I nod. It’s Clyde. It’s really Clyde. Words tangled and confused and hopeless. My friend.
Except, it’s a copy of Clyde. And not the only one. He hasn’t died. He’s bloody multiplied.
But it’s Clyde. Clyde is alive. Or close as he can get.
My friend is alive.
Clyde grins at me. “And did we save the world today?”
I hesitate. I look at the face of my friend, on my computer. An electronic man. Someone who can never be killed. Only deleted.
I remember Jasmine, burned and blackened on the edge of the Thames.
I remember Nikolai, eaten by a mutant catfish in Russia.
I remember London. Mobs on the streets, fires burning.
But then I glance back at the bed, to Felicity, lying there, peaceful, maybe a little aglow after the make-up sex.
And I smile, because maybe this isn’t quite normal, and maybe we haven’t quite put the world back the way we found it, but I think I might like it this way all the same.
“Close enough,” I say to Clyde. “We were close enough.”
Acknowledgements
Launching a book into the world is an exhilarating and unnerving act much like kicking a young bird out of a nest to see if it can fly. These are the people who helped me put the boot in.
Thanks to my agent, Howard Morhaim, who can shoot holes in my writing like a sniper, and then knows exactly how I should make the repairs.
Thanks too to Paul Jessup, Mark Teppo, and Natania Barron, my writing partners in crime. They are wonderful, inspiring people full of wonderful and inspiring words. They put many of them to paper, and I highly recommend seeking those words out. Plus they’re total nerds, which makes me feel better about being one.
Most of all, thank you to my wife, Tami. Without her unending support, quiet cajoling, and extensive knowledge of grammar this book would never have come to be. She is the lynchpin upon which everything depends. If you enjoyed this book, you should thank her too. If you didn’t, well that’s my fault…
And finally, thanks too to you for reading this far. Hope you’re enjoying the ride. I know I am.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jonathan Wood is an Englishman in New York. Yesterday’s Hero is his second novel. He can be found online at www.cogsandneurons.com or on twitter where he masquerades as @thexmedic.
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