Chapter 6

Abigail Hill thought time had never moved so slow in her life. She pushed her Winston Conlee story through the night slot Tuesday evening when the street looked totally deserted. Then, when she dropped off her women’s page the following morning on her way to school to make sure it beat the Wednesday morning deadline, she saw that Rothenburg wasn’t at his desk. This close to deadline he was usually hunched over his deck and hard at work.

Curious, she took the time to stroll by his office and steal a peak through the window that overlooked the editorial room. A gasp of excitement threatened to burst right through her when she spied the editor and owner huddled together and pouring over papers strewn across a desk. She was positive she could see her pages of her manuscript on the desk between them which had her convinced they were discussing it.

After that it was 24 hours of pins and needles with emotions tearing through her like a wild roller coaster ride. One minute she was way high, suspended way up in the air as she convinced herself her story would be accepted. The next minute she was so totally negative, it was like tearing down those coaster tracks, and threatening to go off a sharp curve while travelling full blast.

It made teaching so difficult Abby didn’t know how she managed to get through the day. Wednesday evening she was a little more under control because Leon came by and he was able to at least put her back in earth’s orbit. She was so thankful he was his usual understanding self. They went for a stroll along the riverbank and treated themselves to an ice cream cone before he took her back home.

But as soon as he left, her emotions were in turmoil again so she barely got any sleep. Since the paper didn’t come out until after classes started, it was noon before she knew whether or not her story was accepted.