Beverly Quarter Chapter 5
On Tuesdays, I’m using this newsletter to publish a book 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 this 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 5
The next time Sally saw Beverly Quarter, they were at the park. It was two days after the rain day. “I saw one of the other girls wearing the same shirt you’re wearing now,” Beverly Quarter told Sally. “It looked ugly on that other girl, but it looks great on you.”
They played hide and seek for a while. Beverly Quarter was the greatest hider Sally had ever met. She didn’t understand how she could look behind a bush, find nothing, and a few minutes later, after she gave up, Beverly Quarter would crawl out from behind that same bush. She was a chameleon-ninja in pig tails and electric pink stretch pants. Finally, Sally remembered something. “Hey!” she said. “My mom said you can come over for a play date some time. Do you want to? We’ll have cookies and cakes and pie!”
“That would be great!” Beverly Quarter said. “What day?”
“How about tomorrow?”
All day Sally waited by the door. Beverly Quarter never came over. Sally went to bed sobbing.
When they saw each other at the park the next week, Beverly Quarter apologized profusely. She said her parents wouldn’t let her go. She said she was too tired. She said she overslept. Sally was confused. Which one was it?
“Don’t be mad,” Beverly Quarter said. “You’re my best friend.” Nobody had ever said that to Sally. She was so happy she almost cried.
Sally couldn’t be mad at Beverly Quarter, at least not for very long. This went on a couple more times. Sally would ask Beverly Quarter over, and she would always make some excuse why she couldn’t go. It bothered Sally, but in a way, it didn’t. In a way, it let her keep Beverly Quarter all to herself. She would be crushed if her mom and dad didn’t like Beverly Quarter as much as she did, and part of her didn’t want to take the chance they wouldn’t.