I'm not lying.
He gave it to me. To me, Doug Swieteck. To me.
Doug hid the hat for 4 and a half months before his brother finally found out about it. His big brother forced him to give the hat to him so he could trade it for cigarettes. And Doug can't tell anyone about it, especially his dad, because there aren't any right days to talk to his dad.
My father's hands are quick. That's the kind of guy he is.
Doug's dad is fired from his job and he announces that the family is moving to Marysville, upstate New York. His friend, Ernie Eco, is going to help him get a job at the paper mill.
"Ernie Eco," said my mother quietly.
"Don't you start about him," said my father.
"So it will begin all over again."
"I said -"
"The bars, being gone all night, coming back home when you're - "
Doug's oldest brother, Lucas, was drafted and sent to Vietnam. He doesn't write home much, so he doesn't know the family is moving.
After the family moves the Marysville, Doug realizes he hates the small town. He feels like he sticks out like he doesn't belong. He winds up at the library.
And so what if I've never been in a library before? So what? I could have gone into any library I wanted to, if I wanted to. But I never did, because I didn't want to.
He follows the stairs to the top floor of the library and finds a square table with glass on top. What he sees changes his life forever.
I went over to the table to see how come it was the only lousy thing in the whole lousy room.
And right away, I knew why.
Underneath the glass was this book. A huge book. A huge, huge book. Its pages were longer than a good-sized baseball bat. I'm not lying. And on the whole page, there was only one picture. Of a bird.
I couldn't take my eyes off it.
This book has prints by John James Audubon, worth thousands of dollars each.
Doug makes a few friends, starts school, and continues visiting the library. He learns that the library is only open on Saturdays, and the city of Marysville has been cutting plates out of the book and selling them. The book is missing 9 plates.
Doug realizes that he wants to make the book whole again. Actually, he'll do almost anything to accomplish this goal, and in the process, Doug himself becomes whole again.
Okay for Now is a lovely book, filled with interesting characters that will make you laugh and cry. I loved every single word in this book. My favorite book this year!
