Страница 74 из 74
Then I killed him, and that might have taught him a lesson if he hadn't known I would be bringing him back. Damn demon.
So Tierce Japhrimel, like every good character, rummaged through the dustheap at the back of my mind and came up with something wonderful, something I took as a writer takes these sorts of things — a gift not to be examined too closely in the heat of creation, for fear of the magic draining away.
Da
Please note, dear Reader, than I am in no way implying Da
However, I like to think that I've read enough history, both for schooling and for fun, to say with some certainty that people throughout the ages are largely the same. The issues that resonate with a regular-Joe type of person in my own time are largely the same issues that would resonate with a regular-Flavius Roman, or a regular Han Chinese. We all worry about those damn kids today and food and shelter, and the approbation of our social set; and where the world is going. We survive, and when we have room left over from survival we create, and we raise our kids and laugh and cry and grieve.
Not too long ago I was in a pediatrician's waiting room. There was a Ukrainian family (at least, I think they were Ukrainian) and a Hispanic family, each chattering away in their respective languages, the kids either playing or sticking close to Mum or Dad or Grandma if they were feeling poorly. I remember a glance of total accord exchanged between two mothers from different continents — a glance I had no trouble deciphering — when one child ran around in a circle making an airplane noise. The slight smile, lifted eyebrows, and rueful love in the expression was universal.
It is that moment I think of when I say the word "history." Often we forget, when studying other cultures or even our own, that people are pretty much the same the world over, with the same basic needs for food, shelter, love, and art. The diversity of cultures does not detract from that one glance shared between mothers — a glance no mommy, from the earliest furry human to whatever cyberpunk age comes next, would ever have trouble translating.
But I digress. Hey, it's an appendix. I suppose I'm allowed.
Da
You realize I couldn't begin to list all the different influences that shaped Da
Da
Even if Japhrimel pulled a doublecross on me, and even if Dante is a difficult and unlikeable person sometimes, and even if I imagined a world that says more about me and my time than it ever will about the future. I had a Hell of a time.
I can't wait to do it again.
When I do, dear Reader, you're invited to come along. The story is in the sharing, after all. It would be right bloody useless if it wasn't.
The only thing that remains to be said is, thank you for reading. I hope you had a good time.
And flying skateboards are still cool.