The Books: Dragons in the Waters (Madeleine L’Engle)

Daily Book Excerpt: YA/Children’s books

519V0CT0J7L._OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpgNext book on the shelf is Dragons in the Waters by Madeleine L’Engle. This is the first book in the next generation of the Murry family … I LOVE this one. Okay – so Meg Murry marries Calvin O’Keefe. We know this from A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Meg and Calvin proceed to have a bazillion children – two of whom are named Polyhymnia (Poly for short – although in later books she adds an “l” so she’s a more conventional “Polly” – she’s one of my favorite characters L’Engle ever wrote) – and Charles (obviously after their uncle Charles Wallace).

This is another one of those books where characters from other series appear. L’Engle is not creating a linear world with all of her books – it’s more like a tangled web. It’s just so fun. So we have Mr. Theo – the music teacher from The Young Unicorns – we also have Canon Tallis – who shows up in many of L’Engle’s books (he is, actually, a real person – L’Engle admits that – he was obviously very important in her life, her Crosswicks journals show that). But she uses him in her fiction all the time. Simon Renier, the 13 year old “star” of this book is a member of an illustrious (now fallen on hard times) Charleston family – and if I recall correctly, the Reniers are also the subject of her earlier novel The Other Side of the Sun. There’s more overlap here – but all of that just gives you an idea of the kind of tangled-up and interconnected thing that L’Engle was always going for. I adore that part of her books.

Anyway, the plot – briefly – Simon Renier lives with his Aunt Leonis – a doddering wise old woman – one of L’Engle’s great creations. The book opens with Simon boarding a boat – on its way to Venezuela – and he is with his cousin (a grown man) named Forsyth Phair. It all comes out later that: Simon and Forsyth are on a journey to Venezuela – in order to return an heirloom painting (of Simon Bolivar) to its rightful place. (The book is written in a chopped-up way – going back and forth in time – short sections – past to present and back – I really like the style here, it’s a bit different from most of her other books). It’s not a cruise line or anything like that – it’s a small steamer, and there aren’t many passengers. Poly, Charles and Calvin O’Keefe are 3 of the other passengers. Poly is 14 years old, with flame-red hair, and she’s kind of a prodigy. Speaks a ton of languages – but she’s not a prodigy in a precocious or obnoxious way (or – she’s no more obnoxious than any rambunctious early teenager) … She’s a prodigy in the way her Uncle Charles Wallace was a prodigy – only maybe she’s a bit more lighthearted. You kind of love her from the minute you see her. Her younger brother Charles is more of an intuitive prodigy – you know those kinds of people with intense emotional understanding? That sometimes goes beyond what is feasible or can be grasped? The people who just KNOW things about other people? Charles is like that.

Simon, with his fallen-from-grace family background, and his lack of exposure to kids his own age – doesn’t quite know how to handle Poly and Charles … but Poly and Charles basically decide to befriend him. They are the only kids on the boat.

Things take a sinister turn almost immediately – In the opening scene, Simon, while walking on the dock toward the boat – is suddenly pushed into the water by Poly (they don’t know each other yet) – and she goes falling in after him. Turns out – there was a forklift coming towards them, huge, and dangerous – the “accelerator stuck” and it could have run them over flat. Charles (with the intuition) feels that – it wasn’t an accident. Something tells him that something is not right.

Very soon after their journey is underway, Cousin Forsyth (a man who showed up at Aunt Leonis’ shack to inquire about the Bolivar painting) is murdered.

Great book. It’s got a lot in it. L’Engle’s books sometimes have intricate plots – but her books never ARE the plots. There’s always something more. I always end up feeling like a better and deeper person after reading one of her books.

So here’s an excerpt from the beginning of the book – before Forsyth is murdered – when Poly and Charles come over to Simon in the ship’s dining room- which is full of chattering adults – and befriend him.


Excerpt from Dragons in the Waters by Madeleine L’Engle.

Simon closed his eyes, suddenly overwhelmed with sleep.

“Simon …” It was a whisper.

He jumped. Poly and Charles stood in front of him. “Oh. Hi. I was just sleepy for a minute.”

Geraldo came up with a small tray of half-filled demitasses and a pitcher of hot milk, put it down on the table, and then bustled back to the other passengers.

Poly sat down beside Simon. “I’ll pour. Have some, Simon?”

He nodded. “I’ve never had coffee before. Aunt Leonis and I drink tea.”

