Getting Back

A young girl wakes in the woods with no idea how she got there. She has no clue where she is. There are no woods near her house. Her life thus far has been entirely indoors. She’s hungry and thirsty and scared and lost. And the animals in the woods want to eat her. She learns some survival skills and begins the long trek back toward civilization. She eventually finds her way home but it turns out that her father deliberately abandoned her there. So when she gets home he decides that maybe just killing her will be more effective. She flees back into the woods, but he chases her. Not the end of the world. This is her natural environment now and she’s got some skills that he doesn’t.

A Cajun Christmas

            It’s early December when high-school junior, Cathy Romero flees her emotionally abusive step-father and runs away into the swamp that borders their small white-collar Louisiana suburb.  In the swamp, she debates her options with a friend on the phone until the battery dies and she finds that she is lost.  As night falls and the gators come out, Cathy is sure that hope is lost until she is rescued by Monty Callais, a Cajun teenager who’s family home-school him from their community in the swamp.

            Monty brings Cathy home with him and she meets a community of swamp people who are hesitant to accept her because of the way her city and its government act towards the natives.  Cathy quickly acclimates and finds that she can learn a lot from these seemingly primitive people.  She even begins to have a relationship with Monty.  One of the biggest problems facing the Cajun group is the horrible erosion that is slowly washing away more and more of their community, and Cathy thinks that maybe she can help.

            She re-enters ‘civilized’ society, though she continues to avoid her step-father.  She makes an impassioned plea before a prejudiced city council, and after overcoming many obstacles, she convinces the townspeople to sacrifice their Christmas trees to help prevent coastal erosion.  The people rally behind Cathy, and a massive joint effort is undertaken to save the swamp community.  All seems to be going well until a Christmas Eve storm traps the city-folk in the swamp.  This gives the Cajuns an opportunity to show their hospitality as they have a massive joint community Christmas.  Cathy’s dad shows up to ruin the festivities, but the Cajun townsfolk oversee their reunion and promise to keep a close eye in the future.

One Child Left Behind

Beth works hard as the nanny for the one child of a wealthy single mother.  When the mother disappears, suspicions abound that Beth may be responsible.  But Beth suspects that for reasons she can’t fathom, the mother is attempting to shirk responsibilities for the child by leaving him with Beth.  Now she is torn between solving the mystery and vindicating herself or accepting her assigned fate and caring for the child as if it was her own.