"Using life experiences to inspire, encourage and educate others is why I write. I believe sharing our stories helps us to realize we're not alone; that others have struggled, hurt, failed and got back up and found their way. I hope my stories make you think, laugh and feel grateful. - Deana LandersFeatured Short Story
Barefoot Summer
Our bare feet grew tough, our hair turned to gold, and our bodies browned and freckled in the sun that pursued us on long hot summer days.
Across the dirt road where we lived, there was an old abandoned building. Bushes, high grass, and broken tree limbs hid it from the road, but we found it and made it our secret clubhouse.
We swept the dust from one side of the room to the other and put a cardboard box in the middle of the huge open space for a table and cement blocks around for chairs.
We hid our peanut butter and crackers from critters that we were sure came out when we weren't there underneath the cardboard box table.
I was the youngest girl in our family, living at home with four brothers at the time. I followed them everywhere that summer.
I learned how to climb trees, jump big gullies, make swords out of pine limbs, find arrowheads on flint hill, and run almost as fast they could.
There was one thing I learned to do better than them, though; that was to whistle through my fingers. They would put their two little fingers together in a point, place them on the tip of their tongue, bring their lips down, and blow, but there was a ...
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