ROW UPON row of
freshly ploughed soil had been painstakingly planted already that
day and it pleased Joe that all signs were pointing to a good crop.
When the snows fell that year, he and Betty would have more than
enough to last the winter. At the house, Betty stepped onto the
porch and rang the old bell. Joe then obediently put down his tools
and led the old mare back to the barn for lunch. Pausing in the
yard to wipe the dust from his homespun shirt, something unusual in
the distance caught Joe’s eye, so much so that he stood there for a
while, watching it grow larger and larger.
In the kitchen, Joe’s transfixed form
became a source of irritation to Betty, who had a ladies’ auxiliary
meeting that afternoon and a schedule that didn’t allow for any
dilly-dallying. In short order she bustled to the door. “Mr.
McCloud, lunch is on.”
Still Joe didn’t move and Betty followed
his gaze and saw what he saw. Using her hand to shield the sun from
her eyes, Betty shuffled next to Joe and watched with the same mute
anticipation.
At first it appeared to be nothing but a
black dot, and then it grew to what could possibly be a bird, and
then it grew further until there was no mistaking the fact that
their girl was returning home to them.
From up high in the sky, the sight of
familiar trees, rivers, and farmlands was a welcome sight to Piper,
filling her with gladness and peace. At last, she was back where
she belonged. Everything was exactly as it had been before she left
it, indeed as it always had been since her birth. It was as if no
time at all had passed since Dr. Hellion had taken her away in the
helicopter, and even her ma and pa were in exactly the same
positions that she’d last seen them in.
Gently descending, Piper set her feet down
in the dirt at the edge of the yard and suddenly felt nervous. Were
her ma and pa going to be sore at her for flying? Was she going to
get into trouble and sent to her room? Maybe they hadn’t missed her
and didn’t want her back at all? The fact that Betty and Joe stood
stock-still with expressionless faces did nothing to settle her
ever-increasing nervousness.
“I’m home,” Piper spoke finally, kicking
her toe into the dirt.
Betty nodded. “I expect we can see that
well enough.”
It had been a very long journey back, and
for most of it Piper had practiced what she was going to say next.
Taking a deep breath for courage, she began quickly.
“You see, thing is that I fly and I like it
and I’m not gonna stop. And I’m real sorry that it’s not to your
liking. Trouble is that there isn’t anything else that makes sense
to me like flying does.” Piper paused before she got to the hard
part and took another deep breath. “So I don’t wanna hide it
anymore and I don’t wanna sneak off to the back field. Even if you
won’t like it, I’m not gonna lie about it anymore and I’m not gonna
do it on the sly. And, well … that’s all I have to say.”
Betty sniffed. “Well, me and your pa ain’t
gonna lie to you none neither, we don’t take to this flying much.
It just ain’t the way of things for youngens to be gadding about in
the sky like that.” Betty looked like she was on the verge of
launching into another lecture on the evils of flying, and with
only the greatest effort did she managed to rein herself in. Like
Piper, she took a deep breath before continuing. “But we had a good
spell to think things over and we figure as long as you do your
chores and act as the good Lord would want, we’ll just have to take
you as you was made.”
For Betty’s and Joe’s entire lives, and the
lives of their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents, and
so on and so on for as long as anyone in Lowland County could
remember, on those twenty acres of land, things had always been the
same. Yet today Betty and Joe had taken their very first tentative
step toward something different. It was nothing short of
earth-shattering and no one could appreciate the incredible
sacrifice more than Piper.
Rushing forward, Piper threw herself into
her ma’s and pa’s arms. “Ma, I missed you so much. Pa, I still got
my bird, look.” Betty and Joe held their daughter tight.
“It weren’t the same without you, child.”
Joe held Piper tightly. “We’re powerful happy to have you
back.”
Betty didn’t attend the ladies’ auxiliary
meeting that day, and after lunch Joe did not return to the fields.
Instead Betty and Joe sat down, and Piper talked and told them all
about her adventures. She told them almost everything and they
listened with wonder and with fear, glad to have their girl back
safe and sound. Not once did Betty reprimand Piper for talking too
much, so grateful were they to have her lively voice fill the house
once more. Piper talked into the night and Betty made her fried
chicken and her prized apple pie for dinner, even though it wasn’t
Sunday.
“I always knew it. Them McClouds is flighty
and unreliable,” Millie Mae Miller declared at the ladies’
auxiliary that afternoon when Betty’s absence was duly noted. It
marked the only time in the thirty years since she first joined
that Betty had failed to show up. “Can’t say I didn’t see it
coming.”
