Henry didn't understand it; he'd thought it was something else, when the light came.
Judgment, maybe. Something to fear.
As it was explained, it still didn't make sense. What could he have done to garner such attention? He hadn't been a 'good guy'. He'd known the world of magicks and monsters before it had been common knowledge, and rather than use it to help, to do anything good, he had used it to his own advantage.
Made potions. Pushed addictive concoctions on whoever was buying. Killed when it suited him.
Why should he get a wish?
The words they spun made sense, in the moment, and the thought that escaped him had come without warning or even time to consider; his heart spoke before his mind, the true nature of his greatest desire made known even to himself in that moment - because he hadn't known it, not at all, till that moment.
And he went home, the posh place he kept for appearance's sake, and crawled into bed, trying to forget what had happened.
Breakfast sounds awoke him the following morning, followed by scents. Bacon. Hot coffee. Even syrup. Someone was there.
Henry approached slowly; he hadn't been able to locate a gun in his bedroom and felt oddly open and exposed as he moved towards the noise. When he saw her standing there, he wondered if he had left his mind behind with the strange dreams he'd had the night before and simply stood there a long moment, watching her hum to herself, moving from the stove to the sink and back again, two places set at the small dining table.
She smiled when she glanced up and saw him there. "I wondered when you'd be draggin' yourself outta bed!" she called cheerfully. "C'mon sit, I know you gotta work at ten but you have time for a decent breakfast for a change."
Mutely, Henry sat, staring first at his own bare arms and the lack of the familiar track marks that should be there, then at the small gold medallion beside the plate in front of him, celebrating fifteen years of sobriety.
"That Baxter works you have to death, Henry... why don't you look into Abbot Labs instead? They gotta nice place out in Des Plaines, not far from my new condo, we could have dinner maybe once a week..." she went on, bringing a sizzling frying pan to the table to scoop pancakes on to his plate. She grinned broadly when she saw that he had noticed the AA coin, but said nothing; the pride in her achieved brimmed the tears in her eyes.
When she turned to set the frying pan back on the stove, Henry shakily got to his feet, embracing the woman once her hands were free.
"I wanted to surprise you," she explained, choking on her own tears as she hugged him back. "It's cos of you, Henry. Cos of you that I did it!"
Tears spilling over from his own eyes, Henry could utter only a single word in response: "Mom".