Close to the Heel (21 page)

Two days later, the Major and I are in the airport at Keflavik, waiting to board a plane home. I notice he keeps staring at me.

“What?” I say finally, looking up from the magazine I've been reading.

“You handled yourself well, Rennie,” the Major says. “Your mother would have been proud of you. I know I am.”

I almost fall off my chair. The Major proud of me? I guess there really is a first time for everything.

“And I'm surprised you let me come here in the first place,” I say—which reminds me. “What did Grandfather say in that letter that Mr. Devine gave you?”

“That there was something you want to tell me but that you're afraid to.”

It's true. I talked to Grandfather about it—about how I wanted to tell the whole story.

“He said that you're afraid of me,” the Major says. “Are you?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, sometimes. You can be one scary dude.”

“Your mother was never afraid.”

“She's not like me. She was tough.”

He smiles. “She was that. So are you. You're a lot like her.” He stares out at the tarmac for a moment. “So, is there something you want to tell me?”

I have a feeling it's now or never.

“It's about Mom.”

He nods.

“It's about what happened to her.”

“
Je t'aime, mon fils
,” he said. “
N'aie pas peur.
”

Don't be afraid.
And at that exact moment, sitting on a molded plastic chair beside him at the airport, I'm not. I start talking,
really
talking, to the Major—my dad—for the first time in a long time. It feels good.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A great big thank-you is owed to Eric Walters, who thought up the whole series and wrote the first book; to Andrew Wooldridge, who said yes; to Sarah Harvey, who kept track of all the fictional characters, all the authors, all the timelines and all the details; and to Shane Peacock, John Wilson, Ted Staunton, Sigmund Brouwer and Richard Scrimger, who wrote the other books in this series.

NORAH MCCLINTOCK
is a five-time winner of the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile Crime Novel. Norah grew up in Montreal, Quebec, and now lives with her family in Toronto, Ontario. Visit
www.web.net/~nmbooks
for more information about Norah.

www.seventheseries.com