The Purple Bow" reaquaints the reader with Dan Kristich, first encountered at the age of five in "Around the Horn." But it is no longer 1949. It is 1962, and America is exploring outer space in earnest. Among other things, Dan can't help wondering about what the space explorers may, or may not, find "up there." What if they don't find any "next world" to which "the souls of the faithful departed" are supposed to go? Dan is particularly interested in the existence of this "next world" because his dad, Pete "Snuffy" Kristich, died in 1950, one year after he pinch-hit and drove in the winning run in the final playoff game that gave his South Side Athletic Club its first Copper League Championship. But by 1962 Butte, Montana's ballpark has burned down, its open pit mine, the Berkeley Pit, is devouring the black, iron headframes - called "gallus frames" in Butte - and human beings are exploring space. Butte, and the world, is in flux. Inspired by his senior English teacher, Brother Kelley, Dan is searching for something permanent and indestructible. "The Purple Bow, " with its pursuit of love, traces the path of that search - and subsequent discovery. "The Purple Bow is a fine piece of writing. I was very moved by the story and your telling of it." -Carolyn Bennett, Raintree Associates