Book excerpt: Last Sam's Cage is the remarkable story of fifteen-year-old Eddie Slater. Already labelled a young offender, Eddie runs away from an abusive stepfather and takes up residence at the Calgary Zoo. There he meets Jack, a middle-aged man who has been coming to the zoo's playground every day for thirty-two years to watch the children. Convinced that Jack is either a pervert or just plain weird, Eddie follows him home one day, and eventually breaks into his house to see what he can find. He discovers more than he bargained for - and that discovery changes both Eddie and Jack for good.