M. T. Anderson (27 page)
Authors: Feed
Tags: #General, #Fiction, #Social Issues, #Juvenile Fiction, #Implants; Artifical, #Fantasy & Magic, #Science Fiction, #Science & Technology, #Values & Virtues, #Adolescence
And I whispered, “Violet . . . Violet? There’s one story I’ll keep telling you. I’ll keep telling it. You’re the story. I don’t want you to forget. When you wake up, I want you to remember yourself. I’m going to remember. You’re still there, as long as I can remember you. As long as someone knows you. I know you so well, I could drive a simulator. This is the story.”
And for the first time, I started crying.
I cried, sitting by her bed, and I told her the story of us. “It’s about the feed,” I said. “It’s about this meg normal guy, who doesn’t think about anything until one wacky day, when he meets a dissident with a heart of gold.” I said, “Set against the backdrop of America in its final days, it’s the high-spirited story of their love together, it’s laugh-out-loud funny, really heartwarming, and a visual feast.” I picked up her hand and held it to my lips. I whispered to her fingers. “Together, the two crazy kids grow, have madcap escapades, and learn an important lesson about love. They learn to resist the feed. Rated PG-13. For language,” I whispered, “and mild sexual situations.”
I sat in her room, by her side, and she stared at the ceiling. I held her hand. On a screen, her heart was barely beating.
I could see my face, crying, in her blank eye.
M. T. A
NDERSON
is the author of
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party,
which won the National Book Award, and the sequel,
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves.
He is also the author of
Thirsty, Burger Wuss,
and several books for younger readers. About
Feed,
he says, “To write this novel, I read a huge number of back issues of magazines like
Seventeen, Maxim,
and
Stuff.
I listened to cell phone conversations in malls. People tend to shout. Where else could you get lines like, ‘Dude, I think the truffle is totally undervalued’?” M. T. Anderson lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