A week after Piper’s return, a new member
quietly arrived to join the community of Lowland County. It had
always been Betty and Joe’s plan to have a house full of youngens,
not to mention the fact that a man can’t help but long for a son,
so they welcomed Conrad into their home with open arms. Conrad
wasn’t quite what Joe might have expected a son to be. However,
both Joe and Betty had started to develop a taste for things not
being as they had always been on the farm.
It had been at Piper’s insistence that
Conrad come and stay, and he had been extremely reticent. When he
finally did arrive, Piper showed him around the place,
overjoyed.
“This is your room.” Piper pulled Conrad
into a small, plain room next to the one she slept in. “See here,
look.” She threw open an old window overlooking green fields.
“You’ve got a great view of the sunrise. And Ma put the new quilt
on your bed and Pa made this desk for you ’cause I told him you
like to sit and think up stuff.”
The room was simple and humble, which was
why Conrad found himself surprised by feelings of extreme gratitude
and thankfulness. His parents had given him the best of everything
and yet it had always struck him as meaningless junk. Betty and Joe
had given him next to nothing but each item was bestowed with such
care and consideration that it was almost painful for him to accept
their generosity. From the moment he set foot on the farm, they
opened their house and their arms to him, a virtual stranger, with
full hearts. Until Piper, Conrad had never met people who gave with
such simple kindness, expecting absolutely nothing in return. In
contrast, it was only with threats of a public scandal that Conrad
had been able to get his father on the phone at all. Even then,
Senator Harrington had not been pleased.
“What is it, Conrad? I don’t have time for
this,” he’d snapped when Conrad had called from Letitia Hellion’s
office.
“This call is a courtesy, Father. I’m happy
to go to the press first,” Conrad fired back.
Senator Harrington simmered down and found
courtesy for his tone. “I’m listening.”
“We’ve taken over the facility. Dr. Hellion
is no longer in charge. I’m going to expose what is going on here,
and I have documentation that proves that you were not only aware
of it, but supported it. By my calculation, a conservative estimate
of the laws being broken by Dr. Hellion numbers close to twenty.
Including murder.”
“Murder?” The senator’s full attention was
now focused on his son.
“And you have aided and abetted Dr.
Hellion, which makes you an accessory to the crime.” Conrad knew
that this could easily take down his entire family. His father’s
icy silence on the other end of the line only confirmed the weight
of his threats.
“What do you want?”
“You’ll use your connections and influence
to get approval today for the facility to be under your authority.
As soon as you have the authority, you’ll turn it over to me. We’ll
be running it from now on and you’ll see to it that no one
interferes with us or gets in our way.”
“Connie, that’s impossible. I’d need to get
approval from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I’ll need—”
“Then do it. I’ll expect confirmation by
the end of the day.” When his father had called back, Conrad didn’t
take his first call, or his second or third or even fourth. He
waited until the messages became increasingly more urgent before
finally picking up the phone.
“It’s done.” Senator Harrington had used
every favor, every influence, every means available to him by dint
of his family, his position, and his wealth to pull off the
impossible, just as Conrad knew he would. Unfortunately, there was
a caveat, and one Conrad had not been expecting. “But—” The Senator
let the word hang in the air.
“But what?” Conrad prompted.
“The deal comes off the table unless you
agree to one condition.”
“You’re in no position to negotiate with
me, Father.”
“This is nonnegotiable. You get everything
you want on the condition that you never contact me or your mother
again. We never want to hear from you or see you and you can no
longer use the Harrington name. You are no longer our
son.”
“I see.” Conrad’s face crumpled and he bit
his lip to keep from making a sound. This hurt, hurt so much.
“Father … ?” Conrad stopped himself, taking a deep breath. How was
he to beg his father to be his father? How was he to say all of the
things he wanted to say before he no longer had a father and
effectively became an orphan? In the end there were no
words.
“I agree.”
The minute the words were out of Conrad’s
mouth, the line went dead. The man who used to be his father had
hung up and Conrad entered a new life where he was just plain
Conrad and no longer Conrad Harrington III.
Tucked up in a tiny room in Lowland County,
day by day, Conrad established himself in his new life, where he
was expected to do chores every day and was served up three square
meals of good country fare. He grew to like it.
It was a good thing that Joe and Betty had
taken their first tentative steps in accepting change, because
Conrad pushed them to their limits and beyond.
