Page 19 of The Otherworld

“I don’t care. Anything. Just keep talking. What’s your favorite color?”

“Um… indigo.”

A sad laugh tumbles out of me. “Indigo.”

“The color at the very edge of the sea when the sunset has faded. Did you ever notice it’s not really blue? It’s indigo.”

I’ve never noticed.

“What’s your favorite color?”

“I don’t know. Red, I guess.”

“What kind of red?”

I look down at my busted hand wrapped in the towel, a circle of blood seeping through the fabric.

“You know, actually, I think I like indigo better.” I realize that I’m going to have to ask her some better questions. “What’s your favorite movie?”

“Movie?”

“Yeah. Or do you not have those on Recluse Island.”

Orca giggles. “No, we don’t.”

“You’re kidding. TV?”

“What?”

“Do you have a television?”

“Papa has a telescope.”

“No, no, not a telescope. TV is like… it’s on a screen. And you can watch shows and movies and play video games.”

“What is a video game?”

Okay, now I really feel like I’m talking to an alien.

“I don’t even know how to describe them to someone who doesn’t know. Have you seriously never seen a movie?”

“No. What is it like?”

I shrug. “It’s like… moving pictures. Like you’re watching a story in the format of scenes captured and playing inside the screen. It’s so hard to put into words ’cause you have to see it.”

“I guess so.”

“Do you even have electricity?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Don’t say it like, ‘oh my god, that’s so obvious, Jack, you dummy.’ So far, you sound like you’re on a different planet.”

Orca grunts. “I could say the same of you, boy.”

“Boy? When did I become ‘boy’?”

She laughs. “To me, a boy is as strange as movies or video games. I’ve never seen one before.”

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