Billie Joe's Third Son

"I haven't seen you for a very long time," the guy from the airport said and smiled. I looked over to Mum. She smiled at me.

"What are you doing here Dad?" I asked the man, as if it was that simple. As if I'd known about him all the time, but never got the chance to meet up with him.

"I'm coming for you," he replied, still smiling.

"Mum, what's going on?" she didn't reply, just continued smiling, like he did. This was weird. This wasn't real. This wasn't..

I woke up, sweating, and hardly breathing. I thought about the dream for a second, realising I'd been dreaming that I was dreaming. I had to laugh to myself. Why was I dreaming of that random guy on the airport anyway.. ? Just one person knew the answer to that.

Mum.

*

Scotland

I read Regina's address, which I'd found on the internet, at least ten times before calling a cab. The cab driver opened the window and looked at me.

"Hello sir. Where can I take you?" he asked. I gave him the note with the address written on it. While he read it, I got in beside him. He then let go of the note and looked at me. He started driving, and talking at the same time.

"You're that dude in DF, am I right?" DF?

"Sorry sir, I have no idea what you're on about." I replied. "What's DF anyway?"

"Oh, just a local band."

"Right. I am in a band though," I said and smiled.

"Oh, what one?"

I sighed. I didn't want to answer the question, but he guessed it anyway.

"Wow, slow down.. You're that dude in Green Day," he guessed. "I swear you look just like the frontman in DF, or is it he who looks like you?" He laughed a little.

"Look, will you please sign my son's Nimrod CD?" I nodded.

Without taking his eyes from the road, he opened the car locker, picked up a CD I knew very well, and handed it to me. I searched my bag to find a pen.

"What's your son's name?" I asked, getting ready to write.

"He's named Mailey."

*

California

I was laying on my bed upstairs, waiting for something to happen. I didn't bother to get up. I was thinking of that dream of mine. Such a weird thing. I smiled to myself. I wondered what my Dad was named. That's when I came to realise that every time I was about to find that out, something happened to get in the way of it. I heard someone talk downstairs, then footsteps up the stairs, coming towards my room. My heart was pounding in my chest.

This is it, I thought. Mum's gonna ask me down to say hello to Dad.

And I was right. It was Mum. She entered the room, and was about to say something, but I spoke too fast.

"Is Dad downstairs?" I happily asked. Mum first looked confused, then dejected.

"We have talked about this a houndred of times, Joey. What would your father do downstairs in Amanda's house? Besides, you better get up. We're going to town, I bet you don't wanna miss it." With that, she left me alone with my thoughs. I felt disappointed.

Why? It was only a dream.

Sure as hell a good one too.

*

Scotland

"We're here Mr. Armstrong," the cab driver spoke. He'd stopped infront of a red house, not really a small one either. My nerves suddenly cought me.

What am I gonna say? What if everything goes wrong? What if..

"That'll be 7p, please," he spoke again, interrupting me thinking.

"Right," I replied. I found my purse and searched it for money. I'd luckily not forgotten to change from dollars to pounds. I gave him the money, and got out of the car.

"Hey! What about the change?" the guy yelled after me.

"Keep it," I mumbled back. He drove away, probably happy with keeping it.

I looked over to the house, and slowly walked to the front door. My heart raised in my chest, and it started to beat faster and faster. I swallowed the lump I had in my throat, made my way to the front door, and rang the doorbell.

No answer. I then knocked on the door. No answer. I then kicked the door.

"Y'shouldn't be doin' that, mate," someone behind me suddenly spoke up. I shied, and let out a little 'aaah,' then turned around to see who it was.

Behind me stood a guy, not much taller than me, with ashblonde, curly hair. His eyes were blue, and his dressing was.. Un describe able. He had a joint in his left hand, and could not have been much outside. He was pretty pale. Not just that, there was something about him. I cleared my throat to speak.

"Do you live here?" I asked. The man shook his head.

"This is the Prebbles's house. Whatcha' doin' here? Ya know, they're in California mate," he replied.

Oh, slow down a bit. They were in Califuckingfornia? What was I doing here? I was such an idiot. I opened my mouth to speak, but instead of words, I heard a weird sound coming out of it. I was speechless. All of this, this mess for nothing. Why take a plain to fetch him when I only needed to unlock the car?

I tried to hold my tears back, but I couldn't help it. They pored down my cheeks, and I couldn't stop them. I was so desperate.

The guy looked at me with comprehension in his eyes.

"You were looking for the kid, weren't ya?" he asked. I nodded. He sat down, and took me down with him.

"Sorry to tell ya mate. He's only here at Christmas, and sometimes in summers. His mother sent him to Norway when he was one year only, I heard."

Norway. Great. I was never going to find him now. Not ever.

"How do you know all of this?" I asked after a long pause. He shrugged.

