Chapter 134

“The whole song?”

I smiled.

“The first line, Goose.” I could barely hear him now. “If I’m able. Will that do?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“Twelve notes. A-a-ma-zi-i-ing grace…”

I only got seven. “Jefferson? Jefferson!”

The unexplained phenomenon that had happened next—unexplained except to me—brought chills all over again, as did my actions afterward.

I had a small knife on my keychain, which I pulled out of my pocket. “Would the tree mind, Jefferson?” I desperately wanted to hear him. Nothing came, though, until the trill of a cardinal. “At night?” I questioned the sky, not my sanity. The bird performed the slide whistle tone twice, and then trilled twelve times. Twelve. It wasn’t the right tune for “Amazing Grace,” but it was the right number of notes. “Thank you,” I whispered.