#17 Skye
When Skye was in middle school, her best friends showed up at her home one night and wrote “f*ck you” on her garage door. After that, they never spoke again. Now Skye has a son entering middle school, and he can’t believe his mom never asked her friends why they did it. So, thirty years later, Skye and her son set off to find out.
Credits
Heavyweight is hosted and produced by Jonathan Goldstein.
This episode was also produced by Kalila Holt, Peter Bresnan, and Stevie Lane.
Editing by Jorge Just, with additional editing by Alex Blumberg.
Special thanks to Emily Condon, Devon Taylor, Annika Pillsbury and Jackie Cohen.
The show was mixed by Bobby Lord.
Music by Christine Fellows, John K Samson, Bobby Lord, and Edwin, with additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, Michael Hearst, and Hew Time. Our theme song is by The Weakerthans courtesy of Epitaph Records, and our ad music is by Haley Shaw.
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Transcript
High podcast friends. As regular listeners know, I try to 0:00:03.720 --> 0:00:07.440 run a family friendlish podcast, but because it's integral to 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:10.480 the plot. In this episode of Heavyweight, we dropped the 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:14.600 F bomb and unprecedented nine times. If they were giving 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:19.160 out peabodies for swearing, maybe i'd get one. Also, as 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.279 long as I'm giving advisories, I also pronounced the word 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:30.680 garage as garage. I encourage you to listen anyway. Hello, 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:33.760 did you get a message from me a couple months ago? 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:38.680 A phone message was on your birthday. I was wishing 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:43.920 you a happy birthday. It's possible I didn't hear anything back, 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:47.960 so I was concerned. Yes, when someone leaves your message 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:50.919 on your birthday, you have no obligation to return that message. 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:54.200 But that's it. Oh my gosh, it would have been 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:56.800 nice to get. I'm not saying a thank you card. 0:00:56.960 --> 0:00:57.880 But you know, if I. 0:00:57.800 --> 0:00:59.720 Was under no obligation, why are you now giving me 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:01.600 rushes as to how I should have responded. 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:04.839 Some things in life aren't obligatory, but we just do them, 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:05.479 you know what I mean? 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:08.039 Absolutely, like picking up the phone when I just saw that. 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:18.720 You called me exactly like, hey, wait a minute. From 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:24.560 Gimblet Media I'm Jonathan Goldstein, and this is Heavyweight. Today's 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:40.440 episode Sky Sky and her son Clark ever ritual, Well, 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:43.000 I don't know about you. Every night, after his teeth 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:45.880 are brushed and he's all tucked in, right before Clark 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:48.640 goes to sleep, Sky sits down on the edge of 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:50.320 his bed and they talk. 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:55.080 What was your favorite part of that movie? Probably like 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:58.240 the end was a good end. The helicopter scene was good. 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:02.639 Clark's eleven. Naturally, there's a lot of discussion about comic 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:03.720 books and movies. 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:06.440 I don't think it was a movie. You know, the 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:08.799 original Jumanji was not funny. 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:11.919 But there's something about the stillness of nighttime that also 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:14.120 frees Clark up to speak in a way that he 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:17.800 doesn't normally. Not only does he tell Sky about what 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:20.760 he's watching and reading, he tells her about his feelings. 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:25.840 He shares stories about what's going on at school, and 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:30.520 Sky shares stories too, stories from her childhood. Some stories 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:34.120 she tells just to entertain Clark, but other stories she 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:41.040 tells to impart a lesson. There's one story in particular 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:44.040 she's told Clark over and over again throughout the years, 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:48.840 and lately it's been coming up a lot recently. Sky 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:49.840 told me the story. 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:54.160 So the story, in a way, the story starts when 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:55.240 I moved. 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:58.240 When she was eleven years old, Sky was best friends 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:01.880 with a group of four girls. They wore a spree sweatshirts, 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:05.040 and watched love Boat on the weekends. They were the 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:06.000 popular girls. 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:09.320 That was sort of the vibe of that group was like, 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:12.920 we're exclusive and we're kind of the shit. Yeah, you 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:14.600 know how like in high school they have you know, 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:18.120 most beautiful and most popular, and all of those. We 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:22.000 decided to make our own book of you know, awarding 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:29.240 people various prizes. We gave me best Eyes, and I 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:32.480 remember sort of having this pride in that. 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:37.200 They spent all the fifth grade together. Then summer came 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:40.640 and with it long days filled with lazy bike rides 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:44.360 and trips to the candy shop. But early one summer morning, 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.280 Sky woke up to find her yard had been teepeed 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:50.560 covered in toilet paper and there was more. 