THOSE WERE THE DAYS 5 - Papa Gone

Hattie treated Logan like a Son
courtesy free clip art

 

After Logan and his father moved into Hattie's boarding house things settled down and Logan missed his mama less each passing day.

Hattie had taken a liking to him and since she had no children of her own she began to have the feeling of a mother for him.

 

After school she always had a treat waiting for him, and would help him with his homework.  Logan began to relax in her presence.

Then she did something that he had longed for, she kissed him on the cheek as she sent him off to school.

He had never felt so loved in his life. After that he would hug her as he left for school, and when he returned.

One day Hattie told Logan's father it was time for Logan to have his own room, his father started to protest saying I can't afford two rooms.

Hattie said, “Sure you can as you make plenty of money, and are saving it up for something; you can pay for half and I will pay for the other half so the deal is done.”

 

The father didn't want to rile Hattie for he knew he was living very cheaply and they had everything they needed so he agreed.  Afterwards he thought about it he decided it would be nice to have a room to himself.

About two weeks later the room next to Hattie became vacant and Logan moved in.

Later he found out that Hattie had encouraged the man who had the room to leave.

Days turned into months and one morning Hattie found a letter under her door from Logan's father.

Dad leaving Town
courtesy photobucket.com

It said that he needed to get on with his life, and he couldn't do that with Logan hanging on to him.  

He said he was sorry about this, but he never wanted a kid anyhow; even though Logan was a fine boy.

He said he went to a lawyer and has signed all of his parental rights over to her, and if she didn't want the boy to turn him over to the county.

Enclosed in the letter was a few dollars and a thank you.  Hattie had mixed emotions about what had just happened. She hated him for what he was doing to Logan - - tossing him away like trash, but wanted to thank him for giving the boy to her.

She didn't know how to tell Logan about his father leaving him in a way that would ease his pain, so she gave him the letter to read for himself.

He started to read the letter and then while still reading it he abruptly went to his room.

Hattie wanted to go in and hug him but felt it would be better to let him have a few minutes to himself.

There was much to do, so she went about the business of preparing the evening meal for she would soon have a bunch of starving people wanting to be fed.  She knocked on Logan's door and said, “Come to dinner before it gets cold.

He came out and got a hug and a kiss on his cheek and went in to eat his dinner. Afterward he asked her if that meant that he belonged to her, she was now his mom?  Now she was the one who was overwhelmed.

The realty of this was more than she could fathom, and was disturbing to her. The idea that she had a child of her own was an idea far beyond anything she ever expected or imagined.

She gathered herself together, reached out and pulled him to her and said, “That was exactly what it meant.”

From this day forward it will be him and her forever, and they wouldn't be parted. 

She was now "Mom" to him, and both couldn’t have been more pleased.  

 The End