WEBVTT - 2026 Update: Skye 0:00:15.210 --> 0:00:15.690 Pushkin. 0:00:20.329 --> 0:00:24.849 Hi, Hello, I think people probably know the drill. We're 0:00:24.890 --> 0:00:27.730 going to revisiting an old, an old episode, and we're 0:00:27.730 --> 0:00:28.650 going to have an update. 0:00:28.930 --> 0:00:32.730 That's not good broadcasting. You don't say to people they 0:00:32.769 --> 0:00:36.330 know the drill. You tell them the drill. You guys 0:00:36.330 --> 0:00:38.529 your powers as a storytelling. 0:00:38.610 --> 0:00:40.490 Hey, everyone, here's the drill. 0:00:40.730 --> 0:00:43.450 And drills are exciting. Think of a fire drill when 0:00:43.489 --> 0:00:44.730 you were in elementary school. 0:00:44.930 --> 0:00:47.690 How great was that you're getting out of class. 0:00:47.330 --> 0:00:49.929 Especially if you were in gym, like you ran outside 0:00:49.930 --> 0:00:54.410 in the winter, snow and your shirt. It was great. So, yeah, 0:00:54.450 --> 0:00:55.250 here's the drill. 0:00:55.690 --> 0:00:58.770 Today, we're going to listen to an episode called the Sky. 0:00:59.370 --> 0:00:59.530 Oh. 0:00:59.770 --> 0:01:01.450 It's a classic episode. 0:01:01.770 --> 0:01:01.970 You know. 0:01:02.050 --> 0:01:05.490 We get a lot of pitches about being cut out 0:01:05.490 --> 0:01:09.330 of friend groups, about being bullied in some way. I 0:01:09.330 --> 0:01:12.730 think it's unfortunately, like a pretty common story that a 0:01:12.770 --> 0:01:15.770 lot of people can relate to. But what we really 0:01:15.890 --> 0:01:18.690 liked about Sky's story is that we really liked that 0:01:18.770 --> 0:01:21.170 it involved her son and that she was doing it 0:01:21.210 --> 0:01:22.610 at the encouragement of her son. 0:01:22.970 --> 0:01:27.290 And now that same son from the story, get this. 0:01:27.290 --> 0:01:29.690 This is a bit of a spoiler alert. He's now 0:01:29.690 --> 0:01:30.210 an adult. 0:01:31.530 --> 0:01:33.209 Yeah, a young adult. 0:01:33.370 --> 0:01:35.450 That's what time will do to you. Yeah, make a 0:01:35.490 --> 0:01:38.290 little kid, a young man, make an old man like me, 0:01:38.330 --> 0:01:40.330 and even older man. Yeah sad. 0:01:40.370 --> 0:01:42.610 Really you remember the Joey episode? 0:01:42.930 --> 0:01:43.810 I do, of course. 0:01:44.050 --> 0:01:46.010 Do you remember how you did Sky and Joey on 0:01:46.050 --> 0:01:46.729 the same trip. 0:01:46.890 --> 0:01:47.730 Oh, yeah, that's right. 0:01:47.930 --> 0:01:50.890 You did just like a week of knocking out people's problems. 0:01:51.130 --> 0:01:52.610 So productive, so helpful. 0:01:52.770 --> 0:01:53.810 Yeah. 0:01:53.890 --> 0:01:56.090 I should have a private jet and on the side 0:01:56.090 --> 0:01:58.010 it would say mister Helpful. 0:01:57.730 --> 0:02:00.210 And when you took off, people would clap like Superman 0:02:00.330 --> 0:02:02.250 and they'd say thank you, mister helpful. 0:02:02.730 --> 0:02:04.930 Do you think there's a room in the Marvel universe 0:02:04.970 --> 0:02:05.930 for a mister helpful? 0:02:06.690 --> 0:02:08.010 It's not the catchiest name. 0:02:08.370 --> 0:02:09.850 The power of helping people. 0:02:10.850 --> 0:02:14.450 Well, sit back, enjoy. And then we're going to hear 0:02:14.450 --> 0:02:15.570 from Sky at the end. 0:02:15.850 --> 0:02:25.410 Oh, but first, a word from our sponsors high podcast friends. 