The Bit Missing From 'Comet'

So I watched an incredibly trippy, hipster movie on The Netflix tonight called Comet. If you like hipster trippy movies, you should stop reading and go watch it right now because it's that good.

But there was a part missing from the movie.

Actually, if you watch the movie, one could argue that there was a lot missing from the movie, like a time line, or the concept of time at all, or an ending but whatever. What hipster trippy movie has an actual ending.

What bothered me was that there was this one interaction at the very beginning of the movie and it felt really significant in the moment and then it was never discussed again and that is the bit that is missing because there was more to that storyline, the writers just forgot.

I figured I'd help them out a little because they're probably too busy at writing their next trippy hipster movie, so I just wrote the bit myself.

Yeah.

So when you watch it, just come back to this post like a day or so after you watch it, when your mind has had time to calm down from exploding, and you can read the bit they left out.

Have fun.

“Del.”

He recognized the voice right away, but couldn’t figure out why he recognized the voice. He mentally went through all the people he knew in his head, which took about three seconds considering he really only knew Kimberly.

He wanted to figure it out before he turned around and saw who the voice belonged to.

“Doctor Del.”

He gave in and turned around at that. He couldn’t remember anyone, anyone, ever calling him doctor before.

Del blinked a few times, trying to place her face, but failing.

“Speak again.”

“Pardon?”

“Yes, like that, speak again. Speak more. I know your voice, but your face is weird. Not like weird, but I don’t recognize it. The voice I know.”

She laughed and it hit him. “Comet girl.”

“I guess I never told you my name did I.”

“I think I would call you Comet girl even if you did though.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” She laughed again, and he felt like he needed to breath it in. He was so used to Kimberly’s laugh, which was either flirtatious because she wanted him or cruel because she was making fun of him. Sometimes both.

“What are you doing here?”

“I live here now.”

“What, here in New York?”

“I work at the hospital a few blocks away,” she said, pointing.

“The hospital?”

She smiled up at him and he felt like he needed to breathe that in too. “I’m a doctor. Of medicine. Practicing for three years now.”

“Practicing. Three years. My god, okay.”

“Surprised?”

“You’re just.” Del wondered if he should fight the urge to say the first thing that came into his brain at her question for about two seconds, then opened his mouth. “I didn’t think you’d actually make it. Plus you’re gorgeous now, cause let’s face it, you were a fat kid that one time with the comet in the graveyard, and now you’re really gorgeous and it must take a lot of effort to transition like that, so you wouldn’t do that for nothing, so it’s hard to believe you transitioned for medicine.”

“I didn’t, I transitioned for me.”

Del smiled, and breathed it in again.

“I transitioned for me, but I have you to thank for becoming a doctor.”

“Me?” Del turned his head sideways in confusion.

“Yeah,” she said, her voice getting softer and gentler through her smile. “You gave me your card that day, remember? Told me to give it to someone and anyone for a recommendation. I took that to mean you had faith in me. I still have the card actually.”

She reached into her purse and pulled out the card, wrinkled and torn and so faded you could barely see the writing anymore.

“I really doubted myself a lot at school. Not like other people doubted me, I mean I doubted myself. All the time. I had a bad habit of telling myself I was too dumb, too immature, too whatever. Or I’d miss like two questions on a test instead of getting perfect and feel like dropping out. And then I’d take out this card and remember that one time, you told a fat kid to become a doctor, and I’d stop crying and go for a run and tell myself I was smart. And that got me through medical school, and interviews, and patients, and life, kind of.”

Del stood completely still, not even wanting to breathe, trying to wrap his head around what was happening and what her words were and concentrate on the now and not the five minutes from now.

“I picked up the phone so many times to call you and talk to you and tell you stuff, but I always held back. I knew there could only be one time.”

“One time what?”

“One time to tell you thank you like this. One time to tell you that I’ve thought about that two minute encounter in the graveyard waiting to see a comet show nearly every day because of how much it meant to me that a brilliant doctor who has literally invented a cure for cancer took notice of a fat kid who knew some random medical term. One time to tell you that I owe all of the motivation for my hard work to you.”

She paused and looked at him straight and tilted her head just slightly, like she saw something that she wasn’t expecting, and he desperately wanted to ask her what it was, but was too afraid of the answer.

“You know,” she finally began again. “I’ve thought about this so much, about how this conversation or encounter would go down, and I always thought about it being about me. I always thought it was me getting stronger by saying thank you or me getting it off my chest finally or me me me. I never thought about it being about you. But I think now, I think looking at you, it needs to be about you. Could I be right?”

Del wanted to answer, but felt like he would choke if he tried.

“I am,” she continued, smiling just a little, in the corner of her mouth. “You know, sometimes I get these feelings. I don’t really know what to call them. My fiancé calls it tripping beautifully, but that’s just because I weird him out in a good way and he loves me. But I have one now, one that says you’ve never been told how important you are before.”

Del wanted to look away, look at the ground or the tree across the street or the coffee shop down the road, but he willed himself to keep looking at her, to be in this moment because it could just be one of the Big Ones.

“Sure, you’ve saved hundred, thousands probably, of people’s lives with your work. But you don’t know their names. They’re faceless to you. I have a name and you can look at my face when I tell you that you matter because you mattered to me. You mattered, you mattered, you mattered, you mattered. And I’m so grateful that you mattered to me.”

“I don’t know your name,” Del confessed.

She continued to look at him, then slowly broke out in laughter, first a gentle laughter, then getting more robust, then laughing so hard she was doubled over. Del couldn’t help but join in it was so contagious.

“Welp, that just kind of ruined my whole greeting card speech, didn’t it,” she said after calming down, wiping the tears of laughter out of her eyes.

“No, no no no no no no,” Del said, getting more emphatic with each no. “Nothing could ruin or negate that beautiful speech.”

“Amy,” she said, sticking out her hand.

“Amy,” Del repeated, taking her hand sincerely in his. “Amy, it’s so wonderful to meet you again. Listen, you wanna get a coffee or something? I would love to hear about your life.”

Amy’s happiness seemed like it all overflowed in her smile. “I would love to tell you about it, Doctor Del.”