Real people

Today I visited the Loggers’ Memorial in Enumclaw, Washington. This is one of the places Sunny went in Runaway Twin. Standing beside the memorial, I thought about Sunny. I looked across the parking lot at the public library where she found Starr’s plagiarized poem online, and remembered how she felt. Then I found myself hoping that she and Rita, and Snickers the dog, were all doing well. It took me a moment to remember that these are characters in a book and not real people. Or are they? Even though they are not alive, they are still real to me. I lived with them for many months while I wrote Runaway Twin, and I will always be fond of them. I hope you are happy, Sunny and Rita.  Good dog, Snickers.