0:02:25.810 --> 0:02:28.650 As regular listeners know, I try to run a family 0:02:28.730 --> 0:02:32.490 friendlish podcast. But because it's integral to the plot. In 0:02:32.570 --> 0:02:35.490 this episode of Heavyweight, we drop the F bomb and 0:02:35.650 --> 0:02:40.250 unprecedented nine times. If they were giving out peabodies for swearing, 0:02:40.730 --> 0:02:44.890 maybe I'd get one. Also, as long as I'm giving advisories, 0:02:45.170 --> 0:02:50.330 I also pronounced the word garage as garage, I encourage 0:02:50.330 --> 0:02:56.330 you to listen anyway. Hello, did you get a message 0:02:56.330 --> 0:03:01.290 from me a couple months ago? A phone message was 0:03:01.330 --> 0:03:04.010 on your birthday. I was wishing you a happy birthday. 0:03:05.250 --> 0:03:07.570 It's possible I didn't. 0:03:07.370 --> 0:03:11.610 Hear anything back, so I was concer When someone leaves 0:03:11.610 --> 0:03:14.170 your message on your birthday, you have no obligation to 0:03:14.210 --> 0:03:17.970 return that message. But that's it. Oh my god, it 0:03:17.970 --> 0:03:20.250 would have been nice to get. I'm not saying a 0:03:20.290 --> 0:03:22.090 thank you card, but you know, if I. 0:03:22.050 --> 0:03:24.050 Was under non obligation, why are you now giving me 0:03:24.050 --> 0:03:25.810 suggestions as to how I should have responded. 0:03:26.010 --> 0:03:29.050 Some things in life aren't obligatory, but we just do them, 0:03:29.130 --> 0:03:29.730 you know what I mean? 0:03:29.850 --> 0:03:32.210 Absolutely, like picking up the phone when I just saw that, 0:03:32.290 --> 0:03:33.170 you call. 0:03:33.170 --> 0:03:43.850 Me exactly like, Hey, wait a minute from Gimblet Media. 0:03:44.290 --> 0:03:59.770 I'm Jonathan Goldstein and this is Heavyweight. Today's episode, sky 0:04:01.370 --> 0:04:06.810 Sky and her son Clark ever ritual every night. After 0:04:06.850 --> 0:04:09.530 his teeth are brushed and he's all tucked in, right 0:04:09.530 --> 0:04:12.570 before Clark goes to sleep, Sky sits down on the 0:04:12.650 --> 0:04:14.570 edge of his bed and they talk. 0:04:15.210 --> 0:04:17.409 What was your favorite part of that movie? 0:04:18.650 --> 0:04:20.210 Probably like the end was. 0:04:20.210 --> 0:04:21.690 A good helicopter. 0:04:22.610 --> 0:04:26.490 Clark's eleven, so naturally there's a lot of discussion about 0:04:26.570 --> 0:04:27.890 comic books and movies. 0:04:28.489 --> 0:04:30.690 I don't think it was a movie, you know, the 0:04:30.729 --> 0:04:33.010 original Jumanji was not funny. 0:04:33.409 --> 0:04:36.169 But there's something about the stillness of nighttime that also 0:04:36.210 --> 0:04:38.369 frees Clark up to speak in a way that he 0:04:38.409 --> 0:04:42.049 doesn't normally. Not only does he tell Sky about what 0:04:42.089 --> 0:04:45.009 he's watching and reading, he tells her about his feelings. 0:04:45.729 --> 0:04:48.570 He shares stories about what's going on at school, and 0:04:50.169 --> 0:04:54.770 Sky shares stories too, stories from her childhood. Some stories 0:04:54.770 --> 0:04:58.369 she tells just to entertain Clark, but other stories she 0:04:58.450 --> 0:05:05.289 tells to impart a lesson. There's one story in particular 0:05:05.450 --> 0:05:08.250 she's told Clark over and over again throughout the years. 0:05:09.650 --> 0:05:13.529 It's been coming up a lot. Recently, Sky told me 0:05:13.609 --> 0:05:14.049 the story. 0:05:14.929 --> 0:05:18.369 So the story, in a way, the story starts when 0:05:18.770 --> 0:05:19.450 I moved. 0:05:19.609 --> 0:05:22.490 When she was eleven years old, Sky was best friends 0:05:22.529 --> 0:05:25.089 with a group of four girls girl They wore a 0:05:25.089 --> 0:05:29.010 spree sweatshirts and watched Love Boat on the weekends. They 0:05:29.049 --> 0:05:30.210 were the popular girls. 