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1st Stanza Audio UN:Marsh
[The voice you hear is a teenage girl, and she sounds a little disgusted. Whether or not this post was an accident is up for debate. But she'll respond either way.]
What the fuck kind of place is this? I thought the adults were supposed to care. Sure doesn't look like it.
I need a cigarette.
What the fuck kind of place is this? I thought the adults were supposed to care. Sure doesn't look like it.
I need a cigarette.
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Two thousand... [ Please don't freak out, please don't freak out, please don't freak out... ] ...eighteen. For me.
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[She can't believe she just said it, but she also can't believe they've lost their twenty-eight year window, her and Stan.]
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You know what, though, whether or not he knows what she's talking about, what matters is: ]
Hey. Don't worry, you didn't lose any years. It's 2018 for me, and 1985 for you, and this place kinda... exists outside of that, you know?
You're not gonna go home and find yourself in the future.
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[Yes, they told her this before but her brain isn't exactly firing correctly at the moment.]
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[ The truth is, the only reason he really believes the party line-- that those who end up going back home don't lose any time-- is because he kind of has to, by necessity. It's about the only thing keeping him from falling into some kind of helpless, hopeless pit of despair over being separated from his kid. She isn't even moving out age, yet! At least the portal could have let him experience his empty nest training wheels first, before forcibly separating him from his daughter through time and space!
...
But generational contemporary or not, Bev's still a kid, so he's not going to dump that on her. Instead: ]
You meet enough people who've been here longer, and they'll tell you about their own experiences, or their friends', of going back home and coming back here. No time lost.
Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith and trust others, especially when something is completely out of your hands.
[ Otherwise, you're just screaming at a void, making no difference anyway. ]
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Okay. But that sucks, Jeff.
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Tell me about it. If there was a way to confirm all that for sure? I'd be the first to tell you. Because I totally want it confirmed for myself, too!
[ Which is to say: HE'S GOT NOTHING TO GAIN BY BULLSHITTING YOU ON THIS. ]
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How do you just deal with not knowing?
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It's not easy, but... having friends, people you can trust? You can make your own family here. It helps.
[ Doesn't get rid of the fear or uncertainty, exactly, but it makes it hurt less. ]
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[Grace spits it like it's a dirty word, because to her it is. She doesn't want another family. Families were never good in Derry. She just wants her friends.]
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I don't mean like... a mom and dad, that kind of family. The family you choose is what you want to make it.
That's the nice thing about second chances. You've got some control to fix the things that weren't so good the first time around.
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[But he was definitely giving her something to think about here. A lot honestly, and she wasn't sure if she wanted it or not.]
Did you do that when you got here?
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[ Jeff's own family was-- is-- pretty amazing, and he's lucky for it, he knows. But he's met so many who weren't so lucky. Friends of his, students... Athena, with her astonishingly awful parents.
It always breaks his heart a little to hear about families that barely qualify as family. Makes him want to call his own parents more often just to say thanks for always being so supportive in his every endeavor.
And talking to Bev makes him miss Mel all the more. She's close to this girl's age, probably just a couple years older, by the sound of it...
He pauses, before admitting: ] My kid doesn't owe me anything just because I'm her dad. When you're a parent, family is something you have to put work into, not just something you have.
[ But anyway, MEL IS A SORE SUBJECT SINCE SHE'S NOT HERE, so he's moving on: ]
But yeah. That's what I did when I got here. I was lucky not to be the only person from my world, so... [ He smiles, sounding more content now. ] We've made a little family for ourselves.
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My friend Stan is here, [She admits at last.] He's staying with someone named Strand, I guess. [And Bev is wondering if he's done that whole found family thing that Jeff was talking about.]
How old's your daughter?
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[ A FRIEND. EVEN IF RICHARD REFUSES TO ADMIT IT!! ]
It really is a lifesaver, having those friends from home.
[ Jeff hesitates, just briefly, before answering: ]
She's fifteen. Melody, that's her name. Mel.
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[She doesn't know. Stan says he's weird.]
'M sorry.
[She didn't mean to bring up something bad.]
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[ Jeff is such an optimist, it's gross. ]
Hey, it's okay. She's just... not here. If she was, you two would probably get along. [ Because Mel's sharp and sarcastic, sure, but she's also brave and outgoing and has Jeff's FRUSTRATING KINDNESS. ]
I feel like that's one of those things parents say about their kids to anyone, no matter how well their kid would actually get along with someone... But in this case I mean it! She's just realized the 80s were a thing, so she keeps being like 'Dad, have you heard of the Meat Puppets?' 'Dad, did you ever listen to Echo and the Bunnymen?'
...
That's a tangent, I'm sorry.
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It's so weird that I'm older than you but your daughter is my age. And now the 80s are cool. They're not cool back home.
[Bev pretty much hates them.]
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I don't remember them being that cool, either. I mean, there were some cool things, but god, we had a lot of bad shit, too. But enough time passes, and everyone starts to forget all of that. They just like the music, movies, and clothes.
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[Big hair isn't among any of Bev's sins, thank goodness.]
What's popular for music?