Josh II: The Return of Josh

We thought it walked a lot like Josh, clean white shirt down the soybean rows and toward us at the treeline, Josh walking through a field so green and real it made us feel like getting married just to look at it. Except for how the cricket-sound had moved inside our heads, the crickets stopped their buzzing as he walked, and we took our eyes off Josh for a second, cows on fire in the pasture neighboring the soybean field, saw them crashing, tallow and sulfur, into golden haybales. Again we turned our eyes to Josh, and we really thought it walked a lot like Josh, somewhat closer now, coming through the rows, with two large birds (this was strange) braiding what looked to be a length of red ribbon into his hair. Of course he was still a good ways off—close enough that we could hear him sing to us, and it sang a lot like Josh—but he was still just a little ways off now and the ribbon was a thin red ribbon and I couldn’t say for sure it was a ribbon. So I asked Earl about the ribbon and Earl said Ribbon, and I asked Kim about the ribbon and Kim said Ribbon, and we agreed the ribbon made us feel like getting married just to look at it. And we agreed it walked a lot like Josh, except for how it was crawling really, close enough that we could see that it was Josh, crying, stuffing leaves and vines into its pants, and though we believed the ribbon birds were on our side, it was getting late, and we felt our parents would be calling for us soon, and Josh still closer, holding out his hands and opening his mouth as if he’d ask a favor, and I thought it would be smart if we could all agree upon an answer. So I asked Earl about the answer and Earl said Answer, and I asked Kim about the answer, and Kim said (and this was just before we learned the truth about the ribbon) Kim said: I don’t think that’s Josh.