I walked into Barton Lucia"s office with my mother by my side. He stood and inclined his head to each of us in turn.
"Doctor Gordon, Mayor Gordon, it"s good to see both of you."
I tried to read his expression, but it remained his usual medical neutral. His computer monitor sat at such an angle that only he could see it, and my fingers twitched with the desire to turn it and reveal my fate.
"Please have a seat." He motioned to the two chairs in front of his desk. He"d replaced the plastic ones with wooden ones with maroon cushions.
I lowered myself into one of them, and my mother took the other. We exchanged a worried glance.
Barton directed his dark attention to each of us, then broke into a smile. "The therapy appears to be working. Better than I"d hoped, actually." He turned the mon