“You don’t say.” Joe shook his head, his
brow furrowed.
Conrad pointed to a detailed diagram of the
twenty acres of land the McClouds owned. It included charts and
graphs. “By planting an early wheat crop and then alternating with
corn and barley you can get three crops in one season per field. In
addition, I have engineered this hybrid seed that produces three
times the bounty and twice the weight. You’ll be able to harvest
the same crops as a two-hundred-acre farm with no additional man
power.”
Joe shook his head in amazement. Holding up
the seed that Conrad presented to him, he turned it over in his
hand. “McClouds ain’t never done that before.” He considered
Conrad’s words, looking out over his fields, and shrugged. “Ain’t
no harm in trying it out, though, I guess.”
Conrad smiled and Joe put his arm around
him. Betty rang the bell for dinner and they walked together
through the field and across the farmyard to the house. Since
Conrad had the house wired for high-speed Internet and built a
supercomputer in the kitchen, mealtimes had become an adventure.
Conrad and Joe entered the kitchen to find that Betty had been busy
downloading recipes, and Moroccan food was on the menu for the
evening. Couscous and spiced lamb waited on the table, and Piper
excitedly sipped mint tea.
“Wash your hands, Conrad. Sit yourself
down, Joe, or the kebabs will get cold.” Betty busily passed around
a plate of exotically spiced carrots and lentils. “Wouldn’t you
know it but Piper’s got some news to tell and I made her hold off
so that we could all enjoy it.”
“You’ll never guess,” Piper burst forth,
unable to contain herself any longer. “Smitty cracked that big
case. He caught the guys with the virus bomb holed up in an old
bank vault in Times Square, so that virus can’t hurt anyone now.
They’re making him a first-class detective, youngest one ever.
Isn’t that something?”
Betty sniffed and shook her head. “Don’t
know what the world is coming to when folks is running around with
a bit of virus in a bottle and threatening to make folks sick with
it. I’m sure glad we don’t got any of ’em here in Lowland
County.”
“Smitty said that in New York, they got
more criminals than anywhere else and he couldn’t be happier about
it. He says that there just aren’t enough hours in the day for all
he has to do.” Like many of the kids, Smitty had the difficult task
of balancing his schoolwork with his exciting new job. It wasn’t
easy, but he couldn’t have been more fulfilled. Smitty was also one
of the lucky ones whose parents welcomed him back with open
arms.
“Smitty says that just the other night he
went to Cirque du Soleil to see Kimber’s show and it was sold out,”
Piper continued. “Folks can’t get enough of her new act and he says
she’s got more voltage in her fingertips than ever.”
“Did Smitty apologize?” Conrad asked
between mouthfuls. As per usual, Smitty and Kimber were in the
middle of one of their fights. This one started when Kimber caught
Smitty, yet again, looking at her underwear, and she’d pumped
thirty thousand volts into his left leg. Smitty, of course, pleaded
his innocence, but Kimber didn’t believe a word of it.
“Well, Kimber says that she won’t forget
but she’ll forgive. Ahmed and Nalen got rid of that tropical storm
that was turning into a hurricane off of Cape Canaveral too. They
say that now they have the hang of it, there’s nothing to it, and
they can’t wait to try their hands at a tsunami. Anyway, Lily
landed easy as pie. She told me that after the third or fourth time
up to the moon, it’s no different than going to the corner store.
She took more pictures for me just the same. Oh, and Myrtle and
Daisy faxed that report you wanted, Conrad.” Piper pointed to a
stack of papers on the counter.
Conrad immediately rose from his seat, but
Betty fixed a stern finger on him. “Not ’til you finished up your
supper, young man. You knows better than that by now.”
Smiling, Conrad sat down. He might be a
supergenius, but he knew better than to cross Betty McCloud when
she got that look in her eye.
“Daisy says that new alligator, the one
Violet brought back from that tomb in Egypt, got stuck when he was
metamorphizing between a snake and an alligator. He had the head of
an alligator and the body of a snake, but was as mad as a hornet.
Myrtle fetched Jasper at the Moscow Zoo, where he was healing a
sick polar bear, and Jasper came right back and cured him. He said
it was just a bad case of indigestion.”
Ever since Daisy and Myrtle had taken over
running the institute, things had changed drastically. It was
decided that the institute would no longer imprison any life-form,
but instead provide a safe haven only for those who required
assistance or protection. It was also going to direct the vast
equipment and research facilities at its disposal to the creation
of scientific advances that would benefit all creatures, whether
normal or not.
