~CindysWorld~

Book Synopsis

Dell is seven years old in 1962. She lives in a place where pine tree whisper secrets and imaginary people come to life. Her mother has little love to give, and her mother's live-in lover is a child's worst kind of problem. 

Nine-year-old Lucy mysteriously comes to live with them, giving Dell someone to cling to. As children will do when there is no one to shelter them, they contemplate what life would be like with their worst problem out of the way. 

As the battle unfolds, and there is nowhere to hide, opportunity presents itself in its most wicked form. Will Dell and Lucy shed their armor and run? Or will they seize opportunity by the neck and squeeze?

Book Excerpt

    He tilted back his head for the rest of the beer that was in the
bottle, and then he held the bottle by its long neck. I guessed somebody's
head was going to get it, and it was probably going to be mine.
    "Mother sleepin'?" he asked me as he nodded his head toward the
bedroom.

    I thought maybe we could get out the door if he headed for the bedroom,
and not being a very good liar, I answered, "Maybe."
    He leaned against the doorframe. "Maybe, maybe not. Is that what you're
sayin'?"

    Lucy squeezed my hand as my heart drummed a frantic beat. At the same
time, a spider dropped from its silken strand and swayed in front of his
face. His feet came off the floor by a good four inches. He shivered, took a
pillow from the chair against the wall and threw it to knock the spider from
its strand.

    "Get over here and kill that thing," he said to me. I didn't move as I
enjoyed his display of terror. "Come here, crybaby, and do what I say. If
you don't kill that thing, I'm going to have to slap pipsqueak around some
more, and you know you don't want that."

    More than anything I didn't want that, so I tugged my hand from hers
and stomped the spider with my bare foot. He shuddered while still holding
the bottle by the neck. And the last valuable lesson I was to learn that
summer was that when you're not a very nice person, you should never let
them see you sweat.