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Almost, Maine

John Cariani
Contents (16)
  1. Prologue
  2. Welcome.
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  15. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  16. CONTENTS
Cover: Almost, Maine by John Cariani
Almost, Maine by John Cariani

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Table of Contents

About the Author

Copyright Page

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For northern Maine and the people who live there

Prologue

There is a place in northern Maine that is so far north, it’s almost not in the United States.

It’s almost in Canada.

But not quite.

Not many people live there.

Not much seems to happen there.

And the things that do happen there seem pretty ordinary. Especially to the people who live there.

But some extraordinary things did happen there once—on a Friday night in the middle of winter, not too long ago.

Or maybe it was a long time ago.

No one quite remembers.

Actually, no one is even sure that the extraordinary things even happened.

And no one is even sure that the place actually exists.

But it’s somewhere we’ve all been.

It’s a place called Almost.

Welcome.

1

Ginette and Pete had always been close.

As friends, first.

They had grown up together. And learned to do just about everything together, like swim and fish and shoot and play chess and skate and cross-country ski and ride snowmobiles and ATVs across northern Maine’s wide-open spaces and impenetrable forests.

But the summer before the winter when all the extraordinary things did or didn’t happen, they became more than friends.

Pete’s mom and dad took them to the Northern Maine Fair in Presque Isle, the largest city in Aroostook County, which is the largest county—and one of the least densely populated counties—east of the Rocky Mountains.

Going to Presque Isle was always exciting. It was an hour east of—and a world apart from—Almost. (It had a four-story building and once had over ten thousand people.).

Going to the Northern Maine Fair was doubly exciting, because of all the rides and all the food and all the games. And all the people.

Ginette and Pete rode a carnival ride that zipped and flipped and spun them almost sick. And Pete grabbed Ginette’s hand the first time the ride zipped and flipped and spun her and Pete—and held on to it the whole ride.

And Ginette felt a strange lightness fill up her insides while Pete held on to her hand. It made her feel like the lights from the carnival rides were glowing inside her. And like she was somehow weightless as the ride zipped and flipped and spun them.