The Chosen One

Ten-year-old Kelly waits up until one in the morning for her mother, Laura, to come home. She tries to prepare scrambled eggs, but forgets the stove and starts a fire. Laura, who has been drinking, rages over the ruined pan and orders Kelly out of the house. When Kelly asks where she can go, Laura tells her to find the father who left years ago and may live somewhere in Arizona or Oklahoma.

Kelly rides a bus alone to Odyssey and arrives at four-thirty in the morning. She tells the concerned driver that her father will meet her, then searches for somewhere to sleep. By daylight, she reaches Whit’s End and plays an out-of-tune piano in the newly remodeled train room.

Whit and Ed are astonished by her talent. Kelly has never taken a lesson; she learned by watching someone else play and can reproduce music by ear. Whit asks her to learn Western music for the train room’s grand reopening, while Ed admires the original song she has begun composing. Kelly insists that children can handle far more than adults think.

Ed gives Kelly an old talking doll left from his years in the toy business. She claims she is too old for dolls and may give it to younger cousins, yet she keeps it with her. That night, while she sleeps on a park bench, the doll’s repeated promises of friendship offer the only comforting voice beside her.

Troubling events begin around Whit’s End. A fire alarm sounds, and Kelly claims she bumped it, although Eugene finds no alarm that has been pulled or struck. The new cash register comes up sixty-five dollars short after Connie has shown Kelly how to operate it. Fascinated by reports of people whose bodies attract metal or disrupt electronics, Eugene develops the outlandish theory that Kelly is a human magnet causing the malfunctions.

Kelly asks about fudge-marble ice cream, and the next morning the electronic lock on the freezer has failed. The door has stood open all night, ruining much of Whit’s stock, and someone has opened a container of Kelly’s favorite flavor. Eugene treats the new failure as evidence for his theory and becomes eager to run tests.

Kelly also shows intelligence and imagination while discussing Connie’s nearly completed book about Odyssey. She suggests humorous ways to write about Connie’s broken relationship with Mitch. When Connie offers to thank her by name in a book that may reach thousands of readers, Kelly becomes alarmed, refuses to give her last name, and leaves abruptly.

Eugene’s experiments make matters worse. He questions Kelly about silverware, metal detectors, and electronic keyboards, then hesitates to let her ride in his car because he fears for its circuitry. Kelly assumes he is ashamed to be seen with her and says she knows she is not pretty. Eugene realizes that his curiosity has wounded a child who already expects rejection.

Tamika discovers Kelly smoking in the restroom and threatens to tell Whit. Kelly stops her by claiming she has been in juvenile detention for violent behavior. Tamika reports the threat to her father, and the adults recognize that the cigarette smoke - not magnetism - probably triggered the fire alarm. Their mysterious musical visitor has lied and frightened someone.

The most painful loss follows when Connie discovers that all 637 pages of her book have vanished from both her computer and backup disk. Eugene determines that the files were deliberately erased. Because Kelly reacted fearfully to being named and had watched Connie back up the manuscript, Connie accuses her before Whit can investigate further.

Whit and the others confront Kelly with the smoking, missing ice cream, and dishonesty. They want to contact her mother and demand an explanation, but Kelly refuses to answer. Then she declares that her mother does not care about her and will beat her again if they call. Before anyone can learn more, Kelly runs away.