“You saw them?”
“Yes. I should have spoken sooner.”
I looked through the window at Noah sleeping beside Captain.
“Benji can still stay if you want him.”
“And Captain?”
“He belongs with Noah if you allow it.”
For the first time, the choice was mine.
“I need to think,” I said.
“Of course.”
The next morning, Noah found me at the kitchen table.
“The boy who loved Captain was a little boy like you,” I said.
Noah sat beside me. “Was he sick like me?”
“I need to think.”
“Yes.”
“Did he get better?”
I shook my head.
Noah looked toward the living room, where Captain slept in a square of sunlight.
“When I was in the hospital,” he said, “I missed being normal.”
“I know, baby.”
“But Captain doesn’t make me feel sad. He makes me feel like different isn’t bad.”
I covered his hand with mine.
“I missed being normal.”
“Leo’s mom goes to the hospital garden on his birthday. She asked if Captain could come with you.”
“Would I have to go too?”
“No. Not unless you want to.”
“Will it make you cry?”
“Probably.”
“Will it make her cry?”
“Yes.”
He thought about that.
“Will it make you cry?”
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“Then we can bring tissues,” he said.
I laughed and cried at the same time.
On Saturday morning, Marian posted in the neighborhood group:
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Cat
cat
Cats
“My son Leo loved Benji, now Captain. Before he passed, he asked me to find the boy who once made him laugh in the hospital. That boy was Noah. Cecelia didn’t steal him or use her child for attention. She helped an injured animal. I should have asked first, and I’m sorry.”
This time, everyone saw the truth.
“I’m so sorry.”
“I judged too fast.”
Then the neighbor who had accused us wrote:
“I apologize. I was wrong.”
I laughed and cried at the same time.
***
At noon, I drove Noah and Captain to the hospital.
Noah leaned forward. “I’m scared too, Mom.”
“So we can go home?”
He shook his head. “No. Captain needs both of us.”
In the garden, Marian stood with Leo’s drawings. When she saw Captain, she covered her mouth.
Noah walked to her first.
“Are you Leo’s mom?”
“I’m scared too, Mom.”
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She nodded. “And you’re the pirate boy.”
“He really called me that?”
Marian showed him a drawing of him holding an orange cat.
Noah touched it. “He made my patch look cool.”
“He thought it was.”
Noah handed her Captain. “You can hold him, but he comes home with me after.”
Marian laughed through tears.
“He really called me that?”
Then Noah handed her an envelope filled with drawings.
“I made more than one,” he said. “Maybe Leo shared Captain with me.”
