Moonpenny Island (23 page)

Authors: Tricia Springstubb

BOOK: Moonpenny Island

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Flor knew Jasper would leave. Of course she knew. But the knowing has bobbed on her horizon, a tiny boat never getting bigger. Till now.

“We never got to do so many things. I never even showed you half the island.” That this is her own fault makes Flor sad. That Jasper doesn't point it out makes her even sadder.

The sun pours down. Jasper unzips her jacket.
And what is this?

“Hey,” says Flor. “That's a pretty shirt.”

Jasper looks down, pretending to be surprised. Pretending? Jasper?

“Thank you. I .Â .Â . I ordered it online.”

“Let's see.”

Jasper slips off her jacket. The shirt is the color of new ferns and makes her eyes look like they invented green.

What's most amazing? The shirt fits. Its three-quarter sleeves end right where they're supposed to. Thomas slingshots over to get a look.

“Whoa. It's like when I put your doll's arm in the fire that time, remember, Flor?”

“No fire,” says Jasper. “This is how I was born. This is me.”

“You could get a wooden arm, like a pirate leg exceptâ”

“That's enough out of you, mister,” says Flor.

But Jasper just shrugs. A Joe-like shrug that makes Flor break into her first smile of the day. Jasper smiles back.

“I brought you a going-away present,” she says.

And now Flor feels even worse, because Jasper is the one going away, not her, and she didn't think to bring a gift. Maybe Jasper is better at the rules of friendship than Flor thought. Or maybe she just makes up her own rules. She's holding out a familiar book.

“The GalÃ¡pagos Islands,” says Flor. “But you love that book. Are you sure .Â .Â .”

“I'm sure.”

“Thank you.”

Last night Sylvie called. She'd just had a long talk with Perry and sounded so happy. Something's changed in him. He and her father have been talking, actually talking, not arguing. Perry told Sylvie their father listened when he said he didn't want his life all laid out for himâhe wanted to discover it himself. He wanted to make something of himself, he did, but he had to do it on his own. Mr. Pinch may help Perry get a job with a friend of his who owns a trucking business. In Columbus. Where there's a river instead of a lake. Where there are highways that connect to millions of other highways.

“He said you're one crazy-brave little dude,”
Sylvie said, “and I said, like
you
discovered that, Perry Pinch?”

Something else. Sylvie's mother is going to a treatment center. It's nearby, so she and her aunt and uncle will get to visit while she's there.

“I'm so glad,” Sylvie said. “I miss her so much.”

“I know.”

“I know you know.”

Dr. Fife produces a bag of chocolate kisses and hands them around. Dad says no thanks, moves toward the edge of the dock. Flor's glad. Looking at his face is too hard right now.

“Last night I read about recently discovered species.” Jasper unwraps her kiss with her teeth. “One is the world's smallest frog. Five or six can sit on a dime. Another is an earthworm the size of a sausage. Did you know that Darwin devoted the last years of his life to earthworms? Most people considered worms beneath their notice. But Darwin did worm experiments and wrote an entire book on how worms, which are silent, humble, invisible, and everywhere, slowly change the very ground we stand on.”

The ferry's getting closer. Flor can make out the
words on its side. Jasper follows Flor's gaze, shuffles her big work boots.

“Sorry,” she says quietly. “You're not interested in earthworms at this particular moment, are you?”

“It's okay,” says Flor. One hand holds the book and the other's in her pocket, nervously fingering the fossils. A bird-shaped shadow whisks across the ground, and she's back in her dream, teetering. Will she fall or fly? Why does she have to choose? Because time doesn't stop, for better or for worse.

Cecilia's sitting by herself on a bench. Mama will hardly recognize her. Yesterday she went over to Lauren Long'sâfor realâand came home with a new, shaggy hairstyle. Who knew that gossipy, snarky Lauren could cut hair like a pro? The hidden talents people walk around with! Last night, Flor found the computer open to a site about summer opportunities for high-school students. Internships. Travel abroad. Study at universities. Scholarships available for excellent students.

