I completed this rewrite on Monday, September 10th, 2001. I shipped it off to my beta team early that morning with a plea for a rush job because I couldn't stand leaving the old version up even one more day than necessary, shook off my exhaustion from an intense weekend of writing, and started planning for the next story. That was ten years ago; it must have been. It couldn't have been just last week.

I don't know when you'll be hearing from me again next, if at all. All of the untold stories in my head are set in a world in which the events of September 11th never happened, a world that's so starkly different from the one in which we now live that anything that happens there seems unworthy of the effort. I can't wrap my mind around how *Aaron Sorkin* is going to tell stories in that world now, let alone a hack like me. Selfishly, I do hope I'll eventually feel differently about that -- the past nine months have been a time full of creative energy I'd never thought myself capable of, full of self-discovery and new directions and wonderful new friends. At the moment, though, all of that seems pretty tiny and insignificant. (Except for the friends; that part's only become more important.)

On top of the obligatory warnings (for consensual male/male sex, angst, blah blah blah), I'd like to particularly warn you all about one thing: THIS IS A STORY SET IN NEW YORK CITY in 1985-86. It doesn't mention the World Trade Center, but the protagonist (Sam) is not terribly fond of the city at this point in his life, and that's quite apparent in several places. If this is likely to offend you, please don't read it. I really couldn't blame any of you for that; it offends *me*.

Despite the fact that there are passages here that now make me sick to my stomach, I have made no changes to the story in light of recent events; I took the advice of my beta team on stylistic and minor plot-related revisions, no more. Even the headers are a rough draft of the ones I would have otherwise posted; I haven't touched them since last Monday night. I'm letting it all stand as a little piece of history, as one final foray into a more innocent world. I hope some of you are able to enjoy it for what it is.

Jae