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Not Lucille
by Mike Steele

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Ten-year-old Lucy Contento can’t help but be seen and heard. And she’s always in trouble for it. She talks too much. She’s impulsive. She writes with the wrong hand. Her parents would be mad enough knowing she routinely earns afterschool detentions. They’d be furious if they found out she’s been sneaking onto the campus of the nearby Trenton Academy for the Deaf. But there, Lucy has met Florence, a lonely and profoundly deaf girl her own age. Florence doesn’t mind Lucy’s flaws. Though Florence can’t speak, she has a unique way of communicating. If Lucy can figure out how to learn Florence’s special language, the two could be friends.

Lucy devises a plan, but it’s going to cost a whopping $7.98-more money than she’s got. She can’t tell her parents why she wants the funds without revealing she’s been visiting Florence. Besides, her parents don’t have a penny to spare. Her father has been out of work for months. And nobody else in the Contento family has an income. Or do they …? Lucy soon discovers she’s not the only member of her family hiding something. Can she get the money she needs while keeping everyone’s secrets? Or will her scheming land her in the biggest trouble of her life?

In this story of friendship and belonging, a young girl navigates prejudice, punishment, and identity while establishing her voice in a world that often tries to keep her silent.

Lucy inched her head farther inside and felt her heart starting to beat faster. She was close enough to make out that one of the books was a pale gray pad. The blonde girl was sketching some sort of landscape inside, copying an illustration from the other book. The sketch was good. The blonde girl was talented.

“Wow,” Lucy whispered, worrying for a moment that her lapse of judgment would give her away. She quickly remembered she was at the Deefies. The blonde girl probably couldn’t hear her.

Couldn’t hear her but could certainly see her. That’s what happened not a full minute later when the blonde girl glanced up from her work.

Caught.

Lucy had to get out of there. She clumsily scooted backward through the frame and pulled herself up, turning to run for the fence only a few feet away. She reached the hedges as fast as her short legs could get her to them. She was about to push through.

“Stop!”

Lucy stopped.

She turned.

The blonde girl stood at the open window. “Stop,” she commanded again. At least that’s what Lucy thought the girl had said. She couldn’t be sure. The blonde girl seemed to have some sort of accent.

Lucy crept toward the open window and crouched down until she was face to face with the blonde girl. “You can talk?”

The blonde girl raised her hand and formed it into a fist. She pinched her thumb and index finger together. It looked like the gesture Lucy had seen people use to indicate the phrase, a little bit.

“Can you hear me?”

The blonde girl shook her head.

A large raindrop landed in Lucy’s curls and dripped down her face.

Both girls turned their heads to the sky, from which enormous droplet after enormous droplet began tumbling.

“I’ll come back tomorrow,” Lucy said, still looking up.

The blonde girl reached through the window and pulled Lucy’s face toward her own. Her grip was firm, her hands compelling.

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Mike Steele is an elementary school librarian and former fourth and fifth grade classroom teacher. He has eight plays that are published and licensed for production in the school play market. Not Lucille is his debut middle-grade novel. Whether writing plays or novels, he enjoys creating characters and situations that make kids laugh. In his spare time, he likes to attend plays and musicals, create mixed-media artwork, and win prizes from claw machines. He lives at the Jersey Shore with his rescue tabby cats, Karen and Sox. If you spot him in the wild, he usually has a bubble tea in one of his hands.

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