Jonathan Livingston Seagull: The New Complete Edition (10 page)

All that time passed; half a century, forgotten.

Sabryna found the story not long ago, ragged and faded, squashed under useless business papers.

“Do you remember this?”

“Remember what?” I said. “No.”

I read some paragraphs. “Oh. I remember, sort of. This was . . .”

“Read it.” A smile for the antique manuscript she’d found, which had touched her.

The typewriter’s letters were faded. The language was an echo of mine, though, way back then, a sense of what I was. It was not my writing; it was his writing, the kid from then.

The manuscript ended, and filled me with his warning and his hope.

“I knew what I was doing!” he said. “In your twenty-first century, hemmed about with authority and ritual, it’s strapped now to strangle freedom. Don’t you see? It’s planning to make your world safe, not free.” He lived his story, last chance. “My time’s gone. Yours isn’t.”

I thought about his voice again, the last chapter. Are we seagulls looking at the end of freedom in our world?

Part Four, printed at last where it belongs, says maybe not. It was written when nobody knew the future. Now we do.

—Richard Bach

Spring 2013

About the Author

R
ICHARD
B
ACH
is the author of twenty other books, including
Illusions, One,
and
The Bridge Across Forever.
A former USAF fighter pilot, gypsy barnstormer and airplane mechanic, he flies seaplanes in the Northwest.

His website is
www.richardbach.com
.

R
USSELL
M
UNSON
began photographing airplanes as a young boy in Denver, Colorado. Photography and flying have been his passions ever since. In addition to his commercial photography career in New York City, Munson has taught Visual Perception at Phillips Andover Academy, Yale University, and the International Center for Photography. He is the author and photographer of the book
Skyward: Why Flyers Fly,
and authored and produced the DVD
Flying Route 66
. Munson’s fine art aerial photography is in private and museum collections, and can be seen at
www.russellmunson.com
. He photographs from his Aviat Husky airplane.

We hope you enjoyed reading this Scribner eBook.

Join our mailing list and get updates on new releases, deals, bonus content and other great books from Scribner and Simon & Schuster.

C
LICK
H
ERE
T
O
S
IGN
U
P

or visit us online to sign up at
eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com

SCRIBNER

A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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

First Scribner Complete ebook edition January 2014

SCRIBNER and design are registered trademarks of The Gale Group, Inc., used under license by Simon & Schuster, Inc., the publisher of this work.

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at
www.simonspeakers.com
.

Interior design by Joan Stoliar

Cover design based on an original cover design by Tom Bean

Cover photograph by Russell Munson

ISBN 978-1-4767-5469-7 (eBook)