Well,
I never thought I’d be writing this story. For one thing, Cody’s
death was something none of us could have anticipated, except
maybe him. He came close to it some months after I met him
toward the end of 1997 in an aborted suicide attempt. He
mentioned death from time to time in his email to me, usually in
a joking way but not always. Cody’s story, however, is not about
death, it’s about life and how he lived it to the full. It’s
about a teen who had an enormous impact on almost everyone he
met, on or off line, including me. BIG TIME! Until now, I hadn’t
the confidence to assume Cody’s persona in telling his story in
an autobiographical style. But I guess I knew Cody as well as
anyone, and certainly better than most. He confided in me things
that his folks and best friends never knew about with the
possible exceptions of Steve and Paul. But even they weren’t
privy to everything Cody told me. Due to computer crashes,
viruses, and various other disasters over the years, not all of
Cody’s email to me exists. A large proportion of it does,
though, thanks to his surfer bud and lover Steve who managed to
rescue it from Eudoramail and send it to me. All I have of the
first year of my friendship with Cody is a zip of my replies to
his mail. But that’s enough to jog my memory. I also have lots
of snippets of stuff he wrote in the early days [pre Wingnut,
Mark and Steve], so that will help as well. From early 1999 to
late 2001 a great deal of everything he wrote me is intact… if
not in the emails themselves, at least in the notes I copied and
pasted when I was writing the Wingnut and Mark stories. So here
it is; the last four and a bit years of the Codeman’s life –
my best friend and soul buddy – a friend I will never forget
– a friend I will be eternally grateful to have had. Admittedly,
parts of this story will overlap the Wingnut and Mark stories,
but those parts will be told from Cody’s perspective, so they’ll
have a freshness about them. Ditto all the other stuff
concerning his relationships with Paul, Steve, Steph, his folks
and even me, the fossil from Oz. Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.
Loveya tons and always will.
MrB PS: For those of you who are new to this site, Cody is
known as Kyle in the Wingnut and Mark stories, and as the
Captain elsewhere. January 22, 2003.
Steve has created two new awesome wallpaper graphics in two
sizes.
wpcodeman1024 and
wpcodeman800. And this one!
codeman800. June 1, 2003.
And this one!
And this one!
