Chapter 17
“Come on, Jack.” I rolled my eyes as he laid his pile of boards on the tarp in the yard. “Auggie invited me to church. You should come with us.”
The table Jack had been working on had disappeared and he was setting out new lumber to start a new project.
After falling asleep the night before, my caterpillar dreams lulled me into a deep sleep for the next ten and a half hours.
By the time I woke up, I could already hear Jack outside, banging around, and I had wandered down in my pajamas to see what was up.
I wouldn’t say Jack looked entirely pleased to see me so early in the morning, and when he was trying to start a new project, but he hid his disappointment fairly well.
Mentioning church, however, made it harder for him to keep a straight face.
“So?” I asked. “What do you say?”
Jack waved an arm at me without looking up.
“Jack. Man,” I said, “come on. Church can be fun. Probably. Or, should I say, possibly?”
Buh-dum-tiss.
Jack did look up at me then. I could tell he was trying to keep the grin off of his face. It took a moment longer for him to wave me off.
“Fine.” I sighed. “Don’t come to church. I will apologize to God for you and everything.”
Am I above basically calling someone a heathen? Not really. Of course, since I couldn’t remember ever actually going to church, it was a bit hypocritical. I’d have to apologize to God for both of us, I supposed.
Jack waved me off again, but he looked amused, though he tried to hide it by lowering his head.
“Okay,” I said. “Well, I guess I’ll shower and stuff. Meet Auggie at The Pueblo.”
Jack nodded, indicating that he was listening, then began searching his pockets.
“Um, I don’t really do church,” I admitted. “Do I need to, uh, wear nicer clothes or something? I think I have some khakis or something?”
Jack shook his head as he extracted his phone from his back pocket. I watched as he typed out a message and held the phone out to me.
It read: Auggie’s a good kid.
I stared at the message for a moment, unsure of why Jack had fished his phone out simply to type out such an odd thought.
“Yeah.” I looked up at him. “He’s cool and all.”
Jack nodded. Then he locked his phone and slid it into his back pocket once more.
“So,” I said, clearing my throat, “I can go in regular clothes?”
Jack nodded once more.
“Okay,” I said. “If you’re wrong, and I get embarrassed, it’s gonna be you and me, man.”
He grinned and made a shoving motion.
Go on. Get out of here. I understood that one, though I wasn’t certain it was official sign language.
“All right.” I turned to head towards the house, though I stopped before I got to the back steps and glanced over my shoulder. “Hey.”
Jack looked up at me.
“If you change your mind or anything,” I shrugged. “You know.”
Again, an arm was waved in my general direction and I took the hint.
Jack was smiling, though, so he wasn’t annoyed with my repeated requests that he join us at The Pueblo, so that was something.
Upstairs, I washed the Texas dust and sleepy time sweat off in the shower, and then I dug through my suitcases to find my nicest pair of shorts and a polo to wear to The Pueblo.
I wasn’t certain that the clothes would be, like, completely appropriate for church, or whatever, but I didn’t want to stick out.
So, I didn’t want to dress too nicely and I didn’t want to wear basketball shorts and a t-shirt, either.
Maybe nice shorts and a polo would be a good middle ground?
I sat on the edge of my bed, looking at the dirty clothes pile I had started since I’d arrived in Possibly and my still mostly full suitcases.
Sitting in my room—even if it was in Jack’s house—and having all of my things in a suitcase felt odd.
Jack hadn’t specifically made it clear that I was welcome to stay for as long as I wanted, but he hadn’t said I had to leave as soon as possible, either.
Having time to wait before I had to meet Auggie at The Pueblo, I found myself wondering what I should do—unpack, or be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice.
Finally, I decided that repacking my suitcases wasn’t that big of a hassle—and it was easier to get clothes out of a closet or dresser instead of rooting around in suitcases, so, I unpacked.
I hung up shirts and pants and neatly folded and placed my shorts, underwear, and socks in dresser drawers.
Then I stowed my empty suitcases on the floor of the closet.
If Jack got tired of me and somehow got ahold of my mom to tell her to come get me, I could be packed in minutes.
No sweat. At least, in the meantime, life would seem a little more normal.
I’d have a few days in a normal—well, kind of normal—place where I wasn’t living out of a bag.
By the time I had finished unpacking and stored my suitcases, it was getting close to eleven o’clock, so I made my way downstairs to let Jack know I was leaving.
