Going back in writing time, The Famous One is my second novel. It's written as a fictional biography with an alternating POV. Beginning as a narrative with an omniscient POV, the reader learns the history of the protagonist Joseph Calhoun Parr Jr., better known as Joey Parr. This excerpt is from the first chapter titled "In the Beginning . . ."
In third grade Jaylene Raymond decided she wanted Joey’s attention from the first day of school. He was clearly the cutest boy in the entire third grade class—at least that’s what she told Kelsey Johnson and Kelsey Johnson told Joey on the way home from school since they lived across the street from one another. This was startling news to Joey since he wasn’t even sure who Jaylene Raymond was until Kelsey explained that she was the girl with the long blonde braids. That realization led to someone to sit with at lunch since his sister no longer sat with him because of her many friends. Janey never ignored her brother and was always kind to him but being a big sixth grader had caused her world to expand considerably and now more than ever their age gap determined their different interests.
Joey’s third grade teacher took a special interest in him and sensed his unhappiness with life in general. Miss Conway had never married and had been a teacher for 25 years. She had gained a lot of wisdom watching and teaching children over all those years, and it was her opinion that although there were some children who were very smart, they were never going to do well in school. That opinion was not based on any studies or on a child’s learning disabilities or his personal status in the classroom. She just knew instinctively that a few children were never going to accept school in general and probably would never graduate from high school. She regretted that possibility for their sakes and she always tried to zero in on those students to give them extra help and encouragement along the way, hoping in her heart that possibly they would see some advantage to completing their schooling—but she doubted they would. Joseph Calhoun Parr, Jr. was one of them.
With Miss Conway’s constant affirmation of his abilities, Joey had a fun year in school for the first time in his life. As it turned out, Jaylene was not the only girl who fancied him, but since she was the first, he remained loyal to her attentions. One day about two months into the school year, Jaylene asked Joey if he could walk her home from school, so he said yes. She lived about four blocks out of his way, but he didn’t care. When they arrived at Jaylene’s house, he couldn’t help but notice how nice it was with a sprawling lawn and lots of flowers, though none in bloom now. Her house had a nice big porch with fancy padded chairs and a table, and it was completely screened in with a door. She opened the door to the porch and invited him to sit down. They put their books on the round table and sat down and looked at each other. Without warning, Jaylene reached over and planted a kiss on Joey’s lips. It happened so fast, Joey didn’t even close his eyes. Jaylene opened hers and smiled at him. At a total loss of what to say or do, he smiled back. Then he picked up his books and said a quiet good-bye and walked home in a daze, going right to his room when he got home without speaking to anyone. Once he was behind the closed door, he reached up and touched his lips and smiled again.
Father, apart from you, I can do nothing. You gave me this story in such an unusual way, and I can't thank you enough for it. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
