Excerpt: Dragon Child

If he could haul off and kick something, Sam would feel a lot better. He glanced at Uncle Pack hunched over the wheel of the car. His great-uncle had been a round man, always quick to laugh before the cancer showed up and, as he told Sam, leaned him down to fighting weight.

I can’t kick cancer, Sam thought as he slouched into the passenger seat and stared ahead at the
storm he and Uncle Pack were driving into.

He counted the days left in January—twenty. The times the wipers swiped across the windshield—forty. The number of months to his eleventh birthday—five. The number of times he’d moved since his mom and dad had died—three.

“How about a little music?” Uncle Pack switched on the radio, but it crackled with static. “Too much weather to pick up a signal.” He switched off the power. “Guess we’ll just have to sing to ourselves on this trip.”

But Uncle Pack didn’t sing and neither did Sam. He had a lot on his mind. He was on his way to meet Cousin Jasper, the last cousin they could ask for help. This was the last try at a home with family.