It's beginning to look a lot like Netflix

A short story by Thea Weiss

- THEA WEISS

Three years ago, Shelby landed at Tom's door and asked to borrow his Netflix password.

It was a simpler time. A time before the password crackdown, when a person could still use a character combination they'd inherited from a friend or, in Shelby’s case, her ex coworker's brother, Brian.

But that evening, she discovered that Brian had changed his password. This roadblock delayed her viewing of Holly Does The Holidays. The film followed a woman who tried to determine whether her party date was a long-term match based on his gifting style.

In need of a login, Shelby tossed on her robe and buzzed the door of her new neighbour, Tom. Her building was a kind of faceless void; she'd tried to say hello to people on her floor, but they seemed to think it was safest to know as little as possible about who was on the other side of their walls.

Yet, as Tom had dragged a red chair out of the elevator a few weeks earlier, he'd said, “I’m right next door if you need anything.” Now, Shelby needed something.

“You want to borrow my password?” Tom asked. There was a half-eaten box of takeaway noodles in his hand. “Meaning, you'll log out afterwards?”

“Sure, I'll log out when I’m done,” Shelby agreed, though borrowed passwords usually came with an expiry date of until it changes again.

“What are you going to watch with it?” he asked.

Shelby was not about to reveal her Boxing Day tradition: a quiet night in with an absurd holiday film. Something about those schmaltzy romps released the pressure of two family gatherings and all of Aunt Sue's pointed questions involving her station in life.

“Nature documentary,” she said. “Frogs. Something with frogs.”

“Mmm,” Tom said. He shook his head.

“I don’t think so. Sorry, Shelly —”

“It's Shelby.