Every time Nate imagined it, the picture was always the same: He was standing in front of the whole school—the teachers, the kids who talked about him behind his back, Larry. / owe this award to my dad, he’d say as he stepped up to the microphone. He taught me that what’s going on down on earth is just a small part of the story. My dad taught me everything I know about life out in the universe.

He and Naomi would get to attend the state finals then, of course. They’d ride in style, with the science teacher and the other winners—first and second runners-up. / have to bring my little sister along, he’d explain. And since he was the winner, who could say no?

It would be nice to win the state championship, too, but that wasn’t what mattered most. The important part was getting out to western Montana in a blaze of glory. From there, it wouldn’t be hard for him and his sister to make their way to Warm Springs and find their dad, at the end of some dark and lonely corridor, waiting for them.

Seventeen

IT WAS THURSDAY AFTERNOON. NAOMI WASN’T COMING over because her parents were saying she’d gotten behind on her Bible studies. On the bus Larry and Travis weren’t sitting together, and Larry was looking mad.

When Nate got off, there were police cars in front of his house again. One of the officers was riding a three-wheeler over the fields where, this time last year, Nate and his father had made the first runs with the tractor. Another man was there with a diving suit and mask, like Lloyd Bridges on Sea Hunt.

“What’s going on?” Nate asked Poppa, who was out in the implement shed working on a blade.

“That blasted rifle. They’re still looking for it. They’re bringing in men to dredge the pond.”

“They’d better not still be around on Saturday when Junie’s party’s going on,” Nate said. “She’s been looking forward to it for weeks.”

“I don’t know what all the fuss is about a birthday party,” Poppa said. “Back in my day we didn’t have birthday parties. We worked.”

On the bus the next afternoon Junie was bouncing out of her seat. “You know what tomorrow is, huh, Pamela?” she called out to a girl two rows in back of her. “My birthday party! And everyone’s invited, remember? Wait till you see my special cake.

“There’s going to be games,” she told Debbie, the girl who said, every time Junie asked if she could come, that she had to check with her mother.

“And prizes for the winner. And prizes for everyone else, too, so no one feels left out.”

“I’m not sure yet if I’ll be there,” Marsha told her. “My mom thinks we might be busy.”