The next morning, Marie and Jones were about to leave for Garden City when they were stopped by the postman. This was because of no urgent matter, just the fact that Marie happened to be in the lobby at the time. There were coupons and bills yet to be paid but there was also a manila envelope. She opened it up and found the manuscript that she had sent off to Stephen Lawrence Jr., covered page to page with notes, and with a little collection of handwritten notes afterwards. On the front there was a letter, which contained this:

To Whom It May Concern:

I received the draft of “The Unbeatable Foe” and, I have to be honest, it’s not my usual genre. The men in my stories usually don’t wear pants that are so tight in the crotch area. That being said, I did enjoy the story a good deal. I especially enjoyed the scenes of Sleuth stomping around Pittsburgh, a town which I had found to be my home shortly after I went AWOL from the United States Army.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Jones, I’d like to tell you that your story reminds this old fart in the twilight years of his life that the most important things in this world are hope and silliness. I do like that, even though the Earth is doomed at the end of your novel, you have given the reader a little bit of hope and silliness to grasp onto. If you are able to pull through this thing that Marie says you’ve been going through, I think this will be the first lesson that will take you into being a great novelist.

Not that I am a novelist myself. I could never come up with something as fantastical as this. I am, as mentioned before, an old fart resigned to his stories of the greatest war to ravage the world and some opinions that could be broadcast to a wide audience at an angry volume if I were a man of higher ego.

Unfortunately, my publishing activities stopped and ended with Disposable Firearm, a book that I wrote when I was younger and angrier. I could give you the name and contact information for my editor for that book if you would like. I want to provide anything I can to help get this novel into the hands of more and more people.

Enclosed in this envelope you will find the manuscript with various suggestions I have made to enhance your story for a more commercial or more literary setting, depending on your preference.

My deepest regards,

-Stephen Lawrence Jr.