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A Rocky Start: Chapter Nine

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Amber

As she promised, Amber’s mom picked her up at Laura’s at noon. On the way home, Amber was thinking that she would get her chores done quickly and then take a nap.

“Did you have fun?” Mary asked.

“It was great,” Amber said. “We made pizzas on the gas grill. We each made our own. Then we made s’mores.”

“Leave it to Laura and her mom to come up with a unique idea,” Mary said. “Maybe we’ll try that some time.”

Amber filled her mother in on the rest of the sleepover and the trip to the senior center. “I sure would like to know how my poster ended up under that table,” Amber said thoughtfully, “and why our names were erased from the volunteer list.”

“It’s probably just a mistake,” Mary told her daughter.

“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure I know who made it,” Amber said to herself.

As soon as Amber got home, she put away her sleeping bag and other gear. Then she started getting out the vacuum sweeper so she could do her chores.

“You don’t need to do that,” Mary said. “Kyle already did it for you.”

“Why?” Amber asked.

“Maybe he just wanted to do something nice for his little sister,” Mary answered.

Yeah, right, Amber thought. And I bet he reminds me the next time he wants me to do something for him.

Sunday morning, Amber awoke to loud screeching from outside her window. She pulled back her curtain to see a cat crawling out on the branch where the bird nest hung. The worried parents were dive-bombing the cat, trying to keep it away from the nest. Amber opened her window and yelled at the cat. At first it just stared at her. Then it crawled backward along the branch until it could climb down the tree. By that time, the parents were back with their babies at the nest.

“That was a close one,” Amber sighed to herself. She worried that the cat might return later and finish the job.

After church, Amber asked her mom if she could go visit Betty Jenkins. She found Betty busy in the kitchen, getting some food ready to take across the street to Doris Duncan.

“Why don’t you come with me?” Betty asked. “It’ll give you a chance to meet Doris. I know you’ll like her. Besides, I can use some help carrying this stuff.”

“Okay,” Amber said. “Do you take food to her all the time?”

“Not usually,” Betty explained. “Doris injured her back a few days ago, and she can’t get around too well right now.”

“How sad,” Amber said. “She’s lucky to have a good friend like you. Are you bringing her chocolate chip cookies?”

“Not for Doris,” Betty said seriously. “She has diabetes.”

“That’s awful!” Amber exclaimed.

“She’s had it for a long time,” Betty assured her. “She’s really healthy otherwise.”

“I meant it’s awful that she can’t have chocolate chip cookies.”

“Oh, I see,” Betty said. “But you can still have some when we get back.”

Doris Duncan’s house was neat as a pin and filled with beautiful green plants. Tiny little figurines sparkled on glass shelves in her very tidy living room. Doris was stretched out on the sofa in her robe but sat up when they arrived, which obviously caused her some pain. It was her daughter Lisa who let them in. She had come to take care of her mother for the weekend.

“They brought you some food, Mom,” Lisa said. “I’ll put it in the refrigerator for you.”

Betty introduced Amber, and the two of them sat down in chairs across from the sofa.

“How are you feeling today?” Betty asked.

“A little better,” Doris said. “The doctor told me it will take a few months before I’m back to my old self.”

“That’s too bad,” Betty responded. “How did you hurt your back?”

“The usual way,” Doris explained. “Trying to reach something on an upper shelf. I hadn’t cleaned up there for a while.”

“I’ve told you before,” Betty scolded, “dust that is out of sight should be out of mind.”

“I can’t help it,” Doris said. “I like a clean house.”

“Amber here might be able to help you while you’re laid up.” Betty nodded in Amber’s direction. “She and two of her friends just started a club to help seniors. What do you call yourselves?”

“We’re the Happy Helpers,” Amber said. “But we really haven’t helped anyone yet. You could be our first though.”

“I’m sure I’ll be able to keep up with things.” Doris grimaced as a movement caused her some pain. “I’ll just have to take it easy for a few days.”

Doris and Betty chatted for a while about friends and things that were happening around town. Then Amber and Betty said their good-byes and left. Back at Betty’s house, the two enjoyed some chocolate chip cookies and milk.

“Why doesn’t Doris want us to help her?” Amber asked. “Does she think we’ll break things?”

“She does have a lot of pretty things,” Betty said. “But I don’t think that’s the reason. You have to understand something about seniors. We need to be independent. Sometimes people treat us like we can’t do anything. Sometimes they make us feel like we’re just in the way. Doing things for ourselves is really important.”

“I do understand,” Amber said. “It’s the same way for kids. Sometimes adults treat us like we’re helpless. We may make mistakes, but it’s because we’re still learning. We like to be independent too and show everyone what we can do. That’s what we like most about being Happy Helpers.”

“Just give the seniors some time,” Betty went on. “After they get to know you like I do, I’m sure they’ll ask you for help.”

The Handy Helpers book series is available at Amazon

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A Rocky Start: Chapter Eight Continued

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Image1-17_edited-1Sunlight was coming in through the seams of the tent when the girls woke up. As soon as talk was coming from the tent, Taylor appeared at the door flap. “Daddy’s making french toast,” she announced.

“My dad makes the best french toast,” Laura informed them. “He makes it with thick slices of bread, and he puts cinnamon in the mixture.”

After downing two servings each, the girls went to Laura’s room to get dressed.

“I don’t have my bike here,” Amber suddenly realized. “I’ll have to walk to the senior center.”

“Mandy will let you borrow hers,” Laura assured her. “I’ll go ask her now.”

At ten o’clock on the dot, the girls arrived at the senior center. They quickly checked the bulletin board to find their assignment. After going down the list several times, they were convinced that Mrs. Snow had forgotten to assign them a job. To make matters worse, Amber noticed that her flyer was missing from the bulletin board.

“Maybe it fell off,” Laura suggested.

“I don’t think so,” Amber said. “See, here’s the corner where I put the tack. I think someone pulled it down.”

After several minutes of looking, Amber located her flyer under a small table. She dusted it off and stuck it back on the bulletin board.

