My name is Princess, and I live on the river. In the swamps. When I was nine, Mama left. She hated that Papa traveled on the river all the time to make money. She was lonely. After she left, I was alone.
Cree lived two doors down from me. He had three baby brothers, and he was strong. I watched him from my windows sometimes because Mama didn’t let me play with him. She was born in the city, so she thought all the people out here were river rats. Cree’s mama died, and his dad traveled all the time, too. Worse, when he came home, he drank all the hooch in his still, and he got mean. Cree was as alone as I was.
After my mom left, Cree and I decided to be alone together. He crabbed and chopped wood for our stoves and did repairs on our houses so they wouldn’t fall down. I cooked the food and took care of his baby brothers. Sometimes when the boys napped we played in the trees, and I taught Cree to read, because his mama never taught him how. Cree was my best friend. C
Cree’s getting older now. He wants to travel the river like our papas so he can buy us pretty things from the city. He’s willing to risk everything to do it, and the river has a lot of risks—floods, alligators, leeches, and neighbors with guns. I tell him we need him more than we need things, but he doesn’t get it. He thinks he’s failing us. We fight about it a lot, and I hate to fight with Cree. He’s all I have. And I’m all he has.
I say the swamp is my home, but really Cree is my home. There��s nobody else in the world I can talk to and laugh with and love like Cree. I hope he figures that out before something bad happens to him on the river. Swamp Rats is book one of the Trilogy on the River, sweet romance/coming of age book about life on a lazy river delta. Grow up; fall in love; avoid alligators.
Genre: Young Adult Romance
Cree lived two doors down from me. He had three baby brothers, and he was strong. I watched him from my windows sometimes because Mama didn’t let me play with him. She was born in the city, so she thought all the people out here were river rats. Cree’s mama died, and his dad traveled all the time, too. Worse, when he came home, he drank all the hooch in his still, and he got mean. Cree was as alone as I was.
After my mom left, Cree and I decided to be alone together. He crabbed and chopped wood for our stoves and did repairs on our houses so they wouldn’t fall down. I cooked the food and took care of his baby brothers. Sometimes when the boys napped we played in the trees, and I taught Cree to read, because his mama never taught him how. Cree was my best friend. C
Cree’s getting older now. He wants to travel the river like our papas so he can buy us pretty things from the city. He’s willing to risk everything to do it, and the river has a lot of risks—floods, alligators, leeches, and neighbors with guns. I tell him we need him more than we need things, but he doesn’t get it. He thinks he’s failing us. We fight about it a lot, and I hate to fight with Cree. He’s all I have. And I’m all he has.
I say the swamp is my home, but really Cree is my home. There��s nobody else in the world I can talk to and laugh with and love like Cree. I hope he figures that out before something bad happens to him on the river. Swamp Rats is book one of the Trilogy on the River, sweet romance/coming of age book about life on a lazy river delta. Grow up; fall in love; avoid alligators.
Genre: Young Adult Romance
Used availability for Jill Penrod's Swamp Rats