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swissmargTitle: Cracks in the In-Between Places
Author:
swissmarg
Beta readers:
ruth0007, billiethepoet
Rating: PG-13
Relationship: John/Sherlock
Word count: ca. 93,500 when complete, this chapter 2,704 words
Summary: AU set in the universe ofnox_candida's Getting Better. John and Sherlock work together to flush out Mary's killers, and Tristram has to come to terms with what his father's new friend means for him. No series 3 spoilers (or series 1 or 2, for that matter).
See chapter one for the complete header with warnings, acknowledgments, disclaimers, and notes.
Chapter Two on AO3
When he wakes up on Saturday morning, the lower level of their flat is empty. He's not worried, though. Mrs Hudson is certainly downstairs; his father never leaves him completely alone. Once, when Father had to rush off to a crime scene and Mrs Hudson was spending a week at her niece's, he'd gone so far as to pack Tristram into Uncle Mycroft's black car at four a.m. in his pyjamas.
He finds a note on the kitchen table - 'On a case, back by tonight, let Mrs Hudson know when you're up' - so he goes back upstairs and gets dressed, then goes down to Mrs Hudson's. She makes him far too much breakfast - as if he couldn't make toast and pour milk for himself, but he knows she likes to feed him and his father - and tells him she'll be going out to the shops in the afternoon, and he's to come along. Until then, she says he's welcome to sit with her and watch telly while she does the ironing but he decides he has more interesting things to do upstairs.
There's his soil experiment, for one, which he hasn't done any work on all week; mostly, though, he wants to read on in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. His father didn't say anything negative when he found out Tristram was reading it; in fact, he seemed mildly interested. But Tristram knows that he generally looks down on non-factual narratives, especially those that centre on acts that defy the laws of physics, so he still feels slightly self-conscious about reading it when his father's around. He doesn't want Father to think he's wasting his time when he could be doing something more productive. Father never reads anything purely for fun, as far as Tristram knows. The only things he reads that aren't related to a current case are things he thinks might be useful on a future one. Who knows? Maybe Harry Potter will turn out to be useful some day.
Emily's father also doesn't want her to read the Goblet of Fire, but he has other reasons. He says it's too scary, plain and simple. Tristram, though, who has grown up around poisons, blood spatter patterns, decomposing body parts, maggots, mould, and explosives, figures he's made of tougher stuff.
He brings the book down to the living room, curls up on the sofa and finds where he left off. When he reads about the tent that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, he gets excited: it's just like Emily said the time travel box was! He greedily drinks in the descriptions of the carnival atmosphere surrounding the wizarding sporting event and is on the edge of his seat all the way through the Quidditch match. When he gets to the part about the Muggles - including two children - being tortured by the dark wizards, though, he gets a sick feeling in his stomach and has to stop reading.
He goes back to his room, puts the book away (no need to hide it anymore since his father already knows he has it), gets his school bag, and goes down to Mrs Hudson's, where he does extra credit exercises until lunchtime.
After they get back from the shops, Tristram puts away the groceries Mrs Hudson bought for them and putters half-heartedly at his soil experiment for a while. The Harry Potter book lurks darkly on his nightstand. It's just a story, he tells himself. It's not real. There's no such thing as wizards, and the people - the Muggle children - in the book are nothing more than words on a page. He's annoyed at himself for being put off by a few sentences. The scene with Voldemort at the end of the first book was much scarier. He carefully puts his slides away and picks up the book again. This time, he skims over the part that bothered him and then proceeds to read through to the end of the chapter. There. The rest wasn't bad at all. Relieved that he's made it through the worst, he settles down to read until his father gets home.
That night, though, he has another nightmare. Emily's Aunt Claire is in it, along with the big man, Gus, who tied him up. They're making him and Emily move like marionettes by means of ropes tied to their arms and legs. Emily is crying, screaming for Tristram to do something. Tristram thrashes back and forth, trying to break free, but the ropes get tighter and tighter, until he can't move at all, can't even breathe. He wakes up gasping and twisted in his sheet.
His light is off, even though he left it on when he went to bed. His father must have come up later and turned it off. He goes downstairs and finds his father lying in his dressing gown on the sofa, his hands clasped across his chest, looking for all the world as if he is asleep. Tristram walks into the kitchen as quietly as he can and gets himself a glass of water. He doesn't want to go back upstairs yet. He wishes his father were at least playing the violin, so he could hear him from his room and know he's here.
