EXCERPTS
Page 7 – “Excited, baby? Daddy asks as he wheels the big, black Lincoln into the circular driveway of Clarview. Oh, yeah, I mean, ‘Yes, sir”, I’m excited! I was actually hoping he would not look in the rear-view mirror and see two scared brown eyes staring back at him. The car finally comes to a stop, The three of us, my parents and me, walk slowly up the stone stairs. The door looks much bigger than I had remembered from our summer visit. Daddy pauses and then opens the door. Suddenly, a whole new world lies before me …
Page 16 – “Shh…listen,’ Ericka says putting her fingers to her mouth as we take our required morning walk. As I look down at the sidewalk, a little ball of fur wraps itself around my ankle. “It’s a kitten”. I almost yell and then clamp my hands over my mouth. “It’s so skinny and scared,” Ericka says with a look of distress and then bends down to pick it up.
“What are we going to do, Ericka”, asks Mary Grace with a sense of impending doom. “We’re going to take it with us!” she exclaims. “We’re going to what? We can’t do that” They’re not going to let us keep a kitten! Are you crazy?” Mary Grace cries.
Page 33 – Then, all of sudden he reaches over and lifts a single, red rose from the large container and hands it to me. “Please,” he says, “take it.” “Oh, oh! is all I can manage to say back to him and I lift my weak, limp hand to accept his gift. He smiles again… who is he I think, a European prince posed as a flower vendor until he meets his true love and then he will be restored to his kingdom in a faraway land? “Mary Grace, come on!” Stacy pleads again from the end of the hallway.. the bus is about to leave to take us back to school!”