Free Shades of Truth by Naomi Kinsman

dished chicken onto each of our plates. “Chicken parmigiana — my favorite.”
    I sat, but didn’t touch my food.
    Dad took another bite, but neither Mom nor I moved. Finally, he said, “The story of my eye isn’t dinner conversation, Cindy. Can I tell you later?”
    “You appear to be the only one who can eat right now,” Mom said.
    Dad set down his knife and fork. “Mack Jefferson shot his bear today near the research center.”
    My stomach dropped. Not Patch, please not Patch. And not Big Murphy. Tears spilled down my cheeks. How could the hunters do it? How could they shoot our bears?
    “Helen and I helped him pull the bear out from the bush. We needed to know … We were hoping …” His voice cracked.
    “It was Humphrey,” he said finally. “Helen’s bear.”
    “It’s not fair!” I pushed my chair back, almost knocking Dad over. “They’re
murderers
.”
    “Sadie, they’re hunters. We’re not here to stop that,” Mom said.
    “But I can’t believe Dad just lets them —”
    Mom’s look stopped me. Whatever I thought, she expected me to keep it to myself.
    “How did you get your black eye?” Mom took a bite ofchicken and tried too hard to look casual, the same expression she used when she asked me about an unexpectedly low grade.
    Dad ran his fingers through his hair. “Mack had a bunch of hunter friends with him. Jim Paulson, for one. When we pulled out Humphrey, Helen cried, and of course Jim started in on her. He was merciless. I lost my temper. And then Helen lost her temper and shoved Jim. He shoved her back, so I got between them, and he punched me. It got out of hand really quickly.”
    “Matthew, how is this mediating? First, you buy a gun, which I’ve never wanted in my house. Then, you go out hunting, and now you’re punching hunters? This town is changing you.”
    “I’m not changing, Cindy. I just —”
    They both looked over at me, as though they had suddenly remembered I was at the table. I listened to the silence grow and deepen until I thought I might disappear into it. I shoved away from the table and ran upstairs to my bedroom, slamming my door behind me.
    I leaned against my door, my parents’ words still echoing in my ears. Sick to my stomach, I crawled into bed and pulled the covers up to my chin. I rolled onto one side and the other. I fluffed my pillows. I closed my eyes and counted to fifty, hoping I might fall asleep. I listened to Mom and Dad come upstairs, knock softly on my door, and discuss whether to let me be or come inside. I held my breath until Dad suggested they talk to me tomorrow, until I heard thesoft thump of their bedroom door closing. Still, as the quiet settled again, Dad’s bruised face swam in front of my eyes. Finally, I threw off my covers. Absolutely, positively time for reason seven.
    WHY PIPPA REYNOLDS AND SADIE DOUGLAS WILL ALWAYS BE BEST FRIENDS —

REASON 7: TOGETHER, WE LEARNED THAT A PEANUT BUTTER AND DORITOS SANDWICH CAN FIX ANYTHING.
    Pips and I had needed peanut butter and Doritos sandwiches quite a few times. The first time was when my fairy costume had been lost in the mail, the one Pippa and I had carefully planned and both ordered so we’d match. So she had hers in time for Halloween, and I didn’t. I’d been in tears, so Mom had turned over the kitchen before taking us trick-or-treating. “We’ll make any dinner you want,” she’d said. We’d put together the most random combination we could think of — PB and D — and were shocked, and overtaken with giggles, when it turned out to be delicious.
    In the picture, Pippa laughed in her Doritos-stained purple fairy dress, and I lay on the floor, breathless with laughter, in my pink tutu with paper fairy wings. All around us, boxes and bags of every ingredient possible crowded the counters. Other photos crammed the pages. Pips and me in front of the soggy refrigerator boxes that had been our fort until her sister turned the hose on them. Pips and me waiting on the