The question was awaiting Samuel's response.
"I don't like going because Lydell ... well .... she has a crush on you; it makes me feel uncomfortable ... jealous really." But why should he be jealous? He spent every day with Lisa; not really, sometimes their lives intersected in the house and sometimes it didn't.
"You ..." He was in the zone; how had she done it? He was no longer stammering and stuttering; what, was this Pavlov's dog theory? The moment she sounded as if they were starting a session, he would go into the trance. If he would allow it, that is.
He decided he needed to ride this wave, to see where it would take him ... where it would take them. "Let's sit under the tree ... it's nice." As he persuaded her to walk out the door, he flipped open his cell phone. Why - he had new courage to do these things; he perceived she had lightly hypnotized him in some sort of new state. Like, his troubles all went away. "Officer Lydell? Officer Lydell? Oh ... listen, this is Samuel. Email me the picture of the person you need me to find; or the location of the place you think something happened. Send me a brief explanation of what I'm looking for, and I'll get back to you in a couple of days. Email:
[email protected]. Uh, don't call back. Just follow my instructions." With that, he hung up the phone, placed it back in his pocket, and he reached the tree with Lisa.
"No, I can't sit there. I feel something there ... like ... I can't explain, let me sit next to you." Samuel said worriedly; he wasn't about to tell her he thought he felt her friend at the tree. He didn't want to bring her friend up, not now.
"Okay; I told you I would tell you the truth. And somehow, you put me in this relaxed state where I could do almost anything. So I'll tell you." Samuel breathed in a deep breath.
"Lydell still has a crush on you; but that's not the reason why I don't want to go back to the station. I don't want to go back to the station because ... it reminds me of my Mom. She's in jail now. I haven't visited her in over a year." He looked at Lisa's lips; he saw that she was processing everything he was saying. "Maybe, you need this?" Samuel produced a pen and her new gift diary; he thought she might want to write it down.
His smile betrayed he was having a little bit of fun. "My mom and I, we ... we don't get along. I was always her fall back guy, in case the other guys rejected her. But I couldn't handle all her problems; they were way too much for me. I could feel her emptiness, but then she would do something to me that would make me hate her. Hit me, yell at me or something. I guess her life got the better of her."
He looked up into the tree; the leaves were just beginning to turn colors, it would be an early fall this year. Right above him, he could see it ... one lonely leaf. It was all by itself, but it was still green. It was lush, crisp, very much so a summer color. He reached up to grab it; then realized, he shouldn't. If he plucked that one leaf ... "No, I might have it for a moment. But then, it will die" Samuel said, realizing he voiced outloud a part of what he was thinking.