0:05:30.690 --> 0:05:33.369 That was sort of the vibe of that group was 0:05:33.409 --> 0:05:37.010 like we're exclusive and we're kind of the shit. Yeah, 0:05:37.049 --> 0:05:38.849 you know, how like in high school they have you know, 0:05:38.969 --> 0:05:42.369 most beautiful and most popular, and all of those. We 0:05:42.489 --> 0:05:46.250 decided to make our own book of you know, awarding 0:05:46.330 --> 0:05:53.489 people various prizes. We gave me best eyes, and I 0:05:53.570 --> 0:05:56.650 remember sort of having this pride in. 0:05:56.609 --> 0:06:01.130 That they spent all the fifth grade together. Then summer 0:06:01.210 --> 0:06:04.489 came and with it long days filled with lazy bike 0:06:04.609 --> 0:06:07.890 rides and trips to the candy shop. But early one 0:06:07.929 --> 0:06:10.569 summer morning, Sky I woke up to find her yard 0:06:10.690 --> 0:06:14.729 had been tepeed, covered in toilet paper, and there was more. 0:06:15.609 --> 0:06:20.210 Someone had written fuck you on our garage door. And 0:06:21.210 --> 0:06:23.850 we had a double garage, and so fuck was on 0:06:23.849 --> 0:06:25.610 one and you was on the other, and they were 0:06:25.609 --> 0:06:32.729 written in large white letters on our brown garage. 0:06:32.929 --> 0:06:36.210 Sky's mom had seen the vandals make their getaway. The 0:06:36.250 --> 0:06:39.890 words fuck you had been written by none other than 0:06:39.969 --> 0:06:43.730 Sky's for best friends. 0:06:43.089 --> 0:06:46.289 And they had been written in paint. I wish they 0:06:46.330 --> 0:06:48.249 had done it was something that had come off, because 0:06:48.729 --> 0:06:52.010 I do remember this feeling of like being driven home 0:06:52.089 --> 0:06:55.729 day after day and seeing those words on the garage door. 0:06:57.929 --> 0:07:00.289 Teeping someone's house is one thing. It's sort of a 0:07:00.289 --> 0:07:04.129 common prank, but the fact that they wrote fuck you 0:07:04.570 --> 0:07:08.049 that felt to me like it really came from anger. 0:07:08.450 --> 0:07:10.249 And they had to have brought the paint, you know, 0:07:10.290 --> 0:07:12.890 there had to have been some thought put into this. 0:07:14.850 --> 0:07:17.770 Why had they done it? What were they angry about? 0:07:18.770 --> 0:07:27.369 Sky had no idea. Did you ever see those girls again? 0:07:27.929 --> 0:07:28.129 Well? 0:07:28.170 --> 0:07:31.530 I saw them again for sure. We all funneled into 0:07:31.570 --> 0:07:34.650 this junior high school that fall, and I think that 0:07:34.770 --> 0:07:39.130 I just avoided them. I never ever said a word 0:07:39.489 --> 0:07:46.210 to any of the four girls ever. Again, I pretended 0:07:46.250 --> 0:07:47.090 it never happened. 0:07:48.489 --> 0:07:51.249 And when Sky tells Clark this story, here's where she 0:07:51.290 --> 0:07:55.570 delivers the moral. Awful things do happen, but in the 0:07:55.690 --> 0:08:00.369 end everything turns out fine. Sky grew up, got married, 0:08:00.690 --> 0:08:03.090 has a job she likes, and a family she loves. 0:08:03.890 --> 0:08:07.890 Her story, she tells him, has a happy ending. In 0:08:07.929 --> 0:08:10.770 the past. When he's heard the story, Clark's taken his 0:08:10.850 --> 0:08:14.090 mom's lesson at face value. But Clark is now the 0:08:14.130 --> 0:08:16.569 same age Sky was when her friends turned on her. 0:08:17.130 --> 0:08:19.690 He's starting to see his own classmates leave old friends 0:08:19.730 --> 0:08:23.209 behind for the more popular crowd. For the first time, 0:08:23.450 --> 0:08:25.610 he's able to imagine what it would be like if 0:08:25.650 --> 0:08:28.530 his own small group of friends suddenly cast him out, 0:08:28.970 --> 0:08:31.530 stopped coming over to his house to play video games, 0:08:31.850 --> 0:08:36.370 stop speaking to them altogether. So Sky's moral that everyone 0:08:36.450 --> 0:08:41.010 lives happily ever after is starting to feel untrue, and 0:08:41.090 --> 0:08:44.770 so Clark has a question for his mother, why didn't 0:08:44.810 --> 0:08:48.170 she ever confront her friends about what they did? Why 0:08:48.210 --> 0:08:53.770 not then? But also he asks Sky why not now? 0:08:57.570 --> 0:09:00.730 Like did they do it for themselves or because of you? 0:09:02.130 --> 0:09:05.330 Or was it because of something you did or something. 