Chapter Twenty-three

Titus Hitch Wilderness

Sweet Onion River

Thursday morning

Tash nodded. "Autumn, please tell me the truth. Do you think my father is a crook? Do your parents think my father stole all that money?"

"But you know he didn't, don't you, Autumn? He didn't!"

"No, I don't think he did, Tash."

"Do you know when the agents asked Uncle Rebel about Sasha, he called her a trophy wife. What does it mean, Autumn?"

Tash frowned at his scuffed dirty sneaker. "That sounds stupid. My mama wasn't a trophy wife, was she, Autumn?"

"From what you've told me your dad really loved your mom. But maybe he loves Sasha too."

Tash chewed harder on his blade of grass. "I heard her tell Dad he should send me to a boarding school. I saw brochures to this school in Connecticut on my father's desk at home." He leaned over, picked up his bottle of iced tea, and took a swig. "Dad changed after Mama died. He didn't laugh anymore, at least not much. I remember seeing him crying the first Christmas. He was putting a present for me under the tree. I never said anything, just went back to bed and cried too."

"You both really missed her, Tash."

Tash said, "Did your folks ever think you were sick, Autumn? Did they ever think you were a freak?"

"You talked with your minds?"

"You have lots of friends. Do you ever want to tell them or show them what you can do?"

"It's sort of like Superman or Wonder Woman, right? They have to hide who they really are."

"Don't you get lonely? I mean, you can do really special things but you can't talk about it, can't even tell your friends."

Tash scrunched up his eyes and concentrated. "The potato chip bag."

"You saw me pick that up, didn't you?"

"Maybe."

"Tell me what I'm thinking about."

Tash didn't say anything for the longest time. "I don't know, Autumn. I can't see it."

Autumn leaned back against the willow tree and eyed him. "Then let me show you."