Petals in The Dust - A Preview Haley Marrett is a loner, the teenage daughter of over achieving, self-focussed parents, Wayne and Kimberly, older sister of precocious Tyler and granddaughter of Ruth, who has mild dementia. Haley’s has been the quintessential upper middle class life, but she struggles for self expression and recognition. When Haley is blamed for a kitchen fire in the family home she retreats to cyberspace in search of understanding where she finds Brandon. As her family’s fortunes unravel in a myriad of financial and legal woes, and lies and secrets are revealed, Haley shares page after page of her life with Brandon. When Kimberly contacts the police, believing Brandon is not who he seems to be, a betrayed Haley arranges to met him in person. What happens next will either bring the family together or tear them apart forever.
  
|  An Excerpt of Petals in the Dust (Note: Haley's screen name is 'Stillwater and Brandon's is 'Justaguy) Stillwater: Oh my God, what am I going to do. Justaguy: Don’t worry Haley, I’ve got a house I rent. There’s only me here so there’s plenty of room. Brandon is talking about her living with him. Why would he think she would do that; what sort of a girl does he think she is. Stillwater: I’ve never even met you. Justaguy: We could arrange to meet. Maybe in the city. The only boy Haley had ever been alone with was her brother. She had never had a boyfriend, had never even considered one. Was Brandon her boyfriend? Stillwater: What city? Justaguy: We could meet under the clocks at Flinders Street Station. Haley learned about the clocks on a school excursion to Melbourne’s historical buildings. They visited the Exhibition Buildings, Old Melbourne Gaol, Cooks Cottage, Government House and of course Flinders Street Station. The domed building of the city’s central railway station was built on the bank of the Yarra River in the early 1900’s but the row of departure time clocks at the top of the stairs dated back to the 1860’s. “I’ll meet you under the clocks”, is a Melburnian idiom. “We could meet under the clocks at Flinders Street Station.” There was something wrong with that, but what? Stillwater: I’m not sure. Justaguy: Any time you’re ready, you just let me know. OK. That was alright, he wasn’t pressuring her. Maybe she could meet him under the clocks. It would be romantic, lovers met under the clocks. But there was something? Under the clocks at Flinders Street Station. Flinders Street in Melbourne! Stillwater: How did you know I live in Melbourne?
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