The ties that bind us to each other are numerous. The most common are those that bind friend, family, and foe. Among those many social ties that hold us in tight patterns of habitual nature, there is a special sort of bondage unlike any other. It is the bond between mother and child.

A tired, but relieved expression was evident in Scott's eyes just before he gently closed them. A sound that he had desired to hear for weeks finally echoed from the phone that he held lightly to his ear. “Hey, honey. Sorry, I could not get back to you. My phone fell in the toilet and I had to get another one. Call me again. You have my new number now, right?”

He sighed softly then nodded. She was alright. His mother was the only person on the useless rock known as Earth who he gave a damn about. Honestly, if it was not for her he would have no serious reason to return at all. There was nothing on Earth for him that he could not acquire on Alterra that mattered.

Scott's mother was sick frequently, and had survived a life threatening bout with cancer a few years ago. Since then he had routinely called her once every few days. His mother had given up so much for him when he was a child. He wanted to do right by her. Of course, he had yet to tell her about the sort of things that he had been doing of late. Less was more in this instance.

He searched through his phone to see if her number had actually shown up in his missed call list. He nodded then called her back. The phone pretended to ring for a moment; he could not remember the last time that he had seen a phone that had an actual old school ringer. Once that moment passed, he heard the most beautiful sound in the world.

“Hello?” asked a soft feminine voice, before a series of coughs echoed through the phone.

“Hey, ma.” said Scott. His eyes narrowed slightly and his eyebrows pressed close. The cough had worsened, he could tell that much with little effort.

The voice on the other end of the line perked up immediately, though there was a tired edge to her tone. “Hey boy, did you fall in?”

“Hmm?” asked Scott, an amused smile on his face. She sounded good for once, despite the cough.

“You know? The last time you called, you hung up because you had to go to the bathroom...” she said with a joyful laugh.

“Well, you know I eat a lot of meat.” Scott smiled in wry amusement when he heard his mother laugh loudly in response once more. It was a good day when she did not sound like she had spent the entire morning crying.

“You been workin’?” she asked.

“Yeah, been in and out of the country meeting with my people. It’s an interesting gig, but hard to really call home as much as I would like.” he said. Scott had decided that it was best not to let her know too much about the truth. There were legal issues, but those aside he did not want to worry her.

“That’s good. I miss hearin’ from ya, but it’s good that you’re workin’.” she said. Her last few words lingered in the air after she spoke them.

Scott leaned against the wall, a slight smile on his lips. “What have ya been up to, Ma?”

“Well, you know...” she said.

“Been talking to your Internet man-candy?” asked Scott with a grin.

She giggled lightly, like a much younger and far healthier girl, then snorted a little. “Yeah, you know I’ve got to get with it...”

He laughed and shook his head. Ever since she had discovered that reasonably attractive Latin men could be located online, she had been a devout believer in social networking. It had annoyed him at first, but it did not take long for him to realize that her newfound interest was a good thing. It gave her something to do other than worry about her health. Though, he could have done without the constant questions about how to spell words. She had never finished high school, and her literacy was not the greatest in the world. More than once she had called him several times in a row to ask how a word was spelled so that she could talk to someone online.

“So...” began his mother. The tone of voice that she used was one that her son immediately recognized.

Scott already knew what she was about to say, and gave her the answer. “No, ma. I don’t have any kids, yet.”

“Well, get on with it!” she said.

“I’m too busy to have any kids right now...” said Scott.

“Well, stop that and go make me a grand baby.” said his mother.

Scott laughed lightly then smiled. She never changed. He had flat out told her many times that he was not interested in having children at the moment. “You know I’m not going to try to have any kids until I’m settled financially.”

“Well, what are you now? Hmm? I raised you on less money than you’ve been sending me.”

“I’d have to be in a relationship...” said Scott. He was certainly in one now, but he was not sure that even his mother would see it as normal enough for children to become involved.

“No, you don’t. Just find some girl and get with it.” she said in a cheerful tone.

Scott rolled his eyes then chuckled. “No, ma. I’m not just going to find some random girl and have sex with her...” His eyes widened slightly as his voice trailed off. Thoughts of recent events arose within him. Basically, he had just lied to his mother. Reality was a funny thing sometimes.

“Why not?” she asked in amusement.

He was fairly certain that she was not serious whenever she made statements like that, but he never knew the complete truth when it came to this topic. She could be feisty. “I don’t know; the fact that she’d be pregnant for months and we’d have to raise a child when we barely know each other?”

“Nah, I’ll raise the baby. You can just go make more.” she said with a laugh.

He sighed loudly then shook his head. She was lonely, he could tell that, but even when he went to visit her frequently she still badgered him about having grandchildren. “I could get you a dog.”

“No, three is enough.” she said with a snort.

Scott laughed at her. She had far more animals than she needed. On top of the dogs, she also had cats, chickens, rabbits, and a duck who thought that she was a dog. There was also the horse who whinnied for food any time his mother poked her head out of her front door.

They talked for a while after that, and both of them ended the call with a sense of peace that had been missing in recent days. Scott worried for her greatly, and she missed her son. They were pretty much all that either of them had for the last few years. He knew how much his phone calls and visits meant to her.

He sighed loudly then tossed his phone to the side. “If only there was a way to tell her the truth. She’d be worried sick, sicker than she is now, but...”

Scott shook his head. Some things were just not able to be explained easily, and the company wanted him to remain quiet about his current profession. In a few months, that might not matter, but for now all he could do was come home more often and spend time with his mother.