[Labor Day Weekend]
Things were as usual pretty quiet in Custer County. I’d given everyone but Kelly and myself the weekend off to be with their families.

[Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend]
The town was quiet that day. The next county was having its fair. This was the first of the season so a lot of the townspeople had decided to head on over there to enjoy themselves.

I was in the office doing some of the never ending stream of paperwork that a Sheriff seems to attract almost every day of the week when the front door burst open and a man in his 50’s burst in.

“Can I help you Sir?” I asked trying to put a smile on this rude interruption to my work.

“You dammed better be able to help me,” came his gruff reply.

[Morning at the Police Department Office]

“Hiya Team,” I said as I walked into the County Police Station that Monday morning.

My name is Matt Beecher and for my sins, I’m the Sheriff of Custer County.

“I trust that you all didn’t get took drunk at the Custer County Fair at the weekend?”

There were collective mumbles from the five officers who’d arrived for duty just in front of me.

“Good. Well this is another week and that means we have another week of traffic tickets to give our citizens. We gotta keep our roads safe.”

Then I smelt the air.

"Welcome back Mr Tomlinson. How's the leg and wrist?" asked my assistant Bree.

"Getting better Bree but I'm still a long way from running the marathon again," I replied.

I'd run the NYC Marathon the previous year and raised more than $10K for charity.

"It is just nice to see you back again."

My driver John wheeled me into my office. Not much had changed in the five weeks that I'd been out of action. The pile of current project files had grown considerably but not much else.

"Will there be anything else Mr Tomlinson?"

Life soon returned to something approaching normality after the episode with Lucy's Mother. Lucy was working hard to complete her dissertation along with the spectre of her final exams looming ever closer.

Andrea spent a lot of time in her cellar workshop tarting up odd bits of furniture that she'd then sell for a bit of profit to the local second-hand shop. She also kept Lucy fed and watered while she finished off her dissertation. At the weekend, they usually headed off out of the city into the Pennines for a bit of exercise and relaxation.

Gradually the events of Easter Weekend faded into the background.

Lucy returned home on the second Wednesday of June in a jubilant mood.

"That's it, I'm done. It's all done, printed off, bound and submitted."

Andrea gave her a big hug and said,

"Well then to celebrate we are going out."

The discovery of the money gave Lucy another problem, Andrea. She'd promised that she'd live with her until the Cowes week event. Now, she had enough money to do as she pleased with her life without her parents trying to tell her what to do ever again.

It was then that she realised that was exactly the reason why Andrea was crying. Andrea must have realised that Lucy didn't need her anymore. The visible change in Lucy over the past weeks thanks to Andrea had been there for everyone to see apart from Lucy herself.

Slowly it began to dawn upon her that Andrea had made her take stock of her life. She didn't know what she wanted to do with it but it, whatever it was, was on her mind now instead of being pushed back into the darkest recesses and filed under 'tomorrow'.

Had Andrea and her no-nonsense approach to life had made her grow up at least a little bit?

That and a thousand other questions raced through her mind. It was only when Andrea touched her arm lightly and said,

"Earth to planet Lucy, come in please?"

Lucy let out a startled, "You can't be serious? Do mean to say that you put me through all that for a joke?"

"Lucy, everything I've said today has been deadly serious. Come back into the lounge and think about what I said while dish up dessert. Ok?"

Lucy followed Andrea out of the bedroom and still somewhat in a daze, she sat down at the table.

Andrea disappeared into the kitchen and returned with desert.

"Here you go, Crème Brulee de la Maison," said Andrea as she placed a dish down in front of Lucy.

This is a repost of an old story that seems to have disappeared from the site.

This piece takes the form of an interview between Ellen Hammond (EH) and Rosemary Donaldson (RD).

[EH] My guest today is the former politician and civil rights campaigner Rosemary Donaldson. Welcome to the show Rosemary.

[RD] Thank you for inviting me Ellen.

[EH] You have had a very varied and incident packed life. How do you think you would survive on a Desert Island?

[RD] How big is this island?

[EH] As big as you would like it to be?

