Page 39 of Wayfarers

“I don’t think not participating in culture makes you better than anyone.”

“But you knew the Curious George reference.”

“Well, yeah, I’ve read a lot. It was my main thing.”

“Was your family’s whole deal, like, religious?”

“Sorta. But hey, I could sit and answer questions about my boring life of deprivation or you and I could watch some baby goats having the post-bath—what’d you call it?”

“Zoomies.” Sylvie grins and pulls out her phone. She shows me the video and it is, in fact, adorable. I steal glances at her starry-eyed face. I wonder where my mom is right now. The video ends. I want more.

“Do you—do you have movies on your phone?”

“I have streaming services. You know what those—”

“Yeah, I know what they are. I have some cultural awareness despite not having a phone.” We had to know what we were missing to feel superior.

“What kind of movies do you like?”

“Anything.”

“What’s the last movie you saw?”

“I snuck into a theater and saw Avengers: Endgame.”

“That was before COVID! And you hadn’t seen any of the other Avengers movies?”

“Nary a one.”

“Did it make sense?”

“Nary a . . . sense.” We both laugh.

“You just wanted to use the word ‘nary’ again. You have read a lot.” Sylvie scrolls on her phone. “Have you seen Avatar?”

“Is that the movie with the blue cat guys?”

“Yep.”

“No, but I always wanted to.”

“Well, get ready to experience the wonder of watching Avatar on a sideways iPhone in front of a campfire. Just as James Cameron intended.”

We watch for a while, and it’s great, but then we just end up talking, which is even better.

Sylvie

“I liked it pretty well, though.” He’s sitting by the fire on my waterproof camp blanket, poking the embers with a stick. “But I’m hardly a judge of good cinema.”

“I mean, it’s not good.”

“And you said it made more money than any other movie ever?”

I shrug. “People have bad taste. Collectively. I read once that a bee by itself isn’t a bee. Scientists say that a hive is the individual unit when it comes to bees. And I think pop culture can kind of be like that. Groupthink. Fifty people in a room act a lot different than someone by themselves.”

“You sound like my mom, a little.”

“Yeah?”