“The fog, a cloud—what’s the difference?” Sally said. “The sky ate her, it’s as simple as that. Hey, Watch, what are you doing today? Do you want to go to the arcade with us?”
Watch brightened. “I’m going to see Bum. He’s going to show me the Secret Path.”
Sally shuddered. “You’re not taking the Secret Path. You’ll die.”
“Really?” Watch said.
“What’s the Secret Path?” Adam asked.
“Don’t tell him,” Sally said. “He just got here. I like him, and I don’t want him to die.”
“I don’t think we’ll die,” Watch said. “But we might disappear.”
Adam was interested. He’d never disappeared before. “How?” he asked.
Watch turned to Sally. “Tell him about it,” he said.
Sally shook her head. “It’s too dangerous, and I’m responsible for him.”
“Who made you responsible?” Adam asked, getting annoyed. “I’m my own person. You can’t tell me what to do.” He turned to Watch. “Tell me about the
path. And tell me who Bum is.”
“Bum is the town bum,” Sally interrupted. “He used to be the mayor until Ann Templeton, town witch, put a curse on him.”
“Is that true?” Adam asked Watch.
“Bum was the mayor,” Watch agreed. “But I don’t know if he became a bum because he got cursed. It may have been because he got lazy. He was always a lousy mayor.”
“What exactly is the Secret Path?” Adam asked again.
“We don’t know,” Sally said. “It’s a secret.”
“Tell me what you do know,” Adam said, getting exasperated
“There’s supposed to be a special path that winds through town that leads into other dimensions,” Watch said. “I’ve searched for it for years, but never found it.
But Bum is supposed to know it.”
“Who says?” Adam asked.
“Bum says,” Watch said.
“Why is he going to tell you the secret?” Sally asked. “Why today?”
Watch was thoughtful. “I don’t know. I gave him a sandwich last week. Maybe he just wants to thank me for it.”
“Maybe he wants to get you killed,” Sally grumbled.
“It wasn’t that bad a sandwich,” Watch said.
“When you say the path leads into other dimensions,” Adam said, “what do you mean?”
“There is more than one Spooksville,” Sally said.
“Huh?” Adam said.
“This town overlaps with other realities,” Watch explained. “Sometimes those other realities blur into this one.”
“That’s why this is such a weird place to live,” Sally added.
Adam shook his head. “Do you have any proof that this stuff exists?”
“No direct proof,” Watch said. “But a man on my block was supposed to have known about the Secret Path.”
“What did he say about it?” Adam asked.
“He disappeared before I could ask him.” Watch paused to check one of his watches. “Bum is waiting for me. If you want to come, you have to decide now.”
“Don’t go, Adam,” Sally pleaded. “You’re young. You have your whole future in front of you.”
Adam laughed at her concern. He was interested in the Secret Path, but he couldn’t say he believed it really existed. “I have a long boring day in front of me. I want to see what this is about.” He nodded to Watch. “Let’s go find this Bum.”
5
Sally ended up going with them, complaining all the time about how they could get stuck in a black hole and squashed down to the size of ants. Adam and Watch ignored her.
They found Bum sitting by the pier on a concrete wall, feeding the birds from a pile of nearby seed. On the way to the water Watch had stopped and bought a turkey sandwich at a deli as a gift. Bum accepted it hungrily and didn’t even pause to look at them until he’d finished eating.
