Just Gone

By William Kowalski

Mother Anqelique runs a shelter for homeless mothers and their children in a run-down inner-city area, where drug addiction, prostitution and random acts of violence are facts of life. One day, newly orphaned Jamal and his sister Chantay arrive at the shelter, hungry and scared. As Angelique tries to find a new home for them, she develops a fascination with seven-year-old Jamal, who seems to inhabit a world of his own. Jamal tells her fantastic stories of a man named Jacky Wacky, who protects the poor children of the city and punishes the adults who harm them. A God-fearing woman, Angelique doesn't believe his stories at first. But strange things begin to happen whenever Jamal is around, and Mother Angelique is forced to admit that the world may contain stranger truths than her faith can explain.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Release date: Sep 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781459803299

William Kowalski

William Kowalski is the author of Eddie's Bastard, Somewhere South of Here, and The Adventures of Flash Jackson. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1970 and raised in Erie, Pennsylvania. He lives in Nova Scotia with his wife and daughter.

Book preview

JUST

GONE

ALSO BY WILLIAM KOWALSKI:

Orca/Raven

The Barrio Kings (2010)

The Way It Works (2010)

Something Noble (2012)

HarperCollins

Eddie’s Bastard (1999)

Somewhere South of Here (2001)

The Adventures of Flash Jackson (2003)

The Good Neighbor (2004)

Thomas Allen Publishers

The Hundred Hearts (2013)

JUST

GONE

WILLIAM KOWALSKI

Copyright © 2013 William Kowalski

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced

or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

including photocopying, recording or by any information storage

and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission

in writing from the publisher.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Kowalski, William, 1970-

Just gone [electronic resource] / William Kowalski.

(Rapid Reads)

Electronic monograph.

Issued also in print format.

ISBN 978-1-4598-0328-2 (PDF).--ISBN 978-1-4598-0329-9 (EPUB)

I. Title. II. Series: Rapid reads (Online)

PS8571.0985J87 2013            C813’.54            C2013-901877-8

First published in the United States, 2013

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013935303

Summary: Angelique’s work at a homeless shelter takes a turn when

she meets seven-year-old Jamal and a mysterious character named

Jacky Wacky. (RL 3.0)

Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for

its publishing programs provided by the following agencies:

the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the

Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia

through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

Design by Teresa Bubela

Cover photography by Getty Images

www.orcabook.com

16 15 14 13 • 4 3 2 1

To Lidia, con gratitud.

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER ONE

I used to work at this shelter downtown. It was a place for women and children who were having a rough time. We didn’t allow men inside.

Don’t get me wrong. I got nothing against men in general. It’s just that in my line of work, I didn’t meet too many good ones. The good men mostly stayed away from our place. They had business elsewhere, I guess.

I used to hope I would meet a good man. In fact, I longed for it. But not for the reasons a woman normally does. I didn’t need any doings with men. It might be fun and games for a while, but when a woman spends enough time with a man, she ends up with a child. There were already enough children in the world who had no one to take care of them and nowhere to go. And there were enough women who got left high and dry. I did not want to be one of those.

So I gave up my life to help women and their kids instead. Mostly the kids. I decided a long time ago it was my mission in life to pick up where other people left off. That was my real purpose—to take care of the little ones who could not take care of themselves.

Saturday nights at the shelter were always crazy. I worked the door. When you work the door, you have to be on your toes. You never know who’s gonna come walking in, or who’s gonna be following them.

Sometimes a lady might show up with a black eye and a crying baby. A few minutes later the man who gave her both might walk in, demanding to see her.

I do not believe in violence. But I kept a cosh under the counter, just in case someone showed up who did. This cosh was a piece of plastic pipe about a foot and a half long. It was filled with BBs and sealed at both ends. I had the janitor of my building make it for me on the sly. Sometimes I had to use it to persuade people to see things my way. For a small woman, I could swing that thing pretty good.

One Saturday night a long time ago, a teenage girl and a little boy came in. You couldn’t tell at first if they were brother and sister or mother and son.

I remember the boy for two reasons. One is that he was covered in rat bites. They were fresh too. You tend to remember that kind of thing.

The other reason I remember that boy is because he was one of the most beautiful children I’d ever seen. All kids are beautiful to me. But this little one just seemed to glow. It was like he had some kind of special light in him.

I took one look at his bites and decided I was not going to bother with the paperwork.