0:09:05.770 --> 0:09:09.290 Clark brings up Sky's story during their bedtime ritual, looking 0:09:09.330 --> 0:09:14.010 for details, weighing the injustice, fantasizing about Sky looking up 0:09:14.050 --> 0:09:17.449 her old friends and confronting them with some questions. 0:09:18.010 --> 0:09:18.730 I think you. 0:09:18.730 --> 0:09:22.210 Can't be like the person that you normally are, where 0:09:22.250 --> 0:09:25.170 you're like timid little mommy, funny City. 0:09:25.290 --> 0:09:28.050 That you think of me as timid mommy, that's very interesting. 0:09:28.490 --> 0:09:31.250 Yeah, well I have like a lot of occasions to 0:09:31.370 --> 0:09:37.450 prove that your New Year's resolution was to say no 0:09:38.010 --> 0:09:41.570 more often. That was your resolution because you were too 0:09:41.650 --> 0:09:44.570 timid to say no to people before that. 0:09:44.810 --> 0:09:47.570 Well, I like to think that it's less about me 0:09:47.650 --> 0:09:50.410 being timid and more about me being a canned do 0:09:50.770 --> 0:09:55.450 kind of person. There it is right there. 0:09:58.050 --> 0:10:01.370 At school functions, Clark watches his mom try to accommodate 0:10:01.450 --> 0:10:05.929 the other parents and get steamrolled in the process. In restaurants, 0:10:06.010 --> 0:10:08.570 he sees his mom settled for the wrong meal rather 0:10:08.610 --> 0:10:12.250 than bother the waiter. For once, he wants Guy to 0:10:12.290 --> 0:10:15.770 stop worrying about everyone else's feelings. He wants her to 0:10:15.770 --> 0:10:16.810 focus on herself. 0:10:17.290 --> 0:10:21.410 I would really love to know, like why it's important 0:10:21.450 --> 0:10:21.650 to you. 0:10:22.730 --> 0:10:23.809 It's basically for. 0:10:23.890 --> 0:10:28.690 Me more like my mom avenging. Those people just wanted 0:10:29.090 --> 0:10:33.449 you to kind of like get your avenge, my revenge, 0:10:34.530 --> 0:10:37.930 avenge yourself. Sorry I'm using the wrong word. You got 0:10:37.930 --> 0:10:40.970 to be like you did this, and do you remember 0:10:41.050 --> 0:10:45.090 why it happened and say sorry to me? 0:10:47.850 --> 0:10:51.090 He said at the end, Mom, you've got to figure 0:10:51.130 --> 0:10:54.610 this out. You've got to go for it. You have 0:10:54.650 --> 0:10:58.490 to have a chance to find out why this happened. 0:11:03.370 --> 0:11:06.090 It's not just Clark who feels this way. There's someone 0:11:06.130 --> 0:11:09.010 else who also wonders why this happened. And it's always 0:11:09.450 --> 0:11:17.770 Sky had had the chance to ask, Hello, is this Rachel? 0:11:19.970 --> 0:11:23.810 This is Sky's mom. Rachel the only eyewitnessed what happened 0:11:23.850 --> 0:11:26.929 that night, and the person talking to her while chewing 0:11:26.970 --> 0:11:30.250 a hunk of munster cheese and hollow bread because his boss, 0:11:30.290 --> 0:11:33.490 Alex thinks taking lunch breaks is more of a BizOps thing, 0:11:34.530 --> 0:11:34.810 is me. 0:11:36.770 --> 0:11:39.410 I got out of my chair and I stood at 0:11:39.410 --> 0:11:45.610 the window and pulled back the drape, and I see 0:11:45.890 --> 0:11:48.690 their bikes sort of going off into the night. 0:11:51.650 --> 0:11:53.930 The night the girl showed up, around two or three 0:11:53.930 --> 0:11:56.730 in the morning, Rachel was reading in an armchair by 0:11:56.730 --> 0:11:59.530 the window. She's always up in the middle of the night. 