(56) MG Contemporary (verse): ROOT BEER CANDY AND OTHER MIRACLES

TITLE: ROOT BEER CANDY AND OTHER MIRACLES
GENRE: MG Contemporary (verse)

When her parents enroll in marriage camp, Bailey and her brother spend August on an island with a grandmother they barely know. With the help of a driftwood mermaid, mysterious ice-cream vendor, and new best friend, Bailey learns how everyday miracles can change lives.

After the storm

Felicity Bay is washed clean—

cottage roofs rain-fresh,

gleaming

in the morning sun.

I lean over the porch railing,

scan the ribbon

of wet sand.

Last night’s wind rearranged driftwood

along the beach

like my mother scrubbing,

dusting,

moving furniture around

after she and Dad fight.

My brother couldn’t sleep.

This morning I found him

on Nana Marie’s ocean-blue couch,

wrapped in a sheet.

.

Nana Marie calls me inside

before I can explore.

.

Bailey, she hollers. Pancakes.

.       

I kick off my flip-flops,

dash in,

plop down across from Kevin

at the kitchen table.

.

Don’t just stare at them, Nana Marie says.

Eat, Chickadee.

.

She has to check them first, says Kevin.

.

He thinks it’s dumb

that I study the gold and white designs

fried into flapjacks,

searching

for the face of God.

He was only little

when Aunt Debbie discovered Tom Hanks

staring at her

from her breakfast plate.

She watched every one of his movies

after that,

said it changed her life.

So I say, You never know,

and I check for God.

.

Later that morning

I find Daniel outside,

peering at things

through his camera.

.

Beep

click

beep.

.

He turns on the camera,

snaps a picture,

turns it off.

.

Daniel’s eleven,

same as me.

He stays in the cottage

next to Nana Marie’s

and takes pictures

of everything.

.

Where ya going? Daniel says.

.

Nowhere, I say,

and we start going there

together.

.

A short trail cuts through beach grass—

grey-green blades

as long as my legs,

dancing

in the breeze.