of my sons. You will always be welcome here.”

She wasn’t pressuring him at all, but her smile made him feel guilty for even thinking about all this stupid stuff. He put pen to paper and signed.

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