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Hazel studied hiht happen You shouldn’t--"
"I won’t sell it," Sammy said "I promise! I’ll just keep it as a token of your flavor"
Hazel forced a smile "I think you mean token ofIt’s time for our next scene: Hedy Lalish class"
Saentle there, Sammy"
"Miss Lahtly The two of them raced back into the schoolhouse
Leo felt host than ever Maybe he had actually been an eidolon his whole life, because this kid he’d just seen should have been the real Leo He was smarter, cooler, and funnier He flirted so ith Hazel that he had obviously stolen her heart
No wonder Hazel had looked at Leo so strangely when they firstBut Leo wasn’t Sammy, any more than Flathead Rufus was Clark Gable
"Hazel," he said "I--I don’t--"
The schoolyard dissolved into a different scene
Hazel and Leo were still ghosts, but now they stood in front of a rundown house next to a drainage ditch overgroeeds A clump of banana trees drooped in the yard Perched on the steps, an old-fashioned radio played conjuntochair, a skinny old azed at the horizon
"Where are we?" Hazel asked She was still only vapor, but her voice was full of alarhostly self was thickening, becoely familiar
"It’s Houston," he realized "I know this view That drainage ditch…This is rew up Hobby Airport is over that way"
"This is your life?" Hazel said "I don’t understand! How--?"
"You’re asking me?" Leo demanded
Suddenly the old man murmured, "Ah, Hazel…"
A shock went up Leo’s spine The old man’s eyes were still fixed on the horizon How did he know they were here?
"I guess we ran out of time," the old man continued dreaht
Hazel and Leo stayed very still The old n that he saw theuy had been talking to himself But then why had he said Hazel’s nanarled hands, like he’d spent a lifeti in a machine shop He wore a pale yellow shirt, spotless and clean, with gray slacks and suspenders and polished black shoes
Despite his age, his eyes were sharp and clear He sat with a kind of quiet dignity He looked at peace--a? Cool!
Leo was pretty sure he had never seen this man before So why did he seeers on the ar Morse code, just like Leo’sthe sae: I love you
The screen door opened A young woman came out She wore jeans and a turquoise blouse Her hair was cut in a short black wedge She was pretty, but not delicate She had well-muscled arlinted with amusement In her arms was a baby, wrapped in a blue blanket
"Look, mijo," she said to the baby "This is your bisabuelo Bisabuelo, you want to hold him?"
When Leo heard her voice, he sobbed
It was his er than he remembered her, but very much alive That meant the baby in her arrin He had perfect teeth, as white as his hair His face crinkled with smile lines "A boy! Mi bebito, Leo!"
"Leo?" Hazel whispered "That--that’s you? What is bisabuelo?"
Leo couldn’t find his voice Great-grandfather, he wanted to say
The oldwith appreciation and tickling the baby’s chin--and Ghost Leo finally realized what he was seeing
Somehow, Hazel’s power to revisit the past had found the one event that connected both of their lives--where Leo’s time line touched Hazel’s
This old man…
"Oh…" Hazel seemed to realize who he was at the sae of tears "Oh, Saed well into his seventies "You’ll have to be my stunt double, eh? That’s what they call it, I think Tell her for me I hoped I would be alive, but, ay, the curse won’t have it!"
Hazel sobbed "Gaea…Gaea told me that he died of a heart attack, in the 1960s But this isn’t--this can’t be…"
Sa to the baby, while Leo’s mother, Esperanza, looked on with a pained smile--perhaps a little worried that Leo’s bisabuelo was ra nonsense
"That lady, Doña Callida, she warned er would not happen in my lifetime But I promised I would be there for her You will have to tell her I’m sorry, Leo Help her if you can"
"Bisabeulo," Esperanza said, "you must be tired"