An Excerpt

I've been having some fun working on something new, so you aren't getting a typical blog post today.  Not sure where this is going, but here is an excerpt.  Objective, critical thoughts, anyone?

I looked up Tarrant County in an atlas once. It was during Mrs. Snyder’s social studies class and we were in the library. I was supposed to be writing down the names of the counties in New Hampshire, where we live, but, you could say I took a detour. Maybe you could call it a short-stop, because I stopped at “K” for Kentucky, before I got to “N” for New Hampshire, and there it was, right in the middle of that key-shaped state. Tarrant County. So, at least that part was true. There is a Tarrant County.


That’s as far as I got though, because that sneaky Mrs. Snyder came up behind me. “Melanie Foss, I do not believe that we live in Kentucky. I believe your assignment is to research the State of New Hampshire. So kindly, get to the task at hand.” That’s the way Mrs. Snyder spoke. All clichés and such. She was always saying, “Put your nose to the grindstone” and “Give it your best shot.” If you listen to Miss Russell, clichés are phrases that are used so often they become ordinary. I guess being ordinary didn’t matter much to Mrs. Snyder.

Later on that week though, I went back to the library during free period and took my sweet time looking at Tarrant County on the map. When I was little, eight maybe, I used to drive Mama crazy asking her questions about the beauty pageant. Mama and I are a team of two.  She’s only been saying that for about a million years. But even if we are, it seems to me that the team had to get started somewhere. I mean, I know she grew up in Kentucky.  The thing is, other than telling me about the Honeydew Festival, she never talks about it.

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