Missing
Page 4
Sincerely,
T. S. Harvey
Secretary
Jack’s parents opened the parcel. They cried when they saw the strips of canvas and the splinter from the propeller. They cried, but they were glad to have real proof of what had happened to their son.
Will went to the bookshelf and carried the atlas to the table. He opened it to a map of northern France, and he and Peggy found the name of the village on the map. Now they knew that their beloved son had a grave. Now they knew the name of the place where his body was lying.
Two weeks later, the first letter from Luc Caron arrived. In the years to follow, there would be many more letters. But the first was the one Will and Peggy had been waiting for. It told them what they wanted and needed to know: the story of their son’s last moments of life.
This is how that first letter from Luc Caron began.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Greenwood,
With deep feeling, I write this letter, having found you at last. By now you will have received the souvenirs I guarded for many years on behalf of your son. You have seen that clumps of dirt are still stuck to the canvas from the wings of your son’s plane. The strips of canvas are exactly as I found them when I tore them from the ground. The splinter of propeller, I hid inside my jacket.
I part with these souvenirs sadly, because they have been so dear to me. But of course they are more dear to you, and it is to you that they now belong.
I am also sorry to open in your hearts, again, the sorrow of losing your son. I have been told by the War Graves office in England that you will want to hear my story. And so, with respect, I now start at the beginning.
In 1917, I was a small boy, only twelve years old. On March 4, a Sunday, I was on my way home from church. Just after eleven o’clock in the morning, I heard machine-gun fire in the sky above me. Two German planes were fighting a British plane. I looked up to watch this fight in the sky...
Acknowledgements
I thank C. W. Hunt and Norm Christie for responding to my questions about World War I pilots. I thank the Archives of the Canadian War Museum for permission to fictionalize a real event that happened during 1917. I first came upon the file (#19720147) while gathering information for a story I was writing. For Missing, I decided to expand the story into a novel based on the bare facts of the actual incident: a plane crash in France witnessed by a young boy, and the mistaken identity of a lost Canadian pilot. Because this is a work of fiction, the locations and the names and details of characters in the story are totally invented.
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New Year’s Eve leads to a turning point for Dixie and Grady. And a new road for them both.
The Day the Rebels Came to Town
By Robert Hough
The year is 1920, and all of Mexico is at war with itself. Gangs of rebels roam the country, stealing money, food, and horses. Carlos is 28 years old. He works in his father’s café. One day, a gang rides into Carlos’s village. When the gang leaves, they kidnap Carlos.
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Is Carlos a brave man or a coward? It is a question that takes him a lifetime to answer.
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By Anthony Hyde
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About the Author
Frances Itani is the author of fourteen books. Her bestselling, award-winning novel Deafening was translated into sixteen languages.
Frances taught and practised nursing for eight years. She began to write while studying at university and while raising a young family. She has worked as a volunteer all her life. Frances lives in Ottawa.
Also by Frances Itani:
FICTION:
Truth or Lies
Pack Ice
Man Without Face
Leaning, Leaning Over Water
Deafening
Poached Egg on Toast
Remembering the Bones
Requiem
POETRY:
No Other Lodgings
Rentee Bay
A Season of Mourning
CHILDREN’S BOOKS:
Linger By the Sea
Best Friend Trouble
(forthcoming)