Chapter 2

Sure enough, Sleepywolf had replied to the picture he’d posted earlier that morning. Jesse often came across unusual or interesting books, and he sometimes shared them with his timeline.

Today’s photo showed the yellowed cover of a paperback entitled Betamax Uprisings,complete with late seventies sci-fi deco art of VHS tapes. Above it, Jesse’s tweet read, really thought this was the novelization of a knock-off Star Wars movie, but it’s a 1978 take on the videotape format war.

Underneath, a reply from @sleepywolf read, ‘videotape format war’ still sounds like a knock-off sci-fi movie to me.Smirking to himself, Jesse opened his direct messages to reply.

@bimodal: tbh the book was pretty exciting. it was written at the peak of the format wars and the author was a betamax supporter, so his predictions are historically inaccurate.

@sleepywolf: i’ll be honest, all of what you just said still sounds like sci-fi to me. what are the format wars?

@bimodal: long long ago, in a galaxy far far away, before blue ray was a thing, movies were watched on vhs tapes. betamax was the rival to vhs.

@sleepywolf: what’s blue ray?

@bimodal:…

@bimodal: you are joking, right?

@sleepywolf: yes! :D i’m not *that* technologically inept! although i don’t think i own any physical movies. if it’s not streaming, i don’t watch it. the history sounds interesting though, especially through the eyes of someone living through it.

@bimodal: it really is. especially since both forms of tech are obsolete now, it’s sort of sad to see this dude being passionate about something that in the long run was a pointless blip.

@sleepywolf: pointless? i don’t think so. maybe we don’t use vhs or beta mix anymore, but if we hadn’t had them at all, how would we have gotten to where we are now? every step is important for progress!

@bimodal: it’s called betamax you dork! but yeah that’s a fair point.

Jesse rolled his eyes at his phone, but he smiled despite himself. Sleepywolf’s persistently sunny disposition should have been annoying, but his earnestness kept it charming. Whenever Jesse’s graphs weren’t cooperating, or when the magnitude of book sorting became too much, he could always count on Sleepywolf to make him smile.

He wondered if Sleepywolf felt the same way about him, but quickly pushed that thought from his mind. They were just internet friends. It was no big deal.

Jesse clicked over to Sleepywolf’s timeline to see if he’d retweeted any new rec lists. The latest tweet was a photo, which surprised him. He had never seen an original photo shared on Sleepywolf’s profile before.

He clicked on it to enlarge. It was a beach setting, with two seagull silhouettes posed in front of a setting sun. The tips of their beaks touched, as though they were kissing. The lighting wasn’t the best, and the focus was slightly off, but the vibrant shades of the sun reflecting off the water made for a beautiful shot. The tweet consisted of one tag, #SecondAct, along with a string of heart, kissy face, and diamond ring emojis.

Jesse giggled at the emojis. Sleepywolf must not be local to any beaches in real life. Seagulls were anything but romantic. Jesse himself had lost more than a few peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to those rats with wings on his childhood beach excursions.

Before he could click back to his direct messages, something in the photo caught his eye. Jesse frowned, then enlarged the photo again and zoomed in. A blue and white striped lighthouse peeked out from the right corner. And curving up from the base was an ugly gray bridge.

The same bridge that Jesse drove across each time he made a trip to the mainland.

Startled, he checked Sleepywolf’s profile again. As always, his location was listed only as the voidwith a rainbow flag on either end. Not helpful in the least.

Jesse pulled his lower lip between his teeth as he flipped back to the photo once more. Did this mean Sleepywolf lived nearby? Or had he merely been passing through? Maybe he’d found the photo stashed away in his album from a time long passed. Or maybe he hadn’t taken the photo himself at all.

@bimodal: nice pic!

@sleepywolf: thanks :)

@bimodal: did you take it yourself? it’s really cool.

@sleepywolf: i did! i love the beach. especially now that it’s not tourist season. i go on beach walks all the time.

@bimodal: walks on the beach?? it’s still freezing out!

@sleepywolf: i don’t mind the chill, as long as i get to enjoy the solitude along with it. peace and quiet is the best.

@bimodal: well, I agree with you there, just let me have my peace and quiet someplace warm.

@sleepywolf: you can warm up after;)

Jesse’s cheeks heated up as he read the last message. He was never quite sure if he was being flirted with or not, especially over chat. That was part of the reason why he didn’t do dating apps. It was too stressful to figure out people’s intentions when he couldn’t read their body language. He preferred to meet people the old-fashioned way, in person.