Taneesha Never Disparaging

  “That’s okay. I get in bad moods, too, sometimes.”

  “Yeah. Me too,” said Carli.

  The girl looked at us. And that was it. I could see just who she was.

  “Uh…my name’s…my name’s Jewel.”

  I smiled so wide that the crisp air hurt my stretching face. But I didn’t mind at all.

  “I’m Taneesha.”

  “And I’m Carli.” She was all teeth, too.

  Just then, Mama’s minivan zoomed to a stop along the curb. Mr. Flanagan’s green car pulled up fast behind her.

  Windows slid down.

  “Taneesha, you all right?!”

  I heard a solid promise in Mama’s worried voice: “If you got a problem, I got your back.”

  “Is everything okay, Carli?” dittoed Mr. Flanagan.

  “We’re fine!” I stood there cheesing like a girl in a Colgate commercial.

  All of a sudden, out pops Mr. Sun, sailing from behind a cloud and scattering shimmery beads of light on the falling snowflakes. I felt warm from the inside out and the whole world shined especially for me.

  I smiled at Carli and Jewel. Then I turned and waved at Mama and Mr. Flanagan and said, “Thanks! We’ll see you at home!”

  I was ready to burst I was so excited. It was a Friday and I had a guest to bring to Ontario Hospital! Exactly four weeks ago, I’d given my famous Take Your Child To Work Day report at school. And guess what? I got a standing O! In fact, because of my report, 509 put together group projects on diabetes prevention—keeping kids from getting diabetes. We presented it to the whole school, too! My mother was our guest speaker. Thank you very much, Officer HP.

  That Friday, four weeks ago, also happened to be the first day Carli and I volunteered as official story readers for kids at Ontario Hospital. Since then, every Friday, we’d been walking to the hospital after school.

  Today, I led the guest through Ontario’s hallways. I never knew how many children would be waiting for me from one week to the next.

  The guest and I walked into the large children’s room. With all beds filled, six little faces stared up at us—four boys and two girls. Carli was already there, sitting in a chair in front of the children.

  “Hi, boys and girls,” I said, waving.

  The kids waved and Hi-ed back.

  “Shantay, you know me already. But everybody else, I’m Taneesha. I read books here with Carli.”

  I opened my hand palm up toward the visitor the way game-show models do on TV when they’re showing off the grand prize. “And this is a good friend of ours. She’s going to read with us today. And guess what? She has diabetes just like you. Everybody, say hi to Jewel.”

  I pressed my hands together and bowed to Jewel—Japanese-style, the way Natsuko bows. The way Daisaku Ikeda bows. And for just a second—a second like eternity, like forever—I thought I heard Bodhisattva Never Disparaging.

  I heard that guy clapping, giving me a standing O.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I deeply thank the following people for helping Taneesha Never Disparaging become a reality: Josh Bartok, Laura Cunningham, Joe Evans, Tony Lulek, and everyone at Wisdom Publications, for believing in Taneesha and warmly welcoming her onto their list; writers Rhenee McGraw-Harris and Christine Taylor-Butler, for providing honest and essential feedback; the staff, faculty, and participants of the Highlights Foundation 2006 writers’ workshop in Chautauqua, New York, with special thanks to Rich Wallace and Jerry Spinelli, for their affirmations and perfect tweaking advice; editor Eileen Robinson of F1rstPages.com, whose caring, thorough, and frank expertise enabled me to dig deeper and go further; Regina Brooks of SerendipityLit.com, the best agent I never had, for a critique that was like good medicine—hard to take but effective; Kathleen Bernetich, for lovingly igniting my writing career; Mayumi Rindflesch, for sharing Haru Jenkins’s story; Haru Jenkins, for living, remembering, and telling the history that became Natsuko’s memories (although Haru dresses up more than Natsuko, and her hair isn’t orange, she does look like a girl when she smiles); Linda Johnson, for the “never be defeated” encouragement that gave rise to Evella; the staff of the Cleveland Clinic’s Huron Hospital Lennon Diabetes Center in East Cleveland, for patiently answering my medical questions; my family members and friends, for endless love and support; and Daisaku Ikeda, for being my Sensei.

  Excerpts from The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Volume I appear courtesy of the publisher, Soka Gakkai (The Gosho Translation Committee, Translator, Tokyo, 2000). The quotations are from the following writings: “Reply to Kyo’o”; “On Attaining Buddhahood in this Lifetime”; “Letter to the Sage Nichimyo”; and “Letter from Sado.” The actual sentence from “Letter from Sado” reads: “Those who belittled and cursed Never Disparaging acted that way at first, but later they took faith in his teachings and willingly became his followers.”

  The real title of the book of poetry that is mentioned in this story is Fighting for Peace—Poems by Daisaku Ikeda (Andrew Gebert, Translator, Dunhill Publishing, CA, 2004).

  Excerpts from the poem “Peace and Happiness for All!—A Prayer for Lasting World Peace” by Daisaku Ikeda appear in Taneesha Never Disparaging courtesy of the Soka Gakkai. The poem originally appeared in the April 8, 2003, issue of the Seikyo Shimbun, the Soka Gakkai daily newspaper in Japan.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  M. LAVORA PERRY’S words have been tucked inside envelops and mailed around the world because she used to write greeting cards. She’s the coauthor of Teen Sister’s Health—A Body, Mind, & Spirit Wellness Guide for Girls of Color and she’s working on her second novel for young people, Hidden Jewel. Ms. Perry likes reading, writing, watermelon, and riding her purple bike as much as Taneesha likes her magenta one. She lives with her husband and three children in Ohio. Visit her website at mlavoraperry.com.

  ABOUT WISDOM PUBLICATIONS

  Wisdom Publications, a nonprofit publisher, is dedicated to making available authentic works relating to Buddhism for the benefit of all.

  To learn more about Wisdom, or to browse books online, visit our website at www.wisdompubs.org.

  You may request a copy of our catalog online or by writing to this address:

  Wisdom Publications

  199 Elm Street

  Somerville, Massachusetts 02144 USA

  Telephone: 617-776-7416

  Fax: 617-776-7841

  Email: [email protected]

  www.wisdompubs.org

  THE WISDOM TRUST

  As a nonprofit publisher, Wisdom is dedicated to the publication of Dharma books for the benefit of all sentient beings and dependent upon the kindness and generosity of sponsors in order to do so. If you would like to make a donation to Wisdom, you may do so through our website or our Somerville office. If you would like to help sponsor the publication of a book, please write or email us at the address above.

  Thank you.

  Wisdom is a nonprofit, charitable 501(c)(3) organization affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT).

  Wisdom Publications

  199 Elm Street

  Somerville MA 02144 USA

  www.wisdompubs.org

  © 2008 M. LaVora Perry

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system or technologies now known or later developed, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Perry, M. LaVora.

  Taneesha Never Disparaging / by M. LaVora Perry.

  p. cm.

  Summary: Teased and tormented because of her choice of friends, her Buddhist reli-

  gion, and her lackluster campaign for class president, Taneesha’s fifth-grade school

  year proves to be disappointing until she learns to make peace with herself and

  those around her.

&nb
sp; eISBN : 978-0-861-71778-1

  [1. Buddhism—Fiction. 2. Bullies—Fiction. 3. Schools—Fiction. 4. African

  Americans—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.P4353Tan 2008

  [Fic]—dc22

  2008016710

  Wisdom Publications’ books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the

  guidelines for permanence and durability of the Production Guidelines for

  Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.