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:56.000 Someone had written fuck you on our garage door. And 0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:59.600 we had a double garage, and so fuck was on 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:01.800 one you was on the other, and they were written 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:08.560 in large white letters on our brown garage. 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:12.000 Sky's mom had seen the vandals make their getaway. The 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:15.680 words fuck you had been written by none other than 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:17.640 Sky's for best friends. 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:20.240 And they had been written in paint. 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:23.200 I wish they had done it was something that had 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:26.280 come off, because I do remember this feeling of like 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:30.640 being driven home day after day and seeing those words 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:35.560 on the garage door. Teeping someone's house is one thing, 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:38.839 it's sort of a common prank, but the fact that 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:41.440 they wrote fuck you, that felt to me like it 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:45.279 really came from anger. And they had to have brought 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:46.920 the paint, you know. There had to have been some 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:48.680 thought put into this. 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:53.520 Why had they done it? What were they angry about? 0:04:54.560 --> 0:05:03.119 Sky had no idea. Did you ever see those girls again? 0:05:03.720 --> 0:05:03.920 Well? 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:05.480 I saw them again, for sure. 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:09.280 We all funneled into this junior high school that fall, 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:13.000 and I think that I just avoided them. I never 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:19.120 ever said a word to any of the four girls ever. Again, 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:22.880 I pretended it never happened. 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:27.000 And when Sky tells Clark this story, here's where she 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:31.320 delivers the moral. Awful things do happen, but in the 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:36.120 end everything turns out fine. Sky grew up, got married, 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:38.880 has a job she likes, and a family she loves. 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:43.640 Her story, she tells him, has a happy ending in 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.520 the past. When he's heard this story, Clark's taken his 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:49.840 mom's lesson at face value. But Clark is now the 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:52.360 same age Sky was when her friends turned on her. 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:55.440 He's starting to see his own classmates leave old friends 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:59.000 behind for the more popular crowd. For the first time, 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:01.400 He's able to image what it would be like if 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:04.240 his own small group of friends suddenly cast him out, 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:07.279 stopped coming over to his house to play video games, 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:12.080 stop speaking to them altogether. So Sky's moral that everyone 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:16.760 lives happily ever after is starting to feel untrue, and 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:20.559 so Clark has a question for his mother, why didn't 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.920 she ever confront her friends about what they did? Why 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:29.520 not then? But also he asks Sky, why not now? 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.599 Like did they do it for themselves or because of you? 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:41.080 Or was it because of something you did or something? 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:45.040 Clark brings up Sky's story during their bedtime ritual, asking 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:49.840 for details, weighing the injustice, fantasizing about Sky looking up 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:53.360 her old friends and confronting them with some questions. 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:56.960 I think you can't be like the person that you 0:06:57.080 --> 0:06:59.680 normally are, where you're like tim and little. 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:02.680 Mommy funny that you think of me as timid Mommy, 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:03.839 that's very interesting. 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:07.039 Yeah, well, I have like a lot of occasions to 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:13.200 prove that your New Year's resolution was to say no 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:17.320 more often. That was your resolution because you were too 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:19.200 timid to say no. 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:20.360 To people before that. 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:23.320 Well, I like to think that it's less about me 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:26.160 being timid and more about me being a can do 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:27.320 kind of person. 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:35.679 There it is right there. At school functions, Clark watches 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:38.640 his mom try to accommodate the other parents and get 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:42.520 steamrolled in the process. In restaurants, he sees his mom 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:45.400 settled for the wrong meal rather than bother the waiter. 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:49.480 For once, he wants Guy to stop worrying about everyone 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.520 else's feelings. He wants her to focus on herself. 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:57.200 I would really love to know, like why it's important 0:07:57.200 --> 0:07:57.400 to you. 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:02.480 It's basically for me, are like my mom avenging. Those 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:07.400 people just wanted you to kind of like get your avenge, 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:13.200 my revenge, avenge yourself. Sorry I'm using the wrong word. 