Read Online When She Flew by Jennie Shortridge - Free Book Online Page B

played, like “identify the birdcalls” or “how many words can you think of that start with the letter R?” When I messed up, Pater never got angry. He’d just remind me how the next part started, and then I could remember the rest. I never thought of it as something real, something we may have to do someday. We heard campers and hikers every once in a while, but only because they’re noisy. They were never very near and we were always quiet, so they’d never have found us.
    But now, here we were, packing our emergency backpacks and making sure we had everything that might identify us. Pater reached down and pulled all of my writings from the book crate by my mattress. We can’t leave these here, he said. You can take as much as you’re willing to carry, but you know what we have to do with the rest.
    Tears prickled my eyes and the heaviness of what I’d done sank harder into my chest. I took the pile of papers from his hands, all mismatched and different colors, my pencil markings smudged on the backs of “Work from Home” and “Lose Weight Now—Ask Me How!” flyers and used envelopes. His voice softened. Why don’t you pick a couple of favorites? he said. Then we’ll hide the rest. Maybe they’ll still be okay when we come back for them. But you have to hurry, Lindy.
    I picked a report I’d done on the Swainson’s thrush because Pater marked it with an A+, and a poem I wrote about Crystal a long time ago when I still missed her. I folded them neatly and slid them into my backpack next to my books and school papers. Pater took the rest and put them in a paper bag, then stuffed it into his pack. Any other day and I would have kept the story about the princess and the great blue heron who turns into a boy, but I most especially wanted to get rid of that story.
    Pater pulled up the rope ladder and threw our backpacks to the ground. He looked at me and said, No matter what happens, stick to the plan, okay, Lindy? Everything will turn out all right if we stick to the plan.
    My heart was pounding, but I nodded and then he turned and jumped down like a flying squirrel with his arms wide, his camouflage jacket stretched between them like forest skin. He landed with a hard thud and a gasp. His back. That was how he hurt it in the first place in the war, by jumping from a building that was exploding. At least he was luckier than his brother. Robert died before he had the chance to jump, and that hurts Pater even more than his back, I know, because he only went to Iraq to take care of his brother. I think that’s why he tries extra-hard to take good care of me.
    “Are you all right?” I cried.
    He waved his hand, like, Don’t worry, though he stayed hunched over too long before straightening up. Come on then, he said. His face was expressionless, but an odd color, like the inside of a green grape when you peel it.
    I’ve never liked jumping from high places, even though Pater taught me how to land on my feet, then tuck and roll. I’m always afraid I will spin out of control as I’m falling, that I won’t land the right way and I’ll break something, and then we’ll really be in trouble because we have no money for doctors. I sat on the edge of the platform, trying to make myself push off the way Pater had. I began to shake and I wanted to be sick, and I thought Pater would hate me for being so afraid, but he kept looking up at me, talking smooth and low, saying, It’s okay Lindy. I’m right here. I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you.
    Even after I’d ruined everything.
    I turned to give Sweetie-pie one last look. She was watching me, and blinked twice before closing her eyes and swiveling her head away from me. Everything about a bird is made for flight: the way they breathe, the shape and design of their bodies, their weight. I wished I could fly, but even if I were covered with feathers, I would not be able to avoid gravity.
    Finally, I shoved the heels of my hands as hard as I could