Oona Out of Order

It’s New Year’s Eve 1982 and the night before Oona’s 19th birthday. She is in a basement in Brooklyn celebrating with a group of high school friends and members of the band she plays in: Early Dawning, a name inspired by the band the Velvet Underground. She checks the time on a watch that Dale, her boyfriend and the band’s lead singer and guitarist, gave her. It has a silver face with black stars and is one of her most prized possessions.

Oona is caught up in music choice and retrieving ice but is interrupted by Dale, who urges her to enjoy the party. A crash from upstairs overwhelms Oona, as she flashes back to a mugging earlier that year. However, it’s only their drummer, Corey, having a drunken accident. Dale helps her relax and distracts her with kisses, but she stops him before they get too far, thinking they need to get back to the party. Dale insists he will always protect her, especially when their band goes on tour that spring, and convinces her to relax and let him take care of everything.

Oona thinks about her role as a keyboardist in the band and how the reviews say she is nothing special. She thinks that she could be a better guitarist if given the chance, but that’s Dale’s role. Oona talks with another band member, Wayne, who asks her if she’s okay. She says yes but feels stressed about impending life decisions. She accidentally walks in on Corey, the drummer, doing cocaine in the bathroom and lectures him about hard drugs being against band rules. She tells him he needs to pull it together if he wants to stay. She feels like a hypocrite, as she herself isn’t sure she wants to stay in the band.

Pam, Oona’s best friend from elementary school, shows up and reminds her that she has an alternative. They both have been accepted to a program in London, and Oona hasn’t decided which to choose: the band or education abroad. She tells Pam that she hasn’t told anyone about being accepted—not even her free-spirited mother.

Dale finds Oona and gives her an early birthday gift: a leather jacket like his, which Oona likes to wear and calls her “New York City armor” (15). Oona privately thinks the gift misses the point, as wearing Dale’s jacket makes her feel safe and close to him. She continues to worry about which path she should take, but as the clock counts down and she kisses Dale, she feels like she is deeply in love. The floor begins to shake and her body feels strange, but she assumes it’s the subway or her anxiety about the life-changing choice ahead of her. At a second to midnight, she feels intense pain, and her body’s atoms “scramble” and reassemble in a different time and place.

Oona wakes up in a quiet room that looks like a fancy library with a man she doesn’t know asking her if she’s okay. She has a flashback of seeing her father’s dead body after he accidentally drowned, and she screams. The man, who is in his early thirties, tries to calm her and explains that his name is Kenzie. He says he’s her personal assistant and friend and explains that she is in her home and safe. Oona doesn’t believe him. She sees a picture of Dale, the band, herself, and Pam at the party in 1982 and wants to return there. Kenzie tries to convince her that she can trust him by recounting details from that night that she previously told him. However, he confuses her by using slang from the 2000s that Oona doesn’t understand. He explains that while she is still 19 on the inside, she is now in 2015 and so 51 on the outside. He gives her an envelope with a letter he says she wrote to herself to explain the situation.

Oona doesn’t believe him and tries to run away. She notices her body doesn’t feel the same and panics when she sees herself in a mirror. She tries to leave the house, but the door is locked. She insists Kenzie let her go and he does, but not before making her take a coat and bag (which she doesn’t recognize) with her current information in it.

Oona flees through New York in disbelief, seeing evidence that both supports and contradicts the idea that she is in the future. She attempts to buy a token on the subway and is given a card instead. She appreciates the safer, cleaner system and decides to read the letter while she rides the train. It explains that the leap through time happens every year on her birthday: There’s nothing she can do about it, and nothing she did caused it. Oona is surprised to see a tattoo on her wrist. It features an hourglass filled with swirling galaxies instead of sand and the initials “M.D.C.R.” She assumes the M stands for her mother, Madeleine, the D for Dale, and the C for her father Charles, but she wonders whom the R represents. The letter continues, explaining that Oona won’t give herself information about her future, good or bad, as it would take the fun out of living. The exception is tips on how to make money, her knowledge of the future having made her very rich.

Oona’s letter lays out several guidelines. First, she can’t tell anyone about time travel, but the letter assures her that her mother and Kenzie know. Second, she shouldn’t get so rich that she attracts attention. She needs to give money away and sometimes lose on the stock market so people don’t notice her abilities. Third, she should avoid publicity for the same reason, and fourth, she should avoid being photographed so as not to spoil what she looks like for future or past selves.

