Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning (13 page)

I don't know what he's going to say to me. I think about what I said, what I said after I kissed him, and I hang my head.

“Well?” he says, and I look up at him. His eyes burn with their full power.

God Almighty, it's like I never seen his eyes before.

“What?” he says. “What?” He kind of grins and the power turns into a twinkle.

I didn't know eyes could do that.

For a moment, I don't know what to say. Finally, I look straight at him and ask, “What do we do now?”

He reaches toward my face and my heart pounds like it did on the bridge, but all I feel is a light touch as he brushes a leaf out of my hair. Time stretches out before he says anything.

“I'm hot,” he says.

I wipe the back of my neck. “Yeah, me too.”

“BrainFreeze?”

All my nerves fire up. “I can't cross that bridge.”

“I know,” he says. He looks at me real steady. “We'll take the long way around.”

That suits me just fine.

30

Open House at the junior high is like a party. Everyone you know is there, and the teachers got snacks and drinks out and everyone's all smiling. They ain't got me fooled; I know this is still school. They're just trying to warm us up. I eat all the cookies I can, 'cause they ain't gonna be this generous when school starts.

Momma and I rode up with Mrs. Townsend and Lottie. Lottie's got her diamond watch on and she's wearing lip gloss and she looks real pretty. When we came in, they gave us stickers to wear that say,
Hi! My name is
blank. Except of course it don't say “blank”; that's where you write your name in. Lottie's sticker says,
Hi! My name is Char.
She has written it in real good cursive.

Each teacher has a table with handouts and such. Mrs. Townsend and Lottie go in search of her teacher. My teacher's got an easy name, Mrs. Nash, and Momma and I spot her right away. When Mrs. Nash realizes we're walking up to her table, she squints in on my name tag and then her face looks all surprised.

“Violet Raines,” she says, coming from around the table. She sticks her hand out to me and I shake it. Her hand's bigger than mine, but the shake is just right—not too firm, and plus she doesn't hold on to my hand when the shake is over like some ladies at church do.

She shakes Momma's hand too, but then turns right back to me. “Violet, I'm Mrs. Nash, and I've been waiting all day to meet you.”

She's serious. My eyebrows scrunch up, and I look straight at her. “Why?”

“You're going to be my first guest speaker! We'll be studying lightning and electricity in science. I saw you in the newspaper, found your name on my class list, and I thought, ‘This is serendipity.' ”

“Serendipity?”
It sounds like ice cream being scooped on a summer day.

She nods. “ ‘Serendipity' means a stroke of good luck. It's a great word.”

I think so too. I tuck this word into my brain so's I can write it down later and save it in my shoe box. Looking at her, I decide right then and there she's all right. Well, you can't help but like another word collector, even if she is a teacher.

She goes back around her table, and Momma and I walk up to it. A big envelope has my name on it, and Mrs. Nash starts pulling things out of it. “Here's a map of the school and the portables; you'll want to walk around today and see where everything is. Let's see, locker combination, gym combination, oh, and here's your lunch pass.” She hands me a bright blue plastic card with my name on it. “You'll have to show this every time you walk into the cafeteria for lunch.”

Then she says to Momma, “We have six lunch shifts this year, a different color for each shift; it's the only way we can make sure that the children are where they're supposed to be.”

Momma nods. They start talking about overcrowding and boring stuff like that.

“Violet!” It's Lottie! I turn around, but there's so many kids running around, I don't see her. My eyes become lasers, scanning the crowd. No Lottie. Turning back, I listen to Momma and Mrs. Nash. They're talking about my schedule now.

“Violet!” Eddie! I whip my head around in the direction of his voice.

At first, I don't see him; I don't see anyone except strangers. Then Lottie and Eddie and Melissa come through the crowd, holding up bright blue cards like trophies. Oh Lord, my heart swells up like a hot air balloon. I shoot my hand up, waving my own blue card. My friends make their way toward me. I start for them, but Momma pulls me back. “Honey, Mrs. Nash just asked you a question.”

“Sorry, ma'am,” I say to my teacher, using my good-manners voice.

“That's all right,” she says and smiles. “It's very busy in here.” She leans forward and pats my hand. “So, how do you feel about starting junior high?”

I glance at my friends, their smiling faces and their blue cards, and I look back to Mrs. Nash. “I am jubilant,” I say.

And that is no taradiddle.

Acknowledgments

Here we are at the end of the book, and I'd like to thank the people who helped me along the way: God Almighty, for one; Ted Malawer, my wonderful agent; Brooke Haworth, who shared her lightning experience with me; Sandra Friend, Joan Jarvis, and Steve Rajtar for sharing their swinging bridge experiences with me; Michelle Carr, who read and commented on the earlier drafts; and Steve Haworth, who read the early drafts, the later drafts, and who stayed up way too late with me talking about lightning and alligators.

Finally, I want to thank Stacy Cantor, my editor at Walker Books for Young Readers. Stacy was one of the first people to meet Violet, and she recognized her immediately. Her keen insight and vision for the story were an inspiration to me. I couldn't have found a better friend or a better home for Violet.

A Note from the Author

Dear Reader,

I can't remember a time when I wasn't writing. But sometimes writing doesn't look like writing. For the story you hold in your hands, I sat in my computer room, my creative sanctuary, and stared out the window past the ligustrum tree. Anyone looking in on me would have said, “What is she doing in there? She's just sitting; I thought she was going to write a new story.” But I was thinking—thinking and thinking about what to write next.

