“Yeah, maybe. Maybe’s better’n nothin’.”
The conversation bogged down again then for a while until, all of a sudden, Zane said, “Oh, yeah. I wanted to tell you. You know what I said about the depression and your Pa’s store and all?”
Cat nodded, a small, grudging nod.
“Well, I had no call to say somethin’ like that. Your Pa’s store’s doin’ fine, like as not.”
“No, it’s not!” Cat said angrily. “It’s practically bankrupt.”
“Is that right?” Zane looked solemn. Not teasing or obnoxious for once, but just solemn and interested. “Well, that’s a real pity,” he said. “But look-a-here. You shouldn’t ought to worry ’bout it, ’cause things are goin’ to get better soon. My pa was talkin’ to Doc Wilson yesterday and Doc Wilson said he thinks this here depression’s almost over. And right soon now things is going to start gettin’ better for everybody. And Pa says that must be true, ’cause Doc Wilson knows more than jist ’bout anybody.”
“Umm,” Cat said. “Cliff says so too. At least that’s what he says when he’s in a good mood.”
They looked at each other then, and right at the very same instant—they smiled. Zane took a step closer. “Look,” he said, “I’m going to come back to Brownwood someday, sure as shootin’. I’m comin’ back because I like ... He looked at Cat sideways and then up at the sky and then at Cat again. Then he kind of sighed and shrugged and said, “I like this here town.” Then he said, “Well, then—so long, and—I’ll be seein’ you.”
He whirled around and started off down the driveway and then, without even pausing, he whirled around again and came right back. “About that there race we had,” he said, “you won. You were the one who got to the finish line.”
Cat shook her head. Her throat suddenly felt so stiff she could only say, “No. You’re faster.”
He chuckled. “For the short haul, maybe. Anyways”— he paused and then reached out suddenly and shook Cat’s hand—“anyways, you keep on runnin’, Cat Kinsey.” Then he started off down the driveway, and this time he kept going.
When Cat opened the kitchen door the argument about churches hadn’t ended, and it didn’t sound like it was about to anytime soon. Everyone was still talking at once, except for Mama, who had started to cry. Nobody noticed Cat, so she backed out of the room, closed the door behind her, and ran around the house. She went in the front door and up the stairs to her room at full speed. So fast that she reached her window in time to catch a last glimpse of Zane as he turned toward town on the Old Brownwood Road.
“You, too, Zane Perkins,” she whispered. “You keep on running too.”
A Biography of Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Zilpha Keatley Snyder (b. 1927) is the three-time Newbery Honor–winning author of classic children’s novels such as The Egypt Game, The Headless Cupid, and The Witches of Worm. Her adventure and fantasy stories are beloved by many generations.
Snyder was born in Lemoore, California, in 1927. Her father, William Keatley, worked for Shell Oil, but as a would-be rancher he and his family always lived on a small farm. Snyder’s parents were both storytellers, and their tales often kept their children entertained during quiet evenings at home.
Snyder began reading and telling stories of her own at an early age. By the time she was four years old she was able to read novels and newspapers intended for adults. When she wasn’t reading, she was making up and embellishing stories. When she was eight, Snyder decided that she would be a writer—a profession in which embellishment and imagination were accepted and rewarded.
Snyder’s adolescent years were made more difficult by her studious country upbringing and by the fact that she had been advanced a grade when she started school. As other girls were going to dances and discovering boys, Snyder retreated into books. The stories transported her from her small room to a larger, remarkable universe.
At Whittier College, Zilpha Keatley Snyder met her future husband, Larry Snyder. After graduation, she began teaching upper-level elementary classes. Snyder taught for nine years, including three years as a master teacher for the University of California, Berkeley. The classroom experience gave Snyder a fresh appreciation of the interests and capabilities of preteens.
As she continued her teaching career, Snyder gained more free time. She began writing at night, after teaching during the day; her husband helped by typing out her manuscripts. After finishing her first novel, she sent it to a publisher. It was accepted on her first try. That book, Season of Ponies, was published in 1964.
In 1967, her fourth novel, The Egypt Game, won the Newbery Honor for excellence in children’s literature. Snyder went on to win that honor two more times, for her novels The Headless Cupid and The Witches of Worm. The Headless Cupid introduced the Stanley family, a clan she revisited three more times over her career.
Snyder’s The Changeling (1970), in which two young girls invent a fantasy world dominated by trees, became the inspiration for her 1974 fantasy series, the Green Sky Trilogy. Snyder completed that series by writing a computer game sequel called Below the Root. The game went on to earn cult classic status.
Over the almost fifty years of her career, Snyder has written about topics as diverse as time-traveling ghosts, serenading gargoyles, and adoption at the turn of the twentieth century. Today, she lives with her husband in Mill Valley, California. When not writing, Snyder enjoys reading and traveling.
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 ebook onscreen. 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 hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1994 by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa
978-1-4532-7189-6
This edition published in 2012 by Open Road Integrated Media
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www.openroadmedia.com
EBOOKS BY ZILPHA KEATLEY SNYDER
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