"That is the balance of things: some of us are predators, screeching and hunting and tracking down prey, and some of us must live quietly among the trees, just trying to survive."
Thirteen year old Lindy, full name Melinda Faith Wiggs, wrote this evocative conclusion to her report on the common barn owl while living with her father in the woods in a ficitional Oregon city.
Lindy loves animals, and especially birds, and knows more about them than most adults, because she lives among them in an ingeniously constructed camp in a huge wooded park based on Forest Park in Portland, Oregon. Lindy lives with her father, Ray, an Iraq war veteran suffering from physical injury and PTSD. They survive on his vet benefits, and have developed a well thought out plan for living and for emergencies; for example, being caught camping illegally on city property.
Lindy and Ray go to the library every week so she can keep up with her studies. They dress up and go to church every Sunday. They take care of their camp and the forest around them; respecting the animals and the plant life that share their home.
This is also the story of Officer Jessica Villareal, a single mother and recent grandmother, who volunteers to be on the search team when Lindy has been sighted by birdwatchers in the woods. Jess has followed in her father's footsteps in becoming a police officer, the only job she has ever really wanted. The police department immediately suspects abuse or at least neglect in this case of a child apparently living outdoors, and very soon Jess has a life changing decision to make when the department decides to separate Lindy from Ray.
The story is narrated by Jess and Lindy in alternate chapters. This use of the female characters makes the story all the more compelling, especially because both characters have a solid core of strength and determination, and at the same time they each reveal a deep vulnerability as they navigate through some pretty murky waters.
Lindy and her father, being homeless, are weak links in our society, and as the weaker in nature do, they swiftly become prey. The police pursue them, the media pursues them, and city officials become hardened in their determination to separate Lindy from her only parent for the crime of being homeless.
Jess, agonizing over her estrangement from her own daughter, has serious doubts about the department's stance, and begins questioning her own "by the rules" approach to life. Black and white quickly become grey, and as the media runs with the story, the city of Columbia itself becomes a character with its population of "bleeding heart liberals" uncharacteristically defending a police officer doing what she believes is right.
Will Lindy be torn away from her father, whom she worships? Will her superiors or the media destroy Jess's chance to help them? What makes a home, or a family? Who are the homeless among us, and what rights do they have? These are some questions you will have as you read this book.
A community church with a social mission and safe houses for "refugees," the close camaraderie between officers up against a wall, the subtle suggestion that officers of color need to be more careful than others in order to keep their jobs; all these elements lend depth and texture to this masterful creation of a novel inspired by a true story. And on a deeper level, perhaps unconsciously, we can perceive the similarity to some of Shakespeare's plays, where the dichotomy between the forest and town is mythic; the forest treated as the escape from reality, a place of peace and calm, as opposed to the city, where everything can get way too real.
Whatever your political persuasion, you will have some new thoughts about police officers, homeless people, single parents, and war veterans after reading this book. It will break open your head and melt your heart. And then it's up to you how to put all your previous notions back in place or maybe to create a whole new mindset for yourself.
Knowing that something like this story really did happen makes it all the more compelling. Knowing that Jennie Shortridge did extensive research, and was able to interview the police officer whom she recreates as Jessica Villareal, makes it both fascinating and believable. Now I keep wondering about the real Lindy, where she is and how she's doing. My bet is, so will you.
