Nine-year-old Emma, eight-year-old Patsy, and seven-year-old Cindy are siblings who live in Sardis, MS. They are known as The Trio Kids. Although they differ in several ways, they enjoy the same things and are always together. Emma, the rebellious one, doesn�t like following rules. Patsy sometimes follows the rules, while Cindy always follows the rules. During May-Day, there are fun games, and competition for students. And since the three sisters go to the same school, they are given the chance to compete against each other. Cindy loves May-Day since she always places 1st; everyone calls her the �Trio Winner. Being the Trio-1st-place winner means everything! It gives them a separate identity. Patsy always places 2nd, but is content with that. Emma, who constantly places last, hates May-Day! She is tired of being the �Trio Loser.� Will Emma finally figure out why she never places first? Find out as the competition heats up between The Trio Kids!
Born in Sardis, MS, on February, 14, 1966, to the late Mr. Curtis James and Callie Mae Burdette, Dorothy A. Burdette was the last of 15 siblings. At age two, her mother passed away leaving her eldest sister, Irma Lee Starks (nick-named Nicky) to care for six of her siblings, and later six of her own.
They lived in a small, broken down, wooden shack, with one bedroom, a kitchen, and a living room. The house had no running water, and no bathroom. They slept four, sometimes five to a bed. In a metal tub in the middle of the kitchen floor, they often used the same water when taking baths. Dorothy can still remember the water already being dirty prior to getting in. With no outer-house or bathroom, they relieved themselves in the wooded areas behind their house. At night they used a slop bucket for relief, and took it to the woods to dump at daylight.
Dorothy stated that her most vivid memories as a child mostly centered around incidents in which she was hungry. Not knowing then that they were poor, she recalls times when there was no food in the house at all. They would lay stretched out in the yard, with flowers over their chest, pretending that they were dead, in hope that this would attract passing neighbors to stop and give them food. After stripping their neighbor�s tree dry of pecans, they began eating the rotten ones until they were gone. She recalls a day when the cabinets were so bare that she took her hands, and rubbed the flour from the bottom of the shelves that had accidentally wasted from the bag during transits, and licked them clean. Dorothy remembers the old shortening strainer sitting on top of the stove with old lard that had been reused over and over, for years, for frying chicken, fish, pork, rabbit --- you name it! They would pour it in a skillet, heat it up, and take turns picking crumbs from it, which usually led to fights because someone would always pick the largest crumb that someone else was waiting to get. She pondered a time when she was so hungry that she had to fight off a rat to get to a piece of old bread that had fallen behind the refrigerator. Dorothy states that she embraces those times too; that it was her childhood memories that motivated her to press on during trials and tribulations in her adulthood.
In their latter years, they were blessed with a three-bedroom, one-bath trailer home
After graduating from North Panola High School, in Sardis, MS, Dorothy extended her career as a drop-out student from numerous of colleges like Northwest Junior College of Senatobia, MS, Freed-Hardeman College of Henderson, TN, and Memphis State University of Memphis, TN. She often jokes, though it�s true, that it took her 15 years to attain her Associates Degree.
At 21, she mothered her only child, Keely Patrice Burton, who has blessed her with three beautiful grand-children, Bryanna Ashanti Austin, Charlie Jordan IV, and Marlon Rodgers, Jr.
It wasn�t until the age of 30 that Dorothy grew serious about her career. It was then that she decided that it would be more beneficial to her to focus, not only on starting things, but finishing them. In 1999, graduating with honors, she earned her first Associates Degree in Psychology from Southwest Community College in Memphis, TN. Shortly afterwards, as a dedicated and tenured employee for a Fortune Five Hundred Company since 1991, she was promoted into management as an Outbound Operations Manager launching trucks, and later A300�s, DC10�s, 727�s, and Feeder flights where she received abundant award recognitions each consecutive year. In 2007, as a student at Remington College of Memphis, TN, Dorothy graduated with honors, again, earning an Associates Degree in Business Information Systems. Though her intentions were to further her education in BIS, due to harassment and religious discrimination, she was unjustly terminated from her job which placed a hindrance on her career as well as her personal life.
At age 40, Dorothy, during one of America�s worst recessions, unable to take care of self, let along her family, found herself in the unemployment line. Over 15 months behind on her mortgage, yet still determined to succeed, though at first humiliated, she worked minimum wage jobs. No health insurance, previously diagnosed with Hypertension, and �Graves Disease,� taking daily medication tended to be costly. Extremely disgusted with the corporate world, it was at this time that she decided to never again work so hard to maintain someone else�s dream, nor to allow them to determine her fate.
Having always longed to publish a children�s book, Dorothy decided it was no better time than now. Though she had always been an optimistic person, her pessimistic senses had started to kick in; constantly reminding her that she had �no real income.� No matter how hard she tried, Dorothy stated that she could not ignore her pessimistic mind. �The reality was definite, and it was right! What could she possibly do without money?� Yet, because of her strong will to succeed, Dorothy stepped out on faith. Remembering a message once delivered by Reverend T.D. Jakes, �If money can fix it, it�s not a problem!� She realized that though she did not have the funds at the time, the only thing that was keeping her from publishing this book would be her. �After all, it didn�t take a dime to write it, and what would she have to lose by finishing?� Nothing! So here it is! We hope you enjoy it