Free Hard Truth- Pigeon 13 by Nevada Barr

Damn near fell on my face. Mrs. Dwayne starts crying and babbling. I'm flopping around trying to get my friggin' wheels unlocked.

"The guy that came in with her, I guess he'd been one of the main searchers, caught Beth in his arms, told her she was okay, her mom was there, that she didn't have to talk-that sort of thing-and she calmed right down. After that, till the nurses came running in to see what the ruckus was about, she stayed close to him and seemed okay. But the child I'd glimpsed was gone. The limpet's eyes were back to black holes with no alternate universe on the far side."

Telling the story in chronological order, without the distraction of manipulating body and chair into the RV, helped her anxiety some. Not as much as a cigarette, but some. She no longer felt like she wanted to bend steel with her bare hands or bite the heads off chickens.

"The invite," Gwen nudged.

Heath had gotten sufficiently wrapped up in her story, she'd forgotten why she'd started the tale in the first place.

"Right. New Canaan." Her left leg jumped, movement she'd at first taken as a sign of hope but which now merely embarrassed her as a tic or an attack of hiccoughs might. Yet one more indication she had no con-trol. The spasms were worse when she was tired. Squashing the leg with her hands, she went on. "After the dust had settled a bit-the limpet came and huddled by my chair like Wiley does-" she nearly added when I cry, but as she had hidden her tears from her aunt along with everyone else, she chose not to confess now. "The mom, Mrs. Dwayne, started cooing about taking Beth home. The limpet grabbed my hand and put it over her face. I mean literally. She buried her nose in my palm like it was an oxygen mask. She started keening. That high, thin wail you see Middle Eastern women sometimes doing on the news when their babies are killed."

"Both girls bonded with you," Gwen said. "The little one especially. You gave her something nobody else could. She feels safe with you."

"It's Wiley or the chair," Heath said dismissively. Still, she was pleased in an odd way. Pleased to be needed. Pleased to be of help.

"I told Mrs. Dwayne how I'd come across the girls and that the limpet had sort of attached herself to me. She more or less blew it off and tried to tug Beth away. Anyway, the limpet started crying, 'No, no, she comes, Heath comes.' A nurse walked in at that point to tell us all it was time to leave. The limpet keeps my hand and keeps shrieking. The nurse gets a doctor. The doctor wants to keep Beth. Mom refuses.

"They're taking the girls home. Tonight. Can you believe that? Tonight. So the doctor suggests, if possible, I visit.

"Then the ranger searcher guy starts talking to mom and limpet, saying now that we know where she lives we'll all come visit. The limpet calms down again. Mom splits to have a confab with Alexis' folks. The dad comes back with her. Takes a look at me and says okay, we should come."

"You must have a trustworthy face."

"Nobody can say 'no' to a cripple."

Gwen ignored the bitterness, as she always did. "I've got the time," she said. "I'm retired."

By the way her aunt vocally stomped on the word 'I've,' Heath knew she was thinking Heath didn't have the time. Or shouldn't take the time. She should return to Denver and physical therapy. Heath was done with that, done with the strapping up and dangling above treadmills, the swimming, the cheerful encouraging therapists, everybody rooting for her to transform, through tremendous amounts of work and will, her half-life into a nine-sixteenths life. The carrot of "the possibility of limited recovery" was considered sufficient to keep her going.

Gwen sighed-discreetly, but Heath heard it and it annoyed her.

"We can park the RV in their driveway and stay with Beth as long as you like," Gwen said.

"No, we can't. The dad was firm on that. There's an RV camp about ten miles away. We're to stay there."

"Big show of gratitude," Gwen sniffed. Having traversed the