Sneak preview of “Like a snowflake in summer”
CHAPTER ONE
Truckload of Trouble
It started out like a normal day the year Andy was twelve. He got up at 6:30 that morning and made his way down to the kitchen.
“Morning honey.” His mother set a bowl of cereal down. “Milk’s on the table.”
“Morning,” he said, sliding into his seat and reaching for the gallon container. “You gotta leave today, Dad?”
His father nodded. A semi driver for all of Andy’s life, he often didn’t come home for weeks. “Yeah. I’ve been thinking about you going over the road with me. How about when school lets out?”
“Really?” Andy grinned huge and nearly overflowed his bowl with milk. He set the gallon down. “You mean it?”
His father smiled, eyes sparkling. “I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t mean it, kiddo. We’ll be doing New York in two weeks, thought you’d get a kick out of seeing the big city. What do you say?”
“Oh yeah!” He bounced in his chair, eager to share the news and make his friends envious.
His mother leaned a hip against the counter and sipped coffee from a chipped mug. “Better not forget to do your chores or you won’t be able to go.”
No way would he forget. “Can I bring the camera I got for Christmas? Take pictures to show everyone?”
His dad stood, the chair scraping back from the table. He ruffled Andy’s hair, like he was still just a baby, and said, “You betcha. I gotta head out now, but we’ll talk more when I call tomorrow.”
“Cool!” Andy could hardly eat his breakfast. For three years he’d been bugging his dad to let him ride along, but there was always school, or something coming up. He smiled as he watched his parents kiss and his father leave the house.
The rest of the morning passed in a haze of excitement. He missed his dad an awful lot when he was gone, which was most of the time. Maybe if he helped a bunch and didn’t get on his dad’s nerves, he could spend most of the summer out on the road with him. By the time he got home from school, he’d already planned what he wanted to pack.
He was three feet inside the door before he noticed the house was dark, quiet, the drapes closed. Not even the kitchen light was on.
“Mom?” he called tentatively and threw his backpack on a chair. No one answered. “Mom?”
“I’m here.” |
