Chapter 37

“Yes.” I looked back at Jefferson, where I last thought he was. “Does he have to ride in the car with us,” I silently wondered, “or could he already be there if he wanted, transported like Captain Kirk in Star Trek, Samantha on Bewitched, or Jeannie on I Dream of Jeannie?”I watched a lot of old TV shows.

When I felt my hair move, I knew he was still there. I also worried about how untidy it had gotten. I was a wash and go kind of guy. Patrick’s hair looked like he’d put some effort into it. It was darker than his neatly trimmed beard, deep rust on top, carrot orange below.

“The story of him and Calvin is so sweet, but sad, too,” Patrick said, “in how it was cut short. If this tree the town wants to cut down is theirs, I hope we can stop them.”

“Why do they want to cut it down?”