Found But Not Lost

The Word Count, including this line, is 2026.

Found But Not Lost

     His son, Mickill, was about to celebrate birthday number fifteen. It's been almost fifteen years since Effan saw his son. He had kept in touch, as much as he could, with Mickill, but he hadn't physically seen him in almost fifteen years.

     Effan was about to celebrate an anniversary too – with his Lover Terica. They have been together-as-one for almost fifteen years too. In fact, if they had only became One a month earlier they could had kept their son, but Mickill was born a couple of months early.

     On the planet of Chalek it's illegal to have a child unless a couple is One. Since they weren't they gave Mickill up. They barely had a chance to name him, at least they got to do that, before they gave their son up by force.

     It took them just over a year before they found Mickill. They missed his first birthday, but that never happen again. True, they couldn't be involved in his life – but they could be, and were, a part of it.

     They also had a big problem keeping in contact with their son. That's because Mickill lived on the other side of Chalek. Effan and Terica both knew that happened because they weren't One. It was another illegal Law that needed to be changed. They had been working on changing that for almost fifteen years.

     Effan and Terica moved closer to where their son was so they could be a part of his life. They couldn't physically be a part of his life, but they were a part of special occasions – like his after Learning activities and his birthdays. Of course, they couldn't actually be at any of those activities or birthday parties – but they could, and did, send him presents and receive images from those activities and parties.

     The first few years of his life that wasn't a problem, but as Mickill got older he started asking questions about all the presents he was getting on special occasions. He still didn't know about the after Learning activities, but he had noticed the presents from an unknown person or persons.

     Mickill had been thinking about this for a long time, and he knew the parents he had been living with all of his life weren't his real parents. It didn't mean they didn’t love him, because he knew they did, but he also knew his real parents must have had a good reason they gave him up.

     There were only four reasons why someone gave up a child – and three of them were related. The three reasons were if one or both parents were dead. That's another Law that needed to be changed. Something else that Effan and Terica had been trying to change for almost fifteen years.

     The fourth reason was what Effan and Terica had to do. He didn't know for sure, but Mickill didn't think it was one of the three related reasons. Mickill was sure his real parents gave him up. The reason why he still didn't know, and he might never find out, but all that was about to change.

     At fifteen a son, in this case, who knew, or suspected, the parents they had been living with all of his lives weren't his real parents could finally know for sure why his real parents gave them up – if one or both were still alive. If one or both were dead then he would know why they gave him up, but if not then he could find out why they gave him up.

     Mickill talked to the parents he had lived with all of his life and he insisted his real parents be at his birthday party this year. First, they tried to tell him his real parents were dead. Then they told him they didn't know how to contact them. Finally they gave into him. They agreed to invite them to his birthday party. Hopefully, they wouldn't come but the parents he had lived with all of his life knew they would.

*******

     The day of his birthday finally came – and Mickill couldn't wait to meet his real parents. Even more he couldn't wait to find out why they gave him up. He had come up with several possible reasons why, but he wouldn't know which one it was until his real parents told him.

     Effan and Terica wanted to arrive at Mickill's birthday party early, but they decided it was best to get there only after some of the other invited got there. They waited out in their Transport and watch as the invited started arriving. Some of them came on their own, and several came in small groups of two to five, but a few were dropped off by parents. Once they thought about half of the invited got there did Effan and Terica join the birthday party too.

     Mickill was greeting all of the invited as they entered the home he had lived in all of his life. One look at Effan and Terica and he knew they were his real parents. He was a little surprised they were there alone. There was also a young girl with them about eleven to thirteen years old. That's me.

     "I don't know either one of you. So you must be my real parents," said Mickill.

     He was right. They were his real parents. Mickill couldn't wait any longer. He had to know why they gave him up. So he asks them. "Why did you give me up?"

     Effan and Terica had been thinking about that ever since they got invited to Mickill's birthday party. They didn't really want to tell him the truth, but they knew he should know the truth. So they told him everything. Effan and Terica told him everything. They also told him about me – his twelve year old sister Lorriti.

