“Are you all right?”

A few beats, and then: “No. I learned how to have a will of my own down on earth, but I don’t know how to make it stop.”

“Listen, maybe I can help. I want you to think of your greatest wish, right now, whatever that may be. Something you want with all of your feeling.” Nobody feels more than Hall, so whatever it is, it’s going to be powerful. A sonic boom.

I’m thinking about it, he replies. I can picture his eyes shut tight in concentration, a pinch between his brows. Loose curls on his forehead. This isn’t about me—for once, it’s about him, and only him—but a small white flame still blooms in my rib cage, hoping.

“The magic words?” I prompt, for old times’ sake.

There’s a lull, airwaves hissing and popping. I hear him draw a breath. Time clicks to a standstill, sound and oxygen and all movement, everywhere, thickening into a strange solid matter as, far, far above, a glittering substance breathes. It feels like comfort and companionship, waiting, watching, listening. Marveling: what would the person whose role is to think only of others want for himself?

I hear the smile in his voice, scattering throughout that mist, breaking apart all over the planet and lighting it up bright and shining for one moment that is happier than any other moment has ever been. Everything that is alive must feel it; every head must turn in wonder.

“Make my wish come true,” he says.

*

Epilogue

IT TOOK A while for Hall to come back to me completely. He started off in a mirror.

“You’re one-dimensional!” I cried. “How do I get you out of there?”

It looked like he was standing right beside me, but whenever I turned my head, all I could see was empty space. “If you haven’t already guessed,” he announced (his visual and audio components were not yet attached to each other, so his voice emitted from the animatronic Billy Bass fish mounted to the wall), “I am the spirit of the Holiday Spirit. As in, I used to be the Holiday Spirit, but now I am a Real Boy, like Frosty the Snowman if it had the correct ending. I’ve been withdrawn from one plane of existence and resubmitted into another, as this plane is more fitting for my entity’s ability to thrive. My greatest wish was to thrive, as a human.” He cocked his head. “With you.”

Then I started to cry, so Hall tried to reach through the mirror to hold me but he couldn’t, which made him upset, and it was frustrating to not be able to touch each other. But at least he was there.

“You really want to be with me?” I blubbered, wiping my eyes.

“More than I’ve ever wanted anything,” he replied seriously. “I’ve done nothing at all since I returned but plot how to come back to you, trying to bend all the laws, hunting for loopholes. I didn’t care anymore about what I’m ostensibly meant to do, or who the universe thinks I’m supposed to be. What I am is a man in love, and you’re mine, Bettie. Nothing and no one is going to keep me from you. Not time, not legislation, not magic.”