It was just bad luck.

That’s all.

The moment Henry saw her in the grocery store, perusing the produce section, he turned around and started to walk out.

Quickly.

Don’t see me…

Don’t see me…

But it was too late. He hadn’t taken four steps before his name was being called out across the aisle.

“Henry! Henry! Wait!”

For a moment, he considered pretending he hadn’t heard her.

Just keep walking…

But she was already coming up behind him.

There was no way out.

Crap.

He turned around slowly when he felt the tap on his shoulder, forcing the best smile he could muster.

“Hey, Karen.”

She smiled back and placed the pineapple she was carrying into her cart.

“Hey. Hi. Look, I’m glad I ran into you. Didn’t you get my messages?” She asked.

“Machine’s broken. Must’ve missed them,” he lied with a shrug.

He had been avoiding this conversation for days, ever since Shawn had told him about his stupid plan to fake being a psychic.

“I’m not going to lie for you,” Henry warned him from the get-go. “If Karen Vick asks me, I’m not going to lie.”

“You don’t have to lie,” Shawn had insisted. “Just don’t tell the whole, exact truth.”

“It’s not my job to cover your butt, Kid. You dug the hole, you dig your way out.”

“How would that work, exactly?” Shawn asked, raising his eyebrows. “Digging out of a hole…?”

Henry didn’t even crack a smile. He just shook his head defiantly.

“Shawn, I’m not doing it. Find another way to waste your time. What about being a mime again? That doesn’t involve committing a felony.”

“This isn’t like the mime thing, Dad! This is for real!”

Henry had been going to say something else. He was ready to tell Shawn to give up on the whole asinine plot, to find a real job, but something in his son’s eyes had stopped him.

A determination, a sincerity, he had never seen before.

But it was still a lie…

“No, Shawn. I won’t lie.”

He had meant it at the time, but now that Karen was really standing in front of him…really about to ask the question he had no desire to answer….

It wasn't so easy. 

“This is for real…”

“Oh,” Karen was saying as Henry was jolted out his thoughts and back into reality. “Well, I need to talk to you. Can you come down to the station this afternoon?”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “I’ll be there.”

“Great. Is three o’clock okay?”

“Fine.”

She smiled again and waved as she pushed her cart back into the bustling store.

Henry groaned once she was out of sight.

He already knew he wasn’t going to lie.

He couldn’t lie.

Not even for Shawn.

“You don’t have to lie…just don’t tell the whole, exact truth…”

Of course, Shawn would hate him for a while once he blew his cover.

Nothing new there.

But he’d get over it. In three months, he’d be onto something new.

Something that didn’t involve committing perjury...

Something that didn’t involve screwing up police investigations…

But no matter how hard he tried, Henry just couldn’t get that look out of his head…that pleading, earnest look in Shawn’s eyes…

He arrived at the station twenty minutes early that afternoon, eager to get it over with.

Karen was waiting for him in her office.

“Have a seat,” she said as he entered, settling herself behind her desk. “I figured you’d be early. You were always early for everything.”

“That’s me…”

Henry shifted in the chair, suddenly not sure he could do it.

“…This isn’t like the mime thing, Dad…”

“So,” Karen began, drumming on her desk. “I think you know what this is about.”

“Shawn. Right?”

Karen nodded.

“I have to ask…does he have any…special abilities?”

Henry hesitated, Shawn’s face flashing before his eyes one more time.

“…This is for real…”

“Yes,” he answered firmly. “He does.”