AUTHORS NOTE
Dear Reader:
Some stories end with a happily ever after. Others end in tragedy. This story begins with a shattered world, but ends for Honor with defiance, relief and joy. She finds her parents; she learns the truth about the island; she reunites with Helix and Quintilian; she insists on her true name.
Our story also ends with some uncertainty. We dont know if it was a good idea for Honors parents to send her back to school. We dont know if the plot against Earth Mother will succeed, or even if it should succeed. Most of all, we dont know the source of the fear that keeps adults in check. Is it real fear that the planet is dying before their eyes? Or fear manufactured by the Corporation? A book ending with questions like these would not last long in Honors world. Miss Tuttle would cut these pages to ribbons if she could. Then she would rewrite the ending to show that Retrievers bring Honors parents home to re-educate them, Miss Blessing rebuilds her school, Earth Mother stabilizes the Weather Station, and Honor learns her lesson and never runs away again.
But as you can tell, I am an Objector to neat endings, and I prefer good questions to simple answers. I hope that when you finish reading this book you will do some questioning of your own about our worlds changing climate, our food supply, and the competing claims of politicians and environmentalists. I hope you wonder about Honor and Helix and Quintilian as well, and imagine their further adventures. Id love to hear your ideas. Go to my web site: www.allegragoodman.com and tell me what you think happens next.
Yours in all weather,
Allegra
I am grateful to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced
Study for the fellowship year in which I wrote this book.
ONE
ALL THIS HAPPENED MANY YEARS AGO, BEFORE THE STREETS were air-conditioned. Children played outside then, and in many places the sky was naturally blue. A girl moved to a town house in the Colonies on Island 365 in the Tranquil Sea.
The girl was ten years old, small for her age but strong. Her eyes were gray. Her hair was curly to begin with, and it curled up even more in the humid island air. She had been born after the Flood in the eighth glorious year of Enclosure, and like everyone born that year, her name began with the letter H. Her name was rare, and in later cycles it was discontinued, but at that time it was still on the lists. She was called Honor.
The town house stood almost at the barriers near the beach. There was a downstairs with a living room and a tiny kitchen, and upstairs, a bathroom and two bedrooms, one big and one small. If you stood at the window in the smaller front bedroom, the ocean was frighteningly close, but there were protective bars on the windows.
Honors parents were young and clever, and they loved to laugh. Will and Pamela Greenspoon did not wear brown or tan like most people, but old-fashioned clothes in strange colors: peach and gray and even black. They were both engineers. They had nothing to put in their house because their trunks had not arrived yet from the North. Honors parents had no coupon books for the Central Store, because they had not yet started their new jobs. They had never been to the Colonies, and they didnt know anyone on the island, but they told their daughter that was part of the adventure.
Thats what you said last time, Honor pointed out as she lay down to sleep on the bare floor with her fathers raincoat balled up for a pillow.
We wont move again for a while, said Pamela.
How long is a while? Honor asked.
Well see, said Will.
A year?
Well see.
Three years?
Its late, Pamela cut in. You need to get your sleep. Youve got the school interview tomorrow.
Even though the Greenspoons had no furniture, they had taken Honor for testing at the famous Old Colony School.
The admissions tests for the Old Colony School took an entire day. There were tests in reading, copying, mathematics, science, and geography. If students did well enough on those tests, they were invited to interview. But interviews were not held at school. The interviewer came to the house to examine the whole family.
Before breakfast, Honor heard the knock on the door. Her parents were nervous because the house was so empty. They had borrowed folding chairs from the neighbors, but they worried that the interviewer would mark them down for lacking a proper couch.
Honor opened the door and saw a blue-eyed woman with soft curly hair under her sun hat. Her eyes were clear blue as marbles, her skin pale powdery white.
Good morning. My name is Miss Blessing, said the woman.
Please come in, said Pamela. Come sit down.
Would you like something to drink? asked Will when they were all seated. We have cold guava juice.
No thank you, said Miss Blessing. She didnt look at Will and Pamela at all. She was looking straight at Honor. Your test scores are excellent, she told Honor. I have a few simple questions for you today.
Honor glanced at her father. He smiled at her encouragingly.
Tell me the name of your old school, Miss Blessing said.
I didnt go to school, Honor said.
Why dont you tell me some of your favorite activities, Miss Blessing said in a friendly way. Honor didnt answer immediately, so Miss Blessing said, Pottery, for example. Music, gardening, sewing...
Climbing trees, Honor said.
Oh, youre interested in forests? asked Miss Blessing, smiling. Do you like to study trees?
No, I just like climbing them, Honor said. At that time she still remembered the great trees in the Northern Islands, the oaks and pines, the white birches, the carpet of pine needles underfoot. She remembered weeping willows. She remembered lying for hours in the branches of the willow trees.
Do you love the earth?
Honor nodded.
Who leads us and guides us?
Earth Mother, Honor said.
What are Her watchwords?
Peace, love, and joy.
And who guards the earth?
The Corporation.
Very good, said Miss Blessing. Honor was happy because she thought she was done. Please recite the Corporate Creed for me.
Our Councilors who are seven, Honor began softly.
A little louder, said Miss Blessing. Please speak clearly.
Our Councilors who are seven. Corporation is your name. Your plan to come, Enclosure doneon earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day... She hesitated. Her family was not religious. She did not recite her prayers every night. Give us this day our daily bread. And correct all our trespasses. As you correct those who trespass against us. She was stuck again. Anxiously she looked at her mother.
And lead, Pamela whispered.
And lead us not into Inaccuracy, but deliver us from lies. Honor recited fast, racing to get to the end. For ours is the planet and the power and the glory. Amen.
Miss Blessing said nothing. Then she said to Honors parents, We ask our students to work without any hints or help.
I think Honor is a little nervous, said Will.
Im afraid she is deficient, murmured Miss Blessing. What was Earth Mothers Five-Year Plan?
Honor hesitated. Miss Blessing was looking at the bare living room walls. Where is your picture of Earth Mother? she asked Will and Pamela.
