Sisters

By Fran Lewis

We grew up as Marcia and Fran. My sister was beautiful, thin and talented. She has the lead in productions of Broadway Shows in our school. These are true stories. Marcia was a ray of sunshine on a stormy day. She was rare. Never saying a negative word about anyone, always looking for the positive in people. No matter how difficult the problem, she figured out the solution. Sometimes the solution would make you smile and other times double over laughing. This is. A collection of stories to remind young people that sisters are best friends forever.
Fran

• Language: English
• Publisher: World Castle Publishing, LLC
• Release date: Aug 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781951642969

Fran Lewis

Fran Lewis: Fran worked in the NYC Public Schools as the Reading and Writing Staff Developer for over 36 years. She has three masters degrees and a PD in Supervision and Administration. Currently, she is a member of Who's Who of America's Teachers and Who's Who of America's Executives from Cambridge. In addition, she is the author of three children's books and a fourth that has just been published on Alzheimer's disease in order to honor her mom and help create more awareness for a cure. The title of my new Alzheimer’s book is Memories are Precious: Alzheimer’s Journey; Ruth’s storyShe was the musical director for shows in her school and ran the school's newspaper. Fran writes reviews for authors upon request and for several other sites. You can read some of my reviews on Ezine.com and on ijustfinished.com under the name Gabina. I am a member of Whos Who of Americas Teachers and Whos Who of America’s Executives and Professionals on Cambridge. I review books for authors upon request. My goal is to get my books published by a traditional publisher and on the shelves of every school library, hospital and bookstore. I host two radio shows on Blog Talk Radio. Book Discussion with Fran Lewis is on Blog Talk every third Wednesday of the month from three to five eastern. My children’s author’s show is four times a year. I host online book blogs and book tours for authors and I review books for authors throughout the world. I have published six books the last Because We Care in memory of my sister Marcia. The proceeds going to find the cause and cure for Alzheimer’s.

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Sisters

Two Sisters from the Bronx

by

Fran Lewis

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

WCP Logo 7

World Castle Publishing, LLC

Pensacola, Florida

Copyright © Fran Lewis 2020

Smashwords Edition

Paperback ISBN: 9781951642952

eBook ISBN: 9781951642969

First Edition World Castle Publishing, LLC, August 13, 2020

http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com

Smashwords Licensing Notes

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.

Cover: Karen Fuller

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my grandmother, Ruth Swerdloff. She was a very special woman and worked hard all of her life to take care of her four children after my grandfather died. All my life, I was told that I reminded everyone of her in how she looked, acted, and spoke. This book is for her, and for all those children out there who give it their all and always try to be the best they can be.

This book is also dedicated to the memory of my sister, Marcia/Tillie, who passed away some time ago. We had such really fun times and wild experiences growing up that I thought I would share them with everyone. She was funny, headstrong, wild in her own way, and adventurous. I, on the other hand, was quiet and reserved, but dictatorial in nature when necessary. These are all true stories that I hope will make you laugh, cry, cheer for Tillie and Bertha, and want to read more. I am going to write these my way, and not worry about the tenses, the word placements, or anything else. I want to tell this and relate the stories to the reader exactly the way they happened.

Growing up, my sister and I had fun doing many things together. But, like all sisters, we had our moments. I have included some funny stories that really did happen to the real Bertha and Tillie. These are dedicated to my sister Marcia Wallach, my best friend and co-conspirator in everything we ever did and got away with.

I miss you more than words can say.

— Fran

We grew up as Marcia and Fran. My sister was thin, had brown hair that she complained frizzed all the time, and could sing and dance better than most stars on Broadway. My sister was like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. She always brought out the best in everyone, and she never frowned. She had a sunny personality and a wonderful mind. No matter what the situation, she managed to figure out what to do. Sometimes the solutions were great, and at other times comical. Here are some funny, true stories that Marcia/Tillie and Fran/Bertha would love to share with you.

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Bertha

Hi to my young readers, from Fran Lewis, the author of Bertha. Welcome to her wonderful world! Before writing these short stories, I was a New York City teacher for over thirty years. I taught grades one through six, as well as becoming the Reading and Writing Staff Developer for my school. Teaching children to read was really very rewarding, and introducing them to writing and creating their own stories was exciting for the students and me as well.