Uh-uh. No way. You got to get him to a hospital, I told the girl.

She was

Reviews for Just Gone

[deanieg_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this book in less than a 1/2 hour, maybe that's why it's Rapid Reads?! Two homeless orphaned children show up at a shelter, dirty, ragged and hungry, Mother Angelique feeds them and barely finds out what happened to their mother before they disappear again. Little boy says Jacky Wacky did what he does to grownups who mistreat children. Of course Mother Angelique doesn't believe the story, just chalks it up to another urban legend. By the end of the story she learns the truth about Jacky Wacky. Not scary as you might think. It's an okay story. Could have been fleshed out a little more.

[vancouverdeb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Mother" Angelique works at an inner city shelter. One night young Jamal (age 7) and his step- sister Chantay ( age 14)arrive at the shelter. They reluctantly explain to Angelique that their mother has died and that they are on their own. Angelique, our narrator, is a very genuine, compassionate person and willing to bend the rules for a better outcome. Realizing that a foster home may be worse than living on the street, Angelique seeks to find a good home for Jamal and Chantay on her own. As I read the story, I was enlightened on topics such as poverty, drug addiction, and prostitution. I really respected how author William Kowalski broached these challenging topics in shades of grey, rather than black and white.I very much enjoyed this compelling and touching read. William Kowalski explains on his webpage that he writes Rapid Reads such as this for youth and adults with low literacy levels, learning disabilities, and those struggling to survive. I was very impressed that in just 100 pages at Reading Level 3, this story covered complex topics but was an easy to read story that I could not put down. This is my first encounter with books by William Kowalski, but I am already looking into reading more books by this talented author. This story was definitely a captivating , thoughtful read, suitable for most anyone.

[tinasnyderrn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was an excellent way to start my day... 2 cups of coffee and a good book...there is no better start to a wonderful day. Kudos to William Kowalski and his book Just Gone. This book was very inspiring. There really are still amazing people in this vast world we live in and those who help the children are truly inspiring. This well-written book made me smile and at times made me want to cry also. A short read that flows smoothly and draws in the reader quickly. Look forward to reading more by this author...job well done!!!

[cynthia357 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this"rapid read". It held my attention so I could read it in about an hour. A slightly para-normal story of two young children who were abused and how they coped with it into adulthood.

[terriv_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was impressed that the story actually drew me in & kept my attention. I like the concept of "Jacky Wacky" - if only he were real! I'll be passing this on to my daughter to read.

[yells-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the second story I have read in this line of books and I quite enjoyed it. The author manages to tell a rather complex story in a short amount of words. I would recommend these books for someone with a long commute who wants something they can get lost in for an hour or so.

[kaysee_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a rapid read book and it truly is. I read it in a couple of hours.This book is very well written and entertaining. The story is about a woman who works in a shelter in a inner city. She meets two children one night and in her effort to help them she learns of a man who is called Jacky Wacky that helps the children who are hungry or hurt. It is a great story and one that I hope as a person has some truth in it. Great book!

[karenherndon · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Another early reviewer.Well, I can't say I didn't like this story but I can say it wasn't one of my favorites. It is a short little book - took me about an hour to read. I guess that is what the " rapid reads" logo on the book meant. Reminded me of a short story made into a small book. The story itself was ok and I liked the writing style so so but it isn't anything I would recommend to a friend.

[bedda_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Just Gone is a Rapid Reads novel and true to its name it won't take you long to read. It is only a hundred pages or so and the print is nice and big. But the story spans several decades. And I think the large time span coupled with the short length limits the depths of the characters to some extent. You get to know the narrator, Mother Angelique, best because she is, obviously, a constant in the story. But the two children we are introduced to that she is trying to help we only see in little snapshots. We see them as little children and then we get to see them after they have had to survive in the world for years on their own. You get the idea of what happened in the intervening years but no details. So you don't really get to know them that well. The story does a good job of giving the reader a feeling for the despair and hardship of poverty and living in the streets. But it does so without leaving the reader without any hope of better things to come. It has the feeling of an urban legend to me. (Which is appropriate considering the plot.) It’s like a story told over and over until some of the details have been lost and some things have become rather vague. Everyone has heard it but no one can remember how it started and you are almost sure if you hear it again it will not be exactly the same. The concept is good and the narrator interesting so the book is a good way to spend an hour or so but if it had been any longer I think I would have lost interest.