The Caretakers

"A light!" Jan Tyler cries. "Come look!" Ron, her husband joins her at the kitchen window. "Most likely hikers crashing at Camp Schoodic," he says. "I'll go run 'em off." It's March, 2010. Ron is finishing a Master's degree in English at North Fork State when the recession costs both Tylers their university jobs. Desperate, Ron takes a position as the ranger on one of five lakes in the state park that had closed in 2008 after the state furloughed a third of the park workers. Ron finds no trespasser that night, but he discovers new wood on a swimmers' ladder. It puzzles him: Though Schoodic has been closed for a decade and is to be demolished, it appears that someone has been working there recently. A quest to find out who and why becomes obsessive as the camp reminds Ron of his many years of camp work and the tragedy that ended them. He finds a trail of clues that leads to Schoodic's caretakers: Edie, an attractive park ranger, and Gus Schneider, her grandfather. Gus, a state senator, opposed the 2008 park layoffs and has tried in vain to have the men rehired and the lakes reopened. Ron becomes a third caretaker. When destruction of the park's camps becomes imminent, he is drawn into an urgent legislative campaign to save them. His contributions to it are pivotal and lead to new life scripts for both Tylers. *** The author, a retired professor of geology and planetary science at Stony Brook University, has published two books about meteorites, many essays, and "The Four-Footed Freshman," a collection of satirical stories set in a mythical university. He and his wife, Marya, live in Hillsdale, NY. mineralogy professor, lives in Hillsdale, NY, with his wife, Marya. His other books include Thunderstones and Shooting Stars, and The Four-Footed Freshman.