Below, you will find a very brief (fictional) SMS message exchange between Justin and Justina, two similarly-named friends. I have covered their numerous Brooklyn adventures here at The New Leaf Journal in an ongoing article series.

We pick up the dialogue with Justin sending Justina an SMS message while walking over Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal, which is known for being heavily polluted. Justina only has limited time to deal with Justin’s nonsense about seagulls growing thumbs because she is at work, making the forthcoming dialogue brief.

Dialogue: The Seagulls Will Grow Thumbs

Public domain image of seagulls perched on a rusty old boat.
“Seagull sailors.” by Bernard Spragg is marked under CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/cc0/1.0/

Justin: Justina! I’m disturbed.
Justina: I’m working. What is it?
Justin: Just saw twelve seagulls gliding in circles over the Gowanus Canal at the 3rd Street crossing.
Justina: Ok.
Justin: Do you know what this means!?
Justina: No.
Justin: They’re going to grow thumbs! Thumbs!
Justina: Oh, is this a joke about the Canal being polluted?
Justin: It’s no joke!
Justina: I thought you said they were making some progress cleaning it up.
Justin: They are. That’s why the seagulls are only growing thumbs. If you asked me six months ago, I would have said that the seagulls would also manifest knees.
Justina: Alright, I’m going back to my work now.
Justin: Good luck. I’m going to thumb-wrestle a seagull.