Unfortunately, very few of the inhabitants
could be immediately released back to their original homes because
they were simply too weak or damaged from Dr. Hellion’s
ministrations. Conrad devised a program to wean the drugs out of
their systems while Daisy and Myrtle supervised the scientists, who
were now tasked with rehabilitating the various creatures and
retraining them in their talents. For many, the damage had been
great and it was going to be a slow process. Myrtle and Daisy, who
were overseeing every step and reporting back to Conrad, were
relentless in their efforts to save each and every one.
Every time a rose reclaimed its bloom or a
leaping turtle regained the spring in its step, it was a great
cause for celebration. Myrtle was, more often than not, the one who
ran across the globe to deliver the healed plant or animal back to
its home. She was also the one to complete weekly, and then
monthly, checkups to make sure that it was flourishing back in its
natural habitat.
Conrad took a keen interest in every aspect
of the daily reports and ensured that the true nature of the
facility was being carefully concealed from the rest of the world.
Before Conrad would even consider letting any of the kids leave
I.N.S.A.N.E., he instructed them on the arts of discretion, much to
Kimber’s chagrin.
“I can do what I want. Who do you think you
are, Dr. Hellion?” Kimber snapped.
“No, I think I’m the person who is trying
to stop someone like Dr. Hellion from catching us again. The fact
of the matter is, Kimber, that we scare a lot of people. They don’t
know what to do with us. So all I’m asking you to do is to give
them an explanation that they can understand when you have to, and
don’t tell them about it when you don’t. I’m not asking you to
hide, I’m telling you not to flaunt it.”
Conrad had finally won them over, and when
newspaper reporters pressed Kimber for details on the amazing
special effects she used in her circus act, she smiled tightly and
said, “No comment.” Conrad had negotiated ironclad employment
agreements for the others that ensured their protection and
privacy. It was an uneasy and potentially dangerous situation, and
Conrad kept a close eye on them all to make sure that no one was
suddenly going to find themselves on the front page of the
New York Times, or the top story on the
six o’clock news.
While much progress had been made, it was
by no means a perfect solution and was potentially fraught with
peril. Indeed, it weighed heavily on Conrad’s mind, and a few
months later, when the kids all gathered at the farm for a little
rest and relaxation, he made a point of watching them closely to
see what progress they had made. As it turned out, he wasn’t the
only one.
“There’s something that ain’t right about
all them kids,” Millie Mae Miller confidentially sniffed to the
minister’s wife. The Fourth of July picnic was in full swing and
Millie Mae had cornered the poor woman under the trees. “Have you
ever seen the likes of it?” She pointed her finger
accusingly.
The minister’s wife nervously cleared her
throat. “True, they ain’t from around these parts but … they’re
just children all the same. Don’tcha think?”
Millie Mae was fit to be tied and squinted
her eyes suspiciously. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but
something was definitely going on. Over a year ago those fancy
suit-types from the institute had explained to the folks of Lowland
County that Piper McCloud had played a trick on them and that she
couldn’t fly at all. They had called it an optical illusion and
said they were going to take the naughty girl away for a while to
teach her not to play such tricks. Millie Mae Miller wanted to make
sure that Piper McCloud wasn’t up to her old hijinks, because she,
for one, wouldn’t stand for it.
With no real evidence, Millie Mae resorted
to grasping at straws. “Did I tell you that they wouldn’t even give
my Sally Sue the time of day?” She spat. “Sally Sue was standing
next to ’em in line and they didn’t say so much as ‘howdy do.’
Rude, is what that is. Bad manners. I’m telling you, I ain’t never
seen the likes of it.” Millie Mae crossed her arms in front of her
chest. “But they’ll get what’s coming to ’em. It’s always the
way.”
Millie Mae waited all day for the strange
group of youngens under Betty and Joe McCloud’s care to get ‘what
was coming to ’em,’ to no avail. When the baseball game was called
to order, she licked her lips, certain that their just desserts
would be quickly served up.
The shouting, pushing, and pulling had the
normal result of producing two team leaders, but that year there
was a strange name in the roster—Rory Ray Miller and Conrad. It wasn’t because Conrad could outthink,
out-argue, or out-anything that he scared the bejesus out of
everyone in Lowland County. No, their fear was generated for
reasons that they couldn’t quite put their finger on, and which
prompted them to cut the boy a wide berth. It was for that same
reason that Conrad claimed the first draft pick and was quick to
snap up the best player in the bunch.
