Dancing in September

By Donna Copeland and Sir Rodeheaver

Our story begins on the tail end of a tragedy and is about a boy on the journey of fulfilling his purpose in life. Follow along as Ryan encounters individuals from all walks of life; a bitter old man, a mother who has seen a lot of pain, a hopeless young gang-banger, as well as a plane of lost souls. With the guidance of his grandmother, Ryan embraces his calling and in doing so, opens the eyes and hearts of the world around him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514408421

Donna Copeland

Sir Rodeheaver Grew up as a child actor. Divorced parents moving several times in the L.A. area, helped with caring of my siblings, 3 sisters, my maternal grandmother had a big influence in my up bringing, life wasn't always easy, but my grandmothers influence to always put God first. I keep my faith and currently studying to be a pastor. Donna Copeland Donna Copeland grew up in a large family, with 8 siblings and lots of cousins. Raised with Southern roots and good ol’ fashioned hospitality, Donna is all about family. Donna is married with 4 beautiful grown children and 10 grandchildren. Donna gleaned life’s valuable lessons from her mother, Bonnie and her father, Brooks. Donna and her mother were very close until her mother passed in 2003. Having been raised in such a large family, Donna has many life experiences and stories that she incorporates into her books. As you dive into her stories, you swim through those very life experiences and stories that Donna encountered.

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Copyright © 2015 by Donna Copeland.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 11/10/2015

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Contents

Chapter 1 God Forgot All About Me

Chapter 2 Where Do We Go from Here?

Chapter 3 Chicken Camp

Chapter 4 Tattooed Tears

Chapter 5 The Mustard Seed

Chapter 6 Sing with Me

Chapter 7 Where’s the Boy?

Chapter 8 Forgiven

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Chapter 1

God Forgot All About Me

Hello, my name is Ryan. I play on the basketball team here at Rosemont High School. Well, I did up until I started getting in trouble. My parents got divorced, my brother got ill, and it all started going downhill from there. Here’s my story.

It was late September. The leaves were just starting to turn orange and autumn was officially here. The morning dew glistened on the leaves; you could smell wood burning from fireplaces in the neighborhood. Halloween was right around the corner. It was finally fall!

In a room at the back of the office at Rosemont High sat Miss Betty and Miss Bonnie trying to decide how they should reprimand Ryan for his rebellious behavior and disrespect at school and to his family.

Miss Betty, what are we going to do with Ryan? That boy just keeps making the same mistakes over and over again. I’m not sure what direction we should go with this one.

Well, Bonnie, said Betty, I have been thinking about this one. He is a very talented young man with a lot of energy and very little direction. I was thinking, if we can get him to channel that energy into doing something good instead of focusing on his friends and getting into mischief, we just might save his soul from the inevitable.

Betty, you are exactly right! I was thinking that exact same thing.

Together they exclaimed, Christian Camp!

Then Christian camp it is! said Bonnie.

Okay it’s settled then, I will go call him. Do you want to grab the paperwork, and we can get it started?

Betty opened the door. Ryan, come in here please. She walked down the hall. Ryan? she called out again. There he sat, backwards in a chair by the main office door, staring out the window, deep in thought, wondering what his friends were doing at this moment and what mischief he might be missing out on. Ryan? Ryan? Can you come back here please?

Ryan just knew this couldn’t be good. It only took them what seemed like a couple of minutes to decide on his punishment. He got a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. He had no idea what was in store for him, it was an uneasy feeling. I’m coming! I’m coming, Miss Betty. As he jumped up in a hurry, he dropped his backpack and everything in it. He grabbed all his things and just starting cramming it into his backpack.

See, Bonnie, that boy is always in a rush, rush, rush. He needs to slow down and focus. Betty shook her head in disappointment. I think we got our hands full with this one, Bonnie. I don’t think he’s going to be very happy with our decision, but we both know this is the best thing for him. I just hope he understands that we are doing this for his own good.

Ryan finished shoving everything into his backpack, jumped up and started towards the hall. He couldn’t help but wonder what Betty and Bonnie had in store for him. Maybe they will suspend me for a day or so, he thought to himself, or give me detention, either way my parents aren’t going to be too happy with me.

In through the main doors walked Officer Bently and his partner, Louis. With his mind