Hello everyone. I’m getting back to my children’s book now that I have a little more time. The kids only have one more day of school before their Christmas break! However, our dog isn’t doing very well. She needs lots of prayers today.

Have a great day, and give someone you love a big hug! 🙂

CHAPTER SEVEN

When they came out of the water, Samuel shook out his long hair like a dog. The girls squeeled and laughed. They decided to go find Samuel’s mom. They reached the blanket a few minutes later and saw she had all of the food sitting out waiting for them. It was twilight by then, so they could still see what they were eating without flashlights. The tide was coming in a little bit, but they were far enough from shore so they didn’t have to worry about getting wet. Lucy saw the boys running towards her with the girls trailing behind laughing. She thought to herself how great it must be to feel so carefree.

Smiling, she waved them over to their spot. She said hello to the girls and welcomed them. “Wow!” Lucy laughed. “Did you decide to go swimming in your clothes?”

Samuel said, “No. The girls attacked Eddie, so I had to retaliate! Then it became a dunking contest, I think.” He smiled at Gretchen.

Lucy caught the look. She thought, Oh boy, he’s falling hard for her! How cute. Lucy asked the girls where their parents were to make sure they weren’t there alone. They pointed out Gracie’s mom.

“Is it okay if the boys come up to where my mom is so they can try some of her food, too?” Gracie asked.

“Sure. Do you guys want anything here first?”

Samuel said, “Heck yeah, Mom! Your fried chicken is the best! Of course,” he hesitated, “I haven’t tasted Gracie’s mom’s chicken yet.” He winked at her.

“Well, I’m sure hers is very tasty as well, Samuel.” She smiled at Gracie.

“Do you girls want to try a cookie?” Lucy asked.

“Sure. Thank you,” they said in unison as they reached out for one.

Eddie said, “You two sure do say the same thing at the same time a lot. It’s almost like you’re twins!”

Gracie said, “We might as well be. Our moms are best friends. We were born a month apart. I’M the oldest.” She elbowed Gretchen in the ribs.

“Yeah, I’ve been hearing that my whole life. She’s constantly rubbing it in.” Gretchen laughed. “But we both know I am smarter than she is. I’ve always gotten the best grades.”

Gracie’s smile faded quickly. She didn’t have a comeback for Gretchen’s boast either. Eddie noticed it and wondered if school was a sore subject he should avoid with Gracie. He filed the thought away.

They all sat down and started piling food onto their plates. Gracie said she wasn’t very hungry, but she took a chicken wing and some chips. Lucy asked her if that was all she wanted, and she replied that she wasn’t very hungry. Gretchen looked at Gracie and mouthed “sorry.” Gracie barely smiled and only nibbled at her food. After she was done eating, she said she wanted to go see if her mom needed anything. Gretchen asked her if she wanted company, but Gracie shook her head saying she would be right back.

When Gracie was gone, Eddie whispered to Gretchen, “Is she okay? She seemed to get upset about what you said. I thought you guys were just joking around.”

“She’s definitely upset! I shouldn’t have said that. It slipped. She has never gotten really good grades. No one could ever figure out why until last year when she had Mrs. Benson for English. Somehow she noticed mistakes in Gracie’s work that made her think she might have dyslexia. So she told Gracie’s mom. Her mom had her tested, and it was confirmed. It explained a lot about all of the problems she’s had all these years in school. It bothers her a lot, so she won’t talk about it with anyone…even me, and I’m her best friend! Her mom says she thinks Gracie just hasn’t accepted it yet. We are hoping she will come around before the school year starts again.

Eddie nodded. “Well, I understand how she feels. I have it, too. I was lucky enough to have a teacher in second grade who caught it. So there’s lots of techniques she can learn for studying that makes it a little easier once she learns them. It is still hard to study, though. Ever since I got help, I’ve liked reading a whole lot more. This might be a dumb question, but does she like reading?”

“She loves fiction, especially John Green’s books. But when her mom got one of them for her a couple of years ago for Christmas, she ended up reading it out loud to Gracie. I think that made her feel embarrassed, so she has been listening to books on CD ever since.”

“Well, maybe I can just talk to her about school sometime and bring up my dyslexia. Maybe she’ll talk with me about it. What do you think?”

“Hey!” Gretchen said excitedly. “I think that would be great! I hope she will talk about it with you. I hate seeing her like this. Oh look! Here she comes.” She held her index finger to her lips and said, “Shhh!”

Gracie was running towards them yelling, “Hey you guys! Guess what my mom heard?”

They all said, “What?” in unison. She stopped, bent over and caught her breath first. “She said someone about a half mile down the beach saw a sea turtle!”

The boys jumped up and said, “Really?”

Gretchen joined them and said, “Let’s go see! Let’s go see!” She was jumping up and down flailing her arms in the air.

Lucy said, “Well, don’t you want to eat first?”

The kids gave her a blank stare. Then Samuel said, “Mom, we want to go see it before it’s gone! Can’t you get someone to watch our stuff and go with us?”

She said, “No. I was just kidding. Go! Go! The food will keep. Just take the flashlight, and be careful.”

Samuel grabbed the flashlight and said, “Okay! We’ll be back in a little bit.” He turned to the others and said, “Come on! I can’t wait to see this! How lucky are we that it came tonight?”

Then they ran down the beach to find the sea turtle. Their laughter rang through the air while running as fast as they could.

© Patsy H. Parker