Beautiful Sayers

By Jane McBride

Nine year old Beautiful Sayers wants nothing more than to be liked and accepted, and never stops trying to unlock the secret of finding her way into the hearts of others. Do unto others and love your enemies is what she has been taught, but it doesn't seem to work with her classmates who can't see past her bright red hair and two different colored eyes. She and her faithful dog Colby might just crack the code during one memorable summer in a small village along the banks of the Erie Canal in 1919.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jane McBride
• Release date: Oct 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370056996

Jane McBride

Jane McBride was born in Rochester, New York and grew up in a small town called Medina in Western New York in an old farm house. The house, barn and yard allowed for a constant flow and supply of all kinds of different animals who were cherished and loved to the elderly ends of their long lives. She joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1986 and served a mission to Oregon from 1990-1991. She met her husband during that time and they now live in Taylorsville, UT with their two little boys and a whole bunch of animals. She is the author of A Little Hair of the Dog, Reigning Cats and Dogs, The Cats and the Cradle and Cat's Got His Tongue in The Ann and Henry series, as well as Down Ballantyne Road and Asylum song in the Alice and Porkbelly series.

Book preview

Also by Jane McBride:

The Ann and Henry series:

A Little Hair of the Dog

Reigning Cats and Dogs

The Cats and the Cradle

The Cat's Got His Tongue

The Alice and Porkbelly series:

Down Ballantyne Road

Asylum Song

Beautiful

Sayers

Jane McBride

for Colby,

who started it all

Copyright 2015 Jane McBride

Smashwords edition copyright 2016 Jane McBride

available in print at online retailers

Cover design by Island at SelfPubBookCovers

front piece photograph by Kelly Viterna

Interior sketches by Jerry Elzinga

(Except for the outhouse sketch-I take the blame for that)

All rights reserved.

ISBN-9781370056996

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Thank you to my friends, Kelly and Dave Viterna, and their boys Vinny and Dominic. Colby was their dog. Their love and devotion for him was the inspiration for this story.

Thank you to my father-in-law, Jerry Elzinga, for his amazing artwork on the interior sketches; to my mother-in-law, April Elzinga, for her editing and input on the story; to my own mother, Jean Dunn, who always reads my stuff and loves it no matter what; to my friend, Melanie Burress who reads all my stories for me and tells me what she thinks; to Rachel Joseph for her good eyes; to Jeanie Hayes for her expertise; thank you to A.J. Barbee for letting me use your handsome visage as a base for Beat Sayers.

Thank you to the children who read this for your ideas and input: Amya Hagen, Hiram Hill, Sean McBride and Thomas Hayes.

I would like to send a message to all the bullied boys and girls out there. This book is for you, the ones who feel fat, short, ugly, skinny, stupid, or any of the other mean things that kids say, who seem to try so hard to convince you that you are not important. The message I have for you is that childhood is so very temporary. You may not be able to see it now, but you grow up and so do most of your bullies. Love your enemies, and do to them the way that you want them to do to you. Do this and you will not be sorry. You are beautiful, you are handsome, you are tall enough, you are smart, you are important and you are loved. Don't let them suck the happiness out of you.

Chapter One

Beautiful Sayers was her name. If you're one a them people who can see only with your eyes, you'd say her name didn't match her. But if you're one a them special kinds, who can see with your heart, you'd say it matched her just right.

She was nine years old now, but last year, when she was eight, she looked just the same. She had the curliest, reddest hair you ever saw and her brother Beat said if you switched off the light at  midnight on the darkest night of the year, you'd still see her, on account of her freckles give off their own light. But even with all that, the most striking thing about Beautiful Sayers was that she had one blue eye and one brown eye.

There was no doubt about it, Beautiful Sayers was kind of an odd looking girl. Adults felt sorry for her and the other children in the village stayed away from her when they weren't hassling her. She was just different enough to be scary, but not scary enough to make them leave her alone. She had one friend, Sally Turner. Sally had beautiful blonde hair and two blue eyes to go with it. Sally lived right next door to the Sayers. Beautiful and Sally had been babies together. Sally knew there was nothing to be afraid of with Beautiful, even if she did have those funny eyes.

Now it was the first week of June in 1919 and classes only had a few more days left before the village kids were out for the summer. That last Monday, Sally and Beautiful were trudging down the walk, and Beautiful looked up.

There were only three streets in the whole village, but all three were lined thick with trees on both sides. She loved the huge trees that seemed like soldiers to her, as the trees on one side reached out to the trees on the other, forming archways that protected her. She knew that the trees were her friends, and did everything they could for her. She loved the dirt streets that seemed alive when a buggy went by to kick up the dust. She was thinking glad thoughts as they walked to school, but then  they came upon Adele Porter. She had dropped her books on the narrow sidewalk and was bending to pick them up.

I'll help you, said Beautiful, hurrying forward. She picked up the last book and handed it to Adele with a smile. Adele snatched the book from her and ran away toward the school without a word.

Ma would say bein' polite don't cost nothin', Sally said with disgust. She could have said thank you.

It's all right. You don't always get thanked for the things you do. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do them. Beautiful answered. She's probably in a hurry for some reason.

The school was a three story red brick building with a bell tower. The bell was ringing now and the girls hurried not to be late. When they got inside the front door, they saw Adele  Porter at the bottom of the staircase wiping a book with a wet sponge.

What are you doing that for? Ruth Martin asked her.

That Beautiful Sayers touched it. I don't wanna catch her cootie bugs. My eyes'll turn colors like hers. That's how she got her eyes, you know. Her brother touched her when she was born and she caught his cootie bugs and her eyes turned colors.

Oh, whispered the other girl, who turned and saw Beautiful and Sally. She grabbed Adele by the arm and pulled her into their classroom. No one wanted Beautiful Sayers' cootie bugs.

Beautiful took a moment to absorb what had been said and looked down at her feet.

Don't pay no attention to them, Sally told her. They're so stupid, if we touch them, we'd get their cootie bugs and turn stupid too.

Beautiful tried to smile and put it out of her mind. She always told herself she should be used to it, but it never got any easier. They might want Sally for a friend, but no one wanted Beautiful. Sometimes she could feel Sally drifting away.

At recess that day, Beautiful saw Sally playing tag with Adele and Ruth. Beautiful didn't join them  because she knew