Richard Gozinya

Daddy s girl

Chapter 1

On Daddy's Lap

Twelve year-old Shauna Poling ran home from school that Friday afternoon, her long dark hair flying. There was only one week of school left, and since school was stretching into June this year to make up for snow days last winter, the heat was intense.

It was so hot in southern Indiana during these last days of school that the building air conditioning system had failed. Shauna's elementary school was one of those new ones, built for energy efficiency but without windows that could be opened and closed. As a result, the school was a sauna bath by noon, and several students and teachers had passed out in class because of the heat. Just before the noon bell, Mr. Saunders, the principal, came on the intercom.

"Due to the intense heat and failure of our air conditioning system, school today will end at the noon recess. School buses will be here early to pick up students. You students who walk to school, please take great care crossing streets on the way home. Have a nice weekend."

The oppressive heat suppressed what would normally have been jubilant cheers from the kids, but not Shauna. She literally jumped up and down in her seat, clapping her hands together and screeching.

"Oh boy, this means I get to go camping sooner!" she squealed as the little girl at the desk next to her looked at her and spoke in a nasty tone.

"Oh yeah, who's taking you camping?" asked Shauna's classmate, Melanie Storm, as if she didn't believe anyone was really taking Shauna camping.

"My mom and dad are, that's who. We're going to the national forest to this real neat place my dad knows," retorted Shauna. She stuck her tongue out at Melanie and turned away. She looked away because she had lied. Nobody was taking her camping, and she didn't even have a father.

Shauna never knew her father. Her mother hadn't married him, and Shauna had never even seen a picture of him. There had never been any men around. There had been a couple of her mom's boyfriends, but they had never been around their apartment much. At age 10, Shauna had started craving male attention, something she had never had.