the line. Sit down, so you don't fall down. Big Daddy has got news for
you that will blow your mind! Cosmopolitan ran the article on you two
weeks ago. They did you real proud, darling, full-page photograph, God,
you looked good enough to eat, Debra laughed nervously and signalled
David to put his ear against hers to listen.
the mag hit the stands Saturday, and Monday morning was a riot at the
book stores. They were beating the doors down. You've caught the
imagination of everybody here, darling.
They sold seventeen thousand hardback in five days, you jumped straight
into the number five slot on the New York Times bestseller list, it's a
freak, a phenomenon, a mad crazy runner, darling, we are going to sell
half a million copies of this book standing on our heads. All the big
papers and mags are screaming for review copies, they've lost the ones
we sent them three months ago. Doubleday are reprinting fifty thousand,
and I told them they were crazy, it should have been a hundred thousand,
it's only just starting next week will see the west coast catch fire and
they'll be screaming for copies across the whole country There was much
more, Bobby Dugan riding high, shouting his plans and his hopes, while
Debra laughed weakly and kept saying, No! I can't believe it! and It's
not true! They drank three bottles of Veuve Clicquot that night, and a
little before midnight Debra fell pregnant to David Morgan.
Miss Mordecai combines superb use of language and a sure literary touch
with the readability of a popular bestseller, said the New York Times.
Who says good literature has to be dull? asked Time, Debra Mordecai's
talent burns like a clean white flame. 'Miss Mordecai takes you by the
throat, slams you against the wall, throws you on the floor and kicks
you in the guts. She leaves you as shaken and weak as if you had been
in a car smash, added the Free Press.
Proudly David presented Conrad Berg with a signed copy of A Place of Our
Own. Conrad had finally been prevailed upon to drop the Mrs. Morgan and
call Debra by her given name. He was so impressed with the book that he
had an immediate relapse.
How do you think of those things, Mrs. Morgan? 'he asked with awe.
Debra, Debra prompted him.
She doesn't think of them, Jane Berg explained helpfully. It just comes
to her, it's called inspiration. Bobby Dugan was correct, they had to
reprint another fifty thousand copies.
It seemed as though the fates, ashamed of the cruel pranks they had
played upon them, were determined to shower Debra and David with gifts.
As Debra sat at her olive-wood table, growing daily bigger with her
child, once again the words flowed as strongly and as clearly as the
spring waters of the String of Pearls. However, there was still time to
help David with the illustrated publication he was compiling on the
birds of prey of the bushveld, and to accompany him on the daily
expeditions to different areas of Jabulani, and to plan the furnishings
and the layout of the empty nursery.
Conrad Berg came to her secretly to enlist her aid in his plan to have
David nominated to the Board of the National Parks Committee. They
discussed it in length and great detail. A seat on the Board carried
prestige and was usually reserved for men of greater age and influence