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:16.240 You gotta be like you did this and do you 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:24.240 remember why it happened, and say sorry to me, he said. 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.320 At the end, Mom, You've got to figure this out. 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:30.600 You've got to go for it. You have to have 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:34.240 a chance to find out why this happened. 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:41.880 It's not just Clark who feels this way. There's someone 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:44.800 else who also wonders why this happened and has always 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:55.040 wished Sky had had the chance to ask. Is this Rachel? 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:59.560 This is Skuy's mom, Rachel, the only eyewitnessed what happened 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:02.720 that night, and the person talking to her while chewing 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:05.480 a hunk of munster cheese and hollow bread because his 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:08.360 boss Alex thinks taking lunch breaks is more of a 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:10.560 BizOps thing, is me? 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:15.160 I got out of my chair and I stood at 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:21.400 the window and pulled back the drape, and I see 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.440 their bikes sort of going off into the night. 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:29.640 The night the girl showed up around two or three 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.480 in the morning, Rachel was reading in an armchair by 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:35.280 the window. She's always up in the middle of the night. 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:38.720 It's a habit that began in childhood. She tells me 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:43.320 that her own mom, Sky's grandmother suffered from schizophrenia. She 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:45.960 was unpredictable, and the middle of the night was the 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:48.840 only time the house was ever quiet and safe. Who 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:52.760 was during those calm nights alone that Rachel began writing poetry? 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:57.440 And here I am all these years later, and I'm 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:03.280 still doing it. There's something holy about the middle of 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:09.720 the night. Nobody's hassling you, and you can really hear 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:10.600 yourself somehow. 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:15.000 But on the night the vandals struck, she could also 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:19.360 hear four eleven year old girls making their getaway. When 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:21.880 the sun came up, Rachel saw the fuck you on 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.640 the garage and immediately she phoned up one of the 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:28.040 girls and spoke with both her and her mom. Well 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:31.600 neither denied what had happened. Nothing much came of the conversation, 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:35.680 and after that Sky begged Rachel not to make any 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:39.760 more phone calls. The idea of confronting anyone just upset 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:43.840 Sky Moore, so Rachel stopped calling, and after a few 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:46.360 days things seemed to go back to normal. 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:55.280 We felt it was over, and for her it really wasn't. 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:00.400 It really took her, being I think, grown up, for 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:03.480 her to start saying to me, I think about this 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:08.920 all the time, and it was shocking to me. I 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:13.200 had not understood that, and I felt dopey that I 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:19.320 hadn't understood that, because I thought I was pretty well 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:25.319 attuned to her and her feelings. It broke my heart. 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:36.239 She always understood how to sit in with people, completely 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:39.719 unlike her parents. My husband, you know, was born in 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:43.319 Finland and was a mathematician and had his PhD when 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:46.520 he was nineteen. And I was this strange, you know, 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:50.400 high school dropout poet. I mean, we were really odd 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:52.880 and eccentric birds, and here was this kid who was 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:57.679 just exquisitely normal. And to us, she's always been a wonder, 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:02.120 you know, like, who is this very social being? This 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:06.600 is a kid who whose first word was high and 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:10.360 who when she was small literally sat on the front 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:14.920 step all day and said hi to every person who 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:21.120 passed on the sidewalk, and we loved her for that. 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:27.520 And what happened with the girls, This had the effect 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:33.280 of making her more you know, pulling in her wings. 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:36.600 And this is the person Clark sees today, someone who 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.240 keeps her wings tucked in so tight for fear of 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:42.080 them getting in anyone's way, that she's forgotten how to 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:46.240 open them. Rachel knows that Clark has recently begun urging 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:49.679 his mom to be less timid, and she approves. 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:55.720 There's something authoritative about a child they haven't had. They're 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:58.600 not all hammered by doubts and worries about what they're 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:01.280 saying they're like, well, why didn't you do this? 