Attic, part 88

“Wow, that’s strange — a dream about your grandmother Amelia, the one you never met. I remember you once told me she died when your mom was a girl.”

Jenny looked at Josh a while before answering. “I wouldn’t exactly say we never met. After all, I had a perfectly lovely conversation with her last night. In my dream, I mean.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t really count, does it? I mean, there’s a difference between dreams and reality.”

“That’s your theory,” Jenny said. “Suppose you found out something in a dream, and then, after that, it happened in ‘reality’. Would you still think there was such a big difference?”

“Coincidences happen,” Josh shrugged. “Doesn’t mean you’ve got to rearrange your whole view of the universe.”

“Well, what if, um, I said to you ‘You’re going to meet some guy named Charlie’, and then you met some guy named Charlie? Would that be just a coincidence?”

Josh shook his head. “Now you’re just reaching. I mean, stuff like that doesn’t really…”

“Hi, I’m Charlie. I’m new at school. Mind if I sit here?” The body stood politely, waiting to be asked to join them.

Josh looked up in open mouthed astonishment. Unable to get any words out, he merely nodded. When he was finally able to talk, he said “How did you…”

“Like I told you Josh,” Jenny said, “I had a nice conversation last night with my grandmother. Our new friend is very handsome, isn’t he?”

Josh looked at Charlie, but this time really looked at him. Charlie was indeed handsome, but the word ‘handsome’ didn’t even begin to describe it. It was like he had a kind of golden glow about him. In a way, Josh thought, it’s unfair, people like that walking around. How do you compete? With a feeling of furtive panic, he looked over at Jenny.

But Jenny was looking at Josh, not at Charlie. “Don’t worry, he’s going to be a friend. A very good friend. Isn’t that right Charlie?”

“Yep,” Charlie said. “Nothing to worry about. Did you tell him yet?”

“Tell me what?” Josh asked.

2 thoughts on “Attic, part 88”

  1. Think I’m missing something. Did she just stop from grandmother and end up back in school? There seems to be a transition I can’t find…

  2. The three asterisks, at the top of part 85, signaled a break in the narrative. Perhaps I should have made it more obvious.

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