having to do this.”
He thrust out his lower lip, stiffened his neck,
-and crossed his arms across his chest. Darlene got
up, still holding April, and started to say someing
but I motioned her down.
“It must be real hard not to see your dad,” I said.
He stood as straight as a Marine, trying hard to
look tough and grim.
“I heard you ran away.”
No reply.
“That must have been a real adventure.”
160 Jonathan Kellerman
The hint of a smile danced across his lips and
escaped.
“I knew you had strong legs, Ricky, but to go five
miles all by yourself. Whew!”
The smile returned, staying a little longer this
time.
“See anything interesting ?”
“Uh huh.”
“Can you tell me about it?”
He looked back at the others.
“Not here,” I assured him. “Let’s go to another
room. We can draw and play like the last time.
Okay?!’
He frowned but followed me.
Mal’s office amazed him and he circled the im-
mense room several times before settling down.
“Ever see a place like this ?’
“Uh huh. In a movie.”
“Oh yeah? Which one?”
“It was about bad guys who were taking over the
world. They had an office with lasers and stuff. It
looked like this.”
“Bad guy headquarters, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you think Mr. Worthy’s a bad guy?”
“My dad said he was.”
“Did he tell you anyone else was a bad guy ?”
He looked uneasy.
“Like me? And Dr. Daschoff?”
“Uh huh.”
“Do you understand why your father said that?”
“He’s mad.”
“That’s right. He’s really mad. Not because of
anything you or April did, but because he doesn’t
want your mom and him to get divorced.”
– “Yeah,” the boy said
her damn fault!”
“The divorce?”
yea-h: She kicked him out and he even pid for
the house with his money!” ‘
I sat him down, took a chair opposite him, and
put my hands on his small shoulders as I spoke:
“RiCky, I’m sorry everything is so sad. I know
you want your mom and dad to get back together.
But that’s not going to happen. Do you remember
how they used to fight all the time?”
“Yeah, but then they’d stop fighting.and be happy
to us.”
“When that happened it was nice.”
“Yup.”
“But the fighting got worse and worse and there
wasn’t much happiness left.”
He shook his head.
“Divorce is terrible,” I said. “Like everything’s
falling apart.”
He looked away.
“It’s okay to be angry, Ricky. I’d be angry too, if
my parents were getting divorced. But it’s not okay
to run away because you could get hurt that way;”
“My dad’ll tare care ot m .
“Ricky, I know you love your dad very much.
You should. A dad is someone special. And a dad
should be able to be with his children, even after a
divorce. I hope some day your dad can see you a lot,
and take you places and do fun stuff with you. But
right now–and this is really sadwit’s not a good
idea for him to spend a lot of time with you and
April. Do you understafid why.
“Cause he’s sick?”
“Right. Do you know what kind of sickness?”
t62 Jonathan Kellerman
He ruminated on the question.
“He gets mad?”
“That’s part of it. He gets real mad or real sad or
real happy all of a sudden. Sometimes without a
good reason. When he’s real mad he could do mad
things that wouldn’t be right, like fight with somebody.
That could be dangerous.”
“Uh uh! He could beat’em up!”
“That’s true, but it would be dangerous for the
person he beat up And you.or April could gethurt,
accidentally. Do you understand?”
A grudging nod.
“I’m not saying he’ll always be sick. There are
‘medicines he can take that can help. And talking to
doctor, s, like me, can help, too. But right now your
dad doesn’t want to admit that he needs help. So
the judge said he couldn’t see you until he got
better. That made him really mad and now he thinks
everyone is a bad guy trying to hurt him. But we’re
really trying to help him. And to protect you.”