by Arthur Slade
Octavia grabbed him by the shoulder, squeezing so hard that it hurt. “Don’t go all soft on me, Modo. Don’t think about your foolish mother or all those other things. This is your first birthday, and we’re going to do it up with style. Cake today, and cake tomorrow! You listen to me, I’m older than you, and therefore wiser. Are you game?”
She held out her hand. Modo laughed heartily and took it. It was calloused and warm. Hand in hand, they set off in search of a place to celebrate their new, and not so new, beginnings.
ARTHUR SLADE has published several novels for young readers, including The Hunchback Assignments, The Dark Deeps, and Empire of Ruins, books one through three in the series The Hunchback Assignments; Jolted: Newton Starker’s Rules for Survival; Megiddo’s Shadow; Tribes; and Dust, which won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Children’s Literature. He lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with his wife, Brenda Baker, and their daughter.
Visit him on the Web at arthurslade.com.
