Page 56 of Possibly Texas

I laughed. “I did. Promise.”

“Did you meet anybody else on the trail?”

“What? No?”

“See?” He shrugged. “It’s not much to worry about.”

I gave up. Obviously, the other long-term residents of Possibly were unconcerned with what lay just beyond Lovelorn Bridge Pass. Who was I to make a mountain out of a molehill? Then again, I couldn’t help but wonder why the radio on the pole was placed at the end of Two-Mile Trail that led into Possibly proper. I’d found all of the other radios in town during my walks with Auggie each day—at the corner of the post office, alongside The Pueblo, behind Blooms, affixed to the outside wall of Samuel’s Soda Spray, down by Grandy’s Auto, and staked in the grass by Bend of the Road Graveyard. But why have one at the end of the trail that led into town if no one was expected to use the trail?

Possibly was just odd.

However, it was still the best place I’d ever lived.

“So,” I asked, “why the radio?”

“Hm?”

“On the other side of the bridge?” I explained. “Just at the end of the trail by the town sign?”

“I told you,” Auggie said cryptically, “these things sort themselves out. Eventually, the trail will get cleared and someone will come walking into town again. It just happens.”

“Fine,” I rolled my eyes, though I couldn’t help but smile. “Be all I’m a Possibilian and we’re all weird and set in our ways and you’ll figure it all out one day.”

Auggie brayed with laughter and sat up to look at me. I smiled mischievously at him.

“You’ll officially be a Possibilian one day, too,” he said, then seemed to have a thought. “I guess right now, you’re just a Possibility.”

“Oh, yeah?” I asked. “What’s the initiation like? Do I have to chuck corn cobs at the town sow that’s painted to look like a spaghetti monster who lives amongst the stars or something?”

Auggie was laughing so hard he was rolling in the grass, holding his stomach.

“Or jump off the bridge and scream someone’s name while knitting a scarf using yarn made of human hair?”

“Stop! Stop!”

I laughed, and even contemplated teasing him further, but Auggie looked as though his sides might actually split, so I swallowed any further comments.

“You’re ridiculous,” Auggie gasped for air as he sat up, holding his sides. “Absolutely ridiculous.”

“Okay,” I said. “Those ideas are ridiculous. How do I become a Possibilian, then? Officially?”

Auggie wiped his eyes and shrugged dismissively.

“Everyone knows when the time has come to accept that Possibly is their home,” he said. “One day, you’ll just know that this is where you want to stay.”

“Is this where you try to convince me to stay?” I asked, my cheeks warm.

Auggie was no longer laughing. He wasn’t even smiling.

“No one in Possibly will try to convince you to stay,” he said. “If you want to stay here, that’s a choice you have to make. It’s a choice everyone makes.”

“I didn’t mean…anything by that. I was just teasing you. Promise.”

It took a moment, but Auggie finally produced a small smile.

“I think the first step,” he said tentatively, “is that you learn sign language. Because if you choose to stay, Jack will appreciate it. It’ll make you a more well-rounded person, too.”

“You think?”