Roger Madison had just settled in on the couch with a beer to watch the game. Linda was helping Mikey with his homework, and the other kids were out. Finally he had a quiet moment for some man time. Life was good.
Suddenly, there was a fairly frantic knock on the door. Luckily, the game was in a time-out so Roger got up to answer, keeping his beer in hand. It was his new neighbor at the door.
"Oh, hey Emily. Come on in."
"Oh, uh. Sure. Is Linda here?" Emily Riley crossed into the foyer, looking nervous and uncomfortable.
"She's in the dining room with Mikey,"
Emily nodded. Roger kept looking back toward the television....Emily finally headed into the dining room.
"Emily...what's wrong?" Linda said, picking up on Emily's demeanor immediately, unlike her distracted husband.
"I need to talk to someone," Emily insisted. "It's Stacy. She... she has some problems."
"Mikey," Linda said. "Why don't you go have a snack? Mrs. Riley and I need to talk."
Mikey nodded, not complaining about a cookie break, and headed into the kitchen.
Linda invited Emily to sit. "What do you mean, problems? Behavior-wise? It's probably just a phase."
"No, this has been going on quite a bit longer. It's more than behavior. It's... it's hard to explain."
"I'd like to help if I can, Emily."
"She can... change things. Anything she wants. I...I'm almost certain I'm not really her mother, that she changed it so I was. I need you to help me before she realizes what I'm doing."
Linda looked at her, concerned. Stacy was an adorable little child, and Emily was acting like she was some sort of monster.
