Page 37 of Solo Stan
FJSUWIZNPOKEGDPDDECCTW
Bobby Bae
maybe a numeric anagram or cryptarithm?
Kai
my baby’s so smart. Counting the days till we meet again
Bobby Bae
you must go on without me
Kai
I LOVE U
Baby?Elias drew back in surprise. A feeling of betrayal stung his chest for a moment. The scavenger hunt wastheirthing. Why would he ask Bobby Bae?He even has a cool name. Who the hell is this kid?Elias thought. He’d never heard the termsnumeric anagramorcryptarithmin his life.
Guiltily, he handed the phone back with a quick blurted confession. “I didn’t mean to read your conversation,” he said, “but, damn, if that’s how you and your best friend talk, can I be your best friend too?”
Dakarai laughed it off, but Elias couldn’t shake the text exchange from his mind. Elias had been so sure that Dakarai was warming to him and receptive of his advances, even reciprocating them at times. But if that’s how Dakarai acted with Bobby, who’s to say he wasn’t just being friendly?
Dakarai wrote the number they received,13, on the back of his concert ticket along with the others they’d gotten so far. Elias then opened the next envelope.
Random Act of Kindness
Write a poem for someone and record yourself reciting it.
If there ever was a moment to make things right with Dakarai, it was this.
“I think there’s an alternate universe version of me that’s a SoundCloud rapper,” Elias said, squaring his shoulders and rolling his neck in preparation. “Let me do this one.”
Jogging a short distance to hop on top of the smooth surface of a tree stump with gnarled roots, he took a deep breath and tapped the record button. He held the phone steady as he aimed the front-facing camera at himself. Yet, his gaze remained fixed on Dakarai.
“You ready?” Elias asked, his voice lacking the usual self-assuredness everyone always accused him of having. He hesitated for another moment, running over the words in his mind before he began.
“I’ll never be like Bobby Bae,
But I’m better in so many ways.
I can’t definecryptarithm,
So maybe I can never be him.
But just…give me a chance, okay?”
Elias’s jaw tensed slightly as he hit the stop button, his eyes immediately searching Dakarai’s face for any hint of what he might be thinking. Elias leapt down from his makeshift soapbox. Flattery was a good start, but it wasn’t enough for someone as kind and genuine as Dakarai.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” Elias said resolutely.
“That could cover a whole bunch of things,” Dakarai said. “Sorry about what specifically?”
Elias’s phone chimed with a notification, but he toggled off the sound so it only vibrated. He took a steadying breath. “We never did talk about what happened at the bookstore,” Elias said, prodding further. “You know, before Moodie the Mood Killer walked in.”
“Nothing happened,” Dakarai responded almost instantly.
“But if Moodie had walked in a minute later, would something have happened?” Elias watched Dakarai with anticipation.