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:06.839 You know, Rachel had asked me to call at the 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:10.360 end of her work night. It's now seven thirty AM, 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.960 close to her bedtime, so we say our goodbyes, but 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:17.640 just before putting down the phone, she offers a final benediction, 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:19.960 as I was so beautiful. 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:23.160 The way he wanted her to figure this out. Because 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:27.480 she'll hear that from him in a way that she 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:32.520 probably could never hear that from me, it has more 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:33.840 of a chance to wake her up. 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:39.720 And with that, Rachel heads off to bed, and I 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:43.440 turned back to Sky, who, with a little help from Clark, 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:45.400 is still trying to wake up. 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:50.040 He does have this sense of but that's an unfinished thing. 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:54.560 Yeah, like the good that this good ending hasn't fully 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:55.840 happened yet. 0:13:55.920 --> 0:14:00.400 Yeah, yeah, the good ending hasn't happened. So it's sort 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.440 of turning into a different story, which is that it's 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:09.440 kind of never too late to summon courage and do something. 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:12.160 That scares you. 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:19.920 I guess in a way, I want to live up 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:23.600 to his to who I think he'd like me to be. 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:28.960 You know, I think like I need to show him 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:32.280 that I can stand up for myself. 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:44.080 Thirty five years later, and Sky's finally decided she's ready. 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.840 She just needs help reaching the girls and not backing 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:51.960 down when she does. So you want to do this? 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:56.160 I think that I want to do this. Yes, I 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:58.920 want to do this. You know now I'll be able 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:01.560 to say I did what I could. 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:05.920 And if you want to be able to say you 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:09.200 did what you could to save scads of cash with 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:13.400 some truly great deals, here's the chance you've been dreaming 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:25.440 of your entire life. Sky and I get to work 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:30.040 reaching out to the four girls, Sam, Nicky, Randy, and Tessa. 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:35.040 We begin with Sam because Sky already has their contact info. 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:37.080 They'd run into each other at their ten year high 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:42.840 school reunion. Sky Sam had said, it's me. It would 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.520 have been the perfect opportunity to ask about the fuck 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:48.480 you on the garage door, but Sky just couldn't bring 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:52.960 herself to mention it, so instead they made awkward small talk. 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:58.120 And then she fronted me on Facebook, which practically made 0:15:58.160 --> 0:15:58.680 me laugh. 0:15:58.880 --> 0:15:59.760 But I. 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:04.080 This sounds ridiculous, but I didn't want to be rude, 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:06.640 and so I accepted her friendship. 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:11.640 I helped Sky write a Facebook message to Sam saying 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:14.240 she has some questions about the end of their friendship, 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:20.720 but with no response, Sky follows up again and again. Eventually, 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:24.760 Sam writes back, we just naturally grew apart as life 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:29.320 events progressed, she says. She concludes by saying that Sky's 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:33.480 attempts to contact her are making her feel quote overwhelmed 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:44.520 and stressed, and that makes Sky feel bad. Second is Nicky, 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:48.280 who says that even though Skuy's mom clearly remembers her 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:52.560 being there that day, she absolutely wasn't. In fact, she says, 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:57.520 she and Sky weren't even that close. Third comes Randy. 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:00.320 Randy's hard to get a hold of so when we 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:02.680 get no answer on her house phone, we try all 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:06.000 the numbers we can find. We leave her repeated messages, 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:09.320 but it seems like she's not even getting them. But 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:12.760 as it turns out, she's gotten all of them, because 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:15.199 she sends Sky an email to say that she's not 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:20.200 happy about it. In fact, she's creeped out. Sky was 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:22.520 at the grocery store when she received the email. 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:29.280 I was in line and I completely was out of 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:32.000 my body as I was reading it. I so forgot 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.320 where I was that someone had to say, are you 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:34.879 in line? 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:37.960 And I was like Uh, no, I'm not, and I. 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:42.280 Had to push my cart away from the checkout stand 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:45.600 because I could not focus. 