Page 77 of Sharkbait
I wish I had even an ounce of this guy’s perspective.
His positivity and ability to roll with the punches are amazing.
A family of four walks by us. The little girl finds a tiny rock and throws it into the water.
“When your mom passed, you still had another parent I hope?”
“My dad, yeah. But he didn’t do so well in the aftermath. He wasn’t the warmest guy before it happened, but afterward? Forget it. He may as well have not been there at all. When he told me we were moving to Philly a few months after the funeral for a job transfer, it didn’t take me long to figure out it was because he couldn’t bear to stay on the island. Couldn’t blame him for that. Everything there reminded me of her too. But my story sort of has a happy ending. I met Wally soon after starting high school here, and he helped me turn things around. Good friends have a way of doing that.”
In a weird coincidence,I Get By with a Little Help From My Friendsstarts playing on the radio.
He chuckles, “Well that’s a dose of synchronicity right there.”
“Synchronicity?”
“You know, meaningful coincidences? Here I am talking about getting by with some help from my friend, and in comes Ringo to sing me a song all about that very thing.”
“I know what the word synchronicity means. I’m just—” I pause. “You believe in that stuff? The woo woo ‘universe’ stuff?”
“My friend Kathleen asked me the same thing. I don’t know if I’d call it ‘woo woo,’ but yeah. I believe the universe puts certain people and opportunities in front of us to learn lessons and help us become the next best version of ourselves. I also believe that sometimes we’re so busy hustling and ‘achieving that we don’t see that life has an even better plan for us if we’d stay open and pay attention.”
“Whoa. That was so... earnest.”
“Too much?” He chuckles.
I surprise myself when I say, “No. Not too much.”
I’m not used to openhearted, earnest guys like this.
The guys I’m used to do the whole mysterious, cool thing.
I’m starting to realize those guys are exhausting.
But James? James is refreshing.
“Haven’t you noticed that sometimes life gives us these little...coincidencesto let us know we’re on track? Little nudges from the universe telling us it has our back?”
I scoff. “Not really, no. I’m a scientist.”
“I would think you’d notice it even more then.”
I don’t know if the music actually gets louder or if it just feels that way.
James starts singing along and tapping his thumb on his thigh.
“Mind if we change the channel?” I blurt.
“Oh. Sure. Sorry, I can stop singing.”
“That’s fine. Sing all you want, just… a different song please.”
“…Alright.”
He climbs through the back of the car and presses a button on the dash. “She Loves Me” blares through the speaker.
Geez, aren’t there any other bands in the world?
“Anything but The Beatles would be good,” I shout from the bench.
