by Lisa Yee
“And Lea,” Ms. Garcia said, her eyes meeting mine, “you should consider photography as a career.”
“Thank you,” I said. My voice was quiet, but inside, my heart was singing. There had been so many times this week when I’d felt sure that I had no idea what I was doing, so knowing that Ms. Garcia thought my work was good made me feel wonderful. The most important thing, though, was the fact that I loved both photos. As I thought about that, I realized that when Ms. Garcia had told us we needed to learn to “see in a new way,” she’d really just meant we needed the confidence to see for ourselves.
Ms. Garcia moved over to Camila’s pictures. “This one turned out so well,” she said, looking at a shot of the Great Room at Coventry House. Camila had really captured the room’s elegance, and the buzz of all the people working to restore it. Looking at it made me feel like I was standing right there.
“Is this the same house as the one with the mural?” Ms. Garcia asked. We nodded. As I looked at the photo of the Great Room again, sadness rose in me. Unless something changed soon, I thought, photographs would be the only way anyone would ever be able to see Coventry House.
That night, my parents, Camila, and I arrived at COCA for the exhibit. Sparkly lights were strung over the front entrance to the trees around it, creating a starry, swooping canopy to walk under. Inside, the sculpture class had constructed papier-mâché mobiles that hung from the lobby ceiling, while easels scattered everywhere displayed watercolors and oil paintings done by the advanced art students. Our photographs hung in neat rows on the walls throughout the crowded space.
I spotted Abby and her mom in front of Abby’s photos. “Have you seen Abby’s masterpiece?” her mom asked, gesturing to the picture of the Clydesdale horses. She gave Abby a hug. “I had no idea you were such a talented photographer, honey! I should hire you to take some pet photos for my office.”
“Really?” Abby squeaked. She looked at me, eyes dancing. “Lea! You have to take photos with me. It’ll be so much more fun!”
“Okay,” I said, thrilled. “Maybe we could sell prints to raise money for the animal sanctuary in Brazil where they’re taking care of the baby sloth!”
Abby clapped her hands together. “Great idea!”
As Abby started making plans, my gaze drifted across the crowd. By the entrance, a woman in a purple velvet dress caught my eye. As she turned her head, I recognized Hallie! I had told her about the COCA exhibit, but I’d never expected her to actually come. Yet here she was, leaning on Justus.
I grabbed Mom’s hand and dragged her across the room. Hallie’s face lit up when I told her Mom was Ama’s daughter.
“It’s so wonderful to meet you,” she said, clasping Mom’s hand.
“Thank you both so much for coming,” Mom said to Hallie and Justus. “Are you a fan of photography?” she asked Hallie.
“I’m a fan of Lea,” Hallie said, eyes sparkling. “When she told us about the exhibit, I thought, now there’s something I’d like to see. And my son is a big fan of COCA.”
“I helped raise funds for the restoration a few years ago,” Justus said. “This building is a St. Louis landmark, and those should be preserved.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” said my mother.
Suddenly, my brain was about to burst with an idea. “Mr. Dumond, what do you do?” I asked.
He looked surprised. “I’m a commercial real estate developer,” he replied.
“Really?” I said eagerly. “Do you ever fix up old buildings? Because my mom’s trying to save this amazing house in Old North St. Louis and make it into a community center.”
“Lea,” Mom broke in. She seemed embarrassed, but my mind was moving too fast to stop.
“The building she’s fixing up is Coventry House, where you and Ama went to school,” I told Hallie. Then I turned to Justus. “But the funding fell through, so now it may get torn down.”
“Lea, please,” said Mom. “We don’t need to discuss it.”
“Actually, we should discuss it,” said Hallie, turning to her son. “Lea’s right. Coventry House is an important piece of this city’s architectural history. It would be a terrible shame to lose it after all these years.”
“I’d like to see the project,” Justus said.
“Really?” Mom said. I could hear the surprise in her voice.
Justus nodded. “I’ve been looking to do a historical renovation. I just haven’t found the right project. This one sounds promising.”
“You two discuss it,” Hallie said, “while Lea shows me her photographs.”
She leaned on me as we walked over to my pictures, but I was the one who was shaking. I really wanted her to like my work. First, I showed her the photo of Camila and Abby at the mural. She looked at it for a long moment, studying the faces.
