Katie’S Questions About Heaven

By Pearl Silverstone

Katie finds a four-leaf clover and instantly her perspective of the world changesshell have good luck forever: her dad will stop drinking and her mom will get out of her sickbed. Bursting to tell her mother the good news, she finds her dad waiting to tell her that her mother has died.

Katie is left with an emotionally remote father to cope with grief on her own. Rummaging through a box of family photographs, she stumbles on her parents well-kept secret and discovers that she has a family she never knew existed. Together, father and daughter embark on a search. But how does reality match up to Sophies dreams of having an extended family?

Children are often left to cope on their own with major challenges in life. Unable to find words to describe their emotions, they just get on with their livesor do they?

With this book, Pearl Silverstone hopes to help children and the adults cope better with lifes unwanted surprisestogether.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Jun 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499087277

Pearl Silverstone

PEARL SILVERSTONE has lived in three continents where she has worked as a journalist and TV and radio producer. This includes 18 TV programmes for children. She has worked with Children’s Interactive Theatre where she has dealt with a wide spectrum of children, including street children.

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Copyright © 2014 by Pearl Silverstone.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 06/19/2014

Author’s e-mail address:

[e-mail]

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris LLC

0-800-056-3182

www.xlibrispublishing.co.uk

[e-mail]

606728

Contents

Family Secrets

The Dream

A Friend

Surprise!

Finding Family

Grandpa

Reunion

The Big Question

From the same author

Maya’s Miracles

Upcoming book

Where Are You Now, God?

To

Alexander, Amber, Charlotte, Eric, Filippa, Henning, Inge, Jaqui, Maria, Maya, Oscar, Sean, Uma

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Katie knew she would never see the likes of it again as she counted the four-leaf clover for the third time. Until now, she believed that four-leaf clovers were a myth, but there it was—right here in her hand!

‘Wait till I get to show everyone!’ she exclaimed.

She did not know of anyone who had actually seen a four-leaf clover. Very carefully, she wrapped it in a tissue and popped it into her pocket. Then she got up from the grassy edge of the school’s football field where she was kneeling and cycled off home.

Four-leaf clovers were associated with luck—this she knew—and if this were true, there would be no telling how many good things were about to happen to her! If she were to carefully dry the clover between the pages of a magazine or a newspaper and afterwards frame it, then who knows, she might have luck to last the rest of her life!

The thought made her dizzy with excitement.

Could all her wishes come true too, perhaps? If so, then she would come first in class ahead of Mandy Einstein and she would get the lead role in the school play, and she would wake up one morning with waist-long golden locks like Natasha Starbright, and her mother… her mother would get out of bed. At the thought of her mother, Katie frowned. She was used to her mother being in bed most—if not all—the time, but she remembered the days not so long ago—or was it long ago, she wasn’t sure—when her mum danced with her to the music coming from the radio. Perhaps it was a long time ago, but since her mother’s illness, nothing was as it had been. Even her dad changed. No one laughed anymore. She also knew that people in town felt sorry for her, because sometimes when she did errands for her mother, people would stop talking and shake their heads when they saw her struggling to carry the shopping bags. She overheard remarks like ‘Shame on Mr Palmer’ and ‘I suppose he is too busy drowning his sorrows in the bottle’.

Katie knew what they meant, but they didn’t know her dad as she knew him.

‘He’s a kind, kind man,’ she wanted to cry out, but the words could not find their way out of her mouth.

But now she had a four-leaf clover! That would change everything. But when? Now? Today?

She could hardly wait as she put her bike in the shed. Her dad greeted her at the door.

‘Katie,’ he said.

‘Yes, Dad,’ she answered, almost bursting at the seams with the good news.

‘Katie, there is something I must tell you.’

Today, her dad’s breath did not smell of alcohol. This was turning out to be a great day. Her good luck had started already.

‘I have something to tell you too,’ she said and threw her arms around her dad. ‘Dad, may I tell you my good news first?’

Her father looked at her solemnly.

‘Dad, you won’t believe this, but look, the proof is right here!’ She put her hand into her pocket. ‘Look. I found a four-leaf clover. A real four-leaf clover. We’re going to have luck forever and ever!’

Her father’s eyes blinked several times, but not for the reason that Katie thought. She pulled out the tissue and carefully unfolded it layer by layer. The four-leaf clover was there—bright, beautiful, and green.

‘See, Dad! One—two—three—four leaves.’

She looked up expecting to see her dad’s expression of amazement and joy, but his face was graver than she had ever seen it before.

‘Katie, you know that Mum has been ill for a very long time . . .’

‘Of course, I know, but she’s going to get better now.’

Her dad shook his head.

‘She will, Dad. We have a four-leaf clover now. Don’t you understand?’

‘Katie, I’m sorry, but Mum is dead.’

‘Dead? No! Not dead! Not with a four-leaf clover, she can’t be!’ She heard herself shouting in a strangely high-pitched voice.

‘Yes, darling, she died this morning.’

Katie ran past her dad through the house to where she expected to find her mother—in bed.

The bed was empty.

‘Where is she?’ Katie demanded. Her heart was beating so hard and fast that she could feel it in her throat.

‘She was taken to the hospital this morning. The doctors could do nothing. They said it was expected. I’m so sorry, Katie.’

He tried to put his arms around Katie, but she struggled to free herself and