Romeo Blue (36 page)

In the spring and summer of 1942, the Allies were losing the war at sea. During that time, Nazi U-boats sank many tankers, cargo ships, freighters, and other vessels along our coast. In April 1942, the American government announced that all coastal areas had to use blackout curtains. The lights from cities along the horizon were revealing the location of boats at night. The blackout helped. Cargo ships began traveling in convoys for protection. There were also various Nazi spy roundups, which I believe cut down on the information being relayed to the Nazis on ship location. Sub-watching towers and Coast Guard surveillance were put in place. By 1943, we were no longer losing large numbers of ships.

Most towns along the coast in Maine were well aware of the presence of U-boats in their waters. Recently at Bailey Island in Maine, I was able to visit the sub-watching tower there and still see its ominous eye poking out through the pine trees. Many towns in Maine also have their stories about Nazi spies and U-boats. Most of these stories are hearsay and were never proven. In Maine there is only one documented account of a Nazi spy arriving by U-boat and paddling to shore in a rubber raft. Agent 146 — a top German agent — and a helper
landed one night in winter in 1944 at Frenchman Bay. They were actually spotted that night by a seventeen-year-old Boy Scout who saw them on the road and figured out by studying their footsteps where they had come from. He rushed to the police, but because he was only a kid they did not believe him. Agent 146 and his helper made it to Portland where they had breakfast in a diner. Then they took a train to Boston and finally New York City. Several months later they were arrested and the Boy Scout was honored for his insight and bravery.

I was born just a few years after the war. My family lived in England for a year and I went to school there when I was eleven. I still have my school notebooks from that year. I had to write with pen and nib dipped in a pot of ink, and I learned to add and subtract and divide British pounds, shillings, pence, and half pence all the while keeping the ink from smearing!! My love of England lives with me still and it is my pleasure to revisit it with Flissy Bathburn.

An extra special thank-you to the remarkable and likable Rachel Griffiths, my editor. Behind the scenes she orchestrates, coaxes, inspires, advises, cheers, and yes, demands (in the best sort of way)! We are most certainly a team and her editing has been crucial. Thank you also to Arthur Levine, both brilliant and supportive, and to all the adorable, charming, warm, and caring people at Scholastic. I went to meet the whole of Scholastic last spring and I think everyone there gave me a hug and there wasn’t a one who didn’t care deeply about children and reading. They are an amazing group! Many, many thanks to Nikki Mutch, Becky Amsel, Lizette Serrano, Sue Flynn, Kelly Ashton, John Mason, Candace Greene, Whitney Stellar, Whitney Lyle, Bess Braswell, Jana Haussmann, and Anne Marie Wong. Thank you to my kindly friends Yvette Feig and Bob Murray, who bravely read an early and rough manuscript, typos and all, and to Marian Campbell for helping to spark my imagination about the coast of Maine during World War II. Thank you to Linda Smith who lit up my path at the end with her encouragement. Thank you to my mother, Ruth Stone. Three days before she died I sat on her bed and read the first half of this book aloud to her. The
second half had not been written yet. We had a lovely day together. She was always my best listener and reader, and I will miss her forever. Thank you finally to my husband and dearest friend, David. Not only did he read this book early on, he also, on a daily basis, keeps me from walking into walls and getting run over in Boston, among other things!

About the Author

Phoebe Stone spent a year in the United Kingdom when she was ten years old, and came back speaking with a British accent and a love of all things English. Her fifi rst novel starring Felicity Budwig was The Romeo and Juliet Code, which received starred reviews from both the Horn Book Magazine and Publishers Weekly. The Boston Globe called it “a masterpiece for young readers everywhere” and said it was “quite simply the best novel for young readers . . . since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” Phoebe’s most recent novel, The Boy on Cinnamon Street, received four starred reviews. She lives in Middlebury, Vermont.

Text copyright © 2013 by Phoebe Stone

All rights reserved. Published by Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.,
Publishers since 1920
.
SCHOLASTIC
and the
LANTERN LOGO
are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stone, Phoebe, 1947–

Romeo blue / by Phoebe Stone. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: During World War II, Felicity Bathburn is living in Bottlebay, Maine, with her eccentric relatives and their foster child, Derek, whom she has grown to love, but when a man claiming to be Derek’s true father arrives and starts asking all sorts of strange questions Felicity becomes suspicious of his motives.

ISBN 978-0-545-44360-9 (jacketed hardcover) 1. World War, 1939–1945 — Evacuation of civilians — Great Britain — Juvenile fiction. 2. World War, 1939–1945 — Maine — Juvenile fiction. 3. Foster children — Maine — Juvenile fiction. 4. Families — Juvenile fiction. 5. Maine — History — 20th century — Juvenile fiction. [1. Identity — Fiction. 2. World War, 1939–1945 — Evacuation of civilians — Great Britain — Fiction. 3. World War, 1939–1945 — Maine — Fiction. 4. Foster children — Fiction. 5. Family life — Maine — Fiction. 6. Maine — History — 20th century — Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.S879Rp 2013

813.54 — dc23

2012038060

First edition, June 2013

Every effort has been made to locate the copyright owners of previously published materials: “Lily Marlene”; “Stormy Weather” by Ethel Waters

Cover photography by EasyBuy4u for Istockphoto and Keiji Iwai for Getty
Cover design by Whitney Lyle

e-ISBN 978-0-545-52070-6

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication 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 hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.