At that moment Dawn came back. She was with a boy who was just about as opposite from the be-in as you could imagine, a kind of anti-matter of hippie. He had very short, tidy hair shaved up the sides of his head, and he was dressed in crisp jeans and a white T-shirt. He was so clean that he seemed to have a little halo around him. How was he staying so clean?The second he arrived at the blanket, the sun peeped out.“This is Tom Ed,” said Dawn. “He’s from Texas. He’s a draft dodger.” Later, when Charlotte saw those T-shirts that declared, Today is the first day of the rest of your life, she thought of that moment.The damp blanket, her muddy toes, the music in her pores, the hippie-sweet air, and the tall, bright-faced Texan.
SARAH ELLIS is a celebrated author, teacher and children¿s literature expert. She has written more than twenty books across the genres, and her books have been translated into French, Spanish, Danish, Chinese and Japanese. She has won the Governor General¿s Literary Award (Pick-Up Sticks) and the TD Canadian Children¿s Literature Award (Odd Man Out). Sarah is a masthead reviewer for the Horn Book Magazine, and she is a former faculty member of Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.