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:49.479 Sky went into damage control mode, writing back to Randy 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:52.919 to say how deeply sorry she was. I asked her 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:54.119 to read me what she'd send. 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:58.119 Randy, I'm so grateful that you wrote me back. It 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:00.720 makes me cringe to think about how so my creepy 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:03.280 and weird it must have seemed to get those messages. 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:07.520 I'm kicking myself for letting that happen. I'm still hoping 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:09.960 to talk to you privately and just explain myself. 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:11.320 Would that be okay? 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:17.879 Like, you know, is there a kind of like do 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:21.240 you feel like your default is to sort of apologize 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:23.560 for having reached out? 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:27.679 Yeah? 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:28.960 I do. 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:31.240 That has occurred to me. 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:36.679 Later, Sky shares the email with Clark, and it seems 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:38.280 like it's occurred to him as well. 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:43.320 I think you were over apologetic if you say yourself 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:46.480 as the kind of character was like, oh sorry, sorry, sorry, 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:51.159 I shouldn't have done that. That automatically makes her basically. 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:53.400 Like gives her power. Yeah, puts her in. 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:56.560 A better spot than you're in, and that's bad. 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:01.800 At Sky's insistence, Randy finally agrees to a phone call, 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:05.119 but in the end, all she tells Sky is that 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:08.639 she doesn't remember that night, doesn't remember any toilet paper 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:18.320 or grasdoor, She doesn't remember anything at all. Of the 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:23.040 four friends, only one remains, Tessa, the girl Sky's mom 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:27.400 phoned directly after the incident. Over the next couple weeks, 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:30.840 I speak with Tessa several times. She can't decide if 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:33.760 she wants to talk with Sky. For one thing, she 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:36.920 says it was so long ago that she doesn't remember much, 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:41.280 to which I rejoin that she's all we've got. For another, 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:44.560 she adds getting contacted like this through a third party 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:49.520 interlocutionary international podcasting host is pretty weird, to which I 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:54.639 admit that it is slightly unconventional. Finally, Tessa says she 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:57.720 doesn't want to inadvertently drag the other girl's names through 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:00.840 the dirt for something they did as kids, to which 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:04.359 I say, well, let's change those names and draw some 0:20:04.440 --> 0:20:07.640 pseudonyms through the dirt. And once I agree to change 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:11.120 the names of the four girls, Tessa, not her real name, 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:14.800 agrees to sit down with Sky, still her real name, 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:18.360 so she can finally have a conversation about the night 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:23.840 in question. Both Sky and Tessa live in California, pretty 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:26.720 close to where they grew up. I figure my presence 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:31.080 at their meeting could be calming, helpful even All Sky 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:33.680 has to do is invite me out there to join her. 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:40.320 I like California, and no I love it. But because 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:43.520 of her cursed timidity, Sky just doesn't have the lima 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:47.840 beans to ask. So I continue to offer her prompt. 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:49.920 I haven't been there in some time. 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:53.480 Well, it's a lovely state. 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:57.760 After several minutes of this elaborate dance, I get to 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:02.040 the point, for both our sake, So does you do 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:02.560 you think that? 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:03.080 Uh? 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:05.600 You think I should come? 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:07.760 That would be amazing. 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:14.160 And so it's off to California A for some long 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:18.520 overdue Q and A. 0:21:18.640 --> 0:21:18.840 Hi. 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:23.760 Good how about you guys? Hi Clark, nice to meet you. 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:27.760 Sky picks me up at the hotel. Clark's along too, 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:29.919 to make sure his mom doesn't lose her. 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:32.439 Nerve Clark, you can continue to navigate for me. 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:33.600 WI. 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:37.840 Clark sits in the passenger seat, leafing through a comic book. 0:21:37.960 --> 0:21:39.480 All right, let me I'm just going to throw this 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:43.160 in here if that's okay. Yeah, And then I tossed 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:46.399 my bag into the back of the hatchback and we 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:52.840 head off to meet Tessa. It felt great to be 0:21:52.880 --> 0:22:00.679 in San Francisco. It's just like the mom and the 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:04.640 Papa saying if one is going to San Francisco, one 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:08.360 should wear flowers in one's hair. As we speed down 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:12.680 the highway, I close my eyes, lean back, and would 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:16.040 that I had hair, enjoy the wind blowing through it. 