As they had been instructed by Mrs. Snow, the girls went directly to Walt’s office. They found him at his desk and explained the situation.

“Mrs. Snow isn’t here today,” he said. “Let’s go take a look at the list. Mrs. Snow said she was going to have you girls set the tables for lunch. Your names should be on the list.”

Walt checked the list but couldn’t find their names. “It looks like it was there, but someone erased it. I’m going to take you over to meet Bob Stone. He’s the lunchroom manager. He’ll show you what to do.”

Bob Stone was a big man with sandy-blond hair and a mustache. He was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, with a large white dish towel tied around his waist. Bob smiled broadly at the girls and talked fast as he filled them in on what they would be doing.

“Usually, the ladies’ auxiliary from the Community Church sets up our lunch on Saturdays,” Bob explained. “But they’re working on table decorations for next Saturday. We’re having a big Easter luncheon. You will need to put out a plate, silverware, a glass, and a napkin at each place around the tables. Usually, we just put out forks and knives, but since we’re having pudding today, you will need to put out spoons as well.”

Bob showed the girls where to find everything. Then he left the Happy Helpers to set the tables and went back to preparing the food. Laura took charge of explaining proper table setting to the other two girls. She told Amber to put out a plate and glass at each place. Then she put a napkin and fork on the left side of each plate. Melissa placed a knife and spoon on the right side. In about forty minutes, the girls had finished their work. On the way out, they waved to Gus, who called them over to where he was sitting with some other guys.

“Like you to meet my cronies,” he said. “Here’s Al, Bert, and Norman. We’re planning our Monday-night poker game.” Gus gave the girls a wink.

“It’s nice to meet you,” the girls said.

“Tell them a joke before they leave,” Bert told Gus.

“Okay, try this one,” Gus said. “Why did the boy eat his homework?”

“Was the boy named Spike?” Amber asked.

“Okay, why did the boy eat his homework?” Laura played along.

“His teacher said it was a piece of cake.” Everyone laughed.

“That’s a good one, Gus,” Melissa said. “You’re a pretty funny guy.”

“We’d better get going,” Laura reminded Amber. “Your mom will be at my house to pick you up.”

“See you later, alligator,” Gus called after them.

“After a while, crocodile,” the girls called back a little awkwardly.

Out in front of the senior center, the girls saw Chris and Logan sweeping the walkways.

“Where’s Spike?” Melissa asked. “Isn’t he one of the Handy Guys anymore?”

“He went inside to use the bathroom,” Logan answered. “He’s been gone for a while though.”

“Are you volunteering here now?” Chris asked.

“We are,” Laura announced. “We just finished setting the table for lunch. It’s kind of fun.”

“Some of these old guys are really great to be around,” Logan said.

“You mean like Gus?” Amber asked. “He just told us a funny joke.”

“Why did the boy eat his homework, right?” Chris laughed.

“That’s the one,” Laura said.

“Kind of corny, huh?” Logan asked.

“Yeah, but we’d never tell Gus that,” Chris added.

The Handy Helpers book series is available at Amazon

 

 

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A Rocky Start: Chapter Six Continued

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Amber

Saturday morning, Amber awoke to the sounds of tiny chirping outside her window. A quick check of the little family told her that all five babies were awake and ready for breakfast. After she had eaten her own breakfast and finished her Saturday chores, she asked her mom if she could go over to Melissa’s house.

Melissa lived down one block and over two blocks, on Davis Drive. She lived with her mom and her grandmother. Melissa’s dad, who was in the army, was stationed in Afghanistan. Amber rang the doorbell and waited. She could hear women talking, and after a minute, the door opened. It was Melissa’s mom on her way out the door to go to work.

“Hi, Amber,” she said. “Melissa will be right here. What are you girls planning to do today?”

“We’re not sure,” Amber told her. “We might go to the park or just ride our bikes around.”

“Why don’t you bring your friends back here for lunch?” Melissa’s grandmother, Mrs. Oates, called out to her as Melissa started out the door.

“Want to have lunch with us?” This time it was Trisha, Melissa’s little sister, who was peeking out from behind a door.

“Thank you, Mrs. Oates, and thank you, Trisha,” Amber said. “I’ll have to call my mom first, but I’m sure it will be okay.”

As Amber and Melissa were getting on their bikes, they saw Logan, Chris, and Spike riding down the street.

“I wonder if they’re going to the senior center,” Melissa said.

“Probably,” Amber answered. “Maybe we should go see if anything’s going on there today.”

The two girls stopped by Laura’s house, and then the three of them headed for the senior center. The first person they ran into was Gus.

“Come on,” he said. “I’ll show you around the place.”

The senior center was one large building with a flat roof. It had cream-colored siding and green trim. Gus ushered the girls through the front door. There they noticed the bulletin board with the flyer for Three Handy Guys.

“Do many seniors get help from them?” Melissa asked, pointing to the flyer.

“You’d be surprised,” Gus answered. “Those boys are really popular around here. A few weeks ago, they helped me paint my front porch.”

In the main room, some of the seniors were playing checkers or chess. There was a small room off to the side with exercise equipment. A yoga class was going on in one part of the room.

“That’s how I keep my youthful figure.” Gus laughed as he struck a pose. The girls couldn’t help grinning at his knobby knees sticking out of his Bermuda shorts.

Amber noticed a hairstyling salon. It was closed on Saturdays, but she asked Gus about it.

“I don’t go there much myself,” he said, rubbing his bald head. The girls all laughed  again.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  “The main thing seniors come here for is the lunch,” Gus told them. “The senior center serves a free lunch to anyone over the age of sixty-five, every Monday through Saturday.”

“Wow,” Laura said. “Who pays for that?”

“The town pays for some of it,” Gus said. “We get lots of donations, and most of the work is done by volunteers.”

“Could we be volunteers?” Amber asked. “You know, junior volunteers like the boys are?”

