A man abandoned by his parents as a young child in an orphanage finds them in a retirement home fifty-seven years later and has to make a life-changing decision. Brendan Wallace’s first memories were of being hungry and frightened, of angry voices arguing about him. The hands which cared for him and should have been gentle were rough instead.
Brendan remembered climbing out of his little bed and toddling towards the sound of music and laughter, his diaper sodden and heavy. Then the laughter stopped. “For God’s sake, we need to get rid of that brat!” a woman’s voice cried.
It was his mother. Sometimes when his mother was sleepy and happy, she’d let Brandan cuddle up to her warmth, and then he’d feel safe and content. But mostly, the sight of Brendan irritated his parents.
It would be many years before an adult Brendan understood why little Brendan was so unhappy and unwanted. His parents were both wealthy, living off trust funds. When Brendan was born, they had been living in a commune.
Bitterness is a poison and forgiveness is the only antidote. It was the sixties and the era of peace and love and flower-power was in full swing, but for Brendan’s parents, that didn’t mean a love of children. When Margaret Wallace discovered she was pregnant, she was horrified and angry.
Horrified because she had no intention of being a mother — ever! — and angry because it was much too late to prevent Brendan’s birth. Fortunately for Margaret and Brendan’s father, Rafe, the commune was full of motherly women who adored babies and took care of little Brendan.
Brendan wasn’t supposed to be Brendan — they wanted a suitably romantic name like Moonchild — but the man at the register took one look at Margaret’s bare feet and love beads and asked her father’s name. “Brendan,” she’d replied. And the man registered Brendan as Brendan — a sensible and serviceable name.
Margaret and Rafe lived in the commune until Brendan was nearly three, then they decided to move on. They were thinking of following a new guru who was all the rage. The man, an Indian aesthete, had given a lecture in San Francisco and the couple had been delighted with his philosophy of living a meaningful life.
The guru ran an ashram in India and Margaret and Rafe immediately decided that was where they should be. But what to do with Brendan? They couldn’t possibly take him…
“We’ll leave him at an orphanage,” Margaret said.
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