A Measure of Disorder, Book One of the Mother-Earth Series

A Measure of Disorder

Book One of the Mother-Earth Series

by Alan Tucker

 Wattpad Edition

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialog are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

 Copyright ©2010, 2012 by Alan Tucker

 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address MAD Design, Inc., 212 Fair Park Drive, Billings, Montana 59102.

ISBN 978-0-9826864-0-9 (ebook)

For Corey and Rea

All the magic stems from you

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Acknowledgements

This project has fluttered around in my mind for years and it took the efforts of many people to make it more than a series of disjointed thoughts in my cluttered head.

First, I must thank my family for putting up with a muttering raving lunatic — and those were my good days!

My alpha and beta readers were outstanding and without their support and encouragement, this book would never have happened. Linda, Andrea, Kay, and Logan, your efforts are much appreciated, and especially Mercedes whose unwavering enthusiasm gave me the resolve to finish. I thank you all.

My long-time friend and editor, Stace Johnson needs to be thanked for turning my mess into a nearly error free finished product. For those seeking similar services, he can be found at http://www.lytspeed.com/consulting.htm. Any errors or miscues still hiding in the book should be attributed solely to me!

1

The bus lurched forward after a loud protest from the transmission. “If you can’t find ‘em, grind ‘em!” someone shouted amid laughter and conversational chaos.

Jenni barely managed to keep her head from banging on the seat in front of her. Man, I hate the bus, she thought.

“Good catch,” Sara Wilson said, giggling next to her.

Jenni laughed in return and gave her best friend a playful punch in the shoulder.

Morning sunlight warmed her face, and Jenni heard birds chirping, even over the din inside the bus. Green and full trees lined the streets near the school and the smell of freshly cut grass mingled with diesel fumes. They had less than a month left of eighth grade and everyone was primed for summer vacation.

Jenni bent down and rummaged through her denim book bag. She had packed all the essentials for the field trip: her MP3 player, digital camera and cell phone. She’d also packed some snacks, an extra jacket, her science notebook, a couple of pens, and the lunch her mom had made. A lock of brown hair slipped out of a barrette and into her eyes as she found her bag of red licorice.

She sat up and fought with her always troublesome hair.

“Here, let me,” Sara offered and pulled a small brush out of her purse. Jenni turned her head so Sara could work her magic.