“New volunteers are always welcome,” Gus said. “Come on in the office. I’ll introduce you to Walt Collins. He’s the manager here.”

Walt was a man in his sixties with graying hair and glasses. He was dressed in gray slacks, and the sleeves were rolled up on his white shirt. Walt had been a grocery store manager, but now he volunteered his time keeping the senior center up and running.

“We’re always looking for volunteers,” he told the girls. “Of course, there’s some paperwork you’ll have to do. Mostly, we have to make sure we have your parents’ permission. We don’t want to break any laws.”

“Of course not,” Amber said. “How do we get started?”

“Here are the forms you’ll need.” Walt handed them some papers. “Mrs. Snow is in charge of the volunteers. She isn’t here on Saturdays. You can drop the forms off with any of the volunteers, and they’ll see that she gets them.”

The girls thanked Gus for the tour. As they walked outside, they noticed the Three Handy Guys sweeping the walkways around the senior center. Chris put down his broom and came over to greet them.

“There’s not much going on here today,” he said.

“We know,” Amber told him. “Gus took us on a tour, and Walt gave us the forms we need to become volunteers.”

“That’s great,” Chris said. “Then we’ll probably be seeing you around here a lot.”

“See you later, alligator,” Gus called to them as he got in his car.

“After a while, crocodile,” Logan, Chris, and Spike answered back.

“Why does he say that?” Melissa asked.

“It’s something people said when he was a kid,” Chris explained. “Gus is a real friendly guy. It’s just his way of letting you know he likes you.”

 

The girls climbed on their bikes and headed for Melissa’s house. “What’s for lunch?” Laura asked.

“What do you think,” Amber answered for her. “Leftover pizza.”

“That’s not all we eat,” Melissa said. “But it would be fine with me if it was.”

“Lucky for you that your mom manages a pizza restaurant,” Laura added.

“Yeah,” Melissa said. “Real lucky.”

 

Lunch turned out to be hot dogs, chips, applesauce, and root beer floats. Trisha had chosen the menu. She was setting the table outside when the girls returned. When she saw them, Trisha came running over and wrapped her arms around Amber’s waist.

“Amber!” she exclaimed. “Come and see my pet rabbit.” Trisha dragged her across the lawn to a wire pen. Inside was a small black lop-eared rabbit.

“What’s his name?” Amber asked.

“His name is Jellybean,” Trisha told her. “Do you want to hold him?”

“Does he kick?” Amber asked.

“Not very hard, he’s too small to kick hard.”

Laura and Melissa joined them as they watched Jellybean hop around in the yard. Trisha was giggling and chasing after him.

“How’s school?” Laura asked Trisha while they were eating their lunches.

“I’m the best reader in the first grade,” Trish announced proudly. “My teacher is Mrs. Bell. She always asks me to read out loud in class. I get good grades on my report card.”

“She’s a real whiz kid,” Melissa said somewhat sarcastically.

“She does her homework right away when she gets home from school,” said Mrs. Oates, who shot an accusing look at Melissa.

“I do my homework,” Melissa defended herself. “I might not get it done until ten o’clock, but I do it.”

Amber was thinking that maybe having a perfect little sister wasn’t any better than having a perfect big brother. When the girls finished lunch, Trisha followed them to Melissa’s room. She stomped her foot when Melissa closed the door in her face.

“Trisha,” Mrs. Oates called from the kitchen. “Come and help me clean up the lunch dishes.”

“Okay, Grandma,” she said. Then the girls heard Trisha stomp down the hall.

For a while, the three friends listened to music and practiced their dance moves. Then they played some video games.

“What kinds of things do you think we’ll be doing as volunteers at the senior center?” Laura asked.

“I’m not sure,” Amber answered thoughtfully. “Maybe we’ll help serve lunch or do some cleaning. There are probably lots of things that need to be done.”

“I wonder how many volunteers they have,” Melissa said. “Maybe they already have other people doing most of the jobs.”

“We could help some of the seniors who live alone like Betty Jenkins,” Laura suggested.

“I could make a flyer like the boys have, and we could put it up on the bulletin board,” Amber said excitedly. “But what should we call ourselves?”

“Spike said we should call ourselves Three Useless Girls,” Melissa reminded them.

“Then maybe we should call ourselves Three Useful Girls,” Laura offered.

“That would just make it easier for Spike to make fun of us.” Amber shook her head. “We need a name that is way different from theirs.”

“What about Three Helpful Girls?” Laura said.

“That’s not much different.” Melissa shook her head. “Amber’s right, we need something that doesn’t sound like we’re copying the guys.”

“We could be Girls Happy to Help,” Amber suggested.

“How about Happy Helpers?” Laura shouted with enthusiasm.

“That’s perfect,” Amber and Melissa agreed.

“We’ll be the Happy Helpers,” Amber said excitedly. “I’ll make the flyer this weekend, and we can put it up on the bulletin board on Monday.”

The Handy Helpers book series is available at Amazon

 

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A Rocky Start: Chapter Six

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AmberFriday morning, Amber checked the nest outside her window as usual. But instead of seeing five eggs, she saw five open mouths. The baby birds were crying in hunger, and Amber was certain that the parents were hunting for food nearby. She watched until the mother returned. Something passed from the mother’s mouth to a baby’s. As the mother was flying away, the father showed up to continue the feeding process.

A yell from Amber brought the rest of her family. They all watched the bird family enjoying their breakfast, until Mary said it was time for them to have their own breakfast. Today was the last day for Amber to sign up for the career she wanted to research. Any students who didn’t select a career by Friday would have one assigned by Ms. McGuire. After her talk with Betty Jenkins, Amber had thought a lot about art careers. She couldn’t quite decide which one to choose. Maybe while she walked to school, she could make up her mind.

Melissa and Laura were waiting for her on the playground when Amber arrived at school.

“What took you so long?” Melissa said. “We’ve been waiting for fifteen minutes.”

“I had some thinking to do,” Amber said. “And I had a stop to make on the way.”

