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"Doesn't change a thing," I said "I wish you luck And speaking of luck, I want to tell you my real name It's Toby O'Dare and I was born in New Orleans"

"What's happened to you, Son?"

"Did you know that was my name?"

"No We were never able to trace you back before your New York friends You don't have to be telling anization you can quit, Son You can walk away I just want to know that you knohere you're going"

I laughed

For the first tihed

"I love you, Son," he said

"Yeah, I know, Boss And in a way, I love you That's the oing to do so of a book"

"Will you call me from time to time?"

"I don't think so, but you can always keep your eye on the bookstores, Boss Who knows? Maybe you'll find o noant to saywell, it wasn't your fault what I beca In a way, you saved ht have crossed my path, and that could have been worse than what actually happened Good luck, Boss"

I closed the phone before he could say anything For the next teeks I lived at the Mission Inn I typed on my laptop the entire story of what had happened

I wrote about Malchiah's co to me, and I wrote the version of my life that he had told me

I wrote all about what I'd done, as best I could remember it It hurt so bad to describe Fluria and Godwin that I could hardly endure it, but writing see that I could do and so I continued

Finally, I included the notes on the true things I knew about the Jews of Norwich, the books that dealt with the fact that Meir, the poet of Norwich, had really existed

Lastly, I wrote the title of the book, and that wasAngel Time

It was four in thewhen I finally finished

I went out on the veranda, found it completely dark and deserted, and sat at the iron table, ht, for the birds to start their inevitable singing

I could have cried again, but it seemed for a moment I had no more tears

What was real to me was this: I didn't knohether or not it had all happened I didn't knohether it was a dream I'd made up, or someone else had made up to surround me I only knew that I was co, to see Malchiah again, to hear his voice, to just look into his eyes To just know that it had all been real, or to lose the feeling that it had been undeniably real, which was driving me crazy

I was on the verge of another thought, but I'll never reain to forgive ures I'd seen in the crowd and I le one of them That I could reo, amazed me

Then I prayed out loud: