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happily flew to the top of the sideboard and sat munching on it loudly. Wiping the crumbs off her hands, Betty next gathered several prescription bottles off the window ledge and took them to the table, where she began doling out specific numbers of pills from each one.
    Startled to see so much medication, Piper came to the table. “What’s that for, Ma?”
    â€œOh, it’s nothing.” Betty waved away Piper’s concern. “A few weeks back Doc Bell showed up out of the blue, saying that Conrad had told him to come and take a look at your pa’s heart. Sure enough, just like Conrad said, there was a problem.”
    Piper noticed that Conrad was nodding as Betty spoke.
    â€œBut how come I didn’t know?” Despite what Betty said, Piper was worried.
    â€œI thought you did,” Betty said evasively, as though she couldn’t quite recall why Piper was not part of this. She shrugged and immediately dismissed the matter. “Of course, Doc Bell says that if we hadn’t caught it in time, it could have been a nasty business.”
    Joe patted Piper’s hand reassuringly.
    â€œAs long as he takes his pills, the doctors say that his heart is stronger than an eighteen-year-old’s.” Betty finished with the bottles and put them away to get to her next task. “We just thank our lucky stars that Doc Bell caught it in time. You know your pa, he’d as soon go to the doctor as a hen party. Can’t say I even remember the last time he went to have Doc Bell take a look at him. It was providence, I tell you, providence plain and simple that Doc Bell came when he did.”
    As Piper looked between Conrad and her father, a shiver ran up and down the small hairs on her neck. Last night her father had looked tired—his shoulders were bent over and there was a gray tone to his skin—yet as she looked at him this morning, he looked as if he’d grown ten years younger overnight.
    â€œEggs are getting cold. Sit and eat,” Betty commanded, getting Conrad to his chair and moving Piper about. “We’ve got lots to do today and there’s no point standing around, gabbing about things that don’t need our notice.”
    Conrad dug into his food and then asked for more. He sat up straight in his chair and his eyes were shining with excitement and plans and something else: something that Piper had never seen before in Conrad—joy. As long as she would live, Piper would never understand Conrad’s miraculous transformation. While Conrad tucked into a huge breakfast, Piper couldn’t eat a bite, maybe because she couldn’t take her eyes off Conrad—afraid he was a mirage that might momentarily evaporate to reveal the sad, dispirited soul who had been shuffling about the farm for the last few months.
    Breakfast was over, the plates were cleared away, and the new Conrad remained. He pulled Piper to the old bank barn.
    â€œConrad, are you sure you’re feeling alright?”
    â€œNever better.” Conrad hurried over to one of his worktables, pulled apart a strange device, and quickly reshaped it into something else. Fido landed on the table next to him and began snuffling through the equipment, knocking things over.
    â€œIt’s very strange is all.” Piper sat on a bale of hay. “What happens now?”
    â€œNow,” said Conrad, “we call the others.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œBecause you all want to change this world for the better. That’s why. So, let’s do it. If you want a leader, then here I am. It all starts here and now!”

 
    CHAPTER
    10
    As it turns out, if you reach your fourth birthday and have yet to utter your first word, people tend to get a bit jittery, particularly nervous and overambitious mothers, and this invariably leads to an enormous number of assessments. The purpose of these assessments is to determine exactly and specifically how dumb you are and why you are so dumb