Laura pressed an envelope into Amber’s hand. “It’s an invitation to my birthday party next Friday. It’s going to be a sleepover.”

“Thanks,” Amber said. “I can’t wait. I love sleepovers.”

Walking home from school, Amber thought about how glad she was that it was Friday. She was especially glad about this particular Friday because it was her turn to choose the game for game night. At dinner, as usual, her mother asked about her day at school.

“Did you decide what you are going to do for your career report?”

“Yes, I did,” Amber said with a sigh of relief.

“Well, Fred,” John asked, “what’s it going to be?”

“I can’t tell you yet,” Amber said. “I still have some details to work out.”

“I don’t understand,” her dad questioned further. “If you have a topic, why can’t you tell us?”

“I will,” Amber said, “when I’m ready.”

“You didn’t choose one,” Kyle taunted. “That’s why you won’t tell.”

“I did,” Amber insisted. “You’ll just have to wait and see what it is.”

“Whatever.” Kyle shrugged.

After dinner, Amber set up the game board for the Game of Life. Kyle looked disgusted when he saw it.

“Amber played Monopoly without complaining,” Mary reminded her son.

“I know,” Kyle said. “But there’s no skill involved in this game. It’s just a game of chance.”

“You could say that about Monopoly as well,” John added. “In fact, you can say that about real life too. We’re not in control of everything that happens in our lives. We have to deal with the unexpected and make adjustments all the time, just like in the Game of Life.”

When Amber landed on lawyer as her career, she was practically jumping up and down in her seat. But when Kyle landed on teacher, the lowest-paying job, Amber couldn’t contain her enthusiasm. “Hope you enjoy listening to noisy kids all day while I’m busy with my important clients.” Kyle leaned back in his chair as if to say, “I couldn’t care less.”

That seemed to set the tone for the entire game. When Amber won the lottery, Kyle inherited fifty cats from his aunt. If that wasn’t enough, later he inherited a skunk farm from his uncle. Amber sold her cattle ranch for $200,000, and Kyle had to pay $100,000 because a tornado hit his home and he didn’t have insurance.

When Amber landed on the Revenge space, Kyle didn’t have $200,000 to pay her.

“I’ll loan you some money,” Amber offered, grinning from ear to ear.

“Never mind,” Kyle said. “I’ll just go bankrupt.”

“Too bad for your wife and four children,” John pretended to be concerned.

“At least they have a rich aunt,” Mary added.

“And maybe another one with fifty cats.” Amber was holding her side with laughter.

 

The Handy Helpers book series is available at Amazon

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Sibling Squibling

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sister pictureSummer is a great time for family members to be together. But it can also be a stressful time if siblings begin to feel like they are joined at the hip. I recall many long summer days stuck at home with my brother and sister. It seemed to me like summer would never end.

The Handy Helpers are not immune to sibling strife. Amber has an older brother who is kind and loving but can often be overbearing.  Naturally, as a big brother he is required to tease his little sister. Because Amber has attention deficit disorder, she gives him plenty of opportunities. But Kyle can also be bossy and often takes on the role of a third parent. This is helpful at times, but is frustrating for Amber who is struggling hard to learn to stand on her own two feet. Their relationship reminds me of my own two children.

Chris has an older brother, Eric. Because they lost their father when they were small, the two boys are very close and depend on each other. Eric is a serious young man who wants to become a minister some day. Chris is much more laid back and easy going. Both boys take a protective stance when it comes to their baby brother, Tyler.

Like Jan Brady, Laura is the often-overlooked middle child. Standing in the shadow of her older sister, Amanda, she has to wait her turn to do grown-up things like go on dates or learn to drive. While her two younger sisters are still playing dress-up and having tea parties, Laura has her own interests such as cooking. Their mother owns a dance studio and Laura’s three sisters are training in ballet. Laura enjoys gymnastics which her mother also teaches. To distinguish herself further from her sisters, she cut her long, straight hair and often wears a baseball cap.

Spike has two older sisters who are in high school. This was the situation in my home, growing up. My brother is nine years younger than I and I often thought of him as a total pain. Like Spike, he was prone to pull stunts–most of them intended to get me in trouble–which usually backfired on him.

Logan and Beth Anne are both only children. To the other Handy Helpers, this might seem like an envious position at times. But I’m sure there are times when Logan and Beth Anne feel lonely and wish they had siblings to do things with. Anyway, the situation is going to change for both of them. In Logan’s case it will happen in an unexpected way.

Melissa and her very determined younger sister, Trisha, have the most contentious relationship. Trisha tries to insinuate herself into whatever Melissa has going on. This annoys Melissa who is always telling Trisha to get lost. In addition, Trisha tries to be the perfect child–something Melissa has no interest in being. This excerpt from A Rocky Start is an example of how their relationship  plays out.

“How’s school?” Laura asked Trisha while they were eating their lunches.

“I’m the best reader in the first grade,” Trisha announced proudly. “My teacher is Mrs. Bell. She always asks me to read out loud in class. I get good grades on my report card.”

“She’s a real whiz kid,” Melissa said, somewhat sarcastically.

“She does her homework right away when she gets home from school,” said Mrs. Oates, who shot an accusing look at Melissa.

“I do my homework,” Melissa defended herself. “I might not get it done until ten o’clock, but I do it.”

Amber was thinking that maybe having a perfect little sister wasn’t any better than having a perfect big brother.

The Handy Helpers book series is available at Amazon

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A Rocky Start: Chapter Five Continued

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Soggy Sunday was followed by muggy Monday. The rain had halted for a bit, but the clouds remained, and Amber was sure it would rain again. She took her umbrella with her on her way to school. The class had been progressing through the career unit as Ms. McGuire had said they would. The first careers they explored were jobs in health care. Amber knew that there were doctors and nurses, but she never thought about all the different types of jobs there were in health care. The EMTs who ride in ambulances, people who operate x-ray machines, and those who test blood are all health care workers. Some of them sounded pretty interesting, but some seemed too gory, like those working in emergency rooms.

