Me vs. the Multiverse: Pleased to Meet Me

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The Origami Stalker 

So this one time when I was six, I went sleepwalking and peed in my tub of Legos. I never told a soul, and no one in the world could have possibly known. But seven years later, the ugly truth was right there, scrawled on a note inside an origami octopus. I found it first thing in the morning hanging by its arms from the sill of my bedroom window: 

Hi, Me, 

Yes, you. You re me, and I m you. 

Don t believe me? Here s proof. This is stuff only we would know: 

     1.   After peeing in our Lego container while sleepwalking when we were six, we dumped the pieces in the dishwasher. Lego Yoda s lightsaber broke the dishwasher pump, and we got in serious trouble. 

     2.  Since age three, we ve had a recurring nightmare about an otter forcing us to do push-ups and climb ropes in army boot camp. 

     3.   We d never fess up to anyone that greeting card commercials, pet-adoption pop-up stands, and the friendship pictures on Girl Scout cookie boxes always make us a little weepy. So do most Pixar movies. Except maybe Planes. 

Anyway, learn more about what we have in common by coming to the Janus Hotel South anytime today. I ll explain more soon. 

Ours sincerely, 

Me 

Though I d never seen this note before in my life, it was written in my handwriting. Not the neat writing I attempted for teachers, but the unreadable scrawl I used the rest of the time. 

It only got weirder from there. Whoever had made the octopus used a special fold I d invented and thought nobody else knew how to do. I d dreamed it up from the picture of a real-life Atlantic pygmy octopus I saw in one of Dad s National Geographics, where I got most of my origami ideas. I must have made it hundreds of times, but I d only

S. G. WILSON lives in Austin, Texas, with his partner, kids, and cats (plus a bearded dragon). He was born and raised in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and graduated from Ball State University with a degree in English and journalism. He lived and worked in New York as a magazine writer and editor for the better part of a decade. As a freelance journalist (writing as one of several Steve Wilsons out there), he's covered pop culture, technology, travel, parenting, food, and other topics for the New York Times, GQ, Newsweek, Travel & Leisure, Smithsonian, Salon, and other publications. He also cowrote the biography Center Square: The Paul Lynde Story (Advocate Books, 2005). He's a member of SCBWI and the Kids Listen Network.

"Clever and cheerworthy on more than just an allegorial level. Stay tuned for further button pushing." --Booklist, starred review

"This fun, quick read will appeal to kids who like humor and adventure without the scary." --School Library Journal