“We each got something,” Paulie said. He raised and lowered the tea bag. “We come with it. All of us. The Gift, as your family says.”
So Tommie was right.
I sipped at my drink, almost too hot, that Paulie had added honey to.
Nodded. This I had heard.
“It’s like a light, for most. Some? They never know they even have a Gift. Then there are people like me. A guide of sorts.” He pressed his thumbs to his chest. “I can help you see what you have. There are those people like your aunt.” He waved his hand. “She has a Gift that’s bigger. People might call it magic. But you and I know better.”
I held my breath.
I knew it.
I felt empty. Hollow. Waiting.
Scared?
No. Nervous.
“So your auntie, she’s a good woman, isn’t she?” Paulie handed me a macadamia nut cookie and took one for himself. “Made with love,” he whispered as he took a bite. Crumbs fell onto the table, and he wet his finger and ate them up. “She has a different degree of seeing. She can taste what a spirit offers her. Sees the words plain and clear.”
I thought of the recipes that came to Aunt Odie.
“I’m a psychic. I been helping your family for years. Years and years. Find their specialties.”
“Years?”
“Much longer than you can believe.”
We stared at each other.
“Much longer.”
I gulped.
“Oh.”
“And I help others, too. It’s my job. Get thoughts and feelings from the dead sometimes to give advice to the living.” Paulie looked at me. “But you, Evie. You are different. You have a big power. You see the dead. Converse with them, maybe.” He glanced at me.
He tapped the table with his fingernails.
I nodded. Gulped again. Tried to breathe. Whispered, “Yes.”
“Evie, look. I feel it’s even more than that. Your duties might be a little more complicated. But am I right? About the conversing?”
My voice warbled from me, like a dying bird might sound. “I can see them. Lots of them here in Cassadaga. Your place is crawling with them.”
Paulie tilted his head.
“Crawling?” he asked.
“Crawling.”
“That’s how you knew about Ezra Bargio.”
I nodded. “The woman—his sister—wanted him to know everything was okay. She practically forced me to tell.”
He glanced around the spotless kitchen. “Crawling?” he asked again.
“And I see her.”
Paulie shivered like a goose—or a ghost—had run over his grave.
“This one girl. I talk to her. She follows me. Always there. Maybe like the people in the other room.”
Paulie’s eyes were wide as pies.
“They’re friendly,” I said.
He swallowed. “You sure? Sometimes a ‘force’ will come that’s ugly. I have to send it away.”
Now I nodded. “But lookit. I need help.”
“Of course.” Paulie held his hands out, palms up. An uneaten cookie sat there. Who had handed it to him? “I knew what you could do when you were here. It’s been a long time since someone like you has come into your family. I was surprised.” He coughed, and a cookie crumb flew from his mouth. It landed on the tabletop, but Paulie didn’t go after that morsel. “You sure they’re friendly?” he asked.
“I’m sure.”
Paulie ate the remaining cookie in two bites. Was he making me wait on purpose? “Now you have to understand something.”
“Okay.” That’s why I was here. To understand. If I could catch my breath. And if Paulie could just catch his.
“Your aunt didn’t come on her Gift all at once. Neither did I. We searched it out. Figured it out. Figured what there was that had to be done. Now the Gift must be right at the top of your most-important list. You have to take care of it. Not just keep your name when you marry.”
“Are you saying,” I said, “I don’t have to be like this?”
“Huh?” Paulie said.
“Are you saying I could leave this behind?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t do that.”
“Why not? You got a room full of ghosts waiting on you. I don’t want that. Right now I got one who climbs in my bed.”
“That’s scary,” Paulie said. He shivered.
“You’re telling me.”
Paulie took my hand in his. “They won’t go just because you want them to. Just because you ignore them.”
“Answer this for me. Can I lose this Gift, Paulie?”
He hesitated. Made an expression like he hadn’t heard what I said.
“Well, sure, Evie. A person can lose anything.”
That was all I needed.
I leaned back in the chair. My tea had cooled. Outside the window the rain fell. Heavy, fat drops that left the heavens in slow motion, like they might change their minds and head back to where they had come from. Maybe because, at last, I had an answer I could tolerate.