As Brown As I Want: The Indianhead Diaries

The summer of 1952, Lawton, Oklahoma...Eight-year-old Glory has a father who's taken out a $50,000 accidental death insurance policy on her--now he's spending the summer trying to collect.<p></p> <p>In his first attempt, he throws Glory to the snakes, but a giant alligator snapping turtle scares the snakes away.</p> <p>Glory writes in her diary: Well, Powwow Pete drove us home to talk to Mom, but we didn't get very far. Mom thinks I just have a wild imagination. At least Powwow Pete believes me. I think it was the turtle that killed it for Mom.</p> <p>"How could there be a turtle that big?" she scoffed. They talked some more and Powwow Pete got kind of mad and got up to leave.</p> <p>This was one of those times when a kid thinks they're talking about a turtle, but the grown-ups are really talking about something else entirely. In this case, I think Powwow Pete was accusing Mom of still loving my dad, but he never said that, he just kept talking about the turtle. Mom was doing the same thing: talking about the turtle but meaning that she didn't want to get messed up with some guy who was a pathological liar.</p>

• As Brown As I Want: The Indianhead Diaries, (Paperback)
• Author: Janelle Meraz Hooper
• ISBN: 9780595294084
• Format: Paperback
• Publication Date: 2003-09-23
• Page Count: 184