This is a very BASIC ROUGH DRAFT. But let me know how you like it and if you have any advice. THanks so much. Also, if you sent your age range and your three favorite books that would help so I have an idea of who’s talking to me. I’m not a creeper lol. Just a writer. Thanks 
It’s the first day of June. Streaks of sunlight filter through the trees as I head out to the chicken coop to the collect the eggs we sell for extra money.
“Hello, chickens,” I say softly, addressing the group of feather-brained fowl roaming the grounds.
“Hello, Lucifer,” I say to our rooster, a fitting name for the meanest rooster I’ve ever seen. He stares back at me with beady black eyes and begins to strut around like he owns the place. As if.
I slip into the stuffy henhouse, holding my breath so I don’t have to smell the stink. I pick out their eggs one by one, placing them into an old carton I brought from the house. I make sure to lock the door behind me and head back inside, feeling the warmth of the sun rise up behind me.
The day always begins early at the Brightman boardinghouse. There is breakfast to be cooked, clothes to be washed, guests to be entertained, and children to be sent off to school.
Our town, Reliance, is a trusty pit stop for travelers headed to the northern states. Our farmers who grow wheat, corn, soybeans, as well as raise livestock, have had it rough for quite some time. The crash in ’29 didn’t do much to ease their workload.
When it became clear that my father’s income as the town doctor would not suffice in supporting a family of 8, my mother opened up our house to boarders passing through as well as townsfolk. We’ve been going steady for about two years now, and a lot has changed. With a handful of strangers moving around the place at any time, it feels different. Maybe a little less like home in some aspects. The people are generally kind and respectful, thankfully. But we’ve had to give up some to keep it running.
Mother, for one, lives and breathes the boarding house. She cooks and cleans, keeps track of our guests and their payments, and that leaves me in charge of the kids, along with all my other chores. I left school when I turned 15, but I try to keep up by studying at home.
I head down to the kitchen, where Mother stands at the stove, stirring a big pot of oatmeal. Her light blonde hair is pulled back into a bun, save a few strands that rest on the sides of her face. She’s got an apron on over a light blue cotton dress.
“Good morning, Lena.” Mother looks over at me with a smile.
“Good morning, Mother,” I say. “Want me to set the table?”
“No, your sister will do that. I actually need you to run down to the store and pick up some more coffee.”
She pulls a quarter out of her dress pocket and hands it to me. “Mr. Henderson is desperate for some coffee.”
Mr. Henderson. A robust man who used to live a few blocks away, but lost his house when he couldn’t’ keep up with the mortgage payments. A decorated officer from the War, and a lover of coffee. Always has a story or two to tell. Widowed, he continually seeks out the company of others.
“Alright,” I say, and head out of the kitchen with a spring in my step. Thomas Brandt, the storeowner’s son, is my closest friend in town, and I haven’t seen him for a few days.
“Hurry back,” Mother says a little reproachfully.
Our house stands on the edge of Maple Road, which ropes its way into town from about half a mile. I love walking to the store. It’s already a warm day, and the birds are chattering up high in the trees. A squirrel watches me from afar, then scurries back into the woods. I decide to run so I can spend more time with Thomas.
Mr. Brandt’s store has a scent of its own. Cinnamon and cloves, molasses and vanilla, fresh bread and cheese, and fresh coffee find their way to my nostrils. It’s a welcoming smell, one I’ve known all my life.
George Brandt moved here from Germany 25 years ago. He’d been a businessman in Aachen, and brought his trade here when he opened a general store in Reliance. Here he met Kathleen Delaney, an Irish girl, and married her. Together they had Thomas, but Kathleen caught scarlet fever and died when he was eight. Now Thomas works in the store with his father.
Thomas is tall, lean, and has thick, dark hair. His skin is fair like mine, save for in the summer time, and his arms are strong. He looks very much like his father; the only attribute he shares with Kathleen is that same beaming smile, though it’s not as common as when he was a little kid. His eyes are his fathers, a fierce hazel that aren’t easily overlooked.
I peer into the store window and see Thomas at the front counter, reading a book. It’s just like him, too. He was always the best student in school.
I swing open the door with a bang, and Thomas jumps off his chair like a madman, slamming the book on the counter. He only relaxes when he sees that it’s just me.