My uncle, Billy Peel, was an active-duty Air National Guardsman. He and his flight crew were on a secret mission over Surinam, South America in the early ‘70s.

In May of 1972, in my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, friends, relatives and members of Highland Heights Methodist Church gathered at my Aunt Dorothy’s house for days and weeks after hearing the news: Uncle Billy’s plane had dropped off the radar. He and his flight crew were missing in action.

Barnes and Noble.  Casually looking for a book on giraffes for my fourth assignment with the Institute of Children’s Literature | Institute for Writers.