Gene Wasserberg, a 90-year-old retired electrical engineer, picked up the phone. The voice on the other end was familiar, albeit he couldn't place where he knew it from.
"Hello, is this Gene?"
The elderly man nodded, scowling as he tried to place it. If he heard the person on the other end speak he more he may figure out, in the deep recesses of his mind, who this was. "Yes, I'm Gene. State your business."
"Your son Thomas... I'm sorry to report, he's been found dead."
And that's when it clicked. He heard this voice before in one of those videos his crazy son did, always livestreaming and bullshitting, yellin at random people, making gem art and that kind of shit. It was clearly Officer Winsky down south in Tuscon where the boy moved out to a few years ago. "Officer Winsky... do you know what happened to him?"
The somber police man felt a strange sense of relief ever since Tom passed on, because the man would no longer torment him and his co-workers at TPD's mental health division, but still breaking it to the parents was always going to be the roughest part of this job. He tugged at his collar. "Well. I'm going to spare you the most grizzly details, I'm sure you don't want to know anything too terrible."
Gene answered affirmatively. He was curious, but didn't wish to picture anything to sad or particularly rancid.
Winsky continued, "Well, we found him out in a back alley a few blocks away from his home. He was dead days, uh, er, possibly even a week or two before we even found him. The autopsy just came in a few hours ago and it looks like he over-exerted himself after picking a fight with some homeless hooligans over his haul lifted from the local AMPM's dumpster. Some of them turned themselves in for questioning and their story matches up, seems like it was an accident."
Gene listened as Winsky recalled the details, and solemnly nodded along to it. Tears formed in the corner of the old mans eyes, it was hard to outlive your own spawn. Even harder still when they didn't have any kids of their own, like Tom. Even though Tom was estranged for decades, and even said some terrible things about him and his wife, deep down Gene still felt for him. There was no way a loving parent couldn't hurt even when losing a disappointing son.
"If you need a moment thats okay, the boss told me I could stay on the line with you as long as you need." Winsky re-assured Gene.
"Thank you, young man." he commented dryly, clearing his throat so he didn't choke up too much with emotions. "Thanks for notifying me. I'll... I'm going to tell my wife about this. You can carry on with your work. Have a good day, sir."
Winsky thanked him back and left him alone to grieve after one last reassurance that he could call into his office or personal cell any time he'd like, and they could just talk about life.
Gene gave a melancholy smile as he hung up, the teardrops now rolling down his cheeks. "At least you can't cause or experience any more suffering, crazy bastard." he muttered to himself as he stood back up, knees creaking. He walked out of his study and into the front room where the fireplace was crackling and his wife was napping next to her half-complete sewing project.
"Honey... honey." He shook her gently awake and sucked on his bottom lip. Gene breathed deep and found it within himself. "Honey, Thomas passed on."
She looked at him, processing for a moment before chuckling lightly. "About time the bastard learned to do something right."