-I wrote the following novel nearly two decades ago. In the years between then and now I've honed my craft, and my perception of this world; my thoughts and ideas; have changed dramatically. However, I still enjoy the premise and have decided to do an overhaul of revisions and rewrites, though likely not until sometime next year. (Though I'm sure I'll do a little as I post chapters)
For now I hope you will enjoy a glimpse into my book writing beginnings...
They are the closest of friends though they have never met in waking life.
Prologue-PT1 Prologue-PT2 Chapter 1
Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10
Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13
Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18 Chapter 19
Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Five
They got back to the house and Aunt Jane told Aliyah she would pick her painting up when she went to get the pizza. “In the meantime girls, it’s going to be about an hour before it’s ready so why not walk down to the bay?”
“Sounds good to me!”
They went back outside and headed down the street. Aliyah felt like she could somehow sense the big expanse of water before she could see it. There was something about the air up ahead, or the sky maybe. And then of course there was the smell of salt. She drank that scent in deeply, trying to etch it into her memory.
“I love that smell!” Amy exclaimed. “I’m so excited, I always feel so excited to be here! Especially about tomorrow, because the bay is neat and all but does not compare to the ocean. You can really smell the salt in the air at Smith point, and it makes you feel different somehow.”
“I can see that. Actually, just being on Long Island makes me feel different. I think that anytime your somewhere new you feel somehow different. I can’t explain it very well, but when my parent’s take me on vacation, it’s not just about doing something exciting somewhere that isn’t close to home, it’s something else, something more subtle but powerful than that.”
Amy nodded.“When I used to live here I felt different, of course I was younger, but even now when I start heading here from upstate, about halfway down I feel myself begin to change- back into a Long Islander! I’m serious! My accent starts getting thicker, my thoughts turn away from things at home and think instead about all of the things that are here. And then when I head home from here about halfway up my thinking begins to change again and Olin is my focus!”
Aliyah grinned, “Now that you mention it, your accent is a lot stronger than usual.”
“See, I told you.”
They were quiet for a moment as they came up to the parking lot before the park. There were swings-the good kind with big metal poles and straight black hard plastic seats, the kind where you could get so high that it would be dangerous to fall off. There were three different sized slides, and the big one gave the term high slide new meaning. It had to be twenty feet up!
Teenagers generally considered playgrounds babyish, but she had the irresistible urge to take on that monster slide. She shouted “race ya” over her shoulder to Amy and they dashed over to it pushing each other in jest for first turn.
After they tired of it they headed to the swings.
“You’ll love this,” Amy said, “you have a perfect view of the bay, and the higher you get, the better the view.”
They jumped on and started pumping. The sight was breathtaking.
“Oh, I wish my mom would let us walk down here after the sun sets. Maybe I can get one of my cousin’s to come, with all the lights up and down the pier over there lighting up the water, and then if the stars are out, it’s magnificent to swing.”
“That would be awesome!”
“Maybe they’ll want to go crabbing. Actually, never mind them, I wonder if Mike and Matt are around, I’m sure my mom would let us go if they went! Oh my gosh, that would be so much fun, there’s always a bunch of people out here and they bring radio’s, and of course some of the older one’s party.”
“Mike and Matt, aren’t they the brothers you’ve told me about?”
“Yup.”
“And isn’t Mike the kid you’ve had a crush on your whole entire life?”
“Yup.”
“But you’ve never told him, even over summer vacations when you’ve hung around him for weeks at a time.”
“Of course not! What would be the point, we could hold hands and kiss a couple of times and then I get to go home and cry about him for a whole year until I see him again?”
“Actually, that’s a great idea.”
“Come on.”
“No, I’m perfectly serious. That’s the best kind of romance. You're not together long enough to get sick of each other, and every time you see each other you’re always excited. Plus you can write letters and call.”
“Yeah, but what happens when we write letters and call each other all year, and then when it comes time for me to visit the calls stop because he’s found himself a girlfriend? And then I’m perfectly devastated and heartbroken.”
“Don’t think that far ahead! You're only thirteen it’s not as if you two will get married most likely.”
