The Thing About Jellyfish

One species of jellyfish, Turritopsis dohrnii, can revert from its adult phase to its younger plant-like phase, theoretically over and over; Suzy compares this trait to immortality. She reflects that everything would be different if people could behave like this jellyfish. If Suzy could go back to an easier, younger phase, Suzy thinks she would “never have tried to send […] that message […]” (284).

The shuttle takes Suzy to the airport. She says goodbye to the houses, the “small roads,” her town of South Grove. She reviews the contents of her carry-on (toothbrush and toothpaste, clean socks and underwear, a notebook containing Australian phrases) and waits in line at the check-in desk. She thinks how the university is named for Captain James Cook, one of the explorers she and Franny studied long ago. She nears the desk.

The woman at the desk notices almost immediately that Suzy is not old enough to take an international flight alone and that she has not applied for a travel visa. Suzy thinks encouraging thoughts and in her misunderstanding, she hands the woman the pink index card upon which she has written her father’s Visa card information. When the woman tells her that she is not allowed to fly alone, Suzy tries to cite what she learned from researching Bridget Brown’s trip and explain that children 12 and older can fly alone; the woman corrects her: “Not international travel” (292).