Page 39 of Possibly Texas

I made my way across the street, kicking at the ground, then the pavement, then the grass on the other side of the street. When I came to stand next to Auggie’s prone body in the grass, it was like he didn’t even see me looming over him. He was staring up at the cloudless blue sky and smiling like an idiot. So, I plopped down next to him, folding my legs up into the lotus position.

“What was that all about?” I murmured.

“My grandma.” Auggie answered immediately, his voice sounding dreamy. “She still thinks about me.”

I stared at him.

“Every day, Jordan,” Auggie said. “She still thinks about me every day.”

A long sigh escaped his mouth and his smile turned beatific.

“Yeah,” I said. “Okay. That’s cool.”

I didn’t know what else to say to such an odd answer. So, Auggie’s dead grandmother still thought about him in the afterlife or something? Did he really believe such nonsense?

Did he really think Mystic Molly had a direct hotline to the dead?

“I haven’t seen her in…” Auggie trailed off.

I waited.

“Years,” Auggie finally said. “But Mystic Molly assures me that she hasn’t forgotten me. Every time I talk to Molly, it’s always the same.”

“I mean, that’s great.” I shrugged, trying to be kind. “It’s always good to know the people we love never forget us. Right?”

“Right!” Auggie was suddenly sitting.

His legs still stayed stretched out before him, and he was propping himself up with his hands, but the movement was so quick it was startling. Kind of funny, too. Seeing Auggie so animated—even more so than he had been in the previous hour—was comical.

“So,” I mumbled, “you really believe that hocus pocus stuff? I mean…that was just strange. We were barely there for a minute and Molly contacted your dead grandmother to find out if she had thought about you today?”

Auggie gave an amused chuckle.

“Oh,” he said, “she’s not dead.”

He rose to his feet and brushed off the seat of his clam diggers with a fluttering of his hands.

“Huh?”

“The people we love never truly die.” Auggie shrugged and looked down at me.

“Right.”

That was all I could think of to say to such an odd statement. To such an odd morning.

“Look,” Auggie said, “there’s more to show you and tell you about. I mean, the tour isn’t complete or anything. But I really want to go home and work on my art. Is that cool?”

“Sure.” I nodded, though I was disappointed. Auggie and Mystic Molly had unnerved me, but his energy and the mystery of everything was intoxicating. I wanted more. “I’ll, uh, go back home, and…do other stuff.”

“Tomorrow!” Auggie jabbed a finger down at me excitedly. “We’ll hang out again tomorrow. Cool?”

“Sure.” I nodded.

Auggie smiled excitedly and started to skip away in the general direction of the creek. Apparently, he was going to follow its shore up to the big red barn in which he lived. When he was a few yards away, I realized there was one question about Possibly I’d had on my mind but hadn’t asked him yet.

“Auggie?” I hollered.

He turned to me, the smile on his face still there.