“Of course.”
“I found him. He hasn’t left the house in three years. I’ve been hanging out with him for weeks. He’s going to get me that scholarship, Janis.”
“Are you being serious right now?” she was still whispering, but it was getting louder with every word. “You found him? Are you insane?”
“No,” Lisa said calmly. “I’m going to save his life.”
Janis leaned back in her seat and shook her head for a few seconds with her eyes fixed on Lisa.
“Anyway, I’m really sorry I’ve been so flaky lately. But, I’ve made a lot of progress with Solomon. I think I could really be on to something here. With the right combination of game therapy and long-term social exposure, I could have him ready to face the world again by this fall.”
“Lisa . . . you’re pretending to be this boy’s friend so you can write about it and get a scholarship.”
“I’d hardly call him a boy. He’s just a year younger than we are.”
“Do you not understand why this is wrong? Because you’re the smartest person I know and if you can’t see this then I need to reevaluate a lot of things in my life.”
“I get it,” Lisa said. “But just like I told Clark—it’s a means to an end. It’s effective. If something works, if it cures him, then why does it matter how it works. He will never know and he’ll be better. At this point, finding out is the only thing that could hurt him.”
“And I guess you made it that way on purpose?”
“God, you act like I’m a con artist. I want to help him. I’ve wanted to for a long time. You remember. Now I get to help him and go somewhere to learn how to help more people. What’s wrong with that, Janis?”
“Let me meet him.”
“No way,” Lisa said.
“Why not?”
“He’s not ready. He’s still getting used to me. And he just met Clark. I can’t overwhelm him.”
“He’s hanging out with Clark, too? Geez, Lisa, what kind of therapy is this?”
“Like I said. It’s experimental. He just needs to learn that he doesn’t have anything to be afraid of out here.”
“Maybe he should be afraid. Did you consider that?”
“No,” Lisa said, staring at her blankly.
“So I’m supposed to just forgive you for completely vanishing on me because it was all to help some crazy kid?”
“He isn’t crazy,” she snapped. “He just has a bad relationship with the world.”
“He hasn’t left his house in three years. That sounds crazy to me.”
“He has acute agoraphobia brought on by severe panic disorder. When he leaves his house, his panic gets worse. Any one of us would do whatever we could to feel safe, just like he’s doing. It’s survival. But, that’s no way to live and no matter what he says, I know he’ll be happy out here. And we deserve him.”
“Fine. Whatever. I forgive you, okay? But I don’t approve.”
“You don’t have to. Just don’t tell anyone. It could ruin everything.”
“Fine. But I need a favor.”
“Shit,” Lisa said. “Don’t say it.”
“Camp Elizabeth. They need one more junior counselor and I know you had fun last summer no matter how much you try to pretend you didn’t.”
“Oh God. I can’t, Janis. I purposefully kept my whole summer free to try and help Solomon and I . . .”
“Lisa,” she said, crossing her arms. “You owe me. Come with me to camp and I’ll forget you abandoned me like a dog.”
“Okay . . . chill out a little.”
“A dog, Lisa. A diseased dog. Left to fend for myself in the wilds of Upland High School. It’s only two weeks. Starts June fifteenth. Say yes.”
“Fine. I’ll make it work. But I’m not teaching canoe.”
“They need you to help teach canoe.”
“Damn it.”
? ? ?
Later that day, after Lisa had finished all her homework, she called Clark to see if she could come over. She figured a whole weekend hanging out with a stranger had earned him a little one-on-one time. Plus, she couldn’t remember the last time they’d even made out.
“We should go see Sol,” he said.
“Again?”
“Yeah, why not? I’m pretty sure he’s not busy.”
“I’m totally down,” she said. “Unless you’d rather . . . umm . . . do something else, if you know what I’m saying?”