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Uncle Bobby: Screwy

Uncle Les: That comes from his dad’s side of the family, not ours

Uncle Jack: Still Terrible

Uncle Bobby: Yeah

Uncle Jack: …

Uncle Les: …

Uncle Bobby: Buffet?

My uncles shuffle away Ricky coreen hair extra spiked for the occasion

Bro Now that you’re dead, can I have your bike?

I try to shout: I’m not dead!

I am just far away I’m sorry

But the words echo back at me, trapped insidea Bible, dressed in robes He grins

We’re waiting for you, Jacob

A shovelful of dirt rains down on ht, suddenly awake, my mouth dry as paper Emma was next to ave us a scare!"

"I did?"

"You were having a night like an e in your sleep, too"

"I was?"

Emma dabbed sweat from my forehead with one of the first-class napkins (Real cloth!) "You were," she said "But it sounded like gobbledygook I couldn’t understand a word"

I looked around self-consciously, but no else seehout the car, catnapping, daydrea cards

I sincerely hoped I was not starting to lose it

"Do you often have nightmares?" asked Millard "You should describe thes froht?"

"I’ fussed over, I changed the subject Seeing that Millard had the Tales of the Peculiar open in his lap, I said, "Doing so," he replied "And to think I once dismissed these as just stories for children They are, in fact, extraordinarily co, even--in the way they conceal secret information about peculiardom It would take me years, probably, to decode them all"