The Desolate Waif

In this 8th book in the SkyHawk series a young boy sees his mother die in the field as she labors to produce a crop. His father is a very abusive man and the boy is afraid to stay without his mother to protect him. The county sheriff sees the bruises on the dead woman and notices that the boy has several bruises also and takes the boy to a caretaker in town to stay until he can determine if the man had been abusing his wife and son. The boy is afraid that they will give him back to his father and he runs away and gets lost in the wooded country close to the Kiamichi Mountains. Johnny SkyHawk uses the powers of his mind to search as he tracks the boy down. He has a vision of the boy being attacked by a mountain lion and sends his wolf friends to keep the boy safe until he can get to him. They stay in the woods for a few days while Johnny convinces the boy that he will not have to be around his father again and that the Judge has found some new parents for him. This story points out the bad characteristic traits of humans and shows how the potential for good can be attained and how man can become a perfected being while still on Earth. As in the other seven books in the series the grandfather teachings are an integral part of the story.