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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781490906515 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | CreateSpace Publishing |
| Publication date: | 11/01/2013 |
| Series: | Rosemary's Ottawa and Beyond , #1 |
| Pages: | 296 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.62(d) |
About the Author
violinist, music teacher, portrait painter,
wildlife artist, nurse, poet and outdoor survival enthusiast.
At age eleven her first play was performed. She tells stories in schools, using puppets, music , drawing and paintings.
She is married, has three boys and lives in Ottawa.
Read an Excerpt
Rosemary's Ottawa and Beyond
By Georgina Bartos
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2011 Georgina BartosAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4634-0584-7
Chapter One
What I Said
As I waited in the dentist's office people thumbed through magazines, read their books or dozed. I was almost asleep when a young reporter with blue banana earrings sat down in the chair beside me.
"Rosemary?" Her smile dazzled me. "I thought I would never catch up with you. Finally ..."
Then she reached up and set a red and silver micro-recorder marble in the air just above our heads. It spun silently in its vac-space as she interviewed me for the Five O'Clock News Blast.
"Rosemary, we have all heard about your extra-planetary adventures on Glo-Kazin 136. But first tell us how you got your lovely red hair, mauve eyes and coppery skin. Where were your parents born? Tell us about your family."
"I am adopted. I have one sister. Every day I wonder who my birth parents are and I'm going to find out. The doctor thought I was approximately three months old when I arrived in a truck. He wasn't quite sure."
"You arrived in a delivery van?"
"I was delivered with an antique chest of drawers that my Mum inherited from an aunt."
"Fascinating. You were a surprise baby, Rosemary. You have visited other worlds. What was the first unusual thing you remember?"
"When I was six, Desmond, the Great Bird, crash-landed in my back yard."
"Very interesting! What species of bird?"
"I haven't learned about all the species on Glo-Kazin yet and I can't identify Great Bird because every time I see him he's a different size, form or colour. But I do intend to discover a new species here on Earth. Maybe I'll rediscover the Dodo. There might still be one left on some unexplored island. If I could go back in time to the 1600s I might ..."
Suddenly there was a loud boing. Everyone in the waiting room jumped and looked toward the window. A Blue Jay the size of a large crow shattered the glass window. Glass splashed out like water and smoothed over as the glass repaired itself. Blue feathers floated down. The bird circled the waiting room and took off as I held open the door. As I lifted my hand to wave, a magnificent, dark blue feather landed in my palm.
"My, you seem to invite strange occurrences, Rosemary," exclaimed the reporter. "What a beautiful bird!"
"That might have been Desmond. If it was, he gave me a feather. I wonder why?"
"Amazing! Now tell us about meeting the King of Glo-Kazin. You were only eight. Is it true?"
"I received a Royal Summons—even though I didn't know it at the time. I arrived quite suddenly and was surprised to find the King of Glo-Kazin expecting me. I had kept him waiting. I was late as usual."
"What did you do at Glo-Kazin 136 Castle?"
"Went jogging with the King, sang, played with Anute, the King's young spy, ate amazing food, attended three celebrations, jumped on springy plants with coiled stems and rode on big flowers like Peonies. They snap-closed their petals into buds and sprang them open to bounce us along. Dandelion-like flower heads spun us.And enemy Gorgons dumped me down a dungeon well on top of Aristarchus, a 10-foot, prehistoric, meat eating spider. I escaped and freed the spider."
"Incredible! Why did the Gorgons push you down the well in the first place?"
"I don't know and I intend to find out."
"I'm sure you will. What is the Castle like? Is it like Windsor Castle or Buckingham Palace?"
"The castle doesn't look like any castle I ever saw with battlements, moat or drawbridge. It's rounded and low with moving red-roofed towers like mushrooms with red-tipped lichens on top."
"Rosemary, throughout our history kings have given gifts. Did the King give you anything to take home?"
"The King gave me a necklace with a tiny Glo-Kazin Castle pendant. I wear it all the time."
"I noticed it when I first came in. Lovely! How do you address the King?"
