When Ashley gave him a look, he said, “OK, he’s weird, but he’s also…interesting.”
“As long as you buy into everything he’s saying. And he’s like obsessed with computers. Mom thinks he could be dangerous, and I think she’s right.”
“Oh, come on. When did Mom say that?” Jack demanded.
“Last night. While you were in bed, I snuck down the hall and listened in on their conversation. I’ve never heard them argue about taking in a foster kid before.” With her fingers curled against her protruding hip, Ashley waved her free hand in the air, almost hitting a flight attendant who hustled by. “Finally, Mom told Dad if it was that important she’d go along, but she thought any kid vicious enough to trash a whole town had a lot of pent-up rage. Then Dad told her that it was a lot healthier to write about bad feelings than act on them, and then they called Ms. Lopez inside and took Morgan.”
The lavatory door opened, and the round man pushed his way out. Ashley was next.
“What I can’t figure out is why you even like him,” she declared from the doorway. “He’s a punk.”
“I didn’t say I liked him.”
“You don’t have to.” With that, Ashley snapped the door shut, leaving Jack to think about what she’d said. It wasn’t exactly that he liked Morgan, but he couldn’t help being drawn to his…what was it? Maybe his self-assured view of the world according to Morgan. His braininess. Maybe even the fact that people thought him dangerous, although Jack didn’t believe it. By the time Jack had made it back to his seat, he could tell Morgan had said something that had set Jack’s mother off again. He could see her eyes flashing, while Ashley, already seated, wore an I-told-you-Morgan-was-trouble expression.
“Hey—what’s going on?” he asked, settling down in his seat. He was in the middle, Morgan had folded himself in next to the window, and Ashley had the aisle. Their parents were seated directly opposite them.
“Morgan just informed us that he’s not at all interested in the Grand Canyon,” Olivia answered tartly. “He says it’s nothing more than a big hole in the ground.”
Jack pressed his fingertips into his forehead.
“What do you expect from an anarchist? The definition of my personality is to rebel. If the masses like it, I won’t,” Morgan answered.
“I’m sure you’ll change your mind when you see the canyon,” Steven commented, trying to smooth things. “Olivia, why don’t you tell me more about your plan for the condors? What’s your first move?”
Twisting back into her seat, Olivia allowed herself to get drawn into a conversation about the enormous, prehistoric birds that were dying in the Grand Canyon. Jack let out a breath. The immediate danger had passed.
“What was that all about?” Jack hissed at Morgan.
“You mean just now? Nothing. I was just disagreeing.”
“Did you have to be rude?”
“Hey, it’s free speech.”
“It’s stupid. You can’t say everything that pops into your mind. Besides, this is my family. You get my mom upset and the whole thing goes south. If you want to get along with me, you need to learn when to shut up!”
Morgan’s defiance quickly changed to amusement and then settled into what might have been a glimmer of respect. “OK,” he said, nodding. Keeping his voice low enough that the others couldn’t hear, he whispered, “I guess it’s true that every once in a while, I do cross the verbal line. I didn’t think calling the Grand Canyon a hole in the ground was that big a deal, but I stand corrected.”
“One more thing,” Jack said pointedly, “Why don’t you at least ask my mom about the condors?”
Morgan’s thin brows met. “Condors?”
“Yeah. The condors. You know, the reason we’re going.” Jack rotated his hand like a wheel, trying to get Morgan’s mind clicking, but nothing seemed to register. “Remember, she talked about it while we were buying your airline ticket? Weren’t you listening?” It seemed almost unbelievable that Morgan could have inhabited the same space as the Landons while they discussed the mystery of the condors and their strange deaths, and have blocked it out so completely.
“Tell me again,” he said, stretching his legs under the seat in front of him.
“Ask my mom.”
“No, I don’t want her to know I wasn’t tracking. So, what’s the deal?”
“Well, like my mom said, the condors are very, very rare. Almost extinct. They used to nest all through the Southwest and the Grand Canyon during the Ice Age, but they disappeared at the end of the Ice Age. Are you listening?”
Morgan’s lids had drifted shut, but he quickly snapped them open. “Yeah. I’m just thinking with my eyes closed.”
“So then the condors made a comeback to the Southwest and the canyon at the same time the white settlers showed up. The settlers hunted and killed the condors. Now there are fewer than 200 of them in the whole world.”
“Right. I remember that part. Aren’t they giant vultures or something? Their wingspan is, like, nine feet wide. Yeah, they’re these huge, extremely ugly birds that eat dead things.”
Jack nodded. “Anyway, they’re dying, and nobody knows how to stop it. So the people at the Grand Canyon called in my mom to help solve the mystery. She’s a wildlife veterinarian, and my dad’s a professional photographer.”
“Uh-huh.”
“It’s life or death for these birds, Morgan. Ask my mom, and she’ll tell you the whole thing. Say you want to know more about the condors, and the hole-in-the-ground stuff will be forgotten. Guaranteed.”
“If I ask her about the birds, do you think she’ll let me use her laptop?”
“No. Maybe. Probably not.” Sighing, Jack said, “Here—take this,” and handed over his own Game Boy and his new game called Alien Child. That did it. As soon as Morgan switched on the Game Boy, something inside him seemed to shut down. He didn’t so much as look out the airplane window for the rest of the flight to Phoenix. He kept playing the game as they stood in line to rent a car and as they drove, grunting a reply when Steven told him they’d just entered Grand Canyon National Park.
While the Landons strained to see even a shadow of what lay beyond the rim, Morgan concentrated on the Game Boy, its greenish light barely illuminating his face, his fingers deftly punching the tiny controls as his eyes stared, unblinking. Jack had never seen anyone so transfixed by something electronic. It was as if Morgan had fused himself into that tiny screen. He found himself agreeing with Ashley: Morgan really was strange.
“Get up, Jack. You said you wanted to see the sunrise hit the walls of the Grand Canyon. It’s time to rise and shine!”
Jack felt a gentle tug on his covers, but he pulled them close and curled into their protective warmth. “Too early,” he muttered to his mother.
Ignoring him,
