Blossom Promise (13 page)

Vicki Blossom and Junior sat in the swing together. Junior had his paper bag suitcase on his lap. Mud lay at their feet.

Junior said, “Mom?”

She glanced at her watch. “It’s now two minutes to ten.”

“That wasn’t what I was going to ask. I was going to pay you a compliment.”

“Be my guest, Junior,” Vicki Blossom said.

“Well, I was just going to compliment you on being a good mother.”

“Why, Junior.”

Junior nodded wisely.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m not exactly like the mothers on Mother’s Day cards.”

“I think you are. No other mother in the world would have helped us smuggle Mud into the hospital.”

“Well, that’s probably true,” she said.

“Or turn the Green Phantom into a success.”

“Thank you, Junior. Anyway, I love you as much as the mothers on—” She broke off. “Here she comes. There’s Mary.”

Vicki Blossom got out of the swing at the same time Junior did. The deserted swing jerked crazily on its chains.

Mud got instantly to his feet.

Vicki Blossom waved to Mary. “Hello! Junior is so excited about spending the night with you. I hope he’s not going to be any trouble.”

“No trouble at all,” Mary said.

“See, Mom, I told you.”

Junior’s face was lit up like a lamp. He ran down the steps. Mud ran ahead of Junior, mistakenly thinking Junior was headed for the car. Mud stopped at the car door and let out a sharp, insistent bark.

“Not yet, Mud, not yet,” Vicki Blossom said. “Saturday.”

Junior ran across the yard and into Mary’s arms. “How’s your grandfather?” she asked.

“Fine!” He was so happy he almost said, “How’s yours?” He stopped himself in time.

Mary held him against her for a moment, and then they started to walk toward the woods.

“There’s been one good thing about all the rain, Junior,” Mary said.

“What?”

“It’s done wonders for my wild garden. The poke greens are up. The—”

Junior glanced up at her in alarm. “Aren’t we having varmint stew?” Greens were one of Junior’s least favorite foods.

“Yes, we are. Yesterday afternoon I had a tug of war with the vultures over one of the finest possums I ever saw on a road. It hadn’t been run over more than ten minutes before me and the vultures spotted it.”

“Who won the tug of war?” Junior asked.

“It was a tie. We shared. The vultures got the insides. I got the meat.”

That was Junior’s kind of story. Suddenly Junior remembered his mom on the porch. He turned. She was still standing on the top step with one arm around the banister, watching him.

“Good-bye,” he called. He couldn’t see the rest of them—Maggie was in the pasture with Ralphie and Dump, Vern was at Michael’s house, Pap was in the hospital, Mud was out of sight behind the car—but for some reason Junior called, “Good-bye, everybody!”

“Good-bye, Junior,” his mom called back.

Junior turned. With Mad Mary’s arm around his shoulders, he disappeared into the woods.

All about the Blossoms in …

A Blossom Promise

and more!

Discussion Questions

An Interview with Betsy Byars

1. Junior is going to spend the night with Mad Mary. What is so special about staying overnight with Mad Mary? What does Junior look forward to the most?

2. In the past, Junior has designed and built failed projects. Now, Vern and his friend Michael McMann build a raft. Why is Vern so intent on building something? Explain why it is so important to him that Junior be his audience.

3. Michael assures his mother that he and Vern aren’t planning to take his father’s boat down the river. He doesn’t tell her that they are planning to go down in a homemade raft. In his mind, he isn’t lying to his mother. Debate whether omitting information is the same as lying.

4. The boys are a little frightened when they see the rushing waters. Discuss how their choice to launch the raft is a poor decision. Why is courage more important to them than using good judgment? Why does Vern feel that his friendship with Michael is on probation after the event with the raft?

5. Discuss what Maggie Blossom learns about her mother when they go to the Tucson Rodeo together. Why does Maggie feel the need to share this revelation with Ralphie?

6. In
The Blossoms Meet the Vulture Lady
, Mad Mary rescues Junior from a trap. This time she rescues Pap. She and Junior have a discussion about death. What advice does Mary give to Junior? Explain what this advice reveals about Mad Mary.

7. Discuss Vicki Blossom’s reaction when she hears the news of Pap’s heart attack.

8. In
The Not-Just-Anybody Family
, Mud is sad when Pap is in jail. How does Mud react when Pap is taken away in the ambulance? Why do the Blossom children feel that Mud is in a desperate situation?

9. Ralphie prides himself on accomplishing the “impossible.” Discuss how his special ability is revealed in all of the Blossom books. Why is Ralphie the best person to help smuggle Mud into the hospital to see Pap?

