Angel in My Backpack

By K. B. Trainor

Susie is ten years old in the fifth grade. She wears glasses, braces, and hates her big ears, but mostly she wants to make the basketball team. On her way to school she falls and breaks her only pair of glasses, and while on her knees, she asks God for help. Right before her eyes a Cherubic angel named Gabby appears who is the size of a cat. Who wouldn’t love their own personal angel? But there is one problem. The angel has a broken wing because she got into a “hit and fly” accident with a seagull on her way to help Susie.

Together, through unexpected, funny mishaps, they help each other all the while learning to deal with the relentless schoolyard bullies mad Mary and lying Lucy on the basketball team. Can Susie score the winning basket and prove the bullies wrong? Or can she find a courageous way to not only save herself but others too?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Nov 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9781982215743

K. B. Trainor

Kathy is retired and living on the beach in a small town north of Boston where she enjoys the beauty of the sunrise on the ocean, the call of the seagulls, the smell of the salt in the air and all the blessings mother nature reveals, daily. She lives with her husband and tabby cat named “Sunny.” She has three grown children that live nearby, two precious granddaughters, and lots of grand nieces and nephews. She can be reached at http://[e-mail]

Book preview

Copyright © 2018 K. B. Trainor.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Balboa Press

A Division of Hay House

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.balboapress.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

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

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9822-1573-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-1574-3 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 11/16/2018

DEDICATION

For my mom, always my beacon of light

And for showing me the greatest gift you can give

And receive in this life is

Forgiveness

CONTENTS

Dedication

Angel Rules

Chapter 1     What Goes Around Comes Around

Chapter 2     Broken in Half

Chapter 3     School Yard Kicks

Chapter 4     Fix it

Chapter 5     Baby Meghan

Chapter 6     Practice Practice

Chapter 7     Tryouts

Chapter 8     Jell-O-time

Chapter 9     Liar Liar

Chapter 10   Flying in Circles

Chapter 11   It’s Only a Game

Chapter 12   Game Time

Chapter 13   Lost and Found

Chapter 14   Flying Again

Chapter 15   Winning Ball

Epilogue

About the Author

Glossary

ANGEL RULES

~ Angels come to help humans to do what is right ~

~ Encourage you to choose the better path that leads to the light~

~ Angels teach you to be Grateful in all circumstances ~

~ Angels can only be seen by the human they are helping ~

~ And of course, babies, animals, birds and stupid ants ~

~ Angels show you how to help the needy ~

~ Angels make it possible to be kind to others ~

~ Angels always want you to open your heart wide to love ~

~ Angels insist that you give hugs daily ~

~ Angels never speak in anger ~

~ Angels when given the chance always choose to be Humble ~

~ But the greatest rule is to Love One Another, Agape ~

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

Psalm 91:11 ESV

ANGEL IN MY BACKPACK

CHAPTER 1

What Goes Around Comes Around

First, she heard the heavy breathing, shuffle and bang of the lamp almost falling off the night stand and then, the slimy kiss and wet nose planted against her face before begrudgingly opening one eye.

Diesel, what are you doing? Not in my face buddy, stop, she croaked with her morning dry mouth and swatted her hands up to move Nana’s German Shepherd guide dog away. She took the pillow out from under her head and covered her face to hide from his persistent wet snout trying to get her up. Then she remembered, Nana’s dog only came into her room when it was raining heavy. She quickly sat up and pulled the lace curtain back from the window. Placing her hand on the glass she felt a cold chill run up her arm and a wide grin spread across her face making her braces stick to the inside of her dry lips.

It’s cold and windy out too, she smiled. Basketball tryouts will have to be inside she thought. It will be harder for Lying Lucy and Mad Mary to use me as a punching bag with the ball because coach Myers will be watching. This may give me just the chance I need to have a shot at making the team. She rubbed Diesel’s majestic brownish golden head and he let out a whimpering whine.

Hey buddy you know you’re supposed to stay with Nana. She needs you in the morning not me and besides it’s just raining, no big booms in the sky. His chocolate brown eyes stared into hers with his furry eyebrows dancing above them looking for approval. She sat up on the edge of the bed and bent down giving him a big hug.

Come on buddy let’s go find Nana. She slid her feet into her slippers and grabbed his wide harness pointing him towards the hall to Nana’s room. Slowly pushing the half-cracked door open wider with her toes she could see Nana laying asleep peacefully with her long white hair draped across the pillow. She was thin, frail and not much taller than Susie at five feet, but she made up for her small size with her big heart. She opened her eyes and smiled. It must be raining heavy, she said as she sat up on the edge of the bed. Hey, Susie have you seen my teeth anywhere? I swear I had them when I went to sleep last night, she asked moving her hand around the night stand.

Again? I’m going to glue them in your head, so you don’t lose them anymore. Ha-ha, I do that every day, but it doesn’t stop me from losing them, Nana chuckled reaching for Diesel’s harness. Diesel was Nana’s guide dog because she was almost blind. She patted his head and kissed his snout talking to him in her squeaky high-pitched whisper of a voice. You mustn’t be afraid big fella it’s just raining out no thunder and lightning. Come on, let’s go get some breakfast. They headed out of the bedroom door, but he raced ahead of her and bumped her into the doorway. He flunked guide dog school, so Susie’s mother was able to get him on sale. Nana loved him even if he wasn’t the best guide dog.

Susie knelt down on the floor and looked under the bed. There were the false teeth in the same spot as yesterday. She tucked them in her pajama pocket and headed for the kitchen. She sat down at the kitchen table across from her mother who was finishing her coffee. Nana easily made her way around the kitchen even though she could only see in shadows. She knew exactly where everything was because she had lived in the house since her father built it when she was five years old. Now she was eighty-six with a full head of white hair and that was a lot of years.

Mom will you let me get my ears fixed? she asked pinning back her ears with her hands.

There’s nothing wrong with your ears.

Mom, all the kids make fun of me. They call me four eyes and tell me a good gust of wind will carry me down the street with my big ears.

Just ignore them, look at my ears. You have the same ones I do and I seem to have done just fine. Do you think I didn’t get teased? Right mom? Tell Susie what the kids used to call me. You need to stop letting it get to you because they will keep teasing you if they know it bothers you.

Yes, I remember Martha, wasn’t it something like monkey ears or Dumbo ears? Nana poured the tea into her cup by putting her finger inside the edge of it so she could feel when she had poured the hot water to the top and not spill it over.

Susie, I haven’t been blind forever. It’s just the past few years and I know that people see your beautiful big blue eyes before they look at your ears. Papa had eyes like you. The eyes I fell in love with like falling into a lake of crystal blue water. She sat down at the table and reached for Susie’s hand. Susie placed the teeth in Nana’s hands. Thanks honey see you are beautiful inside and out. It sounds to me like you’re just having a pity party for yourself and she broke out into one of her favorite old jingle tunes. ‘Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, guess I’ll go eat worms. Long thin slimy worms, short fat juicy worms, itsy bitsy tiny weeny worms.’ Nana finished her silly song and turned towards Susie with her big toothless smile.

Yuck, Nana you’re so gross. I’m not kidding, they make fun of me all the time.

Oh, pay no mind to little varmints’ like that, always remember ‘what goes around comes around.’ Eventually, people who say and do mean things, find that their meanness comes back to them. Someday, someone will say and do mean things to them. Good returns good and evil returns evil. But Susie had heard her grandmother say that expression a thousand times and it still didn’t make any sense to her way of thinking. Now hurry up or you’ll be late for school.

"Susie give me a kiss goodbye. I have to get going so