Fire, The (48 page)

To Kevin's knowledge, Maude had never again associated with Andrew O'Connell, who had left Spokane in 1914 for the greener pastures of Portland, Oregon. He had risen to managing editor of the city's largest daily newspaper and won more than a dozen awards for excellence in journalism before dying on the job in 1950. He had left behind a wife and three children.

Preston Pierce had lived a less exemplary life. After getting married and divorced three times in fifteen years, he had become embroiled in a 1929 banking scandal and served four years in prison for fraud and embezzlement. He had died wifeless, childless, and nearly broke in 1947.

Kevin paid closest attention to one of the last headstones workers had erected before the county had closed the cemetery to future interments. The woman under the stone had done more than exceed his expectations. Josie White had lived a life worthy of emulation in any age.

After graduating first in the Shoshone County High School Class of 1913, Josie had matriculated to the University of Idaho and then to the University of California at Berkeley, where she became one of the first American women to earn a doctorate in chemistry. She went on to teach at four universities, write more than a hundred academic papers, and assist in the development of sulfa drugs in the 1930s.

Throughout her illustrious career, however, she had never forgotten her roots. According to her obituary, she had returned to Wallace nearly every year for commencements, parades, and civic ceremonies before retiring to her hometown in 1960. Four children, ten grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and scores of friends and colleagues had attended her funeral in 1980.

One man who hadn't was a time traveler who hadn't yet been born. Kevin hadn't learned about Josie's success until reading about her in the microfilm room of the university library in Albuquerque. He had taken special note of a commencement speech in 1948, where Josie had singled out a science teacher named Kevin Johnson as her greatest academic influence.

Realizing that his true calling was not higher education but public education, Kevin had dropped out of graduate school at the end of his first semester, entered an alternative teacher certification program, and eventually found a job as a science instructor at a high school in Bend, Oregon. He planned to begin his third full year at the school on Monday.

When he was done reminiscing among the dead, Kevin escorted his family to a shiny black Volkswagen Beetle that had held up surprisingly well over the years. He had come to value the vehicle as much as anything he might find in a Fourth of July parade.

Kevin buckled his smiling daughter in her safety seat, handed her a small teddy bear, and rubbed noses with her until she broke into giggles. He returned to the driver's seat, gave his dispirited wife two much-needed kisses, and turned on the ignition.

A few minutes later, he found the on-ramp, rejoined America's longest freeway, and started toward Kellogg, Spokane, and home. He took a moment to look at the sky and the distant hills and noticed that they were blue and green – not black, not gray, but blue and green, the colors of renewal.

Kevin smiled. He knew that even if the sky were gray tomorrow, it would remain blue in his mind. His last mental snapshot of Wallace, Idaho, would not be of fire, smoke, and death but rather of sunshine, giggles, and kisses. That, he concluded, was progress.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

If there is one thing I've learned in producing four novels, it's that you can't do it alone and shouldn't do it alone. Authors can make even a great work better by seeking the insights and opinions of those who know and love literature. I am deeply indebted to several such people, including Cheryl Heldt, Christine Stinson, and Esther Johnson for reading the early drafts; Bobbi de Montigny, Diana Zimmerman, Becky Skelton, and Mary Heldt for reading the later drafts; and Aaron Yost for bringing the process to a close with the skill of a professional editor.

I am also grateful to those who provided expertise on subjects ranging from language, history, and military affairs to wildlife and the arts. They include Jon Johnson, Leslie Mills, Craig Stoess, and staff from the Northern Pacific Depot Railroad Museum, Library of Congress, Idaho State Historical Society, Boston Public Library, National Park Service, and Newseum. I offer my thanks to all.

In preparing this novel, I consulted several authoritative works. They include
The Big Burn
by Timothy Egan,
Year of the Fires
by Stephen J. Pyne,
Northwest Disaster: Avalanche and Fire
by Ruby El Hult,
Mining Town
by Patricia Hart and Ivar Nelson, and newspaper articles from the
Idaho Press
, Spokane
Spokesman-Review
,
Wallace Miner
,
Wallace Times
, Portland
Oregonian
, and
New York Times
. I strongly recommend the first three books to those wishing to learn more about the Great Fire of 1910, one of the most interesting and underappreciated events in the history of the United States.