     Mickill was very surprised that he had a little sister. So was the parents he had known all of his life. They were never told about me. It didn't really matter to them Mickill had a little sister. What they wanted to know was why Effan and Terica never told them about me.

     The birthday party was going on outside in the Side Yard, but Mickill was talking to his parents, and me, in the Front Room. She didn't know who the parents were that Mickill lived with all of his life – until now. Their names were Boranan and Proe. That's why she had always referred to them as the parents that Mickill lived with all of his life.

     She was the one who didn't want her parents to tell Mickill, Boranan and Proe about her. That's because she knew how Mickill would react to having a little sister – who had lived with her real parents all of her life. She was right.

     Effan and Terica also told Mickill they had been trying to get that Law changed so it wouldn't happen to anyone else. They had been trying to change it for almost fifteen years, and they were getting close to getting it cancelled, but they weren't quite there yet.

     Mickill was happy to hear that, but wasn't happy to hear he had a little sister. He understood why they got to keep her and gave him up, but he didn't have to like it. Which he didn't. She understood that – because she had a similar problem all of her life. She was living with them but they weren't really living with her. They spent most of their free time either watching what Mickill was doing – or they were trying to get the Law changed. Either way they didn't have much time for her.

*******

     Now that he knew about his real parents Mickill had a big decision to make. Not only did he get a chance to find out who his real parents were he also had to choice if he wanted to live with them for the second half of his childhood. Or he could stay with the only parents he had ever known.

     It was a big decision – and he didn't know what to do. He needed time to think about it. Mickill didn't have much time to think about it though. That's because he only had five months, half a year, to make up his mind. If he didn't by then the Law gave Effan and Terica could take him back.

     Effan and Terica didn't want to do that. They wanted him to make up his own mind and they didn't care if it took five months or longer. The decision was his. Sure, they hoped he would want to be with them but they would understand if he didn't want to leave Boranan and Proe too.

     Mickill did want to get to know his real parents, and me too, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to make it permanent or not. So for the next few months that's exactly what he did. He spent all of his free time with us. Most of the time he spent it with his real parents, but he also spent a lot of time with me too.

     Boranan and Proe didn't like Mickill spending so much time with us, but they have any choice in the matter. If Mickill wanted to get to know us then by Law he could do it – and there was nothing they could do about it. They couldn't even put us down, try to make his decision for him, because of the Law. All they could do it watch as he got closer and closer to us.

     It took him a long time, almost five months, but Mickill finally made his decision on who he was going to be living with for the next fifteen years. The answer to that was all of them.

     Mickill thought about this decision almost from the beginning when he learned he had that decision to make – but he didn't know if he could do it or not. So when he wasn't spending time with us, learning, his activities, at home with Boranan and Proe or sleeping he was at the local Research Center trying to find an answer to his problem.

     He didn't want to leave Boranan and Proe, and he didn't want to move out of the home he's been living in all of his life, but the more he got to know us he also didn't want to leave us either. He knew he could have had us move closer to him than a couple of Communities over then he could live with all of us some of the time – but he didn't really want to do that. So what was he going to do?

     It took him a long time to do his Research, but he couldn't find out anything that could help him in what he wanted to do for the next fifteen years – but he also couldn't find anything that stated he couldn't do what he wanted to do either. So he contacted the Law Maker directly and asked them if there was any Law that said he couldn't do what he wanted to do.

     The Law Maker were shocked at that question. No one had ever asked it before. It took them about a month to give him an answer to his question. They discussed it among themselves, and did their own Research, but in the end there was only one answer they could give Mickill.

*******

     Now we all live in the same house - and so far everything was working out just fine. It was a hard decision to make but it was finally decided that to be fair to everyone they would move to a different nearby house. Also to be fair to everyone they decided to stay in the Community so that Mickill could keep his friends and activity.

     It didn’t really matter to me where we lived. That's because there were no friends or activities for me. All of my free time was spent trying to get my parents to love me too.

The End?