Exclusive Excerpt from Social Media Central

by Kevin Klehr

Snap! We hardly stepped outside Madeline’s door, and already a team of groupies were taking her picture. Then a guy took my image.

“So what are you?” he said.

“Huh?”

“Are you a blogger, a post jockey, a quick phrase, a filmmaker, a photographer, or a lover?”

“I bet he’s a lover,” said a grinning teenager.

“He can’t be,” said her friend. “Madeline Q doesn’t shop online. Isn’t that true, Ms. Q?”

“That’s true,” my celebrity one-night stand said. “I’m glad to see you’re a well-read woman.”

I clenched my lips tight.

“So, which are you?” asked an older gent near the back. He folded his arms, seemingly more to keep warm than to make a statement.

“He’s all of them and none of them.” She winked at me.

“Is he your boyfriend, Madeline Q?”

“Why? Are you jealous?”

“Never take love too lightly,” the older gent said. “In an age of electronic social desperation, he may be the only thing worth coming back to.”

I smiled to myself.

“Weirdo,” jibed one of the teenagers.

“Listen to this man,” I said. “You don’t want to masturbate in front of a screen all your life.”

“He’s right,” the man continued. “You know our population is shrinking. Shit, ten percent of the last generation died virgins.”

“Ew!” shrieked the teen. “I don’t want to get a disease.”

“Who told you that, you silly girl?”

“I read it online.”

“Now, now,” said Madi. “My front door is not a place for debate or name-calling.”

A murmur ran through the small crowd. The elder pulled out his mobile screen. The lens in his small device extended as he pointed it at me.

“What’s your name?”

Madi placed her arm around my shoulder and declared, “His name is Tayler.”

The others pronounced my name, took extra shots, and uploaded. Continue reading →