Many of the students in Amber’s class had already signed up for their career reports. Laura had quickly taken chef before someone else chose it. Melissa had decided to report on marine biology, thinking it meant swimming with dolphins. Logan chose architecture as his career interest, and Chris decided on construction. Chris said that Logan could design the buildings, and he would build them. Spike had signed up for astronaut. That seemed appropriate to the girls as they weren’t sure he was from this planet anyway. Amber was the only one still thinking about what to choose, and she was really feeling the pressure of not being able to make up her mind.

Amber was almost halfway home when the downpour started. The rain was coming down so hard that her umbrella proved useless. At first, she tried to run, but the wind was blowing against her so that all she could do was push forward. As she passed Betty Jenkins’s house, she heard a familiar voice calling to her.

“Amber,” Betty yelled, “get in here out of the rain.”

Without hesitating, Amber did as Betty said, and a few seconds later, she was dripping water on the tile entryway inside Betty’s house. Betty took a towel out of the closet in the hallway and put it around Amber’s shoulders. “Here, dry off,” she said. “I’ve got some cookies in the oven. I’ll be right back.”

By the time Betty returned, Amber had dried her hair as best as she could. Her clothes were still wet, and she was shivering.

“Come in the kitchen,” Betty suggested. “It’s warmer in there with the oven on.”

Amber could already smell the delicious chocolate chip cookies and hoped that Betty would offer her one. Betty told her to sit down at the table, and without even asking, she set a glass of milk and a plate with two cookies in front of Amber.

“So what exciting things happened at school today?” Betty wanted to know.

“We’re studying careers right now,” Amber told her. “Today Dr. Stevens, a veterinarian, came to talk to the class. She told us that she became a vet because she loves animals, especially dogs. She said most of what she does is routine, like giving shots and operating on dogs and cats so they can’t have babies. Chris asked her what the worst part of her job was. She said putting pets to sleep when they were old and suffering. The family is always crying and it is so sad, but it still has to be done.”

“She sounds like a very caring person,” Betty said.

“She’s the vet who gave Domino his shots. Next week she’s going to fix Domino so he won’t be able to make puppies.”

“That is a good thing to do,” Betty said. “You’re being a responsible pet owner.”

“It’s a good thing Domino doesn’t know what’s going to happen,” Amber said. “When I had my tonsils out, I had a week to worry about it. That was the longest week of my life. Why don’t you have any pets?”

“Paul and I had a dog,” Betty explained. “He was just a mutt we got at the animal shelter, maybe a collie and German shepherd mix. We called him Pepper because he was sort of black, white, and gray. Pepper got hip dysplasia like German shepherds do sometimes. Eventually, we had to put him to sleep.”

“I hope that doesn’t happen to Domino,” Amber said.

“He’s a young dog, so you won’t have to worry about that for years,” Betty assured her.

“There’s one part of the career unit that I’m not looking forward to.” Amber sighed a big sigh. “We have to choose a career we are interested in and give a report.”

“What career did you choose?” Betty asked.

“That’s the problem,” Amber said. “I don’t really know what I want to be when I grow up.”

“You have lots of time for that,” Betty said. “Your teacher is probably just trying to get you started thinking about what you might be interested in. What’s your favorite subject in school?”

“That’s easy,” Amber said with enthusiasm. “Art is my favorite subject.”

“There are lots of careers that involve art,” Betty said. “You could be an artist or sell art supplies. You could work in a museum or even be an art teacher.”

“You hear a lot about starving artists,” Amber said seriously. “What if I’m not good enough to make money being an artist?”

“I love art too,” Betty told her. “In fact, I have a little studio behind the house. That’s where I keep my paint supplies and my paintings.”

“Was that your career?” Amber asked.

“Not really,” Betty said. “Usually I just give my paintings away. Once in a while, someone pays me, mostly for the supplies. My real job was delivering mail when we lived in Kansas.”

“Did you like that job?” Amber asked.

“I liked it very much. I was out in the fresh air every day. Some days, it was cold and snowy. Once I was even chased by a tornado. But I got to visit with lots of people. I got to know their dogs too. It was a great job, and I miss it sometimes.”

“I’d love to see some of your paintings,” Amber said. “Would you show them to me sometime?”

“I sure will,” Betty said. “When it’s not so rainy outside.”

“Speaking of rain,” Amber said. “It looks like it stopped for a little while. I think I had better get home before my mom starts to worry.”

The Handy Helpers book series is available at Amazon

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A Rocky Start: Chapter Five

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Betty Jenkins’s weather prediction turned out to be correct. The rain started at about five o’clock Saturday evening and continued most of the night. Amber awoke to a soggy Sunday morning. She jumped out of bed and ran to the window to check on the bird family. There she saw the parents huddled together on the nest. The branch the nest was hanging from provided some protection, but the birds had to be getting wet.

“Guess we’ll be taking the car to church this morning,” John said at breakfast.

Melissa and Chris also attended the Community Christian Church. Laura went to the Catholic church, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, on the other side of Bluesky. When Amber arrived for Sunday school, Melissa and Chris were already there. Amber took a seat next to Melissa.

“That was kind of fun yesterday, watching the shuffleboard tournament,” Melissa said.

“I thought you said it was boring,” Amber reminded her.

“That was when the boys were there,” Melissa said. “I pretend like everything is boring when boys are around.”

“Why?” Amber asked.

“I just do,” Melissa said. “It’s part of my mystique.”

“What’s that?”

“That’s something the boys have to figure out.”

“You’ve lost me,” Amber sighed. “I can’t figure it out either.”

“We were surprised to see you girls at the shuffleboard tournament yesterday,” Chris said as he walked over to where they were sitting.

“We were surprised to see you there too,” Amber responded. “Do you like volunteering?”

“Actually, it’s a lot of fun.” Chris smiled. “Most of the seniors are pretty cool, especially Gus. He’s a funny guy.”

“How about the other seniors? Are they cool about having you help them?” Melissa asked.