While he's standing there on the threshold between the kitchen and the living room, his father speaks: "I'm awake. I'm thinking. I won't be going out again tonight."
"Okay," Tristram says, but he doesn't move.
His father opens his eyes to look at him. "Do you want to tell me about it?"
Tristram shakes his head. He knows what his father will say: 'It's just a dream. It can't really hurt you'. That doesn't mean it wasn't scary, though.
His father looks at him for a long while. Tristram starts to shiver a little. He didn't put on any slippers before coming down, and the floor is drafty. Finally, his father sits up.
"Come here." He slides over on the couch to make room for Tristram.
Tristram goes over and sits down next to him. He's already anticipating the warm comfort of his father's arm around his shoulders, but it doesn't come.
Instead, Father says: "Do you think you could fall asleep here on the couch? I'll be working at my desk or in the kitchen."
Tristram nods, willing the lump in his throat away. Why does he feel so lonely all of a sudden? Father is going to be right there all night, close enough to see and hear as long as Tristram wants.
His father rewards him with a small smile. "Good. Lie down here then, and I'll put my coat over you. That should be warm enough." He stands up, and Tristram lies down with his head against one of the armrests. A moment later, the comforting weight of the black wool coat settles over him. It smells like cold air and cigarettes (he's only seen his father smoke on very rare occasions, but he knows that the coat spends a lot of time around people who do), and Tristram feels the tension melt out of his body.
His father switches off the lights then sits at his desk, illuminated by the glow from his computer screen.
"Good night," Tristram says softly.
"Good night," his father murmurs, his attention already elsewhere.
&&&&&&
Tristram's father stays in on Sunday, but he's thinking, so Tristram isn't able to ask him when Doctor Watson and Emily are going to come for dinner. They obviously can't come until he's done with the case, anyway; not only is his father too pre-occupied and tetchy when he's involved in a case, he needs to actually be physically home for a couple of hours in the evening in order for the invitation to work out.
It's still raining, and boring, but Mrs Hudson comes round to fuss at them and invites Tristram down to hers to play a game of Snap. Tristram told her about Exploding Snap the other day, and she exclaimed that was a real game, only without explosions, and taught it to him. Tristram's much quicker than she is, of course, so he nearly always wins, but she's a good sport and plays just as long as he likes. He's going to teach Emily the next time they get together.
He reads some more of the Harry Potter book that afternoon. It's much longer than the first three books, at over six hundred pages! He gets as far as the introduction to the Triwizard Tournament when it's time for dinner. There haven't been any more scary parts. He's beginning to think Doctor Watson might simply not have wanted to read such a long book.
He sleeps on the couch again that night. They don't talk about it; Tristram just comes down after changing into his pyjamas, brushes his teeth, then tugs his father's coat down from the hook and heads for the couch. His father turns off the lights, picks up his violin and plays wandering, wistful tones that never really coalesce into a proper melody.
Tristram wakes up once during the night, probably from another bad dream, but he doesn't remember it; only a vague feeling of unease remains. The rain is drumming lightly on the windows, and a light in the kitchen is still burning. Tristram can see his father slouched in one of the armchairs, both arms extended across the arm rests. His head is tilted back with his eyes closed and his bare feet are stretched out in front of him, ankles crossed. His mouth is slightly open. Tristram watches him until his eyes drift shut again.
&&&&&&
On Monday morning, the rain's stopped, and his father walks with him to school. He's in thinking mode. Tristram knows better than to bother him by asking about Emily and Doctor Watson's visit. He doesn't stick around to wait for Emily and her father, either, just wishes Tristram a good day absentmindedly and walks away, already in the middle of sending a text message.
Word's got around school about what happened to Tristram and Emily. Tristram suspects Olivia, but Emily stood up staunchly for her discretion, so he can't say anything more against her. It doesn't matter who blabbed, anyway. It's the truth that he and Emily were kidnapped. Tristram has nothing to be ashamed of. (Except for the fact that he had explicit instructions only to go with Emily's father. No one's said this out loud yet, but Tristram knows his father hasn't forgot it. Father never forgets anything important like that.)
