When Alex’s bandmates invite a girl to sing lead, a battle of the sexes becomes a battle over something unexpected. . . A girl tells her friend about hooking up with longtime crush Fred, but his kisses are not what makes that night in his car memorable. . . A therapy session with Doug might just make Jason go insane again. . . Wallflower Aubrey hooks up with Gordon after the cast party, which would be fine if he weren’t the most forbidden fruit of them all…Savannah certainly doesn’t sound like a convict’s name, so maybe hanging out with her isn’t all that dangerous. Miki is committed to getting over Dex, yet she can’t get him off her answering machine—or her doorstep. In between puffs of cigarettes and attempts to smear lipstick on her face, Allie’s grandmother dishes out advice that maybe Allie should take. . . And finally, what’s a girl to do with Satan as both her boss and father? Nine short stories pose the questions we obsess over whether we’re growing up or all grown up: Who should I love? Am I doing the right thing? Is there ever an end to heartbreak? In its second volume, SUCKER continues to showcase the very best emerging talent in young adult literature and give (some of) the answers to Life’s Big Questions along the way.
Sucker will reopen the doors for Volume 3 submissions. One day ONLY, August 1, 2013. Find the guidelines HERE.
Sucker Free Day – July 20th and 21st
Excerpt from “Angels and Serendipity” by Claudia Snow Classon, Sucker Literary Volume 2
“I’m sorry, Miss Samuels. Your mother just passed away.”
His words sucked all the air out of the room. Ella shook her head. “That’s not possible. I was only out for a couple of minutes . . .”
“She must have gone into cardiac arrest right after you left,” he said. “Her heart has been failing for the past twenty-four hours.” His voice was soft, but his eyes showed nothing but professional detachment. Outside the room, someone ran weeping down the hall. The oncologist glanced up, then down at his pager, clipping it to his belt. After writing something on his clipboard, he walked up to Ella and rested his hand on her shoulder.
“She didn’t suffer,” he said, not looking Ella in the eye, and walked out of the room. The nurse followed, then stopped in the doorway.
“We’ll give you a moment,” she said, her eyes sad and sympathetic.
Ella wondered, a moment for what? She approached the bed and stroked her mother’s hand. It already felt cooler. That hand had been warm and alive mere minutes ago. Maybe her mother had waited for Ella to leave the room so she could slip away. Ella’s stomach muscles clenched. She shivered, as if the temperature in the room had just dropped. What should she do now?
“I love you, Mom,” she said, staring at the barely recognizable face. Saying the words brought tears to her eyes and a fullness to her heart she didn’t know how to express. She hoped she would come to forget how her mother looked during this last week of her life. Ella preferred to remember her with her blonde ponytail bouncing as they jogged around their building in Stuyvesant Town. Her mom used to have so much energy. It had tortured Ella to watch her degenerate slowly into a listless stranger.
Two hospital staff members knocked a few moments later and entered the room with a gurney, their eyes turned down. Ella brushed her mom’s forehead with her lips, then stepped aside. Before she left the room, Ella paused at the door and looked back. She wondered if her mom’s soul hovered above, watching her. Mom wasn’t religious, but she believed in the existence of the soul. She’d confided this to Ella one late night after the oncologist had delivered the bad news that they’d “run out of options.”
No, Ella decided as she watched the hospital staff roll down her mother’s bedding, in a world where benevolent gods watched over souls, good people like her mother did not wither and die of cancer. Whatever happened to guardian angels?
“’Bye, Mom,” she whispered as she turned to leave the room. A single fat tear rolled down the side of her nose.
About Author Claudia Snow Classon
About Author Claudia Snow Classon
Claudia Classon is proud to have a third story published in the upcoming volume 3 of Sucker Literary! received her Masters in Writing from Manhattanville College and was an editor of their literary journal Inkwell. She has worked on and off in publishing since college and is currently employed at Princeton University Press. A member of SCBWI (both in the US and in France, where she lived from 2005–2008), she also previews YA books for a French publisher. Her non-literary interests include choral singing and tree hugging. She is represented by Erzsi Deàk of Hen&ink Literary Studio.
2 comments:
Great teaser for an awesome story!
Thanks so much for sharing this excerpt from "Angels and Serendipity," Dorothy.
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