Rocket Science

Author’s Note

My mother and her siblings grew up in Augusta, Kansas, where my maternal grandparents lived and died before I was born. In certain respects, this story is the secret history of my family, except that they never had a flying saucer to contend with. Like most people, their real stories are in fact much stranger than anything I can dream up.

In 1997 my mother, my sister and I made a trip to Augusta to see the old family home, pay our respects at my grandparents’ graves, and visit cousins in El Dorado. It was the first time I’d ever seen that portion of my family’s history, and was the inspiration for this book.

I have done my best to represent Augusta as it was at the end of World War II, with the assistance of my mother’s recollections and stories, google.com, and several USGS maps of Butler County. The place is as real as I could make it, from Lehr’s to the train station, with only the Bellamys’ farm being completely fictional. Errors of fact, location and description are of course my own.

As for the good people of Augusta, to the best of my knowledge they have never been practitioners of the fine arts of espionage and conspiracy. My experience of the place was hospitable and friendly, a home to good, ordinary people living good, ordinary lives. I hope they will forgive my dramatic re-interpretation of their civic history. I recommend a visit to anyone travelling in that part of Kansas.