"He insists that everyone use the same Introduction Formula: Compassionate, brilliant and handsome King, my name is Rosemary. I too am compassionate, brilliant and beautiful."
"Lovely. Do you ever call him Your Majesty?"
"Sometimes."
"What is the King like?"
"Unusual."
"In what way?"
"He's a super athlete. The King doesn't wear a suit and tie or flowing robes. He wears a sleek body suit. He travels hallways hanging from hand bars. He back-flips up stairs.
"Is it true that the King's beloved Queen died tragically a year after they married?"
"She vanished. When the King thought I wasn't looking he was sad and mopey. He was sadder when I had to leave."
Then a girl sitting the other side of me leans over, breathes egg breath in my face and squeals, "Are you really Rosemary, the piano whiz who crosses dimensions and heals cracked skulls?"
"We all want to know about Rosemary," smiles the reporter patiently. She continues with her interview.
"One last question. Now that you've travelled so widely, what place would you rate as The World's #1 Place to Live?"
"Right here in Ottawa. My parents are the best. And I would like to thank Whoever-it-was for delivering me to Ottawa and Queen Victoria for choosing Ottawa as Canada's Capital. I love the ancient, worn mountains, the Ottawa River, Parliament Hill, the Peace Tower, my street ... I don't know what I'd do without the Peace Tower Clock."
"Why is the clock important to you?"
"So I know the time. I'm always losing my phone."
"If you like Ottawa so much, why do you spend so much time away on other planets?"
"Not my choice."
"Explain."
"I can't. I just found myself there. I never had a chance to pack—not once. No one asked me if I wanted to go. I found out later I had been invited—or captured."
"How did you travel?"
"I have no idea."
"I am very curious how you got to Glo-Kazin and who took you there."
"I expect to find out soon. The King thinks we are about to discover his planet and others nearby."
"Rosemary, if you could change one thing in your life, what would you ask for?"
"To be accepted and liked. I don't want to be different—go places none of my friends have been and do things they can't."
"You have an interesting life, Rosemary. I'm envious."
"I hate being envied. I'd rather be liked."
"Most interesting. Rosemary, is there anything else you would like to say? We have sixty seconds."
"I would like to ask Whoever-it-was who put me in the chest of drawers to come forward. I would like to ask that person a few questions."
"Thank you so much, Rosemary, for sharing your unusual experience with us."
"It was a pleasure."
No sooner had I finished this interview, than a reporter with bell-choker around her neck and a green, floppy-brimmed hat pulled up a chair in front of me and slicked one of those old-fashioned lick-thin-recorders to my shirt collar. More questions. I did better this time. I had had some practice.
"Tell us about your enemies. Few eight-year-olds these days have been imprisoned in dungeon wells and fed to man-eating spiders."
"I met one enemy. He is a member of The Organization of Gorgon-Slashers who plan to take over Earth and The Sixteen Planets."
"If I were to meet a Gorgon-Slasher, how would I know?"
"You wouldn't. They often sneak around in disguise."
"Shouldn't the Prime Minister be alerted?"
"Definitely. But how can I alert the Prime Minister and the Department of National Defence before Glo-Kazin 136 has been discovered?"
"Good question."
The rest of her questions were the same as the first interview.
Giving Day
The reporter thanked me and left. Minutes ticked by until I thought the receptionists had forgotten me. As I continued to wait, I made a paper feather like the one I was given; I always had a hard time sitting still unless I was making something. As I drew and cut tiny feather-vanes I heard the slow, steady beat of Great Bird's wings—the bird named Desmond. As I doodled a picture of a great tree with a huge nest in its branches I heard Great Bird's deep, throaty call.
Whoosh! Instead of Dr. Molir's flecked carpet, pinkish rock rose up beneath my feet. My feet sank into this rubbery rock that squelched when I pulled my feet out. A row of sheep with stretched legs stood like lawn sculptures. Instead of neat stacks of magazines on Dr. Molir's low table, I saw stacks of compressed animal chow. The metal chair arms with the flecked pads that matched the carpet, became elbow high shrubs with leaves that dangled and clacked together.
In my hand was the blue feather I had been given and the feather I had made. I crouched between two shrubs.
