Miles nodded in agreement.
“Circ, you sounded upset on the phone, so I came over soon as I could. You okay?”
“Not really,” said Circa. “But I’m working on it. How’s your head, Miles?”
“Better,” he said. “No thanks to that ringing phone.”
“I know,” said Circa. “What in the world?”
Nattie wasn’t speaking. Instead she was staring not-so-subtly at Miles’s chin.
“What?” he said, wiping at his mouth. “I got something on my face?”
“Oh, no, you’re fine,” said Nattie, turning ten shades of embarrassed. She followed up with an aw man look at Circa.
“Anyway.” Circa rushed to change the subject. “You guys like my moon?”
“Your moon?” said Miles.
“Well, half mine,” said Circa. “I changed the half moon into a full one.”
“A test?” said Miles.
“Yep,” she said. “I realized that the Shopt thing doesn’t seem to happen unless the picture is actually printed.”
Circa winked at Nattie in explanation of the abandoned chin test.
“And that picture was taken tonight, so all that’s left is to see if anything has happened out there.”
Miles and Nattie exchanged a skeptical look.
“Okay, fine, I’ll play along,” said Miles.
“Me too,” said Nattie, following his lead. But Circa knew good and well that Nattie was halfway to becoming a believer in this platypus of theirs.
“Well, then, what are you waiting for?” Miles said to Circa. “Aren’t you going to go check out the window?”
Circa suddenly got fluttery inside.
“In a minute,” she said.
Nattie picked up the picture and admired Circa’s work.
“I know why you made the moon full,” she said in kind of a singsongy way.
“How come?” said Miles, making his way toward the window.
“Because I thought a full moon might make your memory come back,” said Nattie.
“And because Great-Uncle Mileage loves a full moon,” said Circa, scrambling out of the chair to try to beat Miles across the room. But Miles was already at the studio window looking out.
“I’m not feeling any memory magic yet,” he said with a smirk. “But it’s way too cloudy now to even see if the moon’s different.”
“So we just wait for the clouds to move, to see if Circa’s brand-new version is up there,” said Nattie, searching nosily around Dad’s desk.
Circa and Miles stood side-by-side at the small window waiting for the thick clouds to crawl their way across the sky as Nattie picked up the Shopt folder and begun thumbing through its contents.
“Hey, Circ,” said Nattie. “If this Shopt power of yours turns out to be true, will you make me a new hat?”
“Sure, Nat,” laughed Circa. “I’ll make you a fancy one.”
“Since hers got pooped on,” said Miles.
Nattie shot over a look Circa could feel through the back of her head. “I knew he saw it!” she said.
Miles and Circa stood at the window and smiled at the low, thick sky.
“Hey, Circa,” said Nattie. “How come you never showed me all these before?”
Circa turned to discover Nattie sitting on a spot she’d cleared off of Dad’s desk. She was making her way through the stack of Shopt pictures one by one, stopping to read each and every story.
“What are these?” said Nattie.
Circa got squirmy at the sight of her friend holding a folder full of secrets that the Monroe family had kept close for years, but not so much that she made Nattie stop. Sorry again, Dad, Circa thought, as her discomfort was suddenly eclipsed by the need to revisit the images herself. Circa walked over and joined Nattie, clearing off a spot right next to her friend and hoisting herself up. Nattie was in the midst of the group of photos Circa had done with Miles, the adventures of Great-Uncle Mileage, baby soldier.
“It’s a collection of Shopt,” explained Circa. “I did these and wrote stories to go with them.”
“Good, isn’t she?” said Miles, without taking his eyes off the sky.
Circa watched for Nattie to react to being the last in the room to know the secret. To her surprise, Nattie’s face lit up. “Good’s not the word,” she said. “These are amazing.”
Instantly, Circa felt like fifty pounds of secrecy had been lifted from her shoulders. As she and Nattie went through the photos together, she took great pride in having to point out to her friend the things she’d added.
“We’re not done with the adventures of Great-Uncle Mileage, though,” she told Nattie. “He still needs to find his long-lost great-nephew.”
Circa looked over at Miles.
“Okay, so the moon thing’s gotta wait,” he said, leaving his post at the window. “What’s the next test?”
Circa was weary of waiting for results. “Let’s just do something easy and fast and obvious,” she said. “Like change my hair color or something.”
“Oooh!” said Nattie. “Let it be me, Circa. Put a streak in mine.”
“But if it works, your mom will kill me,” said Circa.
“Please,” said Nattie. “I won’t even tell her it was you.”
“All right,” said Circa. “If you promise. I’ll take a picture of you with Mom’s camera, then we’ll edit it and see what happens.”
Circa hopped off the desk to unpack the camera again. Miles took over her spot on the desk next to Nattie. Together, they enjoyed the Shopt while Circa got the equipment ready.
“Hey, Circ,” said Nat. “What about these other pictures? The ones with the stuff scribbled on them.”
Circa stopped her digging. “Be real careful with those,” she said. “My dad made them for me.”
“You mean you didn’t do these too?” said Nattie, and Circa was thrilled to no end that someone would assume that.
“No,” said Circa. “Dad was the very best at the Shopt.”
