The Sugar Creek Girls

"Some of you might not have had the privilege to have lived in a small country town, but I did, and I remember it well. An unassuming air of dignity seems to hover like a billowy cloud over the humble community of Sugar Creek. As The Sugar Creek Girls embark on various tomfoolery missions, it brings them up close and personal to mortality. When you're twelve going on thirteen, life is going to change. Mama said Granny's already gone through the change of life and she's nearly sixty ... hmmm. Gee whiskers, I'll think on that later."
--- Chloe Baxter
"I suppose I'd follow Chloe off the cliff if she wanted me to. The Rock Island Railroad runs directly east and west through our small town. Once we were walking the rails from town to home, when we came upon a group of hobos. They seemed nice enough, but Daddy had always told me not to get in their way; of course, he's never walked the rails with Chloe. Not only did we eat hobo stew with them, but we sat in on a sing along. Yes, it was Chloe's idea. That's just the way she is ... never meets a stranger."
--- Sadie Knowles
"Nearly every kid who lives Cross Creek has had a run-in with the widow Albright. She's meaner than a snake. It's been said that she doesn't like nosey people, especially kids! If you ever meet her, you won't forget her. She's a rather muscular woman who wears only men's overalls, a wide brim straw hat with yellowish-white hair sticking out from beneath, and when she talks, she squinches her eyes up tight 'til they're nearly closed. Chloe paid her a visit once and said, 'Her voice was so sharp, it seemed to sting like she'd been whipped with a switch.' I looked directly in Chloe's eyes, but all I could say was, 'You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din.'"
--- Lattie McKibben
"Chloe is either braver than a lion, or crazier than a frog in a hailstorm; but I love her and admire her tenacity."
-- Suzy Cameron
"Bible says there's a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time for war and a time for peace ... at last, The Sugar Creek Girls have found their time for peace. "
--- Izzy Carmichael