Remembering Sunny

By Dawn Colclasure

Jeanie and Mara are two cousins who grow up together and share a dream of opening their own animal shelter one day. But that dream is put on hold when, at 18, Mara announces she is pregnant and that she's going to marry her boyfriend, Drake Preston. Jeanie knows Drake is bad news, but supports her cousin all the same. After Sunny is born, Mara c

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gypsy Shadow Publishing
• Release date: Aug 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781619506527

Dawn Colclasure

Dawn Colclasure is the author of five books, among them BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL: How We Survive as Writing Parents and 365 TIPS FOR WRITERS: Inspiration, Writing Prompts and Beat The Block Tips to Turbo Charge Your Creativity. Her articles, essays, poems, book reviews and short stories have been published in regional and national newspapers and magazines, as well as online. She lives and writes in Oregon with her husband and children.

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Contents

Copyright Page

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

About the Author

Remembering Sunny

by

Dawn Colclasure

All rights reserved

Copyright © March 9, 2021, Dawn Michele Wilson (Colclasure)

Cover Art Copyright © 2021, Charlotte Holley

Cover photo from Pixabay.com

Gypsy Shadow Publishing, LLC.

Lockhart, TX

www.gypsyshadow.com

Names, characters, and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

No part of this book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and email, without prior written permission from Gypsy Shadow Publishing, LLC.

ISBN: 978-1-61950-652-7

Published in the United States of America

First eBook Edition: May 5, 2021

Dedication

This story is dedicated to the children and teens who have lost their lives to gun neglect or gun violence. You will always be in our hearts.

Chapter 1

I remember what it was like growing up with my cousin Mara. She and her mom and dad, my aunt and uncle, lived right next door to my mom and dad. So of course we were outside playing every day. Or, if the weather were bad, like it was a lot of times in that part of Illinois, we’d play inside or watch TV. There were many times we took turns spending the night at each other’s house or camping in the backyard of one of the houses.

My cousin and I were so close. It was almost like we were sisters. We were next door neighbors since we were toddlers so of course we ended up going to the same schools and getting the same kinds of jobs.

We were so close that it seemed like we could only hang out with each other and not get along with the other kids in the neighborhood very well. I remember the time Mara wanted to play with me on a day I was grounded and my parents wouldn’t let me go outside to play. Despondent, she wandered off and tried to play with a couple of kids across the street, who were on the front lawn tossing around a football. We knew these kids because we saw them all the time. Their names were Tony and Brian and they were about 10 and 12 years old. They always played together in Tony’s front yard. Mara and I never really hung out with them—like I said, we just hung out with each other—but now she wanted somebody else to play with and I guess she thought Tony and Brian would allow her to join them. I watched the whole thing go down at the big living room window.

Go away! Tony yelled at her, after she had asked if she could play with them. You’re a girl.

Yeah! Girls don’t play football! Brian hollered at her in agreement. I guess because he wanted to take after his older