Her name was Christine. We were in the fourth grade together at Meyer’s Elementary School in Rialto, California. I don’t remember her last name. I just remember she was a prolific reader.
Our teacher, whose name I also don’t recall, had attached a poster to one of the classroom walls. It had the names of pupils and a running list of the books we had read. Christine had a big lead. I was in second place, way behind her.
Christine read thick books about girl detectives. I read thinner books about my baseball heroes and books about the new age of space exploration – astronauts flying rockets to the moon and Mars.
I loved going to the school’s library. Guess what? I’d usually find Christine there. Did I talk to her? Nope. I don’t recall us being close friends. I had a girl buddy and it wasn’t Christine.
My girl buddy lived two houses away from me. Her name was Laura Wagner and she was a heck of a good baseball player. I don’t think Christine ever threw a baseball or even tried.
I don’t hold that against Christine. Why play catch with a boy chum when you can read a Nancy Drew novel by author Carolyn Keene?
Remember earlier when I wrote that Christine read thicker books? Mine were much smaller, leaving me time to play catch with Laura. I loved reading, but I also loved sports.
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I’m Mike Staton and I’m an author with six published novels. Three are sword and sorcery novels, and the last three have American Civil War settings. The latest, which debuted on May 1, takes place during Reconstruction in North Carolina, and stars a newspaper editor, and his wife, a graphic artist. It’s part of a four-book series that will see my main characters head westward into the American frontier in the final novel, now being written. I’m currently writing that fourth book, which I’ve titled A Wyoming Dawn: A New Beginning.
Writing Wranglers and Warriors 