Blossoms Meet the Vulture Lady (12 page)

Byars and Ed with their daughters Laurie and Betsy in 1955. The family lived for two years in one of these barracks apartments while Ed got a degree at the University of Illinois and Byars started writing.

Byars with her children Nan and Guy, circa 1958.

Byars with Ed and their four children in Marfa, Texas, in July 1968. The whole family gathered to cheer for Ed, who was flying in a ten-day national contest.

Byars at the Newbery Award dinner in 1971, where she won the Newbery Medal for
The Summer of the Swans
.

Byars with Laurie, Betsy, Nan, Guy, and Ed at her daughter Betsy’s wedding on December 17, 1977.

Byars in 1983 in South Carolina with her Yellow Bird, the plane in which she got her pilot’s license.

Byars and her husband in their J-3 Cub, which they flew from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast in March 1987, just like the characters in Byars’s novel
Coast to Coast.

Byars speaking at Waterstone’s Booksellers in Newcastle, England, in the late 1990s.

Byars and Ed in front of their house in Seneca, South Carolina, where they have lived since the mid-1990s.

Turn the page to continue reading from the Blossom Family Series

Junior stood in the doorway of the barn. All morning he had been working on his latest invention, and no one in the family had shown the slightest interest. At one point he had even put up a sign that said
KEEP OUT—SECRET WORK GOING ON INSIDE
, and still no one had tried to come in.

Junior shaded his eyes from the August sun and scanned the yard. It was as empty as it had been the last three times he came out.

The truck was gone, so Junior knew that Pap and Mud were off on their can-collecting rounds. Every Monday they went out and got cans from Dumpsters and picnic areas. Pap sold the cans for five cents apiece. Sometimes they didn’t get back until time for supper.

From the field behind the barn, Junior could hear the sounds of hooves on dry, packed earth—Sandy Boy. His sister, Maggie, was learning trick 1 riding from their mom. This had been going on for two weeks, and neither one of them cared about anything but becoming the first mother-daughter trick-riding team in the history of rodeo. They certainly didn’t care about his invention.

Junior knew where everyone in the family was but his brother, Vern. Vern went off somewhere every single afternoon and wouldn’t tell anybody where he went.

Junior sighed. He turned and walked slowly back into the empty barn. It seemed to him that the family had separated, pulled apart like a ripe peach, and he had been dropped to the ground like the pit.

The thought was so sad it brought tears to his eyes. He brushed them away, leaving dirty streaks on his cheeks.

The sight of his invention perked him up. This was going to be the biggest, the best, the most spectacular. His other inventions—his wings and his coyote trap—were nothing in comparison. This invention was so great that he got a patriotic feeling every time he looked at it.

And a lot of equipment had gone into this one. Junior had had to make a list for the first time in his life. He could say the list by heart now.

Garbage bags

String

Wire

Tape

Air mattresses

Patches for the air mattresses

Day-Glo paint (green)

After he had made the list he had written a word up in the top corner of the page, and then he had folded the corner down as if he were marking a page in a book. That was because this word was the secret ingredient, and if anybody saw what the secret ingredient was, they might be able to guess the invention.

Junior heard a noise outside, and he darted to the barn door. A bicycle had just turned onto their road. Maybe Vern was coming back early.

Junior raised his hand to shield his eyes. No, it was Ralphie pedaling down the hill.

Junior was not sure whether he was glad to see Ralphie or not. It all depended on what mood Ralphie was in. Junior left the door slightly open behind him so Ralphie could catch a glimpse of the invention, which Junior had now given a name—the Green Phantom.

Junior had spent the last hour blowing up the Green Phantom with a bicycle pump. This was so that everyone could get the full effect of the Phantom’s grandeur. Some of the air was leaking out now, however, and if someone didn’t see it soon, the grandeur would be completely gone. Ralphie was better than nobody.

Junior pulled down his shirt as Ralphie got closer. He decided he would tell Ralphie the name of the invention, but he would not tell him what it was unless Ralphie absolutely insisted and promised not to—

Ralphie stopped his bicycle by pedaling backward. He balanced for a moment beside Junior. Then he looked worried and said, “There’s something on your head, Junior.”

Instantly distracted, Junior brushed his hand over his head. “What? What is it?”

Ralphie said, “Hair.”

Junior knew then that Ralphie was not going to be in a helpful mood. Still he stepped sideways so Ralphie could read his sign. Surely when Ralphie saw the words
SECRET WORK GOING ON INSIDE
, he would want to know what the secret work was.