Vision Read Online Free PDF

psychiatry?”
    She knew Alan didn’t want to pick at her like this. He continued only because he felt she needed to hear it. He was being a conscientious big brother. Even though he was misguided, his intentions were admirable. If she hadn’t been certain of that, she would have asked him to leave.
    “I don’t have to be a psychiatrist to know that you need to lean on someone. You always have. From the day you realized what your clairvoyance was, what it meant, you’ve been frightened of it, unable to deal with it yourself. You leaned on me for a while. But I wasn’t tall enough or broad-shouldered enough to fill the role for long.”
    “Alan, for the first time in my life I have the urge to slap your face.”
    He came around and sat down on the edge of the bed. He took her left hand in both of his. “Mary, he was a newspaper hack, a washed-up reporter who hadn’t covered a major story in ten years. You knew him just six weeks before you were married.”
    “That’s all the longer I needed to know him.” She relaxed, squeezed Alan’s hand. “It’s working out fine, dear. You should be happy for me.”
    “You’ve only been married four months.”
    “Long enough to like him even better than I did when he proposed.”
    “He’s a dangerous man. You know his past.”
    “A few fights in barrooms... and he doesn’t go to barrooms anymore.”
    “It’s not as innocent as that. He nearly killed some people in those brawls.”
    “When they’ve had too much to drink and are feeling mean, some men will go after the biggest man in the room. Max was a natural target. He didn’t start any of those fights.”
    “So he says.”
    “No one ever pressed charges.”
    “Maybe they were afraid to.”
    “He’s changed. What he needed was someone who loved him, someone he could feel responsible for. He needed me.”
    Alan nodded forlornly. “Want a drink?”
    “I’ll wait for Max.”
    He drank his Scotch in three swallows. “You’re absolutely sure about him?”
    “About Max? Positive.”
    He went to the window again, studied the night sky for a moment. “I don’t think I’ll be returning to work with you after my vacation.”
    She got up, went to him, took hold of his shoulder and turned him around. “Say again?”
    “I’m a fifth wheel now.”
    “Nonsense. You take care of so much of my business—”
    “That’s nothing a secretary couldn’t handle,” Alan said. “Before Max, I was vital. I was your guide through the visions. But there’s nothing important for me to do anymore. And I don’t need this constant friction with Max.”
    “But what will you do?”
    “I’m not sure. I think I’ll start by taking two months vacation instead of two weeks. I can afford it. You’ve been very generous to me and—”
    “Not generous. You earned your share. Alan—”
    “I’ve got enough money put away to keep me for years. Maybe I’ll go back to the university... finish that degree in political science.”
    “Will you move out of the house in Bel Air?”
    “That would be best. I can find an apartment.”
    “Will you live with Jennifer?”
    “She dropped me,” he said.
    “What?”
    “For another guy.”
    “I didn’t know.”
    “I didn’t want to talk about it.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t be. She wasn’t my type.”
    “You two seemed happy.”
    “We were... briefly.”
    “What went wrong?”
    “Everything.”
    “You won’t move far away, will you?”
    “Probably just to Westwood.”
    “Oh, then we’ll practically be neighbors.”
    “That’s right.”
    “We’ll have lunch once a week.”
    “All right,” he said.
    “And dinner occasionally.”
    “Without Max?” he asked.
    “Just you and me.”
    “Sounds lovely.”
    A childlike tear rolled out of the corner of her eye.
    “No need for that,” he said, wiping it away.
    “I’ll miss you.”
    “A brother and sister can’t live in the same house forever. It’s unnatural.”
    The sound of a key in the lock made them