The next morning I had a bit of a headache. I went to the bathroom and took some of my sister’s pain medication. For some reason, they came in a little foil pack with individual pills labeled with different days. Strange!

I showered, using Sarah’s body wash because I was out. As I applied it to my skin I felt a strange tingling! I checked the label to see that it had a special exfoliating formula.

What I Did On My Summer Staycation

My father was an electrical engineer whose company did a lot of business with a company in Japan. This meant he made several trips a year to the company based just outside Tokyo.

After telling my mother and I stories about how nice it was there, he decided to take Mom there for two and a half months the remaining two weeks of June, and July and August. They made plans for my sister and me to stay home and my aunt would live here to watch over us for those two months.

“I think that is everything we needed to cover. Any other points?” I said mightily relieved that the meeting was coming to an end.

My team looked at each other but no one spoke until the newest one of the team, Jeremy Ford said,
“So, Frank, are you going to tell us where you are going for your Holidays?”

I smiled. I’d not told anyone what I was going to do for the next three weeks.

“I’m going to the Outer Hebrides. I’ve rented a cottage on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis,” I replied smiling.

“What are you going to do up there?” asked another of my team, Melvyn Sands.

“Not a lot and that’s the beauty of it. There is a long white sand beach just yards from the cottage and not a lot else for miles.”

It all started when I came down sick with some kind of summer "bug" just two days before we were supposed to leave for our vacation.

Our family has been taking vacations together every summer since my dad, a former Staff Sergeant in the Army, was retired on medical grounds. Over the years that he had been serving, he'd seen enough rough and nasty stuff that it almost ate him from the inside out.

Charlie's life feminine continues and blossoms. Being a birth partner brings about further changes.

I stood there and stared at him as Simon Leapfoot the younger looked around the small community, then noticed that I was there.

There was grace and confidence in his every step, the man knew the world around him in ways that I didn't yet.

He stopped in front of me, noting my interest in him, and spoke, "I am Simon Leapfoot the younger, I'm looking to meet with Will Tinker."

I nodded at him, showing a weak smile as I said, "That would be me, Mr. Leapfoot," then waited to see what would happen.

May You Live in Interesting Times

Chapter 9

“Are you going to be able to handle everything at Michaelmas yourself,” William asked Abigail. “I have to be in Powick in a few days for the battle, and won’t be back until the quarter-day at the earliest.”

“I should be fine,” Abi said. “We are getting things running smoothly here. What are you doing today?”

The land around the south shore of Lac Leman had been settled by the Celtic Nantuatae tribe including up the upper Rhone river valley to the point it narrows just above Monthey. The rest of the upper Rhone valley had been settled by the Celtic Seduni tribe. The area south of Geneva at the western end of Lac Leman and east of the Rhone was settled by the Celtic Allobroges tribe. All three tribes had been conquered by the Romans during the times of Julius Ceasar and his successors. The tribes were not supplanted by the Romans, and after their initial conquest, stayed on the land in relative peace.

The massive influx of people was too much to absorb on the limited lands of the province Alpes Graiae Et Poeninae, more farmland was needed. With the purchase of the Roman Senatorial Estates, Raben now owned most of the land of the Seduni and the Nantuatae. To expand his land he set out exploring the land to the west of Barmaz and south of Lac Leman, what remained of the Nantuatae an that of the Allobroges. Many of the farms were subsistence level like he had bought in Barmaz. The better farmland was owned by absentee Senatorial landlords. Raben knew he could deal with the subsistence farms as he had done in Barmaz. The tougher deal would be to buy out the Roman Estates.

A Staycation Contest Entry

Max Williams smiled when he saw it was his mom calling. It was always great to talk to her. Since she remarried, she’d never been happier.

“Hey, mom. What’s up?”

“Hi, sweetie. How are you doing?”

“I’m great. When are you coming up to visit again?”

“Honey, Henry and I are passing thru in the night. We’re headed up to New York City for the Spring and then we’re flying over to Greece for a cruise. I was hoping you’d do me a favor.”

“Sure. Just say the word.”

Lindsey, or Lyle to his friends and acquaintances, was recently retired and was celebrating his 61st birthday with lunch with two long term friends. It was a fairly low key lunch at a rustic old café in the nearby mountains with a couple of long term friends. Several others of his childhood friends and their spouses, due to work and other commitments, could not attend but had sent gifts and well wishes with Jack and Bill.

QT the Cutie

Can you imagine the embarrassment of being named Quentin Tarantino Clarke? At least I don’t look like my face has melted. (Sorry, I know that’s going to offend someone!).

But what happens when someone decides that although my name is QT it sounds too much like Cutie? I can tell you ….. life begins to get very complicated. And then one of my friends is truly slick with Photoshop and the given task is to morph me with ….. wait and see. It’s just Life-changing.

“Yeah, k’know, I just want to do everything I can to help our community!” the teenage girl said perkily, pouncing her foot up and down, her black and purple suit fitting snugly to her thin, lithe frame.

“I love you, Impetus!” someone shouted from the unwashed throng, fortunately held back by a barrier of police tape and news vans. Behind the mask, Adam held back a wince.

This is a second person FtM story, I've been kinda intrigued with the idea of writing something in second person for a while. This is a heads up that this story is basically about the reader being turned into a boy and I figure that could be triggering to some people, especially trans women. There's no abuse, but just be careful and maybe give this one a miss if you think that might upset you. Otherwise, enjoy!

The plague drew Raben out of his avoidance of public life. As an Ianuarian he could not sit by allowing people to die. For the next several years he traveled from outbreak to outbreak treating the ill. Unfortunately the plague was smallpox, a respiratory virus with an incubation period of twelve days and lasting two weeks. Thirty percent of those contracting the disease died, another fifteen to twenty percent, dehydrated or starved to death. Even with Raben’s skills he couldn’t stop or prevent the disease. The best that could be achieved was seeing the ill were nursed which helped save those who would have died by dehydration or starvation. He did recommend the wearing of a cloth mask to cut down on caregivers catching the disease.

May You Live in Interesting Times

Chapter Seven

After dinner, Abigail joined the equally distraught Duchess and Gabrielle for the carriage ride to the prison. They parked outside, and found Joe there waiting.

“I never got in,” the boy said. “They says it cost tuppence to get in ter visit. I done went all around the place. They’s usually a hidy hole or somewhat to sneak in, but couldn’t find one.”

We found ACC Bishop in her office. Her assistant soon understood our predicament and arranged for us to see her boss.

To give her credit, the Assistant Commissioner listened intently to our plan without showing any emotion or reaction one way or the other.

At the end of our speech, she closed her eyes for almost a minute.

When she opened them again she smiled at us.

“Well, I have to say that of all the ideas that have been floated by me and the other commissioners to catch this killer… This is just about the most ridiculous and silly and… You know it might just work but…”