“Piper McCloud.”
Piper moved out of the waiting kids with
her head held high and joined Conrad’s team.
“Jimmie Joe,” Rory Ray shouted.
“Lily Yakimoto.”
“Junie Jane.”
“Ahmed Mustafa.”
“Billy Bob.”
Like the rest of Lowland County, Betty and
Joe enjoyed the baseball game on the side of the hill, and perhaps
cheered louder than any of the other parents. It was a joy for them
to see Piper so happy and to have such good friends. They’d watched
her all day, laughing and playing. She’d taught Violet to do the
jig, and then the two girls had laughed so hard under the trees
that their stomachs hurt. Pretty much, they’d spent the whole day
laughing, so much so that Violet had spilled strawberry ice cream
down the front of her dress. This only made them laugh
harder.
Betty could see how much Piper had changed
in the last year. Just the week before, Betty had suggested that
Piper might like to attend the local school. To her surprise, Piper
didn’t think on it long before solemnly telling Betty that she’d
had enough schooling for the time being and wasn’t much interested
in going to school anymore. And that wasn’t the only change. There
were places and parts of Piper that she kept closed now, and things
she didn’t talk about. She was more thoughtful and there were
periods when she became very silent, like she was deeply grieving
something that Betty could only guess at. Betty knew that Piper
hadn’t told her everything that had gone on at the institute and
Betty guessed that there was a good reason for that too. As a
parent, she wanted to know everything, but some things are just too
difficult to know. Betty was careful not to press Piper for
information further than she was willing to volunteer, and took
note of the fact that there was a knowledge and understanding that
had grown in her child’s eyes that spoke of wisdom.
But most of the time, like today, Piper was
just like she’d always been, which is to say that Piper was full of
life and bursting to meet the challenges before her.
“CATCH THE BALL, PIPER!”
Billy Bob hit a doozie. The ball climbed
and climbed.
Piper shot Lily a meaningful glance and
Lily responded with a mischievous smile. Piper then held her
baseball glove calmly above her head and waited for the ball to
drop into it. To the startled eyes of the spectators, not to
mention the opposing team, it did.
“Awww, man!” Rory Ray sulked. His team
threw their hats to the ground and Junie Jane used a few choice
words.
Try as she might, Millie Mae couldn’t
actually point to a single thing that Piper or anyone else on her
team was doing that was out of the ordinary. Sure, it was bad luck
that every time someone on Rory Ray’s team was up to bat they had
blinding sunlight in their eyes or a suspicious wind roaring past.
Not to mention the fact that there was one time that Piper McCloud
seemed to linger in the air a bit longer than most kids might when
she caught a ball. And even Millie Mae had to admit that the girl
could jump amazingly high.
Of course, when Myrtle was running, Millie
Mae did whisper that the girl was a “ringer.” There were other
things that just irritated her, like the fact that the big girl,
Daisy, kept breaking both the bat and the ball, and that every time
Kimber hit the ball it had a strange electrical charge on it that
caused the unlucky person who caught it to immediately release it.
And Conrad, well, even Millie Mae Miller knew her limits and wasn’t
about to take him on.
As the sun began to set over Lowland
County, Betty and Joe rose to their feet and cheered loudly for the
winning baseball team. For Piper, Conrad, and all of the others, it
was a victory, but not over the opposing team. It was the first
time that they had played with other children and had not been
ostracized or fled from in fear. It was the first time that they
had been accepted by their friends for what they were, while being
able to strike some sort of balance, however uneasy, with the
outside world. A triumph indeed.
Betty and Joe packed the lot of them back
to the farm after that. There was only so much scrutiny from Millie
Mae that Betty’s nerves could take. The rest of the day was spent
away from all of the prying eyes, in the fields and pastures of the
farm, where the games played were anything but normal.
That night Conrad found Piper quietly by
herself on the roof of the house, enjoying a sky full of
stars.
“It was fun today, huh?” For once Conrad
actually sounded his age.
Piper smiled and nodded.
“You coming back inside? Violet said she
could shrink smaller than a teacup and Smitty bet Kimber twenty
bucks she couldn’t.”
“She can.”
“I know. But Smitty and Kimber will get
into a fight about it anyway and that’ll be hysterical.” Conrad
laughed.
“True.”
