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Now that she had his attention, Timmy was staring at her like<br />
she was something that had walked right out of one of the Playboys<br />
he’d hidden under his bed. Did ten-year-olds even read Playboys?<br />
Oh, God, that meant that Gunner ... Ew. Stop, brain. That is quite<br />
enough of that kind of talk.<br />
Luckily, he recovered from his awe long enough to lead us<br />
up the stairs and into a quaint little dining room. We sat down on the<br />
cold wooden chairs and Susannah slid the folder over to me. I pulled<br />
my pen out of my pocket and opened up to the first page.<br />
Once I was situated, I glanced up at Timmy. “Are your<br />
parents going to sit with us, too?”<br />
He cupped one hand around his mouth and yelled, “MOM!”<br />
I winced and stuck my pinky in my ear. Ah, yes, he was<br />
definitely my brother’s age.<br />
Shortly after the unnecessary yell, a woman with a short<br />
black mom-do appeared in the doorway. Unlike her husband, she at<br />
least offered us a smile, even if it looked a little forced. When she<br />
came to sit down beside her son, I recognized concern and some<br />
hopefulness in the creases framing her eyes. She didn’t know what<br />
was wrong with her son. She was willing to consider that it really<br />
was something paranormal so she didn’t have to face the facts that<br />
her kid might have been wired a little differently. Gotta love parents.<br />
“Hi, Mrs. Johansson.” Susannah introduced us again and we<br />
both shook her hand. “We’re just going to ask you some more<br />
questions. Some of them might be repeats from what you’ve already<br />
filled out, but that’s just in case you’ve thought of anything to add<br />
in the few weeks since you submitted the investigation request<br />
form.” She was beaming at the woman. What I’d give for people<br />
skills like that. Or even just a rack like that.<br />
“Thank you for coming,” Mrs. Johansson said. Her lips were<br />
tight.<br />
“So, it says here that all three of you are Catholic?” I asked.<br />
“Yes. Why do you need to know that?” she responded.<br />
Susannah came to the rescue with her sunshiny smile. “It’s<br />
really mostly so that we can be respectful of your beliefs. Also so<br />
that we can understand what kind of practices you have in the<br />
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