Page 21 of Lick

“Stop being such an ass!” She raises her voice as she slaps her hand on the papers in my lap. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard her cuss. The corner of my mouth pulls into a smile. “You’re making this harder than it has to be.”

Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes. When I open them, I feel a punch to my gut.

“There,” I hear Maggie’s voice. “As you can see, Mr. McCoy, Betsy had a boy. His name is Tylan Ryder McCoy, and he’s eleven year’s old. He currently goes by Ryder. The second child, a girl, Roxy Sunshine McCoy, is six almost seven years of age. They are your nephew and niece.”

I swallow the lump in my throat. These two kids could pass for my sister and me at that age. The only difference is coloring. They’re both a light tan with dark hair and matching deep brown eyes. Tearing my eyes from the pictures, I ask the obvious question.

“Where’s their father?”

“There isn’t one listed on either of their birth certificates. You’re their only known family. You’re all they have.”

Lick, age 11

“When I have kids, won’t you be excited to be their uncle?”

Betsy’s sitting at the head of my bed while I’m at the foot, reading a textbook, trying to make sense of the words on the pages. My grades are slipping. My dad tried to help me, but he’s also busy working. I don’t want to burden him when he already has so much on his plate.

“I don’t know, Bets. Why you worrying about that stuff right now?”

“I just wanna know.”

I turn my head to look at her. She’s twirling the ends of her hair around her finger, watching me, waiting for my answer. I drop the book with a thud as it hits the floor. “So what, I’d be their uncle. I don’t see how that’s exciting.”

“How can you say it wouldn’t be exciting? I can’t wait to be an aunt to your kids!”

Shaking my head, I give her a smile. “No, Bets, I’ll never be having kids.”

“Well, that’s no fun. Why don’t you want to be a daddy?”

“There’s nothing I want that has anything to do with kids. They’re just a bunch of brats, and I’ve got plans.” Those plans include not being my parents, and not being stuck with a woman whose only job is to suck the life from you. I love my father, and he’s the best I know in a lot of ways, but he’s also the dumbest man I know.

“Well, I wanna be an aunt, so you gotta, Tylan.”

I pick the book off the floor and flip through, trying to find where I stopped reading. “Sorry, kid, but that’s not happening.”

“Well, I’m gonna make you an uncle because I’m gonna have lots of kids. And I’m going to be the best mom.”

Seven years old and she already has her mind set on what she wants. “I know you will, Bets. I don’t doubt that.”

“Will you be a good uncle to my kids, Tylan? Will you buy them presents, and play ball with them and teach them how to build things just like you like to do with Dad?”

She talks about my father with so much love but rarely does she speak of our mother. Even at a young age, she sees things, knows things, and I hope she sees enough that she will never want to follow in our mother’s footsteps.

I laugh. “I don’t really like kids.”

“But you like me, right?”

“Yeah, I like you. You’re my sister, my family. I love you, Sunny.”

She giggles. “Well, that’s good because they will be my kids, your family so you’ll love them just like you love me.”

I close the book again. Turning around I look at my sister. “You’re right, Bets, and I’ll never stop.”

We follow Mrs. Simons back to the Social Services office where Lick’s niece and nephew wait. We’re not sure what’s going to happen, but the first thing we must do is tell these kids that their mother is gone. The neighbors didn’t know what had happened to Betsy, so they ended up taking the kids down to the police station three days after she dropped them off.

My eyes jump from the road to Lick, then back to the road. I stay silent, not knowing what to say. He’s staring out the windshield, his face flanked with so much emotion, so much indecision, that I finally break my silence.

“What’s on your mind?” I ask with caution.