American River Review 2019 - Flipbook - Page 37
Facebook. It doesn’t feel over though. Four years of
my alternate life gone in a single click, but he could
still have them backed up on his computer. Without
Christina, I would have never found the profile; I lived
years without knowing a parasite had wormed its way
into my life, who knows how many more years Manny
Ortega could have existed without me knowing. Even
worse, would I even notice if another profile popped
up?
“He recently sent me a picture of him doing a
thumbs up by a beer pong table...did you post that one
up on anything?” Christina mentions this because the
two of us want answers. We want to know how deep
this goes. I know the beer pong photo she is talking
about. It was from New Year’s Eve and I had taken
down my bedroom door and assembled a makeshift
table in my garage. The thing is, I never posted that
picture.
Shortly after Nev’s portrait session with Angela,
they begin to interview her husband, Vince. Despite
having strangers show up at his front door with video
cameras he is calm and collected during this interview.
He’s sitting in the front porch looking out at his front
yard preparing himself for the monologue that is about
to escape his lips. “Cod fish being sent to China,” he
starts, “by the time the code went to China the flesh
was mush and tasteless. These guys came up with the
idea that if you put these cods in these big vats and
put some catfish in with them the catfish would keep
the cod agile. There are those people who are catfish
in life and they keep you on your toes, they keep you
guessing, they keep you thinking, they keep you fresh
and uh, I thank God for the catfish because we’d be
boring and dull if we didn’t have somebody nipping at
our fin.”
Manny Ortega wasn’t just following me, he was
following my friends. Emma posted that photo on her
Instagram and Manny had snatched it up and sent it as
a text to Christina.
“He admitted it,” Christina states after her phone
call with Manny ends. “He said he was going to stop
using your picture. He said to tell you he’s sorry and he
didn’t mean for it to get this far.”
She sends me two phone numbers that Manny has
used in the past, both have the area code 916.
I believe this. When his Tumblr started in 2008 it was
only a few reblogs of things he found funny or thoughtprovoking. When the first photo of me pops up there
are more likes than usual and maybe even a comment
or two. The next time a photo of me is used the same
thing happens and soon my pictures become frequent
and soon my photos become Manny Ortega’s photos.
At some point, these girls must have messaged him or
vice versa and that is when I can see things getting out
of hand and of the situation “getting this far.” Later on,
Christina states that she is still talking to him, that she
is trying to get to know the real him because they had
been best friends for so long.
My area code.
“He had told me he was from Sacramento,” she
types, “that he moves to New York and never changed
his phone number.” I remain silent with the possibility
that this is someone I have run into at least once in my
life. Christina is typing… I wait.
“He called…”
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