Snark & Sensibility

PLEASE WELCOME

HEATHER NORMAN SMITH

TO

FLASH FICTION FRIDAY

EXCERPT FROM WHERE I WAS PLANTED

This excerpt from Where I Was Planted alludes to the metaphor behind the book's title. The first-person character is ten-year-old Nate Dooley. The setting is the fictional town of Copper Creek in the Great Smoky Mountain of North Carolina. While this passage is a bit heavy, I don’t mind giving away that Nate’s story does have a happy ending. 

My walk to meet Patrick took me a long way down my gravel road, then across the paved road that led to town, then to the dirt road that led to the dump. Just before my feet hit the hardness of the highway, I noticed a puny weed, about five inches tall, growing in the asphalt. It was right in the center of a lane, between the white and yellow lines, and a beam of sunlight fell on it like a spotlight. The crack in the road was so impossibly small, the plant looked as if it were growing straight through the hardtop, like some sort of magic trick.

It was such an ordinary, every-day sight; but on that day, it stood out to me how a living thing can survive in less-than-ideal circumstances. And I couldn’t quit thinking about that thing, growing up where it wasn’t supposed to be, but too inconsequential for someone to come along and pluck it up. I stared at it, focused on its sad-looking leaves. The stem looked strong, but I wondered if it would grow better if it had the chance to live in good, deep soil.

There was no way to move it. If I tried, I would break it off above the root, and it would die. But it was just a weed.

I tried to explain it to Patrick when we met up, the things that seeing that weed had made me feel. We talked while sifting through old junk, trying not to get our hands cut on rusty metal.

“What do you mean, Nate? You’re nowhere near as small as a weed,” he said. He lifted the corner of a soiled, water-logged mattress to check for bottles we might have missed before.

“I don’t mean I’m little like a weed. I just mean that sometimes I think…never mind.” It was too much for little boys to talk about.

I looked at my distorted, disappointed reflection in the bottom part of a grime-covered window of an old car with no tires. The winter hadn’t stolen my tan. I was still golden-skinned heading into the spring. I stood there squinty eyed as the sun bounced off the glass and onto my face. Never mind, I instructed myself.

ABOUT HEATHER NORMAN SMITH

Heather Norman Smith is a Christian Fiction author and devotions writer. Her goal is to use the written word to entertain and encourage while illuminating the redemptive love of God. Her first novel, Grace & Lavender, released in March.

Heather is proud to be a life-long North Carolinian and aims to present the beauty of the Tar Heel State in her writing. Her home is just outside Winston-Salem, NC, where she lives with her husband, their three children, and several spoiled pets.

She would love for you to visit her at www.heathernormansmith.com

ABOUT WHERE I WAS PLANTED

In the spring of 1961, ten-year-old Nate "Weenie" Dooley has a revelation-his father is not a good one.

Inspired by National Geographic, his favorite thing next to the Bible storybook his mother gave him before she died, Nate plans to leave his father and their home in the Smokies to set out on an adventure.

When he discovers that his father has left him first, it will take the help of a stray dog, some kind neighbors, a one-man-band, letters from a long-lost-aunt, and a new understanding of God to figure out he isn't really alone.

Will he find that Copper Creek is where he's always belonged? Or will his wanderlust keep him from ever coming back?

Where I Was Planted demonstrates that while fathers may leave, our Heavenly Father is faithful, and He has a plan for all of us.

Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/Where-Planted-Heather-Norman-Smith/dp/1620209071