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Can I Keep This? | Shook Chapter 13
The end of the year holidays come close as Dyan reaches out to agents to sign her book to a publishing house. Hopefully they’ll be able to ignore or even embrace the fact that she's ten. One day she wakes up with an abundance of emails...
Before bed, Dyan brushed her teeth and ran to Mr. Blue, who was busy typing on his computer.
Dyan nearly crashed into Mr. Blue’s chair. “Can I check the computer for replies!?”
“Hold your horses. I’m pretty sure the agents aren't going to reply in a single afternoon, Dyan.”
“But they might have! Please can I check? Please?” Dyan clasped her hands together under her chin.
“Okay,” said Mr. Blue.
Dyan saw no bubble near the mail app, so Dyan knew no one had replied yet.
“Chin up,” Said Mr. Blue. “You might have to wait a few days for a reply.”
Dyan would just have to take his word for it. She wished that someone would reply soon, and then went off to bed.
****
Dyan’s eyes popped open and she turned to look at the bright white light coming from the window. The clouds were a bright gray signaling morning was here. Dyan had left the computer untouched for five days. That was it! She had waited long enough and was ready to see who had replied. She tumbled downstairs.
Mr. and Mrs. Blue were already downstairs, talking amongst each other in whispers.
“I just can’t find any other foster care agencies that say they know a Dyan,” said Mr. Blue, clutching the side of his forehead as he often did when worried. “You know, besides that one we found in Georgia.”
“We have to keep looking, Cobalt,” Mrs. Blue said back, staring into his eyes, that would not look back at her. “We can’t just give up. Dyan’s future depends on us, and I can’t bear to think of that girl lost or on the streets.” The two immediately grew silent the moment they heard someone tumbling down the stairs.
“I’m going to check emails for agent replies today!” Dyan announced at the foot of the stairs.
Mr. Blue put on a big smile. “Good luck, Dyan!”
“Yeah, you rock, and your book does too!” added Mrs. Blue.
Dyan went to the laptop and opened it up. The mail app on the side had 5 red bubbles on it.
As soon as she read the top five mail slots, she saw they were all written by agents from agencies. Dyan squealed. “There are five emails! All are from agencies!”
“Woah, woah, calm down or you’ll wake the whole house up,” said Mr. Blue, but he did give Dyan two thumbs up.
Dyan closed the laptop again. “I’m going to wait to read them. I want to read them in front of everybody!”
And so Dyan waited, waited and waited, smiling every time she thought about the query letters.
When Maya asked her why she was smiling, she just said “you’ll see after breakfast,” which was a big mistake, because now Maya kept rushing everyone to hurry up and eat breakfast to find out what the surprise was.
But finally, the last pancake was eaten and the last ounce of sweet tea was swallowed. Dyan cleaned her space at the table and brought the laptop there. Her cheeks were so big and round they were beginning to hurt.
“Are you getting adopted?” asked Azure.
“No. How would I be getting adopted if I’m not even in foster care at the moment?” Dyan scrunched up her face.
This made Mr. and Mrs. Blue glance at each other, but none of the children noticed.
Dyan opened the laptop and said, “Earlier this week I emailed agents about my book so they could show it to publishing houses, and some of the agents have written back!” Dyan clicked on the first new email sent and read it aloud. “Dear Dyan, though your book seems very intriguing!”-Dyan’s smiled brightened- “I am sorry to say that we will be passing on your novel-”
Dyan frowned, and felt worse because of the frowning stares around her.
Royal shook her head. “I knew that wasn’t gonna work out the minute I heard ‘though’.
“Well, that’s why there’s a second email, and a third, and a fourth and a fifth.” said Dyan.
But the second email turned out to be a rejection, and the third.
The family started to make a bunch of “oh” and “Aw” noises that made Dyan feel even worse, like she was a poor little loser on display.
“Miss Dyan, your writing is unique, and take into mind that I am only one person with a bunch of book queries on my table and… I don’t need to read anymore.” Dyan clicked off that email. She wiped her watering eyes.
“Another rejection?” asked Maya.
“Yep. There’s only one more publishing house left.” said Dyan.
“Dear Dyan,” Dyan began to read, dreading the rest of the email. “You… are much too young to be writing books!?”
The family gasped and looked around at each other, confused, surprised, or a mixture of both.
“What!? She won’t even read my query because I told her I was 10!” Dyan said. She became more outraged than sad, but the tears still came rolling down her cheeks. Dyan cringed thinking about how fifteen minutes earlier she had been so happy someone would have to wrench the smile off her face.
“That’s ridiculous! Anyone can write a book!” Maya said angrily.
But Dyan wasn’t thinking about that. She was thinking about all the emails she had gotten as a whole. “That means every agent I wrote to has turned me down. They didn’t even tell me what was wrong with my book!” Dyan covered her eyes and started to cry. She took a big breath in, and a wail was let out. She felt a bunch of pats on her back but she shook them away.
Dyan got up and ran to her room to be alone. No one was in there right now so she could cry and cry all she wanted. As she flopped on her bed and soaked her pillow with tears, all she could think about was her book and those rejections. Her book sucked! It was probably so stupid-sounding nobody would even touch it. She wasn’t a good writer after all. She wasn’t even an okay writer! She was horrible!
Eventually, she heard plates and utensils clinking. She heard the gaming console start up. Someone came inside the room and said “just coming to get my sneakers,” and a moment later their footsteps faded away. Through all that, Dyan never lifted her head from the pillow. She stayed in her room, flat on her bed for what felt like an eternity.
When the light got dimmer, Dyan rolled over and stared up at the ceiling. It was white and spotless, untouched by the yellow paint on the walls.
Dyan heard what sounded like a high-pitched, broken whistle. It tooted twice, lowering into a deeper whine at the end.
Dyan turned and saw Bear staring at her. Usually, Dyan couldn’t tell if dogs were sad or happy by just their face, but as she stared at Bear, he looked so sad it was visible from his face. His eyes seemed more slanted and pleading, and his mouth seemed to be drooping more at the sides, as if in a frown.
He laid down on the carpet, his yellow eyes staring down at the floor as he laid still.
They sat in silence in the white glow of winter.
Find out what happens next in the next part!
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Hey there! I’m Shila! I’ve loved books since I could read, and decided I would write books I wanted to see written for others! Check my children’s book Imagination on Amazon!
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