0:11:59.930 --> 0:12:02.970 It's a habit that began in childhood. She tells me 0:12:03.050 --> 0:12:07.530 that her own mom, Sky's grandmother suffered from schizophrenia. She 0:12:07.650 --> 0:12:10.210 was unpredictable. In the middle of the night was the 0:12:10.210 --> 0:12:13.130 only time the house was ever quiet and safe. Who 0:12:13.130 --> 0:12:17.010 was during those calm nights alone that Rachel began writing poetry. 0:12:17.930 --> 0:12:20.170 And here I. 0:12:20.170 --> 0:12:23.530 Am, all these years later, and I'm still doing it. 0:12:25.570 --> 0:12:29.730 There's something holy about the middle of the night. Nobody's 0:12:30.450 --> 0:12:34.850 hassling you, and you can really hear yourself somehow. 0:12:36.810 --> 0:12:39.170 But on the night the vandals struck, she could also 0:12:39.290 --> 0:12:43.610 hear four eleven year old girls making their getaway. When 0:12:43.610 --> 0:12:46.130 the sun came up, Rachel saw the fuck you on 0:12:46.210 --> 0:12:48.890 the garage, and immediately she phoned up one of the 0:12:48.890 --> 0:12:52.250 girls and spoke with both her and her mom well 0:12:52.330 --> 0:12:55.850 neither denied what had happened. Nothing much came of the conversation, 0:12:56.770 --> 0:12:59.930 and after that Sky begged Rachel not to make any 0:12:59.930 --> 0:13:04.010 more phone calls. The idea of confronting anyone just upset 0:13:04.050 --> 0:13:08.050 Sky Moore. So Rachel stopped calling, and after a few 0:13:08.130 --> 0:13:10.570 days things seemed to go back to normal. 0:13:11.570 --> 0:13:19.450 We felt it was over, and for her it really wasn't. 0:13:21.650 --> 0:13:24.650 It really took her being i mean grown up, for 0:13:24.730 --> 0:13:27.730 her to start saying to me, I think about this 0:13:27.770 --> 0:13:33.170 all the time, and it was shocking to me. I 0:13:33.210 --> 0:13:37.410 had not understood that, and I felt dopey that I 0:13:37.490 --> 0:13:43.570 hadn't understood that because I thought I was pretty well 0:13:43.570 --> 0:13:49.610 attuned to her and her feelings. It broke my heart. 0:13:55.850 --> 0:14:00.449 She always understood how to sit in with people, completely 0:14:00.530 --> 0:14:03.970 unlike her parents. My husband, you know, was born in 0:14:04.010 --> 0:14:07.570 Finland and was a mathematician and had his PhD when 0:14:07.570 --> 0:14:11.290 he was nineteen. And I was this strange high school 0:14:11.330 --> 0:14:15.730 dropout poet. I mean, we were really odd and eccentric birds, 0:14:15.770 --> 0:14:19.890 and here was this kid who was just exquisitely normal, 0:14:19.970 --> 0:14:22.930 and to us, she's always been a wonder, you know, like, 0:14:23.050 --> 0:14:27.010 who is this very social being, this is a kid 0:14:27.050 --> 0:14:31.490 who whose first word was high, and who, when she 0:14:31.690 --> 0:14:35.410 was small, literally sat on the front step all day 0:14:36.370 --> 0:14:40.890 and said hi to every person who passed on the sidewalk, 0:14:42.010 --> 0:14:49.730 and we loved her for that. And what happened with 0:14:49.810 --> 0:14:52.890 the girls. This had the effect of making her more 0:14:53.930 --> 0:14:55.290 you know, pulling in her wings. 0:14:57.570 --> 0:15:00.810 And this is the person Clark sees today, someone who 0:15:00.890 --> 0:15:03.450 keeps her wings tucked in so tight for fear of 0:15:03.490 --> 0:15:06.330 them getting in anyone's way, and she's forgotten how to 0:15:06.330 --> 0:15:10.490 open them. Rachel knows that Clark has recently begun urging 0:15:10.490 --> 0:15:14.890 his mom to be less timid, and she approves there's. 0:15:14.650 --> 0:15:20.090 Something authoritative about a child they haven't had. They're not 0:15:20.130 --> 0:15:23.210 all hammered by doubts and worries about what they're saying. 