From all directions crowds of people slowly approached. They walked in twos, threes and clusters. They carried colourful banners, waved streamers and wore plumed hats. Among them strutted strange creatures and a giant, hairy spider with thick, muscular legs. I recognized my old friend, Aristarchus.
When I saw the outline of the castle in the distance with its towers and domes that changed shape and color, I knew where I was—on Glo-Kazin 136. It was the same castle I had visited when I was eight. It was here I had played with Anute, learned to address the King, been captured by Gorgons and thrown down the dungeon well to be eaten by a monstrous spider.
And when I noticed a tree, much larger than the one I had drawn, growing on top of a hill to my right, I was amazed. High in its lofty branches, brushed by wisps of cloud, was a huge, dark nest in silhouette. My eyes hurt when I looked up into the suns. There were three.
Again I heard the flap of wings. This time I could see Desmond, the Great Bird, soar upward into golden light, his metallic feathers flashing. Slowly he glided downward and landed on a thick limb halfway up the tree. He shook his wings and let them trail gracefully behind him like peacock tail feathers. He raised his crest until spring green and florescent-pink feathers waved like ferns. He was glorious and majestic.
All he needed to do was be. He never said much. He didn't need to. Whenever he spoke my name he spoke it straight from his heart into mine. He didn't need to use his vocal cords. It felt good. I was surprised to see him here and to see him a different colour—orange. He used to be black.
Then music began and the silence throbbed with high-pitched plant sounds and lower-pitched rock chiming. Musicians played instruments like strung balloons and snailed tubes with water inside. Everyone else sang and danced. The King cart-wheeled down a gold carpet like along and deluxe exercise mat, his purple body suit rippling with the reflections of ribbons and streamers. When he slowed to a stop facing Great Bird, he knelt and bowed with his face to the ground. Then he stood and began this Celebration Day as he had all forty-seven others.
Of the forty-seven Glo-Kazin 136 celebrations, I had attended three. I wondered what this celebration would be. The King began: On this Day of First Breath, Fur and Feathers we celebrate each birth. And on this day we present each ten-year-old with his or her first Autee—to care for. Each Autee will guard its child.
Each Autee is trained to counter weaponry, warn of noxious gasses, hazardous chemicals or live enemies of any kind. No child will own an Autee. All are on loan until a child leaves home or reaches the age of twenty-one.
Each child shall be chosen by an Autee. When this has taken place we shall all lay our feathers before Great Bird and receive his gifts for us on this special day.
All the children of the right age assembled around the King and Autees came bounding to a skidding stop in a perfect semicircle. They were funny creatures with round, green eyes, flamingo-pink legs and sheep bodies with curly, white fur. Their feet were like puffy slippers on the ends of their long, thin legs.
One by one they nosed the top of a child's head and stood beside that child in a new semicircle facing the first. Finally there was just one Autee left. It sat down and refused to get up. It clawed at the soil, whimpered woefully, rested its chin on the ground and gazed upward pleadingly.
The King stood still. Then he gazed around anxiously, as if something was out of place. The musicians ceased playing and singers held their breaths. There were no more ten-year-olds. The last Autee slumped down, lowered its head and closed its eyes as if it was too sad to bother moving.
The entire congregation waited. I wondered what they were waiting for. So many people and animals held still. A leaf fluttered noiselessly down. Clouds made no sound. The big tree never stirred and Great Bird could have been carved and painted. And so the minutes passed.
The Autee sighed and stretched his back legs. He gave a shudder and a whimper. Then a blade of grass moved to my right and a face smeared with grey and black appeared. It smiled and smudged fingers made two ears.
"Anute?" I whispered without moving my mouth.
"Sh ... I'm not supposed to be here. That's the worst of being seven years old. I'm grounded. But I knew you were coming."
"How?"
"Tell you another time. Get up out of this grass and let your Autee perform his traditional part in the ceremony. It would be humiliating for an Autee to have to flush you out of the grass. You are 11 already and you're a year late. Effet has been waiting a long time and he's depressed enough as it is. And please name him Effet. He likes that name. He's used to it. Git!"