“Speaking of which, how are things going with Dave,” Amy changed the subject smoothly.
“Fine, I guess. Of course I haven’t seen him since last weekend because his family went camping and I left the day he was coming back so I don’t actually know. Now that you mention it, he could have met someone while he was gone and changed his mind about me completely.”
“Now that would be mature. If that actually happened you wouldn’t be allowed to be sad or cry over it. In fact, you would have to forgive him and stay friends because he is obviously to babyish for you to go out with.”
“True. I doubt it though, I’m pretty sure he likes me quite a bit.”
“So you can go out with Dave, really like him as more than a friend, and still dream of marrying Dark Eyes?”
“Well, yeah. Dark Eyes is for the future, and Dave is only meant to be my middle to high school sweetheart.”
“You tell me not to think a year into the future when you’re thinking ten years in.”
“Ah ha, true, but I’m not letting the fact that Dave and I won’t get married and live happily ever after stop me from giving it a shot.”
Amy frowned. “Point taken. Okay, maybe, if I get an inkling that he might feel the same way, I will say something to him. At least even if I only get one kiss I won’t regret never having tried, right?”
“That’s the way I see it.”
“We should probably start heading back, the pizza should be almost there by the time we arrive. Oooo I can’t wait for pizza!”
“You have this pizza thing built up so much, I’m afraid of being disappointed.”
“Trust me, you won’t be.”
They sped walked back to the house and sure enough Aunt Jane was pulling in just as they walked up the front steps. They went over and helped her with the pizza and sodas and headed inside.
“Your picture is in the trunk dear, it’s beautiful, you have wonderful taste.”
“Oh, thank you so much.” She put the pizza and two liter on the counter, then went back out to retrieve her painting.
“Something smells delicious!” Mrs. Hurnard exclaimed from the living room.
Aliyah brought the picture into the den where she and Amy were going to sleep and leaned it against the wall. She stood for a moment admiring it, then headed downstairs to the dining room to taste “the world’s most awesome pizza.” Cody was still out with his friends and Kiefer had disappeared in the meantime, so it was just the five of them eating.
Aliyah folded up her pizza and grease squeezed out over the sides of the crust. It was so thin that it drooped in the front dripping cheese down her shirt.
She blew on it and took a bite. She saw Amy watching for her response and gave the thumbs up to her while still chewing.
She swallowed and wiped the grease off her mouth. “That is definitely the absolute knock them out of the park best pizza I have ever had! In fact, I don’t know if I can even call what I have been eating all this time pizza after eating this.”
“I told you it’s amazing!”
She ate another piece and sat back in her chair bloated beyond belief. She was destined to gain five pounds before the weekend was up.
After dinner Amy asked her mom if she could call up Mike and Matt and possibly go crabbing down at the pier.
“Well, I don’t know.”She frowned.
Aunt Jane came in, “Oh Mary, let the kids go and have fun.”
“Okay, I guess it’s all right, but only if they both go, we’re not in a country setting here.”
Amy ran to the phone. It turned out that Mike and Matt were thrilled to hear from her, had been planning to go crabbing at the pier with a bunch of friends anyway, and would meet her at her house at 9:30.
Aliyah looked at the clock, wow 8:15 already. Time flies when you’re having fun they say, and whoever They were had it right.
Aliyah and Amy went to the den to change their clothes. The temperature was supposed to get down around 60 degrees with a definite breeze coming off the water which meant jeans and long sleeves territory.
Amy came out in a stunning outfit, obviously a new school clothes outfit. It was a hot red shirt that looked really good with her dark hair and a pair of awesome designer jeans that fit her figure perfectly. Aliyah had also brought some school clothes outfits but with her light hair she looked better in pastels. She chose a soft blue turtleneck with some fitting khaki colored pants. She put her hair back loosely with a hair tie, applied some lip gloss and she was ready.
They both told one another how wonderful they looked and headed downstairs to wait in the den.
It didn’t seem like more than a few minutes later that the doorbell rang. Aliyah answered it and met the two cuties in the flesh, finally.
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