American SIM card that
allowed him to contact
the United States. He
felt around in his jacket
pocket, and there it was!
Carefully he pulled it
out, powered it on, and
turned on international
data roaming, balancing
the phone on his chest
with his good hand. Bat-
tery charge: 42 percent.
He thought about
googling the number
for the local police and
hoping that whoever an-
swered spoke English.
But even if the person did, what would
he say? “I’ve been in an accident, and
I’m ... somewhere?”
He noticed a few of the apps he’d left
open on the phone, including Face-
book. An idea struck. Taking great care
not to let the blood-slick phone tum-
ble down the dark ravine, he opened a
bright red backdrop on his status page
and typed away. Less than two minutes
later, Aimee Spevak saw the post.A
t first, Spevak had no idea
what to do. What could she
do? Where in Bali was he?
Then she remembered that Facebook
has a function that allows you to call
your friends. She gave it a try. To her
immense surprise and relief, Lythcott
picked up. Sometimes the incessant
connectivity of the online world isn’t
such a bad thing.“Aimee,” he said, “I’m in the woods.
I don’t know where I am. I don’t know
what’s happening.”
“OK,” Spevak said. “Can you send
me your location?”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to call somebody, and
we’ll get you out of there.”
After they hung up, Lythcott sent
her his GPS coordinates on a map us-
ing Facebook’s “pin drop” function.
Now one person in the world knew
where he was.
Spevak, though, had no idea whom
to call or how to proceed. But she
knew who would: someone in Lyth-
cott’s vast circle of friends from around
the globe. She posted a screenshot of
the pin drop to the Facebook com-
ment thread and watched nervously
as every few seconds another friend
jumped into the conversation. “Mikey!!80 july/august 2019 | rd.com
Lythcott and Eno, seen here on their way to Bali, were globe-
trotters who met in Thailand and became fast friends.Reader’s Digest Drama in Real Life
courtesystaceyeno