So I was thinking about how one could safely remove a skyscraper that had become unsafe -- I mean, nothing lasts forever -- and came up with this image that got stuck in my head of a skyscraper melting away like a candle.

I decided it belonged in a story, so I wrote one. While I was writing it my wife was in the next room, and whenever I stopped typing to come up with a particular detail, instead of deciding for myself what it should be, I called to her and asked her -- no context, just, "Which New York skyscraper is cooler, the Chrysler or the Empire State?" or whatever. And I abided by her answer.

It was a whim, but I decided that made her a collaborator and listed her as my co-author. She didn't actually read it until it was finished.

I don't remember whether I seriously tried to sell the story anywhere else, but when I put together the anthology Newer York it was the obvious choice to include as my own contribution, so there it is.

(I also included it in my collection Crosstime Traffic.)

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