Dedicated follower of fashion -or O'Lucky Man.

This is a tale that I wrote around 2007. The 'fashion accessory' mentioned in this story was around at the time. It didn't last all that long but it got me thinking.

“Ladies, ladies, let us not get carried away. There is a lot more to discuss that could potentially stop the project dead in the water. May I suggest that we break for lunch? That will give everyone time to think and try to consider what going forward may mean to the rest of your life.”

No one disagreed so I added,

“It is almost one o’clock now. Why don’t we reconvene at two thirty?”

Again, no one disagreed so the meeting broke up. The new arrivals went and found their rooms with the help of Ann-Marie.

That left Jo and myself alone in the kitchen.

It was a brilliant moonlit night. The warm weather of the past few weeks had made the nights unbearable for sleeping.
One of those who couldn’t sleep was William(Bill) Clancy. That night he’d gone for a drive down to the coast in his car.

As he topped the crest of a hill, he saw the gleam of the sea ahead. He wasn’t there yet. There was a steep hill to negotiate first.

He carefully started down the hillside. He saw another pair of headlights on the other side of the valley. He judged that the car was heading his way.

[At a School, somewhere two weeks before Christmas]

“Miss Featherstone, the Headmistress would like to see you in her Office?” said the Head’s secretary after she’d popped her head around my classroom door.

Sadly, my class of fifteen year olds were more interested in which ‘C List’ celebrity had either had a boob job or was … well, having it off with some other reality TV performer than 'Britain during the Industrial Revolution'. I refuse to call them stars. Most of them had as much talent as I had in my little finger.

The flight west was long and boring. I read the report on my sisters at least three times. It seemed incredible that Ruby and Emerald had not only admitted their crimes but engaged in therapy relating to anger management.

Sapphire on the other hand was totally unrepentant. The report contained copies of letters that had been smuggled out of her prison by other inmates. She was vehement in her goal of making sure that I didn’t enjoy what she considered were ill gotten gains that were in her warped view of the world, rightly hers.

A modern twist on a classic story
[At a house in a more fashionable part of Washington DC]

“We are going to the President’s Inauguration Ball next week. I saw we, but naturally a non-entity like yourself won’t be going of course but we will make sure that you don’t sit down while we are out,” said my sister Sapphire with a smirk on her face.

The famous words ‘I had a dream’ means many things to many people. My ‘I had a dream’ moments got me into trouble more than once when I was a teenager.

Jo could always wrap me around her little finger. I suppose that is part of what loving your partner the way I do is. So, despite my protestations, I was soon ushered upstairs in our spare bedroom and trying on the underwear, stockings dress and shoes.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” asked Jo hold up the two-flesh coloured ‘things’ that were the false breasts in her hands.

“Do I have to?”

“If you do then I’ll get changed into something nice just for you.”

I punched the speed dial on my Mobile.
It was a Friday afternoon in early March and I needed some entertainment.

“Hello Jen. What’s up? Your Boss still trying to feel you up then?”

“Hi Kylie. No. He’s not. I’ve threatened to tell his wife if he tries it again.”

They both laughed.

“As it’s the last Friday of the month and I’m assuming that you’ve been paid so how about some fun tonight?”

“I don’t know Jen,” she said with a big Sigh.

“Come on K. It’s been nearly nine months now.”

[24th December 2011, Helmand Province, Afghanistan]

The special forces soldier spoke quietly into his radio,
“Leopard One to Lion, come in please?”

“Lion receiving,” came the reply.

“Leopard One is waiting for the Antelopes at 951.”

“Roger Leopard One. Lion out.”

The radio went dead.

The soldier shifted his position slightly and peered out into the gathering doom of Christmas Eve.

I was still in a fragile state when Cheryl returned from Aberystwyth.

“What’s wrong?”

I pointed at the TV. Another episode of that dammed TV show was just coming to an end.

“Oh. I see. It must be hard to see your old self, isn’t it?”

I just nodded and wiped a tear away from my cheek.

Cheryl came and wrapped her arms around me.