Surprisingly, the story has elevated them somewhat in the regard of Sebastian and his cronies, who have been badgering them for details about the bad guy, the bomb, and how they got away. To Tristram's relief, no one's thought so far as to wonder why Tristram and Emily were kidnapped. Tristram supposes he probably has the thin and illogical plots of television series to thank for that, where people are kidnapped and blown up just because the bad guys are bad and the good guys need someone to save.
When Doctor Watson and Emily arrive, they greet Tristram with big smiles. "Did you come on your own this morning?" Doctor Watson asks. It's a friendly enough question, but there's a slight crease in his forehead.
Tristram understands why: he knows that all of their adults - their fathers, Emily's aunts, and Tristram's uncle - are worried about someone taking them again (and, unspoken, that Tristram at least cannot be trusted to follow simple instructions). And - something else that no one has said anything to him about, but that he knows is true - the really bad guy, the bogeyman, the one who made Emily's Aunt Claire do what she did, and had her killed after, is still out there.
Tristram shakes his head and reassures Doctor Watson: "No, my father walked with me. He had something to take care of, though, so he already left."
Doctor Watson seems both satisfied and disappointed by that. Maybe he wanted to talk to Tristram's father about Tristram coming over to their house after school. He'll have to ask Emily at break, because the bell is already ringing for them to go inside.
&&&&&&
At break, though, Emily shakes her head when Tristram asks. "You can't come today. I'm going to see a lady."
"For what?"
Emily shrugs. "She's got some games or something. I don't know. My dad said she might be able to make me feel better."
"Are you sick?" Tristram asks. She doesn't look sick, and anyway she wouldn't be in school if she were.
Emily shakes her head. "No. Not like that. Just... I keep thinking about. You know."
Tristram nods and looks down at his shoes. "Yeah. Me too. And this lady can make you forget it?" He feels a little glimmer of hope as he asks, because if someone could simply wipe the entire incident from his mind, maybe he wouldn't always feel like he's about to be found out for having done something very wrong.
"I said I don't know!" Emily sounds annoyed, really annoyed, which makes Tristram shut up. Emily's never been cross with him before. For a moment, Tristram goes cold and doesn't know what to say. Should he apologise? Her face softens immediately, though, just like her father's does when he looks at her. "Look, I'll tell you what happens, okay?"
Tristram nods, but the awkward feeling stays with him for the rest of the break.
&&&&&&
His father comes to pick him up after school at the same time as Doctor Watson comes for Emily. Tristram hopes they'll make arrangements for dinner at their flat, or for him to go to Emily's after school sometime during the week, but the two men only speak briefly in low voices, close together and half turned away from Tristram and Emily, as if they don't want them to hear. Doctor Watson looks serious and intent, and his father looks like he does when he talks to Detective Inspector Lestrade, equal parts exasperation and excitement.
Tristram opens his mouth to ask Emily if she's ever played Snap, but she's twisting a finger in her hair fretfully, and he remembers she's going to see the lady, so he closes his mouth again and scuffs his shoe against the pavement.
Tristram's father puts his hand on Doctor Watson's shoulder, his head bent down close. Doctor Watson's mouth is in a thin line, and his fist clenches, but he nods. Tristram's father's mouth quirks up, but he's not really happy; it just means he's got his way.
"Come," he calls to Tristram as he walks away, his hands in the deep pockets of his coat. Tristram waves to Emily, who's dragging her feet after her father in the opposite direction.
"When are they coming for dinner?" Tristram asks, half-running to keep up with his father's long strides.
His father frowns, then remembers what Tristram's talking about and says, "I don't know. I'm still working on that case."
"Emily's going to see a lady."
"Yes, I know."
"How do you know?" He's not challenging his father; he's curious. He expects him to say he could tell from the state of Emily's school uniform, or the way she was twisting her hair, but instead he simply replies, "John told me." Tristram is somewhat nonplussed.
"Am I also going to see a lady?" he asks.
"No," his father answers curtly, but after a moment he looks sideways at Tristram and asks, "Do you want to?"
Tristram isn't sure how he's supposed to answer. He has the impression that his father thinks it's a stupid idea, but Tristram would like it if he could get rid of all these bad feelings. He shrugs. If Father thinks it's a stupid idea, it probably is.
His father makes a dissatisfied sound in his throat, but he says, "I'll make an appointment."
Tristram sleeps in the living room again that night. His father looks like he wants to say something, but Tristram studiously avoids his eye as he pulls the coat down and makes a beeline for the couch.
