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Tuesday, November 10, 2015

#18 REACHING FOR SUNSHINE, MG Contemporary

TITLE: REACHING FOR SUNSHINE
GENRE: MG Contemporary

Faith needs to win $1,000 in the writing contest. Or else her family might be stuck living in church shelters. Forever.

I’ll never forget the first morning I woke up inside a Sunday school room. As the early morning light cast shadows between our cots and the Bible bookcase, I rolled over and read the words pinned to the Bethel Brethren Church of the Redeemer “Be Who You Are” bulletin board:

Honest, Humble, Helpful, Happy.

I shivered as another “h” word flashed through my mind:

Homeless.

“Faithee?”  Perched on her cot, my little sister Hope hugged a rag doll with sausage legs and yellow yarn hair. White, cotton ball stuffing popped from the doll’s seams, which wasn’t a big surprise, considering that thing had been glued to Hope’s hip since last summer, when Gramps died.
“Shh,” I whispered. “Mama’s still sleeping.” My eyes flitted to the three garbage bags slouched against the Bible bookcase, my jeans and t-shirts bursting through the plastic drawstrings holding our life together. On the window ledge above Mama’s cot, a withered rosebud from Gramps’ garden delivered a powerful pain, smack dab in the center of my chest.

Hope stood up, her flannel nightgown swishing against the carpet. “We going to school?”

I checked the clock. 7:05 am. Even if the van driver agreed to take us, it was fifty miles across the Northern Ohio Turnpike one way.

“Get in." I pulled back the covers. "I’ll rub your back.”
                         
My hands circled Hope’s shoulders. I traced an imaginary path back to Mapleview, the maple syrup capital of Ohio and the only home I’d ever known.

19 comments:

  1. Ignore my full. I'm screwed here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't think you can go from 136 to 150 to full. Authoress?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I got so caught up in trying to beat you--I was refreshing and refreshing

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lol, sorry! That's it for me for the day if it makes you feel better. I'm rooting for you now.

      Delete
  4. Actually, if you had bid 150, full that would have worked I think. Sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  5. See why I put you in charge of this, Michelle? :)

    Sorry, Sally!

    ReplyDelete