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Writing the music was
easy, Bree says. Coming up
with lyrics was not.
"I remember one afternoon
we were sitting in my base-
ment trying to come up with
words for songs and we
couldn't think of anything.
"So we decided to just start
phoning people. For about
two hours we made these
random calls and asked, 'If
you were writing a song,
what would it be about?' I
don't think we got very far
with that one."
Robert loved music, but
"his consuming passion was
his book," Bree says. Robert
spent hours developing the
protagonist, Seth, whom he
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"For about two
hours we made
these random calls
and asked, 'If you
were writing a
song, what would
it be about?' "
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based on himself, and other
characters he patterned
after his friends. Only mon-
ths before his death, he
wrote about the book's plot
in numerous letters to Bree,
who was camping in Alaska.
Robert had read and
reread Piers Anthony's Xan-
th and The Adept science fic-
tion series and Through the
Ice was written in Anthony's
style. After Robert's death,
his friends Bree and Andrew
Linovitz decided to send
Robert's manuscript to the
author.
Robert's friends approach-
ed his parents with the idea.
Dr. Kornwise recalls being
less than enthusiastic. He
told the boys they needed
their time to prepare for
university, adding that he
doubted Anthony would
even look at the manuscript.
Bree admits he also was
pessimistic. "I thought we
might get a letter that said,
`Thanks, but I'm not inter-
ested," he says. "But we
wanted to try for Robbie."
Linovitz went to the
library and found Anthony's
address in Who's Who. Then
he and Bree wrote a letter to
the author, describing
Robert and asking him to
consider reading the draft.
"About a month later, we
got a postcard from Piers
Anthony. It began 'Ordinari-
ly I would not be inter-
ested . . ! And then at the
bottom it said, 'I will read
Robert's manuscript.' That
part was so incredible."
Anthony remembers very
well the note he received
from Robert's friends. "I
don't get a letter like that
very often," he says.
He was impressed by the
manuscript, which he says
"shows insight you don't
often see." He was especially
drawn to a scene in which
the central character sees a
dead deer tied to the front of
a hunter's truck.
"Seth is so struck by the
look in the deer's eyes," An-
thony says. "It was a look of
such innocence, not anger or
fear. The deer had been
caught off guard, killed
simply because it was in the
wrong place at the wrong
time. It was such a terrible
irony, because that's what
happened to Robert, too."
Anthony says Through the
Ice remains for the most part
as Robert wrote it. His role
was to correct grammar,
sharpen the prose and
rewrite Chapter Five, which
Robert had lost on his com-
puter. "I didn't change the
story, I just added to it," he
says.
That Anthony will receive
little money from publica-
tion of Through the Ice and
his Author's Note at the end
— a lengthy description
about Robert, much of which
was taken from a letter by
his sister, Jill —suggests the
author simply took on the
project as a kind, gesture.
He was moved by Robert's
life, he says. "But his work
had to be a good story or I
wouldn't have done it."
R
obert's parents are
pleased by the publi-
cation of Through the
Ice, but don't look for them to
mumble cliches about how
their son will live on through
his book.
Fulfilling his wishes, they
also donated some of his
bodily organs after his
death. But it doesn't give
them "a great feeling," as
they often hear from well-
meaning acquaintances,
that with this action they
saved the lives of four
others.
For Maureen and Dr. San-
ford Kornwise, Robert's
greatest legacy is the kind of
human being he was.
"He was the kind of kid
you always wanted," Dr.
Kornwise says. "He was car-
ing and considerate, a good
student but very modest,
and socially and politically
aware. He was someone who
wanted to make a difference
in this world.
"When he was little, he
wanted to grow up and
become an FBI man. As he
became older, he thought
about becoming a judge or
running for a political of-
fice."
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