Rustburg high school teacher spins tale of time travel

RUSTBURG — One of the first stories Mary Bailey remembers writing was a tale she co-authored with a friend in third grade.

“It was called ‘Fish on Friday,’ and we were sure we were going to be famous,” says Bailey, a Rustburg native who now teaches English at her former high school.

The fame never came, but Bailey has continued writing and, last spring, published her first novel, “Vhan Zeely and the Time Prevaricators.” (The book is a joint publishing venture with Eloquent Books, a New York-based company; Bailey says she and the company split publishing costs.)

She decided to write the young adult novel — about an unhappy preteen who discovers a long-held family secret after a new family moves into her neighborhood — while driving to Charlottesville for the Central Virginia Writing Project in 2007. She’d recently hit 40 and figured if she was going to write a novel, now was the time.

“I thought about it. Witchcraft and wizardry had been done,” says the mother of two. “It had to be (about) something different.”

Bailey, now 42, finally settled on time travel: “Not that (it) hasn’t been done, because it has. But I thought I could do something fresh and different.”

In her world, five timepieces exist, and whoever holds them can travel through time and control history.

The main character, 11-year-old Vhan Zeely, learns about the timepieces and her family’s connection to them when the mysterious McPrevey brood moves in down the street.

The story’s prologue takes place in 1775, then picks up in present day, where Vhan is just beginning her summer vacation. Bailey never names her hometown — only that she lives on Second Street.

“I researched the most common streets in America, so she can be that common girl. There’s nothing extraordinary about her life, and she wants there to be.”

Bailey describes it as a classic good-versus-evil tale, which she envisions as a series with at least three books.

“I know what’s going to happen. I just have to type it out,” she says. “I think about it a lot. I’m receptive to whatever pops into my mind.

“If you’re not surprised by your characters as a writer, your readers won’t be either. They’re living and breathing and almost take on a life of their own.”

She spent about eight months writing the book, and then enlisted one of her former high school English teachers to edit it.

Bailey says she hopes its universal themes engage readers of all ages like other recent young adult novels — “Harry Potter” is a particular favorite — as well as the ones she grew up reading, including Nancy Drew mysteries and the Boxcar Children series.

“Growing up on a farm, I liked nothing better than for it to rain on a summer day or a Saturday,” she says. “I could stay upstairs, curled up and reading a book.

Those were my favorite (days).”

Bailey went on to attend Virginia Tech, where she majored in English and minored in biology. After graduating in 1990, she moved back to Rustburg and worked as a church youth director and ballroom dance instructor before she went into teaching, first at William Campbell High School and, six years ago, Rustburg.

“It seemed like I connected better with the older students,” she says. “It’s where I felt I could do the most good.”

In her classes, Bailey encourages what she calls “no apologies” writing.

“In my English class, we talk about (how) all writing has potential,” she says. “Something good can come from it, we just have to tap into that.”