Kindle Edition
Amazon
BooksbyJamesWNelson
Amazon
Category:
Women
Type: Fiction
Pages: 196
Copyright: 2015
ISBN-13: 9781311464071
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
Emma (main character throughout the series) isn't mentioned in the following description because this is nine-year-old Fayanne's story. Book 3 carries straight into Book 4. Emma has returned home from college for a visit, and soon meets Fayanne.
Fayanne has pretty auburn hair and green eyes, but doesn’t smile much. At nine she’s losing her mom to Alzheimer’s. She’s too young to understand what it means when her mom gets that funny look in her eyes and then sometimes acts like she doesn’t even know her…but the worst is what her mom’s boyfriend does to her at night. She wonders if what he does is right, and good, and should she like it? She has questions but nobody to ask, until one day while walking to school she meets another man, a nice man. They talk, a lot, but she’s afraid to ask him that one question she really wants to know.
Excerpt
Entire Chapter 3, and short beginning of Chapter 4.
Her Own Room!
Late that night they arrived at the man’s house. Dark, so they couldn’t see too well but it had an upstairs and would put them inside. As they walked to the house her mom held onto her hand. Even at nine Fayanne was glad her mom was hanging onto her. She didn’t know that at her age she should have been rebelling for a long time already, especially about hanging onto her mom’s hand. That was just for little girls, but Fayanne’s life had been different. She and her mom had been hanging onto just each other for as long as she remembered.
The older man unlocked the house’s door, opened it, stepped back and gestured for her and her mom to enter, which they did. The younger man came in next, then the older man stepped in and closed and locked the door, “Max, you take the girl upstairs to her room next to the bathroom, and, ma’am, what are your names?”
“I’m Maureen and my daughter is Fayanne.”
She glanced at her mom’s face. Her mom’s eyes looked fine.
“Thank you,” the man said, “Say goodnight to your daughter and you can come with me.”
“Goodnight, Faye.”
She glanced at her mom just before she turned away. Her mom’s eyes—that quick—looked funny again.
“Goodnight, Mom.”
Her mom was already gone. Then she looked at Max. He looked back, but right then at least, his look didn’t make her feel uncomfortable.
He started up the stairs, then turned back and gestured, “C’mon.”
So, hanging onto her Forever Friends Doll, her water bottle and bag of chips, she followed. At the top of the stairs he turned left and soon stopped at a door. He turned the knob and pushed the door open, “This will be your room.” He then pointed to the next door, “That’s the bathroom.”
“Where do you sleep?” She hadn’t really meant to ask that, and didn’t really care, but it was probably something she should know…more of that early maturity creeping in, that ‘unwanted maturity’ that she still didn’t even know she was attaining.
He pointed down the hall, “That last door is my room.”
Good, she thought, at least he isn’t real close.
He left.
She entered her room and turned the light on…and, wow—her own room! From the ceiling hung a mobile of the planets. She immediately picked out Saturn with the rings, and Jupiter, with the big red spot, and Earth, the blue one, and the other two big ones, Neptune and Uranus, and the other small ones, Mars and Venus and Mercury, and…the smallest—Pluto! She always forgot Pluto, but she shouldn’t, because that’s the name of Goofy’s dog. Her one Disney book. When she was told to fill her suitcase…well, she guessed she figured—right then—that they were coming back, so she didn’t take her book. No room in the suitcase anyway. Well, she could have squeezed it in. She realized then that they were in the same town, and maybe could find her book, but she doubted she could find that other house, so erased that thought.
She had learned about the planets in school, but she didn’t have schoolbooks anymore either.
A lot had already happened during her young life.
Her attention went to something next to a chest-of-drawers. She went to it. A piano! Maybe not a real piano, but with keys, and it was plugged in. She knew it would make music, something she could learn. She ached to do it right then, but she probably shouldn’t.
Then her bed. It looked so nice with a pink spread and four pillows. She hurried to it and pulled the covers down, and touched the softness and thrilled at the smell of clean! She then went to her suitcase, opened it, pulled out her nightgown, something she hadn’t worn for…she didn’t know how long. But she was dirty…her body was dirty. There had been no bathtubs or showers under the interstate bridge. The best she had been able to do was rinse her hands—and sometimes her mom’s hands—in mud puddles after rains.
Maybe she could wash first. Sure, the man told Max to put her by the bathroom, so she could wash! It was still early, so she would! She dug in her suitcase. Nearly everything was dirty, but now they could do laundry! Finally she found her clean towel. The other one was dirty, but the clean one she had barely used. She had always thought she should have at least one thing clean. She pulled it free and tossed it on the bed, then undressed, wrapped the towel around herself, went to the door and opened it carefully.
Nobody was about.
She slipped through the door and almost got the bathroom door open when she saw Max’s door open, just slightly, but he didn’t come out.
She slipped into the bathroom and would have locked the door…but no lock! But it did latch. At least it would stay closed. That bothered her that she couldn’t lock the door, but she wanted to get clean! She didn’t know how long since her last bath, so she started the water and turned both handles to adjust…and it felt so good running warm on her hand.
They even had bubble bath! She opened the bottle and poured, and watched the bubbles appear and begin rising—she felt soooooo good!
A washcloth hanging—an unused clean one! She stirred the water, and just couldn’t wait to get in! Another minute she let the hot water run—she was so excited, and so happy those two men had come to her and her mom’s rescue—they had never had to live outside before!
She stopped the water, stirred once more, then removed the towel and stepped into the water and sat down…ahhhhhh…so wonderful. She just sat and gently moved the washcloth over her body, finally began adding soap, and continued luxuriating…and discovered shampoo! After covering herself with shampoo and soap everywhere she washed off, then slid herself down and the water actually covered her body. She felt so good…and slept.
4
First Visit
Time passed. Fayanne sensed the water cooling, came out of her slumber, and opened her eyes.
There stood the older man, staring at her…staring at her middle.
Her heart nearly stopped. Instinctively her hands covered her breasts. They yet had barely made themselves noticeable but she wanted them covered anyway!—and below her stomach—
“That’s okay, Fayanne,” the man said, his eyes kind of smiling but mostly staying on her middle, staring, even with her hand covering herself, “You finish your bath, and later I will come to your room to say goodnight.” Then he left, but kept his eyes on her middle until he was out the door.
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