-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 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25
Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28
Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31
Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34
Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37
Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40
Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43
Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46
Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49
Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52
Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55
Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Chapter 58
Chapter Sixty One
It was Christmas Eve at the Schuyler household and the voice of Bing Crosby could be heard throughout the house. Aliyah loved her mother’s Christmas record collection. She was determined to have her own record player and collection when she was older, no matter how out of fashion it became. Her mom had tried out some c.d.’s in the past couple of years but Aliyah vetoed them in favor of the crackly sounds of Julie Andrews, Bing, and Nat King Cole. It was the crackle that did it, she decided, almost like there was a fireplace roaring in the background.
Her cousins, Brit and Holly had come to their house for the holidays and she was having the time of her life. She loved her cousins who she didn’t see often enough since they had moved to Rhode Island when she was six. They were one and two years her senior, and when they were together they were the three musketeers.
At present she was wrapping the last of her gifts, for Dave and Amy, on her bedroom floor.
Holly wandered in. “Aliyah Pia, the hot chocolate’s ready,” she sang.
“Almost done!” She put the last piece of tape on the box and followed Holly downstairs.
They would all be opening presents in the morning, but for now there was only a few gifts under their beautiful, colorful tree. Even though her and her brother hadn’t believed in Santa for years, her mom still insisted on bringing the presents down after they were in bed. Aliyah was glad of it, there was something magical in waking up to presents spilling out from under the sparkling tree. It would be overwhelming this Christmas, what with Holly and Brit’s presents added to the mix.
Brit shuffled over to her, decked out in her rainbow slippers. “You like?” he asked with a silly expression.
“Oh yes, most definitely.”
“Daaad,” Holly was giggling.
Aliyah looked over and there was Uncle Wes in typical fashion wearing a Santa hat covered in sticky bows. He was the silly hat guy, she would always remember him that way. Aunt Joy was getting a kick out of it too, so cute that she still thought he was so funny! She took a number of pictures then followed Aliyah’s mom to the kitchen, the two of them chatting a mile a minute. Whenever they got together they talked and talked.
Aliyah’s dad was fiddling with the new surround sound, an early family gift from his brother who couldn’t be here because he lived in Texas, and they were getting ready to the old black and white version of Scrooge, a Christmas Eve family tradition. Aliyah walked over to him and kissed the top of his head which was just starting to thin out.
“Hey baby,” he said kissing her back.
The doorbell rang and Aliyah ran to answer it for Dave who had been invited to the movie event. He was standing on the porch with a brightly wrapped present in one hand and flowers in the other.
“These are for your mom,” he said about the flowers.
“Oh, she’ll love them, she’s in the kitchen.”
“Hi Mr. Schuyler.”
“Hi David-did.” Her dad was big on nicknames. He opened up his arms for a hug and Dave handed his things to Aliyah. Aliyah’s family was very huggy, especially her dad. He wouldn’t except the one armed hug either, claiming it was not a “real” hug.
She put the present by the tree for the time being and handed the flowers back to him, leading him to the kitchen.
“Oh hi David,” her mom smiled, “these are beautiful, thank you honey.” She gave him a hug and introduced him to Aunt Joy, Brit and Holly as Aliyah’s “Boy” friend, her tone suggesting that she thought it was “cute”.
Her cousins said hello and they decided to go hang out in the guest room before the movie started.
“So you are the famous Brit and Holly,” he stated once they were away from adults.
“Are we famous?” Brit grinned.
“Oh yeah, I’ve heard so many stories I feel like I met you already.”
“We do have some good stories,” Holly agreed.
“Yeah, but when I meet your friends I don’t get “Famous Aliyah”, I get “Aliyah the clutz”.
They all laughed at that.
“Kids, movie time,” Aliyah’s dad called.
“He must’ve figured out that surround sound.”
They settled down on pillows in the middle of the rug, adults always got the sofa and recliners of course.
When the credits rolled Dave got up and brought his present over to her. She told him to hold on and ran up to her room for his.
She had bought him a new ski hat, gloves, and scarf from an expensive alpine store in the mall. The hat was the kind that was ridiculously long with a pom pom on the end.
“Oh yes, I wanted one of these!” he said.
They had apparently been on the same wave length as she also pulled out a new fashionable ski hat, but there was something else, a smaller box wrapped inside. She opened it up to a silver necklace with her name hanging from it in separate charms.
“I love it, thank you!” She gave him a hug.
“Let me see Aliyah,” her mom held out her hand. “Oh that’s lovely, what a thoughtful gift David.”
“Mom, Dave’s dad will be here in an hour, can we all go for a walk?”
“Oh sure honey.”
Dave, Holly, Brit, Ephraim, and herself headed outdoors into the snow. It was still lightly snowing which meant fresh snow for Christmas morning. There was nothing better than that.
Once they were out of range of her house Dave grabbed her hand. Ephraim snickered and she shushed him.
“So how long are you guys up here?” He asked her cousins.
“Until Tuesday.”
“We should all get together at the Parlor on Monday,” he suggested.
“Sounds good to me,” Brit kicked some snow then abruptly dropped down on his back and made a snow angel. They all laughed and followed suit, after which they ended up in a snowball fight which lasted until Dave had to leave.
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