Page 42 of Finding Jack
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“All right.” He was quiet for a minute. “Okay, would you rather go back in time five hundred years, or into the future five hundred years?”
“Ooh. Tough one. Can’t we talk about our favorite colors?”
“Blue. And no.”
“Also blue, and fine. I think I’d rather go to the future. What about you?”
“The past for sure.”
“Wait, really? That’s what history books are for. And so many bad things happened in the past.”
“Yeah, but in the past, I’d know how everything turns out. I’d know that there’s going to be hard things over the next five hundred years, but also mind-blowing advancements. You could watch it all happen and know that it works out okay. That we figure out better medicine and technology and nutrition. So it wouldn’t be as depressing.”
“But maybe going to the future means that you could see how all the stuff we’re doing wrong now works out too.”
“Or maybe I’d see that it doesn’t. That there’s nothing five hundred years in the future because we’re screwing it up so much now.”
We both fell quiet. He broke in with a rueful laugh. “Sorry. That was grim.”
“Maybe. But your reasoning about seeing the past was weirdly optimistic, so it balances out.”
“Good. Next question. Would you rather donate your body to science or your organs to someone who can use them?”
“Jack? Aren’t these questions supposed to make me forget I’m alone in the woods with a relative stranger?”
“Oh, right. Sorry. Job hazard. I’ll think of something else.”
Job hazard? “What kind of job makes you ask questions about what to do with dead bodies?”
“I’m a mortician. Didn’t Sean tell you?”
“Um, no?”
“Probably because it’s not true. And I guess it’s not really a job hazard anymore. But that’s all boring talk. New question: what do you think is the closest thing to real magic?”
“That’s a good one. Let me think.” I wouldn’t let him avoid the job question forever, but I’d leave it alone for now. I clicked on the screen to send us along our path while I considered magic. The trees grew thinner as the path opened to the bank of the Serpentine River. “Closest thing to real magic? Google Earth maps.”
“Agreed.” I heard the smile in his voice, and maybe just the creeping edge of a yawn. The voice of my high school drama teacher echoed in my head for a minute.Always leave them wanting more.
“Hey, it’s getting late and I should go, but thanks for taking me out this evening.”
“Thanks for coming. Can I take you out again some time?”
I smiled. “Let me put it this way: after a night like this, you can have my central air. There’s no way I’d give up the internet.”
And I heard the smile in his voice again as he said goodnight.
Chapter 16
I woke up the next morning, and my whole body felt like a smile. I lay there remembering every detail of the date, scrolling back over our route through Hyde Park on my phone.
It was honestly the best first date I could remember. I’m sure my grandmother would be appalled that I’d even call it a date, much less a first one. My parents were social media literate enough for the Age of Tinder Dating to be a logical progression, but they probably wouldn’t have considered last night a real date either.
But it was. Very real.