0:15:23.290 --> 0:15:25.530 They're like, well, why didn't you do this? 0:15:26.610 --> 0:15:31.090 You know, Rachel had asked me to call at the 0:15:31.170 --> 0:15:34.410 end of her work night. It's now seven thirty AM, 0:15:34.610 --> 0:15:38.210 close to her bedtime, so we say, oh goodbyes, But 0:15:38.370 --> 0:15:41.850 just before putting down the phone, she offers a final benediction. 0:15:42.530 --> 0:15:45.370 I thought was so beautiful the way he wanted her 0:15:45.970 --> 0:15:50.690 to figure this out. Because she'll hear that from him 0:15:50.970 --> 0:15:53.290 in a way that she probably could never hear that 0:15:53.850 --> 0:15:57.610 from me, it has more of a chance to wake 0:15:57.650 --> 0:15:58.090 her up. 0:16:00.730 --> 0:16:03.930 And with that, Rachel heads off to bed, and I 0:16:04.050 --> 0:16:07.650 turned back to Sky, who, with a little help from Clark, 0:16:08.330 --> 0:16:09.650 is still trying to wake up. 0:16:10.490 --> 0:16:14.250 He does have this sense of but that's an unfinished thing. 0:16:14.530 --> 0:16:18.810 Yeah, like the good that this good ending hasn't fully 0:16:19.490 --> 0:16:20.050 happened yet. 0:16:20.170 --> 0:16:24.610 Yeah, yeah, the good ending hasn't happened. Now. It's sort 0:16:24.650 --> 0:16:27.690 of turning into a different story, which is that it's 0:16:28.330 --> 0:16:32.810 kind of never too late to summon courage and do 0:16:32.930 --> 0:16:43.210 something that that scares you. I guess in a way, 0:16:43.250 --> 0:16:46.490 I want to live up to his to who I 0:16:46.530 --> 0:16:48.970 think he'd like me to be, you know, I think 0:16:49.090 --> 0:16:55.690 like I need to show him that I can stand 0:16:55.770 --> 0:16:56.490 up for myself. 0:17:04.770 --> 0:17:08.330 Thirty five years later, and Sky's finally decided she's ready. 0:17:09.170 --> 0:17:12.050 She just needs help reaching the girls and not backing 0:17:12.090 --> 0:17:16.169 down when she does. So, you want to do this? 0:17:17.929 --> 0:17:20.409 I think that I want to do this. Yes, I 0:17:20.449 --> 0:17:23.169 want to do this. You know. Now I'll be able 0:17:23.169 --> 0:17:25.850 to say I did what I could. 0:17:28.409 --> 0:17:30.170 And if you want to be able to say you 0:17:30.209 --> 0:17:33.530 did what you could to save scads of cash with 0:17:33.570 --> 0:17:37.649 some truly great deals. Here's the chance you've been dreaming 0:17:37.689 --> 0:17:51.689 of your entire life. Sky and I get to work 0:17:51.730 --> 0:17:56.290 reaching out to the four girls, Sam, Nicky, Randy, and Tessa. 0:17:57.129 --> 0:18:01.090 We begin with Sam because Sky already has their contact info. 0:18:01.409 --> 0:18:03.330 They'd run into each other at their ten year high 0:18:03.330 --> 0:18:09.409 school reunion. Sky Sam had said, it's me been the 0:18:09.409 --> 0:18:12.209 perfect opportunity to ask about the fuck you on the 0:18:12.250 --> 0:18:15.770 garage door, but Sky just couldn't bring herself to mention it, 0:18:16.490 --> 0:18:19.009 so instead they made awkward small. 0:18:18.770 --> 0:18:24.129 Talk, and then she fronted me on Facebook, which practically 0:18:24.169 --> 0:18:29.249 made me laugh. But I this sounds ridiculous, but I 0:18:29.250 --> 0:18:32.850 didn't want to be rude, and so I accepted her friendship. 0:18:34.810 --> 0:18:37.889 I helped Sky write a Facebook message to Sam saying 0:18:37.929 --> 0:18:40.489 she has some questions about the end of their friendship, 0:18:41.090 --> 0:18:45.449 but with no response, Sky follows up again and again. 