Circa inserted the memory card into the camera and cleared the sky picture off of it just before the battery died. Then she made her way to Mom’s side of the studio and found a marbled blue backdrop suitable for a portrait, while Nattie and Miles shared one Shopt wonder after another.
“So I don’t get it,” said Nattie. “The nest, the glasses, the people-pinkening stuff you mentioned. You called all that Shopt too, right?”
“Right,” said Circa. “Really kind of like little-bitty Shopt, I guess.”
“So then what’s the difference between all that little stuff and this big stuff?” she said. “I mean, if you and your dad had this special power, wouldn’t some of these things come true too?”
“Yeah,” Circa said sheepishly, joining them again at the desk. “I’ve been wondering about all that too.”
Circa felt funny about being the only one in the room who knew how very important this Shopt test was going to be. For her, and especially for Miles.
“Like what about this guy in the parade here?” said Nattie. “What if sparks really did shoot out of his trumpet?”
“Come on, Nat,” said Circa, but her mind tingled at the prospect.
“Yeah, Circa,” said Miles. “Remember you told me that day how they found the piece of plaid at the water’s edge? The bagpipe waterfall thing?”
“Or this fisherman,” said Nattie, flipping to the next photo. “Maybe he really did catch a disco ball.”
“Yeah, wouldn’t it be so cool if it really did all happen?” said Miles. “Then Great-Uncle Mileage could really come find me. Boy, would he have some stories to—whoa. Wait a minute,” said Miles, pausing Nattie at a particular photo. “I haven’t seen that one.”
Circa froze. It seemed like Miles moved in slow motion as he picked up the Shopt version of the Linholt Reunion pho
to. Circa couldn’t believe it. She’d totally forgotten she’d put it back in the folder. She’d been so careful to hide it before, and now here it was in all its storyless glory for everyone to see.
“How come you never showed me this one?” Miles said to Circa. “I didn’t know your dad Shopt the reunion picture.”
Circa swiftly took the photo from his hands. “Because I thought it might upset you to have to look at that place again,” she said. “That and, well, I can’t stand it that my dad never got to tell the story of this one.”
Miles looked over Circa’s shoulder. “Wow,” he said. “That one’s packed full of stuff.”
He wrenched the picture back again from Circa’s tight grip and studied it. “Oh,” he said slowly. “Now it makes sense.”
Circa’s heart jumped into her throat. “What does?” she said, watching Miles’s every move.
“Why you asked me if I’d seen a beaver and a giant potato,” he said.
Circa deflated.
“But, you know, that baby’s pretty cool too,” said Miles with a chuckle. “That one of Great-Uncle Mileage’s kinfolk?”
“You spotted the baby?” said Circa in disbelief. “How in the world?”
“Give me it,” demanded Nattie, stretching and straining to see the details. “Let me look.”
“You forget how much time I had to study the original version of that reunion photo,” said Miles. “I practically had every Linholt memorized.”
Circa stared longingly at the colorful scene. “My dad said the story of this baby was a real good one,” she said, her voice trembling. “He was going to tell it to me when he got home.”
Miles handed the photo over to Nattie and closed the Shopt folder.
“Oh, man,” said Nattie. “I’m sorry, Circa.”
Circa went back over to look for Mom’s spare camera battery. She suddenly felt blanketed by the need to find out about the Shopt power, and right away. To get closer to what it was Dad wanted to tell her. To know that baby’s story.
“So this is where the reunion was?” Nattie said. “Where the tornado happened?”
“Yeah,” said Circa, digging through the camera bag.
“And where you were?” Nattie said to Miles.
Miles nodded.
“That’s so weird,” said Nattie.
Circa looked up from her search. Miles reopened the Shopt folder and began to flip back through it. All the while, Nattie dwelled on the reunion photo.
“So how old would that baby be if he was real?” asked Nattie.
“Come on, Nat,” said Circa, fumbling clumsily to change out the camera battery. “Forget all that.”
“No, really,” said Nattie.
“The one I had said 1998 on it,” said Miles. “So I guess it would be a teenager, right?”
Nattie glared at Miles. Circa felt her hands go sweaty.
“Think about that,” Nattie said.
“About what?” said Miles.
“About if this Shopt power is real and works the way Circa says it does,” said Nattie. “Then that would mean this baby would be about thirteen, right?”
“Sure, Nat,” said Circa nervously. “Now come on, put it down and let’s take your picture.”
Nattie’s voice grew more serious. “And just like the nest and the glasses, this person would have appeared out of nowhere, right? Right when the Shopt version was printed, you say, Circa?”
Circa bugged her eyes out at Nattie, trying desperately to send her a mental shut up across the room. But Nattie was unstoppable.
“And he would have shown up where?” she asked.
“The reunion,” said Miles, dropping the folder once more to his lap. His voice had become icy cold.
The studio stood still in time as Nattie’s unspoken suggestion came crashing down. Visibly spooked by her own observations, she looked to Miles for his reaction.
“Circa, please tell your friend she’s way off base,” said Miles.
Circa just stood there in silence, a tiny flame igniting inside her.
“Tell her,” said Miles.