Sensing that there was something on Piper’s
mind, Conrad sat quietly next to her. Piper’s eyes went back to the
stars and Conrad noticed that she had been covering her stomach
with her hands as though she wasn’t feeling well. When her hands
came down to her lap, he was surprised to see the linen
handkerchief embroidered with small bluebirds clutched between her
fingers.
“J. was here.” Conrad was not asking a
question.
“He just left.” As he’d promised, J. had
come back for Piper and had returned her handkerchief to her. He
was exactly the way Piper had remembered him too: harried, with
hair-trigger nerves and no time for small talk. “J. wants to take
us away from here. He says that it’s still not safe and he has some
vital information to share with us.”
“Safe from what, specifically? And what
kind of information?” Conrad had read Letitia Hellion’s file on J.
It was extensive in specifics, but bereft of essentials, such as
any psychological analysis or background information, which would
indicate what was driving J. with such relentless and overwhelming
passion. Until Conrad could learn more about this mysterious
invisible man he was extremely wary of J.’s motives, regardless of
the fact that all indications pointed to his benevolence. “Did he
try to force you to leave with him?”
“No, of course not. He said something about
a place that was hidden. It’s far away and it’s secret. He said
we’d belong there. Do you think we should go?”
Conrad’s mind raced in every direction at
once, analyzing the information from all conceivable
angles.
Piper was instantly sorry to see the
carefree boyish quality vanish, after emerging on Conrad’s face
over the last few weeks on the farm. It was replaced by a deathly
seriousness and slight anxiety, which she knew all too well. This
was not what Piper wanted at all. After all that they’d been
through, and all that they’d accomplished, surely they deserved a
small respite to relax and appreciate their good fortune. And
surely, there would be time—time for planning and understanding and
for her to explain to him the many other things that J. had told
her. But sitting on the roof under the stars, after such a
delicious day, was definitely not that time, Piper
decided.
“Conrad?”
“Um-hmmm.”
“We did real good, huh?”
“Hmmmm?”
“Everything worked out. Everyone’s real
happy and … I mean, I know it’s not perfect, but what’s perfect?
Right?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Remember how mean you were when we first
met?” Piper laughed and Conrad smiled and tentatively relaxed.
“Boy, did you ever have everyone fooled ’cause you’re about the
nicest person I ever met.” Conrad blushed. “That got me to thinking
how Dr. Hellion seemed nice but was actually mean, but then it
turned out she was just real sad. Ever wonder why there’re so many
sad and scared people out there? I always wanted to teach people to
fly, but I don’t wanna do that no more. Flying’s alright but if I
had the chance, I’d teach ’em to be happy instead. You know? You
think you can teach someone to be happy?”
That was something Conrad had never thought
about before. It relaxed him to consider the subject and he leaned
back against the shingles and shrugged. “You got me there, Piper. I
don’t know.”
“Bet you can.”
“I wouldn’t put anything past you, Piper
McCloud.”
Piper smiled at Conrad and let herself
slide off of the roof. A moment later she took to the night air,
gliding upward to the stars.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There are so many people to thank… .
My dear husband, Wayne, who has stood by
and watched me muddle through this process.
Roger Corman, who liked the idea in the
first place, and Frances Doel, whose gentle hand first guided me
through the craft of storytelling.
Dan Rabinow at ICM, for his nonstop
enthusiasm and support, and Richard Abate, for fighting so
hard.
Dean Georgaris and John Goldwyn, for asking
me to take the story in new directions—it was a journey that served
me well, even though it ultimately led me back home
again.
Jean Feiwel, who deeply understood the
story and gave it endless time and meticulous attention.
But mainly and mostly, I wish to thank
Marta and Thomas, who were with me through the dark nights—reading,
rereading, and then reading yet again everything I wrote. Without
fail, you were understanding, encouraging, and enthusiastic, and
there is no doubt in my mind that I couldn’t have done it without
you.
Thank you for reading
this FEIWEL AND FRIENDS book.
The Friends who made
THE GIRL WHO COULD
FLY
possible are:
Jean Feiwel, publisher
Liz Szabla, editor-in-chief
Rich Deas, creative director
Elizabeth Fithian, marketing director
Holly West, assistant to the
publisher
Dave Barrett, managing editor
Nicole Liebowitz Moulaison, production
manager
Jessica Tedder, associate editor
Liz Noland, publicist
Allison Remcheck, editorial assistant
Ksenia Winnicki, marketing assistant
Find out more about our authors and artists and
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www.feiwelandfriends.com
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