Want a sneak peak from Playing for Satisfaction, on presale Thursday April 3rd? If so, read on: Though she didn’t look like anyone’s typical picture of a black sheep, Ellie Maine was just that in her family. She was five foot four, although she’d often wished she were taller, a desire that had led to a long term obsession with shoes. She was of average weight and had an athletic build. Maybe she was a touch busty for her height, but not disproportionately so. She had long, straight black hair and black, slightly almond-shaped eyes, both inherited from her Korean grandmother. Her inheritance from her other grandmother was less obvious, but her Irish temper flared whenever she saw what she considered injustice or unkindness. It wasn’t her looks that made her the black sheep or the way she dressed or even her attitude. It was her job. Her parents were medical doctors. Her grandparents on both sides were medical doctors. Her two brothers and one of her sisters were medical doctors. Her other sister wasn’t a medical doctor like the rest, but she was an astrophysicist with a PhD so doctor was part of her title. Also, she was currently training for a mission to the International Space Station, so she got a pass from her family for not being the right kind of doctor. Ellie, on the other hand, only had a master’s degree in mathematics, and instead of going after her PhD, had elected to get her teaching certificate and take a job teaching high school math in the small town of Kinsdale in West Texas. Her family had been happier when she announced, after three years of teaching, that she was going back to school. It was only a matter of time they all said, nodding with relief. However, once they heard that she was just getting her master’s in education, the disappointment returned and she solidified her role as the family black sheep. Now, four years later, she was the assistant head of the mathematics department at Kinsdale High. However, teaching, even with her additional administrative responsibilities, didn’t pay well, so she made regularly weekly visit to The Whips and Spurs, hustling pool so she could afford a pair of Jimmy Choos she had her eye on.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 03:04:26 +0000