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The message was voice-only, but I would have glommed that voice anywhere. She said, “Jodd, this is Emily, from the Virtch. I hacked the master map to find your name and number, pretty easy in my line of business. I’m sorry about what I said, but the Park has been my secret for years, and you’re the first person to ever find it. I was just—crash—like you caught me with my pants down. Look, you can walk there any time you want. I’m glad you like it. Maybe I’ll see you there sometime. Maybe—” She hesitated, and I silently wished her on. “I’ll be there tomorrow night at six thirty, if you want to be there.”

Of course I wanted to be there!

Time in the Real never went quickly for me, but that next day at work was the longest one I can ever remember. I could hardly get my glove on, my hands were shaking so bad. I was fifteen minutes early. So was she.

Things were good. She showed me the programs for deer and rabbits that she was working on. I found out we’d gone to the same school as kids, and that she’d once dated Pax (but she hadn’t known he was in prison). She told me how she’d gotten her job as a Virtch programmer, how she’d been assigned to the worst job in the shop: designing land forms, and how she’d come to love the job. Nobody ever came down to the ground. It was her private place, and she took her work home and programmed after hours. She’d been perfecting the Park, as she’d named it, on her own time, every evening, for years. I told her how beautiful I thought it was. We made love in the waterfall.

Laddo had told me never to fall in love in the Virtch, but I fell hard. I spent every evening in the Park with Emily, talking, making love, even helping her work on the Park. I couldn’t program worth crash, but I’d critique what she’d done, and help her refine and debug things. It went on for a month, until a serpent came to the garden. His name was Laddo.

Emily and I were sunning on the diving rock when Laddo dropped out of the cloudless sky. Emily pulled up a console as soon as she spotted him, and had rezzed up clothes for us by the time he hovered in front of us. His feet never touched the ground.

He was smirking as he looked at us, me standing on the diving rock, Emily half-hiding behind me. “I knew you had problems, Jodd, but I never figured you for a walker. Did the bim talk you into it?”

“Her nym is Emily, Laddo, and she didn’t talk me into anything.” I suddenly glommed that I was looking up at him. I thought about flying up, to meet him eye-to-eye, but I didn’t. I almost wished Emily would rez out so I could face him alone, but she didn’t. It was the two of us, caught where we didn’t want to be caught. Laddo laughed. “I hacked the master map again, Jodd, hopefully for the last time. I’ve put my neck on the line for you enough. Now ditch the bim, fly on up here, and we’ll forget this ever happened. I won’t even tell Jace or Buc.”

“I’m not ditching anyone, Laddo. It’s none of your business, I like it here. Walking’s not so bad once you get used to it.”

Laddo shook his head slowly. “Oh, mon, you’re ditching me and Buc and Jace. You’re ditching the sky, Jodd. Last chance. I know a good shrink you could see.”

I didn’t hesitate. “No.”

He laughed. “She’s just a Virtch-bim, Jodd. Have you ever seen her in the Real? Do you even know her number? Everything’s different in the Real.” He looked, waiting for me to react. I just stood there. “Crash.” He spit in the pool and zoomed for the sky like a missile.

I turned to Emily, not knowing what to say. She looked at me sadly, her Virtch program so well written that I glommed her every shade of emotion. She smiled softly, but her eyes were still sad. “He’s right,” she said, “you don’t know me, and I don’t know you. This is a wonderful dream, but it’s just a dream.” She kissed me on the cheek, and then rezzed out.

Laddo was right about another thing. I didn’t have her number.

But when I skinned out of my glove, there was a message waiting. That’s how I ended up here, in the Real, in old Central Park. Nobody much comes here any more, what with the Virtch and all. It is a beautiful day. The clouds are even better than Emily’s, but I know she’s working on it. I spread a blanket in the grass and wait. I’m afraid. I’m half an hour early.

Fifteen minutes before the agreed time, I see a woman walking towards me. She is shorter than my dream, smaller about the chest, larger about the hips. Her hair is blonde, but it barely reaches her shoulders, and there are bangs in front. Her eyes are green rather than blue, and her nose turns up, just a little too far. She has freckles, and her lips crinkle when she smiles.

And she is smiling, and I am smiling at her. She is perfect. I can’t wait. I have to go meet her. I stand up on the blanket, take three steps forward, extend my arms, push off with my toes, and I fly.