Ask The Author: Amy Letter

From February, “Blue Alyssa And The Sad Gray Crab.”

1. What would you do if you ran into yourself?

Jump out of the car and make sure myself was okay. (There was a time when I would’ve joked that I’d’ve made sure no one saw me and peel off into the night, but I saw the dead head-bleeding victim of a hideous hit-and-run a year or two back, and no longer consider such things funny.)

2. Where would you go in time? What would you do?

I would find the time between 6:21 and 6:22 in the morning and open it up and crawl inside, and find its middle and divide that middle and pull it open and climb inside, and again and some more, until I found Zeno’s peanut girl at the center of the nesting dolls of time, and she and I would lie in the grass firing arrows at the sun mid-rise.

3. What question would you ask the future version of myself? How should I answer?

What question would I ask the future version of you? I would ask you, am I still alive? You should tell me the truth.

What question should I ask the future version of me? I would ask me, was it worth it? I should tell me what I need to hear.

4. How did you go about structuring this story?

My story is structured?

5. What would you tell your past self?

You’re on your own, lady.

6. Would you find Carmen Sandiego?

No. I feel at long last Ms. Sandiego deserves her privacy.