American Rebirth by Norma Jean Lutz

Author:Norma Jean Lutz
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-60742-754-4
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2006-09-10T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 3

A Friendship Ends

Monday morning came too soon. All day Sunday, Rachel wondered about Janie and Colleen. How long could they stay mad at each other? Neither of them could change what was happening in the streetcar company. But they could play together, just as they had since they were five years old. Rachel had dreaded Monday morning, when she would have to go to school and see Colleen and Janie.

Mama believed in observing the Sabbath. After church on Sunday, she liked the family to spend the afternoon together in quiet activities. Rachel usually read a book. She was in the middle of Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, a Jules Verne novel. Her cousin Miranda had recommended the book to her. But even the fantastic imagination of a science fiction writer like Jules Verne could not distract Rachel. All day she wondered how Janie and Colleen could go from being best friends to enemies. Had they ever really liked each other—the way Rachel liked both of them?

Now Monday morning had come. Rachel and Sam entered the school yard. Rachel was further behind Sam than usual. She had a very small build and short legs, and she nearly always had trouble keeping up with Sam’s long stride. Today she was having even more difficulty keeping up with him. With his book bag over one shoulder, he turned to look at his sister.

“Don’t you feel well, Rachel?” he asked.

“I feel fine,” she muttered.

“You look fine, too,” Sam observed. “But you’re not acting fine. What’s the matter?” “Nothing.”

“I don’t believe that for a minute. You’ve been acting strangely ever since Saturday.” “What do you mean?”

“For one thing, you sat still all the way through church yesterday, even when we sang that hymn that you think has such a funny tune.” Rachel shrugged. “So what?”

“So, I think something’s wrong. Something happened with your friends. That’s when it started.”

Rachel gave in. She knew Sam would keep after her until she told him what was wrong.

“Janie and Colleen had a fight,” Rachel said. “It’s about the unions. They were so mad at each other that they didn’t want to go through recipes.”

Sam glanced across the school yard. “Here comes Janie now. Colleen is right behind her, but they’re not talking to each other.”

“See what I mean? They’ve been best friends since they were little, and now they don’t want to talk to each other.”

“It doesn’t make sense.” Sam sighed.

Rachel shifted her attention to another corner of the school yard. “Who is that new girl over there?”

Sam followed her gaze to a girl Rachel’s age who sat timidly on a bench alone. “Oh, that’s Annalina Borg. Her family just came from Sweden.”

“How do you know them?” Rachel asked.

“Uncle Stanley told me about them. Mr. Borg was looking for a job. Uncle Stanley wanted to hire him, but he doesn’t have any openings right now.”

“So did Mr. Borg find another job?”

Sam shook his head. “I don’t think so. But Uncle Stanley says that Mr. Borg wants Annalina to start right out getting an education.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.