Short Story: Where the Lilacs Grow
From On Her Way: Stories and Poems About Growing Up Girl, edited by Sandy Asher (New York: Dutton Children’s Books, 2004). Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Sister Paris’s roses smelled like poison. My nose was just inches away from an orange Tropicana as big as Kenny Royal’s fist, and all I could smell were chemicals. Not even a whiff of tea rose. Nana’s roses had always smelled like roses-all luscious and sweet, almost ticklish. They’d grown in curved rows along the south side of the house, where the sunshine warmed away the dew and dried up the black spot that ate away at … » More …