&&&&&&
Go to chapter 3
Author:
Beta readers:
ruth0007, billiethepoetRating: PG-13
Relationship: John/Sherlock
Word count: ca. 93,500 when complete, this chapter 2,704 words
Summary: AU set in the universe of
nox_candida's Getting Better. John and Sherlock work together to flush out Mary's killers, and Tristram has to come to terms with what his father's new friend means for him. No series 3 spoilers (or series 1 or 2, for that matter).See chapter one for the complete header with warnings, acknowledgments, disclaimers, and notes.
Chapter Two on AO3
Chapter Two
When he wakes up on Saturday morning, the lower level of their flat is empty. He's not worried, though. Mrs Hudson is certainly downstairs; his father never leaves him completely alone. Once, when Father had to rush off to a crime scene and Mrs Hudson was spending a week at her niece's, he'd gone so far as to pack Tristram into Uncle Mycroft's black car at four a.m. in his pyjamas.
He finds a note on the kitchen table - 'On a case, back by tonight, let Mrs Hudson know when you're up' - so he goes back upstairs and gets dressed, then goes down to Mrs Hudson's. She makes him far too much breakfast - as if he couldn't make toast and pour milk for himself, but he knows she likes to feed him and his father - and tells him she'll be going out to the shops in the afternoon, and he's to come along. Until then, she says he's welcome to sit with her and watch telly while she does the ironing but he decides he has more interesting things to do upstairs.
There's his soil experiment, for one, which he hasn't done any work on all week; mostly, though, he wants to read on in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. His father didn't say anything negative when he found out Tristram was reading it; in fact, he seemed mildly interested. But Tristram knows that he generally looks down on non-factual narratives, especially those that centre on acts that defy the laws of physics, so he still feels slightly self-conscious about reading it when his father's around. He doesn't want Father to think he's wasting his time when he could be doing something more productive. Father never reads anything purely for fun, as far as Tristram knows. The only things he reads that aren't related to a current case are things he thinks might be useful on a future one. Who knows? Maybe Harry Potter will turn out to be useful some day.
Emily's father also doesn't want her to read the Goblet of Fire, but he has other reasons. He says it's too scary, plain and simple. Tristram, though, who has grown up around poisons, blood spatter patterns, decomposing body parts, maggots, mould, and explosives, figures he's made of tougher stuff.
He brings the book down to the living room, curls up on the sofa and finds where he left off. When he reads about the tent that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, he gets excited: it's just like Emily said the time travel box was! He greedily drinks in the descriptions of the carnival atmosphere surrounding the wizarding sporting event and is on the edge of his seat all the way through the Quidditch match. When he gets to the part about the Muggles - including two children - being tortured by the dark wizards, though, he gets a sick feeling in his stomach and has to stop reading.
He goes back to his room, puts the book away (no need to hide it anymore since his father already knows he has it), gets his school bag, and goes down to Mrs Hudson's, where he does extra credit exercises until lunchtime.
After they get back from the shops, Tristram puts away the groceries Mrs Hudson bought for them and putters half-heartedly at his soil experiment for a while. The Harry Potter book lurks darkly on his nightstand. It's just a story, he tells himself. It's not real. There's no such thing as wizards, and the people - the Muggle children - in the book are nothing more than words on a page. He's annoyed at himself for being put off by a few sentences. The scene with Voldemort at the end of the first book was much scarier. He carefully puts his slides away and picks up the book again. This time, he skims over the part that bothered him and then proceeds to read through to the end of the chapter. There. The rest wasn't bad at all. Relieved that he's made it through the worst, he settles down to read until his father gets home.
That night, though, he has another nightmare. Emily's Aunt Claire is in it, along with the big man, Gus, who tied him up. They're making him and Emily move like marionettes by means of ropes tied to their arms and legs. Emily is crying, screaming for Tristram to do something. Tristram thrashes back and forth, trying to break free, but the ropes get tighter and tighter, until he can't move at all, can't even breathe. He wakes up gasping and twisted in his sheet.
His light is off, even though he left it on when he went to bed. His father must have come up later and turned it off. He goes downstairs and finds his father lying in his dressing gown on the sofa, his hands clasped across his chest, looking for all the world as if he is asleep. Tristram walks into the kitchen as quietly as he can and gets himself a glass of water. He doesn't want to go back upstairs yet. He wishes his father were at least playing the violin, so he could hear him from his room and know he's here.
