The Golden Telescope

13 - WATERFRONT CONVO

PORTLAND, OREGON – PRESENT DAY

Jack looked behind him to watch as the MAX started moving again, headed toward its next stop. Glancing across the tracks, he noticed several people were sitting on trashy-looking sleeping bags spread out on the ground, here and there, under the overpass. It smelled like garbage and urine, which made his stomach churn. Seeing homeless people on the streets downtown always made him feel uncomfortable but grateful that he at least had a roof over his head. He tried to put them out of his mind as he turned instead to the right and started walking toward Skidmore Fountain, where he could sit and wait for his friend to arrive.

Only one other train came and went before he saw Bart's familiar face poking out from between train doors and peering in his direction. He stepped off the platform and bounded toward Jack, ever-present earbuds swinging and bobbing lazily from both sides of his head as he moved.

"Have you been here long?" he asked, coming to a stop in front of the brick wall where Jack was sitting.

"Naw, maybe five minutes. You're good," Jack said, standing.

The two of them instinctively heading toward the river "So, what's all this weird bad news? Bart asked, glancing at Jack as they walked.

"Dude, "Jack started, shaking his head, "you are seriously not—-and I mean not—-going to believe this," he said, coming to a stop.

"Lemme have it, man. Did they already take you to see a doc, or what?" Bart pressed the pedestrian crossing button impatiently, multiple times, in an attempt to coerce the red light into changing faster.

"Was it a seizure?" Bart prompted. The light turned green, and they sprinted across the street. An audible beep, beep, beep counted down the number of seconds they had to reach the other side.

Heading toward the concrete steps in front of the water park, Jack finally looked at Bart and motioned for him to sit down. Bart obliged, perching himself on the top step.

"I can't even believe I'm going to say these words to you, Bart. This is so freaking ridiculous!" Jack closed his eyes and shook his head back and forth in exasperation.

"What?" Bart asked, his tone slightly strained. Jack opened his eyes and looked at his friend, whose eyes were wide with worry. "You're not...dying...or something, are you?"

As Jack paused to consider his words, the solemn look on Bart's face changed from mild curiosity to one of desperation and fear. He opened his mouth. "Oh, Jack. No!"

"No, no!" Jack interrupted, seeing the panic brewing on his friend's face. "No. I'm not dying. Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, dude." He turned his head to the left, gazing past the grass and trees, to look at all the other people milling about. "But I almost think that would be better than what I'm dealing with here."

"Come on, man, you're freaking me out." Bart had a new, less concerned but curious expression on his face as he sat forward, staring at Jack in anticipation.

"Well, there's no other way to get this out than just to say it...brace yourself because you are going to bust a gut over this one." Jack grimaced, already anticipating the effect of the words about to come out of his mouth. "Ugh... ok, so my uncle said that—-" He rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in the air in a frustrated sort of way, "That I'm not having seizures..."

"Well, that's a good thing, right?" Bart interjected, his posture visibly relaxing at the news.

"Oh, wait. Just you wait, Bart—that's not the whole story." Jack looked down at his feet. "Yeah, it's a good thing that I'm not having seizures...though, no, they did not take me to the doctor today."