Page 54 of Possibly Texas

“Cool,” he said. “I’ll text you?”

“Yeah, man.” I nodded as I started to turn towards the door. “I’ll be waiting. Or just come by, okay?”

“Sure.”

“Maybe we can even find something—some project—that can be our thing, ya’ know?” I suggested too eagerly as I made my way to the door, but I tried not to be embarrassed by my obvious excitement. “You know. If you want.”

“Hey.” Auggie’s voice stopped me when I reached the door, so I turned to look at him.

“Yeah?”

“I can teach you American Sign Language,” he said.

I grinned. “That’d be perfect.”

He nodded towards the door. “Then get. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Deal.”

“Leave the door open, huh?” he asked. “I kind of want to see the sun.”

That made me happy, but I didn’t respond. I left the door open when I made my way out. And I walked back to Jack’s with a smile on my face.

“You’re totally not paying attention to me,” Auggie said. “If you’d just focus instead of getting distracted by everything going on—”

“Everything?” I turned my head back to him. “Yeah. Possibly has so much going on, Auggie. Watch out New York City—Possibly is where it’s all happening!”

I was met with a blank stare from my friend, but I could tell that he was doing his best not to grin at my silliness. We were sitting on the ground under one of the trees outside of Starbuck’s, our to-go cups of café mochas nestled in the grass beside us. A few weeks had gone by—and true to his word—Auggie was slowly beginning to teach me American Sign Language. Each morning, after I showered off my sleep, we met at the barn and walked into town together. Not that it was that long of a trip for either of us. We said “hello” to Earl Dean and Jasper on Liberty Lane, even nodded at the police officer—whose name I learned was Officer Hanning—and stopped in to say “hello” to Sofia and check to see if a new letter from Shirlene had arrived.

After that, we would wave at Wyatt—who rarely returned the gesture—then we’d make sure to wave at Grandy and Mystic Molly. We’d greet Agnes Broussard through the front window of Blooms and nod at Samuel as he opened his soda spray each day. Lilly would get a gesture of greeting from us, too, before we headed over to Starbuck’s. Levi Lee was always excited to see us approaching and would quickly revert from robot to human—he was still into that art—so he could give us a proper greeting in return. Then Auggie and I would venture inside for muffins and coffees, shoot the breeze with Starbuck for a bit, then we’d make our way outside for a lesson.

For hours each morning, we’d pick at our muffins and sip our coffees as Auggie did his best to teach an unteachable person. Formal schooling and structure weren’t really my thing, but I did my best to follow along and let Auggie lead the lessons. Mostly, I’d steal blueberries from Auggie’s muffin when he wasn’t looking, plucking them out deftly with the tips of my fingers before popping them into my mouth. The sticky, sweet, chewy berries that seemed to explode into juicy bits between my teeth just tasted like summer.

Which was coming along nicely.

The end of June had slammed into the beginning of July and the sun told the tale each morning as it climbed higher and higher into the sky. Most amazingly, the weather hadn’t gotten hotter. Sure, it was summer in Texas, but the warmth was bearable. A decent pair of shorts, a t-shirt, and some flip-flops, and the weather was actually pleasant. The grass in Possibly hadn’t turned brown and crinkly like it did in a lot of the southern towns I’d lived in during the warmer months of the year. Green and lush, almost like shag carpet, Possibly looked like God had done the lawn work himself. Of course, I’d seen the way people took care of their homes and businesses in town. It really wasn’t the type of town where grass went un-watered or untended to in other ways.

Under a tree, sitting in the grass outside of the coffee shop, it was easy to let a morning slip away from us—especially with a treat and a drink from Starbuck’s. Wyatt still shot randomly into the air all morning long, Earl Dean still “thwacked” his pickaxe into Liberty Lane in the distance, Levi Lee still did his crazy little performance art, and people opened and closed doors in the businesses downtown. AMOR still played its one song a day for twelve hours a day. And summer was pleasant. Especially sitting on the grass under the tree near Susurrus Creek with Auggie, who was willing to teach me the same thing over and over again until I got it.

We’d heard Back in the Saddle Again by Gene Autry dozens of times, thanks to Amos over at AMOR, before Auggie addressed the fact that I was running thin on attention. It had been the same thing every day for a week. Well, Amos played a different song each day, but my mind always seemed to drift once lunchtime started to come around. I wasn’t sure if it was just a natural inclination of mine to get bored with lessons after a few hours or my stomach was trying to tell me it was time to eat. Something about my gut makes it impossible for it not to warn me when another meal time is approaching.

“You know what I mean.” Auggie nudged me in the shin with the toes of his right foot. “You’re supposed to be paying attention to what I’m teaching you. Not anything else.”

“I’m sorry.” I groaned. “We’ve been sitting here for hours. Just like we do every day. I don’t think I’m ever going to remember all of this.”

“Have you been practicing?”

I picked at the grass with my fingers, avoiding Auggie’s gaze.

“Well?” he asked.

“No.” I pretended to be annoyed. “No. Okay? I haven’t. Does that make you happy?”

“Not really.”

“Jack’s just,” I shrugged and finally looked at Auggie, “he’s not an easy guy to get to know. You know? I mean, yeah, you guys seem to get along and all, but you’ve had more time. I haven’t seen him in…forever. What if I sign the wrong thing and upset him or something? I suck at this.”

Auggie smiled warmly.