Chapter 40 #3
With no dance partner to speak of, I stood off to the side by the tram tracks, sipping my soda, grinning widely at my fellow citizens of Possibly.
Grins were plastered on faces, drinks were being enjoyed, and it was all ridiculous.
What town is overjoyed at being disturbed in the middle of the night by phantom lights and loud music?
What town deals with such an invasion by dancing and drinking in the middle of the street?
How is this normal?
Why couldn’t this be normal?
Standing there, overjoyed, watching my fellow Possibilians go with the flow, I had a realization.
What is normal?
What’s typical?
Why did I have to make sense of something to simply enjoy it? Did a person have to understand something to lean into it? Wasn’t the feeling of joy at participating in something harmless enough to inform a person that they were doing the right thing?
Why did it matter that Possibly—and all of its citizens, including me—were weird?
Were we happy?
Who was being harmed?
Possibly, though I’d never understand it, nor would I understand how the citizens seemed to have a hive-mind and simply go along with the ridiculous things other citizens did, was heaven.
No one was causing trouble or making anyone feel weird.
The situation was weird, but we were all just people who chose to lean into it instead. We were choosing joy.
What’s wrong with that?
I smiled to myself, sipping my soda under one of the trees bundled with lights, and stared out at the happy faces dancing in the streets.
Laughter rolled through Liberty Lane and the Possibilian breeze felt like God’s breath on my skin as it whispered through town.
It may have been a warm August night following a torrential storm, but it was pleasant.
In fact, it felt more like spring than summer.
It was glorious. And that, more than the music, lights, dancing, and drinks, had shaped everyone’s mood.
Across the street, by the front door of AMOR, Lilly had finally shown her face. Amos and her were shaking hands amiably and smiling. It wasn’t not awkward, their exchange, but it was easy enough that I knew things would be okay.
The storm had passed.
Further down the street, by the south end, my eyes found Jack dancing with Sofia. They were grinning and she was laughing as Jack expertly spun her around. The way he looked down at her as he held her in his arms, his eyes twinkling as he grinned, I had to wonder, was Sofia our mysterious Shirlene?
Was Jack the mysterious letter writer?
I finished my soda and thought to myself: Who gives a shit?
One day, maybe I’d find out who was sending the letters, but that night was not the night to worry about it. Another night would come and maybe the mystery would be solved. I’d just have to go with the flow until then.
Watching everyone paired up, or in groups, dancing around, I couldn’t keep my eyes from searching the crowd.
When I found Auggie, dancing around with Agnes as she spun her wheelchair as best she could, my smile faltered.
I didn’t let myself lose my smile—I was too happy to let it go—but my heart felt heavy.
Auggie was happy and laughing. So, I didn’t approach him.
It was Amos’ day to make up with Lilly. Possibly didn’t need two soap operas in one day.
Besides, like Amos’ former obsession with Lilly, my fight with Auggie wasn’t widely known.
I wanted to keep it that way. Given time, Auggie and I could eventually talk—and I wouldn’t be a jerk.
Maybe we wouldn’t be the kind of friends we’d tried to become, but we’d be friendly.
I’d have to be okay with that. Just like Amos had to accept that Lilly was never going to love him back the way he wanted.
Just when I was certain that it was time to walk back home so that I wouldn’t be a wet blanket for the impromptu celebration, Levi Lee danced up to me, a fresh soda in his hand.
He took my empty bottle and shoved the fresh one in my hand.
Then, with a wink, as though he understood everything—though there was no possible way he could—he grabbed my free hand and tugged me back into the street.
I let go of my gloom and joined him in dancing with the other Possibilians.
So, Levi Lee and I danced with everyone, and I did my best to forget my worries. The night was too joyous to get bogged down with worries anyway.
As we spun around the street, laughing and talking with others, my eyes still wandered, though I tried to keep them from lingering on Auggie when I spotted him. I tried to focus on everything else going on around me. All the happiness.
When my eyes landed on the pathway between AMOR and the building to its right, a curious thing caught my attention. Someone, in a black hooded robe, was standing in the shadows, just beyond the glow cast by the fairy lights.
Malia?
My feet slowed, though I continued dancing, as I looked at the person staring out at the crowd.
No, not at the crowd. At me. I swallowed hard as I danced in slow motion and stared into the depths of the hood.
A black void. My heart was beginning to race when the hooded figure gave me a single nod, and for some reason, I understood something.
As the hooded figure slipped back between the buildings, swallowed by the darkness between the buildings, I braved a smile. And I continued dancing.