Alice:
The Last Day of School
It’s weird how after years at staring at
Samuel Brown’s head how today of all days I noticed just how blond his hair is.
It must be due to the severity of the cut. I could see the pink scalp beneath
his nearly shaved head.
I
hope he doesn’t have lice!
I shuddered at the thought and felt myself
recoil.
I
didn’t really know Sam Brown but his backside had been in my vision since
first grade since the alphabetic seating chart placed us here every year. It was a standard policy that once the teacher knew us all, we were allowed to move
around. That surprisingly didn’t happen very often. What did surprise me is
that neither Sam Brown nor I had ever made an effort to be more than row
companions. We nodded when he passed back a class assignment. That was it.
Now with the possibility of him being
infected with head lice, I wasn’t sure now was a good idea to remedy the situation. The next school year will be here soon enough.
“Well, class, it has been a remarkable
year and I hope to see you back for the third year of French class in the fall.”
Mademoiselle Bouffant’s smile held us breathless, even following a final exam.
“If you plan to join the conversational French class for your junior year, I
have some summer activities for you. Please see me on your way out. Have a
memorable summer!” Her light accent charmed anyone in her presence and I
couldn’t imagine returning in the fall to not be in her class.
“Are you taking French three?”
The voice that posed the question was not
familiar and it took a minute to realize that Samuel Brown, AKA Momma’s Boy,
AKA Lice Boy was talking to me. In that instant, his icy blue eyes erased any
judgments concerning his closely cropped hair.
“Uh, probably,” I replied without sincere
consideration. Actually, my junior year class schedule had been finalized for
weeks with French my number elective.
“Yeah, me, too.” Sam Brown didn’t appear
anxious to conclude this strange interaction. “What are your plans for the
summer?”
I hope I didn’t look as stunned as this
attention made me feel. Why was he talking to me? After all these years?
******************************
I'm going to do something different with this story and write from the first-person perspective of two different characters: Sam and Alice, high school sophomores who find themselves in some sort of weird relationship. I don't know what it is yet. the characters haven't started talking to me yet. But I know they will. They always do.
November is a busy month for me while I'm busy honing my trade. With the Pandemic, the events I normally participate in have been forced to rearrange themselves in a more realistic format; thus will I not only be playing word count for the entirety of November, but I am also excited to announce the Headline Books Christmas Virtual Event that its taking place November 14-21. Here's the schedule:
12:00 - Children's Book Panel and Readings
Suzanne Alexander
Sabrina Runyon
Diana Pishner Walker
3:00 pm ET --Children's Book Panel and Readings
Kelsey Clark
Melinda Chambers
Susan Harper
7:00 pm ET – Children's Book Panel and Readings
Dreama Denver
Krystian Leonard
Sunday November 15
12:00 pm ET - Middle Grade Readings and Discussion with
Barry Kienzle
Jan Thornton Jones
Lisa McCombs
3:00 pm ET - Middle Grade Readings and Discussion with
Danny Boyd
Dave Shelton
7:00 pm ET -- Thriller Night with
Dennis Hetzel
Joel Burcat
Eliot Parker
Monday November 16
12:00 - Christmas Piper the Elf Series with
Colleen Driscoll
3:00 - Hopping to America Series with
Diana Pishner Walker
7:00 pm ET -- Thriller Night with
Rick Robinson
Don Helin
Tony Hylton
Tuesday November 17
12:00 – Possum-mania Series with Grant Maloy Smith
3:00 pm ET --Children's Book Readings
Len Eckhaus
Bucleigh Newton Kernodle
7:00 pm ET -- Historical Fiction and Drama with
Karl Stewart
Kevin Miller
Lee Doty
Wednesday November 18
12:00 pm ET -- The Ascension Series - Middle Grade - with
Lauren Hudson
3:00 pm ET – Fiction Writers and Editors Discussing COVID-19 and our Books
Joel Burcat
Don Helin
Jason Liller
7:00 pm ET -- The Venus Rising Series with Dr. Raymond Keller
Thursday November 19
10:00 am ET – Lynn Salsi – The Appalachian Jack Tales Series
12:00 pm ET – Self Help Authors
Heather Dugan
Joy E. Held
4:00 pm ET – David Selby reading
7:00 pm ET – Music and Movies
Jeff Weber
Don McLeod
Friday November 20
12:00 pm ET - Back to Nature Series with Melinda Chambers
3:00 pm ET - Chicks and the City with Matt Browning -- Urban Farming
7:00 pm ET - Dreama Denver with guest interviewer Burke Allen
Saturday November 21
12:00 pm - Christmas Children's Books with
Grant Maloy Smith,
Colleen Driscoll, and more
3:00 pm ET -- Matt Dragovits
7:00 pm ET - Music, Music. Music! Panel Discussion with
Landau Eugene Murphy Jr,
Joe Coleman,
Joe Blunt,
Pat DiCesare
Jeff Weber
This event promises to be an absolute hoot! I hope you join us on Facebook live aka Zoom aka YouTube. Since in-person holiday shopping promises to look a bit different this year, do yourself a favor and order some of these award-winning books for stocking stuffers. You'll be glad you did.
Okay, if you are a returning reader to this blog, you're most likely wondering what any of this has to do with multiple sclerosis. It has everything to do with my relationship with the MonSter. Writing is my coping mechanism. I write when I'm in denial of the disease. I write in celebration when I reach a personal accomplishment. I write when I'm scared, sad, or in a wretched mood. I write when I can do nothing else. Writing is a therapy for me and we all need a personal therapy regime. We all need something to spur us on. We all need a NaNoWriMo to look forward to.
To reinforce the accountability in my writing life, I'll be posting snippets of this year's NaNo project, so feel free to don your editors cap any time. I would LOVE to hear from you, readers! Come be a part of NaNoWriMo and the writing process with me!
To learn more about NaNoWriMo, visit https://nanowrimo.org/
To see my Church of Go series thus far, visithttps://www.facebook.com/ChristianBookSeries/?view_public_for=114400780404463
For all of my Headline publications go to https://headlinebooks.com/book-author-profile/lisa-a-mccombs/
Have a wonderful week! I've got o get busy stocking the house with food, dusting, washing clothes, etc. November is barely a week away and I need to be ready!
Lisa, The Lady with the Cane
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