The Boy Who Knew Everything (33 page)

Authors: Victoria Forester

Conrad's burned and tired face tried to understand this flying girl but couldn't. “Who's that, Dad?”

“That, my son, is the start of a revolution. And you and that flying girl started it just like the prophecy said you would.”

This didn't make any sense to Conrad so he just watched the flying girl and the birds and then let his father take him to the car. When they reached the car, Peter opened the back door and Conrad was surprised to see a boy already sitting in the backseat. Next to the boy was the strangest and probably ugliest creature Conrad had ever seen. At the sight of Conrad the creature started to bob up and down with excitement and jostle excitedly to get at him.

“This is Jasper,” Peter explained to Conrad. “And Fido.” Peter scooped Fido up to stop him from jumping all over Conrad.

“Oh,” said Conrad blankly.

Conrad got into the car and sat down. He watched with quiet wonder as Jasper began to rub his hands together and blow into them.

Before Jasper put his hands on Conrad he said, “This w-w-won't hurt.”

Conrad didn't flinch when the healing light traveled up and down his body. He only gasped when the synapses in his brain caught fire and his memories slammed into place like a tractor trailer hitting a concrete wall. When it was over Conrad knew he was Conrad and saw his fatherâsaw him completely for who he was.

“Thanks for coming to get me, Dad.”

Peter released Fido and he threw himself at Conrad and licked his face with passionate slurps. Conrad hugged and petted him.

Peter started the engine. “It's time to go home, son.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am brimming with gratitude for those who helped me through the long, long journey of this book. At the very beginning, Jean Feiwel wouldn't let me turn her offer down and had faith in me regardless of the fact that I didn't have faith in myself. Jodi Reamer stayed in my corner through the thick and thin of it all (she is an agent-extraordinaire with strange and marvelous powers). At the very end, Liz Szabla was the bright star that guided the book home. Never have I met a more talented and generous soul; no doubt about it, this book was lost without her. In addition to these, I received daily bolstering from an assorted cast of friends and family who believed and believedâbut none so much as my sister, Kim; Frances Doel; and my best friend, Marta Anderson, who always cheers the loudest and the longest.

While I was writing
The Boy Who Knew Everything
, I learned that there are real boys (and girls) who do know everything. I can tell you this truly because I have met them. They work silently and often without recognition, but because of them, this world is changed utterly. Here is a short and incomplete list of their names:

Dr. Jean-Nicolas Vauthey, Surgical Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Dr. Scott Kopetz, Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Dr. Steven Applebaum, Oncologist, UCLA

Dr. James Yoo, Surgeon, UCLA

Saskia de Koomen, RN, UCLA

Ryanne Coulson, PA, MD Anderson Cancer Center

If you start looking for these boys and girls, then you will find them too, or maybe, just maybe, you can become one yourself.â¦

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Victoria Forester
is the author of
The Girl Who Could Fly
, a Booklist Editor's Choice and Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year. She is also a successful screenwriter, and originally wrote
The Girl Who Could Fly
for film. She liked the story so much that she decided to expand it into her first book. Victoria grew up on a remote farm in Ontario, Canada, and graduated from the University of Toronto. She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband, daughter, and cat. You can sign up for email updates
here
.

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CONTENTS

A F
EIWEL AND
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RIENDS
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OOK

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available

ISBN: 978-0-312-62600-6 (hardcover) / 978-1-250-08021-9 (ebook)

978-1-250-08930-4 (international edition)

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First Edition: 2015

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