"My hair's a mess and I'm not dressed for a celebration."
"You have your feather. You have two. What more do you need? Think of your Autee. He's suffering on account of you."
As soon as I stood up the Autee bounded to his feet, his funnel ears straight up. He quivered all over as if his paws were glued to the ground. Then he strained and let go. He shot right past me. Then he raced circles around me before nuzzling my hair and leading me to stand with him in the semicircle.
The crowds erupted with cheers and song as two by two we each laid a feather on the ground below Great Bird's tree.
When it was gift giving time I expected to see wrapped boxes with bright bows and ribbons. There was not one—only silence and Great Bird. He turned deep purple and then silver as he raised both wings and opened his beak. He raised his head. His clear rush of song washed over me and tingled in my ears, hands, over my forehead and in my chest. My feet tingled.
The stillness that followed lasted and lasted. I didn't want it to end. It was like lying on a cloud in the sun. When Great Bird hopped off his branch, cheering burst out. Dancing and singing began and it was almost supper time and time for home.
Anute waved sadly. "See you soon, Rosemary. I'll come and get you. I learned to drive when no one was looking. I'm left alone most of the time anyway. You wouldn't want to trade places with me. My family's rude, messy, mean and quarrelsome; foot and fist-fighting crazy—and they are traitors to the King. They want him dead. You have a good family. You're lucky ... Rosemary, where did you feel the tingling when Great Bird sang?"
"In my hands, ears, over my forehead, chest and feet."
"Wow! That means you got lots of gifts. You can heal, hear plants, dance, know the future and feel the greatest love."
"Whatever." What I really wanted was a keyboard or a grand piano.
Being taken to Glo-Kazin unexpectedly was bad enough. Finding myself on Planet Glo-Kazin so abruptly was like arriving home from school and finding a different house in place of my own and another family living in it. It was like walking right through a mirror and meeting a new me.
It was good to get back to the dentist's office, get my teeth cleaned, go home and start my homework. On the Five O'Clock News Blast I saw both interviews.
When I Thought Everything was Fine
From my bedroom window I could see the Peace Tower Clock clearly. The clock was useful when I couldn't find my phone. It was 5:32 P.M. I was back home in time to get most of my homework done, walk my Autee and settle into my everyday life. I named my Autee Effet. I tried to tell my parents about The Day of First Breath, Fur and Feathers, but as usual, they said I had too much imagination. They let me keep my Autee. Mum, Dad and my sister, Affie, loved Effet from the start. They figured he must have been a stray and made enquiries. But no one claimed him.
In the morning I lay there listening to Effet whisper-whistling as he slept. He was curled up on my round, braided mat beside my bed, his long, pink legs folded delicately beneath him. His body was rounded and fleecy like a fat sheep and his stick legs the kind kids draw in their very first crayon pictures of cats.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Rosemary's Ottawa and Beyond by Georgina Bartos Copyright © 2011 by Georgina Bartos. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
What I Said....................1Giving Day....................8
When I Thought Everything was Fine....................15
Pointing at Me?....................18
A Giggle in Time....................23
What Dirklee Told Me....................29
A Jungle of Events....................34
Ribbons of Ice....................38
Hyper Aware....................41
The Evil Underground....................45
They Wouldn't Let Me Enter....................61
Busted....................68
What I Had to Do Whether I Liked it or Not....................77
More than One Way of Being....................87
Picking Death....................96
When It Happened....................100
What I Already Knew....................102
Birds before Breakfast....................105
The Nightmare Party....................111
What I Found Out....................118
The Day That Lasted Too Long....................120
Hit....................130
On Stage....................141
On the Run....................153
What You Do When You're Trashed....................167
Water....................175
Treasure amongst Junk....................180
The Extraction....................183
Teeth of Fire....................187
Rings around the Moons....................199
Blood Song....................209
Bare Back Riding....................220
On the Backs of Wise Ones....................227
Breakthrough....................235
Speck on Aridu....................241
On Moofx....................248
If Chirpy Knew....................260
What Happened After....................267
On The Hill....................271
Home....................274