John walked back into his kitchen, shoes stained green and sweat covering his body. Tired arms opened his fridge and pulled out his metal water bottle. He started gulping down the cold liquid.
“John!” He spluttered as Skylar flounced into the kitchen. “Guess what!” John coughed, hitting his fist against his chest. Skylar continued without any input. “Did you know avocados are a super food? And Avocados from Mexico have the highest concentration of healthy fats than any other!" John wiped the back of his mouth with his hand.
"The brand or-"
"And cranberries are packed with antioxidants!" Skylar’s eyes were shiny, and they pressed up to the tips of their toes and spread their fingers out on the white counter top. “Cranberries make great juice!” Skylar bounced on their heels. He brushed his sweaty hair of his forehead, not surprised Skylar had more to say about cranberries. "And Ocean Spray is having a thirty percent off sale using the promo code spray30!" He set his bottle down, stepping around the counter towards Skylar.
When they paused for a breath, John grabbed their shoulders. "Where have you been learning all this?" He asked.
"Your computer." Skylar shrugged their shoulders. "On a blog about healthy foods.”
“Okay-”
“And purple carrots also have antioxidants! And they have things good for your eyesight! Farmer’s markets have organic purple carrots and we should totally try them!”
“You don’t have to shout.” John let go of the still bouncing Skylar in order to press his fingertips to his temple. “Why don’t you show me this blog?” Skylar grabbed one of John’s wrists and pulled him back up to his room.
“See!” Skylar pointed to the computer screen.
John shook his hand free of Skylar and walked around the edge of his rug, leaning over the back of his chair. “What did I said about the shouting?”
“Sorry.” Skylar whispered.
The screen was cluttered, with everything from click bait headlines to advertisements filling the margins and spaces between posts. There were colors, movements, several overlapping audio clips, and videos making it hard for John to focus on any one thing.
“Isn’t it an amazing blog?” Skylar stood next to John. “I was about to read the post about chia seeds.” They pointed to the exaggerated title boasting Chia seeds cure colds!
“More like a splog.” John grumbled. He pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling beads of sweat getting stuck in his eyebrows. He sighed. “Have a seat and I’ll try to explain how to find more reputable sites on the internet for research.”
“What’s wrong here?” Skylar spun the seat in order to sit down again.
“Well, ninety percent of it is advertisements.” John pointed to the various ads filling every inch of the screen besides the post titles.
John gave Skylar the paraphrased version of the various lectures he experienced in school. The dried sweat became itchy. Once he felt more confident in leaving Skylar with his computer, John went to take a shower.
Word count: 500
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