Words of Stone (14 page)
Authors: Kevin Henkes
“Heron to the right,” her mother announced.
“Ibis!” said her father. “Straightaway.”
“Seagull!” said Alice, sinking into a warm, cozy happiness. “Over there. And over there and over there and over there . . .” Her voice was bubbling with laughter.
Minutes later, they were on land, the island. This was Alice's tenth trip to Sanibel Island in Florida. Her family always came in February when it was cold and dreary back home in Wisconsin. Just this morning they'd left behind three inches of new-fallen snow, icy winds, and a leaden sky.
Alice was thinking that the sky in Floridaâso blue and transparentâwas better than the sky in Wisconsin. “Blue, bluer, bluest,” Alice whispered.
The palm trees, the lacy pines, the bright unfamiliar flowers, and then the town unrolled before her. Everything seemed illuminated, and glazed or made of glass.
Alice was an only child, as were her parents. All four of her grandparents were dead. Her family was small, but in Florida she pretended that her family was big. She pretended that the people who stayed in the neighboring cottages on the beach, the people who returned at the same time each year as she and her parents did, were part of her family.
The Wishmeiers and their grandchildren; Helen Blair; ancient Mr. Barden; and Alice's mother's college friend, Kate. They were Alice's big family. They didn't exactly look like they all belonged together the way some families did, but Alice didn't mind.
Alice had a pale, watchful face. She had straight brown hair and brown eyes and a brown spot the size and shape of an apple seed near the corner of her mouth. The spot was a mole, but Alice hated the word
mole
and referred to it as a speck. She hated the speck, too, and had decided she'd have it removed when she was old enough to make decisions like that without her parents' permission. Her parents repeatedly told her that it was called a beauty mark and that it made her extra pretty, and that one of her great-grandmothers had paid to have fake beauty marks, which she'd kept in a little tin box on her dresser and wore when she wanted to be fancy.
Neither of Alice's parents had moles on their faces, but they did have straight brown hair. Her father was an architect and his name was Tom. Her mother worked in an art gallery and her name was Pam. Alice thought her parents' names suited them. Tom, the name, was short and solid, like her father. And Pam, spelled backward, was map. Her mother always seemed to have the answers, seemed to know what to do. She knew the way, and not just when driving a car or hiking.
Alice liked her last name, Rice, because it rhymed with nice, and she took this as a good sign.
Alice liked her first name most of the time. She didn't like it when her father called her Alice in Wonderland, which he rarely did any longer. He did still call her Pudding, which she didn't mind as long as none of her friends heard him. Pudding was short for Alice Rice Pudding, which he found hilarious.
Alice had given up wanting a brother or sister. “Out of the question,” her father would say. “I'm too old,” her mother would add. Alice thought that a brother would have made her family complete, especially a brother named Eric, because Eric and Rice have the exact same letters. Back home in Wisconsin, Alice had a stuffed polar bear and a purple betta fish called Eric. And she'd already named their rental car Eric, too.
Before Alice knew it, her father was steering Eric off the road onto a narrow driveway of crushed seashells. The crunch beneath the tires was familiar. They stopped briefly at the tiny office to check in and get the keys. Then they drove toward the beach between two rows of low, pastel-colored cottages. They pulled up to number twoâthe cottage Alice and her parents stayed in every year. It was painted cotton-candy pink.
“Here we are, Pudding,” said Alice's father.
And they were.
And Alice was filled with joy.
Olive's Ocean
“Are you Martha Boyle?”
Martha nodded.
“You don't know me,” said the woman at the door. “Olive Barstow was my daughter. I was her mother.”
Martha heard herself gasp. A small, barely audible gasp.
“I don't know how well you knew Olive,” said the woman. “She was so shy.” The woman reached into the pocket of the odd smock she was wearing and retrieved a folded piece of paper. “But I found this in her journal, and I think she'd want you to have it.”
The rusted screen that separated them gave the woman a gauzy appearance. Martha cracked open the door to receive the pink rectangle.
“That's all,” the woman said, already stepping off the stoop. “And thank you. Thank you, Martha Boyle.”
The woman mounted a very old bicycle and pedaled away, her long, sleek braid hanging behind her like a tail.
Breathing deeply to quiet her heart, Martha remained by the door thinking about Olive Barstow, unable for the moment to unfold the paper and read it.
KEVIN HENKES
lives in Madison, Wisconsin. His novels include
Bird Lake Moon, The Birthday Room, Protecting Marie, Sun & Spoon, Two Under Par, Words of Stone, The Zebra Wall
, and the Newbery Honor Book
Olive's Ocean
. Among his acclaimed picture books are the Caldecott Medal winner
Kitten's First Full Moon
, the
New York Times
bestsellers
Old Bear, A Good Day, Lilly's Big Day,
and
Wemberly Worried,
the Caldecott Honor Book
Owen
, and the beloved
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse
. You can visit him online at www.kevinhenkes.com.
Visit
www.AuthorTracker.com
for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors and artists.
“Kevin Henkes's words are worth a thousand pictures.” â
The New York Times
The Year of Billy Miller
(available September 2013)
Illustrated by the author
“Billy Miller's second-grade year is quietly spectacular in a wonderfully ordinary way. Sweetly low-key and totally accessible.” â
Kirkus Reviews
Olive's Ocean
Winner of a Newbery Honor
“Characters and setting are painted in with the deft strokes of an experienced artist.” â
Kirkus Reviews
Junonia
A
School Library Journal
Best Book of the Year
“Henkes captures the honest frustrations and not-so-nice moments of kid-dom, wrapped in spare, lilting language and evocative illustrations.” â
Family Circle
Bird Lake Moon
“A novel as tender as his acclaimed
Olive's Ocean
. . . . Remarkable.” â
Publishers Weekly
“A significant and highly readable book.” â
School Library Journal
The Birthday Room
“Henkes explores family relationships with breathtaking tenderness, showing how feelings of guilt, bitterness and fear can be quelled by more deeply rooted love.” â
Publishers Weekly
Sun & Spoon
An American Library Association Notable Book
“Henkes captures young angst with respect and honesty.” â
School Library Journal
Two Under Par
Illustrated by the author
“Touching and funny.” â
Publishers Weekly
Protecting Marie
A
School Library Journal
Best Book of the Year
“A simply told but multilayered story, rich in imagery and feeling.” â
Kirkus Reviews
Words of Stone
Library of Congress Children's Book of the Year
“An outstanding book. One of the year's best.” â
Kirkus Reviews
The Zebra Wall
“Fans of Beverly Cleary and Betsy Byars will enjoy this Henkes selection.” â
School Library Journal
CREDITS
Cover painting by Thomas C. Jaleski
Author photo by Tom Beckley
W
ORDS OF STONE
. Copyright © by Kevin Henkes. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text 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 hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
10 11 12 13
SCP
10 9 8 7 6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Henkes, Kevin.
Words of stone / by Kevin Henkes.
p.      cm.
Summary: Busy trying to deal with his many fears and his troubled feelings for his dead mother, ten-year-old Blaze has his life changed when he meets the boisterous and irresistible Joselle.
ISBN 0-688-11356-7
EPub Edition April 2013 ISBN 9780062284686
[1. FriendshipâFiction. 2. Mother and childâFiction. 3. FearâFiction.]Â Â Â Â Â Â Â I. Title.
PZ7.H389Wo       1992
[Fic]âdc20
91-28543Â Â Â Â Â Â Â CIPÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â AC
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