archie ferguson. archie ferguson, there are four versions of... you gave him four lives.ive. that's how i kept thinking about it. in a way, trying to understand him was as daunting as trying to understand one of my fictional characters, and i had to go through the same processes as a writer, emotional process, it's not even an intellectual process, it's an emotional process, trying to get myself inside him to understand his very erratic at times behaviour. it's interesting to me that you link that book to 4 3 2 i, because as you say, in that book, you imagine this guy, born in newark in the same year you were born, and then you follow through different possibilities for his life, depending on so many contingencies and coincidences and things that happen that might not have happened. right. and it seems to me, reading all of your work, one of your messages to all of us human beings is take nothing for granted, assume nothing, make plans but don't imagine they are ever going to work out because happenstance and the what ifs of life always take over. well, i agree with you c