F

by Earl du Porter

Posted on February 13, 2023 08:56 AM

So you won’t believe this! I can’t actually believe it either. I’m sitting in the lobby of an office on the 33rd floor of a tower block in, wait for it, New York City!  This is like the realisation of a distant dream. Of course, it is not all plain sailing from here, but...

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E

by Earl du Porter

Posted on February 13, 2023 08:51 AM

So I got a new agent. She is lovely! The main thing is that she loved Leila!  I had revised it another couple of times and she said that it painted a proper picture of someone in Leila’s position.  She said the characters and the settings were rich and believable.  And she...

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D

by Earl du Porter

Posted on February 13, 2023 08:37 AM

Well, it’s nearly finished.  I have just one more chapter to write. I think it is important for us to see how Leila progresses into adulthood, so you will get a flavour of that in the next chapter.  Then we’ll be done. What you’re reading is something like the second...

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29

by Earl du Porter

Posted on February 12, 2023 08:38 AM

It was deep February before Duke had finalised his plan.  Leila had visited just a couple of times since New Year.  Seemed, from what she said, that things were going better at school. He missed seeing her.  Did she only visit when things in class were bad?  He needed her....

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28

by Earl du Porter

Posted on February 12, 2023 08:31 AM

Leila had spent the last two Saturday afternoons out in the park with a group from school.  Because they had little or no money, the shops were out of the question, so the park was the main option, even though most of the time it was bursting with younger kids.  By six pm the little ones...

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C

by Earl du Porter

Posted on February 12, 2023 08:29 AM

Leila is very specific about her teachers isn’t she? She knows what she likes, and she definitely knows what she doesn’t like. She seems to be the sort of person who reacts very well to some and not so well to others.  When she describes the troubles she has at school, she seems...

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26

by Earl du Porter

Posted on February 11, 2023 08:08 PM

‘You know I was a teacher once?  Did I tell you that?  I taught maths and a few other subjects as well.  To kids about your age.  I used to love it, but it became tiring, and I felt I was running out of inspiration.  To inspire children like you required loads of...

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25

by Earl du Porter

Posted on February 11, 2023 08:00 PM

She was crying.  He'd never seen her cry before. ‘Oh my goodness!  What’s up?  Are you alright?’ ‘I’m OK.  Another bad day.  I always struggle at that place.  I wish you could be there.’ ‘Too old, Leila!  That...

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24

by Earl du Porter

Posted on February 11, 2023 07:54 PM

Duke regretted their last meeting. Kids like her.  It needs to be about them.  Not about me.  Why did I tell her that stuff?  She’s not interested, and anyway I’m not proud of what I did.  I lost too much.  Almost everything.  A least I have her....

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13

by Earl du Porter

Posted on February 09, 2023 09:10 PM

Although it was not dark, Leila thought she could make out a light, or lights, through the dingy forest.  That scent of burning wood was there too. Her instinct was to run.  Nothing about this situation was good.  It was getting darker, she had seen someone in the distance, and she...

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