Today, we celebrate girls and young women everywhere; their resilience, their determination, and the hope they represent.<\/p>\n
Therefore, I post here an excerpt of my short story \u00ab\u00a0A Treat\u00a0\u00bb, starring 7-year-old Naya:<\/p>\n
… A passer-by got too close to Naya and shoved her onto her hands and knees, the purse she had omitted to secure shut spilling its contents onto the well-traveled pavement. Tears sprang into Naya\u2019s eyes, less for the pain of the tiny stones that lodged themselves into her right knee than for the lost money she desperately tried to gather up between people\u2019s feet.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOh, you\u2019re such a klutz,\u201d Naya heard from up behind her, both relieved and terribly disappointed to hear her sister\u2019s voice.<\/span><\/p>\n She picked up the last stray dime she spotted and began counting her coins again.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTie your shoe,\u201d Midge commanded.<\/span><\/p>\n Used to obeying her big sister, Naya tossed her money back into her purse, made sure it was fastened, and bent over to knot the shoelace that never managed to stay tied. She then wiped her hands on her shorts and stood up, ready to surprise Midge with her offer of ice cream.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOk, let\u2019s go,\u201d snapped Midge, indelicately grabbing Naya by the arm.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut\u2026\u201d spluttered Naya. \u201cIce cream\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cForget it. I\u2019m not standing in a stupid line to get you ice cream. I don\u2019t care what dad said. The deal was, if I take you to the aquarium, I can go to Colin\u2019s cottage with his family next weekend.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Naya\u2019s shoulders sank. She hadn\u2019t heard of any \u201cdeal\u201d. She suspected her father hadn\u2019t meant her to find out, either.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to buy you ice cream\u2026\u201d she replied, barely audibly over the swarm of happy families around them.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou want to buy me ice cream? Yeah, right,\u201d Midge laughed, readily dismissing her sister\u2019s generosity before reconsidering. \u201cDo you have enough money?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI have four dollars and forty-two cents. I lost one of my pennies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGreat. I\u2019ll have a butterscotch sundae.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Naya grinned, pleased her big sister was allowing her to treat her. They headed for the ice cream stand, Midge as usual bulldozing her way there, leaving Naya to scamper after her. As they stood in line, Naya clutched her purse in anticipation at being the one to hand the clerk the payment. …<\/span><\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0A Treat\u00a0\u00bb is part of a short story collection on which I am currently working.<\/p>\n