Leo:

After the thirty days were over my mom came to the visiting hours. They were on a Saturday at ten in the morning. 

We only had about ten minutes but I used all of those minutes to try to get out of her what I had been wondering. About what Ryan had said that night that I went out for the burrito. 

I had walked in the door and after Ryan had said something to me he started saying some pretty weird stuff. 

“I didn’t exactly choose to come here. But I am here.”

Excuse me? What was that supposed to mean?

I looked at him. I really did not even want to be having this conversation, but I kind of wanted to ask him what he meant.

“Do you want to be here because of my mom? Is that what you mean?” I said to him.

“Well, I adore your mother,” he said.

Cringe. Sorry I had asked. Not sure if I wanted to hear more.

“It’s just, it wasn’t supposed to be with someone who had a teenage boy,” Ryan had said slowly as if he was in a trance.

“Okay, who was it supposed to be with then?” I said.

I asked my mom about this. All of it. 

“What did Ryan mean when he said he didn’t exactly choose to come here?” I said to her.

She looked at me and then looked away. But there was really nothing for her to focus her eyes on. The walls were a cement gray color and there were just a few others in the room but they sat at the far tables and their backs were to us. Security guards lined the corners of the room but they looked off to the distance.

She returned her eyes to me and after a minute she sighed.

“He also said it wasn’t supposed to be with someone who had a teenage boy,” I said.

“Was this some kind of an arranged marriage between you two?” I said half jokingly, but part of me was starting to believe it because of how odd Ryan’s words had been.

This time she looked down at the floor and then looked up at me.

“Ryan,” she paused. She was carefully choosing her words that were to be said. This made me nervous.

“I am not sure if we have time to go into this,” she said.

“Mom, you can’t leave me hanging. What is this about? Does this have to do with me?” I said with urgency.

“It has to do with something from a long time ago,” she said. And then she just stopped talking as if she had already said too much.

“What?” I said with a shrill to my voice. 

“What are you talking about?” I said, trying to sound shocked which was not difficult. 

She just looked at me.

“Five minutes until visiting hour is over,” one of the security guards shouted.

“How long did you know Ryan after dad died?” I said.

“I didn’t know him until he got here,” she said.

“But I knew he was coming. I didn’t really have a choice.” 

* * *

After visiting hours ended I went outside to where the basketball hoops were. We had thirty minutes of “outdoor time”. It was heavily guarded and watched by security, but my mind was on the things my mom had said. 

She had not said much. 

But I thought she had probably said more than she had wanted to. The ending of visiting hours had saved her from saying more but it was only a matter of time now. She would tell me the rest of this mystery. Or she probably wouldn’t have even said what she did. Or was this just wishful thinking? 

My mom knew Ryan was coming and she did not have a choice? What the?

This was sounding more and more like an arranged marriage. But that is not something I could see my mom doing.

What had she gotten herself into? And why?

I could not wait for next Saturday when I was going to get the whole scoop of what was going on with the mystery of Ryan. 

I knew my mom would be there. And she would have all week to think about how she was going to answer. With truth, I dared say to myself. I needed to hear the truth. And I was starting to sense that this truth might have something to do with me.

* * *

The next Saturday my mom came at ten in the morning. I had spent a good portion of the previous day just staring at the walls. There was the stuff that Brooklyn had said about me and there was the stuff I wondered about Ryan. This kept me staring at the precious walls.

When I saw my mom, after the normal how was your week stuff, I started asking her about what she had said about Ryan. I knew I didn’t have a lot of time and I needed to know now. I couldn’t wait another week.

“So, you didn’t know Ryan until he got here?” I said.

“Where is he from?” I said next.