The Thing About Jellyfish

When Mrs. Turton calls on Suzy to deliver her science report, Suzy thinks of Jamie during his painful Irukandji sting experience. His bravery gives her the courage to speak. Suzy shares facts about jellyfish while she broaches her idea that “deadly jellyfish that used to be only in places like Australia” (174) now exist in other places—even Maryland. Mrs. Turton interrupts to tell her she is out of time, but Suzy insists on finishing her report. Suzy tries to convey that some deaths—maybe even Franny’s—that are attributed to a variety of explanations are actually the result of jellyfish stings. She is crushed by her classmates’ reactions; several show they are bored, two girls pass a note and laugh, and Molly signals to Aubrey that Suzy is crazy.

Suzy feels she has failed: “Somehow, in this report, the most important words I’d ever spoken out loud, I’d done something wrong” (177). Some in the class call Suzy “Medusa” (a jellyfish Suzy mentioned) before Mrs. Turton sends Suzy back to her seat, where she cries silently and writes a note to Jamie. She mentions in this note his eagerness to learn about jellies, despite their deadliness.

In this flashback, Suzy decides to send Franny a clear signal. Suzy remembers that she had told the girls at the cafeteria table that “different animals use pee to communicate” (182); she plans to employ her own urine to send Franny a message. Suzy urinates into several plastic take-out containers from Ming Palace and freezes them. On the last morning of sixth grade, she packs the containers of frozen urine into an insulated tote and takes them to school before anyone else arrives. Suzy lies to her mother about the necessity of the early arrival so that her mother will drive her. In the empty hall, she thinks how the scene resembles a movie set and heads to Franny’s locker.

Soon after Suzy’s science report presentation, the bell rings. Mrs. Turton instructs her to stay after class. Justin places a notebook page of sketches of jellyfish on Suzy’s desk on his way out; he drew them during her report. Mrs. Turton invites Suzy to eat lunch in her classroom anytime Suzy wants to talk. Suzy thinks to herself that she would rather talk to Jamie. Mrs. Turton also says they could just “sit and eat” (187). She tells Suzy that she earned an A on the report and that she should be proud of her work. Suzy, however, is convinced that her entire report is a mistake and a reflection of her own “terribly wrong” (188) personality.

In this flashback, Suzy pushes each frozen disk of urine into the open slats at the top of Franny’s locker. Forty minutes must pass before everyone else arrives, and the frozen disks will have melted by then and have soaked all of Franny’s belongings. Suzy’s stomach hurts while she pushes the disks through the slats, but she tells herself that Franny herself had asked for a big sign. Suzy plans to make eye contact with Franny when Franny arrives, so that Franny is sure to understand how much she hurt Suzy. In Suzy’s mind, her action is not a form of revenge, but a way to equalize Franny’s hurtful behaviors. Suzy buries the insulated lunch container and plastic containers under paper towels in the girls’ room trash. She feels sick and faint after completing the deed. 

In a brief note to Jamie, Suzy tells him that creatures who sting with venom are just protecting themselves, especially creatures like jellyfish who do not even have bones. She tells Jamie “the more venom a creature has, the more we should be able to forgive that animal” (193). She tells Jamie that she wishes they could sit and talk about these “creatures that no one else seems to understand” (194). 

In this flashback, the action picks up forty minutes after Suzy pushes the disks into Franny’s locker. The commotion is loud when Franny discovers her soaked items: “Oh, man, somebody took a leak in her locker!” (196). Franny begins to cry. The school secretary brings plastic bags, and Franny packs her wet things and carries the bags down the hall. Suzy hangs back in her homeroom doorway, silently begging Franny to make eye contact so that Suzy can complete and clarify the message; Franny does not look at her. Suzy suddenly realizes her decision will not lead to a renewed beginning to their friendship, but “some sort of ending” (198). Suzy is numb through the rest of the day. When she arrives home, she discovers that her first menstrual period has begun, and the sight of the blood “blares its crimson color at [her] like a warning. Or maybe an accusation” (198).

Students continue to call Suzy “Medusa” the next morning, so she goes to Mrs. Turton’s room for lunch. Mrs. Turton says she is concerned for Suzy, and Suzy indicates that she is okay. Mrs. Turton asks her if she likes science. Suzy does not respond but reflects on the wonders of nature as well as its “scarier things” like predators and the expansion of the universe. Mrs. Turton shows her a video on pollination that includes images of flowers blooming, bats flying at night, and monarch butterflies. Justin Maloney comes in to submit the bibliography of his report, and Mrs. Turton invites him to stay to view the video. He does. He calls Suzy “Belle” and she frowns, thinking he forgot her name. Engrossed in the beauty of the video, they watch it over and over until the bell rings. Justin explains that he called Suzy “Belle” for the large part of a jellyfish (its bell), something he learned in Suzy’s presentation. They walk to math together in the “not-talking kind of silence, the kind that so few people seemed to understand” (206).

In this flashback, Suzy recalls how she waited “after the failed message” (207), expecting the phone to ring and for the caller to accuse her of committing the deed. She doesn’t know who will call—the principal, Franny’s mom, the secretary—or if the police will simply show up to arrest her. The wait for accusation feels unbearable.

In this flashback, the wait continues for two days after the end of sixth grade. Suzy is sure that Franny must know Suzy had soaked the locker, but nothing happens as a result of Suzy’s deed.

Suzy recalls in this flashback that, four days after the incident, she begins to understand that no immediate repercussions will take place. If Franny knows who soaked her locker, she is not telling. Franny’s silence is “the worst, hardest thing of all” (210). Suzy does not know what she and Franny will say or do the next time they see one another. Her deed “hovers there, silently, like an unfinished sentence” (210).

This longer flashback details what Suzy does not want to talk about: Franny’s funeral, which takes place four days before the new school year. Suzy is surprised at the number of people who attend and at the photo of Franny on the church program, which was taken the day she died at the beach. She feels anger at Aubrey and Molly, who cry at the funeral. Suzy does not cry; Suzy believes that the absence of emotion proves that she, Suzy, deserved to lose Franny’s friendship. These topics are the ones that she does not want to discuss, but there are three things she wants Franny to know: first, Suzy notices that the constant movement of people shifting and moving programs contrast strongly with the stillness of the coffin; second, two birds fly around up in the church’s rafters; and third, Suzy wants to scream with frustration at the fact that everyone else—kids and adults alike—seems to accept Franny’s death as if there is nothing left to do or say about it.

Mom wakes Suzy for school; Suzy has overslept while having a dream in which Jamie is welcoming her to come swim in a tank filled with Irukandji jellyfish. In the dream, Suzy gets into the water; just as she is about to learn something important, in the same moment that she either reaches Jamie or gets stung, she wakes. Suzy realizes that staying still and doing nothing is worse than getting stung by a jellyfish. She begins to wonder if going to see Jamie in person might be possible after all.

Suzy observes that children over 12 can fly alone. She recalls a news story about a teenaged girl named Bridget Brown who flew with her brother and another child from Jacksonville to Nashville without anyone stopping them. Once they arrived, they realized they had no money left to get to Dollywood, their intended destination. Suzy believes their failure was due to lack of planning on Bridget’s part. She does not intend to make the same mistake with her trip to Australia: “You just need a good plan, a destination, money to get there, and enough deep breaths that you don’t lose your nerve” (223).

Posters at school announce a Winter Dance on February 10. Suzy decides that she will not vote for the dance’s theme, nor will she attend the dance, because she will be “out of the country by February 10” (225).