Free Watcher in the Woods by Robert Liparulo

thumb and forefinger. He doubted he was ever going to get used to it.
    â€œCan I sign your cast?” Toria chimed from behind him.
    â€œI didn’t like that guy,” David told his father.
    Dad gave him a puzzled look. “Who?”
    â€œThat doctor, what he was saying.”
    â€œWhat’d he say?” Xander asked. He sounded glad to shift his thoughts away from his ex-girlfriend.
    â€œI wanna sign it,” Toria repeated, louder.
    â€œHe didn’t mean anything by it,” Dad said. “It’s his job to look out for his patients, especially children.”
    â€œYou didn’t seem too happy about it.”
    Dad shrugged. “He caught me off guard.”
    Xander said, “What? What’d he say?”
    David twisted in the seat, bumping his injured arm and sending a bolt of pain into his shoulder. His words came out sounding angrier than he intended. “The doctor practically accused Dad of beating me.”
    â€œHe said Dad broke your arm ?” Xander’s eyes grew wide in disbelief.
    David said, “We told him I fell out of a tree, and he said, ‘So you say.’ He asked if everything was okay at home and how I got this bruise on my face.”
    Xander was leaning forward as far as the seat belt would let him. “What did you say?”
    David smiled. “That you did it.”
    â€œWell,” Xander said, sizing up the bruise, “it is in the shape of a fist.”
    Now David’s cheek was starting to ache, just thinking about how the man who had taken Mom had punched him. He touched his fingers gently to his face. He said, “Yeah, but about twice the size of your fist.”
    â€œOkay, then,” Dad said, “can you blame the doctor for asking?”
    David scrunched his face at him. “But, Dad, come on! You beating us?”
    Dad frowned. “It happens, guys. Not everyone should be a parent.”
    They rode in silence for a minute.
    Finally Dad said, “This is the kind of thing we have to anticipate. We’ve got injuries we can’t explain . . . your mother’s absence . . .”
    â€œ Flying !” David said, dramatically.
    â€œWe can’t do much about what people actually see,” Dad said. “But, David, when we told the doctor you fell out of a tree and you said Xander had caused the bruise on your face, those were lies.”
    â€œWhat else was I supposed to say?”
    Dad held up his hand. “I know, I know. What I’m saying is . . .” He paused, struggling with his words. “It’s just that . . . I think we’re going to have to get used to lying for a while.”
    Toria gasped. “Daddy!”
    â€œJust for a while,” Dad said. “If we tell the truth about Mom and everything else, they’ll either think we’re crazy and lock us up, or think that we’re hiding something and start an investigation.”
    â€œWe are hiding something,” Toria said.
    Dad glanced back at her. “They’ll think we hurt Mom.”
    â€œLike they think you hurt me,” David said.
    Dad nodded. “The truth is too weird.”
    â€œWe can show them,” Toria suggested.
    â€œOh, yeah!” Xander said. “The government would move in and take the house. Then we’d never find Mom.”
    Dad turned the SUV onto the narrow dirt road that ended at their property. He said, “We have a secret. Sometimes you have to lie to keep secrets safe.”
    â€œ You know all about that,” Xander said.
    â€œXander!” David snapped. It would be a long time before his brother forgave Dad for bringing all of them to the house in the first place. He was about to say something else, something about letting it go, when Dad spoke up.
    â€œYou’re right, Xander, I do. And I regret it. But until we get Mom back, we’re going to have to make up a story about where she is. I’m thinking we should say she’s back in Pasadena,