This is Stacy. She’s five. Stacy lives the good life in Pike’s Crossing (that’s in the mountains). She lives with her mom, Rachel, her dad, Ben, and her new puppy Filbert. Life’s pretty perfect now that the house isn’t haunted (though Stacy will still like to live in Disney World – she’d have the best neighbors!).

Life’s pretty simple for a home-schooled kindergartener, and school has gotten so much easier since the house isn’t haunted. If things keep going this well, Stacy sees herself in high school some day (she might even go to an actual school after she gets her driver’s license). Learning to read and add is fun, but Stacy really enjoys learning stuff about animals. “We went to the zoo two weeks ago,” she said. “One money flinged poop on another monkey, but I don’t think that will be on the test.”

Stacy needs to learn as much as she can about animals because she wants to be a puppy trainer, or a nurse. Or maybe she’ll follow in her parents’ footsteps and be an artist or writer. She still has time to decide. In the meantime, she practices a good work ethic by keeping her room clean and making sure Filbert goes outside to poop.

When she’s not working or studying, Stacy stays active with her family and friends. She plays, goes to church, then plays some more. It’s hard to resist a fun, friendly, and nice group of people, like her’s.

Though she may be young, Stacy has a strong faith in and love for God. To Stacy, he’s more than just a name in a book. She knows what Jesus can do. “You should have seen what happened at our house when my daddy asked Jesus for some help,” she said. “Wow!” (Did she mention that the house is no longer haunted?).

Even if Jesus hadn’t helped them, Stacy would still love him. Jesus told Stacy that God loved her and she didn’t see any reason not to believe him. She doesn’t ever remember not loving God, and she hopes everyone else knows that God loves them, too.

Normally I’d keep profiling a character for you, but sometimes a writer needs to recognize when she can’t improve upon the words that sit before her. In this case, Stacy answered some interview questions for me and I think the best option is to let you read for yourself what this lil’ lady had to say:

What is your age/gender/race? 5 years old/female/I usually race my dad and beat him
To which family member are you the closest, why? Right now I’m closest to my mom ’cause I’m in her art studio and daddy’s in his office down the hall.
Is there anything else you’d like to say about your family? We like to watch baseball on TV and eat hot dogs. And Filbert like hot dogs too, but don’t tell mom. Wait. Never mind. She just read this and said she already knows. She caught daddy feeding him one.
Is there anything else you’d like people to know about you: I also have a turtle named Boo Boo. That’s kind of a dumb name for a turtle, but he doesn’t mind.

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Stacy Chalmers is in Thomas Smith’s novel Something Stirs. Find out more at www.thomassmithonline.com