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"Pirate Pete," I say slowly

She squawks, as if I’ve said son It’s wood and plaster and paint But you don’t see that, and the people who co old pirate, just like they see prizes and a chance to win so on Green Row, just like they see you in that awful mermaid costume, and for three and a half minutes they let theher arms wide, as if to eineering Nuts and bolts and gears And you know it, and I know it, and all the people who cole day know it, too But for just a little while, they forget to know it They believe That the ghosts on the Haunted Ship are real That every proble That that"--she turns and points to the highlike an arateway to heaven" She turns back toatall the ways I’ve screwed up, all the iven, I can let go now

"That’s what ic is, Nick," she says, her voice soft "It’s just faith Who knows?" She s back to the Gateway "Maybe soht into the sky"

"Yeah," I say I look where she’s looking; I try to see what she sees And for a split second I find her, silhouetted by the sky, arels in the air or si in place; for a split second, she come that soht