“I remember this mural,” she said wistfully. “I’m so glad it’s being brought back to life. And your photo is extraordinary.”
“Thank you,” I said. Hallie turned, studying the two portraits of herself on the wall nearby. When she finally looked back at me, her eyes began to tear up.
“Looking at this makes me realize how lucky I’ve been,” she said. “I had so many dreams for adventure as a girl, and fulfilled so many of them. I wish the same thing for you,” she said, and as she smiled, I felt like I was glowing.
The rest of the evening went by in a blur. Mom and Dad both loved my photos. Dad even tried to call Zac in Brazil on video chat to show him the exhibit, but there was no answer. So we left a crazy rushed message asking him to call us back, and I used Dad’s phone to e-mail Zac my photos. Then it seemed like everyone in the room wanted to talk to me about the Hallie photographs—how I’d found the first picture and how I’d gotten the idea for the new portrait. I talked so much that my mouth got dry and Dad had to get me a cup of water.
“You should add ‘detective’ to your list of accomplishments,” he said as he handed it to me.
Justus really liked my portrait of Hallie. He even said he wanted to buy it, but I told him I would make him a copy for free. That made him smile. Right after that, my mom whispered to me that it was “looking good” that Justus would fund the restoration of the Coventry House! I felt like I was floating on air.
Finally, people started to leave. As Justus went to get Hallie’s coat, I sat next to her on a leather bench, across from the mosaic of the St. Louis skyline. “Thank you again for coming,” I said. Hallie turned to me, the compass necklace swaying around her neck.
“I should thank you,” she said. “You brought Amanda back into my life, along with so many good memories.” I flushed, pleased.
“You remind me so much of your grandmother as a girl, Lea,” Hallie said. “Like Amanda, you have a truly adventurous spirit. I want to make sure you never lose that, no matter what life throws at you.” With shaking hands, Hallie bent her head and slipped off her compass necklace. “I want you to have this,” she said, extending it to me.
“Oh, no,” I said, “I can’t. It’s too special—it’s your last link with Ama—”
“That’s why you should have it!” Hallie exclaimed, and pressed it into my hand. “It’s for you to keep forever, so you can remember Ama and me. Your grandmother had total faith that both our lives would be great adventures,” she said, “as long as we weren’t afraid to go after what we wanted. Now, that spirit of adventure lives on in you.”
Hallie hung the compass around my neck. I was almost crying, but at the same time, my heart felt like it was flying. As I hugged Hallie, feeling Ama’s compass connecting us, I remembered the promise Hallie and Ama had made to each other, to follow their dreams. I was part of that now, too, and I knew it was one promise I would always keep.
he morning Camila was going to fly home, I helped her pack. We squashed her clothes and the St. Louis Cardinals foam finger inside her suitcase, and I sat on top so she could zip it shut. By the time we rolled the suitcase out of Zac’s room and carried it downstairs, we had just enough time for a quic
k snack. My mom gave us glasses of milk and some leftover squares of gooey butter cake to eat on the porch.
Outside, the weather was perfect. Daffodils and crocuses were in bloom along the footpath leading from our porch to the Hickory Street sidewalk, and the air smelled like flowers and wet grass. “I will miss St. Louis,” Camila said, as we sat on the front steps. “The buildings and the gardens…”
“Not to mention the gooey butter cake,” I said, taking a bite. She laughed. “Especially the gooey butter cake!” she said. Then she looked serious. “Most of all, I will miss you, Lea.”
“I’ll miss you too!” I said. “And I want to say thank you,” I added. “You and Abby helped me find Hallie.”
Camila looked pleased. “It was a great adventure,” she said. Suddenly, she jumped up. “I almost forgot!” She raced inside and came back a minute later with a small plastic tube. “I got you a gift,” she said, handing it to me.
“Really?” I said, pleased. I took the blue cap off the end of the tube and held it up, and a rolled-up paper slipped out. Carefully, I uncurled it to reveal a colorful, antique-looking map of St. Louis. The writing was spidery and old-fashioned, but I could still read the markings for Lafayette Square, Old North St. Louis, Forest Park, and the Jewel Box. “This is so cool!” I exclaimed.
“It is from the History Museum,” Camila said. “Now you have a map of St. Louis for your room. To remind you to keep exploring even when you are at home.”
