To Night Owl From Dogfish

Bett Devlin, a 12-year-old girl, emails Avery Bloom, a girl of the same age whom Bett has never met. She explains that she found Avery’s school email address online and that their fathers met three months ago at a building expo and are now a couple. The girls’ fathers want to send their daughters to the same summer camp, CIGI (Challenge Influence Guide Inspire) in hopes that the girls will become friends and even “sisters.” Bett plans on refusing to go and thinks that if Avery refuses too, their fathers will drop the issue.

Avery responds that Bett must have the wrong person because she would know if her “papa,” Sam, was in a relationship. She already knows about CIGI, which she describes as a “creative-nerd camp” where children aren’t required to play sports. Avery is looking forward to going to CIGI but doesn’t believe Bett will be attending. Avery also suspects that Bett might be a hacker.

Bett and Avery continue to argue about whether or not their fathers are in a relationship. Avery concedes that Sam did attend a building expo recently, but this proves nothing. Avery believes Sam is currently in San Antonio on a business trip, but Bett says he’s actually there with Bett’s father, Marlow. Marlow claimed he was going there to visit his mother, Betty, whom Bett calls “Gaga.” Bett concludes that if Marlow wanted Sam to meet Gaga, the relationship must be serious.

Avery texts Sam asking if he has a new partner and if he’s currently with that partner in Texas, but Sam evades her questions. When they speak on the phone, Sam admits he is in a relationship and says he was waiting to tell Avery about it until he knew it was “real.” Sam confirms that both fathers want the girls to meet and get along because they might become a “family.” Avery says she already has a family and does not want a bigger one. She no longer wants to attend CIGI and hopes she never meets Bett.

Bett calls Marlow, pretending to have an ear infection to see if he will come home early, but he just tells her to take Tylenol. Bett doesn’t want a bigger family. To her dismay, Sam already knows some facts about Marlow she hoped he would find unappealing, such as the fact that he has a peanut allergy.

Sam gives Avery a CIGI T-shirt and tells her there are no refunds: Both she and Bett are definitely going. Sam and Marlow requested the girls be placed in the same “pod.” Avery warns Bett that she should be getting the same talk and T-shirt shortly. Marlow left early that morning, so Bett didn’t get a chance to talk to him.

Bett thinks one drawback to only having one parent is that she needs someone on her side in situations like this. Marlow (Bett’s biological father) and Philip (Marlow’s former partner, who died when Bett was little) paid a Brazilian woman to be a surrogate. Marlow is Black, making Bett Brazilian and Black. Bett is proud to be a person of color, but Avery does not share her “origin story” because she is very private about her family. Sam is white and Jewish, but she doesn’t discuss her mother’s side.

Bett finds the CIGI T-shirt and tells Marlow she’s not going. However, she checks his Expedia account and discovers he has already bought her a plane ticket to Michigan (where CIGI is). Bett feels like since Marlow met Sam, he no longer listens to her. Avery says love makes people go crazy and suggests that Bett pretend to fall apart once she arrives at camp, noting that anxiety is increasingly affecting kids.

Avery asks if Bett has had a boyfriend or girlfriend. Avery liked a boy named Kyle Shapiro last year, but it didn’t go anywhere. Bett likes boys but has never had a boyfriend, although she held hands with a boy named Zander Barton four times. She is now sort of interested in a boy named Robbie Lambert, whom she sees surfing. Avery is frustrated that whenever people learn Sam is gay, they assume he’s married. She thinks single parents do a fine job.

As the email exchange continues, the two girls learn more about each other despite continually insisting that they’re not friends. Avery lives in an apartment building with a doorman in New York City, attends a fancy school, and Sam is an architect. Bett lives in Venice, California, in an old church that Marlow bought; nobody else wanted it because it’s on the same block as a drug clinic. Marlow builds swimming pools and fountains and has never been able to afford to send Bett to camp before. Bett doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up, but she likes surfing, skating, and her two rescue dogs. Avery wants to be a writer, has trouble sleeping, and fears drowning and dogs—though she asks to see a picture of Bett’s dogs and thinks they’re cute. Bett asks Avery what animal she would be if she could choose. Avery would be a night owl because she reads at night and, like many cartoon owls, wears glasses. Bett would be a dogfish, a kind of shark, because she loves dogs and swimming.

