First Minion, Knitter of the Squid

You’ve seen this shirt, right? Sorry I’m late. I didn’t want to write. When you lose a friend on the internet, you may not even know it for a while. It’s sad. You meet someone, in the wilds of the internet, who lives states or even oceans away from you. You form a friendship that is very, very real to both of you, though the world still looks down on meeting people online. Maybe you exchange addresses, to exchange cookies. Send each other gifts. Mention your online friends to the people around you, but if they were into the same things your online friend and you are, they’d know your online friend. Then something happens. There is a friend-shaped hole in your internet, and you go snooping about the edges, maybe reaching out to acquaintances, lovely people you don’t talk to much, but know they shared a different passion with your friend than the one you talked to her about. If you’re lucky, you find your friend. Computer was down, internet broke, they just needed to be quiet–all’s well. If you’re unlucky, you find out your friend passed away, and no one who knew that knew enough about you to tell you. My dear friend Bea passed away last month. I will miss her, more than I think i even know now. She was my friend, and she was my biggest fan. She loved Knight Errant, saying it was one of her favorite books. IIRC, once she declared me and…

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