Free It's a Little Haywire by Elle Strauss Page B

they’re from me.
Just leave them anonymously on her front steps.
    Gramps calls to give me updates. Mayor
Sanderson let them move the soup kitchen into the old church
building. Mr. Red has family in Canada and moved there to work. Mr.
Joseph is living with Gramps now. He’s fixing up the house,
painting it inside and out and doing other things in exchange for a
room. Gramps says it gets too cold in Hayward to sleep outside in
the winter.
    Mikala writes me letters. Her last one
is folded and tucked into my pocket. I’m still smiling when I think
about what she wrote.

 
    Owen True,
    I wrote a story and
entered the contest, and crickets if I didn’t go and win! You read
that right, Owen True! I wrote a story about a rich boy who came to
a poor town and who saw angels and saved a little girl’s life and
then a man’s life, and started a soup line and became a lonely
girl’s best friend.
    Owen True, I’m comin’
to Seattle!
     
     
    The End.

Find Elle Strauss on-line!
    www.ellestraussbooks.com
    Blog.
    Twitter
    Facebook
     
    Acknowledgements
    As always, writing a book takes the help
of many people, more than I can list here. I want to thank my
daughter Tasia Strauss for her amazing illustrations, my son Joel
Strauss for writing those Germany letters when he was ten--Owen
True sounds a lot like that little boy!
    Thanks to my parents for always
believing and supporting me and to my dad for always having a song
to sing.
    A shout out goes to all my early
readers, Lori, Laurel, Caroline, Nicole, Tasia--thanks for your
careful guidance. Also to my very supportive husband, Norm, my
other sons, Levi and Jordan, my faithful friends, and to my
wonderful on-line community of writers.
    A special gratitude goes to you, my
reader. I hope you were inspired by Owen’s story.
    And forever I’m thankful to Jesus for
being my friend.

Charlie True’s Playlist
    There’s a
Lonely Little Robin
    (Cy Coben)1960
     
    Sugar in the
Morning
    Kitty Wells
     
    A White Sports
Coat and a Pink Carnation
    Marty Robbins
     
    Shake Rattle
and Roll
    Charles E. Calhoun
     
    Catch a
Falling Star
    Perry Como