Bett goes on a hunger strike to protest CIGI but sneaks food when Marlow isn’t around. At CIGI, campers live in “pods” of eight kids each, and there are three pods for girls their age. Bett and Avery agree not to speak to each other once they arrive. Sam says Avery needs to start planning her packing days in advance. Bett and Marlow pack at the last minute.

Bett asks if Avery has her period. Avery’s period started when she was almost 11, while she was on vacation in the Hamptons. Even though she had learned about periods at school, she didn’t realize what was happening and thought she was dying. When Avery told Sam she was bleeding in her private area, he went to the store and asked for sanitary napkins, but the store attendant couldn’t hear well, creating an embarrassing situation. Now Avery avoids that store. Bett doesn’t have her period yet and is in no rush to get it because it will increase her chance of a shark attack while surfing.

Avery and Sam are vegetarians, but Bett and Marlow eat meat. Bett thinks the animals she eats would not be alive if it weren’t for the farming industry, so by not eating meat she wouldn’t be saving an animal. She especially likes bacon. Avery says people who eat bacon are at higher risk for cancer, but Bett thinks by the time she’s old, doctors will have a cure for any problems that bacon might cause.

Avery has packed and will leave for CIGI on Thursday, but she is worried about flying alone. Bett hasn’t started packing but plans to bring her iPad, even though it’s discouraged. She says if Avery has an iPad, she should bring it so they can communicate without speaking. Bett will wear an orange shirt so Avery can identify and avoid her. Bett has also read Marlow’s email and discovered the fathers are going to China together while the girls are at camp. Hearing this activates Avery’s “nervous asthma,” but her inhaler isn’t working. When Avery is upset, she usually takes comfort in books, but right now she can’t focus.

Sam and Marlow write to hide a copy of the same note in each girl’s suitcase. These letters explain that they want the girls to get acquainted on their own, without their fathers there. They urge the girls to have fun and express their love.

The email exchange continues: Bett arrives at camp first because Avery’s flight was delayed. Bett tells Avery that she didn’t miss anything, except for going over rules. Bett is furious about the fathers’ letter, which doesn’t sound like Marlow at all, and believes Sam must have written it. The fathers have gone to China to ride motorcycles, which Bett says is just like her dad: impulsive. Avery worries that motorcycles are dangerous.

At CIGI, each camper must choose an animal to care for. Bett chooses pigs and thinks chickens—Avery’s choice—are the worst option. Avery asks the camp counselor, Rachel, to point out Bett while everyone is asleep, but Avery cannot see the face under Bett’s blanket. Bett is then moved to a different pod but assures Avery that she did not request this: It was done to accommodate two cousins who wanted to be together. This will make it easier for the girls to avoid each other. They can still communicate using their iPads but agree to do so only if they have news about their fathers. Bett suggests they don’t tell their fathers about the pod move and also explains that she’s not going to write Marlow as a form of punishment.

The girls select their camp activities. Bett chooses high ropes course, campcrafts, adventure rock challenge, and zip line. Avery picks Express Yourself (Write Here, Write Now!), STEM for All (Girls Only), Vegan Cooking Basics: Appetizers and Sustainable Menu Planning, and Puppetry. Bett says they could do a class together, but Avery says they should stick with what they picked. Avery sends Bett a copy of the beginning of a story she wrote in Express Yourself. It is called “As in Forever” and concerns a girl named Leighton Z. Swizzler. She likes books and her mother is gay. It has been just the two of them living in their New York apartment for as long as Leighton can remember. One day, Leighton’s mother meets another woman who has a daughter Leighton’s age, and the mothers start dating. The two girls meet but don’t get along because they are too different. They decide not to speak, but their “dads” say they must learn to get along. The story is unfinished.

Avery’s email continues. She knows her story is not great, but it’s a way to express herself. She says it’s good that she and Bett are no longer in the same pod: Avery cried last night, but nobody came to check on her. Avery notices the Freudian slip in her story, where she accidentally referred to dads instead of moms. Bett says she will read the story later if she has time. Right now she needs to take care of the pigs.