Saving Elijah

problem with the pool."
    But Elijah did have a problem, the same one he'd always had. He wouldn't even put a toe into the water. And for the first few summer weekends we'd had the spectacle of the three of them standing in the water, coaxing and coaxing Elijah. Even their friends got into the act, Kate's gaggle of giggling teenage girls, and Alex's boundlessly energetic buddies, who spoke mostly in half-sentences and grunts.
    I told Sam now that he didn't have time to swim, that I would have dinner on the table in five minutes, and we said nothing more to each other for hours, in fact filtered all of our conversation through the children, even at dinner. After Kate and I had finished the dishes, I went upstairs and turned on my computer. Well, at least I hadn't seen the demon at all that day. Giving up the class was the right thing to do. Now I could concentrate. I sat for a while, trying to come up with a concept for the column. I looked through the newspaper, some magazines.
    "Mom?" Alex was standing in the doorway. "Where's Dad? He said after dinner we could talk about me going on that trip with my team." He was wearing the Megadeth T-shirt again. Every time the damn thing showed up in the laundry basket I considered extreme measures. I could shrink it: Oops, sorry, the hot water just turned itself on by accident. I could lose it: Well, the machine ate it; it does eat socks, after all. I could turn it pink, if I could figure out a way to turn black pink. Then he'd never wear it.
    "Both of us want to talk to you about that." I could hear Kate practicing her flute in her room. I recognized the light trilling melody she was playing but didn't know the name of the piece.
    He shrugged. "So you told me."
    "And you told me not to worry unless you were flunking out of school."
    "For God's sake, I'm not flunking. I just got one C minus. You're always on my case."
    Actually he'd finished the year with one C- and a C+, from a kid who used to get only A's and B's. "Alex, you know we're concerned, that's all."
    "All right, fine. So we'll talk now. Where is he?"
    "I don't know, honey. Somewhere in the house, I guess."
    Alex went looking while I put Elijah to bed. "I can't find him," he said when I came downstairs.
    "Hmmm. The case of the missing father. Maybe he's taking a swim."
    "I looked in the pool," Alex said.
    "Maybe he went out." I walked over to the window and peered out through the curtains. No. He hadn't gone out. The car was still there. Wait. Something moved, I could see it through the windshield. Someone was sitting inside the car. Sam?
    I turned, pushed past my son. "Wait here, Alex."
    Down the steps, through the house, out the door. Quietly. Now I saw that he was talking on the car phone.
    He saw me and waved. Then hung up, put the phone back, got out. He was wearing a towel wrapped around his waist over his swim trunks.
    "Sam, what are you doing?"
    "I was on the phone."
    "On the car phone?"
    "Well, your daughter is always on the house phone." He grinned. "I have to use the car phone or else take a number."
    "Our daughter is playing the flute. Who the hell did you need to call that you couldn't wait a few minutes?"
    The amusement on his face vanished. "It was a nice night, the car phone was closer."
    "Bullshit." He was lying to me. I was convinced of it.
    He faced me. "I was talking to Ed about our pitch tomorrow. What are you suggesting?"
    "I'm not suggesting anything. I'm saying right out that a man using a car phone in a parked car when there's a perfectly good phone in the house looks suspicious."
    "To whom?"
    "To me. I'm the only one here."
    "Wait a minute. Just what are you accusing me of?"
    He already knew what I was accusing him of.
    "Dinah, for Christ's sake, I am not having an affair."
    "Perhaps he doth protest too much," the demon whispered. "Me-thinks."
    "And I suppose you don't ever go to a bar called Thursdays in the city?"
    "Occasionally. So what?"
    "You met her there. Her name is Heidi."
    "Heidi who?" His incredulous expression struck me as overplayed.
    "Heidi-Who-Is-My-Patient. A very beautiful and very young patient, I might add."
    "You're accusing me of having an affair with your patient? And just why would I be doing that? Why would she be doing that?"
    I couldn't think of a reason.
    The demon could. "She's checking out the competition, of course."
    I repeated what it had told me, what I believed.
    Sam stepped around me. "This is ridiculous." He started up the walk.
    I caught up with him. "I'm