Tyson died in 2009, clipped by a bus while crossing the street. He’d joked about how he expected that, since he was such a careless pedestrian. All of his friends remembered that. None of them thought it was funny now.

Tyson died in 2015, when his flight to London crashed. He had been working on the first movie being made from his graphic novels. His fans mourned, but the studio just lamented the timing – how much better it would have been for him to die right before opening weekend.

Tyson died in 2021, from a heart attack during the last leg up Kilimanjaro. His wife had tried to talk him out of the climb, but he just laughed and said he had to die sometime. She published his unfinished novel – an instant best-seller.

Tyson died in 2032 in a car wreck. Long forgotten by his old fans, his investments had created a fortune despite his obscurity. There was an ugly fight over the estate between his son and his ex-wife, who hadn’t spoken in ten years.

Tyson died in 2040, quietly in the nursing home, surrounded by family and friends. There were tears, but the family was happy to know that the long illness and pain was over. The public memorial service drew thousands of fans – people still remembered his hit songs. The surge in album sales lasted three weeks.

Tyson died in 2051 alone in his tiny, untidy apartment. He wasn’t found for four days, and the authorities were never able to determine whether he had any living relatives. With no will, and very few possessions, they didn’t try too hard, anyway. Due to a paperwork screw-up, it wasn’t even clear what happened to the body after the coroner finished with it. Fortunately, nobody cared.