Birdie and I watch the blue car drive over the other side of the hill. In each pocket of my coat there’s a gift from the curator. In one pocket the small stone and in the other the card. By the time I think of a present I can give Dr. Morgan, the car is out of sight. If we visit the museum one day, I’ll bring Dr. Morgan the M volume of the encyclopedia, with the photograph of the Ahnighito.

“Coming back?” Birdie asks me.

“I don’t know. I hope one day he’ll come back.”

“Red tie.”

“Yes, he gave you his red tie.”

Birdie rubs the silky tie between her fingers, and we both stare at the empty road.

Chapter 15

The water people drink today is the same water dinosaurs drank millions of years ago. Earth’s water is about 3 billion years old.

—Rebecca Olien, The Water Cycle at Work

WHEN BIRDIE AND I go back in the house, Dad has news about the water.

“The emergency-management agency says the water stopped rising but hasn’t receded,” he announces. “They’ve officially declared this section of Bower Hill Road impassable. They sank lines into the water crossing the road and measured it at twenty feet deep. Bog Road is going to be the only road to town now.”

“Forever?” I ask Dad.

“Yes, it looks like the water undermined the foundations of the road, washed away the gravel and the dirt, and carved a deep stream into the earth.”

“Guess the school bus is going to have to find a new route if it can’t come down past here. And has the water come back to the town well?” Nana asks.

“No, not a drop. How’s the water pressure here at the house?” Dad asks Nana.

Nana turns on the kitchen faucet and lets it run. As it hits the bottom of the white porcelain sink, I see flashes of green and yellow, and for a second, a quick gleam of red.

“It seems fine, same as always,” Nana says.

“Can’t you drill a new town well?” I ask Dad.

“It’s not that easy, Henry. The aquifer is very low. Lincoln tried drilling this morning and all he got was dust. That’s why we’ve been hauling water to town. In fact, a woman across town needs water for her animals, and I’m loaded with barrels. Come along and we’ll drop them off.”