Mom and I drove Camila to the airport and waited while she boarded the plane to Chicago. As she moved down the walkway out of sight, sadness crept up on me. I had no idea if I’d ever see Camila or Brazil again. Someday, I thought to myself, I’m going to return to Brazil. But when? It seemed impossible that I’d ever get a chance to go back there. Still, I thought about running on the golden beaches and trekking through dense rainforest with howler monkeys and sloths during the entire ride back to Lafayette Square.
Mom’s cell phone rang as we were walking up to our house. She picked up.
“Hello, Mr. Dumond,” she said, her voice catching with excitement. “You did?…Really? That’s wonderful. I’ll have my office call yours to set up a meeting on Monday.” Mom hung up the phone and turned to me, her eyes shining.
“It’s official. Justus Dumond is going to fund the Coventry House project!” she exclaimed, a grin bursting onto her face. “We don’t have to worry about it being torn down!”
I yelped with excitement and hugged her. “You did it!”
“Actually, Lea, I think you did it,” Mom said, giving me a squeeze. “Thank you for having the courage to mention the project to him. Now Coventry House will be part of both St. Louis’s past and its future. You’ve helped to protect an important piece of the city’s history.”
Mom’s words made me glow inside. As I hugged her again, I thought about all the people in the community who would get a chance to spend time at Coventry House now. I felt really proud that I’d done something to help make that possible.
While Mom called her partners to let them know the good news, I checked my e-mail. My heart did a happy skip when I saw a new message from Zac:
Your photos are awesome. Seriously, you are an amazing photographer! And I can’t believe how you tracked down Hallie. You really proved that you’re Ama’s granddaughter!
Zac had attached a few photos of the baby macaws, who now had a lot more feathers. As I read the rest of his e-mail, however, I could tell that the situation there wasn’t great.
The poachers here have gotten more active. They tried cutting the wire fence around the sanctuary. And they even stole Wylie, our golden tamarin monkey with the broken arm. It’s bad enough that they’re hunting healthy animals, but stealing an injured monkey? That’s truly evil.
As I read, anger rose inside me.
They’ve been growing bolder, but I’ve been growing bolder, too. I’ve researched their tracking patterns and how they keep and smuggle the animals they’re taking. The next time they come after our animals, I’ll be ready.
My stomach twisted around itself in anxiety. What Zac was doing sounded dangerous. I kept reading.
I know the risks and I’m prepared. Someone needs to protect these animals. Don’t worry about me, Lea, I know what I’m doing—it’s only the most important work I’ve ever done.
Hugs, Z.
I stared at the computer screen for a long moment after I finished reading. I was worried about Zac, but I knew he was right. It was up to all of us to save and protect the things we cared about—just the way I had saved Amanda the baby sloth, and Abby had saved Dodger, and Mom was saving Coventry House. In a way I wished I could be back in the rainforest with Zac. It sounded dangerous and truly scary, but I agreed with him: Saving wild animals from evil poachers seemed like the most important work anyone could do.
Lisa Yee has written over a dozen books for young people. She loves to research and was thrilled when Lea’s stories took her to the Bahia coast of Brazil. There, she snorkeled among the coral reefs, sampled local foods, and learned about the traditions and customs of the region. Lisa also visited the Amazon rainforest, where she fished for piranha, swam in the Amazon River, and even ate roasted larvae during a hike through the rainforest. However, the highlights of her travels were meeting an alligator, a boa constrictor, and a baby sloth—though not all at once!
You can learn more about Lisa at www.lisayee.com and see photos of her Brazilian adventures.
Kellen Hertz was born in Canada and raised in California’s Central Valley. She started her first novel at twelve, which was tragically left unfinished after the first chapter became lost in a sea of library books on the floor of her room. She overcame her sorrow by reading and writing a lot, and then went to Yale and UCLA and read and wrote some more. She’s written plays and screenplays, directed a movie, and written or produced over 80 hours of prime-time and cable television. She loves flea markets, old maps, coffee, words and all the flavors they come in, and most of all, her family. She lives with her husband and son in Los Angeles.
