Page 79 of Whistle

“Why do you need all this? My son’s home. He’s okay.”

“Just for my report. I think that’s everything.”

Annie watched as she got back into her cruiser, killed the flashing lights, and drove out to the road. Once she had turned and started driving off, the second car followed.

Something caught Annie’s eye.

The lights were on in Daniel’s house.

Annie put in a call to the leasing agent first thing in the morning.

“Candace,” she said, “do you have a handyman?”

She explained that she needed the home’s two doors—front and back—to be as secure from the inside as they were from outside. Annie said that if Charlie had another sleepwalking episode, she didn’t want him to be able to leave the house. At the same time, she didn’t want the place difficult to get out of in the event of a fire or some other emergency.

Candace had a suggestion. “What about a chain on his bedroom door?”

Annie didn’t like that. She wanted Charlie safe, but that didn’t mean she wanted him to be treated like a prisoner. And what if he had to get up in the night to use the bathroom? But a chain on the front and back doors, mounted high enough that Charlie could not reach it, might be the answer.

“Let me talk to my guy and I’ll get back to you,” Candace said.

Annie had that call done before Charlie was even down for breakfast. He was more tired than usual, not surprisingly, but other than that seemed no worse for wear. His mother announced that they were going to do something different today. They were getting out of the house. No work for her, no trains for him. They were going to explore.

“We don’t have to,” Charlie said.

“But we’re going to,” Annie insisted. “We leave at ten. Got it?”

That gave them an hour before departure. Charlie still had to get dressed and brush his teeth. Annie stayed in the kitchen, reading the news on her tablet, but finding it hard to focus.

I hope I’m not losing my mind, she thought.

How else was she to explain what she’d seen in the night? That train had seemed so real. The roar of the engine. The ground trembling beneath her. The headlight glaring at them.

And then it was gone.

Annie hadn’t spoken to her therapist, Dr. Maya Hersh, in some time. She wondered whether she would be available for a Zoom appointment. She used her phone to send an email, asking if she might have time for a session. Today, if possible.

“Ready!” Charlie shouted.

It was a fun afternoon, and good to get out of the house.

By chance, they ended up driving by a small regional airport outside Binghamton and stopped to watch small planes fly in and out for an hour. She and John had taken Charlie out to JFK once to see the big jets come in and take off, so watching smaller passenger planes and private craft land and depart was less dramatic but just as engaging. The airport had a snack bar, where they were able to buy a couple of hot dogs.

Continuing on, they spotted a place where you could pick your own strawberries. Annie asked Charlie if he wanted to give it a go, but he was puzzled.

“I thought strawberries came in little cardboard boxes,” Charlie said.

Annie laughed. “And where did you think they were before they ended up in little cardboard boxes?”

“I never really thought about it,” Charlie said.

Together, they filled two quart containers. Charlie was eager to pick more, but Annie said you could only eat so many berries and it wasn’t like she was going to make a pie.

On the way home, they stopped at an ice-cream stand and bought two chocolate-dipped soft ice-cream cones, and while they were sitting on a nearby bench, Charlie said, “I like your new monster guy.”

Annie stopped in mid-lick. “What?”

“The creepy thing you’ve been drawing. It’s scary.” But he didn’t look troubled. He was intrigued.

---