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:20.760 Wait, is the trunk open? 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:24.440 Oh wow? It seems that in my excitement to hit 0:22:24.520 --> 0:22:28.159 the streets of San fran I'd left the hatchback door open, 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:31.520 which it turns out is the source of the San 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:36.320 Franciscan breeze. She whizz, I'm sorry about that. 0:22:36.760 --> 0:22:37.040 God. 0:22:38.359 --> 0:22:40.720 Sky finds a place on the shoulder of the highway 0:22:40.760 --> 0:22:45.240 to pull over, oh man, and shuts the trunk door 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:51.600 of that, and with that we were back on our way. 0:22:52.840 --> 0:22:58.240 That's why they call me mister excitement. Actually, no one 0:22:58.240 --> 0:23:10.720 calls me mister excitement. San Francisco is pretty. 0:23:12.160 --> 0:23:14.399 We're not in San Francisco, you know that, right? I mean? 0:23:23.840 --> 0:23:26.600 As we drive to meet Tessa, I ask Sky how 0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:27.160 she's doing. 0:23:28.560 --> 0:23:33.200 I feel nervous sighted, which is a word. 0:23:32.960 --> 0:23:36.680 That I am when when I you use the word 0:23:36.760 --> 0:23:38.720 nervous sided Clark. 0:23:40.240 --> 0:23:44.600 Like before, like baseball games and like stuff like that. 0:23:45.200 --> 0:23:47.040 I mean, I kind of feel nervous sighted. 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:48.760 Nervous. 0:23:48.800 --> 0:23:53.119 Sided is a portmanteau word, like the way say romance, 0:23:53.280 --> 0:23:57.720 a word denoting an incestuous relationship between brothers. Is or 0:23:58.119 --> 0:24:01.440 she lax the act of chilling out with a bar 0:24:01.600 --> 0:24:03.240 of family sized x lax. 0:24:04.800 --> 0:24:07.919 How do you feel about meeting do you want to 0:24:07.960 --> 0:24:11.199 meet her? I will resist temptations to punder over what 0:24:11.280 --> 0:24:11.640 she did. 0:24:13.320 --> 0:24:16.639 Clark is eleven years old. In the comic books he reads, 0:24:17.040 --> 0:24:21.040 that's how problems are solved with punches, kung fu chops. 0:24:21.680 --> 0:24:25.160 Writing the scales is a simpler business. It's one thing 0:24:25.200 --> 0:24:27.880 to hear stories about his mom being stepped on. It's 0:24:27.960 --> 0:24:30.080 another to be in the same room with one of 0:24:30.119 --> 0:24:33.359 the people who did the stepping. Sky tries to tamp 0:24:33.440 --> 0:24:34.840 down his need for revenge. 0:24:35.280 --> 0:24:40.680 Well, as we were talking about last night before you 0:24:40.760 --> 0:24:44.600 went to slay, you won't forgiveness. Giveness forgiveness. We need 0:24:44.640 --> 0:24:46.280 to find the forgiveness. 0:24:48.920 --> 0:24:51.440 I wanted a quiet place for Sky and tested to talk, 0:24:51.840 --> 0:24:54.200 and it turned out that on the weekends the local 0:24:54.280 --> 0:24:56.600 university had an unoccupied studio. 0:24:57.200 --> 0:24:58.720 I think we're basically here. 0:24:59.240 --> 0:25:01.480 We pull in the empty campus parking lot. 0:25:02.080 --> 0:25:03.680 Clark, you want to look and make sure I'm within 0:25:03.720 --> 0:25:05.600 the lines. There was a little lines. 0:25:05.880 --> 0:25:15.879 Okay, let's get set up. So this is where Clark 0:25:15.920 --> 0:25:18.160 and I, well, we'll sit. 0:25:19.000 --> 0:25:21.280 The studio is only big enough for Sky and Tessa, 0:25:21.760 --> 0:25:24.120 So Clark and I sit in the control booth where 0:25:24.160 --> 0:25:27.680 we'll be able to eavesdrop on the conversation. There's a mic, 0:25:27.960 --> 0:25:31.000 so should the need arise Clark and offer guidance that 0:25:31.080 --> 0:25:33.040 only Sky can hear through her headphones. 0:25:33.400 --> 0:25:35.080 I'm mom, Hi, Clark. 0:25:35.400 --> 0:25:36.520 Okay, so you turn it on. 0:25:36.680 --> 0:25:37.840 It's good to hear your voice. 0:25:38.280 --> 0:25:38.960 Can you hear me? 0:25:39.480 --> 0:25:39.760 Sky? 0:25:40.840 --> 0:25:44.080 Sandy the studio technician helps us get set up and 0:25:44.160 --> 0:25:47.399 takes a level on Sky's voice by asking her an easy, 0:25:47.480 --> 0:25:51.880 neutral question. Tell me, how's it right in today? 0:25:52.160 --> 0:25:53.239 How is the right end? 0:25:53.359 --> 0:25:54.560 You don't have to shout into it. 0:25:54.560 --> 0:25:57.200 It was easy, except for when we left the hatchback 0:25:57.240 --> 0:25:58.360 open on the freeway. 0:26:01.440 --> 0:26:05.000 Laugh it up, Sandy the studio technician, Laugh it up. 0:26:11.800 --> 0:26:15.040 Tessa's running late, so Sky sits waiting in the studio 0:26:15.160 --> 0:26:18.680 by herself. Finally, wait, she's here. 0:26:21.080 --> 0:26:43.960 Ah, okay, okay, Hey, I'm Jonathan, glad you made it 0:26:43.960 --> 0:26:45.040 a nice to meet you too. 0:26:45.720 --> 0:26:49.560 Tessa's stylish and like Sky, looks younger than her years, 0:26:50.280 --> 0:26:52.320 you could still see a trace of the popular girl. 0:26:53.280 --> 0:26:55.439 I show her into the studio where Sky's been waiting. 0:26:56.240 --> 0:26:58.360 The two haven't seen each other since they were children. 0:26:59.119 --> 0:27:01.600 Who do you do you keeping close touch with anywhere 0:27:01.640 --> 0:27:04.399 in high school? Anyone? 0:27:05.119 --> 0:27:08.080 As they settle in, the mood is formal, a little 0:27:08.080 --> 0:27:11.000 stilted since the room is only about the size of 0:27:11.000 --> 0:27:13.880 a small elevator. Their knees practically touch. 0:27:14.760 --> 0:27:17.840 You guys can start now, okay, thanks Clark. Clark says, 0:27:17.880 --> 0:27:23.919 we can start okay. So so I'm just gonna go 0:27:24.320 --> 0:27:29.480 backtrack a little bit. Yeah, so my memory is that 0:27:30.560 --> 0:27:32.679 we were all in sort of a tight knit group. 0:27:33.600 --> 0:27:35.760 You know, is it too early for me to ask 0:27:36.440 --> 0:27:37.280 this discussion? 0:27:37.440 --> 0:27:42.359 Why didn't you do it? 0:27:42.400 --> 0:27:43.200 For both of us? 0:27:45.320 --> 0:27:49.160 But then had also written fuck you on the garage door, 0:27:51.400 --> 0:27:55.480 and that then from from that point on, we never 0:27:56.280 --> 0:28:03.280 spoke again. And and it's something that has always stuck 0:28:03.320 --> 0:28:07.000 with me because I don't know why it happened. And 0:28:07.560 --> 0:28:11.440 so I guess I'd love to know what your memories are. 0:28:13.000 --> 0:28:15.959 Clark's got this look on his face. Love to know 0:28:16.000 --> 0:28:20.080 what your memories are. From his perspective, his mom's doing 0:28:20.119 --> 0:28:23.560 what she always does. That is exactly what he told 0:28:23.600 --> 0:28:27.480 her not to. She's being overly sensitive to Tessa's feelings. 0:28:28.280 --> 0:28:30.640 But even after thirty five years of waiting to ask 0:28:30.680 --> 0:28:35.680 the question, Sky just can't help being Sky. Tessa takes 0:28:35.680 --> 0:28:36.440 a sip of water. 0:28:37.760 --> 0:28:39.960 Sorry, I'm just my throat is dry. 0:28:40.200 --> 0:28:41.480 Yeah, no problem. 0:28:42.800 --> 0:28:46.320 Sky smiles warmly and gives Tessa a moment to collect herself. 0:28:47.040 --> 0:28:56.240 Take your time, so I have a vague recollection. 