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The Valley of Light

Terry Kay
Contents ( 28)
  1. The Valley of Light
  2. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  3. ONE
  4. TWO
  5. THREE
  6. FOUR
  7. FIVE
  8. SIX
  9. SEVEN
  10. EIGHT
  11. NINE
  12. TEN
  13. ELEVEN
  14. TWELVE
  15. THIRTEEN
  16. FOURTEEN
  17. FIFTEEN
  18. SIXTEEN
  19. SEVENTEEN
  20. EIGHTEEN
  21. NINETEEN
  22. TWENTY
  23. TWENTY-ONE
  24. TWENTY-TWO
  25. TWENTY-THREE
  26. TWENTY-FOUR
  27. TWENTY-FIVE
  28. TWENTY-SIX

The Valley of Light

TERRY KAY

ATRIA BOOKS 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020

The Valley of Light

ALSO BY TERRY KAY

Taking Lottie Home

Special K: The Wisdom of Terry Kay

The Kidnapping of Aaron Greene

The Runaway

Shadow Song

To Whom the Angel Spoke: A Story of the Christmas

To Dance with the White Dog

Dark Thirty

After Eli

The Year the Lights Came On

TERRY KAY

The Valley of Light

A NOVEL

ATRIA BOOKS
NEW YORK LONDON TORONTO SYDNEY SINGAPORE

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ATRIA BOOKS
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2003 by Terry Kay

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Atria Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

ISBN-13: 978-0-743-47594-5

eISBN-13: 978-1-439-12203-7

First Atria Books hardcover edition October 2003

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ATRIA BOOKS is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Manufactured in the United States of America

For information regarding special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-800-456-6798 or [email protected].

www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is dedicated with affection to Marjorie Ammons
A gifted teacher, a gentle and caring lady, and the first great influence in my life other than my own family.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Iseldom go fishing, though I have memories (and a photograph) of fishing in the small branch that ran through our farm in northeast Georgia. Catching a finger-long minnow was an accomplishment of great pride.

Truth is, I have no talent for fishing. Sometimes a little luck, but no talent. I have never caught anything on an artificial lure, for example.

But I have a son—Scott—who has a remarkable gift for catching fish. Once, when he was very young and we were on vacation at a lake house, I saw him go to the lake and kneel down and place the palm of his hand on the water’s surface, like a ritual in an innocent religious ceremony. He began fishing—and catching. I stood beside him. Used the same kind of equipment, the same bait. Fished within inches of where he was casting. I don’t remember getting a nibble.

That gesture of touching the surface of the water has stayed with me for years, and it is the leaping-off point of this story.

Yet, this is not a story about my son or about fishing, but about the mysticism of being gifted. It is a trait that has always inspired me—seeing that person who, by nature, had a way of doing something that was, in the long run, inexplicable, yet thrilling. The artist. The musician. The gardener. The mechanic. The engineer. The chef. The anything.