“Most of them,” Chris told her. “Some of the seniors can be grouchy, and they think we’re noisy. But most of them are friendly and happy to see us.”

“Is that why you do it?” Amber asked.

“When we first moved to Bluesky, I was riding my bike past some old guy’s house. I was on the street, not on his property. But he came out and yelled at me. He told me to get away or he’d call the police.”

“That’s awful,” Melissa said. “I’m surprised you want to help them at all.”

“When we started our Boy Scout project, I told my scoutmaster about it. He said that some people think all kids are troublemakers. Of course, that isn’t true. It’s easy to think that all old folks are grouchy. But that isn’t true either.”

After church, while the family was eating lunch, Amber talked about the Sunday school lesson. “There were two brothers. One did everything he was supposed to do. The other brother made a big mistake. He asked his father for his inheritance. Then he went off on his own and wasted it on the wrong kinds of things. When he ran out of money, he was very poor and starving. He decided to go back to his father and beg his father to give him a lowly job. Instead, his father forgave him and threw a big party because his son was home.”

“What do you think the story means?” John asked.

“I think that God is like the father. He forgives us no matter how big a mistake we make, and he is always happy when we come back to him,” Amber answered.

“That’s exactly right,” John said with enthusiasm.

“What about paying his dues for his don’ts?” Amber looked at her mother.

“Did he get his inheritance back?” Mary asked.

“No,” Amber said thoughtfully. “So he paid for his don’ts by losing his inheritance?”

“That’s right,” Mary said. “He had his father’s forgiveness, but there are always consequences when we don’t choose to do what is right.”

“I hope I only make little mistakes,” Amber said.

“Me too,” Mary added. “But remember, you have a family that loves you no matter what mistakes you make. We’ll always be here for you.”

It was still raining a little after lunch. The Snyder family settled down in front of the television to watch a baseball game. Everyone, that is, except Amber. She decided to go up to her room and work on some of her sketches. The colored-pencil set she received for her birthday would come in handy coloring the bird sketches she had made earlier.

The Handy Helpers book series is available at Amazon

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A Rocky Start: Chapter Four Continued

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Saturday morning arrived at last, but Amber looked out her window at a sunless day. Clouds had moved in overnight and threatened to pour rain on her plans for the day. After breakfast, Amber made a quick phone call to Betty Jenkins to make sure the shuffleboard tournament was going to take place.

“Rain or shine,” Betty assured her. “The shuffleboard courts are covered, so we’ll stay dry. Anyway, I don’t think it will rain until this evening.”

Two hours later, Amber and her friends rode their bikes to the senior center. “Where’s Mrs. Jenkins?” Melissa asked.

“She likes to be called Betty,” Amber reminded her.

“Oh, I forgot. Well, is Betty here?”

“She’s right over there. I think they are choosing up sides or something,” Amber said.

Laura noticed a list of names posted on a wall. After looking down the list, she saw Betty Jenkins’s name in the singles column.

“Do you know anything about shuffleboard?” Laura asked Amber.

“No, not really. Maybe Betty will have time to fill us in before the tournament starts.”

“I can do that for you,” said a little man wearing Bermuda shorts and a straw hat. “Name’s Gus. And who would you lovely young ladies be?”

“I’m Amber, and these are my friends, Melissa and Laura. We’re here for our friend Betty Jenkins, but we don’t really know anything about shuffleboard. We won’t even know when it’s time to cheer for Betty.”

“Well,” Gus began, “if you take a look at the shuffleboard court, you’ll see triangles at both ends. Each shooter uses a stick called a tang to push a disk called a biscuit to the triangle at the other end of the court. You can see the point values in the triangle. Landing in the smallest space earns ten points. There are two seven-point spaces and two eight-point spaces. If the biscuit lands completely inside one of those zones without touching any of the lines, the shooter scores that many points. It takes a score of seventy-five points to win. ”

“That sounds pretty difficult,” Laura observed.

“Believe me, it is. Even if the shooter manages to put the biscuit in a zone, the opponent has a chance to knock it out.”

“Wow,” Melissa said. “Is Betty Jenkins a good shuffleboard player?”

“One of the best,” Gus told them.

“What is the ten-off space?” Amber asked.

“If the biscuit lands there, the shooter loses ten points.”

“Oh, dear,” Amber said, “I hope that doesn’t happen to Betty.”

“Even if it does,” Melissa added, “we’ll yell and cheer for her anyway.”

“I wouldn’t recommend that,” Gus warned. “We take shuffleboard very seriously. You’ll need to be quiet, just like the spectators at a golf tournament.”

“Thanks for letting us know that,” Laura said. “We wouldn’t want to get Betty disqualified or something.”

“You’ll be fine,” Gus assured them. “Just watch from over there.” He pointed to some chairs along the sidelines. Most of them were already occupied. “You better find a seat, it looks like we’re about ready to start.”

The girls found some seats on the sideline. On the shuffleboard court, they noticed some boys lining up yellow and black disks in the ten-off spaces. “Look who that is,” Amber said. “It’s Logan, Chris, and Spike.”

“It sure is,” Melissa said, surprised. “I wonder why they’re here.”

“Those boys help out around here all the time,” Gus informed them. “They’re our junior volunteers.”

As the tournament started, the girls watched Betty Jenkins push a yellow disk from her end of the court toward the triangle at the other end. The disk stopped on the line between the ten-point space and an eight-point space. That meant no points. The other player, a dark-haired woman a little taller than Betty, wearing bright-pink capris and a flowered shirt, took her shot with the black disk, which landed inside the seven-point space. Betty’s next disk pushed the black disk off the seven-point space, but once again, it landed on a line. A man with a movie camera seemed to be catching all the action on film. Amber wondered if he was from the television station in Marshallville.

“That’s Clarisse’s husband, Hank.” Gus seemed to be reading her thoughts. “He got a new video camera last Christmas. He hardly goes anywhere without it. Hank certainly wouldn’t miss Clarisse’s big moment if she finally beats Betty at shuffleboard.”

