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Between Now and Forever
Medicate or nurture; reform or set free? These are quandaries rookie teacher Marjorie Veil faces when she takes on an after-school class of thirteen-year-olds labeled as troublemakers, un-teachable, and hopeless. Faculty skeptics warn that all these kids need is prescribed medication for focus and impulse control. "Bring them into line," they say. "Show them who's boss." But as Marjorie soon discovers, behind their anti-conformist exteriors are gifted teens, who are sensitive, empathetic, and wise beyond their youth. They also happen to have psychic abilities, which they have kept hidden until now.
Marjorie agrees to mentor these troubled teens called Indigos. But before their sessions begin, she is pitted against school tradition and faculty skeptics in the person of department head James Lacoste. He calls the Indigos resistant brats and questions Marjorie's teaching skills. Instead of bending to his authority as she would have in the past, Marjorie challenges it, convinced that by countering the harsh judgments of institutional authority with love and understanding, she can help the Indigos reach beyond negativity and lost hope.
What nearly destroys Marjorie's resolve, however, is the resistance of the Indigos. How can she help students who see themselves as misfits with ADHD and refuse to cooperate? Slowly, from Jason the Wolf Ardis, with his telekinetic powers, to Codi Baad, who probes people's minds, Marjorie wins over seven reluctant students.
She introduces ancient traditions and quantum physics spirituality into the classroom—including meditation, visualization, and the Native American Medicine Wheel—and exposes her own recently awakened clairvoyant abilities. Rumors fly about campus that she's pushing pagan superstition and running weird experiments, but Marjorie persists, determined to help her students do what she has been unable to do for fight for their spiritual and emotional freedom.
Marjorie agrees to mentor these troubled teens called Indigos. But before their sessions begin, she is pitted against school tradition and faculty skeptics in the person of department head James Lacoste. He calls the Indigos resistant brats and questions Marjorie's teaching skills. Instead of bending to his authority as she would have in the past, Marjorie challenges it, convinced that by countering the harsh judgments of institutional authority with love and understanding, she can help the Indigos reach beyond negativity and lost hope.
What nearly destroys Marjorie's resolve, however, is the resistance of the Indigos. How can she help students who see themselves as misfits with ADHD and refuse to cooperate? Slowly, from Jason the Wolf Ardis, with his telekinetic powers, to Codi Baad, who probes people's minds, Marjorie wins over seven reluctant students.
She introduces ancient traditions and quantum physics spirituality into the classroom—including meditation, visualization, and the Native American Medicine Wheel—and exposes her own recently awakened clairvoyant abilities. Rumors fly about campus that she's pushing pagan superstition and running weird experiments, but Marjorie persists, determined to help her students do what she has been unable to do for fight for their spiritual and emotional freedom.
293 pages, ebook
First published September 25, 2013
10 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Duarte
7 books19 followersFormer middle school teacher, Margaret Duarte, lives on an Elk Grove dairy farm with a herd of “happy cows,” a constant reminder that the greenest pastures lie closest to home. Margaret earned her creative writing certificate through UC Davis Extension and has since published four novels in her “Enter the Between” visionary fiction series. Her poem and story credits include SPC Tule Review; The California Writers Club Literary Review; finalist in the 2017 SLO Nightwriters Golden Quill Writing Contest; First Place winner for fiction in the 2016, Second Place winner for fiction in the 2018, and Honorable Mention for fiction in the 2019 Northern California Publishers and Authors Book Awards Competition. International Book Awards Finalist.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 21, 2014
Margaret Duarte’s Between Now and Forever is a fascinating creation for several reasons, of which I will take up only one. Like her protagonist, novice teacher Marjorie Veil, the author serves society by illustrating that Indigo Children, a term which even Wikipedia downplays as a “pseudoscientific New Age concept,” are here among us, their advanced perceptual development is real, and, merely provided with understanding and a chance, they will blossom into the very geniuses our world needs to resolve the problems that has brought it to the brink.
Across the ages, the establishment has treated anyone with paranormal abilities, any mode of acumen beyond the five senses, as a mutant, making a rare few saints of inimitable stature and the rest demon-possessed or mentally unbalanced and thus deserving only to be locked away or worse. The seven children in Ms. Veil’s class, all from normal enough home environments, are destined for the latter should they luck out and survive the excesses and addictions that such kids tend towards once they accept the "freak" label others paste on them. The book is fiction, but the predicament is real and perplexing to anyone who has encountered and cares for this type of precocious youth—and there may be many more than expected.
But Between Now and Forever does more than bring attention to a prevalent problem. It demonstrates a detailed alternative for mentoring such children, drawn from simple--although not easy-- modalities, available right now to those with minds and hearts open enough to try something “different” with those who are “different.” Besides being a good story with many vivid characters, this book is a must-read for Indigo Children—it will give them hope—and their caretakers—it will point to a workable way. I suggest that it be in the hands of every teacher and school administrator because, I dare guess, there are Indigoes in just about every modern classroom, and the old ways just won’t work with them; they already know better.
Well done, Margaret.
Between Now and Forever
Across the ages, the establishment has treated anyone with paranormal abilities, any mode of acumen beyond the five senses, as a mutant, making a rare few saints of inimitable stature and the rest demon-possessed or mentally unbalanced and thus deserving only to be locked away or worse. The seven children in Ms. Veil’s class, all from normal enough home environments, are destined for the latter should they luck out and survive the excesses and addictions that such kids tend towards once they accept the "freak" label others paste on them. The book is fiction, but the predicament is real and perplexing to anyone who has encountered and cares for this type of precocious youth—and there may be many more than expected.
But Between Now and Forever does more than bring attention to a prevalent problem. It demonstrates a detailed alternative for mentoring such children, drawn from simple--although not easy-- modalities, available right now to those with minds and hearts open enough to try something “different” with those who are “different.” Besides being a good story with many vivid characters, this book is a must-read for Indigo Children—it will give them hope—and their caretakers—it will point to a workable way. I suggest that it be in the hands of every teacher and school administrator because, I dare guess, there are Indigoes in just about every modern classroom, and the old ways just won’t work with them; they already know better.
Well done, Margaret.
Between Now and Forever
December 1, 2014
Margaret Duarte has written a visionary tale about educating children with mystical gifts. Since I believe such children (and adults for that matter) are already among us, this story is not a stretch for me. The idea (as expressed by Duarte) that our highly intellectualized educational system overlooks every child's best and most obvious teacher -- nature -- is a sad commentary, and one that deserves close attention. This is a thoughtful and well-crafted story that delivers a creative scholastic plan that I hope is implemented sooner than later. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
May 21, 2017
I was very interested to read this novel and now that I've finished it, I must say I truly loved it. I've never read about the Indigos in fiction and found it very intriguing and unique. I look forward to read more of Margaret Duarte's stories in the future.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews