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Informationen zum Autor Jules Older (Author); Michael Lauritano (Illustrator) Klappentext In 1922, when Joseph-Armand Bombardier was fifteen years old he built his first snow vehicle. He had always loved to tinker with motors and make things go, and he dreamed of building a vehicle that could go over snow. His first attempt, using a Model T Ford engine and a wooden propeller, worked well. To Joseph-Armand's mind, anyhow. Not so much his father, who made him take the contraption apart. Over the years, Joseph-Armand dreamed of becoming a great mechanic and inventing machines. But when his young son died of a fever because it was impossible to get to the hospital over the snow-covered roads, Joseph-Armand applied his single-minded determination to building a vehicle that could go over snow. It took years, but he accomplished his goal. His invention changed the way people in snow country lived. Inaccessible roads could now be travelled, taking patients to hospitals, doctors and priests to the needy, children to school, and even mail to residents. Chapter 1: Death Hangs in the Air Cold. Night. Snow. And death hangs in the air. Downstairs, Joseph-Armand Bombardier paced. And paced. Upstairs, Yvon, his two-year-old son, lay hot with fever. Beside his crib sat the boy’s mother, Yvonne. Her sisters huddled around her and the crib. They took turns wiping Yvon’s forehead with cool cloths. They’d all been there for hours, yet Yvon was no better. If anything, he was worse. As time passed Yvon’s fever grew hotter. His cries were now sad whimpers. His color was slowly fading from fevered red to pale white—the same color as the Quebec snow that blanketed the house, the barn, the village. Yvonne sighed. “I must get more water.” The other women nodded. They knew she needed a break more than the water bowl needed refreshing. “Go, Yvonne. We’ll watch over Yvon.” Yvonne paused halfway down the wooden staircase. She held back a sob. There in the parlor Joseph-Armand paced the floor, just as he had when she’d last refilled the water bowl an hour before, and the hours before that. Only now he muttered, “If only we could get him to a hospital. . . . If only we could get him to a hospital. . . .” Yvonne descended the last of the stairs, set the bowl on the pine washstand, and lightly touched her husband’s arm. Her touch stopped his pacing. “Yvonne! The snow is too deep. . . . I can’t . . . I . . .” “I know, Joseph-Armand. You can’t get Yvon to the hospital, just as I can’t get his fever down. That’s simply the way it is.” Yvonne wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her blouse. She steadied herself with a deep breath. “If it is God’s will, Joseph-Armand, then—” Joseph-Armand shook loose from her touch. “ Non! Non, Yvonne!” She pulled back, shocked by his fierce reaction. “Joseph-Armand, I was just—” Now it was Joseph-Armand who sighed. “I know, I know. You are a good wife, Yvonne. And a good Catholic woman. I try to be a good Catholic, too.” He inhaled deeply. “The ways of God are mysterious, but there is one thing I know for certain: God did not intend for our child to die because we—no, because I — cannot figure out how to do something as simple as drive through snow. . . ” “Joseph-Armand, stop this—” “No, Yvonne. This is not God’s will. This is my failure.” Her eyes filled with tears, and Yvonne once again took Joseph-Armand’s arm. “Dear husband, you may not have discovered how to drive over snow, but neither has anyone else i Zusammenfassung In 1922! when Joseph-Armand Bombardier was fifteen years old he built his first snow vehicle. He had always loved to tinker with motors and make things go...