He actually looked up from his pile of lumber to give me a quick wave as I headed out on foot through the backyard.
A few minutes later, I was approaching The Pueblo.
That was the good thing about Possibly—nothing was more than a few minutes away on foot. Even if you strolled leisurely.
Auggie was outside, waiting to meet up as he promised.
As I walked up, I watched him greet other Possibilians as they walked through the doors of the giant mosque-like building.
He smiled and said “hello” to everyone, shook hands if offered, and was generally way too friendly for someone about to give up free time to go to church.
It made me smile. When I finally reached the front doors, where Auggie was waiting, all of the other approaching church-goers had made their way through the door.
With a goofy grin, Auggie held out his hand.
“Good morning,” he said.
I looked down at his hand.
“You’re kind of ridiculous,” I replied.
“What’s ridiculous about greeting your fellow man before celebrating the life God has given you?” His hand remained presented.
So, I slid my hand into his and shook it firmly.
“Didn’t hurt, did it?” he asked.
“I guess not.”
Auggie turned to glance through the doors of The Pueblo, so I took a second to check out his clothes.
He had on jean shorts and a polo, clean tennis shoes.
So, dressing up wasn’t required, but he had forgone his usual quirky way of dressing.
His hair was even styled and pushed back neatly.
I wasn’t so sure I liked that I liked the change.
Then again, that wasn’t my choice to make.
“So,” Auggie turned just as my eyes wandered back up to his, saving me from him finding me checking out his clothes, “you ready for church?”
“I guess.” I shrugged. “I mean, I never really go to church, so, how would I know?”
Auggie chuckled and grabbed my arm to pull me towards the open front doors.
“No one’s ever ready for church at The Pueblo,” he said cryptically. “But they almost always come back.”
“That doesn’t sound scary at all.” I murmured as Auggie pulled me through the large wooden doors of The Pueblo. “Is this a cult or something?”
Auggie laughed uproariously.
“Because I don’t want to be in a cult,” I said, trying to whisper so only Auggie would hear. “This could totally be a cult. This town is weird, and—”
“There you go with that word.” Auggie stopped and let go of my arm so he could turn to face me. “What’s weird, Jordan? Tell me what’s so weird about this town.”
I looked around, making sure no one was nearby to overhear me insulting their town. The last thing I needed was an ass-whooping in a church. Well, a building where church was held.
The inside of The Pueblo looked somewhat look an open-air atrium one might find in ancient Rome.
Large stone columns, stone floors, an open area at the center where grass and flowers were planted.
High above, in the dome of the mosque-like building, a skylight allowed golden sunlight to pour down into the building, negating the need for lights during the day.
Though, sconced lighting was on the circular walls around the building and on some of the pillars.
I wondered, since Possibly seemed to go dark at night—why did they need lights in The Pueblo?
I’d never seen light pouring out of the roof of The Pueblo at night, and since they didn’t have them on for church—which was during the day—why did they have lights at all?
Possibly was a weird town. The people, the buildings, the…
everything. But nothing seemed all that malevolent—as Auggie might have said. It was just quirky, maybe?
“I don’t know,” I finally said in a whisper. “It’s just…different than anywhere else I’ve been. That’s why I say it’s weird.”
I shrugged. Auggie watched me for a minute before a smile finally bloomed on his face.
“Weird’s good,” he said. “As long as it doesn’t try to convert you or harm you. We should all experience some weird every now and then.”
“I guess.”
“This isn’t a cult,” he said. “We don’t have a church in Possibly. The town, essentially, is against organized religion. It’s, like, in the charter or something. But this is just a way for us all to get together and meet our spiritual needs in a non-denominational way. That’s all.”
“Okay.”
“No one is going to ask you to eat a live chicken or sacrifice a goat or pledge your undying fealty to The Pueblo. Or some demon. Okay?”
“Okay,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” He nudged my arm playfully. “Just, maybe, instead of calling something weird, just express what is confusing you. Ask questions.”
“Okay.”
“Are you going to say okay again?” He chuckled.
“No,” I said. “Sorry. I just…yeah. This is a different, uh, new experience for me, man. I don’t really know what to think about it.”
“That was perfect.”
“Huh?”
“Just saying this is new and different to you,” Auggie said. “Admitting that it feels uncomfortable because you’re not familiar with church or this town is cool. I can dig that.”