Dragonwriter (38 page)

Authors: Todd McCaffrey

BOOK: Dragonwriter

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“If it's all right with you, I think I'm gonna wake you,” Gigi had said to Mum on my last visit to Dragonhold-Underhill more than two years before. “A proper Irish wake,” Gigi added in her very special tones.

A wake is when the coffin is open in a special room at the house and everyone comes by to pay their last respects. I thought it quite a ghastly notion.

It turns out, however, that it was perfect. We had Mum in the living roomâthe huge room in Dragonhold that was often the scene of her huge birthday bashes (she'd taken to having a big bash every five years). The rule of the wake, it seems, is that the children and relatives of the deceased greet each guest and ensure that they have drinkâwine for some, tea for mostâand food.

As usual in Dragonhold-Underhill, everyone congregated in the kitchen. People would filter through the hallway, to the dining room, and into the living room to sit beside Mum, stand with heads bowed, and pay their respects. She looked so peaceful and lifelike that I finally decided to leave a glass of wine on a table near her head just in caseâin some macabre display of humorâshe was “having us on.” (She wasn't: the glass was still full in the morning.)

When most everyone had taken their leave and all that was left were the people who we knew were familyâeven though most had no blood relation with us at allâwe started telling jokes. Bad ones.

“What do you call a one-legged Irishwoman?” “Eileen.”

“What's the name of an Irishman covered in rabbits?” “Warren.”

“What's the name of an Irishman hanging from the ceiling?” “Sean D'Olier.”

“What's the name of an Irishman with a shovel?” “Doug.”

“What's the name of an Irishman without a shovel?” “Doug-less.”

I recounted some of Mum's favorite jokes, including “Rockefeller's Balls” and the Pope's lunch joke (it was originally Gigi's, but Mum appropriated it). Our more devout friends, who might have thought our carrying on disrespectful, were no longer present, so Iâwith much encouragementâmade an impromptu performance of Tom Lehrer's “The Vatican Rag”âwhich had been an old favorite of once-Catholic Mum. On the morning of the service, alone in the silent living room, I read Mum a story that I'd written and she'd not had the chance to read: “The One Tree of Luna,” which was the sequel to “Tree”âher favorite of all my stories.

As they came to take her in the hearse, Jennifer Anne Diamondâpractically Mum's granddaughterâand Mum's decades-long housekeeper (the only reason Dragonhold-Underhill was ever tidy), Cyra O'Connor, decided that Mum had to have a dragon so they picked a small glass dragon, which they put in the casket with her. Gigi had already put in a quart of Baileys Irish Cream and several bars of chocolate, so Mum was in all respects ready for the final rest.

Somewhere between my reading and getting ready, I went over to Mum's computerâit being directly cabled to Ethernetâand just for curiosity's sake, looked at her horoscope. What I read so floored me that I printed it out and showed it to everyone. When Mum's literary agent, Diana Tyler, heard it, she asked me if it was a joke. It wasn't, but it was amazingly accurate.

On the day of Anne McCaffrey's funeral service and burial, her horoscopeâfrom Holiday Mathisâread

ARIES (March 21-April 19). You will maintain your solid stance at the calm center of a swirl of activity. You'll love the show. It's like there's a parade going by just for your entertainment.

And it was.

No regrets.

Acknowledgments

FIRSTLY, I WOULD
like to thank everyone at Smart Pop and BenBella Books. They have done an exceptional job bringing this work to life: their attention to detail, dedication, and love show on every page. This project was their idea from beginning to end. I'm honored that they asked me to be editor and thrilled that they wanted to produce this tribute to Anne McCaffrey. I'm certain that Mum would say, “You done me proud!”

Leah Wilson deserves special mention for her unflagging efforts in coordinating all aspects of this book, particularly in acquiring and editing. I'm glad to say that the title page properly shows this as being “Edited by Todd McCaffrey with Leah Wilson” (although I might argue that it could just as easily be the other way around).

Heather Butterfield provided us with beautiful flyers to help promote this book and went out of her way to get them to me in time for the first of many science fiction conventions. She's been instrumental in the design of the cover and the marketing, too.

Brittany Dowdle was steadfast in her copyediting, which was essential in producing this book in time and in readable format. The whole production team, from department head Leigh Camp to Monica Lowry to Jessika Rieck, displayed not just amazing professionalism but a real love of the project.

I'd like to give special thanks to Michael Whelan for providing Anne McCaffrey with her last Whelan cover.

Finally, I'd like to thank every contributor to this collection of essays. I thank you for your time, your dedication, and your love. These contributions make clear the impact Anne McCaffrey has made on the world.

Todd McCaffrey

Los Angeles, CA

About the Editor

TODD JOHNSON MCCAFFREY
wrote his first science fiction story when he was twelve and has been writing on and off ever since. In 1999, he authored the nonfiction
Dragonholder: The Life and Dreams (so far) of Anne McCaffrey.

Besides writing and collaborating on eight Pern novels with his mother, including the
New York Times
bestselling
Dragon's Fire,
Todd has written numerous short stories, contributed to many anthologies, and even written a half-hour in an animated cartoon series.

He has just released his science thriller
City of Angels
and is revising
The Steam Walker,
an alternate history steam world where Bonnie Prince Charlie captures London and restores the Stuarts to the thrones of England and Scotland.

For more information, visit his website at
http://www.toddmccaffrey.org
.

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