“You may not like it, then. Put lots of sugar and milk in; then it tastes sort of like hot coffee ice cream.”

Simon followed her instructions, tasted, and smiled.

“Oh, Simon,” Poly said, her long legs in green tights stretching out under her plaid skirt, “I’m so glad you’re you. Suppose you’d been some awful creep? Whatever would we have done, all cooped together like this?”

Simon nodded in solemn agreement. “I’m glad yawl are you, too.” Now that he was relaxed, his voice was warm and rhythmic.

Poly flashed her brightest smile. “I like the way you talk, Simon. It isn’t all nasal and whiny like some of the Southerners we’ve met.”

“I was born in Charleston.” It was a simple statement of fact.

Poly giggled. “Snob.”

Simon blushed slightly. “I like the way you talk, too. It isn’t British -”

“Of course not! We’re American!”

“– It’s just clean and clear. Aunt Leonis loves music more than anything in the world, so voices are very important to her. Her voice is beautiful, not a bit cracked and aged. Somebody compared her voice to Ethel Barrymore’s — I guess she was some kind of famous actress in the olden days.”

Poly poured Simon some more coffee and hot milk. “Hey, look at all the grownups over there, nosing each other out. And we knew about each other right away.”

“Well, they didn’t almost get drowned together,” Simon said. “You saved my life, so that means –”

“It means we belong together forevermore,” Poly said solemnly.

Charles was looking across the salong at the adults. “They’ve forgotten how to play Make Believe. That’s a sure way to tell about somebody — the way they play, or don’t play, Make Believe. Poly, you won’t ever grow too old for it, will you?”

“I hope not.” But she sounded dubious.

Simon pushed back a lock of fair hair from his face. “My Aunt Leonis is very good at it. Actually, she’s my great-grandaunt, or something. When people get ancient they seem to remember how to play again – although I don’t think Aunt Leonis ever forgot. She says you can tell about people – whether they’re friend or foe – by your sense of smell, and that most people lose it.”

“Fe fi fo fum,” Charles intoned, “I smell the blood of an Englishman.”

“It’s probably our pheromones,” Poly said.

“Our what?” Simon asked.

“Pheromones. They’re really quite simple molecules, eight or ten carbon atoms in a chain, and what they do is send out — well, sort of a smell, but it’s nothing we smell on a conscious level, we just react to it. For instance, a female moth sends out pheromones at mating time, and a male moth comes flying, but he doesn’t know why, he just responds to the pheromones, and we’re not any more conscious of it than moths. At least most of us aren’t. Charles is, sometimes.” She stopped, then said, “It’s obvious that we’re children of scientists. Maybe Aunt Leonis’s sense of smell is simpler and just as good.” She sniffed delicately and looked with quick affection at Simon. “You smell superb, Simon.”

He sniffed in his turn. “You smell right lovely yourself. Maybe it’s your red hair.”

But Poly sighed. “I haven’t worn a hat in years because I keep hoping that if I keep my hair uncovered and let the salt air and wind and sun work on it, maybe I’ll bleach out and turn into a blonde. It hasn’t shown any signs of happening yet, but I keep on hoping.”

“You look right nice exactly the way you are,” Simon said firmly.

He might be a year younger than she was, but Poly felt a warm glow. “Look, your Cousin Forsyth is playing bridge with the Smiths and Dr. Eisenstein. That’s a funny combination.”

Simon looked at the card table. Bridge was another unexpected facet in Cousin Forsyth, who was shuffling with great expertise.

“At any rate,” Poly said, “we’re certain about Mr. Theo.”

“Certain?” Simon asked.

“That he’s all right. He’s a friend of Uncle Father’s and that means he’s okay.”

“Uncle Father?” Simon asked.

“My godfather. Canon Tom Tallis. You remember, we were talking about him at tea.”

“Why do you call him Uncle Father?”

Poly gave her infectious giggle. “Rosy, our baby sister, started it when she was just beginning to talk, and we all took it up. We see more of Uncle Father than we do of our own grandparents, because we live so many thousands of miles apart, but Uncle Father was in and out of Portugal for a while, so he’s sort of an extra grandparent for us. And I guess I trust him more than I trust anybody in the world.”

Charles said, “But he warns you about that, Pol. He says that no human being is a hundred percent trustworthy, and that he’s no exception.”

Poly shrugged. “I know, but I trust him anyhow. Trust isn’t a matter of reason. It’s a matter of pheromones. I trust Simon.”

Simon beamed with pleasure.

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