Page 108 of Possibly Texas

Collectively, all of us remaining observers remembered the storm brewing overhead. Agnes wheeled herself back into Blooms quickly. Molly and Sofia jogged for cover, Starbuck and Levi Lee were headed back around the pirate ship, and Lilly’s students were shuffling back inside, closing the backdoor to The Pueblo behind him.

My heart went out to Amos as though I had been rejected right along with him. To have someone you’re enamored with so deeply that you start a radio station to play songs dedicated to them every day reject you—so absolutely—had to tear a person apart. As an observer it was painful enough. I couldn’t even imagine how Amos felt.

Was Lilly Shirlene?

Had Amos been the anonymous letter sender?

If the letters stopped…would that be my answer?

Was everyone else in town thinking the same thing?

Without another thought, I took off in a run towards Starbuck’s as another crackle of thunder sounded and a streak of lightning shot through the sky. Off in the distance, down by Grandy’s, Wyatt’s gun sounded. Tiny Tim’s falsetto and ukulele disappeared as every speaker in town went quiet.

The rain didn’t come; the clouds didn’t disperse. For the first two hours of my shift at Starbuck’s, I swept and mopped the floors. I scrubbed the tables and chairs and wiped down the walls and countertops. Thunder continued to rumble overhead, shaking the ship’s walls as Levi Lee and Starbuck did their best to keep busy, though customers were nonexistent. Every few minutes, lightning lit up the porthole windows like demonic eyes before letting them go dark once again. The wind howled angrily against the walls of the ship.

As we sauntered into our third, silent hour at Starbuck’s, the three of us ended up sitting at one of the unused tables, not speaking. Starbuck was switching his eyepatch back and forth, trying to decide which eye it felt best on. To my amusement, though not shock, it occurred to me that Starbuck’s eyepatch was for aesthetics and not utility. Another Possibilian oddity.

Levi Lee sat quietly in thought, obviously contemplating his next artistic endeavor.

I found myself wondering if I shouldn’t have brought a book to work for once. At least it would have given me something to do. I contemplated asking Starbuck if he wanted me to go home for the day to save on my pay, but figured he was the boss and would have thought of that already. If he wanted me to go home, he’d say so.

Within minutes of sitting in quiet contemplation with the two men, I thought I’d go insane. Between our communal silence and the ominous thunder and lightning and howling wind that refused to produce any rain, I was coiling up tightly like a spring. As Possibly was prone to, we weren’t left to our boredom for long. Another scream ripped through town. So loudly that we could hear it inside Starbuck’s, the three of us jerked in our seats at the sudden noise which was not thunder.

Exchanging glances, it was obvious that none of us had actually caught what the person outside was screaming—nor did any of us have a clue why someone would be screaming. As a group, we rose from our seats and headed to the front door. I led the way through the glass door out onto the patch of grass in front of the pirate ship. Levi Lee came up to stand beside me and Starbuck flanked my other side. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed once again as the wind screamed through town.

“LILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY!”

The three of us whipped our head towards the source of the noise by Susurrus Creek.

Immediately, my eyes landed on Lovelorn Pass Bridge.

Wyatt’s gun sounded off in the direction of The Pueblo. I didn’t bother to look—I only had eyes for one person.

Though several people were gathering in clusters in the area of Possibly around the creek by Lovelorn Pass Bridge, my eyes stayed on Amos. Not just because he was standing alone, but because he had climbed up onto the railing of the bridge. His arms were held out wide and he was wailing Lilly’s name up to the heavens. Thunder competed with his screams and lightning flashed like a strobe as he screamed pitifully.

Don’t jump. I felt tears at the corners of my eyes.

It wasn’t just that I felt horrible for what Amos had just been made to endure publicly, but also it was that jumping into Susurrus Creek during a lightning storm had to be one of the most dangerous things one could do in town. What if Amos jumped into the water, simply to get over his obsession, and then lightning struck the creek? A simple, yet heartbreaking, rejection could easily turn into utter tragedy in a split second.

Whipping my head around to search the crowd, I quickly determined that Lilly was not amongst the crowd watching Amos’ display. She had probably stayed at The Pueblo, resolute in her decision to reject Amos so callously.

Not that I could blame her; she was obviously a lesbian.

Amos just wasn’t ever going to make her happy.

Her methods had been the issue.

Then again, what madness might someone be drawn to if they are subjected to another’s obsession for so long? Amos had been on his mission to win Lilly’s heart for…years? Auggie had said that AMOR had been playing the same song all day long for twelve hours for as long as he could remember. Lilly had obviously snapped.

The howling wind, rumbling thunder, and flashes of lightning led me to believe that if there was ever a day to snap, Lilly had chosen wisely.

“LILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY!”

I looked back over to Amos, perched precariously upon the bridge’s railing, as he howled a final time. The thunder stopped. The sky darkened. The wind drew in a breath. And everything went silent. It seemed as if the town was taking a collective breath, holding it in anticipation as we watched Amos teeter on the rail of Lovelorn Pass Bridge.

Then he jumped.

Dropping like a stone, Amos went over the rail like a spike, his body turning to send him plunging head first into the water below in Susurrus Creek. Levi Lee took off in a sprint as the sky roared again and a flash of lightning turned the town a blinding white. I started to take off after Levi Lee, intending to help him fish Amos out of the creek, but Starbuck grabbed my arm, holding me back, just as the sky let loose.