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Anthony knew the drill

He knew that Mommy had to have the shades drawn in the car He also knew that Moht hit her directly, so as I faced him in the front seat, as I pulled ht, he didn&039;t think much of it Moht

It&039;s tiht Time to tell hiht different tiht different ti my mouth, Anthony played his Gameboy There was still chocolate on his nose

I pushed through the nerves and fear and got"Anthony, baby, I need to talk to you about so important - and, no, it&039;s not about Taled a little, then looked over at me, suddenly serious "I&039;m sorry about those boys, Mommy"

"I know you are, honey Put the Ga serious, so related to what happened today"

"Related?" he asked, scrunching up his little face

"It means &039;connected&039;"

"Like how relatives are connected"

"Yes, that&039;s right You see, Mommy is" Except I couldn&039;t finish the sentence I paused and thought long and hard about the wisdo that Anthony looked up atwith just one eye the way he does sometimes

He needs to know He has to know It&039;s only fair He can&039;t grow up not knowing But he&039;s so young So young

"Are you okay, Mo you bad?"

"I&039;ed forward "Anthony, I&039;m not like other mommies"

He nodded "I know Because you can&039;t go in the sun"

"That&039;s part of it, honey You see, I&039;er than other er?"

I raised h I don&039;t think er In fact, I&039; like me," he said

"Yes"

"Well, duh, Mom I&039;m only your kid Kids have the same stuff their mommies have But only half of the daddy&039;s"

Noas confused "Only half of their daddy&039;s?"

"Duh, Mom Kids come from their mommies, not their daddies"

"I see," I said "Very logical"

Anthony nodded as if he&039;d spoken the truth Then he turned to , too?"

"No She&039;s not like us"

"Why not?"

I shifted in my seat I wanted to look away I wanted to avoid his innocent stare How do you look a little boy in the eye and tell him what I was about to tell hi He had to know He had to I believed that with all my heart and soul My dead heart and damned soul

I said, "Do you remember when you were sick last year?"

My son nodded absently Mercifully, he looked away and was now playing with the zipper to his jacket

"Well, last year you were very, very sick, so sick that Moer"

"Why?"

"So that you could fight the sickness"