Growing up can be really difficult when you are overweight or not really good at sports or dancing. I hope that by reading my stories, you will learn that you can be anything you want to be, and no one can stop you from reaching your goals and dreams. Not everyone is born athletic, beautiful, thin, and a genius. But every one of you is smart or excellent at something, whether it is drawing, jump rope, or even running track—it does not matter. Who you are makes you special. I hope that you enjoy reading about Bertha and Tillie and learn that there is a little bit of Bertha in everyone.

Love, Fran and Bertha

Summary

Bertha is now in middle school in the Bronx. Middle school has been quite an adjustment for Bertha, and she really is struggling to make friends, deal with her teachers, and make the right decisions when dealing with peer pressure. Faced with many students who do not follow the rules of discipline in school, have really bad habits, and get in trouble for fighting and many other things, Bertha must decide what course is right for her. Deciding between popularity and being in the in group, and sticking to who she is causing her to have many inner conflicts. Left to make the right choices without asking anyone for help makes Bertha ripe for disaster.

Does she make the right decisions? Only time will tell. I will leave the final outcomes to you, my readers. What do you think Bertha should do at the end of each story? Please voice your opinion and help her decide what the right thing is for her.

E-mail her at [e-mail] to have your voice heard. Bertha is just finding her inner voice and starting to express her opinions more and really take some risks. What do you think? Let her know, and she will try to answer your e-mails if they are respectful.

Love,

Fran and Bertha

These stories were written individually to share my experiences growing up in the South Bronx with my sister. I am going to create these stories in chronological order as diary entries since we wrote them together and is would map out our experiences when they happened. Be aware that we grew up without cell phones, we only had a word processor, and could not afford every modern convenience. But we had the love of family and friends. The stories are written in the first person.

Are We There Yet?

July: 1960

I hate riding in a car, especially in the back. Why do I hate riding in a car, you ask? I get, and have always gotten, car sick. Not only do I get car sick, but the poor person sitting next to me has to hope that I have a good aim when I finally do get sick and spill my guts all over the inside and outside of the car. I have told my parents and my sister, Tillie, that I have to sit in the front of the car, or at least next to a window, but who listens to me? I tell them that I should not eat anything before traveling for long periods of time, but no one hears me until it is too late.

It all starts every year when we go to the country for summer vacation. This time, we piled into my dad’s car and were headed for April’s Sunrise Cottages in Monticello. The first half-hour was fine; we played word games, sang songs, and counted how many cows and horses we spotted along the way. When we had traveled for about an hour, my dad decided to stop at the Red Apple Rest for lunch. I told my parents that I was beginning to feel nauseous and should not really eat a lot, but he said that it might take until dinner time to get to our destination, and he knew how much I liked to eat. I liked to eat, but I really didn’t want my lunch to be a car decoration for everyone to see when we arrived at our summer home. I really didn’t need my cousins to start laughing at me when they saw my lunch all over the outside of my dad’s car. But this happened all the time, and no one ever listened to me.

So I ate lunch and dessert, just to teach them and everyone else in the car a really good lesson. Listen to Bertha when she says that she should eat lightly before traveling, or pay the consequences. After eating a grilled cheese sandwich and fries—my favorite lunch—I ate a salty pretzel and washed it down with a chocolate egg cream. I bought some Milky Way bars to keep me happy during the rest of the trip. My parents had asked for it, and they would surely get it for not listening to me.

After lunch, we all piled back into my dad’s car, and I asked my sister, Tillie, and my cousin, Annie, to let me sit near a window, and they would not. I sat squashed in the middle between my skinny sister and my not so skinny cousin. Although she was not as heavy as I am, at 160 pounds, she was no lightweight either. This made it doubly hard for me to get any air in the back of the car, even though they opened the tiny rear window.

After riding for about fifteen minutes, I told my dad that if he did not stop really soon, the back of his car would be covered with my lunch, and so would everyone back there. He told me there was not a shoulder on the road, and he could not waste time stopping and that I should just take some deep breaths, and I would be fine. Not really. I could not help what happened next.

My sister, Tillie, was sitting next to me on the right, and I leaned over her to get to the window to try and poke my head out in order to get some air. But I missed. I threw