Girl on the Other Side (14 page)
“Tabby? Are you okay?”
Before I know what's happening, she's sliding the bracelet off her wrist and holding it out to me. Her eyes look wet.
“Here, Lora ⦠I'd like you to have it.”
“W-what?” I sputter, taking a small step back.
Is she
crazy?
“I ⦠I can't take your bracelet!”
She shakes it at me.
“Yes, you can. For a long time, I thought I needed it ⦠but I really don't. I'm ready for a fresh start. You and your father saved my life and Nanny Beth's. It's the least I can do to say thank you.”
“No ⦠I'm sorry, but I can't accept it,” I say, shaking my head.
Tabby takes a deep breath and reaches for my hand. When she speaks again her voice is so quiet, I can barely hear it over the sound of my pounding heart.
“Lora, I've stood back and watched you get bullied our whole lives. I probably could have stopped it ⦠but I didn't. My grandma lived in the shadow of the biggest bully that ever lived. This bracelet got her through it.” She presses the string of pearls into my hand and forces my fingers closed around it.
“I
know
she'd want me to give it to you. There's not even a trace of doubt in my mind. Please, Lora â it's yours now. I hope things start to go better for you.”
And with that, she gives me a quick hug and walks away.
I look down at the bracelet in my hands. Is it real? The pearls are deep and shiny and the little diamonds on the clasp sparkle under the fluorescent lights of the school hall. My heart rises in my throat. I can barely draw a breath. How old is it if it had been hidden from the Nazis?
I hold the bracelet up to my face and peer at it until I can see the rounded reflection of my freckles and red hair in the shining surface of the pearls.
Tears sting my eyes.
Oh God!
It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life.
by Tabby Freeman
you started out p¡nk but then turned blue
when the b¡g, black sp¡der came crawl¡ng for you
but he brought wh¡te l¡ght w¡th h¡s saffron songs
to the grey underground where no person belongs
¡n t¡me, blue bru¡sed to purple and then back to p¡nk
but was Rose ever restored?
what do you th¡nk?
A poem by Lora Froggett
Shadows, shadows, darkened cloud,
Falling over like a shroud,
running through my dreams at night,
casting, creeping, spreading fright.
When the storm has come and gone,
the clouds persist straight through the dawn,
relentlessly they're pushing me,
blindly to my destiny.
Shadows, shadows all around,
pursuing me without a sound,
tracing steps and haunting flight,
heavy, stealing life's delight,
... growing each and every day,
everywhere and every way.
Should I resist and stand to fight,
I'll rise from shadows to the light.
Then the darkness will recede,
and my spirit will be freed.
This book wouldn't exist without the generous help of some very wonderful people. I would like to thank: Jordan Kerbel for propping me up, holding my hand, and always making me laugh; Jonah and Dahlia Kerbel for putting up with a few too many rushed dinners so I could squeeze in a bit of writing time; Shirley Pape, for inspiring me so profoundly with her strength and determination; Gordon Pape for his unconditional support of my writing (even when he doesn't particularly like what I'm writing about); Shirley Garfinkle for bravely volunteering to read the really rough drafts; Kim Pape-Green for her enthusiasm and exhausting nitpickiness; Kendra Pape-Green, for helping me nail down plot details; Sharon Arluck for her poetic finesse; Marina Cohen, for being a wonderful writing buddy (and offering me the use of her “forward instead of reply” anecdote); Dr. Francine Gerstein, my dear friend and medical fact-checker; Shelley Saunders-Greer, for giving this manuscript such a thorough once-over; Marsha Skrypuch and her Summer Writing Workshop; my tireless agent Margaret Hart for going through all the deets with her fine-tooth comb; Compuserve's Kidcrit literary forum for their eagle-eyed appraisals; and the Ontario Arts Council for supporting “starving artists” like myself through the Writers' Reserve Program.
Last but not least, I'd like to thank the incredibly hard-working team at Dundurn Press for believing in my words and transforming my stories into beautiful books.
Also by Deborah Kerbel
Mackenzie, Lost and Found
978-155002-852-2
$12.99
Nothing prepares fifteen-year-old Mackenzie Hill for the bombshell announcement that her and her dad, alone since the death of her mother a year ago, are moving to Jerusalem. The adjustment from life in Canada to life in Israel is dramatic, though it's eased somewhat by a new friend at school. But the biggest shock of all comes when Mackenzie faces the wrath of her new friends, new community, and even her own father after she begins dating a Muslim boy.
Other Novels for Young People from Dundurn
Snakes & Ladders
by Shaun Smith
978-1-55002-840-9 / $12.99
For as long as thirteen-year-old Paige Morrow can remember, the tree fort in the giant oak near her cottage in Ontario's Muskoka has been her sanctuary. Now everything is changing. She becomes concerned when the farmer who owns the property hires a creepy arborist. When Paige befriends the arborist's troubled teenage daughter and her group of rowdy locals, she is pulled into a maze of dark secrets and shocking truths that leads to a life-and-death confrontation.
Ghost Ride
by Marina Cohen
978-1-55488-438-4 / $12.99
Sam McLean is less than thrilled with the prospect of moving to the northern fringe of a small town called Ringwood. A nobody at his old school, fourteen-year-old Sam is desperate to be accepted by the cool kids and latches on to Cody Barns, aka Maniac. When Sam reluctantly joins Cody and his sidekick on their midnight ghost riding, a practice in which the driver and passenger climb onto the hood of their moving car and dance, something goes terribly wrong. As Sam struggles with his conscience, a haunting question remains: Who else knows the truth?
Available at your favourite bookseller.
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