Masks XXVIII: Old School

by

Rodford Edmiston

Part Nine

Michelle walked past the bathroom, stopped, reversed and looked in through the open door. She saw her wife staring into the mirror over the sink.

"I didn't think you were the narcissistic type."

"My dad likes to joke that noses run in our family," said Vic, sadly. "Mine did look a lot like his, before; it's smaller, now, and a different shape."

"I think you have a cute nose," said Michelle.

Vic just sighed.

* * *

My alarm woke me up at 8am. The final wasn't due to kick off until 5pm, so I'd only need to be at Miss Snell's house to get ready 2pm at the earliest. That gave me 6 hours to kill before then.

I got up and did myself some breakfast. Then I decided to go for a little morning run. Nothing too strenuous before the big game later in the day, but something to get the blood flowing and the body active. I slipped on a pair of pants, a pair of shorts and an under armour t-shirt.

When my youngest, Lawrence (or more usually Larry), began high school I was not surprised that he had problems. Not scholastically. Larry is a bright boy. No, the thing about Larry is that he is “odd”. I can’t describe it better than that since I haven’t been able to pin it down better myself. There is nothing tangible. He doesn’t look funny in any way. No big nose or limp or anything like that. He’s not a macho boy but in no way girly (even if some would characterize his love for ballet as girly, which anybody that had seen him on stage would know is a mistake). He’s just “odd”.

Chapter 7

I woke with an insistent bladder on Monday morning. I felt a lot better and hummed a bit as I showered and dressed. I ate well and went down to the office to see if we had any new emails. Then went to open up the street door for Lena. When she came in, she put a large bag on my desk.

“That’s your outfit for when we go to Epsom on Thursday. They had your sizes still on file.”

I looked in the bag and saw a WPC uniform, identical to hers, except in one detail. Mine had a sergeants’ stripes.

It was a strange feeling that followed our semi-final. On the one hand, we had done brilliantly in reaching the cup final, which had always been our aim. On the other hand, we would have to play the final without our captain, Katie. I felt particularly bad: she'd only been sent off because she was acting to protect me. I did express this to her, but she wasn't having any of it.

"Don't be silly. It's my own fault, I act before thinking sometimes. But at least I made it a good one, wiped the stupid cow right off her feet."

We both shared a laugh and a hug.

The game against Oakwood High kicked off at 3pm, just three days after the match against St. Mary's. In between the games we'd had two more training sessions, the first of which was a recovery session, and the second of which focused on what we would likely encounter against Oakwood. They had a reputation for employing the dark arts, so we practiced short-sharp passing drills, designed at moving the ball on quickly and moving into space, so that they would have no time to commit fouls.

I'm human and I'm falling
But you tell me, I'm flying
But it's building, and I can't breathe
Wanna feel the way that I used to be

Miss Snell dropped me off just outside the local bowling alley at around 5pm. I asked her if she was joining us, but she said that this was just for the team and she didn't want to 'cramp our style'.

"Enjoy yourself, and I'll pick you up later. Just give me a call when you're ready." And with that, she left.

The next day I was at the pitch with Miss Snell around an hour before my soon-to-be teammates would start arriving. I had already been transformed into Tabitha earlier in the morning: my hair was put into a high ponytail and I was wearing a pink thong and a pink Nike sports bra. Over this I was wearing a pair of white football shorts and a Manchester United football top. I had tried to protest about the top, being a Manchester City fan, but Miss Snell insisted. The top was hers, and she said "no niece of mine is wearing the enemy's kit", with a wink and big grin.

We spent several hours that evening talking about what had just happened and what was going to happen over the coming weeks. The entire time I was sat wearing the leggings and sports bra Miss Snell had asked me to wear. It was all incredibly surreal, but undoubtedly exciting. I could feel my penis getting aroused during the initial stages of our conversation, but luckily my gaff kept it from springing loose. After about 15 minutes, that initial excitement died down, and the whole situation began to feel completely normal.

Jack O' Lanterns, Moonlight, and Magic
By
Rebecca Anna Coleman
Chapter Two: The Perfect Costume

The moment I pushed open the door and stepped into the shop was the moment I felt like I'd been transported to a macabre wonderland. Racks of costumes and masks as far as the eye could see. Scattered around the sales floor were macabre animatronics in the form of moving witches with green skin, long, hooked noses with straw like hair. Robotic werewolves leaned and howled. Fake blood oozed down the wall. And a loud cackle echoed through the store.

Chapter 4

After the big lunch of small bites, I only needed something light on Sunday night. I watched some mindless show on the box and went to bed early. Tomorrow was going to be a turning point for Max Force.

 
As I rounded the corner and walked towards my cubicle I felt as if I was being watched. Not unusual, you’re thinking, because people always watch people, especially as they come to work. Well, in my case I ceased to be watched just after being hired. That was three long hard years ago. I kept to myself, did my work and talked to no one about anything other than work.
 

Masks XXVIII: Old School

by

Rodford Edmiston

Part Five

My Friend Græme

Græme was to all appearances a villain as a young man. Poverty stricken, he stole to eat and to put rags on his back to avoid freezing to death. To me he was always a decent man, for he hurt none and always had done his best to help all and anyone he’d ever met. He’d spent his life being the archetypal Good Samaritan.

University was a financial struggle, my parents money was all tied up in Dad’s business, we were not well off cash-wise, there had been no legacies from my grandparents to subsidise my continuing education. Rather than enjoying the rich social life of the college, I had to work my way through a series of low paid bar and restaurant work to keep my head above water. That is until, on the way back after my early morning fitness run, I saw a sign posted on the door of a local nightclub. ’Bar staff wanted, immediate start, well above average wages plus tips.’