This is an excerpt from my new children’s book – I Wonder If She Remembers?

Purity was putting the family groceries away.  She was angry though as she’d had another argument with her stepfather. And she knew her mother would only take HIS side.  Purity felt completely alone. She slammed the groceries down onto the table and tried organizing them into groups – stuff for the refridgerator, stuff for the pantry, stuff for the bathroom…She pulled the sugar packets out of the bag so hard though that hundreds of them flew out and all over the floor. She was obliged to get down onto the floor and pick them up.  As she did, she noticed how one group of sugar packets had oddly found its way into the shape of a heart.

At that moment, Purity remembered her aunt and how she’d taken her out to dinner when she was younger. While they waited for their food, they’d play with the sugar packets – fashioning the little squares into different designs and then making the other person guess what the design was. They found themselves giggling together often over this silly game they played to amuse themselves as they waited for their food to come.  “Those were good times. I wonder if she remembers doing that?” Purity asked herself.  She grabbed one of the sugar packets and slipped it into her pocket. Her aunt had committed something called a “felony.”  She had been in the county jail for almost three years. Because of this, Purity was not allowed to look at pictures or receive any communication from her aunt.  But, this sugar packet would not arouse the suspicion of her protective parents.  They wouldn’t even know what it meant.  To Purity, it would be a quiet reminder of her aunt’s unending love for her and some of their good times they shared together.