Oona gets off the subway before she finishes the letter and goes to Dale’s house. His family no longer lives there, and the current tenant closes the door in her face. She collapses on the steps and continues to read the letter. Guideline five says to trust Kenzie. He’s more than a personal assistant; he is loyal, young, wise, and fun. Sixth, she shouldn’t trust technology, as it’s easy to get carried away and she needs to avoid social media. Also, she may not have access to technology in the next time period she leaps to.

Finally, the letter informs her that Dale is dead. He had a stroke when he was young. Oona should not look up his obituary or search social media for information, as the knowledge would be too much. The letter assures Oona her mother is fine and will visit in the morning. Oona is still having trouble processing the news when Kenzie pulls up in a car. Oona gets in and insists that he teach her about the internet and social media as soon as they get home.

Kenzie tries to put off teaching Oona about the internet since it’s late, but she insists. He offers her a soy latte, which she doesn’t recognize, so she tries to make a cup of regular coffee. However, she finds she doesn’t know how to work a K-cup machine.

Kenzie shows her a modern phone, tablet, and laptop and gives her a quick lesson about the internet. He helps her search for Dale, though he tries to talk her out of it. She doesn’t learn much other than that Dale was 20 when he died. They search for her other friends, and Oona is surprised how they have turned out: Pam is a judge, and Corey is in jail. Oona is sad that she has lost touch with her friends, and when Kenzie reminds her that he and her mother are around, Oona thinks it’s not worth much but is better than nothing.

She falls asleep only to wake trying to decide whether to go on tour or go to London. Then, she sees her surroundings and remembers she no longer has to make that decision. There is a cabinet filled with knickknacks she doesn’t recognize as well as Dale’s watch, which has been mounted and framed.

Madeleine shows up looking great from plastic surgery. Oona doesn’t understand why her mother won’t tell her things about the past or the future and accuses her and Kenzie of hiding things. Madeleine replies that Oona’s wiser self has decided that to live properly, she can’t know too much information. The financial advice is the exception. Oona gets upset, and her mom tries to placate her with a present. It’s a swimsuit, which she will need for the day’s adventure.

Madeline takes Oona to a beach Oona once visited with Dale; she remembers that he talked about the stars in the universe outnumbering the grains of sand. A large crowd has assembled for a New Year’s Day polar bear plunge. Oona and her mother take part, and even though Oona feels the chill of the water, she feels numb inside until she vocalizes the fact that Dale is dead. Then, she feels like she is drowning.

Oona goes to bed clutching the jacket Dale gave her, which she found in the closet and no longer fits. She doesn’t get up for days and dreams of drowning.

She finally wakes to music and a note from Kenzie telling her to come downstairs. Kenzie introduces her to chai tea and Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love album, which is about a girl stranded at sea. He convinces her that what she is experiencing is real and that she is a good, generous person. However, he refuses to give her spoilers about her life. He notes that the girl in the Kate Bush album gets rescued.

The year goes by with Oona missing Dale but enjoying her money, home, and music—particularly the guitars on the wall, which belonged to famous musicians she loves. She notes that there are no keyboards in the house, and while she wants to play the guitars, she refuses, as she feels it would be disloyal to Dale.

Kenzie introduces her to iTunes, and she spends hours catching up on music, watching movies from the 1980s, and researching events she missed, including the deaths of musicians and 9/11. She asks Kenzie about his orientation, and he shares that coming out was relatively easy for him since he had two gay mothers.

Kenzie convinces Oona to take an interest in her money and introduces her to a binder she keeps in a safe. This includes all her business transactions and future stock tips, and Oona sees she accumulated her wealth by investing early in companies like Apple.

Kenzie eventually presses her to venture beyond their neighborhood, and as they see the city’s sights, they talk about a boyfriend he lost in 9/11. Oona shares how she first met Dale in a record store, and Kenzie and Oona grow closer. On New Year’s Eve, they discuss her desire to return to a younger age; going anywhere, however, would at least prove she isn’t “crazy.” She admits that she will miss Kenzie and wonders if she has been as good a friend to him as he was to her.