Grandma takes a seat at the table. “I’ve been doing the budget,” she says. “We’re okay right now, but we might have to move to a smaller place if I can’t pick up a little more money from jobs. I didn’t want it to be a surprise for you if that happens.”

It’s not Grandma finding her ghosts, but it’s not good news either.

“I don’t want to leave,” Shelly says. What if her mom comes back and they’re gone? What if she ends up being a fuzzy, static ghost like the one in Isabel’s house, confused and sad and not sure what’s going on?

“I don’t want to leave either, but we might have to,” Grandma says. “We’re okay for now, but just in case—”

“We shouldn’t have to leave our house because Mom died.”

Shock flashes across Grandma’s face, like she wasn’t expecting Shelly to be so blunt, but it’s true. They shouldn’t have to leave.

“It’s only a maybe,” Grandma says. “It’s not for sure. You don’t have to worry about it now. We don’t have to talk about it anymore tonight.”

She picks up the ketchup and squeezes it onto her hot dog. “Okay,” she says. “Thanks for the warning. I’ll try to be prepared.”

Grandma’s announcement fills her with a new sense of urgency. She can’t wait for her mother to appear anymore. Shelly needs to find her before they leave and her mom becomes lost and anchorless, searching for a family that’s left her behind.

16

Grandma has a job on the weekend. She walks Shelly next door, and Shelly waits 15 minutes then tells Mrs. Potts she’s not feeling well and she’s going to go home and lie down. Mrs. Potts is more trusting than Grandma is—maybe it’s having a police officer for a daughter. Shelly leaves her house and heads straight for the bus stop. She needs to see Joseph and she’s not going to wait around for her grandma to suggest a trip.

Besides, if she goes to the graveyard with Grandma, she’s not going to be able to ask the questions she wants to ask, and Joseph might bring up Estelle.

The bus drops her off by the cemetery, and Shelly ties her hair up in a bun as she heads toward Joseph’s grave. She doesn’t see any other ghosts wandering around yet, but maybe she’s just not looking hard enough. Maybe her mother’s here, somewhere, and hiding.

“Little Shell, you’re here alone again.” Joseph pushes a button on his Walkman and music clicks on. A singer Shelly doesn’t know sings something she doesn’t recognize—alone again, naturally.