Page 74 of Possibly Texas

No.

It wasn’t the answer I wanted, but its delivery took my breath away. I found myself with two choices. There was the option to act like an excited puppy that Jack had actually communicated to me with sign language, or I could play it cool and act normal. Normal was what I tried.

“You sure?” I asked.

Jack looked uncertain again, then raised his fist and tipped it back and forth.

Yes.

“All right,” I said. “It all smells and looks really good, though. You’ll be missing out.”

Jack started to go back to the table, ignoring me.

“I could even bring you a plate if you want?” I suggested quickly.

I didn’t want to lose Jack’s interest in actually conversing with me using sign language. Also, I was already planning in my head to tell Auggie about the development. The more Jack and I conversed, the more I had to tell Auggie.

Jack looked at me again as though he wasn’t sure about my suggestion, but after a moment, he made the “OK” sign. Then he pointed at his chest, then made a “C” with his hand and moved it down his throat towards his stomach.

I didn’t know that sign yet, but I could figure it out.

“You’re hungry?”

He gave me a small smile and signed “yes” again.

“Give me two minutes, man.” I grinned. “I’ll be right back!”

Without waiting to see how Jack would deal with my excitement, I spun on my heels and dashed away. I jogged around the house and across the front yard, down towards Bend of the Road Graveyard. When I approached the first headstone at the western end of the graveyard, I cut to the right and was jogging onto Liberty Lane within seconds.

Lines were forming along the street, so I knew my timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Smokers and grills were being opened, ready to serve those with plates who shuffled along Liberty Lane, ravenous and happy to be fed. Before the lines could get any longer, I grabbed a paper plate and a set of plasticware wrapped up in a paper towel from the table set up at the northwest corner of Liberty Lane, and sprang into action.

One trip down the south side of the street got a serving of brisket and ribs added to the plate I was preparing for Jack. Another trip down the north side and coleslaw, potato salad, and corn on the corn was added. Stopping by one of the coolers, I grabbed a Coke for Jack to wash it all down with later. I couldn’t run back to the house as quickly as I had run to downtown, but a minute later, and I was holding the plate out to Jack by the table he was working on.

Jack’s eyes lit up with hunger when I shoved the plate under his nose. He started to reach out to take the plate, then stopped himself. He lifted an open hand to his mouth, palm inwards, then brought it down.

Thank you.

“Anytime,” I said, grinning.

Jack produced his cautious smile and accepted the plate. I didn’t want to hover over the guy or make myself a nuisance after the progress we’d made, so I began backing up.

“So,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant, “fireworks later. All the food and drinks you could want if you’re still hungry later. You should come downtown.”

Jack didn’t sign exactly, but he shrugged, and I knew what he meant.

Maybe.

That was good enough for me. At least he was considering joining the festivities.

“Well, okay,” I said, still backing away. “I’m going to meet back up with Auggie. Uh, feed my face too, I guess.”

Jack gave me a nod, but he was already unrolling his plasticware and tucking into his plate. I wanted to wait around to make sure Jack liked what I had put on his plate for him. But that would have been creepy and possibly undone some of our progress, so I spun around and began jogging back towards downtown. Watching Jack would have only made me hungrier anyway.

“Why didn’t you tell me that I was going to die?” I groaned as I rolled around in the grass.

“I had no idea you have no control over yourself,” Auggie said.

We were in our spot outside Starbuck’s, under the shade of the tree, laid out on the lush green grass. I was tempted to pull off my shirt so that I could feel the emerald carpet against the skin of my shoulders. It was cool against the backs of my legs, so it had to feel heavenly against my back.