Sweat rolls from under my hair and slides down my neck. I raise my arm to brush the dribble away. My deodorant has failed. At least nobody’s around to know.

I swipe my fingers across my denim shorts and head for home—for Gramma’s house. Honeysuckle Hollow is not my home. And never will be. Midway along the park’s paved road, I turn right, onto a five-acre field that was once Gramma’s watermelon patch.

Even if the land had still belonged to Gramma, the drought of the past six months would have killed off any chance of a watermelon crop. The brown withered grass crunches under my feet. All the oak trees in the field are drooping. Their stiff leaves curl like tight leafy fists of desperation. Except for a two-second downpour Monday afternoon, no rain has fallen. Every step I take raises dust. The wisps levitate like ghostly tentacles and curl around my bare legs as if pleading for my help. Honeysuckle Hollow Park is so dry the dust is begging for water. Continue reading Book Excerpt – The Skyhorse by HL Carpenter →