While he's standing there on the threshold between the kitchen and the living room, his father speaks: "I'm awake. I'm thinking. I won't be going out again tonight."
"Okay," Tristram says, but he doesn't move.
His father opens his eyes to look at him. "Do you want to tell me about it?"
Tristram shakes his head. He knows what his father will say: 'It's just a dream. It can't really hurt you'. That doesn't mean it wasn't scary, though.
His father looks at him for a long while. Tristram starts to shiver a little. He didn't put on any slippers before coming down, and the floor is drafty. Finally, his father sits up.
"Come here." He slides over on the couch to make room for Tristram.
Tristram goes over and sits down next to him. He's already anticipating the warm comfort of his father's arm around his shoulders, but it doesn't come.
Instead, Father says: "Do you think you could fall asleep here on the couch? I'll be working at my desk or in the kitchen."
Tristram nods, willing the lump in his throat away. Why does he feel so lonely all of a sudden? Father is going to be right there all night, close enough to see and hear as long as Tristram wants.
His father rewards him with a small smile. "Good. Lie down here then, and I'll put my coat over you. That should be warm enough." He stands up, and Tristram lies down with his head against one of the armrests. A moment later, the comforting weight of the black wool coat settles over him. It smells like cold air and cigarettes (he's only seen his father smoke on very rare occasions, but he knows that the coat spends a lot of time around people who do), and Tristram feels the tension melt out of his body.
His father switches off the lights then sits at his desk, illuminated by the glow from his computer screen.
"Good night," Tristram says softly.
"Good night," his father murmurs, his attention already elsewhere.
&&&&&&
Tristram's father stays in on Sunday, but he's thinking, so Tristram isn't able to ask him when Doctor Watson and Emily are going to come for dinner. They obviously can't come until he's done with the case, anyway; not only is his father too pre-occupied and tetchy when he's involved in a case, he needs to actually be physically home for a couple of hours in the evening in order for the invitation to work out.
It's still raining, and boring, but Mrs Hudson comes round to fuss at them and invites Tristram down to hers to play a game of Snap. Tristram told her about Exploding Snap the other day, and she exclaimed that was a real game, only without explosions, and taught it to him. Tristram's much quicker than she is, of course, so he nearly always wins, but she's a good sport and plays just as long as he likes. He's going to teach Emily the next time they get together.
He reads some more of the Harry Potter book that afternoon. It's much longer than the first three books, at over six hundred pages! He gets as far as the introduction to the Triwizard Tournament when it's time for dinner. There haven't been any more scary parts. He's beginning to think Doctor Watson might simply not have wanted to read such a long book.
He sleeps on the couch again that night. They don't talk about it; Tristram just comes down after changing into his pyjamas, brushes his teeth, then tugs his father's coat down from the hook and heads for the couch. His father turns off the lights, picks up his violin and plays wandering, wistful tones that never really coalesce into a proper melody.
Tristram wakes up once during the night, probably from another bad dream, but he doesn't remember it; only a vague feeling of unease remains. The rain is drumming lightly on the windows, and a light in the kitchen is still burning. Tristram can see his father slouched in one of the armchairs, both arms extended across the arm rests. His head is tilted back with his eyes closed and his bare feet are stretched out in front of him, ankles crossed. His mouth is slightly open. Tristram watches him until his eyes drift shut again.
&&&&&&
On Monday morning, the rain's stopped, and his father walks with him to school. He's in thinking mode. Tristram knows better than to bother him by asking about Emily and Doctor Watson's visit. He doesn't stick around to wait for Emily and her father, either, just wishes Tristram a good day absentmindedly and walks away, already in the middle of sending a text message.
Word's got around school about what happened to Tristram and Emily. Tristram suspects Olivia, but Emily stood up staunchly for her discretion, so he can't say anything more against her. It doesn't matter who blabbed, anyway. It's the truth that he and Emily were kidnapped. Tristram has nothing to be ashamed of. (Except for the fact that he had explicit instructions only to go with Emily's father. No one's said this out loud yet, but Tristram knows his father hasn't forgot it. Father never forgets anything important like that.)
