Deep in the Valley Read Online Free PDF

him. Some, he knew, called him the Gay Spaceship Shrink, though no one in Grace Valley knew for sure whether he was gay or straight. There were undoubtedly lots of valley residents who thought he was delusional…but there were plenty of people who availed themselves of his services. He made a much better living in the little town than he’d ever expected to.
    He had converted his garage into an office, and had a brick walk directed to the side door so that hewouldn’t have to escort people through his living room and kitchen to their therapy sessions. Half the garage served as private office, half as waiting room, and he’d had a large picture window installed so he could see his clients as they pulled up to the curb in front of his little house. Through that window he saw the police car, a beige-and-brown SUV. Lee Stafford was at the wheel and Frank Craven was getting out.
    Jerry might have been looking at himself thirty-five years earlier—skinny, lanky, feet as big as snowshoes, arms too long, hair badly cropped and askew, head down and gait clumsy. And not so different now, Jerry thought, for he was six foot five, wore a sixteen shoe and had never been able to manage his wavy blond hair. And though he tried to stand up straight, it was hard when nine-tenths of the world was under his chin.
    “Come in, Frank, come in,” he said, holding the door. “I don’t think we’ve ever met. I’m Jerry Powell.”
    “The spaceship guy,” Frank said sullenly and thickly through his swollen lip.
    “The same. You’ve had a rough morning. Want some juice? Water? Soda?”
    “Naw.”
    “Come back to my office, here. And if you change your mind, just say so.”
    Frank followed Jerry into the office. Jerry stood at the door and waited for him to choose a seat, either in the conversation area, where a couch was separated from two chairs by a coffee table, or in one of two chairs before the desk. But Frank stood just inside the door and waited. “Have a seat, Frank,” Jerry said.
    “Where?” he asked.
    “Anywhere.”
    “Where?” he asked again, unwilling to select their seating.
    “How about here?” Jerry suggested, indicating a chair in front of the desk.
    The boy flopped down, slumping. “This going to take long?”
    “Probably not. Let me just tell you a couple of things first. I’m going to make a few notes because I don’t trust my memory, but they are completely confidential. Even though this visit was prompted by the high school assistant principal, I’m not required to tell him anything about our session. Okay?”
    “I don’t really care what you tell him,” Frank said meanly. “He’s a cocksucker.”
    “I am only obligated to tell him that you did, in fact, have your required meeting with me,” Jerry continued, as though he hadn’t heard the boy’s comment.
    “I had two choices. Expelled or counselor.”
    “Yes, well—”
    “If it had been suspended or counselor, I’d have taken suspended.”
    Jerry pulled a yellow pad onto his crossed knee and wrote April 17th at the top. “Why not take the option of being expelled? You like school?”
    “Not really. But my ma wants me to go.”
    “But you could have an excuse…if you got expelled.”
    Frank started to pick a thread on his jeans. They were in pretty bad shape. Not only were they old, they were now dirty from having rolled in the dirt at the bus stop.
    “Your mother’s been through enough today, I suppose.”
    He looked up. “What do you know about it?” Frank wanted to know. There was such rage in his eyes. He was one angry kid.
    “I know you got in a fight at the bus stop because someone said something about your dad being taken to jail and you were…what? Offended? Embarrassed?”
    “How about pissed off?”
    “Yeah?” Jerry asked.
    “Yeah.”
    “Pissed off because?”
    “Just because…”
    “Do you want to tell me about it?”
    “Naw. I’m over it now. It’s finished.”
    “We gotta do something, Frank. We have