Framing Felipe Read Free Page A

valley.
    Felipe
counted
the
dongs.
One,
two,
three,
all
the
way
to
seven,
then
fixed
his
gaze
on
that
    camper
again.
He
thought
maybe
Fabian
wouldn’t
remember,
but
then
there
was
the
light.
    Felipe
straightened
up
and
concentrated
on
the
flashes,
cataloging
the
frequency
and
    length.
    Two
flashes
of
light
at
the
kitchenette
window.
A
long
pause. Three flashes
of
light.
    After
all
those
years,
he
remembered
that
code
they
devised
as
teenagers
in
case
they
    should
ever
get
separated.
Two-‐pause-‐three: I’m
fine
for
now .
    He
swallowed
and
waited
for
the
repeat.
    Two-‐pause-‐three.
    Not
a
fluke,
then.
Not
a
mistake.
    Felipe
shoved
off
the
wall
and
pulled
his
backpack
strap
up
to
his
right
shoulder,
only
    to
stop
walking
when
more
lights
flashed.
    “Fabian… ¿Qué
estás
haciendo? ”
    One-‐pause-‐four.
One-‐pause-‐four: I
called
for
help .
    Help?
Who
the
hell
could
help?
Who
could
Fabian
confide
in?
What
would
he
possibly
    say
to
them?
    “ Mierda. ”

    FRAMING FELIPE
–
9
–
Holley Trent

    His
brother
had
always
been
the
more
cautious
of
the
two
of
them,
but
even
when
he
    had
stumbled
into
trouble,
it
was
Felipe
who
took
his
blows.
    Help?
No
one
could
give
him
the
kind
of
help
he
needed,
and
even
if
they
were
so
    inclined
to
stick
their
necks
out,
they’d
probably
want
to
lock
him
away
in
a
padded
room
    and
assign
some
team
of
scientists
to
study
him.
    At
the
sound
of
the
approaching
train,
he
sped
his
pace.
He
phased
to
invisible
as
the
    beast
rolled
near,
then
eased
onto
the
locomotive’s
small
back
ledge,
grateful
for
the
train’s
    slow
speed
as
it
chugged
through
the
small
town.
    He
retook
his
physical
form
and
crouched
low
into
the
shadows
cast
by
the
train,
    watching
the
lights
from
the
circus
and
town
shrink
smaller
and
smaller.
If
the
conductor
    opened
the
door,
Felipe
could
phase
back
in
an
instant,
but
holding
on
was
so
much
easier
    when
he
had
hands
to
use.
    Running
was
foolish,
and
he
knew
it,
but
he
hadn’t
been
thinking
clearly.
People
rarely
    made
sound
choices
when
they
were
desperate,
and
desperate
he
was.
He’d
have
to
go
back
    for
his
brother,
but
right
then,
the
best
thing
he
could
do
was
put
some
distance
between el
    negrero and
him.
Jacques
could
threaten
all
we
wanted,
but
as
long
as
Felipe
wasn’t
there,
    Fabian
was
safe.
    …Felipe
hoped.

    Sarah
pressed
the
phone
against
her
ear
and
leaned
against
the
tent
support,
rolling
a
    circus
program
into
a
tight
tube.
She
tapped
it
against
her
thigh
as
the
phone
rang
on
the
    other
end.
    “Yeah?”
answered
a
baritone
voice.
    Sarah
turned
her
back
to
the
crowd
filling
into
the
bleachers
nearby
and
whispered,
    “Patrick,
where’s
Dana?”
    “She
left
me
her
phone
in
case
you
called.
She
and
the
rest
of
the
Shrews
went
out
to
set
    up
some
surveillance
before
the
gathering
tonight.”

    FRAMING FELIPE
–
10
–
Holley Trent

    “Right…”
That had been
on
the
agenda.
It’d
been
Sarah’s
idea
to
install
cameras
around
    the
clearing
the
were-‐cats
used
for
their
monthly
meeting.
One
of
the
Shrews
would
hang
    back
at
Patrick’s
cabin
and
watch
the
live
video
while
the
others
acted
as
security.
    The
cats
hadn’t
needed
security
until
recently
when
a
couple
of
their
wild
young
men
    broke
the
tenuous
truce
the
group
had
with
the
were-‐bears
whose
territory
abutted
theirs.
    They
hadn’t
exactly
hired
the
Shrews
directly,
but
since
Dana
was
dating
Patrick
and
Dana
    thought
Patrick
had
a
death
wish,
it’d
become