Stronger at the Seams by Shannon Stocker

Author:Shannon Stocker [Stocker, Shannon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blink
Published: 2024-07-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

Seams of Hope

My feet shuffled through the leaves on the wooded path, replaying every detail. The slack-jawed, wide-eyed looks they’d exchanged. The stuttering, ridiculous protests that they hadn’t been talking about me. The laughable claim that they’d been discussing an assignment in English.

It stunk of lies. All of it.

Were they angry with me? Had I done or said something to offend them? Had I somehow let them down? Was Emilia angry I’d made a crack about her superstitions when we were running field hockey drills? Anna had commented that there could be something to Emilia’s superstitions . . . were they both believers now? And if that was the case, did they think that I was the one being stupid for not believing?

I closed my eyes, pressing my fingers into the bridge of my nose like Dad did when he was stressed. The more I thought about it, the crazier I felt. Of course Emilia’s mom couldn’t read my mind. And I honestly didn’t believe she could predict the future.

But did Emilia? And if Emilia believed it . . . could she convince Anna of it too?

No. That couldn’t be it. And besides, they didn’t really look mad. They looked sad. Though if they were sad, why wouldn’t they talk to me about it? I’d talked to them when I was sad about my mom. I’d trusted them with my feelings.

But I knew it to my core. They were hiding something. But what? And why?

None of it made any sense.

As I meandered along the path, lost in thought, a deep, drumming noise caught my attention. I stopped walking and tilted my head, slowly turning to pinpoint the source. A loud, clear series of piping bird calls took my breath away. My eyes darted from tree to tree, finally landing on a dead snag only about six feet away. And there, about halfway up the trunk, was the most glorious bird I’d ever seen.

A pileated woodpecker. And he was staring straight at me.

He was bigger than a bowling pin, with white stripes on his face and neck, and a flaming-red crest and matching mustache. I tried not to breathe, for fear I’d ruin the moment. Our moment. Me, a short, freckled firecracker and this magnificent symbol of . . . of what again? My mother had loved these birds, and even Emilia’s mom regularly talked about their spiritual symbolism. I scoured my memory bank until it hit me: loyalty. They stood for loyalty. Strength.

Determination.

The woodpecker released the tree and swooped overhead, revealing a shock of white underwings. He flew upward in an undulating pattern, until finally disappearing into the woods. Only then did I realize I’d stopped breathing. I stood there, motionless, grateful that he’d revealed himself to me.

“Isn’t he beautiful?” Angela’s voice should have surprised me, but it didn’t. She knelt by the snagged tree, slowly spinning a large maple leaf in her hands. I smiled.

“Did you see him fly right over my head?” I asked. “I can’t believe how close he got!”

Angela didn’t answer, but instead hunched over the bright-red leaf.

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.