The Butterfly Bard

Book excerpt: Ray and her friend Becky are devastated by what they see. Tens of thousands of Monarchs are clinging to the sand along the shores of Lake Erie with their wings shredded and broken by the harsh storm. They work throughout the night collecting and bringing thousands of monarchs into Ray’s cottage, so they can continue their epic migration after the storm has passed. The death of her friend Becky to a rare form of cancer spirals Ray into depression. Finally, Ray leaves her room and heads into nature where life is flourishing all around her. Her curiosity returns as she opens a milkweed pod. Remembering the Monarchs that she and Becky saved last summer gives Ray an idea for her next big adventure. Using a little deception, Ray convinces Jordi, to fly her in his two-seater ultralight, in the midst of the Monarchs all the way down the spine of North America to their overwintering place in Mexico. Every place the Monarchs touch down along their migration path, Ray and Jordi are introduced to a compelling lesson along the Butterfly Way. It’s almost as though the Monarchs are teaching them a new way of seeing, experiencing and moving in the world around them. On route over Texas, Ray & Jordi discover that a nuclear missile test launch will occur in the exact spot where every Monarch flyway on the planet is converging. They are the only ones to know that an ecocide is about to take place. Then can’t redirect this many Monarchs and so it’s up to them to stop the test launch. From the cockpit of the Qbee they go online to Monarch Watch, the Sierra Club and radio the Dyess Airforce Base Commander. Flying straight into the missile’s path, with just seven seconds left before blast off, their fate is now intertwined with the Monarchs. They discover the power of advocacy and social networks and how rigid the hierarchy of command is. In adventure after adventure, flying alongside and landing with the Monarchs, Ray and her co-pilot face real-world perils, like narcotic trafficking, and yet all along the Butterfly Way they find good people risking themselves to redeem a broken world. Travel with Ray and Jordi as they gain the skills and awareness needed to take care of this fiercely beautiful planet.