But try as she might, Circa couldn’t speak a word. She could only stand in quiet support of Nattie’s observations.
“No way,” Miles said. “You’ve lost your minds.” He squirmed in the spotlight of the two girls’ stares. “You think that baby is me?”
Miles went white and looked like he was going to throw up.
“Seriously,” he said. “Are you guys kidding me?”
“I’m just saying,” said Nattie.
Miles crossed his arms and scowled. Circa’s insides churned. If scientific Nat had come up with this theory totally on her own, then it must be true.
But when Nattie saw their reactions, she completely changed her tune. “Come on, I was just kidding around,” she defended.
“How about you, Circa?” said Miles. “You don’t believe that I’m Shopt, do you?”
But Circa wouldn’t deny it. She couldn’t deny it.
“Great,” said Miles, hopping off the desk. “Not only do I have no memory, but now the reason I don’t is because I’m not even real to begin with, right?”
“But it’s not like that,” said Circa. “Nobody said you weren’t real.”
“So tell me what’s real about it, Circa?” said Miles, his face turning red. “About being some sort of nonhuman pixel freak?”
“But you bled,” said Circa.
“So that’s supposed to make me feel better?” said Miles. “What? Have you thought about this before tonight?”
Circa shrugged timidly.
“Miles,” said Nattie. “I really didn’t mean—”
“Forget it, Nat,” said Miles. “Just do like me and forget it.”
Miles made a beeline for the kitchen. “Fail of a day,” he said as he turned to look at Circa once more before slamming the door behind him.
Circa’s first instinct was to run after Miles, to make things right. But that instinct was mashed flat by the rolling ball of wonder inside her.
“Let’s not mess with this stuff anymore,” said Nattie, spilling over with regret. “I just got carried away is all, and now this whole thing’s really creeping me out.”
Circa fixed her eyes on Nattie. “But what if it’s true?” she said.
“I really was mostly kidding with him,” said Nattie.
“But what if it’s true?” Circa repeated.
“Snap out of it, Circa,” said Nattie. “We just hurt our friend.”
Circa was beyond snapping out of it. “What if the Shopt thing is real, and what if that baby is Miles?” she said. “Nat, I’ve been wondering about this for days. I’ve been dying to tell somebody. And then you go and figure it out on your own. Don’t you see what a big deal that is?”
Circa found Dad’s photo magnifier and set it on top of the reunion picture, looking closely at the details of the Shopt baby.
“It all makes sense,” she said. “How familiar he was from the beginning. The crinkle, the snoring, the smile. He was totally built out of Monroe features.”
“Circa, quit it,” said Nattie. “You’re making him sound like Frankenstein or something.”
“And his scars,” continued Circa. “They could just be mistakes Dad made on the picture. All the little rough spots.”
“You’re really creeping me out, Circa,” said Nattie. “You need to get Miles back in here and tell him we didn’t mean it.”
“But don’t you realize what this means, Nat?” said Circa, rising up from the viewer. “If the Shopt power can make a whole fresh person appear, then imagine what’s possible.”
“You don’t even know what you’re saying,” said Nattie.
“I do too know,” said Circa. “I’m saying that if this thing is true, then there might be a way to change other
big things too.”
“Like what?” said Nattie.
Circa felt like she’d crashed into a wall of truth. That was it. The message. The one Miles had brought from Dad. It wasn’t something Dad had said. It was truly something he’d built inside Miles. It was so clear now. Dad wanted to come home, and Circa had the power to make it happen.
“Like changing a dad getting killed by a tornado,” she said, about to burst with possibility. “I mean, if a person can be totally Shopt into existence, then why can’t a Shopt thing also save someone’s life?”
“Oh, Circa,” said Nattie, chewing hard on a braid.
“I’m serious, Nattie,” said Circa.
“Don’t you think this thing has gotten way out of hand?” said Nattie. “Let’s just quit it, okay, and go have some peanut butter pie or something. I can eat the crust and you can eat the filling, and we’ll give Miles his very own piece.”
“How in the world can you think about pie right now?” Circa said even louder. “Don’t you see what all this could mean, Nattie? Don’t you see?”
She walked over to the monitor, picked up the wooden box that held her father’s ashes, and set it down hard on the desk.
“This,” she said. “This, Nat.” Circa’s voice began to quake. “This is what’s left of him.”
“Circa—”
“Don’t you get it?” said Circa. “I don’t need ashes, Nattie. I need my dad. My mom needs my dad. And those people at Maple Grove need more than a stupid fountain wall to give them their memories back.”
Nattie fumbled for the Shopt folder and held it up.
“At least you’ve got these,” she said desperately. “You said yourself that your dad made all this special stuff just for you.”
“And now I’ve got the message too, Nat. The Shopt message. Miles is here for one reason…to show me that I can bring Dad back. That’s it, Nat. That has to be it.”
Circa picked up the reunion photo. “There must be something here I could do,” she said. “Something I could change in this picture to make him come back.”
Nattie grabbed Circa’s wrist.
“Circ, don’t,” she said. “You’re putting your head into a hive.”
“Quit it,” said Circa, jerking her arm away. “What does that have to do with anything?”
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