Denial’s Orphan

Every teenager thinks he or she is the only person in the world going through turbulent, rebellious times. There are awkward social graces, peer pressures, parents who don’t care to understand, physical growth, anger, bodily experiments, and oh yes, there are resulting consequences from poor choices. Sixteen-year-old Gerri DeMore faces pressures of growing up and concludes she is abandoned by her parents and cast into life’s maze to find her own way. Just when she’s vulnerable emotionally, she’s torpedoed by unimaginable real-life tragedy. Defenseless, Gerri is smothered by depths of despair and anger. She reacts with sixteen-year-old choices leading down dark paths but thank God she’s got friends who step forward: Paulette Guthrie, her neighbor, Daniel Penn, a dreamboat teacher, Len Ferguson, a handsome policeman, and Jake Waltrip, a ringer for James Dean. Gerri’s survival hangs in the balance between people she trusts and the wisdom of her tender sixteen years. Can she survive when some of those she trusts circle and close in like hungry hyenas?