One day, when I was sitting there thinking, Violet showed up. The first thing she said was, “When Eddie B. dared me to walk the net bridge over the Elijah Hatchett River where we'd seen an alligator and another kid got bit by a coral snake, I wasn't scared—I just didn't feel like doing it right then.”

I had to type really fast to get it all down. Then, there it was, the first paragraph of the book. And when she was talking, I could see her, with her blue eyes and her dark hair cut to her shoulders. She reminded me of Scout from
To Kill a Mockingbird
. Violet spoke with a Southern accent, and her legs were bare with a little dirt smudged on them from walking through the woods. Immediately, I could see how independent she was. I liked her. I couldn't wait to see what happened to her.

The river setting and lightning events in the book are inspired by real places and events. I live near the Econlockhatchee River, east of Disney by about an hour. The river is the color of iced tea. Cypresses and palmettos hang over the water, a leafy canopy. Once, my husband and I were canoeing on the river, and we passed under a swinging footbridge. It was high in the treetops and looked like nothing but a net. I was too scared to go on it—I thought I'd fall right through. We floated under it, and about five minutes later, two little girls ran across it. They pranced across like wood sprites and then disappeared. We could hear only their laughter trailing off in the woods. I never forgot that bridge—how it sounded like a rusty swing and how scary it looked. I wondered how some people could cross that bridge so easily while others were too scared even to try. The bridge was the perfect metaphor for the coming-of-age theme in
Violet
Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning
.

I'm thankful for the gift and the drive to write. I don't have a ritual so much as a daily discipline, same time, same place, every day. I do not wait on inspiration. I work every day and inspiration meets me. Sometimes it meets me after my writing time. (Parts of
Violet Raines
were written on the backs of grocery receipts.)

I am also very grateful to you, for taking the time to read Violet's story.

Thank you and I hope you enjoyed it!

Danette

Reading Group Guide
for

violet raines
almost
got struck
by
lightning

1. Bridges are frequently used as metaphors. Another famous one in children's literature is
Bridge to Terabithia
. The bridge that Eddie dares Violet to cross could stand for the bridge between childhood and adolescence. As in life, crossing from one thing to another is scary, with dangers along the way. In the case of the bridge: “Most of the netting has fallen off. The wires look thin. And there are gaps big enough for a person to fall through”. As if that weren't enough, the bridge is suspended over water filled with giant alligators. If you were Violet, would you dare to cross it? Why or why not?

2. Violet lags behind Melissa and Lottie as far as transitioning from childhood to adolescence is concerned. Melissa and Lottie have become interested in makeup, bras, and soap operas, and Melissa talks about Eddie as a love interest, something that has never occurred to Violet. She'd rather go out and collect Brain Freeze cups with Eddie. When Eddie makes a bra joke—“You got everything she does . . . except the bra” —it infuriates Violet. Why does she get so mad at him?

3. Why is Melissa able to make Violet so crazy with innuendos about her alleged crush on Eddie—like singing “K-I-S-S-I-N-G . . .” when Violet and Eddie are in the tree cave?

4. Violet is very close to nature. How does she use nature to retaliate against Melissa?

5. Living in “Lightning Alley,” the characters in the book have great respect for lightning. Here's a description from Violet:

Then the air whooshes up like there's a big vacuum in the sky. I glance at Eddie, whose eyes look as big as mine feel, then static rushes over me, prickling my hair, and my heart jumps, but before I can open my mouth, a single bolt strikes and flares over the woods across the street and at the same time
BOOM!
like an earthquake.

Have you ever been that close to lightning? If so, was your experience similar to Violet's? How? (In case you're ever that close to lightning, you might want to read these tips on lightning safety from the National Weather Service:
www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov
.)

6. As the book progresses, Violet feels that change is near. What do you think Violet is referring to when she says, “The air around us is charged with electricity. I wait. Something big is going to happen, I just know it”?

7. When Melissa's mother first meets Violet, she says, “Well, you're certainly not a shrinking violet, are you?”. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines a shrinking violet as a “bashful or retiring person.” Indeed, Violet isn't. What are some of the ways that Violet demonstrates bravery? What is she afraid of?

8. After Lottie and Melissa give Violet a makeover, she thinks she looks like a movie star. But when she bumps into Eddie and “hit him with the full power of my beauty”, he looks like he's about to throw up. What sparks such a drastic reaction from Eddie when he sees her?

9. Melissa dares Violet to kiss Eddie. Fed up, and not wanting to give Melissa the advantage, Violet takes the dare. Why is Eddie so upset afterward when Violet jubilantly calls out, “I did it—I kissed him! It was nothing”?

10. Violet thinks Melissa's collection of autographed celebrity photos is quite silly. But when Lottie's parents find out they won't get any insurance money, those letters inspire Violet to write to the local newspaper, asking for help for her best friend. How does Violet's letter lead to a peace treaty between Violet and Melissa?

11. When Violet finally forces herself to cross the scary bridge to apologize to Eddie, and he helps her back to land, she suddenly sees him in a new light. Why? What do you think has changed?

12. It's pretty obvious that Violet is not too fond of Melissa. Throughout the novel, we get a good sense of how Violet sees her. But how do you think Melissa sees Violet?

A magical summer is about to begin at The Meriwether Hotel when Allie Jo and Chase meet Tara, a beautiful girl with a mysterious secret. . . .

Read on for a sneak peek of this exciting new adventure!

ALLIE JO

“Hey!” I yell.

I don't know who I'm yelling at; I can't see them. But I was lying out on the concrete pad around Hope Springs—Hope Springs Eternal, if you want the full name—with my face turned up to the sun, letting it press its golden rays on my face. Later today, the sun will fry the skin right off your bones.