10. Vicki Blossom finds pictures of each of the Blossom children with their father. She regrets that Pap isn’t in any of the pictures. Explain what Junior means when he says, “He’s not
in
them, but he’s
part
of them” (p. 166).

Prepared by Pat Scales, retired school librarian and independent consultant, Greenville, South Carolina.

How did you get the idea for
A Blossom Promise
?

The idea for the book came from the stream on the Blossom farm. It was a small stream, but it occurred to me that after a week or two of really heavy rain, it might become dramatically huge. That was the beginning. Junior had already made three things, so I decided to give Vern a chance.

Junior tries to fly using homemade wings. Vern attempts to go down a flooded river on a raft. And Maggie learns to do tricks on a galloping horse. Which of these things would you most like to do?

My last choice would be to do tricks on a galloping horse. I have had wonderful experiences on water and in the air—though never in anything homemade. One fortunate thing about being an author is that you don’t have to actually do everything you write about. Otherwise we’d spend a lot of time in emergency rooms.

Why does horseback riding play a role in the Blossom books? Were you a trick rider like Maggie? Can you rope twirl like Pap? How close have you ever been to a real, live bull?

The Blossoms are a rodeo family; they have to do that stuff. My function is to go to rodeos, soak up the experiences, eat rodeo food, and enjoy myself. My husband and I live on an airstrip in rural South Carolina. Next to us is a cattle farm. A fence in my backyard separates us from the fields. On occasion, my nearest neighbor has been a bull.

Pap uses lots of old expressions, and Vern shares one with Michael: “I thought we were goners” (p. 31). What is your favorite expression?

Years ago when people were startled or learned something surprising, they’d say, “Well, I’ll be.” As a child, I never understood what they would be; but today when I am surprised or startled by something new, I say to myself, “Well, I’ll be.”

Betsy Byars (b. 1928) is an award-winning author of more than sixty books for children and young adults, including
The Summer of the Swans
(1970), which earned the prestigious Newbery Medal. Byars also received the National Book Award for
The Night Swimmers
(1980) and an Edgar Award for
Wanted … Mud Blossom
(1991), among many other accolades. Her books have been translated into nineteen languages and she has fans all over the world.

Byars was born Betsy Cromer in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her father, George, was a manager at a cotton mill and her mother, Nan, was a homemaker. As a child, Betsy showed no strong interest in writing but had a deep love of animals and sense of adventure. She and her friends ran a backyard zoo that starred “trained cicadas,” box turtles, leeches, and other animals they found in nearby woods. She also claims to have ridden the world’s first skateboard, after neighborhood kids took the wheels off a roller skate and nailed them to a plank of wood.

After high school, Byars began studying mathematics at Furman University, but she soon switched to English and transferred to Queens College in Charlotte, where she began writing. She also met Edward Ford Byars, an engineering graduate student from Clemson University, whom she would marry after she graduated in 1950.

Between 1951 and 1956 Byars had three daughters—Laurie, Betsy, and Nan. While raising her family, Byars began submitting stories to magazines, including the
Saturday Evening Post
and
Look
. Her success in publishing warm, funny stories in national magazines led her to consider writing a book. Her son, Guy, was born in 1959, the same year she finished her first manuscript. After several rejections,
Clementine
(1962), a children’s story about a dragon made out of a sock, was published.

Following
Clementine
, Byars released a string of popular children’s and young adult titles including
The Summer of the Swans
, which earned her the Newbery Medal. She continued to build on her early success through the following decades with award-winning titles such as
The Eighteenth Emergency
(1973),
The Night Swimmers
, the popular Bingo Brown series, and the Blossom Family series. Many of Byars’s stories describe children and young adults with quirky families who are trying to find their own way in the world. Others address problems young people have with school, bullies, romance, or the loss of close family members. Byars has also collaborated with daughters Betsy and Laurie on children’s titles such as
My Dog, My Hero
(2000).

Aside from writing, Byars continues to live adventurously. Her husband, Ed, has been a pilot since his student days, and Byars obtained her own pilot’s license in 1983. The couple lives on an airstrip in Seneca, South Carolina. Their home is built over a hangar and the two pilots can taxi out and take off almost from their front yard.

Byars (bottom left) at age five, with her mother and her older sister, Nancy.

A teenage Byars (left) and her sister, Nancy, on the dock of their father’s boat, which he named
NanaBet
for Betsy and Nancy.

Byars at age twenty, hanging out with friends at Queens College in 1948.