ISBN 0-765-34361-4
EAN 978-0765-3436-1
First Tor Teen edition: March 2004
Printed in the United States of America
0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
To Susan, Amy, Tony, Stu
and all the NESFAs
Oh beautifulfor patriot’s dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears . . .
“America the Beautiful”
Katherine Lee Bates (1911)
Save the people!
Save the children!
Save the country!
NOW!
“Save the Country”
Recorded by the Fifth Dimension (1970)
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
“And the girls . . . wow!” said Ron Morgan.
“What about them?”
“How’d they look?”
Ron was sitting on the edge of the swimming pool, his feet swishing in the heated water. It was a cool, clear, late summer night. Eight of his buddies were clustered around him on the astroturf of the back yard. The only lights were the pool’s underwater lamps, which threw strange shimmering shadows on the boys’ faces.
“New York City girls are something else,” Ron told them. “It’s hard to describe. They’re not prettier than the girls here at home, but . . .”
