Ghost in the Machine Read online

  But the pendulum is swinging the other way now, and I suspect I’ll be writing a lot less for a while. Sarah and I have some catching up to do. There’s schoolwork. I’ll be driving soon. I have a strong feeling Sarah will want to make a stab at locating Henry, and I can’t let her do it alone.

  But I know writing will be here when I need it, and this is a great comfort to me as I venture back out into the world full-time.

  We’re hosting a barbecue on the porch tonight, which means I have to wrap this up and go help my mom. Pretty soon Daryl Bonner and Gladys Morgan will be here along with a whole bunch of other town folks. Sarah will be here with her parents and her new camera. My dad will man the grill. Later on, when the bugs start hatching and the sun tips behind the mountains, I’ll take Sarah to the creek so I can teach her how to cast a fly rod. Maybe we’ll walk out to the dredge and take a look around, or up to Longhorn’s Grange to retrieve her dad’s ladder out of the tall weeds.

  I can’t help thinking about that blue rock we painted when we were kids and the simple question she asked me.

  I want to paint the rock, don’t you want to paint the rock?

  Without Sarah, I’m no different than the legend of Old Joe Bush. I’m like a ghost, alone in my room, making up stories and keeping to myself. It’s like Sarah has ahold of my hand, pulling me forward. She’s looking back at me with the same question in her eyes over and over again.

  I want to live, don’t you want to live?

  I do, Sarah.

  I do.

  GHOST IN THE MACHINE

  PRODUCTION TEAM:

  Patrick Carman

  Novel/Screenplay

  Jeffrey Townsend

  Director/Editor/Visual & Audio Effects

  Sarah Koenigsberg

  Production Manager/Director of Photography

  Squire Broel

  Production Designer

  Amy Vories

  Make-Up / Hair / Effects Make-Up

  Joseph Ivan Long

  Stunt Coordinator

  Dave Emigh

  Special Props

  Amber Larsen

  Alternate Camera Operator

  Peter Means

  Crew

  Nick Brandenburg

  Crew

  Katherine Bairstow

  Crew

  Joshua Pease

  Webmaster / Illustrator

  LOCATION ASSISTANCE:

  Sumpter Valley Gold Dredge

  Oregon Parks and Recreation Department

  Miranda Miller, Park Ranger

  Rella Brown, Park Host

  Ashley and Brian Rudin

  Walla Walla Elks Lodge - Russ Chandler

  Sterling Savings Bank - Connie R. Webb, A.V.P.,

  Branch Manager

  Waitsburg Four Mill - Mayor Markeeta Little Wolf

  Walla Walla Bible Center - Pastor Dave Reed

  26brix - George Davis

  Merchants Ltd. - Bob Austin

  CAST:

  Sarah Fincher - Amber Larsen

  Ryan McCray - Tom Rowley

  Daryl Bonner - Jim Michelson

  Paul McCray - Brian Senter

  Gladys Morgan - Pat Yenney

  Pastor - Ron Davids

  The Apostle - Eric Rohde

  Dr. Watts - Mark Raddatz

  GHOST PERFORMERS

  Andrew Latta

  Kevin Loomer

  Joseph Ivan Long

  Ben Boehm

  Sarah Koenigsberg

  Jeffrey Townsend

  MUSIC / SOUNDTRACK

  Portfolio Days

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2009 by Patrick Carman

  Cover design by Christopher Stengel

  Illustrations by Joshua Pease

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available

  First edition, September 2009

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

  eISBN: 978-0-545-29552-9