Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

This chapter is broken into alternating sub-chapters (1a, 1b, 2a, etc.) that detail Sam’s and Sadie’s individual experiences settling down in California from their own perspectives.

While he heals from his surgery, Sam rents an apartment near his grandparents’ place. The distinguishing feature of his neighborhood is a huge, revolving sign for a podiatrist: On one side is an injured “sad” foot and on the other a healed “happy foot.” Legend says the side of the sign one sees first thing in the morning determines the rest of their day. During his first year in the neighborhood, Sam only ever sees the sad foot side. Meanwhile, Sadie rents a flat within walking distance of the Unfair Games office. Her building also has a unique feature: an enormous sculpture of a male clown dressed in a tutu at the entrance. The statue is known as clownerina. To Sadie, the kitschy statue represents the free-spiritedness of California. She embraces Los Angeles wholeheartedly, breaking free of Dov’s shadow, sparking a deep friendship with Zoe, and dating new men. However, a distance grows between her and Sam stemming from Sadie’s discovery of the Dead Sea inscription.

Sadie and her team develop Oneiric, the engine on which Both Sides is to be built. Sadie is proud of the engine, which will be hailed for its technical virtuosity and provide Both Sides with its distinctive graphics. When she shows Sam the engine, she feels “he seemed bored and unimpressed” (183). Sam hasn’t been around much in the office during the development of Both Sides, and Sadie thinks this is because the game is her idea. Marx bridges the coldness between the two friends and suggests that while Sam should work on the Mapletown-side—the simpler, real-world side of the game—Sadie can work on Myres Landing, the fantasy side. Sam suggests the lead character of the game be a sick child instead of a victim of bullying as Sadie originally visualized. Sadie agrees to Sam’s suggestion since having a hero who is sick and has a disability will give the character more obstacles to overcome. They name the hero Alice Ma; Alice has cancer and lives in Mapletown, a suburban American city. Myer Landing, the fantasy world to which she switches, is modeled after medieval northern Europe. Sam uses his experience spending long stretches in hospitals to design Mapletown. Alice Ma has lung cancer, which she doesn’t know is terminal. She uses her alter ego, Rose the Mighty, to fix the plague ailing Myer Landing. Rose believes if she can save her village, Alice can be saved from cancer. A player can advance in one storyline of Both Sides only if they have advanced in the other.

Despite the new distance between the friends, Sadie is impressed with Sam’s Mapletown design. She wants to tell Sam how much she loves his side of the game but finds it difficult to get a hold of him. She notes that working on Both Sides with Sam has been easier than their collaboration on Ichigo. Sam has been conceding her suggestions as if he were distracted.

Marx, too, loves the game. He observes that Sam looks weaker and more rundown than ever. When he pushes Sam for answers, he confesses that his recovery from the amputation has been very slow. Sam has phantom limb pain, a rare condition that affects people with amputations. He feels excruciating pain at the site of his amputated foot. The pain is made much worse when he puts on a prosthetic. Sam asks Marx not to tell Sadie about the pain since it will distract her from her work. Meanwhile, Sam doesn’t show up for his 25th birthday dinner with Sadie because he is in terrible pain. Because he hasn’t told Sadie about his condition, she assumes he is brushing her off.

Sam’s old classmate, Lola Maldonado, visits him at his grandparents’ house. Soon, they begin to date. Meanwhile, Sadie has a brief, romantic encounter with Marx and Zoe and realizes she has romantic feelings for Marx. Both Sides is launched to poor reviews in 2000. Some critics find Mapletown “maudlin” (202), while others think “the game seems schizophrenic, as if it has been designed by two different people” (202). Marx tries to console Sadie, but she is deflated by the reviews and the modest sales. Sam visits Sadie’s apartment for the first time since they moved to LA. The two argue over Both Sides, Sam suggesting Sadie did not promote the game well. Sadie tells Sam he abandoned Both Sides, and she is hurt that he made her go to Dov for Ulysses despite knowing their history. Sam denies forcing Sadie to do anything and says he doesn’t regret Sadie getting Ulysses from Dov because Ichigo made them rich. Sam alludes to Dov’s abuse of Sadie, which she finds very hurtful. Realizing he may have gone too far, Sam reminds Sadie that they had promised to always forgive each other. They both calm down and sit together companionably, smoking a joint.