–Claire, don’t hang up! Just listen for a second, said Mark very fast through the phone.

Silence

-It’s Liam, added Mark.

-I’m listening, said Claire.

-He is not doing well. We had to go to the psychologist. She insists on having a conversation with the three of us.

-No way. I’m not going near you no matter what.

-But it’s for Liam’s sake. He has stopped talking, doesn’t play, and has been like an autistic child since you left us.

Silence

You think about it. Claire, he is only five. He needs you—no matter our differences. The appointment is next Friday at 6 pm, at the Grover Building—office 206.

Mark took his son to the psychologist’s office, not knowing if his wife would go because she had left their home three months ago after a long period of misunderstandings between them. Not even a call since then.

She said she couldn’t stand to live with a man who didn’t value her as an intelligent human with a promising career and only saw a dumb servant who had to take care of the house and the kid. She wanted a promotion in her job as a lawyer with all the consequences, and if he couldn’t understand that, he would have to face it the hard way. So when she had enough, she packed her things and moved out.

The psychologist, Maggie, was a nice middle-aged woman who put Liam to play with Lego toys and then began talking to the couple in a separate room. Mark and Claire were listening impatiently until the kid entered the room

Mom’s head

-I don’t find mom’s head, he said

-What? Exclaimed Claire.

-Excuse me for a moment, said Maggie, and went out with the little kid, leaving alone the perplexed parents.

A few minutes later, she came back and said to them:

-You better come with me.

They went to another room for kids with a table, little chairs, and many Lego toys. Liam was playing with them. He had arranged a street scene with a car, a man in the driving seat, and a lady out with suitcases and an angry face. There was also a garbage truck in the opposite direction of the car.

-Liam, explain to us what does mean this, said Maggie:

-This is Dad going to work, he said, pointing to the car.

-And this is Mom the day she left us.

-Why is she angry?

-Because I have been a bad boy.

-Oh no! My sweetheart, It wasn’t your fault, said Claire.

-And the garbage truck?, Continued Maggie, making a sign to Claire to remain silent.

-It’s my secret.

-Would you show us your secret?

-It won’t be my secret anymore.

-Can I open the back of the truck?

Silence.

Maggie opened the truck, and a little Lego boy was in the garbage container.

-Who’s that?

-Me

-You guys have a lot to talk about, said Maggie to the astonished parents while Liam closed the truck and began to play with it, driving it apart from the scene where he had put the man in the car and the angry woman.

FFFC 251