Tiny Tim

“My beautiful boy.” she mumbled barely louder than a breath, clearly still half asleep, and her face relaxing. “Love you so much.”

And with that, she returned to her deep and steady breathing, signaling me that she was back in wonderland. I think I stared at the top of her head for a full minute before I realized that I was smiling happily. As I kissed the top of her head, to which she reacted by squeezing herself even tighter into me and releasing a contented sigh, I felt the urge to tell her that I loved her too. I was now believing them when they said it. And I felt more than just gratitude for them being part of my life again.

The day we all met up in court, so the judge could make the final divorce decree, held a few surprises with lasting consequences. I was mainly there to show support for Mom, so I was a little rattled when the judge suddenly spoke to me directly.

“Young man.” he said, after Mom’s lawyer had announced the new agreement and he had looked through the paperwork. “I have here a note from your parent’s counselor. It informs me that you were the one who took over all financial responsibilities for your mother and sister. Is that true?”

I blinked at him for a second, then, seeing Mom’s lawyer urgently waving her hand up and down, hastily stood up before answering him.

“Uh, yes ... your Honor ... I have a part time job and some extra income from my work as a software developer.”

“And, may I ask, that is enough to house and feed three people?” he continued with a skeptical glance at me.

That look he gave me bewildered me a little. I looked at Mom’s lawyer for guidance, though she just shrugged her shoulders, so I decided to speak up.

“Your Honor, between school and my jobs, I work roughly seventy-two hours per week. So ... yes, it’s enough.”

“Commendable.” he simply nodded, before signaling me to sit back down and turning his attention to Mom. “Mrs. Brown, was your son truly able to come up with enough money for all of your and your children’s needs?”

“Most of them, your Honor. Since my husband removed me from our joint accounts, and also removed us from his insurance plans, we had to give up our cars and make use of the free clinic instead of our family doctor. But he was able to cover most of everything else.” Mom explained, a little hesitant.

I hadn’t even thought about either of those things. Since they had moved in with me, we went everywhere together. At first because I couldn’t go alone, and then because they demanded to spend as much time as a family as possible. I had simply assumed it was a coincidence that we always used my Jeep. And after they never said a word about any problems regarding their health, I also never noticed their change of doctors.

“Hmm.” The judge hummed, seemingly in thought. “I see that you have both agreed on a mostly even division of assets. However, I see the need to make a few adjustments to that.”

I could see Aaron stiffen up at that before the judge continued with a louder, firmer, and official sounding voice.

“After reviewing the financial documents, the amount Mr. Brown is eligible for from the joint account between Mrs. Brown and their youngest child is set to $1,701.90, after deducting the outstanding taxation in the amount of $853.20. In addition to that, Mr. Brown will reimburse his son for twenty-five percent of the cost of living he had to pay on his own during the last four months.”

Mom’s head whipped around to look at me with wide eyes, though I had to work too hard to suppress an involuntary laugh to acknowledge her. Twenty-five percent of the living expenses for the past four months was equivalent to the living expenses of one month. In Numbers, that would be at least $2,400 Dollars, depending on what the judge constituted as living expenses. So, basically, Aaron wouldn’t receive shit from me! In fact, he already owed me money! But the judge wasn’t done yet.

“After reviewing the information I received from their marriage counselor, I award custody of their sole minor child to Mrs. Brown. Child support is set to $730 dollars per month until Timothy Brown turns eighteen or graduates high school. Further, Mrs. Brown is awarded maintenance in the amount of $970 dollars per month for the next twelve months, since she provided sufficient proof that her current qualifications no longer allow her to find employment that could sustain her and their child, and is now enrolled into a workforce qualification program.”

Now Mom was smiling brightly. Seeing her at that moment, I couldn’t help but notice how much all that stress must have really had weighed on her. With the stress gone from her face, and her body relaxing for the first time in months, she looked at least five years younger. Then the judge said the line that broke the spell again.

“The remainder of their estate will be split evenly, as per their agreement.”