Meredith broke the silence. “Well, Matthew, that was embarrassing.”
Helen walked to the front. “Meredith, Matthew came here to help us, and we all, including myself, have pushed and pulled him in every direction. The one thing no one has let him do is his job.”
“And so …?” Meredith asked.
“Can you give him another chance?” I surprised myself by asking.
The room went silent, and I wondered into the quiet if Dad deserved another chance, after everything.
Jim cleared his throat, but didn’t say anything.
Andrew stood and caught my eye. “Everyone makes mistakes.”
“Maybe we haven’t given you a fair chance, Matthew,” Meredith said. “I’m willing to give you one more meeting.”
“I’ll give it my best shot.” Dad winked at me, a California kind of wink.
Chapter 27
Starlight
As I stood in front of the class and clicked on the first image in my PowerPoint, the drawing of Ruth stargazing, I had another moment. Pay attention. Notice this. I’d stood here, the first day of school, showing my squat little drawing, and they had mocked me. I’d seen one-toned faces, people to win over. A month and a half later, not much was different between us, but everything was different for me. I was different.
“The definition of the word alive is: Having life: not dead or inanimate. At first, I focused on the second part of the definition, not being dead.”
I clicked again. Higgins chasing his tail. “I kept thinking about hunting, and dead animals, and how wrong that felt to me.”
Next, the picture of Dad with his scrambled eggs. “But when I started drawing examples of my word, I realized being alive is more about having life, about happiness and fun.” I looked up at the image, Mom laughing, so beautiful, the way I wished she could always be.
I clicked one last time, bringing up my last slide, the image I had drawn last night of Helen and Humphrey walking side by side away into the trees.
“Being alive isn’t always easy, though. I think being alive, really having life, means risking hurt. Helen gives her whole heart to her research, even though she knows she will lose bears she loves. Being alive means being willing to trust the people you care about, even though you know they will make mistakes, believing that tomorrow they may be stronger or more reliable, or more truthful than they are today.”
The bell rang. As people left, I realized Frankie hadn’t made any remark at all. Maybe I just hadn’t heard it. Or maybe she’d been warned to be on her best behavior. Or maybe, just maybe, now that hunting season was almost over, things would be different.
“Sadie, you didn’t tell me about the drawing of me!” Ruth rushed up and threw her arms around me.
“I made you another one, too.” I handed her a thank you card. On the front she sat with her cheeks puffed out, blowing into a balloon.
As Ruth studied the image, I grabbed her hand. “Mom’s waiting with the balloons in the car. Dad took Helen and Andrew out for ice cream to get them out of the house.”
We hurried outside, where Higgins wiggled in Mom’s lap. “Here, Sades, hold him. He wants nothing more than to pop as many balloons as he can sink his teeth into.”
The car was stuffed full of garbage bags filled with balloons.
“I owe you, all of you!” I said.
Ruth and I squished in and we sped off to the research cabin. Mom hid the car behind a group of pine trees so we wouldn’t ruin the surprise. We hauled the garbage bags inside and attached Higgins’ leash to the kitchen table. Then we pushed and shoved and wrangled the slippery balloons between the front door and the inside door so the entire mudroom was filled. Trapped inside now, we strung streamers all around the kitchen. I put the card I’d made on the table.
“They’re coming, they’re coming!” Ruth called from the window.
I held Higgins up so he could peek with us out the window. Mom knelt down with us as they all piled out of the Jeep. Ruth grabbed my hand and Mom’s hand as Andrew and Helen stepped onto the front porch.
Andrew turned the doorknob.
Balloons cascaded onto their heads, rolled across the porch and out onto the lawn.
We ran over to the doorway. “Surprise!!”
“We’re celebrating because all the bears are safe!” I said.
Andrew picked a few of the balloons up, and with his very best Andrew smile began pinging them in our direction. Higgins batted at the balloons as they flew over, popping them with his sharp teeth, and Helen ran over to give me a huge hug. Andrew waded through the balloon sea and came into the kitchen. I handed him the card I’d drawn of us watching four sets of claws bury themselves in a snowy den.
We stayed at the research station until dark. After the party had begun to wind down Andrew took us up onto the top deck of the station. The first star of the evening twinkled to life.
“Make a wish,” I said.
“I don’t know what to wish for after being buried in balloons. Isn’t that enough for anyone?”
“Yes,” I said. “YES!”
Mom called up, “Time to go, girls.”
We took Ruth home and then turned toward our own cabin. Mom and Dad argued over whether to play the country station or the classical. I felt another tug. This moment. Mom, feeling good. Laughing with Dad.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
Higgins wiggled in my lap. I couldn’t sit still either. It was finally time for reason one.
“Night, Mom. Dad.”
“Night, Sades.”
I hurried up to my bedroom.
WHY PIPPA REYNOLDS AND SADIE DOUGLAS WILL ALWAYS BE BEST FRIENDS —
REASON 1: WE’LL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR EACH OTHER WHEN THINGS ARE REALLY, REALLY GOOD.
