Page 23 of Finding Jack
My hand crept up to my throat. The world of social media could be brutal for kids seeking validation. Unless she was lucky enough to ask Jack, who’d posted the exact same photo as the before and after with a simple message. “I never mess with perfection.”
I mean…COME ON.
I dropped my phone and jabbed my laptop power button. It would be stupid not to talk to Jack just because I’d broken up with a sweet, boring boyfriend recently. It’s not like I’d broken up with PaulforJack or anything. And it wasn’t like Jack was in any danger of becoming a rebound, especially not when he lived ten hours away in Portland. Really, it was overstating it to call my current situation a romantic low point. It was maaaaybe a slightly-below-average point. It would be no big deal to say hi.
Still, I couldn’t help taking a deep breath before I opened our old chat and typed, “Hi.”
He answered in less than a minute, with “Hey, stranger.”
EMILY: You’re never going to believe this but…
JACK: But…?
EMILY: I’ve been seeing these seagulls everywhere.
JACK: It’s strange that you think that’s strange. You’re in San Francisco, right? Isn’t that by the sea? What kind of gulls were you expecting?
EMILY: That’s the thing. These are no ordinary seagulls.
JACK: Tell me more. How would you describe these birds?
EMILY: It’s just one, actually. The same one.
JACK: Uh, how can you tell? I’ve seen a few seagulls. They’re all the same. They can’t even tell each other apart.
EMILY: I don’t think that’s science.
JACK: Sure it is. I just looked it up on Seagullpedia.
EMILY: Did you also just make up Seagullpedia?
JACK: Yes, I did. But tell me more about this seagull that follows you. Does it have a name?
EMILY: I don’t feel safe telling you about this anymore. It’s almost like you’re making fun of me.
JACK: Never. But I know a little bit about brains. I’m checking to make sure yours is firing on all cylinders.
EMILY: Ha. Brains don’t have cylinders. I think you don’t know anything about brains.
JACK: Busted. I’m just super curious. I promise I’m not judging. Anymore. Tell me about this seagull that follows you.
EMILY: It does have a name. It’s called…
JACK: Larry?
EMILY: Transcendent Seagull.
JACK: Oh, I get it. These aren’t hallucinations. They’re spiritual manifestations?
EMILY: Yes, exactly. See? I’m not crazy.
JACK: No, not at all.
EMILY: It would definitely be weird if I thought just one seagull was following me, like a regular one. But when you find out that it’s a giant seagull, as big as a car, and that it’s bowing to my Shrine of Powerful Women then it doesn’t sound so crazy anymore, huh?
JACK: Um, no. Definitely not crazy. But a point of clarification: it’s closer to the size of a small house.
EMILY: YOU’VE SEEN IT.
