​Side by Side With New Friends
Danette Littleton
​Donna Stackhouse

There was not much excitement for the side-by-side kids that summer until Mr. McCurdy’s Best of All Talent Shows came to town. News about auditions and prize money brought out the best when Harriet sang and not-the-best when Jimmy John and Buster’s version of ‘Mama Don’t Allow’ was not allowed. After audition falls and failures, the Talent Show was a big hit.  No sooner had the town settled down, than Bessalina stirred everybody into a panic when she sneaked her day-care classmates on an adventure. Older kids got caught up with angry mockingbirds, Tin Lizzies, and fish with teeth. In the end, all the kids gathered around Aunt Clara for a hair-raising Gullah ghost story.

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