Play continued until each shooter had used her four disks. Betty had seven points. But Clarisse had fifteen. The two women walked to the opposite end of the court where Spike had lined up the disks again in the starting position.

When there was a break in the tournament play, the girls went over to talk to Betty. “It’s so nice to have you girls here today. You are sweet to give up your Saturday morning like this.”

“It’s been fun watching you play,” Amber said. “How is it going?”

“Clarisse Anderson is a very good shooter,” Betty said. “She has me by eight points, but I still have a chance to win.”

“We’re cheering for you,” Melissa said.

“Quietly,” Laura added.

“Yes, I should have warned you that spectators have to be quiet.”

The girls returned to their seats for the second half of the tournament. Logan, Chris, and Spike were busy putting the disks at the starting point. When they had finished, they walked over to where the girls were seated.

“How do you like watching shuffleboard?” Logan asked.

“It’s a little bit boring to watch,” Melissa said. “It might be more fun if we were helping like you guys.”

“Yeah,” Spike said. “We help out here a lot. In fact, we’re three handy guys.”

“You don’t have to brag about it,” Melissa scolded.

“He’s not bragging,” Chris told her. “That’s what we call ourselves. It’s on our flyer on the bulletin board inside the senior center. We’re Three Handy Guys. When a senior needs our help, he calls us up. We wash windows, mow lawns, and rake leaves. In the winter, we even shovel snow. We do the things that are hard for seniors to do for themselves.”

“Do they pay you?” Laura asked.

“No,” Chris responded. “We do it for free. We do it because we like helping.”

“It started as a Boy Scout project,” Logan explained. “Our troop did some work around the senior center. That was when we realized there are a lot of seniors living in Bluesky, and they need our help.”

“We do that too,” Amber said. “Last Saturday, we pulled weeds for Betty Jenkins.”

“Do you have a name and a flyer like we do?” Spike asked.

“Not yet,” Laura said, “but we’re going to.”

“You could call yourselves Three Useless Girls,” Spike laughed.

Just then, Gus came over and asked them to be quiet.

 

By the end of the tournament, Betty was still ten points behind. She congratulated her opponent on the win and came over to where the girls were waiting for her.

“You played a good game,” Amber said. “It was really close.”

“Clarisse is a good player,” Betty said. “I’ve been lucky before, but I think she’s been practicing a lot. She told me she was going to win, and she did.”

“Will you get a chance for a rematch?” Laura asked.

“We have one more tournament next month,” Betty said. “We’ll see what happens then.”

 

Betty headed into the senior center for lunch, and the girls walked to their bikes. Gus waved to them from across the lawn. “See you later, alligator,” he called to them.

“Bye, see you later,” the girls shouted back with a wave.

The Handy Helpers book series is available at Amazon

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A Rocky Start: Chapter Three

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Sunday morning proved to be another beautiful day in Bluesky. Amber checked on the family in the sycamore tree. This time the mother was sitting on the nest, but the father was on a branch close by. She knew it wouldn’t be too long before there would be baby birds in the nest.

Amber dressed for church and went down to breakfast. Kyle was the last one down, so he had to say grace. The Snyders live close enough to the Community Christian Church to walk there. John and Mary walked hand in hand as Kyle and Amber followed behind.

“Want to play football at the park today?” Kyle asked.

“Maybe,” Amber said. “Who will be on the teams?”

“How about guys against girls?” Kyle suggested. “That is, if you’re up to it.”

“I think Mom and I can take you guys,” Amber said with confidence, though she had serious doubts.

“You’re on,” Kyle said with satisfaction

As soon as they found a table at the park, John started the charcoal for the burgers. Mary spread a cloth over the table and unpacked the picnic basket. Kyle took Domino to the dog park so he could run around with other dogs. Amber went along to watch.

Domino was the first dog the family had owned. John brought home a dog book so they could decide what breed to get. Mary was thinking about a small dog, such as a Yorkshire terrier. That was until she read about how much work it was to take care of them and that they could be yappy and not always good with children. When Amber read about the Labrador retriever, she knew that was the kind of dog she wanted. They were great dogs for kids. That was part of the reason. But most of all, she wanted a Lab because the book said they were hyperactive. She and their new puppy would have something in common.

Naming their new pup was another issue. Everyone suggested the usual names like Buddy and Blacky. None of the suggestions seemed quite right. One night when they were watching TV, their new pup came into the living room with an obvious problem. His nose was stuck in a pizza box. He was whining and hitting at the box with his front paw, but he couldn’t get it off. They all laughed when they saw him.

“Way to go, Domino,” Amber said. The others looked at her.

“Here, Domino,” Kyle called to the dog. “Let me get that off your nose.”

That was it. His name was Domino. There was no question about it.

It was obvious from the start that Domino was an attention-deficit/hyperactive dog. One day Amber was watching him chase a lizard in the backyard. Domino got distracted by a noise, and when he looked away, the lizard scampered off. He looked back at the spot where the lizard had been. Even though the lizard was gone, Domino kept trying to find him in the same rocks. He gets distracted just like me, Amber thought.

Kyle took charge of housebreaking Domino. He had it all planned, but Domino didn’t always follow the plan. He made his share of mistakes. Kyle was a pretty patient teacher, though. Amber thought maybe he learned that from being her big brother.

John called out to his family to let them know that the burgers were done. As they ate, Kyle talked about his trip to Fox Creek. The melting snow from the mountains above the creek had caused the banks to overflow, filling in their best fishing spots. The water was cold and rushing too fast for Kyle and his friends to get in it. They found a side pool, and Domino jumped in before Kyle could stop him. As the dog book said, Domino was a great swimmer right away. Kyle had a hard time getting Domino out of the pool. At first he tried calling to his dog, but in the end, he had to go in after Domino. Carrying a wet fifty-pound dog out of a cold creek isn’t any fun.

Amber noticed a woman sitting on a bench near the pond. She was throwing bread to some ducks. Amber thought she looked familiar, and then she realized it was Mrs. Jenkins. Amber asked her mom if it would be okay to invite Mrs. Jenkins to join them for lunch.

