Skellig

Plot

10-year-old Michael and his family have recently moved into a new house. He and his parents are nervous, as his new baby sister (who they have not named yet) was born earlier than expected and may not live because of a heart condition, and because they have to start over in a new home. When Michael goes into the garage, he finds a strange emaciated man hidden amid all the boxes, debris and dead insects. Michael assumes that he is a homeless person, but decides to look after him and gives him food. The man is crotchety and arthritic, demanding aspirin and Chinese food, but Michael helps him anyway. Michael hears a story that human shoulder blades are a vestige of angel wings.

Meanwhile, his new friends from school become more and more distant as Michael stops attending school and spends less time with them in order to figure out more about the strange man. He meets a girl named Mina from across the road who intrigues him; Mina is home-schooled and enjoys nature, birds, drawing and the poems of William Blake. Often drawing or sculpting at home, she invites Michael to join in and the two become friends. She takes care of some baby birds who live in her garden and teaches Michael to hear their tiny sounds. Michael decides to introduce her to the strange man, who shows inhuman attributes and who the two begin to suspect is not human. Michael's friends, Leakey and Coot, become skeptical about Michael and try to find out what he is hiding from them. Michael and Mina try to keep it a secret from them, and have to move the creature, whom they call "Skellig", to a safer space.

Michael becomes intrigued with medical conditions like arthritis as his baby sister has been taken to the hospital for her heart condition, and frequently visits her as her condition worsens. The distant, winged Skellig, who remains grumpy and abrasive, finally confirms his name to be Skellig and begins to open up to Mina and Michael.

Michael's baby sister comes dangerously close to death, necessitating heart surgery. His mother goes to the hospital to stay with the baby and, that night, "dreams" of seeing Skellig come in, pick the baby up, and hold her high in the air, saving her. He subsequently moves from the garage after saying goodbye to Michael and Mina, answering their questions about his nature by saying that he is 'something' combining aspects of human, owl and angel.

The family decides to name Michael's baby sister since she will now live. After considering naming her after Persephone, a deity whom Mina admires, they settle on Joy because of the joy that her living will bring the family.


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