<P> At school, Julia starts shouting at Miranda for letting Annemarie drink soda and eat sandwiches, saying that because Annemarie is epileptic she has to eat a special diet . Miranda explains that she didn't know that . Colin is later hanging out with Sal . Colin then asks Miranda if she wants to hang out . Miranda declines, saying that her mom is sick . Later on, someone taps on her door which scares her because she doesn't know anyone that knocks like that . She looks though the peep hole and sees Colin . She opens the door and he looks at her then kisses her . She then kisses him back . Colin smiles and then runs off . </P> <P> In a later scene, Marcus encounters Sal . Marcus wants to apologize for his misbehavior, and chases Sal when he flees . Sal runs onto a street right ahead of an oncoming truck . Before the truck can hit Sal, the laughing man kicks Sal out of the way, sacrificing his own life for Sal's . Miranda finds the fourth note in Richard's shoe and learns that the laughing man came from the future to save Sal's life . The note asks Miranda to prepare a chronicle of recent events and deliver it by hand, but she does not know who to give it to . </P> <P> Miranda's mom is invited to appear on the $20,000 Pyramid . In hopes of winning the money and having a better life, Miranda and her mom's boyfriend Richard prep her for the show . Miranda and Sal are friends again . While her mother is on - stage, Miranda reminisces about a conversation with Marcus about how no one would recognize a time - traveler from a different age . She suddenly realizes that the laughing man is an older incarnation of Marcus, who has come from the future to save Sal's life . He needed to deliver the notes to the young Marcus through Miranda . Later on Miranda goes to the mailbox the laughing man (Marcus) slept under, where she finds a picture of an older version of Julia smiling happily . The novel ends as Miranda reflects on the events in an epilogue . </P> <P> When You Reach Me is classified in the science fiction and mystery genres, but includes features of some other genres . Monica Edinger of The New York Times found When You Reach Me to be "a hybrid of genres, it is a complex mystery, a work of historical fiction, a school story and one of friendship, with a leitmotif of time travel running through it ." Augusta Scattergood of the Christian Science Monitor wondered, "Is When You Reach Me science fiction? Time travel? A highly imaginative girl's completely conceived experience? Maybe it's historical fiction . After all, it is set in 1979 ." According to Mary Quattlebaum of The Washington Post, the novel is of the science fiction and time travel genres . Quattlebaum found that, unlike the usual time travel stories, When You Reach Me does not involve "cheesy time travel machines and rock -' em - sock -' em action (but instead) far surpasses the usual whodunit or sci - fi adventure to become an incandescent exploration of' life, death, and the beauty of it all ."' Both Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly found that despite the book's science - fiction devices, the setting was still "firmly rooted in reality ." </P>

Who is the laughing man in when you reach me