“Wow! That’s so dope! So, Daniel, Jr. and all the others would be my, like, great, great, great, a lot of great aunts and uncles?”
“Yes.”
“Wow! I can’t wait to tell Goose.”
“I can’t wait for her to tell me!” I said. “Now, all I have to do is wake up.”
“Wake up, Goose!”
“Huh?”
“Come on. Wake up, Goose.”
“Who’s that? Is that you, Jefferson? Where did you go?”
“Come on, man, it’s time.”
“To wake up?” I asked.
“Wake the f**k up, you little pain in the ass.”
I moaned, all groggy and sore. “Ask me nicely,” I said, and then opened my eyes.
“Bro-ford!”
No longer feeling ghost-like, no longer in Carrie’s car, I awoke in my hospital bed, staring up at Rip’s uneven mustache. The sheets were soft and smelled freshly laundered with bleach. The room was rather dark, one corner aglow in blue
