Sneak peek
Kitty Rain 9: Gum Tree Park Thief
~ Contents ~
{Front cover picture: The merry-go-round}
{Map: Gum Tree Park Fair}
Chapter 1: Back in Australia
Chapter 2: A Reward for Jane and a Disappointment for Kitty
Chapter 3: Boots and Bad Guys
{Picture 1: A lone tree by the river}
Chapter 4: Kitty Talks to Ron Jarvis
Chapter 5: Assessments by Mullins and Ron
Chapter 6: Kitty Talks to Brian Harvan
Chapter 7: Show People and Locals
Chapter 8: Loosing Julian and Patty
Chapter 9: An Introduction to Cherie
Chapter 10: A Purse and Half-Eaten Popcorn
{Picture 2: The Sun River Kangaroo dot painting}
Chapter 11: Eight Consecutive Years
Chapter 12: Chasing the Thief
Chapter 13: God Holds a Person Up
{Author's note}
{Back cover picture: Kitty and the rain}
~ Chapter 1 ~
~ Back in Australia ~
In Sydney the plane touched down from a twenty-hour flight and Kitty, Jane, and Penny transferred to a short flight to Angusford City. Then they drove home.
“I'm beat,” Jane sighed noisily with droopy eyelids. “I want to sleep for a week!”
When they got to their house on Pelican Road in Jackgum they took the last two days of the July school holidays to recover from their trip to the castle in Varrenthurst in the small European country of Belkavia...
“Back in boring old Oz,” Jane complained.
“You're wrong. It's way better here than in Belkavia,” Kitty told her sister.
“Why?”
“Because here we have kangaroos and your ducks,” Kitty told Jane. “Over there all we had was a castle and rabbits!”
“Ha-ha. You're funny,” Jane said sarcastically.
But Kitty really was glad to be home. Even though the holiday in Belkavia had been a whirlwind adventure—meeting the princess and all—she secretly longed for home.
What was it really? She knew deep down what it was—who it was...Cade Elias Eastly. She hadn't seen him since the night he had helped save her from a criminal and she wondered how much she was supposed to think about him.
“It matters a great deal what you think about,” Kitty relayed to her ungrateful sister. “So don't be thinking of this house—our home, our comfy beds, this roof over our heads, your lovely ducks, our friends from home church—don't think of them as worthless. Jane you should be really, really grateful to God for all the good things he has here for us.”
Jane sighed again. “Yes okay. I guess I do like my own bed. It's pink instead of boring brown.”
“I can't believe I'm going to say this, but...thank you God for pink beds.”
“Kitty Rain!” Jane exclaimed. “You've never thanked God for anything pink!”
“I know, I know,” Kitty sighed, shaking her head. “I'm trying to encourage you.”
“Ohhh. Okay I get it. Ah thank you God for my awesome pink bed.”
“Which you are getting out of,” Kitty continued.
“Which I'm getting out of?” Jane queried. “No I'm not. It's early and still cold. I want to sleep more, or at least stretch and—”
“Laze about,” Kitty finished.
“I'm not lazy—”
“I didn't say lazy. Laze about,” Kitty corrected. “But you can't do that anyway.”
“Why not?”
“Because, Jane West,” Kitty said, picking up Jane's fluffy toy bunny and sending it flying through the air, across the room and—plonk!—down through the hoop, “we've got home church. It's Sunday. Get dressed. Everyone's going to want to hear all about our holiday.”
“Yay!” Jane yelled and threw the covers off and jumped out of bed. “I have so much to tell everybody! I played with the princess of Belkavia!”