No Passengers Beyond This Point (24 page)

Course it coulda been something else too. Somethin’ on the inside makes one person want to save himself where the next one just gives on up. Can’t give someone that or take it away neither. Just the way they’s put together.

I saw them after they was better too. Went to the hospital over in Denver the day they got out. They was nice kids, real polite. And that Uncle Red, he’s good folks—loves ’em almost as much as their mom, you can see that plain as day.

While I was in Denver I did my own little crazy. Being around those city folks done it, I guess, because on my way home I spent my cookie jar money on one of them fancy collars with glued-on jewels for my Boom. The way I figure it, a dog saves three kids, she deserves something real special. You bet she do.

No Passengers Beyond This Point
seemed to come out of nowhere, yet looking back I see how many people contributed to its creation.

 

It started with Lori Benton, who was determined to have a book with a smart, six-year-old protagonist. I had no intention of writing the book she wanted—none at all—and then Mouse appeared. How did Lori know she was in there?

 

Once Mouse, Finn, and India found their story, the manuscript went to Kathy Dawson, who worked relentlessly draft after draft to help me bring reason to an unreasonable narrative. Kathy possesses her own special ESP for manuscripts—able to discern and develop what isn’t yet there. She could have governed a small country in the time it took to edit this book. I will always be indebted to her for her thoughtful comments. Working with her is just plain fun.

 

Getting the novel in shape would not have been possible without the help of our expert readers. First to hear bits and pieces were the astute ladies in my crit group: Alla Crone, Ella Thorp Ellis, Patsy Garlan, and Zilpha Keatley Snyder. And then came my heavy-hitter readers: my best writer friend—Barbara Kerley, one of the smartest librarians I know—Angela Reynolds, and the powerhouse readers at Penguin: Claire Evans, Jessica Garrison, Jen Haller, Emily Heddleson, Lauri Hornik, and Alisha Niehaus. Thanks for the honest and thoughtful input of each of you.

 

Along the way we had help from the gracious Elizabeth Harding and the team at Curtis-Brown, plus we got guidance about the title from school groups in Portland and Petaluma in Cleveland, Clayton and Corte Madera.

 

Through it all my husband, Jacob, cheered me on, my son, Ian, let me borrow his favorite sponge story, and my daughter, Kai, begged to read each draft. Thank you, thank you, thank you, what a gift you all are to me.