Last night, I was tagged by Heather Davis to participate in the following challenge:
- Go to page 77 of your own book or manuscript.
- Count down seven lines.
- List the seven lines that follow.
- Tag seven friends to do the same.
I decided to give you a taste of the second course book of the “Red Kimono” smorgasbord series. (My friend, Ruth Weeks, predicts there will be eight books, however, I can only think of five at this time.)
The second book is tentatively titled, Broken Dreams. It will continue to follow the lives of Sachi, Nobu, Terrence and Jubie through the years of 1957 to 1963.
Unfortunately, I only have 63 pages written at this time, so I fudged with the rules a bit, and started on Page 7, counted down 7 lines and listed the following 7 lines. This scene takes place in 1957 at Little Rock Central High school. Sachi is watching the Little Rock Nine attempt to enter the school:
Sachi knew how those nine kids felt. She’d been in their shoes when she stepped off the train at the internment camp fifteen years before. Pelted by taunts and threats, their shoulders were hunched as they tried to make themselves smaller somehow. Maybe then the yelling would stop. And their hearts were probably beating so hard and fast they could hear it in their ears—still, the pounding wouldn’t be loud enough to block out the ugly words from the crowd. They had knots in their stomachs, too, not sure if the armed soldiers were there to protect them or shoot them.
Poor Jubie. How did she feel, being one of the only coloreds standing in the crowd of whites?
RED KIMONO ALERT!
The latest information I have is that The Red Kimono will be released the first part of February. I’ll keep you posted!
And the point of the challenge was….????
Perhaps “challenge” was not the best word, Pat. I guess the only “challenge” was to see if I’d do it. Otherwise, the point of the “exercise” is to hopefully “tantalize with tidbits.”
Definitely tantalizing tidbits there Jan. I’m going to post mine soon from Loch Lonnie. Fun stuff!
I can’t wait to read your excerpt, Claire! I love Loch Lonnie!
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Nice fudging, Jan. You’re so clever. We were living in Wichita when the Little Rock episode occurred, but being from Arkansas felt a deep sorrow for such an awful thing to happen here. Not everyone from Arkansas at the time or now is bigoted. It only takes a few to smear mud on all of us.
Thanks, Velda. You’re right that it only takes a few, just as it only takes a few of the voices who will not stand for it to speak up, too.
This excerpt is full of feeling, Jan. And you’re right about the “challenge” part being just doing the thing sometimes!
So true, Madison. I’m challenged with “just doing it” quite often. 🙂
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