ROOTLINES
“Fascinating, engaging, and moving . . . on the level of Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, with the immune system taking the place of the motorcycle.”
—Richard S. Marken, PhD, author of Controlling People: The Paradoxical Nature of Being Human
Published by
SYNOPSIS
TWO SISTERS - ONE LIFE
They are not speaking when Linda emails. She has lethal abdominal tumors, and her only hope of survival is a total bone marrow replacement. Linda claims Rikki is too old to donate, and explains there’s only a slight chance she is a good match anyway—but Rikki refuses to accept. Despite the wounding between them, Linda’s email ignites a wild aspiration in her sister: she will become the perfect donor, the perfect match, with the healthiest, most vigorous cells possible. She rises with intent to heal herself, her sister, and their rootlines.
EXCERPT
MOMENT OF CLARITY
The main thing with magic tricks was to tell a story the whole time that would distract your audience from the real thing going on. The story was called the “patter.” You could say you were traveling in this strange, foreign land when you came upon this magical wand, or mirror, or deck of cards. I came across my disappearing wand while wandering among the camels in the hot sands of Egypt.
Meantime, Linda was training me to be a prince. I must have announced once to her that I wanted to be king of the world and fix everything. Linda convinced me that before I could be king I had to be a prince, and princes had to learn a lot of stuff—English and history and math and things Linda knew.
Linda prepared study sheets of things I had to learn. Names of countries and their capitals. Works of famous people like Shakespeare. Addition with carrying. She wrote out the lessons by hand. At the end of my study period, she gave me a test. Ardent in my desire to be a good king, I did well on each day’s exam.