“I just finished sharing my lunch with the ducks.” Mrs. Jenkins laughed. “But I wouldn’t mind having a piece of that luscious watermelon you’ve got there.”

As Mary put a slice of watermelon on a plate, she commented about being lucky to get a good watermelon.

“How do you choose your watermelon?” Mrs. Jenkins asked. “Are you a thumper?”

“Mostly, I just choose one and hope for the best,” Mary replied. “Do you have a secret for choosing a good watermelon?”

“I used to grow watermelons every summer in Kansas. First, I look for a watermelon that is dark green and not shiny. Then I look for the ripe spot. That’s a sort of yellow spot where the watermelon was touching the ground.”

“You told a secret,” Amber said with surprise. “I thought you never tell secrets.”

“Only when it comes to my chocolate chip cookies.” Mrs. Jenkins smiled her sly smile again.

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A Rocky Start: Chapter Two, continued

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The girls waved good-bye as they climbed on their bikes and rode away toward the pond. In the Bluesky Chamber of Commerce brochure, the pond is called Holiday Lake, but most of the people in town just call it the pond. After the winter snows have melted up north, the pond has quite a bit of water, but by the middle of summer, it is nothing more than a mudhole. The summer monsoon rains help refill it a little, but it is never large enough to qualify for lake status.

On that particular Saturday, the pond was full, with lush green vegetation around it. The girls liked to catch tadpoles and other “science specimens” that they put into Ziploc bags so they could carry them home. Laura liked to gather crayfish from the little stream that fed the pond. Her mother, who was from Louisiana, used them to make jambalaya. Amber took some home once, but her mother made her throw them away. She said that city girls got their shellfish at Red Lobster. They didn’t fish it out of irrigation ditches.

Amber’s mom liked to call herself a big-city girl because she was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. Amber’s dad lived in Flagstaff from the age of five. He never thought of himself as a big-city guy, and he never wanted to be one. Amber’s parents had met during their college years when they were both counselors at a summer camp in Pinetop. It was a camp for children with disabilities. After her first summer there, Mary thought about becoming a physical therapist, but she had already started on a business degree at a junior college, and she stayed with that. John was working on his degree in business management at Northern Arizona University.

After summer camp, they had a long-distance writing relationship until John finished college and moved to Phoenix. He asked Mary to marry him, and a year later, they were married. A year after that, Kyle was born. At first they had been happy in Phoenix, but John missed the pine trees and being outdoors. He couldn’t get used to the hot summers in the Valley of the Sun. That’s why when Kyle was three years old, the family moved to Flagstaff. John was happy to be back home, but after two unusually harsh winters, Mary convinced him that they needed to find a place with a warmer climate. That was when they moved to Bluesky.

In Flagstaff, John had been a department manager in the large Discount Mart. A smaller mart was being built in Bluesky, and he had the chance to be its manager. Mary was just getting her insurance license, and she was invited to join a new agency in Bluesky. With cooler summers than Phoenix and warmer winters than Flagstaff, Bluesky seemed like the perfect place to live. Before Kyle was ready to start kindergarten, the family made its move. Amber was born in Bluesky and never wanted to live anywhere else.

Bluesky sits in the middle of a large valley, almost completely surrounded by mountains. As its name suggests, the sky is a brilliant blue, interrupted occasionally by a few wisps of white cirrus clouds. Early in the morning, the sun, on its way up, tints the horizon with muted shades of lavender and apricot. In the evening, the setting sun brushes the sky with vivid reds and oranges, leaving just a hint of the colors after it drops behind the mountains. Bluesky is a small town with plenty of room to grow, though most of the people in town are happy with things just the way they are.

The water in the stream was a little cool, so the girls looked for creatures in the water without wading in as they usually did. After a while, they were tired of the pond and decided to ride their bikes around the park. When they reached the playground, they stopped to play on the swings and slides. Laura’s mom owned a ballet school where she taught gymnastics. Laura had been doing gymnastics since she was three years old, so she showed her friends some tricks she could do on the monkey bars. Amber and Melissa followed her lead as best they could. After that, they played a game of tag with some other children at the park.

The sun was high overhead when they decided it was time to go home for lunch. Amber said good-bye to her friends as they continued past her house on their bikes. She found her dad asleep in front of the television and her mom working on some paperwork in her office.

Amber’s mom looked up from her desk. “It must be time for lunch. How about tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches?”

“My favorite,” Amber answered back.

“What did you girls do this morning?” Mrs. Snyder asked as they ate lunch.

Amber filled her in on their visit to Mrs. Jenkins’s house and their adventures at the park.

“There are a lot of older people in Bluesky,” her mom said thoughtfully. “It must be hard for them to do the things they need to do. That was very nice of you to help Mrs. Jenkins.”

“She makes cookies that have a secret ingredient,” Amber told her. “We tried to guess what it was, but she wouldn’t tell us.”

“Maybe she will when she gets to know you better.”

“I don’t think so,” Amber said. “I don’t think she ever tells anyone.”

“Do you have any homework?” Mary asked her daughter.

“I have some math,” Amber said with disgust.

“If you finish it this afternoon, we can have a picnic after church tomorrow. How does that sound?”

“Can we grill hamburgers?” Amber wanted to know. She loved hamburgers better than just about anything.

“That sounds like a good idea.”

Amber took out her homework. It was fractions, which were hard for her, but she thought she remembered what her teacher told her about adding fractions. They had to have the same denominator. She looked at the example and started to work. In half an hour, she was finished.

Since she was doing homework, Amber decided to read her Sunday school homework. It was about finishing what you started. Amber knew she needed to work on that. It wasn’t that she meant to quit on things before she was finished, but sometimes she just got distracted. At the top of the page, she saw a Bible scripture from Galatians 6:9, “Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest.” Amber hoped her harvest wouldn’t be spinach.

The Handy Helpers book series is available at Amazon