Hurricanes and Blaises: Meet Nancy Mayo

By Mark Aitchison

When Buddy Holly died in a tragic plane crash in 1959 it sent shock waves around the country. The restless innocence of an entire generation, just finding and beginning to spread their wings, was threatened. On sleepy old Cape Cod Nancy Mayo is an attractive and popular middle school student who only wishes to do well at school and please her parents. Then Bernadette Blaise and her parents come to visit. Bernadette’s father is a French World War Two veteran who met Nancy’s father, Police Chief Joe Mayo, in Paris on Liberation Day. Nancy doesn’t know what to make of Bernadette’s rebellious nature though she promises to do her best to take care of the visiting exchange student. In the meantime her father is involved in a mysterious murder investigation- someone is killing seals on Nauset Beach- and Joe Mayo hopes to heck none of the local fishermen are involved. Overshadowing all this a hurricane of unknown proportions is fast approaching the idyllic seaside town and her anxious inhabitants. Tapping into unknown qualities of courage and intelligence Nancy Mayo finds herself joining forces with her French classmate to help solve her father’s case before disaster strikes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mark Aitchison
• Release date: Dec 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301703937

Mark Aitchison

I was born in England (London) to Scottish parents and lived in Nigeria during my earliest years before moving to Canada (Toronto) where I grew up and went to prep school (Upper Canada College, class of 1981). At Bennington College (Vermont, USA, class of 1985) I studied latin american literature and fine arts (painting). After college my family moved to Cape Cod (Massachusetts, USA)- where we had a summer house for many years- and opened a country inn in Eastham (outer cape) called The Over Look Inn. There I began writing seriously for publication (fiction mostly) and travelling every winter to South America. In 1992 I met my wife-to-be, Tania, in Brazil (Manaus). We were married in June of 1992 and started an adventure travel company called Swallows and Amazons that same year. I continue to live in Manaus today with my family (Tania and our 2 daughters Kelly and Stephanie) where I still run Swallows and Amazons Tours, write fiction (mostly adventure stories) and non-fiction (mostly about conservation), and make plans for the future.

Book preview

Hurricanes and Blaises

by

Mark Aitchison

Copyright 2012 Mark Atchison

Published on Smashwords

Formatted by eBooksMade4You

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

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Special thanks to the Orleans Police Department and the Orleans Relief Association

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

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Chapter 1

But why are you crying, Bobby?

Nancy Mayo, a 13 year-old middle school student from the seaside town of Orleans, Massachusetts, picked up the newspaper her friend had thrown on the pavement and read the cover story.

" ‘Plane Crash Kills 3 Rock ‘n’ Roll Idols

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) – Three rock ‘n’ roll singing idols, whose records and appearances stirred millions of teen-agers, were killed early yesterday in a cold, wind-swept Iowa field…besides the pilot the dead are Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper…’ "

Nancy looked again at the shivering figure beside her. Bobby Blaise was from Paris, France, a world away from anything Nancy knew in Orleans on sleepy Olde Cape Cod. The 14 year old French girl had arrived in town just a week earlier with her parents. Bobby´s father knew Nancy’s father from the war and the French family had come to spend a year living in the United States. Bobby was now enrolled as an exchange student at Nauset Middle School where Nancy studied. As much as for any language problems there might have been as for being a friend of the Mayos, Bobby had been placed in Nancy’s class despite her age. Yet if ever there was a difference between two girls, and their families, Nancy Mayo and Bobby Blaise couldn’t have been more different from one another if they tried.

You didn’t know these people personally, did you, Bobby? Nancy asked, moving closer to the French girl who seemed to have stopped crying and was shaking a little less.

Of course not. But you must know who Buddy Holly is, the