by Will Hobbs
I’ll be headed your way for Christmas.
Can’t wait.
Love, Neal
“Mom!” I screamed. “Come see. You gotta read this!”
Hyperventilating, I got out of her way. She read it slowly, pausing once to look at me with eyes wide, and then she read it again. I could picture Liberty and Uncle Neal up on that ridge like I was right there with them. My mother jumped up from the computer and we started hugging like crazy. I let out a whoop that might have been heard in Manhattan.
It was definitely heard as far as the front street, where Cody and my dad were getting out of the car.
Cody burst through the front door with a bumper sticker in his hand. “Did you hear, Shannie? Did you hear about Uncle Neal?”
“All clear,” I cried. “He’s okay!”
Cody gave half a dozen fist pumps, then did a little dance. My father stood beside him, beaming.
“So what’s your new bumper sticker say?” I asked my little brother. “Bet you found a good one.”
“For Uncle Neal! It’s the ultimate of the ultimate!”
Indeed it was. When Neal came at Christmas he brought us a picture of his truck with Cody’s sticker slapped on the back bumper:
I INTEND TO LIVE FOREVER. SO FAR, SO GOOD.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
It was a newspaper article that first caught my attention, a profile of a longtime volunteer for a wild-animal rescue and rehab center. Bob Jones had become an urban legend in Seattle. Among other exploits, “Crazy Bob” had rescued a wild coyote from an elevator in the Federal Building downtown, taking it in his arms.
Jones’s nickname came from his hair-raising rescue of a fledgling red-tailed hawk from a steep roof during a lightning storm. A baseball cap with his new name was presented to him by Kaye Baxter, founder and director of the Sarvey Wildlife Center near Arlington, Washington, northeast of Seattle. Sarvey, I read, was the largest rehabilitator of raptors in the state, in addition to caring for a staggering array of other wildlife, from baby squirrels to harbor seals.
I had to meet these people and their menagerie.
With his rescue dog Billie at his feet, Bob Jones regaled me with anecdotes of their rescues over the years, while Kaye filled me in on the workings of the center. Sarvey does wonders for wildlife with the help of countless volunteers. After several visits I came away inspired to write a novel.
Some of the rescues in the story are wholly invented, while others are based, sometimes loosely and sometimes closely, on actual Sarvey rescues, most of them Bob’s and Billie’s. The story line of Jackie’s Wild Seattle is fictional, as are the characters, though some of them were inspired by real people. Jackie and her “circle of healing” were of course inspired by Kaye Baxter. Uncle Neal was inspired by a combination of Bob Jones and Jeff Guidry, another Sarvey volunteer.
Battling cancer, Jeff devoted himself to and bonded with a bald eagle fledgling named Freedom that had fallen from a nest and would never fly. On the day she was finally to be euthanized, Freedom stood up, signaling her intention to survive. Much later, on the day Jeff was declared cancer-free, Freedom embraced him with both wings.
I am grateful to Bob, Kaye, and Jeff, along with Dorian Tremaine, who shared a day with me in Sarvey’s wildlife ambulance, for their enthusiastic support as I researched this novel. I also want to thank my brother-in-law, John Loftus, for introducing me to Sarvey.
The subplot involving the Tucker family’s conflict with Jackie’s Wild Seattle is entirely fictional. Kaye Baxter has, however, provided opportunities for many troubled teenagers to fulfill their probation requirements through working at Sarvey. Some return as volunteers. Kaye and others from Sarvey, including Freedom and various raptors, have also done numerous presentations in schools all over the Seattle area. A new ambulance was indeed donated to Sarvey by the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.
For great photos of the wildlife at Sarvey Wildlife Center and much more about Sarvey’s mission and operation, I encourage readers to visit their website, www.SarveyWildlife.org.
Another website I hope readers will visit is www.DoctorsWithoutBorders.org. In 1999, Doctors Without Borders was awarded one of the world’s highest honors, the Nobel Peace Prize, for their humanitarian efforts around the globe. The organization was active in Pakistan and Afghanistan before and after the events of September 11, 2001.
Durango, Colorado
June 2002
BOOKS BY WILL HOBBS
Changes in Latitudes
Bearstone
Downriver
The Big Wander
Beardance
Kokopelli’s Flute
Far North
Ghost Canoe
Beardream
River Thunder
Howling Hill
The Maze
Jason’s Gold
Down the Yukon
Wild Man Island
Leaving Protection
Credits
Cover art © 2004 by Vince Natale
Cover design by Hilary Zarycky
Cover © 2004 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
Copyright
JACKIE’S WILD SEATTLE. Copyright © 2003 by Will Hobbs. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, 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 hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Digital Edition August 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-196368-1
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