Departures
Authors: Robin Jones Gunn
D
EPARTURES
P
UBLISHED BY
M
ULTNOMAH
B
OOKS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921
In
Now Boarding at Gate 10
, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. In
In the Event of a Water Landing
, all Scripture quotations or paraphrases are taken from the New American Standard Bible®. © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. (
www.Lockman.org
).
The characters and events in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons or events is coincidental.
Copyright © 1999 by Robin’s Nest Productions Inc.
Originally published in paperback in different form in the United States by Bethany House, Bloomington, Minnesota, in 1999.
Published in association with the literary agency of Janet Kobobel Grant, Books & Such, 5926 Sunhawk Drive, Santa Rosa, CA 95409.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.
M
ULTNOMAH
and its mountain colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Departures : [two books in one].
p. cm.
Summary: A collection of stories which feature Christy Miller and Sierra Jensen gaining new understandings about faith and themselves during trips to various destinations.
eISBN: 978-1-60142-347-4
1. Christian life—Juvenile fiction.
2. Children’s stories, American. 1. Christian life—Fiction. 2. Short stories. I. Gunn, Robin Jones, 1955—Now boarding at gate 10 II. Gunn, Robin Jones, 1955—In the event of a water landing.
PZ5.D45 1999 99–6738
[Fic]—dc21
v3.1
To my parents,
who left Baraboo and the dairy farm
to move to California when I was five.
May your memories of summer picnics
fifty years ago at the Dells
be as bright as a sky full of fireworks
on the Fourth of July
.
And to Tammi Scheetz,
with fun memories of when
we rode the Ferris wheel at Nickelodeon Universe
and searched the Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport
for cinnamon rolls so we could share a Sierra moment
.
ONTENTS
ediscovered
is such a great word. It makes me think of the happy moment that comes when you open a suitcase and out tumbles a tiny shell you picked up on the beach on your last vacation. Or the unexpected delight you feel when you finally clean out your closet and find your favorite T-shirt—the one you accused your sister of borrowing and never returning.
My husband and I recently moved to Hawai’i. This move was in every way a dream fulfilled, and God’s fingerprints were all over the process. We spent many long days going through stacks of boxes filled with important items we’d saved during the fifteen years we’d lived in the same house near Portland, Oregon. Many of those boxes contained manuscripts from the forty-two books I’d written in my little office at that house. The time had come to sort and toss. In the middle of that winnowing, I found the original floppy disk that contained the book you are now holding in your hands. It was a lovely rediscovery moment.
I’m so grateful for my agent, Janet Kobobel Grant, who agreed with me that this book went out of print too soon. Neither of us thought it should be hidden away in a dusty box for another decade or two. I’m deeply appreciative of my editor, Alice Crider, and her team
at WaterBrook Multnomah Publishers for jumping on board and making this book available once again.
I’m especially thankful for all of you, the many Forever Friends who have grown up with Christy and Sierra. For years you have been asking me for more stories about these characters. I think you’ll enjoy the Katie Weldon books if you haven’t discovered that series yet. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to write more tales about all these memorable characters. They feel like old friends to me. And that is why these rediscovered novellas are such a gift. It’s a chance to pop in for a visit with Christy and Sierra during a summer season that was full of changes for both of them. I hope you enjoy them.
If you’d like to keep in touch and hear about upcoming books, I welcome you to visit my Web site at
www.robingunn.com
and sign up for the Robin’s Nest Newsletter. You’ll also find links there for Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to sign the Guestbook and have a browse through the Online Shop.
May the Lord bless you and keep you, and may your life be filled with many rediscovered treasures.
Aloha,
Robin
s beads of perspiration dripped down her back, Christy Miller lifted her long, nutmeg brown hair to try to get some air on her neck. She didn’t know why her parents had dashed so quickly off the plane when it landed at the Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport. They had more than an hour before their connecting flight left for Madison, Wisconsin.
“Would it be okay if I went to the snack bar for something to drink?” Christy asked her dad.
“Sure,” Dad said, reaching into his pocket for some money. “Buy something for your mother and me—and take your brother with you.”
Christy tried to hide her lack of enthusiasm over thirteen-year-old David’s tagging along. This was the first vacation her family had taken in a long time, and she didn’t want to be the one to start an argument.