Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

by Gabrielle Zevin

When she arrived at Dov’s studio, she held out her hand for him to shake, and he pulled her into an embrace. “I’m so glad you emailed me, Sadie Green! I was planning to email you, but things got too crazy. I’m almost done with Dead Sea II. Last time I ever do a sequel. How are you?” he said. She told him about Ichigo. “Good title. This is what you should be doing,” he said, maybe a dash of condescension in his voice. “You should be making your own games.” Sadie took some of Sam’s concept art out of her messenger bag and she showed it to him. “Whoa, trippy,” Dov said. Then she took out her laptop so that he could play the first level. “This is fucking fantastic work,” Dov said. He never gave compliments that he didn’t mean, and Sadie almost felt like crying. It was frankly embarrassing how much his approval still meant to her. “I like this.” Dov looked at Sadie. He set the concept art on the desk. He looked in her eyes, and then he nodded. “You’re here for Ulysses, aren’t you?” At first, Sadie was going to deny it, claim she wanted some tips about building her own engine. “Yes,” she said. “I want Ulysses.” “You know what I always say about making your own engines.” She nodded. “But I can see how Ulysses would be a perfect fit for what you and your colleague—what’s his name?” “Sam Masur.” “What you and Mr. Masur are trying to accomplish. And how can I deny my Sadie when she comes to me in need?” It was that simple. Dov gave her the engine, and in exchange, he became a produc...