Ren’s wife is definitely a hot, smart lawyer, Sarah replied.But she hates me for some reason. She looked at me like I’m either a threat to their marriage or boring as toast. Not sure which.
It’s because Ren was in love with you at uni, Kristie wrote back.
Ha ha ha ha ha, Sarah replied.
To her surprise,three weeks later, she heard from Ren again.
sarah,Ren wrote,home on paternity leave and lack of sleep is pushing me into deep moral crisis about the ethics of watching reality tv. how are you doing? hopefully another photo series in the works.
Sarahtook a moment to enjoy the visual of an exhausted Ren breaking down and watching the Real Housewives of Anywhere before she texted back.Glad you’re having ethical crisis about reality tv. Fortunately the ethics of your field of journalism are above reproach.
stabbed through the heart when I was looking for support, he replied.
Sorry. I shouldn’t mock you when you’re sleep deprived. I’m working on photos but not yet a series. Maybe I will watch reality tv to get inspired.
a Sarah Drakenberg reality tv photo series sounds either horrifying or brilliant, he wrote back.
aiming for horrifying AND brilliant,she replied.
He responded quickly. Like your hummus-flavored cookie recipe from sophomore year.
For the months that followed,Ren and Sarah would text every three or four weeks, usually about local art shows or occasionally because one of them had read a book or seen a film that the other one might enjoy. He would send photos of the baby occasionally, but only when she requested them. She would send slightly ridiculous ideas for her next photo series.
Going on a Dorothy Lange kick, she wrote to Ren at one point.But feels exploitative to shoot poor people. Can I shoot people who only THINK they are poor, like college students without enough money to buy newest video games?
Shoot them looking longingly into the middle distance, Ren replied,clutching a crumpled Starbucks gift card.
She grinned.Is black and white allowed in this circumstance?
Ren texted back:You have my permission. Sepia-tone preferred, though. Gallery show should play fiddle music from the 1930s to set the tragic atmosphere.
A coupleof weeks after that, Ren texted her again.
On a horror film kick. Let the Right One In was brilliant. Have you seen?
Sarah was at her desk when she got the message. Not yet. Are you watching horror movies when Jandro is awake or asleep?
Asleep. But maybe he’s subconsciously being trained to think that quiet screaming from the other room is normal,Ren replied.
And you were worried about being a good father.
A few weeks later,Sarah wrote to him.
I think I just saw your dad being interviewed on television about artificial intelligence and the nature of human consciousness.
Ren wrote back: that was him.
He looks so much like you.
Ren’s response took a long moment. Yes.
I think I understood about one word out of ten.
Ren wrote back:Then it was definitely my dad.
Sarah had noticedthat all their exchanges ended carefully after four or five texts. Sometimes she ended the text exchange, sometimes Ren did, but it felt like they were carefully setting the boundaries of their friendship, making sure that if Paola read the texts, she would have nothing to worry about. They never got personal in their messages; it was all gentle teasing about which character fromBreaking BadRen related to the most, or how Sarah could possibly enjoy books by both Jonathan Franzen and Nicholas Sparks.
She didn’t mind. It was better than not having him in her life at all. In fact, her commitment to the ‘single life’ in her art had coincided with a rapid development of her life as a single person in general.
