Here is the first chapter of my new children’s book, Riverland (Book 1 of the Dividing Line).
Chapter 1: Halves Matter
I wasn’t the first one in my family to visit Riverland. The first one was Uncle Tim. He was five when he went. I wasn’t around when he was five. I was invisible. My mother says that nowadays, I’m very visible. That’s because I’m seven and a half. Seven and a half is much older than seven. Halves matter a lot when you’ve only been visible for a short amount of halves. I guess halves don’t matter when you have been around as long as Nannie.
After my first visit to Riverland, I told my mother about it. She believed me and said that she wants to go too. Nannie said that my mother is too old for Riverland (Mummy was seventeen when Uncle Tim was five). Even Uncle Tim is too old for Riverland now. I think he’s twenty-four or maybe forty-four. That’s the end of numbers—except for one more.
When my family talked about Riverland, I said to Nannie, “You’ve been to Riverland. Right? Because you are the one telling us about it.”
Nannie thought for a moment and said, “Sometimes, when you are very old—older than seven and a half, older than twenty-four, and even older than Mummy—you start going backwards. And that type of old is allowed in Riverland.”
I’ll always go to Riverland. One day, I’ll take Mummy.
Donna Goddard 