0:18:46.369 --> 0:18:50.730 Eventually Sam writes back, we just naturally grew apart as 0:18:50.770 --> 0:18:55.090 life events progressed, she says. She concludes by saying that 0:18:55.169 --> 0:18:58.609 Sky's attempts to contact her are making her feel quote 0:18:58.970 --> 0:19:10.010 overwhelmed and stressed, and that makes Sky feel bad. Second 0:19:10.250 --> 0:19:13.809 is Nicky, who says that even those guy's mom clearly 0:19:13.889 --> 0:19:18.290 remembers her being there that day, She absolutely wasn't. In fact, 0:19:18.330 --> 0:19:22.769 she says she and Sky weren't even that close. Third 0:19:23.050 --> 0:19:26.169 comes Randy. Randy's hard to get a hold of, so 0:19:26.250 --> 0:19:28.330 when we get no answer on her house phone, we 0:19:28.449 --> 0:19:31.169 try all the numbers we can find. We leave her 0:19:31.209 --> 0:19:34.969 repeated messages, but it seems like she's not even getting them. 0:19:35.490 --> 0:19:38.530 But as it turns out, she's gotten all of them, 0:19:38.689 --> 0:19:41.330 because she sends Sky an email to say that she's 0:19:41.369 --> 0:19:46.250 not happy about it. In fact, she's creeped out. Sky 0:19:46.369 --> 0:19:48.770 was at the grocery store when she received the email. 0:19:49.530 --> 0:19:55.529 I was in line and I completely was out of 0:19:55.570 --> 0:19:58.210 my body as I was reading it. I so forgot 0:19:58.250 --> 0:20:00.570 where I was that someone had to say, are you 0:20:00.649 --> 0:20:03.489 in line? And I was like, uh no, I'm not. 0:20:03.609 --> 0:20:07.169 And I had to like push my cart away from 0:20:07.169 --> 0:20:11.050 the checkout stand because I could not focus. 0:20:12.409 --> 0:20:15.729 Sky went into damage control mode, writing back to Randy 0:20:15.770 --> 0:20:19.209 to say how deeply sorry she was. I asked her 0:20:19.250 --> 0:20:20.369 to read me what she'd send. 0:20:21.209 --> 0:20:24.369 Randy. I'm so grateful that you wrote me back. It 0:20:24.409 --> 0:20:27.170 makes me cringe to think about how semi creepy and 0:20:27.209 --> 0:20:30.970 weird it must have seemed to get those messages. I'm 0:20:31.050 --> 0:20:33.850 kicking myself for letting that happen. I'm still hoping to 0:20:33.889 --> 0:20:37.050 talk to you privately and just explain myself. Would that 0:20:37.090 --> 0:20:37.570 be okay? 0:20:40.649 --> 0:20:44.129 Like, you know, is there a kind of like do 0:20:44.169 --> 0:20:47.450 you feel like your default is to sort of apologize 0:20:47.649 --> 0:20:52.049 for having reached out? 0:20:53.609 --> 0:20:53.969 Yeah? 0:20:54.050 --> 0:20:55.169 I do. 0:20:56.570 --> 0:20:57.489 That has occurred to me. 0:20:59.490 --> 0:21:02.850 Later, Sky shares the email with Clark, and it seems 0:21:02.889 --> 0:21:04.529 like it's occurred to him as well. 0:21:05.129 --> 0:21:09.689 I think you were over apologetic if you yourself was 0:21:09.730 --> 0:21:12.649 the kind of character was like, oh sorry, sorry, sorry, 0:21:12.730 --> 0:21:13.650 I shouldn't. 0:21:13.209 --> 0:21:14.090 Have done that. 0:21:14.090 --> 0:21:17.369 That automatically makes her basically. 0:21:17.209 --> 0:21:18.689 Like gives her power. 0:21:18.770 --> 0:21:21.090 Yeah, it puts her in a better spot than you're in, 0:21:21.850 --> 0:21:22.810 and that's bad. 0:21:24.810 --> 0:21:28.050 At Sky's insistence, Randy finally agrees to a phone call, 0:21:28.770 --> 0:21:31.369 but in the end, all she tells Sky is that 0:21:31.369 --> 0:21:34.850 she doesn't remember that night, doesn't remember any toilet paper 0:21:35.290 --> 0:21:44.449 or gras door, She doesn't remember anything at all. Of 0:21:44.490 --> 0:21:49.010 the four friends, only one remains, Tessa, the girl Sky's 0:21:49.050 --> 0:21:53.129 mom phoned directly after the incident. Over the next couple 0:21:53.129 --> 0:21:56.530 of weeks, I speak