Surprisingly, the story has elevated them somewhat in the regard of Sebastian and his cronies, who have been badgering them for details about the bad guy, the bomb, and how they got away. To Tristram's relief, no one's thought so far as to wonder why Tristram and Emily were kidnapped. Tristram supposes he probably has the thin and illogical plots of television series to thank for that, where people are kidnapped and blown up just because the bad guys are bad and the good guys need someone to save.
When Doctor Watson and Emily arrive, they greet Tristram with big smiles. "Did you come on your own this morning?" Doctor Watson asks. It's a friendly enough question, but there's a slight crease in his forehead.
Tristram understands why: he knows that all of their adults - their fathers, Emily's aunts, and Tristram's uncle - are worried about someone taking them again (and, unspoken, that Tristram at least cannot be trusted to follow simple instructions). And - something else that no one has said anything to him about, but that he knows is true - the really bad guy, the bogeyman, the one who made Emily's Aunt Claire do what she did, and had her killed after, is still out there.
Tristram shakes his head and reassures Doctor Watson: "No, my father walked with me. He had something to take care of, though, so he already left."
Doctor Watson seems both satisfied and disappointed by that. Maybe he wanted to talk to Tristram's father about Tristram coming over to their house after school. He'll have to ask Emily at break, because the bell is already ringing for them to go inside.
&&&&&&
At break, though, Emily shakes her head when Tristram asks. "You can't come today. I'm going to see a lady."
"For what?"
Emily shrugs. "She's got some games or something. I don't know. My dad said she might be able to make me feel better."
"Are you sick?" Tristram asks. She doesn't look sick, and anyway she wouldn't be in school if she were.
Emily shakes her head. "No. Not like that. Just... I keep thinking about. You know."
Tristram nods and looks down at his shoes. "Yeah. Me too. And this lady can make you forget it?" He feels a little glimmer of hope as he asks, because if someone could simply wipe the entire incident from his mind, maybe he wouldn't always feel like he's about to be found out for having done something very wrong.
"I said I don't know!" Emily sounds annoyed, really annoyed, which makes Tristram shut up. Emily's never been cross with him before. For a moment, Tristram goes cold and doesn't know what to say. Should he apologise? Her face softens immediately, though, just like her father's does when he looks at her. "Look, I'll tell you what happens, okay?"
Tristram nods, but the awkward feeling stays with him for the rest of the break.
&&&&&&
His father comes to pick him up after school at the same time as Doctor Watson comes for Emily. Tristram hopes they'll make arrangements for dinner at their flat, or for him to go to Emily's after school sometime during the week, but the two men only speak briefly in low voices, close together and half turned away from Tristram and Emily, as if they don't want them to hear. Doctor Watson looks serious and intent, and his father looks like he does when he talks to Detective Inspector Lestrade, equal parts exasperation and excitement.
Tristram opens his mouth to ask Emily if she's ever played Snap, but she's twisting a finger in her hair fretfully, and he remembers she's going to see the lady, so he closes his mouth again and scuffs his shoe against the pavement.
Tristram's father puts his hand on Doctor Watson's shoulder, his head bent down close. Doctor Watson's mouth is in a thin line, and his fist clenches, but he nods. Tristram's father's mouth quirks up, but he's not really happy; it just means he's got his way.
"Come," he calls to Tristram as he walks away, his hands in the deep pockets of his coat. Tristram waves to Emily, who's dragging her feet after her father in the opposite direction.
"When are they coming for dinner?" Tristram asks, half-running to keep up with his father's long strides.
His father frowns, then remembers what Tristram's talking about and says, "I don't know. I'm still working on that case."
"Emily's going to see a lady."
"Yes, I know."
"How do you know?" He's not challenging his father; he's curious. He expects him to say he could tell from the state of Emily's school uniform, or the way she was twisting her hair, but instead he simply replies, "John told me." Tristram is somewhat nonplussed.
"Am I also going to see a lady?" he asks.
"No," his father answers curtly, but after a moment he looks sideways at Tristram and asks, "Do you want to?"
Tristram isn't sure how he's supposed to answer. He has the impression that his father thinks it's a stupid idea, but Tristram would like it if he could get rid of all these bad feelings. He shrugs. If Father thinks it's a stupid idea, it probably is.
His father makes a dissatisfied sound in his throat, but he says, "I'll make an appointment."
Tristram sleeps in the living room again that night. His father looks like he wants to say something, but Tristram studiously avoids his eye as he pulls the coat down and makes a beeline for the couch.
&&&&&&
Go to chapter 3
