Jane Stone was sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper and drinking her coffee. William ran up to her with a question.

“Mama, can I please see a movie this afternoon? All the other boys are going and I can walk from here.”

“Sure. Here’s money for a ticket. Stay on the sidewalk and don’t talk to strangers.”

Satisfied, he took the dollar and ran out the door. Sometimes Jane worried about letting him out on his own often, especially considering he was only 9 years of age. But she had faith that he was smart enough not to get himself into any trouble. With his father leaving at such a young age, she hoped she had done a well enough job of raising him on her own.

She walked up the stairs to get ready for work. She dressed herself and put all her makeup on and was out the door by 9 o’clock. Jane worked as a secretary for the mayor in their city of Los Angeles. Her day consisted of taking notes and holding phone calls, setting up meetings and appointments. By the end of the day she was asked to go out to dinner with some of the women for work. She agreed, telling herself William would make it home by the time she got back. She had a great time at dinner and after going out for drinks she took the train home, arriving at about 11.

Setting down her coat and bag by the front door, she had barely started to make her way up the stairs to William’s bedroom before she felt the deathly silence begin to sink in. It was apparent that the house was empty. Confirming her suspicion, she checked in the paper and saw that the latest movie showing ended at around 7 PM. William should have been home 3 to 4 hours ago. She quickly went to the phone and dialed the police department right away. Being told they couldn’t look into it as a missing person until he had been gone for 24 hours, she dragged herself up the stairs and into her bed. Jane tried to focus on sleep, but she knew very well she wouldn’t shut her eyes once throughout the night.
*three months later*

Receiving a call, Jane raced to the phone hoping it was from the police. Still having heard no word of her missing son, she was on her last nerve. She spoke with the head detective, who was glad to inform her that they had found William. As fast as she could, she made her way down to the station to pick up her son.

When she got there, they led her to an interrogation room and opened the door. She was waiting with open arms, but the boy that walked out was not the face she was so eager to see. He resembled William in many ways, but she knew for sure that boy was not her son. In shock, she walked out of the police station with his hand in hers. They went all the way home without speaking a word.

Walking in the house, she had to show him to his room as if he was a guest. She made her way downstairs and began cooking dinner. She called the boy to the table, whoever he was. Trying to make conversation, he asked her many questions. His voice was so different from William’s, a voice she had heard in her dreams for the past few months. She tuned out most of what he was saying except for one word.

“Mama?” he asked, and that one word sliced through her heart deeper than the fact the she still didn’t have her son. She had waited month after month, yearning for her own child to be sitting in the seat this stranger was sitting in now. It was humiliating that the police station thought they could trick her into believing this was him. They really thought she wouldn’t know the difference. Jane stormed up the stairs, leaving the kid alone in the dark kitchen. She didn’t feel the need to take care of him.

The next morning she woke him up from where he had fallen asleep, in William’s bed, under William’s covers. They hadn’t been touched since the morning before he didn’t come back. She took him to the station, ready to give him back. When she got there, she marched right into the detective’s office and stated the problem clearly. The officers all gave her a similar look of bewilderment, and the detective slowly shut the door to his office and sat her down, leaving the boy outside.

He spoke to Jane, saying they had confirmed the boy was William, and he was taken aback that she wouldn’t accept her own son back into their home. He didn’t believe a word she was saying, and was very strict about not taking the child back. He began to yell, declaring her a terrible mother and the cruelest woman he had ever known. She was forced to walk out of that station, even more humiliated than she had been walking in, and still with the imposter she was planning on getting rid of.