bounced? As I said, I may not even use this section in one of the books, but since it is a sample of my writing, I dropped it in here. Enjoy.
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"Hi, Mommy." Amy whirled through the doorway, happy to be home after such a long time away. She could not wait to see her mother and father, and especially her uncle Benjamin, who always called her his little princess. She decided she could even 'tolerate' her younger sister, Lois, for a while. In her heart, she really loved her sister, but sometimes, younger sisters could be very irritating.
She gave her mother a brief hug, which was returned with interest.
"Hi, Honey. Has everything been alright at school?" Her mother asked, while continuing to hug her.
Her mother's smothering embrace told Amy that something was wrong.
"Uh, yes. Everything is fine. Is —Is something wrong here at home?" Amy asked, as she finally escaped, pulling back to arm's length. She could see from her mother's puffy red eyes that she had been crying.
"Not—right—here—at—home," Maureen Levine said slowly, as though trying to hold her voice in check. She closed her eyes and clenched both her lips between her teeth.
Amy’s eyes widened as she realized that something was seriously wrong. Amy was not sure what the problem was, but figured her mother would tell her when she was ready. She decided to change the subject. "Oh, good. I was starting to worry. Is Uncle Ben coming over soon? I have so much I need to tell him—things I found out that I am sure he will want to hear about. It has to do with him always calling me…" She broke off, because her mother had suddenly let out a loud wail and broke into sobs. Maureen turned away from Amy and ran into the kitchen.
Amy thought of following her, but she heard her Grandmother Rose, say "Maureen, sweetheart…" just as the kitchen door swung shut. Her mother's mother was in the kitchen, so she would let Grandmother Rose handle whatever was wrong. Amy decided to see if her father was home. He would know what was happening.
Her father, Louis, always came home and sat in his chair in the living room in front of the television. He would turn on the TV with the remote, take off his tie, fold it neatly and lay it across the arm of his large reclining chair. He always unbuttoned the top button of his shirt as he began to watch TV, which he did until supper was ready. He should be watching the evening news about now.
Everything was always very neat at the Levine house. Louis Levine always did things in a certain way. "What if we should get an unexpected visitor?" He would say. What Amy saw in the living room shocked her. Her eyes widened and she saw what, for her house, was utter devastation.
Louis sat in his chair, and seemed to be staring at the television, but the TV was dark and lifeless. His tie did not lay neatly folded on the arm of his chair, but reposed in a wadded heap about five feet away, as though thrown there in a fit of emotion. Amy could see that the tie lay in two pieces as though cut in half with a knife or scissors. Her father's shirt was ripped down the front in a special way. Perhaps when he endeavored to unbutton his top button, it had not cooperated, and he took both sides and ripped it apart, tearing the shirt asunder down the front. However, that did not explain the tie.
His TV remote was lying over by the wall with the batteries several feet away. She could see a fresh, deep dent in the wall paneling above where the remote had fallen.
Sometimes mourning comes with anger. There was only one thing she could think of that would make her father cut his tie and tear his shirt like that. The tear was not along the seam, but to the left of the seam, as though he had intentionally ripped the shirt in a wish to expose his heart. It was something they called 'kriah', which meant 'tearing'. It stated that he was heartbroken. It told Amy there had been a death of someone close to her father, probably someone in the family. Louis Levine's eyes were red, but he stared ahead, not speaking. It was as though he had not seen his raven-haired daughter enter.
Amy suddenly got a terrible lump in her throat, and she knelt beside her father's chair. "Daddy?" Her eyes had started to water. She was terrified to hear what somehow she knew she soon would. Someone had died. She looked at her father, with his shirt rent apart and the signs he had been crying. It must be her grandfather, her father's father. He had retired and moved to a condominium in Florida. Something must have happened to him. In a quiet voice, she got closer, moving into her father's line of sight. "Daddy? Is Grandfather Isaac…?"
Her father's expression did not change immediately, but suddenly he seemed to realize his eldest daughter was asking him something. With visible effort, his eyes refocused on her face and he spoke. "No, Honey. Papa is fine. He will be flying up from Florida, tomorrow."
"He will?" she asked. For a moment, happy thoughts returned, but the start of a smile froze on her face. The happy thoughts disappeared. She realized what this meant. Her father's rent shirt was a sign that someone close had died. Grandfather Isaac was flying up from Florida right away. She let out a shriek, "Oh No! Please, no! It can't be that—" Her eyes filled with water even as the words tumbled from her mouth. She felt suddenly as though she could not breathe.
"You don't know yet, do you, Honey?" Her father asked. Then he did something her father rarely did. He put his arms around his daughter and pulled her close to him. She waited, choking in fear of what he might say as he tried to speak. She saw a tear run down her father's cheek. "…Bennie…" He gasped out and began to cry, turning his face away. "My big brother, Bennie…" he sobbed, but he could say no more.
"No, Daddy." she gasped out, starting to cry. "No… no… no… no… no…" That same word was all she could say. Nothing else came out. It couldn't be. What she was thinking could not be the answer! There had to be something else. Maybe Uncle Ben had some bad news. Maybe Abe at the store had died, or—or even Ben's wife, Gilda…? It had to be Gilda. The other possibility that was in her mind was too horrifying. She thought, please finish the sentence with "wife!" She cared for her aunt Gilda, but her uncle Ben was beyond special. He had always been there for her. He had taken the time to talk to her when no one else seemed to care. He listened to everything she ever had to say. He had called her his little princess, and bragged to everyone, telling them all what scholarly successes she had in school, how smart she was, how pretty she was, and how proud he was of her.
He had said that some day she would become a very important person. She now had news that she needed to tell him. She simply had to tell him what the Abrasax queen had told her, when they first met. They had been away from home for so long. When they returned from Abras, they had gone right back to school and she had not yet told him about it, because it was something she could not write in a letter. Summer vacation had come at last. School was out, and she had come home.
Her father looked at her again through flooded eyes, knowing that she had to hear it from him. "Honey, your Uncle Bennie…" He paused and screwed up his courage. "My big brother Bennie is dead!" he choked out softly and then he broke down and cried loudly, putting his face down on his arm. He could no longer hide his feelings. Amy's world froze. Nothing came out of her mouth but "No…" again and again, like a recording that kept repeating over and over. "No… no… no… no… no…" She denied the words she had heard her father say. Her Uncle Ben was not dead. He could not die! She would call his house and talk to him. It was a joke. He was playing a joke. Please, let it be a joke!
Everything went red.
The room went away.
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(For those who have asked, the remainder of this chapter takes place after Amy awakens to find her uncle's ghost waiting beside her bed. Everyone else in the house was sleeping. Was she dreaming, or did she really see a ghost? He informed her that he could not go on to the afterlife until he was sure she would be alright. He informed her that she had been in a coma for over a week and that she should get her tukis out of bed and show her friends and family that she was alive.)
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