BARRY K BOOKS
Barry Kienzle
Sneak Peek Preview of Barry Kienzle's sequel to The Indian...
Excerpt from A Whisper in the Wind
After a few minutes, Emma spoke.
“The mailman has already made his delivery today. There is an official-looking letter addressed to you,” which she handed to her. The return address said It was from the U.S. Lighthouse Service. Maggie opened it hesitantly, wondering what news it contained.
“Oh my!” she shouted. “I’ve been accepted! I don’t believe it!”
“Accepted into what?” Emma asked.
“Into the U.S. Lighthouse Service.”
“Doing what?” Emma pushed.
“Working as a lighthouse keeper!” Maggie exclaimed, looking up from her letter to witness her mother’s reaction to the news.
“But there are no lighthouses around here, nor probably in all of South Dakota, as far as I know,” Emma replied with a confused look. “So where is this lighthouse keeper’s job?”
“From what it says, it sounds like it’s in Massachusetts,” Maggie replied slowly as she studied the letter’s contents. “Yes, in Beverly, near Salem, wherever that is. It says at the Hospital Point Range Front Lighthouse.”
“Massachusetts! Are you kidding me? Just how long would you be gone?” Emma asked.
“It’s a job, Mom. It doesn’t say when it’s over,” Maggie replied with a wrinkle of her brow at the nature of her mother’s question.
“Well, when does it begin then?” Emma fired back.
“It says in three weeks I have to report to the station.”
“Well, we’ll be happy to watch Bobbie while you’re gone,” Emma added quickly.
“What? She’s my daughter, Mom. She goes with me.”
“Where will you live?” Emma fired another verbal salvo in Maggie’s direction.
“You live at the lighthouse,” Maggie explained. “The lighthouse keeper has a residence on-site.
“Listen to me. You can’t just up and take off like this. It would be too disruptive for a young child. It’s just not right!” Emma exclaimed as she began to sob, which summonsed John to the dining room.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “It sounds like a cat fight’s brewing,” he quipped in his attempt
to diffuse a potential argument brewing. “Let’s simmer down.”
“You better sit down, John. Wait till you hear this,” Emma asserted with a finger pointed in Maggie’s direction. “Maggie’s taking a job in Massachusetts to be a lighthouse keeper,” she blurted, laughing sarcastically at the sound of it spoken aloud. John looked shell-shocked.