0:28:56.760 --> 0:29:03.080 It's really really vague. What I what really stands out 0:29:03.280 --> 0:29:07.160 is that we were just going teping, like we went 0:29:07.240 --> 0:29:10.800 teping a lot, you know, not just on that night, 0:29:11.640 --> 0:29:17.200 and we literally just stumbled upon your home. And that's 0:29:17.480 --> 0:29:18.480 why I remember. 0:29:18.560 --> 0:29:22.120 Clark furrows his brow. He wants his mother to push harder, 0:29:22.640 --> 0:29:24.040 be more aggressively. 0:29:24.240 --> 0:29:28.360 Mom, ask why you weren't invited to go toilet papering 0:29:28.400 --> 0:29:28.760 with them? 0:29:29.080 --> 0:29:32.760 That's a really good question. We watch a. Sky waits 0:29:32.800 --> 0:29:34.600 patiently for Testa to finish speaking. 0:29:35.200 --> 0:29:39.560 He wanted me to ask you why didn't come with 0:29:39.640 --> 0:29:41.400 you that night teeping? 0:29:41.760 --> 0:29:44.640 Why weren't you invited? Not why didn't that come why 0:29:44.680 --> 0:29:45.640 I wasn't invited. 0:29:48.280 --> 0:29:54.320 I I in my mind we had drifted apart by then. 0:29:55.880 --> 0:29:58.600 Inside the control room, Clark shakes his head. 0:29:59.240 --> 0:30:02.400 I think there's more the story, you do, Yeah. 0:30:02.480 --> 0:30:06.800 What makes you think that? He slumps back in his 0:30:06.880 --> 0:30:10.240 seat and crosses his arms. He seems frustrated. 0:30:13.120 --> 0:30:17.920 I remember your mom calling my mom, And for my 0:30:18.120 --> 0:30:20.480 mom it wasn't a big deal either. My mom, first 0:30:20.520 --> 0:30:22.920 of all, didn't even know what two being was. I 0:30:22.960 --> 0:30:24.200 had to explain it to her. 0:30:24.320 --> 0:30:24.960 Oh okay. 0:30:25.200 --> 0:30:30.960 I did not realize until maybe now that it was 0:30:32.400 --> 0:30:33.600 more of a big deal for you. 0:30:34.000 --> 0:30:34.480 Yeah. 0:30:35.240 --> 0:30:37.360 And I feel like you're being very, very honest, and 0:30:37.400 --> 0:30:39.479 I really really appreciate that. 0:30:40.800 --> 0:30:43.720 When Tessa and I last spoke, she mentioned how odd 0:30:43.760 --> 0:30:46.920 this whole undertaking seemed to her. A woman she hadn't 0:30:46.960 --> 0:30:49.800 heard from in thirty five years, wanted to talk to 0:30:49.840 --> 0:30:53.680 her about a random night from their childhood. Oh and 0:30:53.760 --> 0:30:55.880 she also wanted to bring along her eleven year old 0:30:55.920 --> 0:30:59.560 son and his forty eight year old sidekick, both of 0:30:59.560 --> 0:31:03.280 whom would be communicating with Sky through a secret microphone 0:31:04.480 --> 0:31:07.440 WA's way so she can talk about wait wait wait. 0:31:08.120 --> 0:31:11.240 Inside the control room, I watched Sky perform a delicate 0:31:11.280 --> 0:31:14.920 balancing act. She's aware that Clark is watching, so she's 0:31:14.960 --> 0:31:17.640 trying not to be too timid, but she also wants 0:31:17.640 --> 0:31:20.560 to set a good example for how to behave and 0:31:20.640 --> 0:31:23.880 through all that, she can't help seeing it from Tessa's perspective, 0:31:24.360 --> 0:31:27.960 how weird and uncomfortable this must be for her. Sky 0:31:28.040 --> 0:31:32.560 wants to help Tessa feel safe, and so she treads lightly. 0:31:33.760 --> 0:31:36.800 I mean, I think being the parent now of a child, 0:31:36.840 --> 0:31:42.400 I understand how quickly things can get confused. And it 0:31:42.440 --> 0:31:46.560 really was the words that that's what seemed to communicate 0:31:46.600 --> 0:31:52.200 to me, I've done something terrible, like I must have it. 0:31:52.280 --> 0:31:54.760 I must be responsible for this in some way, you know, 0:31:54.920 --> 0:31:57.400 And so I wondered, did I do something? 0:32:00.640 --> 0:32:03.920 You can see the TESSAs weighing her response. She doesn't 0:32:04.000 --> 0:32:06.560 quite know what to say, but with Sky being so 0:32:06.640 --> 0:32:09.360 gracious and open, it's like she feels the least she 0:32:09.400 --> 0:32:12.360 can do is try to meet her halfway, and so 0:32:12.480 --> 0:32:14.920 tentatively she offers a thought. 0:32:15.760 --> 0:32:30.160 Ah, maybe you were a little different than them in 0:32:30.160 --> 0:32:30.640 what way? 0:32:32.200 --> 0:32:35.760 Again? Tessa searches for the right words, all the while 0:32:36.120 --> 0:32:38.920 never seeing us or we, but always they. 0:32:42.160 --> 0:32:48.000 They were like they were a little mischievous. You know, 0:32:48.200 --> 0:32:56.600 they were a little rebellious and wanting to do something bad, 0:32:57.480 --> 0:33:02.400 and I was, and maybe you weren't. Maybe you didn't 0:33:02.800 --> 0:33:05.520 want to go along with what they were doing. 0:33:06.600 --> 0:33:10.640 Well, you know what's interesting about that is the whole 0:33:10.680 --> 0:33:11.320 tepeeing thing. 0:33:11.400 --> 0:33:15.720 I remember that being a sing but I remember I 0:33:15.840 --> 0:33:21.480 actually remember not wanting to do that. Would you say 0:33:22.360 --> 0:33:25.680 that that maybe I was more like a goodie two shoes. 0:33:26.840 --> 0:33:31.280 Type compared to them? Yeah, you know. 0:33:38.200 --> 0:33:41.320 According to Tessa, if Sky had stayed friends with those girls, 0:33:41.680 --> 0:33:44.360 it would have meant a summer of drinking alcohol and 0:33:44.440 --> 0:33:48.600 pulling off semi illegal pranks after dark, all things Sky 0:33:48.680 --> 0:33:52.280 wouldn't have wanted. Even back then, she didn't want to 0:33:52.320 --> 0:33:55.880 upset anyone. To her friends, that made her seem like 0:33:55.880 --> 0:33:58.760 a goody two shoes, And to a goody two shoes 0:33:58.800 --> 0:34:01.400 who thinks they're better than you, what could be more 0:34:01.440 --> 0:34:04.760 of a fuck you than a literal fuck you? The 0:34:04.800 --> 0:34:08.759 words large and clear emblazoned across her family's grage door. 0:34:10.040 --> 0:34:12.239 I turned to Clark to see what he makes of 0:34:12.280 --> 0:34:14.799 all this. Is there something that you feel like we're 0:34:14.880 --> 0:34:18.360 just kind of missing or we're not getting it? 0:34:19.560 --> 0:34:21.200 I remember really not wanting to be. 0:34:21.440 --> 0:34:24.960 Clark stairs straight ahead, watching his mom. I can see 0:34:25.000 --> 0:34:28.399 he's thinking something through. He makes a move towards the mic, 0:34:28.760 --> 0:34:32.560 but then shies away. He's antsy, rising from his seat, 0:34:32.719 --> 0:34:37.279 settling back. Eventually I make a suggestion, do you just 0:34:37.320 --> 0:34:39.760 want to go in there? 0:34:40.480 --> 0:34:40.680 Yeah? 0:34:40.800 --> 0:34:45.719 Totally. Clark gets up, leaves the control room and makes 0:34:45.760 --> 0:34:48.000 his way to the studio to talk to his mom 0:34:48.040 --> 0:34:51.920 in person. Watching him, I have no idea what he's 0:34:52.000 --> 0:34:52.239 up to. 0:34:53.800 --> 0:34:54.759 Oh Clark is here. 0:34:55.320 --> 0:34:57.680 Oh Clark enters the room. 0:34:58.719 --> 0:34:58.880 Was that? 0:35:00.120 --> 0:35:04.080 But it's not as mommy's addressing. It's Tessa. I take 0:35:04.120 --> 0:35:06.799 a deep breath as Clark begins to speak. 0:35:08.040 --> 0:35:11.560 Uh, did you feel in any way like dragged into it, 0:35:11.960 --> 0:35:15.120 like to do like to toilet paper people's houses. 0:35:18.239 --> 0:35:21.319 I don't know if I would say dragged, but I 0:35:21.400 --> 0:35:25.240 would say definitely I was a follower. 