If Only (14 page)

Danny

They've come to say goodbye to the farm. Danny, Pam and Dad.

Pop was going to come too, but he's had a bad week. He's been slipping fast. He's getting all kinds of things mixed up, and the doctor told Dad it's going to get worse. Dad talked about moving Pop in with them, but Pop says he wants to stay at Shady Haven, where his friends are. Pop and the zombies. Dad and Pam and Danny visit lots, and sometimes Danny comes away sad, but Dad says that in his own way Pop is happy.

Dad wants to clear out the boxes they left in the farmhouse attic. He's renting a truck next week to pick them up. Danny has hunted through a dozen boxes, hoping to find Pop's World War I medals, but he hasn't found anything yet. He needs a break, so he climbs up the Bear Trail.

From here on the hill, Danny can see everything—Pop and Nana's house, the brown cottage where he and Pam and Dad lived, the barn, the cornfield. Everything is small, not at all the way he remembers it. The Bear Trail is an easy five-minute climb. The forest is just a patch of woods bordered by the highway. And did they really get lost in that cornfield?

Pam didn't want to climb the hill with Danny. She's been picking yellow roses in Nana's garden, two shopping bags full, and she's going to dry the petals and put them into little bags. The car will smell like roses all the way home, but Danny doesn't mind. He sees Pam now, lying on a blanket on the grass. Danny can't tell from here, but she is probably wearing her new bikini.

Danny sits on a rock and feels the sun soak into his shoulders. He's going to ride his new bike (an early birthday present) to Hugh's when they get back, maybe shoot some baskets. He plans on teaching Hugh how to dribble a ball decently. Danny figures Hugh needs some skills if he's going to survive high school.

Danny watches Dad come out of the house and carry something to their car. Then Dad looks up at the hill and waves his arms back and forth over his head.

Danny waves back. Then he realizes that Dad is trying to tell him that it's time to leave.

Danny takes one last look at the farm. He starts down the hill.

He's ready.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Sarah Harvey, whose brilliant editing moved the story in the direction I wanted it to go. Thank you also to all the people at Orca, who are so supportive of my writing. Finally, I would like to thank my husband, Larry, who, as always, is beside me all the way.

Becky Citra
is the author of many books for children and teens, including
Missing, After the Fire
and
Never to be Told
. Becky lives on a ranch in Bridge Lake, British Columbia, where she has ridden and trained horses for thirty years.