Now Dr. Fife flings his arms wide. Chocolate kisses fly.

“Moonpenny Island! A microcosm of Earth's
complex and infinite variety! An old scientist could spend his life studying this place and only scratch the surface.” Dr. Fife's goofy, adorable laugh rings out. “Literally and metaphorically!”

Thomas picks up spilled kisses and starts unwrapping them with his teeth too.

You can almost make out the few people standing on the deck. Flor tells herself not to look for Mama, who gets seasick and won't be outside, won't won't.

“What my father's trying to say,” Jasper says, “is we might come back.”

“What?” Flor whirls around.

“If my father can get another grant, we'll return in the spring.”

“Jasper! That's so great! That's such good news! Why in the world didn't you tell me before?”

“It's still only thesis, not yet fact. We can't count on it.”

“But still! You might!”

Jasper smiles, and before Flor knows what she's doing, she's holding out the fossil Sylvie found.

“Here's your going-away present,” she says. “It's a wishing fossil.”

“I've never heard of that.”

“I'll show you. Touch the edge. Okay, now close your eyes. Good. At the count of three, we both wish. Ready? One Mississippi .Â .Â .”

When Flor opens her eyes, Cecilia's gotten up from the bench. Thomas, mouth kissed with chocolate, is a jack in the box. At the end of the dock, Dad's broad shoulders lift. Because there she is. On the top deck, in a red coat Flor has never seen before. Thinnerâshe looks thinner. Against the dancing light, Flor can't make out her mother's face. Is she leaning forward, trying to make the patient old
Patricia Irene
go faster? Trying to close that dark gap of water between them, to get back home to them for good and all and forever? Or is that just what Flor wants to see?

Jasper slips the fossil into her own pocket. All those gazillions of years it lay buried, and soon it will be crossing the water, riding in a car, boarding an airplane, and winging through the clouds. Part of Flor's going with it, even as she stays here, with the patient rocks, the restless lake, the sister who slips an arm around her, pulling her so close Flor feels their two
hearts beat in time. Their mysterious hearts. Their secret, hopeful, unmapped, ever-strong hearts.
Alive, alive
, their hearts say.
You, me, this so-new and so-ancient world
.

The gulls on the pilings lift their wings at the very same moment. How do they do that? They skim over the sparkling water, rise and press the sky. Now the sun's in Flor's eyes, but still she keeps them open. Squints to see.

Acknowledgments

No writer is an island, especially not me. I owe deep thanks to my editor, Donna Bray, for her patience and faith, and to my agent, Sarah Davies, whose support truly is bottomless. I'm so grateful and lucky that Susan Grimm, Mary Norris, and Delia Springstubb read my pages and shared their gentle but spot-on advice. Thanks are also due to the Vermont Studio Center and the Ohio Arts Council.

Of the books and articles I read about my humble heroes,
Trilobite: Eyewitness to Evolution
, by Richard Fortey, is the gold standard. I also loved learning about Charles Darwin as a private person as well as a scientist. Two books that were helpful and delightful are
Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith
by Deborah Heiligman, and
Darwin: A Life in Poems
by his great-great-granddaughter, Ruth Padel.

About the Author

Photo by J. Palsa Photography

TRICIA SPRINGSTUBB
is the author of the acclaimed middle grade novels
What Happened on Fox Street
and
Mo Wren, Lost and Found
as well as the picture book
Phoebe & Digger
. The mother of three grown daughters, she lives with her husband and cats in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. You can visit her online at
www.triciaspringstubb.com
.

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at
hc.com
.

Credits

Cover design by Dana Fritts

Copyright

Balzer + Bray is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

MOONPENNY ISLAND
. Text copyright Â© 2015 by Tricia Springstubb. Illustrations copyright Â© 2015 by Gilbert Ford. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

www.harpercollinschildrens.com

ISBN 978-0-06-211293-4 (trade bdg.)

EPub Edition Â© December 2014 ISBN 9780062112958

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