0:35:26.840 --> 0:35:30.160 I'm not exactly surprised by Clark's question. It's the same 0:35:30.200 --> 0:35:34.279 one he's been asking since the beginning, essentially, why did 0:35:34.280 --> 0:35:37.200 you do this to my mother? But I am surprised 0:35:37.280 --> 0:35:40.839 by the way he's asking it, not with anger but 0:35:40.920 --> 0:35:44.839 with sympathy. For the first time, Clark's trying to see 0:35:44.880 --> 0:35:49.000 it all from Tessa's perspective, he's following his mom's example. 0:35:49.680 --> 0:35:53.799 Sometimes you're with friends because those are the ones you have. 0:35:54.080 --> 0:35:57.160 So you'll stick with your friends even though you see 0:35:57.239 --> 0:36:01.040 things that you don't like in them. You just don't 0:36:01.040 --> 0:36:03.120 want to be alone. 0:36:04.320 --> 0:36:06.920 Yeah, thanks, okay, yeah, thanks Claire. 0:36:08.200 --> 0:36:11.040 And because Tessa didn't want to be alone, she continued 0:36:11.080 --> 0:36:13.480 to hang out with the girls for several more years 0:36:13.840 --> 0:36:18.040 before eventually finding a new group of friends. Tessa turns 0:36:18.080 --> 0:36:18.759 to Sky. 0:36:19.400 --> 0:36:22.080 Honey, you freaking dodged a bullet. 0:36:22.160 --> 0:36:24.880 That's what you did, not being with those girls, I 0:36:24.920 --> 0:36:32.280 have to say. 0:36:33.800 --> 0:36:36.319 Sky tells Tessa that there's still one thing she's been 0:36:36.400 --> 0:36:39.279 wondering about. Why did Tessa agree to talk with her 0:36:39.280 --> 0:36:41.759 at all? It would have been easy to say no, 0:36:42.640 --> 0:36:43.600 everyone else did. 0:36:44.080 --> 0:36:49.560 Why I said, yeah, truthfully, the call was so out 0:36:49.560 --> 0:36:52.560 of the blue, of course, I you know, at the beginning, 0:36:52.600 --> 0:36:57.520 I said, yeah, sure, you know, like, and then I 0:36:57.560 --> 0:37:01.400 talked to my daughter and she was like, no, like, 0:37:01.640 --> 0:37:02.279 don't do that. 0:37:02.360 --> 0:37:03.240 How old is your daughter? 0:37:03.400 --> 0:37:05.400 My daughter is almost thirteen? 0:37:05.760 --> 0:37:07.920 Okay, yeah, what was she worried about? 0:37:09.520 --> 0:37:11.920 She's she kind of said, like, what's in it for you? 0:37:12.280 --> 0:37:12.600 Mm hm? 0:37:13.120 --> 0:37:15.120 You know, she was kind of worried that, like I 0:37:15.160 --> 0:37:17.440 would come out as a bad person or something. 0:37:19.239 --> 0:37:21.279 How is she feeling right now that you're here. 0:37:21.680 --> 0:37:22.280 She's mad? 0:37:22.800 --> 0:37:25.600 She is, Yeah, she's mad, But you know I told her, 0:37:25.640 --> 0:37:28.200 like not everything we do in life is for us, 0:37:28.320 --> 0:37:31.680 it's for other people as well, So she'll be fine. 0:37:33.320 --> 0:37:35.759 Whereas Guy set out to show her Sun that she 0:37:35.840 --> 0:37:38.120 has the courage to stand up for her own needs, 0:37:38.640 --> 0:37:41.040 Tessa wants to show her daughter that she has the 0:37:41.080 --> 0:37:43.960 courage to stand up for someone else's. 0:37:48.040 --> 0:37:53.560 I'm sorry that I didn't. The thought of you thinking 0:37:53.680 --> 0:37:57.840 for thirty five years that you had done something wrong 0:37:59.120 --> 0:38:05.120 is like, Oh, I really don't think that you did anything. 0:38:05.800 --> 0:38:09.759 I really don't. I'm sorry that you felt like that. 0:38:09.880 --> 0:38:11.840 You know, I wish that you hadn't. 0:38:11.880 --> 0:38:13.640 I'm so glad. I'm hearing it now. 0:38:14.239 --> 0:38:18.560 I'm glad too. So I'm really glad, And it's really 0:38:18.560 --> 0:38:21.520 good to see you. And you literally look exactly the same. 0:38:21.800 --> 0:38:23.959 Maybe your hair is a little shorter. 0:38:24.120 --> 0:38:24.200 And. 0:38:31.080 --> 0:38:37.680 Michael, go ahead, was that dramatic hug? Oh you want 0:38:37.719 --> 0:38:38.520 a dramatic hug. 0:38:38.680 --> 0:38:42.040 That's glad. I think we have to have the dramatic. 0:38:41.600 --> 0:38:47.640 Hug because the room's so small. When they stand, they're 0:38:47.680 --> 0:38:50.759 already almost touching. They look at each other for a 0:38:50.760 --> 0:38:56.520 brief moment, and then Sky opens her wings. 0:38:56.680 --> 0:38:58.840 Oh, it's good to see you. 0:38:59.160 --> 0:38:59.960 So good to see you. 0:39:08.520 --> 0:39:11.320 After the meeting with Tessa, Clark didn't have much to say, 0:39:12.040 --> 0:39:15.000 but at night, back in his room, in that space 0:39:15.040 --> 0:39:17.920 where he feels free to open up, Clark's eager to 0:39:17.960 --> 0:39:19.600 talk about Tessa. 0:39:20.800 --> 0:39:24.520 Honestly, I didn't know that person, so I thought they 0:39:24.600 --> 0:39:29.319 might like still be the bully, still bullying you. And 0:39:29.840 --> 0:39:32.560 I didn't want you to feel like scared or anything 0:39:32.640 --> 0:39:35.920 in that situation, so I was kind of anxious. Well, 0:39:35.920 --> 0:39:40.080 then I met Tessa and she was like super nice, 0:39:40.480 --> 0:39:47.040 she was super hard, And I feel like you'd like 0:39:48.080 --> 0:39:55.359 you weren't timid, Mommy, you were brave, Mommy. 0:39:55.400 --> 0:39:59.280 Tonight there's no talk of avenging. Through his mom's example, 0:39:59.719 --> 0:40:02.800 Clark learning that one can be kind without being timid. 0:40:03.600 --> 0:40:06.000 The kindness can carry its own strength. 0:40:07.080 --> 0:40:09.480 If you had if he hadn't had that night where 0:40:09.520 --> 0:40:12.560 you had said you have to figure this out, mom, 0:40:13.040 --> 0:40:15.399 I really honestly don't think I would have done it. 0:40:16.400 --> 0:40:19.719 So thank you. You're welcome. 0:40:24.440 --> 0:40:27.399 There's a lot more coming for Clark. Moments when he'll 0:40:27.440 --> 0:40:30.520 have to make difficult decisions. Some of them he'll talk 0:40:30.560 --> 0:40:35.520 about with Sky, and some he won't. But for now 0:40:35.840 --> 0:40:39.080 they keep talking, neither of them quite ready to go 0:40:39.160 --> 0:40:40.879 to sleep just yet. 0:40:41.360 --> 0:40:45.520 Remember when you said that there was an international Tomato day, 0:40:46.000 --> 0:40:47.760 Jop judging. 0:40:47.440 --> 0:40:51.160 Me, it was international. 0:41:26.960 --> 0:41:32.720 Now that the fern entures returning to its goodwill home, 0:41:36.239 --> 0:41:40.640 Now that the last month's rent is scheming, with the 0:41:40.840 --> 0:41:47.440 damage to possible, take this moment to dissolve. If we 0:41:47.640 --> 0:41:53.160 meant it, if we talked, we felt around for far, 0:41:53.360 --> 0:41:58.680 tooting from things that accidentally talk. 0:42:03.080 --> 0:42:06.000 Heavyweight is hosted and produced by me Jonathan Goldstein, along 0:42:06.000 --> 0:42:08.919 with Khalila Holt, Peter Bresnan, and Stevie Lane. The show 0:42:08.960 --> 0:42:12.440 is edited by Jorgeus, with additional editing by Alex Bloomberg. 0:42:12.680 --> 0:42:16.640 Special thanks to Emily Condon, Devin Taylor, Anica Pillsbury and 0:42:17.160 --> 0:42:19.880 jud jud Ju Ju Ju jud Ju Ju. Jackie Cohen. 0:42:20.800 --> 0:42:23.680 Bobby Lord mixed the episode with music by Christine Fellows, 0:42:23.840 --> 0:42:28.600 John K. Sampson, Blue Dot Sessions, and Bobby Lord he himself. 0:42:28.880 --> 0:42:31.959 Additional music credits can be found on our website gimltmedia 0:42:32.000 --> 0:42:34.800 dot com. Slash Heavyweight our theme song is by The 0:42:34.840 --> 0:42:38.000 Weaker Thans courtesy of Epitaph Records, and our ad music 0:42:38.080 --> 0:42:41.080 is by Hailey Shaw. Follow us on Twitter at Heavyweight 0:42:41.200 --> 0:42:44.480 or email us at Heavyweight at gimltmedia dot com. We'll 0:42:44.480 --> 0:42:46.440 have a new episode next week