Megan felt a shiver. Her eyes slipped to the top of the desk and she couldn’t look up at Dr. Peters. She continued, “Tate only read it to me once but I still remember the last line. It was, ‘And do you know what the bears were really whispering about? Why, nothing at all. Don’t you know? Bears can’t talk.’”

This is so bogus, Crazy Megan scoffs. What’s he going to think about you now?

But the doctor calmly asked, “And the story was upsetting?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe ‘cause everybody’s lives got ruined for no reason.”

“But there was a reason for it.”

Megan shrugged.

He continued, “The town was destroyed because people projected their own pettiness and jealousy and aggression on some innocent creatures. That’s the moral of the story. How people destroy themselves.”

“I guess. But I was just thinking it wasn’t much of a kid’s story. I guess I wanted The Lion King or 101 Dalmatians.” She smiled. But Peters didn’t. He looked at her closely.

“What happened after your father finished it?”

Why did lie ask that? she wondered, her palms sweating. Why?

Megan looked away and shrugged again. “That’s all. Bett came and picked me up and I went home.”

“This is hard, isn’t it, Megan?”

Get a clue.

Quiet! Megan snapped to CM.

She looked at Dr. Peters. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Would it be easier to write down your feelings? A lot of my patients do that. There’s some paper.”

She took the sheets that he nodded toward and rested them on a booklet he pushed forward for her to write on. Reluctantly Megan picked up a pen.

She stared at the paper. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Say what you feel.”

“I don’t know how I feel.”

“Yes, you do.” He leaned close. “I think you’re just afraid to admit it.”

“Well-”

“Say whatever comes into your mind. Anything. Say something to your mother first. Write a letter to her. Go!”