Mayday

Wayne Kovok starts every sentence with Did you know…

Did you know that Russian turtles orbited the moon before any astronauts ever did? Did you know that falling vending machines kill more people than sharks each year?

Wayne has always relied on his voice to change the subject in awkward situations (which are everywhere in seventh grade). All that changes on a trip back from Arlington National Cemetery where he and his mother picked up the flag commemorating the death of his uncle, a soldier in Iraq. The plane home crashes, and Wayne loses his voice. They both lose the perfectly folded honor flag, sucked out of the plane somewhere over the great state of Texas. It’s not until Wayne loses his voice completely that he realizes how much he doesn’t say: his deadbeat dad doesn’t take responsibility for hurting him, his military grandfather puts impossible pressure on Wayne to follow in his footsteps, and the girl Wayne likes is maybe-possibly dating him out of pity.