Glossary of Portuguese Words
NOTE: In the pronunciation guide below, you’ll sometimes see a small m or n at the end of a syllable. In these places, pronounce the letter very gently or don’t quite finish saying it. In Brazil, an l at the end of a word is often pronounced “oo.”
açaí (ah-sah-EE)—a small, dark-purple fruit harvested from the açaí palm tree, which is native to Brazil
água de coco (AH-gwah juh CO-co)—coconut water
amanhã (ah-mahn-YAHn)—tomorrow
Amazonas (ah-mah-ZOH-nahss)—Amazon
amiga (ah-MEE-guh)—female friend
Amigos do Oceano Santuário das Tartarugas Marinhas (ah-MEE-gooss doo o-say-AH-noo sahn-too-AH-ree-oo dass tar-tuh-ROO-gahss mah-REEn-yahss)—Friends of the Ocean Sea Turtle Sanctuary
Bahia (bah-EE-uh)—one of Brazil’s twenty-six states, located on the eastern side of the country on the Atlantic coast; the birthplace of Brazil
Baianas (bah-ee-AH-nahss)—women of Bahia who dress in white to honor the Afro Brazilian religion of Candomblé
bem-vinda (behm VEEn-dah)—welcome (spoken to females)
bom dia (bohm JEE-ah)—good morning
Bom trabalho. (bohm trah-BAHL-yo)—Good job.
boto (BOH-toh)—a pink freshwater dolphin
Brasil (brah-ZEE-oo)—Brazil
Brilha, brilha, estrelinha… (BREEL-yah BREEL-yah ehs-tray-LEEN-yah)—Twinkle, twinkle, little star
capoeira (kah-po-AY-ruh)—a Brazilian martial art that combines dance, acrobatics, and music
carambola (cah-rahm-BOH-lah)—a tropical fruit shaped like a star
castelo de areia (kah-STEH-loo juh uh-REE-yuh)—sand castle
Claro que sim. (KLAH-roo keh SEEm)—Yes, of course.
cocadas (ko-KAH-duhss)—Brazilian coconut candy
coxinha (KO-sheen-yuh)—a fried, drumstick-shaped Brazilian snack stuffed with a creamy chicken filling
de nada (juh NA
H-dah)—you’re welcome
Está aí? (ess-TAH ah-EE)—Are you there?
Esta é a minha irmã. (EHSS-tah eh ah MEEn-yuh eer-MAHn)—This is my sister.
Estes são meus amigos. (EHSS-tehss saoo MEH-ooz uh-MEE-gooss)—These are my friends.
família (fah-MEE-lee-uh)—family
Galo Louco (GAH-loh LOH-oo-coh)—crazy rooster
irmã (eer-MAHn)—sister
irmão (eer-MAHW)—brother
macaco (mah-CAH-coo)—monkey
mãe (maee)—mother
manjar branco (mah-JAH-huh BRAHN-koo)—Brazilian coconut pudding
meu (MAY-oo)—my or mine
meu nome é (MEH-oo NO-may EH)—my name is
Minha irmã é minha heroína. (MEEn-yuh eer-MAHn eh MEEn-yuh ay-ro-EE-nuh)—My sister is my heroine.
Moda Praia (MO-duh PRAH-yuh)—beach fashion
moqueca (mo-KEH-kuh)—a Brazilian seafood stew made with coconut milk, red palm oil, tomato, onions, garlic, and coriander
muito prazer (moo-EE-too prah-ZEHR)—much pleasure; an expression used when you first meet someone
Não estou aqui. (NAH-oo ess-TOH ah-KEE)—I’m not here.
O que? (oh KAY)—What?
obrigada (o-bree-GAH-duh)—thank you (spoken by females)
obrigado (o-bree-GAH-doo)—thank you (spoken by males)
oi (oy)—hi
olá (o-LAH)—hello
Olha! (OHL-yah)—Look!
Onde você está? (OHn-day voh-SAY ess-TAH)—Where are you?
orixá (o-ree-SHAH)—a god or spirit from African religious traditions recognized in Brazil
pão de queijo (pahw deh KAY-ho)—cheesy bread rolls
pão francês (pahw frahn-SAYSS)—French bread
pare (PAH-ray)—stop
por favor (por fah-VOR)—please
Por que você está chorando? (pohr kay voh-SAY ess-TAH sho-RAHn-doh)—Why are you crying?
pastel de forno (pah-STEHL juh FOR-noo)—savory hand pie with a flaky crust stuffed with various fillings such as cheese or meat
