The Blue Jay's Journey: The Tangle

"Hey, Jake? I've been wondering, why do you carry that old thing around?"

He had gotten used to the questions after living with her. Lavenza was a creature of whimsy, always so bright-eyed and full of ideas. The second something flitted into her mind, she simply had to ask about it, regardless of the hour or any food she had neglected to swallow beforehand.

"What thing?" Jake asked, raising his eyes from his plate to meet her own. He suspected he already knew what she was talking about. He didn't keep much on him—just the bare essentials. Wallet, keys, cell phone (So what if it didn't have a touch screen?), and a small pocketbook journal for writing notes in. All "old man things", as she'd put it.

"That little chunk of rope. It's all knotted up and frayed at the ends." Lavenza twirled one finger around the other in the air with loose, winding motions.

"Ah." A twinkle lit up in his eye. He reached in his jacket pocket and retrieved the aforementioned trinket, holding it out in the palm of one hand. "You mean The Tangle."

"Ooooh, yeah, The Tangle!" She grinned, leaning forward in her chair to take a better look. "What's it for? What makes it so special?"

"To most people? Nothing. It's just a worn bit of rope that tied itself into a knot." He said, thoughtfully rubbing the cord between his index finger and thumb. "But it holds special meaning to me."

"Spill! I'm all ears!"

"I see you've also found a place for a mouth among them." Jake reached over, fluffing her hair with a half smile.

"Boooo!" Lavenza hissed, swatting at his hand with all the ferocity of a play fighting kitten. "That was terrible and you know it!"

"Sorry, this old man doesn't know much about modern day humor. Back in my day it was all 'swag' this and 'yeet' that."

"Augh! Stopppp!" She wailed, swooning back in her seat in mock agony. "Have mercy! I'll listen to all your dad jokes if you never say those two words ever again!"

Jake's expression wavered, the cracks in his composure proving too much to bear as he broke out in a small chuckle. "Tempting," he said, "But I believe you wanted to hear about this first?"

Pinched between two of his fingers, The Tangle was a rough-hewn cut of thick beige rope with a large, misshapen knot at its center. Although its age was easiest to spot in the eruption of unraveled thread at both ends, looking closely, she could also see loose strands scattered across the entirety of its body. It almost made it look fuzzy, in an "itchy wool sweater" kind of way.

"Yeah, that thing! You made me all hyped up, I gotta know!"

"Well... It all started when I was old enough to begin going to school. Back then it was just me and my mother, and I wasn't used to being away from her for very long. The first few times she'd drop me off, I'd be inconsolable. Regardless of what anyone tried, I'd only ever calm down when I saw her again."

"It's hard to imagine you like that," Lavenza mused, "I always thought you'd have been one of those 'mini adult' kids."

"Maturity is a product of practice and experience. Back then, the only experience I had was apparently trying to fit all my crayons in my mouth."

"Wow, you did that too?!"

"Kids can be very silly. My mother had a little trouble at first, as she didn't have any prior experience to fall back on, being the youngest in her family and with me as her first child. But even then, she knew I loved her stories. Every night she'd tell me about the adventures of Mr. Miguel, investigating the case of the missing piece of the sky, or the rainbows drained of all their color. It was simple, dumbed down for a toddler... but it meant everything to me." He sighed more heavily than he intended to, shoulders slumping as a painfully familiar ache squeezed at his chest. "It made the world feel so special and full of wonder."

Lavenza remained silent, her grin softening to a sad smile. She patted a hand on his arm, caressing it in sympathy.

"Thank you. But I'm alright. I-" Jake cleared his throat, adjusting the tie at his neck. "I have The Tangle. Because of what happened at preschool. Instead of trying to reassure me, or hold my hand... One day, she just told a story. A story about a rope with a knot in it, called The Tangle. Everyone tried to pull it apart. They tried cutting it with scissors. They tried unraveling it by hand. But no one could untangle The Tangle. This knot was a part of it, like our hands are a part of our body, or a beak is part of a bird. No one could take that away from it."

"And then she told me... We were like The Tangle. We couldn't be broken apart by space or distance. She gave me this to remind me of that."

"Did it work...? Did you ever cry at preschool again?"

"I never shed another tear." Jake said, eyes glistening. "And though I may have cried outside of preschool... I still have The Untangleable Tangle."

"You've got me too, Jay-Jay." She leaned over, resting her head on his shoulder. "You let me in your house... So you're stuck with me! No take backs!"

"As you've so frequently reminded me after eating all my tamales..." He muttered, giving her a playful nudge.

"And they were delicious!" Lavenza stuck her tongue out in defiance, returning the nudge with equal enthusiasm.