Beverly Quarter Chapter 3
On Tuesdays, I’m using this newsletter to publish a book I wrote. It’s called Beverly Quarter: Invisible Frenemy. I have been unsuccessful in trying to sell it to a traditional publisher. But I’m proud of it, and I don’t want it to just sit in my computer forever.
It’s got nothing to do with the rest of the content of this newsletter. I mean, for real: It doesn’t even contain the word burpee. But I think you’ll like it.
I wrote it to make my kids laugh, their friends laugh, and their parents laugh. I’m guessing most of you have kids, or know kids, or were kids, so you’re my target audience. I explain the book’s backstory here.
Give the first chapter a read. If you like it, read it to your kids, their friends, their friends’ parents, random strangers on the street, etc.
I’ll keep publishing the newsletter as usual on Thursdays. This will just be bonus content.
Chapter 3
Sally ran over to the park again the next day right after breakfast. It was crawling with kids. She stopped at the rule board to make sure none of them had changed overnight. She was the only little girl in the world who read the rules at the park, and she read them every day. The rules said no running and she usually followed that one but today she couldn’t help it. She ran from one end of the park to the other, looking around excitedly for Beverly Quarter, but she didn’t see her.
She climbed the stairs to the top of the slide. All of the kids around her groaned. They didn’t know that she knew that they called her “No Slide Sally.” But she knew. And she also knew that they didn’t know that she had conquered this slide.
“I AM NO SLIDE SALLY NO MORE!” she yelled, and jumped right onto the slide without so much as pausing. The kids at the bottom swarmed her with congratulations. She stayed at the park for another hour, going down the slide approximately 427 times. She wondered where Beverly Quarter might be. She thought about going to her house but realized she had no idea where she lived, never mind the fact she wasn’t allowed to go over to kid’s houses without permission anyway.
She didn’t need a rule board to tell her that.
She didn’t even know if Beverly Quarter lived in Whistler’s Chase. Was she new to the neighborhood? Or had Sally just never met her before? Both were entirely possible. There were approximately 87 billion kids living in Whistler’s Chase. Kids came and went all the time.
Eventually, at lunch time, the park was empty, and Sally started to walk home. She got to the sidewalk, 10 feet away from the park, when she heard a voice from on top of the slide. “Hi, Sally! Where are you going?”
Sally turned around. Beverly Quarter had suddenly appeared up there. “I’m not going anywhere!” Sally said. She started to run, remembered she shouldn’t, took a few slow steps, and started sprinting again.
Thirty minutes later, they sat in the dirt at the bottom of the slide. They were still the only ones at the park. Sally’s face hurt from smiling. Almost every word out of Beverly Quarter’s mouth made her laugh.
“What’s your favorite book?” Beverly Quarter asked.
“I don’t know,” Sally said. “I’m not sure I can pick a favorite.”
“Really?” Beverly Quarter said. Her facial expression changed from excitement to concern. “Wait. You know how to read, right?”
“Yeah,” said Sally. “I really love to read books about the history of park rules. I’ve got a three-volume set about the evolution of slide etiquette. My mom says I only like to read rules, recipes and riddles. She calls them the new three Rs.”
She couldn’t believe Beverly Quarter had asked if she could read. And she couldn’t believe her own answer. She never talked about this stuff. “It’s hard. Everybody else likes to read stories but I’ve never figured out how to do that. I don’t know how to enjoy it. I don’t understand.”
Now Sally started crying. This had always bothered her. Her mom and dad loved to read. She knew it bothered them that she didn’t love it. She had no idea why she was telling Beverly Quarter all of this. She hated crying in front of other kids. She had a passing thought that if any other kids overheard this they would call her No Story Sally.
Beverly Quarter didn’t seem to mind that Sally was crying. She even seemed to like it.
“I read the words and I know what they mean, but I always end up getting bored and confused. At least I know after I read the rules I can follow them. After I read a story I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Please don’t tell any of the other kids. They’ll tease me.”
“I won’t tell anyone. Promise!” Beverly Quarter said. She was so nice, Sally thought. “My mom told me to pretend the book is a movie. Whatever the book says, just pretend like you see it.”
“Does that work?”
“Yeah!”
Just then Sally heard her mom’s voice. She looked across the field that separated the park from her house. Her mom was on the back porch. Sally had almost missed lunch. She started walking through the park, and when she reached the boundary, she started running. She got 10 steps and turned around to wave good-bye.
Beverly Quarter had her back turned and seemed to be talking to someone. But there was no one there. And then Sally heard Beverly Quarter yelling. “NO! I don’t want to! She has been really nice to me!”
That’s weird, Sally thought. She started to walk back toward Beverly Quarter but as she did, her mom started yelling at her to get home, now. She turned around and ran home.
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"Invisible Frenemy" is catchy!