Category: Novels by S. L. Pirtle

Sponge Lost Alexis loved having baths. She loved getting dirty, but she loved getting clean afterwards. Usually getting dirty was done with her father or her friends, and getting clean was a special private time with her mother. Genevieve might have passed the housekeeping and cooking off to others, but when it came to her…

Four Years Old “Hello honey, how was your trip? What did you get Alexis for her birthday?” asked Genevieve, laying down her brush and lacing her fingers together, flexing her palms away from her body, producing a series of sharp cracks from her knuckles, which didn’t sound quite in unison, as her husband came into…

Dana Returns Alexis was having fun smearing patches of wet slimy color over a piece of paper her mother gave her. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Genevieve was busy providing an example for her daughter on the finer points of finger-painting. “Mrs. Archie, should you be doing that?” asked Eileen as she passed through the…

Getting Back to Normal Alexis was glad to have her mother home, though she didn’t like having the woman-in-white running the household. She was surprised when the woman began giving Eileen, orders and treating the faithful woman like a servant. Alexis remembered how much Nana and Eileen used to argue over how much salt to…

The Woman in White Alexis didn’t like it when her mother started going to New York without her. She had always loved traveling on the train. During the day her mother would leave the door to their sleeper compartment open and let Alexis roam up and down the passageways, popping in and out of other…

One Studio Genevieve watched as Kelly lowered the Christmas tree, which they spent the whole morning un-decorating. “Kelly, let’s not set the living room up as a studio again. I never paint down here any more. The light is really better upstairs.” “Are you sure, dear?” asked Kelly, surprised. He was used to the idea…

Christmas As the days counted down to Christmas, the temperature continued to drop, and Alexis was kept inside longer each day. Snow in December was uncommon in Misty, Texas, so the change in the weather took everyone by surprise. When snow started falling on December 23, the hardware store sold out of show chains, and…

Meeting Santa Kelly had gone in town to buy feed for the various animals around the farm that morning, not forgetting the special feed for the new pony, since Alexis reminded him three times over breakfast. He was surprised at how his daughter took to the chores associated with owning a pony. She loved to…

Three Years Old Alexis was feeling quite grownup after her first sleepover with a non-family member. Eileen’s husband and her sons enjoyed having the child visit. Eileen earlier warned her husband that the Archies didn’t let Alexis watch television, so after dinner he entertained Alexis by making shadow animals on the wall with his hands…