The Thing About Jellyfish

Suzy knows that she will need a credit card to buy the airline ticket to Australia, which costs over a thousand dollars. Her father leaves his credit card at the table every Saturday night as they finish their meal so that he can go wash up. Suzy writes the card’s numbers on a pink index card over four dinners. She assumes that her father will understand when he finds out what she has done.

Suzy wants to have $500 in cash to take on the trip. She has $283.62 in her piggy bank from her allowance and spare change. She begins taking money from her mother’s wallet every week. Her mother is too busy and “scattered” to notice. Suzy’s stomach hurts with guilt when she takes the money, but she also recalls that her mother could not explain Franny’s death except to say, “Sometimes things just happen” (237). Suzy rationalizes that she does not have a choice: she must go to Australia to find better answers.

Justin and Suzy are lab partners for an earthworm dissection project. Justin gives the worm the name “Thor” before dissecting it, making Suzy smile. Justin asks if his nickname for Suzy, “Belle,” comes from Snow White. She corrects him aloud by referencing Beauty and the Beast. Justin is surprised that she speaks, and Suzy explains that she speaks “[w]hen there’s something to say” (240). Justin proceeds with the dissection but stops to take his medicine, explaining to Suzy that it helps him to focus: “[…] it’s like the world around me has changed” (243). She compares the effect of his medication to orchestral music that takes the place of chaotic noise, and he says she is correct. 

At an appointment with Dr. Legs, Suzy mentally reviews details for her secret trip. She has studied maps, learned some Australian phrases, and used online booking to reserve two nights at a cheap hotel. She breaks her silence with Dr. Legs to ask how a person says goodbye. Dr Legs assumes Suzy is talking about Franny’s death: “There really are no magic words […] the most important thing is that you keep some part of them inside you” (248). Suzy is thinking about leaving her parents when she flies to Australia.

Suzy goes to Ming Palace with her father. She thinks about how she will buy her airline ticket that upcoming Tuesday to leave Thursday morning when her mother has an early house showing. Suzy’s father mentions that he wants to take her to a place nearby where someone has discovered dinosaur footprints. Suzy reflects on the fish trapped in the tank inside the restaurant: “They probably thought this glass tank was the whole world” (254). Suzy’s fortune cookie happens to be blank, which makes her frown, while her father’s fortune references a “long journey.” On the way home, Suzy hears on the radio that Diana Nyad, the long-distance swimmer about whom she read while researching jellyfish experts, will make her fifth attempt at swimming from Cuba to Florida.

Suzy uses her dad’s credit card information to purchase a ticket to fly to Cairns, Australia. She calls the airport shuttle and reserves a ride from the university campus near her house to the airport: “It was arranged” (260).

On Suzy’s last day before her flight, Justin asks her if she plans to go to the dance, the theme of which is “Heroes and Villains.” She tells him she will be out of town. She guesses he will dress as a villain. When Suzy gets off the bus, she goes to Aaron’s and Rocco’s apartment, wanting to see them before her trip. They are not home, but she lets herself in with a hidden key. She notices a middle school picture of Aaron and takes it. She sees $48 in cash and takes it to add to her trip money. On her way out, she accidentally leaves the key inside the apartment, locking it inside.

Suzy feels anger and sadness on her last morning at home. She cannot say goodbye to her mother, and she needs her mother to leave so that she can begin to follow through with her plan. Suzy ends up snapping at her mother: “Just go, Mom. I don’t. Want. You. Here” (270). She wants to go on her trip, but she also wants her mother to make her stay home. Her mother leaves, and Suzy realizes she must say goodbye to one more person.

Suzy calls Franny’s mom. She asks about Franny’s dog and mentions the school dance. Suzy wants to tell Franny’s mom about her upcoming quest to find an explanation for Franny’s death. Franny’s mom says that Franny always admired Suzy and wanted to be more like Suzy and care less what others thought, the way Suzy did not care. Suzy is shocked to hear this. They sit in silence until Suzy says she must go. After hanging up, Suzy leaves with her suitcase.

Suzy reflects that perhaps the last mention of a person’s name is the moment they “fade into a shadow, dark and featureless” (278). She wonders if this fading process means one should not say that name after someone dies, to prevent them from disappearing “for good.”