When (v5): Rebecca Stead

Marcus and Julia. I think about how she whipped her diamond ring off and used it to explain the way she sees time, and the way Marcus stared at her afterward. Maybe he was thinking that he wasn’t alone in the world after all. I get this rush of happiness, this flood of relief. Marcus won’t be alone. He’ll have a partner. He’ll have Julia.

I’m wiggling out from under the mailbox—some guy with a big black dog is looking at me funny—and I suddenly remember what you said to me, practically on this exact spot, the afternoon I gave you my soggy cheese sandwich: I’m an old man, and she’s gone now. So don’t worry, okay?

I believe that you were ready. But I still think it’s sad.

I leave the drawing there, wedged underneath the mailbox with our key. It doesn’t seem right to take it. I figure it will be there for a long time, and then, someday, it’ll just blow away.

Sal and Miranda,

Miranda and Sal

Sal and I don’t wait for each other these days. Not purposely. But if we happen to be leaving school at the same time, if he isn’t going to a friend’s, or to basketball practice, and I’m not going to Annemarie’s or Julia’s—or Colin’s—then Sal and I walk home together. And we are better this way, together because we want to be. He understood that before I did.

We walk up to Broadway, past Jimmy’s. We walk to Amsterdam, past the garage, where the boys still say stuff to us and we ignore them. We walk past Marcus’s door.

We pass Belle’s. We cross the last street, to your old corner, where the mailbox is still scratched up with your words.

And when we are safely across, Sal always gives a little salute. And sometimes I look up, and shake my fist at the sky.

Parting Gifts

My letter is almost finished now. Very soon, I will bring it to Marcus, just like you asked.

There are things I could tell him, things I think I’ve figured out, like that those naked guys—the ones running down the street the days we had to eat lunch in the school cafeteria, and the one I saw flickering in and out before the accident—they were all you, learning how to get here. Practicing. You said you couldn’t carry anything, and I guess that includes clothes. That’s why you carried my notes in your mouth.

Or I could give Marcus some advice, like if he gets hungry while he’s visiting, he’ll find Annemarie’s perfectly good lunch in the garbage can across from the schoolyard, where she threw it away every day for six weeks. But I’m pretty sure you figured that out for yourself.

Or I could tell him about Julia.

But I’ve decided I won’t say much. I’ll just hand him my letter and say, “Try not to land in the broccoli.” He’ll understand. He’s a smart kid.

Acknowledgments

I had to be rescued several times while writing this book, and my profound gratitude goes to: my editor, Wendy Lamb, and associate editor Caroline Meckler, for their questions, advice, and trust; my agent, Faye Bender, for her insight and unflagging support; my wise and generous draft-readers, Deborah Stead, Karen Romano Young, Robert Warren, Jack O’Brien, Sean O’Brien, Samantha Kish-Levine, Michelle Knudsen, Alison James, and Daphne Grab, for their crucial aid and encouragement; the talented Colleen Fellingham and Barbara Perris, for their keen eyes and uncompromising copyediting standards; and art director Kate Gartner, for her delightful book design. Special thanks to Randi Kish, who opened her memory to me at a moment’s notice, and to David Stead, who helped me understand my own story, once and for all, over breakfast.

Every writer stands on the shoulders of many other writers, and it isn’t practical to thank all of them. However, I would like to express my special admiration for the astonishing imagination and hard work of Madeleine L’Engle, whose books captivated me when I was young (they still do), and made me want in on the secrets of the universe (ditto).

a cognizant original v5 release october 23 2010

About the Author

REBECCA STEAD is the author of First Light . She grew up in New York City and still lives there, with her husband and their two sons.

Published by Wendy Lamb Books

an imprint of Random House Children’s Books

a division of Random House, Inc.

New York

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2009 by Rebecca Stead

All rights reserved.

Wendy Lamb Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Visit us on the Web! www.randomhouse.com/kids

Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at

www.randomhouse.com/teachers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stead, Rebecca.

When you reach me / Rebecca Stead. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: As her mother prepares to be a contestant on the 1970s television game show, “The $20,000 Pyramid,” a twelve-year-old New York City girl tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space.

eISBN: 978-0-375-89269-1

[1. Space and time—Fiction. 2. New York (N.Y.)—

History—1951—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.S80857Wh 2009

[Fic]—dc22

2008024998

v3.0