with Tessa several times. She can't 0:21:56.530 --> 0:21:59.770 decide if she wants to talk with Sky for one thing, 0:21:59.850 --> 0:22:02.409 she says it was so long ago that she doesn't 0:22:02.409 --> 0:22:06.129 remember much, to which I rejoin that she's all we've got. 0:22:07.050 --> 0:22:10.050 For another, she adds getting contact like this through a 0:22:10.090 --> 0:22:15.409 third party interlocutionary international podcasting host is pretty weird, to 0:22:15.449 --> 0:22:20.050 which I admit that it is slightly unconventional. Finally, Tessa 0:22:20.090 --> 0:22:23.330 says she doesn't want to inadvertently drag the other girl's 0:22:23.409 --> 0:22:26.090 names through the dirt for something they did as kids, 0:22:26.689 --> 0:22:30.169 to which I say, well, let's change those names and 0:22:30.250 --> 0:22:33.409 draw some pseudonyms through the dirt. And once I agree 0:22:33.449 --> 0:22:36.530 to change the names of the four girls, Tessa, not 0:22:36.649 --> 0:22:40.249 her real name, agrees to sit down with Sky, still 0:22:40.290 --> 0:22:43.490 her real name, so she can finally have a conversation 0:22:43.929 --> 0:22:48.650 about the night in question. Both Sky and Tessa live 0:22:48.649 --> 0:22:51.929 in California, pretty close to where they grew up. I 0:22:52.010 --> 0:22:55.689 figure my presence at their meeting could be calming, helpful. 0:22:55.730 --> 0:22:59.010 Even All Sky has to do is invite me out 0:22:59.050 --> 0:23:04.809 there to join her. I like California, I know, I 0:23:04.889 --> 0:23:08.649 love it, but because of her cursed timidity, Sky just 0:23:08.689 --> 0:23:12.329 doesn't have have the lima beans to ask, so I 0:23:12.409 --> 0:23:15.689 continue to offer her prompt. I haven't been there in 0:23:15.730 --> 0:23:16.170 some time. 0:23:18.530 --> 0:23:19.689 Well, it's a lovely state. 0:23:20.730 --> 0:23:24.009 After several minutes of this elaborate dance, I get to 0:23:24.050 --> 0:23:28.409 the point for both our sakes, So does do you 0:23:28.449 --> 0:23:31.850 think that you think I should come? 0:23:33.050 --> 0:23:34.010 That would be amazing? 0:23:36.530 --> 0:23:40.409 And so it's off to California A for some long 0:23:40.449 --> 0:23:47.489 overdue Q and A Hi. Good, how aut you guys? 0:23:48.649 --> 0:23:48.810 Hi? 0:23:48.889 --> 0:23:52.129 Clark, nice to meet you. Sky picks me up at 0:23:52.129 --> 0:23:55.290 the hotel. Clark's along too, to make sure his mom 0:23:55.330 --> 0:23:56.250 doesn't lose their nerve. 0:23:56.649 --> 0:23:58.649 Park you can continue to navigate for me. 0:24:00.889 --> 0:24:04.090 Clark sits in the passenger seat, leafing through a comic book. 0:24:04.209 --> 0:24:05.689 All right, let me I'm just going to throw this 0:24:05.770 --> 0:24:11.290 in here if that's okay, yeah. 0:24:07.409 --> 0:24:07.770 And then. 0:24:09.169 --> 0:24:11.889 Tossed my bag into the back of the hatchback and 0:24:12.570 --> 0:24:18.969 we head off to meet Tessa. It felt great to 0:24:18.970 --> 0:24:26.770 be in San Francisco. It's just like the Mamas and 0:24:26.850 --> 0:24:30.369 the Papa saying, if one is going to San Francisco, 0:24:30.689 --> 0:24:34.369 one should wear flowers in one's hair. As we speed 0:24:34.409 --> 0:24:38.050 down the highway, I close my eyes, lean back and 0:24:38.609 --> 0:24:42.289 would that I had hair enjoy the wind blowing through it. 0:24:45.330 --> 0:24:47.009 Wait, is the trunk open? 0:24:47.250 --> 0:24:47.609 Oh? 0:24:47.649 --> 0:24:50.810 Wow, it seems that in my excitement to hit the 0:24:50.850 --> 0:24:54.369 streets of San fran I'd left the hatchback door open, 0:24:55.209 --> 0:24:57.770 which it turns out is the source of the San 0:24:57.810 --> 0:25:02.570