Page 9 of It's Me They Follow
“Noticings. What did YOU notice?” The Good Doctor asked the group.
“I noticed Rose has a dimple,” said the six-foot-six stoned kid. “She reminds me of the Statue of Liberty.” He blushed.
“Very interesting noticing. Have you ever noticed that about her before?”
“No.”
“And Rose?”
“I noticed his... He’s a gentle gian—”
“I noticed I could feel my heartbeat through my shirt,” Ray broke in.
“Exactly, because touch isn’t always about the stimulation of the receptors IN your skin. Sometimes touch is about the ability to let someone feel you from the inside out.”
For an instant, The Shopkeeper felt high, like the sensation she had when she’d first learned to read and realizedshe could do it by herself. Her world felt larger, her territory increased.
“In another minute, I’m gonna invite you to hold your hands up like so.” The Good Doctor held her hands up in front of her chest like she was surrendering. “You’re going to hold them as close to your partner as possible.” She motioned for The Shopkeeper to stand up and demonstrate. She joined The Good Doctor, even though she didn’t want to. “This activity is about CLOSENESS. Choose who is going to lead. In our demonstration, The Shopkeeper will lead, and I will follow.
“The leaders will slowly begin a gesture and gently start to move around the space; the followers simply mirror the leaders’ actions, keeping their hands as close as possible to one another without touching. Think about little, tiny changes that take focus to notice. Remember, you are working together, and it is NOT about tricking your partner into missing a movement. It is about connecting so you start to MOVE AS ONE because you feel internally what each other will do next. If you do this right, you two will become in sync, and eventually we won’t know who is leading and who is following.”
The writers’ group thought The Shopkeeper would say no to this activity; she’d danced like a broken ballerina since she’d learned to walk, and the slightest misstep would mean night night. This was not her style. But thegroup was wrong; she was growing. She started the exercise off with small gestures, waves, winks. The Good Doctor did the same, but then The Shopkeeper escalated to slow, continuous double arm circles, and soon they were like synchronized swimmers. Her hand went forward; The Good Doctor’s went back. Their elbows swayed from side to side, then their knees bent to the ground at the same time, their eyes locked. They sat cross-legged the same way, and neither missed a step. They let their bodies trust, and they swayed together on the ground, in sync and just a short distance apart. The Shopkeeper liked it. It was like she could see inside The Good Doctor, which meant The Good Doctor could see inside her, and even though she didn’t like her very much, somehow, as different as they were, they were also the exact same, and she loved her. Then they just rested there on the floor for an interminable amount of time, hands a quarter inch apart until the class started clapping in awe. They thanked each other with their eyes, but their relationship would never be the same.
“Your turn,” The Good Doctor said, turning to the class and pointing her stick at them. They were both blushing.
As the class ended, The Shopkeeper gave a copy ofConversations with Harriettto Rose and motioned to the stoned kid who wrote haikus. “You two should read this together. That might be fun.”
They took turns flipping through the copy with delight.
“Okay,” they agreed.
The homework assignment was to write a letter about their experience in class.That will be easy, The Shopkeeper thought. She wrote letters to her sister every day, a game they started in grade school so they could share secrets. Even though they lived in the same city, they barely saw each other, but still they kept writing. Their letters kept them close. Luckily for The Shopkeeper, no matter when she sent her sister, Elle, an email, day or night, Elle always wrote back.
Chapter 4
JANUARY 3, 2020
5:33 A.M.
Dear Elle,
A sweet-smelling bearded guy came into the bookshop the other day. Turns out his name is ME.
I know last I wrote, I was “dating” youknowwho again, who we both agreed I need not date, and youknowwhy.
I finally did block youknowwho. I am twenty-one days clean of him, so I am pretty sure he’s out of my system. But it wouldn’t be the first time I went back after twenty-one days, so pray for me. Pain can be an addiction, like tattoos.
Whenever I want to call youknowwho, I listen to tarot readings on YouTube, and the readings are so good because you can make them mean whatever you want, and I make them mean that I passed that youknowwho test with flying colors.
Let’s play a game. Choose your favorite reason why I blocked youknowwho this time from the multiple-choice options below.
Option A
YOUKNOWWHO:I can’t be sitting in no library with you. I gotta get to some paper.
GEE:But why not just tell me? I was walking around looking for you.
YOUKNOWWHO:You looked so happy.
