Hazel and the Boys

An inspirational tale of a 14-year-old girl who is uprooted from her "home" and moved 2000 miles away when her father gets transferred for his job.

Shelby Chaste finds her first real "friends" in a threesome of ducks that she named "Hazel and the boys."

ISBN 1-59431-644-9 Young Adult, Animal Stories

Cover art by Shelley Rodgerson.

Also available in RTF and HTML formats.



Chapter 1

How it Began

Why did Mom and Dad move us to this godforsaken place? These thoughts whirled in my mind as I slowly walked through the 135 year old dilapidated house.

My name is Shelby Chaste and I am 14 years old. My father, Lorne had accepted a new job 2000 miles away from "home". My dad is a conservationist and had been working in Springdale, Saskatchewan since I had been born. I don't remember ever living anywhere else. Now, he has moved us to Canton, Nova Scotia which seems like a world away from what I knew.

My life in Springdale revolved around my friends, my activities and mostly, Clayton, the boy I had secretly had a crush on for what seemed like forever. Life at "home" was just starting to come together, Clayton finally had started paying attention to me this past winter and we had spent many hours together at the local skating rink either watching hockey, or skating ourselves. My best friend, Brenna had just begun going out with her new boyfriend Wade and the four of us were having a great time even though Clayton was not officially my "boyfriend".

The worst day of my life started out as the best day of my life. It was a Friday, April 25th in fact. I woke up late, as usual and had to rush to make it to the bus. Mom had her normal struggle of waking me up, getting me to eat a quick breakfast as I ran out the door, Dad had already gone to work. School was great, Clayton and I walked around the hallways together "making the rounds" as we called it for the first time ever with just the two of us, hands brushing against each other. Right before the bell rang for classes to start, Clayton took my hand and quietly asked me "out." Both being 14, going "out" meant that we would meet at the rink for the final weekend hockey game, and just be together, possibly holding hands, and maybe, just maybe, a first kiss.

I was walking on clouds when I got home, the day flew by and I don't even remember what the classes were about, my mind was only on Clayton.

As I helped Mom make supper and set the table, I excitedly told her about my "date", she was happy for me and told me that she would extend my curfew until 11:00, for that night only and I better behave myself and not do anything stupid. I was elated.

When Dad got home, and we sat down to eat supper, he broke the news, he had accepted a new position in Canton, Nova Scotia and was to begin working there on May 25th. I had heard nothing about him even looking for a new job, and definitely had never heard of Canton, Nova Scotia. I was in shock.