"Live just down the street," he replied and nodded towards the left alley way. "I'm a good friend of Regina's. Picking up their mail while they're bathing in sun."

I laughed, and wiped away my tears.

Don's POV

"How did you know I was looking for the boy?"

I smiled. I knew it was wrong of me to lie to Billie, seeing as though Joey now lived here permanently. But I had a feeling not to mix myself into their family problems. Instead of telling him the truth, I replied to his question, which actually was about houndred percent honest,

"'Cause the boy has no father, and you guys could've been twins."

*

"So, you and my son's doing great, I understand?" Ollie asked me. She was visiting me and the boys, two days after Billie'd left.

"Of course. Though Billie has been acting kind off weird the last few months," I replied.

"Mummy, I'm tired." Joseph suddenly stood by the staircase. I smiled at him.

"Come on honey, let's get you to bed. Sorry Ollie, I will be right back." Ollie nodded and smiled.

I took Joseph's hand, and led him upstairs.

"Go on honey, wait for me in the bedroom. I'm just going to check upon Jakob," I told him. He obeyed, and disappeared inside his room. I looked into Jakob's room. He was silenty asleep.

I went to tug in Joseph, but he'd already done it himself. His eyes were fixed upon the roof. I sat down on his bed.

"Honey, what's on your mind?" I asked. He continued staring in the roof as if I didn't exist.

"Mum, I thought you said Daddy didn't have any little brothers or sisters," he replied. I gave him a strange look.

"Joseph, that's right, he doesn't."

"But who is the baby he was with?"

"What baby?" He suddenly looked at me.

"When me and Jakob was with Grandma Ollie some days ago, we were on the attic playing. Jakob found a box, but we couldn't quite understand the writing on it. We opened it, and out fell a lot of pictures. With Daddy and a baby. Or just the baby. Even some toys and clothes, too. You know when Dad had big curly hair? It was then."

"What are you trying to say, honey?" I said, pretending to be calm as usual. But something was going on, I could feel it in my entire body.

"Nothing. Good night Mum. Love you," he replied and turned around to sleep. I sighed and got up. I switched off the light before leaving his room. I had to ask Ollie about this. I ran downstairs, and saw here sitting in the same position as before, with her cup of tea in her hands, and her right leg crossing her left. She looked at me.

"Adrienne honey, you look frustrated," she said.

"Ollie, I need to ask you something," I replied. She nodded, and I sat down, not really knowing where to begin. I looked up to her.

"Well.. Joseph said that when he and Jakob had been there, you'd allow them to play in the attick," I began, but she interrupted me.

"Adie, they need to have fun. They love being up ther.."

"No, no, Ollie it's not that. They found something up there," I replied cutting her off.

"What? A chest filled with treasure? Some of Billie's old un cleaned underwear? Oh - I got it. A corpse," the old lady smirked. The smirk disappeared from her face when she noticed I wasn't either smiling or laughing.

"No. Photos. Photos of Billie and a baby, in some box they couldn't read the script of. I need to know Ollie, something is going on. Has Billie got some secret siblings or.." I stopped when I met Ollie's eyes. They'd just been so happy, and filled with joy. Now they were black, and filled with sorrow.

"So Billie hasn't told you? I guessed that much," she said, taking a sip of her tea.

"Told me what?" Ollie let out a little laugh.

"No, Adrienne, you don't have to worry. Billie doesn't have any secret undercover agency, or secret siblings. He just.." She interrupted herself.

"Go on.." I said, not sure of what I was going to hear next.

"Adie, you might not wanna hear this.."

"Look, would I be asking you about any of this if I didn't want to know?" I said, cutting her off again. She shook her head.

"When Billie was fifteen," she started, and paused before going on. "When Billie was fifteen, he met a woman named Regina. I don't know if I should be telling you this.."

"Please, Ollie," I replied. I had a feeling I needed to know whatever was on Ollie's mind. She took a deep breath.

"She got pregnant," she said, holding her breath. I almost laughed, but choked the laughter.

"So? What has this to do with Billie?" I asked.

"You remember when I came before Billie left, with his old things?" she said, changing the subject. I nodded.

"I have to show you something. I'll be right back." With that, she sat her cup on the table, got up and walked upstairs. She came down again some minutes later, holding a box in her hands. Her eyes were wet. She was almost crying. She sat down next to me and opened the box, then put her hand down in it. When it came up again, she held many photos. She showed one of them to me. Joseph was right. It was Billie, holding a child.

"He was such a good little boy, you know," Ollie said, letting her tears fall. She confused me a bit. I sighed, and put my arm around her.

"He had a little brother, didn't he?" I asked. She didn't reply. "What happened to him, Ollie?"

She laughed a little.

"This Adie, is not my son. This is Billie Joe's." I took my arm back.

"I don't understand.." She showed me another photo, of just the kid.

"This," she spoke again. "This is a photo of Billie Joe's first born son."