I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Really?"
Anon nodded and sipped on his beer before answering. "Yeah. I wasn't a planned kid, and, well, my mom just used every opportunity to pass me over to Aunt before just giving me up entirely. Aunt is my official guardian now."
I noticed he didn't mention a father anywhere in there, but didn't raise up that question. As interesting as Anon's story was, it wasn't my goal. Pushing him further than he was ready to go was against my purposes. Instead, I sighed.
"My mother died when I was a child. Cancer." I found myself saying. I could easily rationalise this as gaining sympathy, but I didn't want to gain anyone's sympathy with the memory of my mom. The truth was… I felt good to share, even with a stranger, even after all these years. Until the story stopped causing me pain, it felt good. "I was raised by my dad and grandparents after that, but I never stopped missing her."
