In the Shadow of the Enemy

by Sandra Waggoner

Overview

Can Maggie's kindness soften a cruel heart? Her life may depend on it. Mrs. Crenshaw is one of the cruelest people in Dodge City-except maybe Thomas Gatlin himself! However, Mrs. Crenshaw has a particular dislike for Maggie Daniels. When Maggie's father decides to take another coal-mining job-just like the one that nearly cost him his life-Maggie vows to stop him, even if it means working for Mrs. Crenshaw. The eleven-year-old girl finds herself laboring in the shadow of a woman she calls her "enemy." To make matters worse, Maggie must look after Mrs. Crenshaw's troublesome nephews, Cecil and Elbert, who are set on getting her fired. Surrounded by enemies, Maggie does the only thing she can: She heaps coals of kindness upon them, but will this help them find God? Or will Maggie find herself the victim of a dangerous trap?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780976682363
Publisher:	Sable Creek Press
Publication date:	05/01/2009
Series:	Gatlin Fields , #2
Pages:	163
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

I could begin this biography by telling you when I was born. Let's just say, “Yes, I was!” Time, especially to children, means nothing. I once remember telling my class that I was 96. To my horror, they believed me!

I grew up on a farm in western Kansas. My playgrounds stretched from the yard, to the fields and out into the pasture. I climbed every tree on the place, but my favorite prairie tree was the windmill. I loved to shinny to the top and feel the wind surge through the blades and pump the water from deep within the ground. It seemed that I was in rhythm with the very heartbeat of the earth.

On my Kansas playground I became whatever our play called for: a pirate, a cowboy, an Indian, a jungle explorer, a posse rider, a member of the Jesse James Gang — this is where my stories were born.

I think that I have always written. I still have a poem that I penned around third grade. In junior high I wrote while I daydreamed in my classes. In high school I wrote for our school newspaper. I wrote while driving the tractor or the wheat truck as my dad's farmhand. I wrote in college. I wrote. I wrote. I wrote. And I write.

In 1977 the most dashing man waltzed into my life and swept me off my feet into a world of happily ever after. God chose him to be a pastor and we have been in the ministry for twenty-six years. As a result of my husband's ministry I have had the joy of speaking to women — at meetings, Mother-Daughter teas and retreats. I have written many skits just for these occasions. Even there, God uses me to write. I didn't know that he could do that. What wonderful surprises he has given me.

God has blessed my husband Greg and me with four children. They have been the subjects of many of my children's picture books. It's a joke around our house — if you do it, Mom will write about it! However, I can be bribed into adding, “The names have been changed to protect the guilty!”

I am a teacher. I love teaching, whether it is Sunday school or my fourth grade class at the elementary school. Children keep me young and dreaming. They are the best audience for my work. I read my stories to them and they critique me.

Often I hear, “Wow! Please read another chapter.” I can live with that.