Just one picture this time, a picture of Pippa and me, arms around each other, standing on the beach, taken on our last day together back home. Above the picture she’d written, Happy Adventuring.
“It is an adventure, Pips,” I whispered. “A very, very good adventure.”
THE END
About the Author
NAOMI KINSMAN has always dreamed of plunging into a fictional world, like Lucy does in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. In Naomi’s fi rst career, acting and directing for the theater, this dream was inches from her reach. Writing, however, has made the impossible possible, and now Naomi regularly slips into book worlds and has fanstastical adventures. Naomi shares these adventures through her company, Society of Young Inklings, dedicated to empowering young writers across the country. Naomi lives in Northern California with her husband and identically colored pets: a tuxedo cat and a Portuguese water dog.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Other Books in the Growing Faithgirlz!™ Library
Fiction
From Sadie’s Sketchbook
Shades of Truth (Book One)
Flickering Hope (Book Two)
Sophie’s World Series
Sophie’s World
Sophie’s Secret
Sophie Under Pressure
Sophie Steps Up
Sophie’s First Dance
Sophie’s Stormy Summer
Sophie’s Friendship Fiasco
Sophie and the New Girl
Sophie Flakes Out
Sophie Loves Jimmy
Sophie’s Drama
Sophie Gets Real
The Girls of Harbor View
Girl Power
Rescue Chelsea
Raising Faith
Secret Admirer
The Lucy Series
Lucy Doesn’t Wear Pink (Book One)
Lucy Out of Bounds (Book Two)
Lucy’s Perfect Summer (Book Three)
Lucy Finds Her Way (Book Four)
Boarding School Mysteries
Vanished (Book One)
Betrayed (Book Two)
Burned (Book Three)
Poisoned (Book Four)
Nonfiction<
br />
My Faithgirlz Journal
The Faithgirlz! Handbook
The Faithgirlz! Cookbook
No Boys Allowed
What’s A Girl To Do?
Girlz Rock
Chick Chat
Real Girls of the Bible
Faithgirlz! Whatever!
My Beautiful Daughter
Beauty Lab
Body Talk
Everybody Tells Me to Be Myself,
But I Don’t Know Who I Am
Girl Politics
Bibles
The Faithgirlz! Bible NIV
Faithgirlz! Backpack Bible
Faithgirlz! Bible Studies
Secret Power of Love
Secret Power of Joy
Secret Power of Goodness
Secret Power of Modesty
Check out www.faithgirlz.com
ZONDERKIDZ
Shades of Truth
Copyright © 2011 by Naomi Kinsman Downing
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.
EPub Edition © OCTOMBER 2011 ISBN: 978-0-310-72663-0
This title is also available as a Zondervan ebook.
Visit www.zondervan.com/ebooks.
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zonderkidz, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
* * *
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Downing, Naomi Kinsman, 1977–
Shades of truth / Naomi Kinsman Downing.
p. cm. — (Faithgirlz!) (From Sadie’s sketchbook ; bk. 1)
Summary: When twelve-year-old Sadie has to move away from her home in
California, she wrestles with questions of faith.
ISBN 978-0-310-72662-3 (softcover)
1. Moving, Household — Fiction. 2. Christian life — Fiction. I. Title.
PZ7.D75933Sh 2011
[Fic]—dc23 2011038069
* * *
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.
Zonderkidz is a trademark of Zondervan.
Editor: Kim Childress
Cover design: Cindy Davis
Interior design and composition: Greg Johnson/Textbook Perfect
* * *
11 12 13 14 15 /DCI/ 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Publisher
Founded in 1931, Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Zondervan, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers, is the leading international Christian communications company, producing best-selling Bibles, books, new media products, a growing line of gift products and award-winning children’s products. The world’s largest Bible publisher, Zondervan (www.zondervan.com) holds exclusive publishing rights to the New International Version of the Bible and has distributed more than 150 million copies worldwide. It is also one of the top Christian publishers in the world, selling its award-winning books through Christian retailers, general market bookstores, mass merchandisers, specialty retailers, and the Internet. Zondervan has received a total of 68 Gold Medallion awards for its books, more than any other publisher.
Share Your Thoughts
With the Author: Your comments will be forwarded to the author when you send them to [email protected].
With Zondervan: Submit your review of this book by writing to [email protected].
Free Online Resources at
www.zondervan.com/hello
Zondervan AuthorTracker: Be notified whenever your favorite authors publish new books, go on tour, or post an update about what’s happening in their lives.
Daily Bible Verses and Devotions: Enrich your life with daily Bible verses or devotions that help you start every morning focused on God.
Free Email Publications: Sign up for newsletters on fiction, Christian living, church ministry, parenting, and more.
Zondervan Bible Search: Find and compare Bible passages in a variety of translations at www.zondervanbiblesearch.com.
Other Benefits: Register yourself to receive online benefits like coupons and special offers, or to participate in research.
Shades of Truth Page 13