Jumping in with both feet

Frank Carroll

The first significant memory I have of the Abigail Project is that first meeting with the executive of the McAdam Historical Restoration Commission.

It's important to remember: I had never met any of these people and had no idea how they would react to our crazy idea and the sample books we brought.

If memory serves, Mary O'Keefe helped set up the meeting and she and I drove out to McAdam one Saturday afternoon to meet the group: Frank Carroll, Elsie Carroll, Dave McInroy and one other person whose name current escapes me. It is possible that Gail Swan was also there and that perhaps Elsie wasn't -- my memory has always been quite problematic.

I had written 12 stories already, flawed, wonderful stories that introduced cousins Abigail and Martha, their new friends Alice and Jenny as well as the stern Miss Pierce and the gruff Mr. Fitzpatrick.

Using only the first four stories -- "Passing the Test", "In Trouble", "Behind Bars" and "Canada's Sweetheart" -- my sister Lynn had created a beautiful sample book, complete with illustrations she herself had drawn. I remember being stunned at how beautiful those illustrations were and how the book looked so professional.

Lynn had seven sample copies printed and sent to me specifically for this meeting.

Frank and the team were nothing but kind and supportive and, after I did my brief pitch about what we had done and what we hoped to accomplish, I produced the sample copies with something of a flourish.

Dave, who had been fairly quiet throughout the early part of the meeting, pulled out his wallet, slapped a ten-dollar bill on the table and said, "I'll buy one right now."

At that point, I knew we were in business.

I asked for their consent to use the Station and its history in this way and said that we would print and donate 20 copies to the Station. They could sell those copies, pocket an easy $200 and move on to the next project.

Elsie Carroll

If they felt the idea had promise, however, I would pay to print 100 copies for them to sell, with the Station reimbursing me for the cost of printing if proceeds from sales were sufficient to cover it. I didn't want them to be out any money just because they chose to support our crazy idea.

Frank looked affronted, smiled a slow smile and said, "Print 500".

I sat back as if I had been punched. FIVE HUNDRED copies? That's an initial investment in printing costs of $3000. And I had promised to cover the cost if the books didn't sell.

I swallowed hard, glanced at Mary and caught her grin. She seemed to have caught whatever fever was afflicting Frank.

I looked from smiling face to smiling face and thought: Okay. They know their market better than I do. If they think they can sell 500, who am I to question them?

With that settled, we agreed on a launch date for the Abigail book for early November, with further discussions to be held and details to be sorted.

Then Mary and I drove back to Fredericton and I had the delicious luxury of telling my partner Patti that Christmas was cancelled: all our money was to go into printing 500 copies of Abigail Massey at McAdam Station, Volume 1. 

With the faint hope that we would sell enough copies to recoup our investment!