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Chapter 4

"DID YOU WASH YOUR HANDS?"

My father has asked me that question at breakfast every day since I could talk Probably before that He&039;s an epideist, whichat terrifying graphs of how diseases spread These graphs, which prettyoff - erms

"Yes, I washed my hands" I try to say this in exactly the saet the point

"I&039; ner, someone who builds cons wind up in stores on Fifth Avenue, and I think I once caught a whiff of one on Hillary Hyphen Which was disturbing

"Doing anything today, Hunter?" she asked

"Thought I&039;d go to Chinatown"

"Oh, is it cool in Chinatown these days?"

Okay My parents don&039;t really get et cool In fact, they don&039;t actually believe in cool They think it&039;s all a big joke, like in those old uy scratches his ar until arht

My parents like to e on, as if saying the word in an annoying tone will help h its inherent shallowness Or e to the will get then the stack of release forms I leave theive permission before multinationals pick my brain) And they seem not to mind the free clothes, phones, and other electronics that show up in the uess is that some of Chinatown is cool and so a friend"

"Anyone we know?"

"Her naraph and raised an eyebrow Moirlfriend or anything," I said,a terrible"Why do you roaned "Because you had a look on your face"

"What kind of look?"

"I just met her yesterday"

"Wow," Mom said "You really do like her, don&039;t you?"

I si a soe I hoped Dad would chalk up any redness in my face to sudden onset of West Nile fever

My parents and I are really close, but they have this annoying idea that I&039;e swaths of my roe swaths to hide Even medium-sized swaths

They sat in patient silence as I cowered behindfor a response froed to come up as

"Yeah, she&039;s really cool"

Jen was already there, wearing non-brand, not-too-baggy jeans, the sa-sun-laced runners as the day before, and a black T-shirt A very classic look

For a ainst a la out the street The block of Lispenard where Mandy was ed between Chinatown and Tribeca, part industrial and part tourist-land The Friday n firns in both Chinese and English A few places were boarded up, and patches of cobblestones showed through the asphalt, revealing the true age of the neighborhood These streets had first been laid down by the Dutch in the 1600s

All the buildings around us were six stories tall Most structures in Manhattan are six stories Any s Any taller and by law you have to put in an elevator Six-story buildings are the black T-shirt of New York architecture

I called Jen&039;s name when she spottedthis"

"Doing what?"

"Cohed "Just say the words cool maven a coupleone"

She rolled her eyes "You knohat I mean, Hunter"

"Actually, I don&039;t knoe&039;re down here anyall mysterious"

Jen looked down at the sidewalk, where an advertisement for so, right?"

"You were specificallyup"

"Messing things up takes talent Like I said yesterday, you&039;ve got a good eye Mandy wants us to look at sooing to be one of those days when people said that word to me a lot I put inal thinking That&039;s all I know"

"Original thinking?" Jen&039;s shoulders twitched, as if her black T-shirt had shrunk in the wash "Don&039;t you ever think your job is kind of weird?"

I shrugged That&039;s what I usually do when people ask

But Jen didn&039;t buy the shrug "You knohat I mean, don&039;t you?"

"Look, Jen,on each other, anddown gossip aboutpork-belly futures And I&039;m not even sure what pork-belly futures are"

Jen raised an eyebrow "Aren&039;t they an option to buy pork bellies in the future at a certain price?"

I opened my mouth and found it empty of sound This was my stock speech, and no one had ever calledbefore

"My dad&039;s a broker," she apologized

"So tell me: why anyone would want to buy pork bellies at all?"

"I have no idea"

Saved "What I et paid for all that stuff, why shouldn&039;t soure out what&039;s cool?"

Jen spread her hands "Shouldn&039;t it just be cool?"

"Like have a special glow or so&039;s really cool, shouldn&039;t people figure that out, on their own? Why should they need &039;Don&039;t Walk&039; ads or azines or trend spotters to tell them?"

"Because most people aren&039;t cool"

"How do you know?"

"Look around you"

She did The guy walking past earing a shirt five sizes too big (innovated by gangbangers to hide guns in their waistbands), shorts down below his knees (innovated by surfers to keep their thighs fro sunburned), and oversized shoes (innovated by skaters to save their feet froether all of these once-practical ideas uy look like he&039;d been hit by a shrink ray and was about to disappear into his clothes screarin Saved again

"That guy needs our help," I said softly

"That guy will never be cool But a lot of people are getting rich off

hihed, looking up at the thin slice of sky, and noticed the weathered, faded A slowly in the breeze They&039;d all been hung on the sa people they had to

Jen was silent, probably thinking I was1918

Because of my dad I know all about 1918, the year there was a really nasty flu It swept across every country in the world It killed ot it, almost a third of everyone alive back then

And you knohat&039;s really a? The virus didn&039;t spread over the radio, and you didn&039;t get it fro the side of a bus No one was hired to spread it Everyone who contracted the disease got it fro sneezed on by, soht? So in one year just about everyone in the world had shaken hands with someone who had shaken hands with someone who had shaken hands with Patient Zero (which is what they call Innovators in the crazy world of epideer to each other, "Wow, this new breath reat! Want one?" In just a year about a billion people would be using that new breath

Kind of makes you think

The uncomfortable silence stretched out for a while, and I found, I wouldn&039;t have lost my cool with Jen She had a perfectly valid point about cool hunting - it&039;s just that I get tired of having the saument with my parents every day, and with other people, and withto say, but all I could think about was the 1918 flu, which didn&039;t see topic of conversation Sometimes I hate my brain

Jen finally broke the silence

"Maybe she&039;s not co"

I checked the time on my phone Mandy was tenabout so down the street toward the nearest subway stop, and I got the unpleasant idea that she was thinking about leaving

"Yeah, sorry I&039;ll call her" I scrolled up shugrrl and pressed send Six rings later I got Mandy&039;s voice mail

"Must be on the subway," I said, about to leave aain"

"What?"

"Wait a second" She watched a truck pass, then nodded at the phone "Hang up and call again"

"Okay" I shrugged - that&039;s Innovators for you - and pressed send

Jen cocked her head, then took a few steps toward the wall of plywood that surrounded a derelict building next to us She put her hands on the wood and leaned close to it, like she was doing a psychic reading of the layers of graffiti and posters

Again six rings

"Uh, Mandy," I said to the voice ht? We&039;re here; let us knohere you are"

Jen turned around, a strange look on her face