by David Klass
“That’s some dog,” P.J. observes softly.
“One of a kind,” I agree. “And some boy, too. I think they’re going to do okay together.”
We watch till their canoe grows tiny in the distance.
The sky is lightening to the east. A new dawn is breaking over the treetops. I press my cheek to P.J.’s and confess, “It’s strange, considering what we’ve been through, but I’ve gotten to like this glorious rain forest.”
“I’m ready for home,” she whispers back. Then I feel her shiver. “What about us, Jack? How are we going to do together? Do you think we can ever really go home, or get back what we had?” Doubt and fear sharpen her whisper. “That monster survived. And the wizard. And Eko, too. It’s not over. It may never be over.”
I hold her closer, and plant the softest of kisses on her neck. “It’s over for me.”
P.J. nods and kisses me back. “Okay,” she whispers. “That’s what I want, too.” She’s quiet for a few seconds, mulling it over. “But what if they don’t let you go? From what you’ve told me, you’re caught between two worlds. And even if this is the one you grew up in and are comfortable with, you’re really one of them. Your parents are alive in the future. And your enemies, too. You were born into their struggle. You’re of their time.”
I look back into her worried face and words fail me. I glance down and end up staring at my father’s watch. The blue hands glint on the white background.
I take the watch off my wrist and fling it far out over the dark river. It gleams when it hits the water, and then it quickly sinks out of sight.
“What did you do that for?” P.J. asks. “Didn’t that come from your father?”
“Yup. But I’m no longer operating on his time.” I hold her even tighter. “Look, I hope we helped save this incredible rain forest, and protect the atmosphere. I think we might have done some good to planet Earth, and improved the chances for future generations. But as far as I’m concerned, it’s finished now. My connection to them and their time is sinking to the bottom of this river. Right now all I want is to live my life, my own insignificant Jack Danielson life, with you.”
She looks back at me, and I see all the suffering and trauma she’s been through. She’s a different person from the happy-go-lucky girl I fell in love with back in Hadley. “Do you think that’s at all realistic, Jack?”
“Sure,” I say.
She looks incredulous but cautiously hopeful. “Okay. Where do we start?”
“I’m going to start with a hamburger,” I tell her. “For you, I recommend a long soak in a hot tub.”
P.J. looks back at me for several long seconds, and I think she’s going to cry. A tear slides down her cheek, but then the corners of her mouth tilt upward into a brave smile. “Bozo,” she whispers, “you got yourself a deal.”
I take her hand, and we motor on down the river. As we come to a wide bend, I glance back.
The spot where I dropped my father’s watch is now illuminated by an eerie blue glow. It seems to spread out, lighting the palms on either bank. As we speed away from it, it reaches out across our rippling wake and touches me.
For a long moment I feel my father’s presence—he’s right there in the boat with us! I sense that he knows what I’ve accomplished in the Amazon and he’s pleased and very proud. He grasps how I feel about P.J., and he’s bemused. But he also knows what I just told her, and he wants to correct me. I can almost hear his whisper from a thousand years away: “You’re my son, Jack. You belong to us. You cannot change your destiny.”
I turn the throttle up and we speed around the bend. P.J. nestles into my shoulder and I give her hand a squeeze as the shimmering blue glow fades away into the watery wilderness behind us.
Also by DAVID KLASS
Firestorm
Dark Angel
Home of the Braves
You Don’t Know Me
Screen Test
Danger Zone
California Blue
Copyright © 2008 by David Klass
All rights reserved
www.fsgkidsbooks.com
Designed by Barbara Grzeslo
eISBN 9781466806092
First eBook Edition : November 2011
First edition, 2008
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Klass, David.
Whirlwind / David Klass.—1st ed.
p. cm.—(Caretaker trilogy ; bk. 2)
Summary: Jack finds himself embroiled in another dangerous adventure when, after a six-month absence, he returns to the Hudson River town where he grew up to find his girlfriend PJ only to discover that she is missing and everyone believes him to be responsible for her disappearance and the death of his family.
ISBN-13: 978-0-374-32308-0
ISBN-10: 0-374-32308-9
[1. Space and time—Fiction. 2. Interpersonal relations—Fiction. 3. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. 4. Ecology—Fiction. 5. Science friction.] I. Title.
PZ7.K67813Whi 2008
[Fic]—dc22
2007014160