The Artemis Adventure

When life is depressing where you are, Kiki Rodriguez believes, it's time to move on. Her papa drinks, her mama and papa fight, her brother Raul is in prison, and Javier is headed the same way. There's a recession on and there are no jobs, especially in the South Bronx. Her papa says that now she's eighteen, she has to pay rent, and Kiki senses that her dream of going to college is quickly fading away.

Kiki spends hot, humid summer nights stretched out on the roof of her apartment building, where she talks to her favorite star, one that seems to blink at her. She has named her star "Artemis," after the Greek goddess who once roamed the forest as an archer, strong and independent and accompanied by her faithful hunting dog. Although talking to Artemis helps Kiki, she can still feel the light in her eyes slowly going out in an environment where there is no hope.

With one year left in high school, Kiki views herself as a Heinz-57 mutt descended from Polish, Filipino, and Puerto Rican stock. Short and muscular, she is cute and pert, with olive skin, deep brown eyes, and wavy dark brown, shoulder-length hair that she usually sweeps up into a ponytail. In her own mind, she would be really pretty if it weren't for her slightly pug nose and a scar near one eye, caused by two brothers battling during a family argument.

Looking up at Artemis one August evening, Kiki concludes that recession or not, it's definitely time to go. Throwing a few belongings into a duffle bag, grabbing a leather jacket and all the cash she's been able to hide away, Kiki leaves a note for her family, swallows her fear and hikes to the nearest subway station. In her pocket a ticket on Greyhound, headed west.

Terrified of facing a world more complex than anything she has ever known, Kiki prays that Artemis will be visible and there for her-wherever her adventure leads.

THE ARTEMIS ADVENTURE is Dorothy Rice Bennett's third novel, following NORTH COAST: A Contempo