Chronology of the events in the story with Map of An - Updated periodically.

"Mrs. Bamford. I needed to move the wardrobe to get to the window to finish painting it."

"No problem Terry. Can you manage it? It's heavy."

I liked Mrs. Bamford. She was mid 50's, and always dressed well. She exuded femininity. I admired that so much. I had done several small jobs for her. My handyman business was really starting to take off. I hoped that it could grow and I could give up my job at the fast food restaurant.

"Yes, I only need to slide it across the floor a few feet. Even I can manage that."

It's tempting to blame it all on my mother; haul out some psychobabble about how I was raised and childhood trauma and such. Tempting, sure, but anyone who has stayed awake through biology class knows that it's really all due to my father. Four sisters, one lone male - me. It's a biological fact that the male determines a child's sex at conception, but you try growing up as the last child with four sisters.

A story for the season.

In the Hollow of the Devil's Hand

by

Rodford Edmiston

"I don't really know why you're interviewing me," chuckled Corville. "I'm pretty small beans, even for a town newspaper."

"A very political town, the state capital," the eager young man pointed out, as he absently skritched the purring cat on the couch beside him. "I bet you've got some interesting inside views of many events which have taken place here, Mr. Lamb."

There are a lot of good things about public transportation: It's affordable, environmentally responsible, good for people watching, cheaper than owning a car. There a couple of bad things about public transportation: It's slow and you often have to spend a lot of time in the cold or rain walking to the bus stop or waiting for the bus. Maybe the responsible rider is lucky and has a subway stop in front of his doorway, but not so the hero of this story.

Photo by Bruno Salvadori: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-wearing-red-dress-standin...

Daaaaaddddd!!!!!

Ah, nothing quite as heartrending as the plaintive wail of a teenage girl confronted with an intolerable family situation.

"But Mom was going to take me…"

After doing some research and talking with trans men on the forum Avery had recommended, he’d reluctantly decided that binding her breasts wouldn’t be right, given possible health risks for Dakota if he wound up staying in her body for months.

The sun shone through the window of my HUMVEE obscuring my view of the convoy route. It's been an uneventful convoy, in fact, we have not had any trouble so far during this deployment. We are not expecting any trouble according to our unit's intel.

We come upon a small village twenty clicks from Kandahar, but unlike previous times coming through this area, there are no civilians in sight. This is strange. "Trainer," I speak into my vehicle coms to my gunner, "keep an eye out for any sign of trouble something doesn't feel right."

Chapter 3.16

June 9th, 2023

Chatham Yardworks, North Pole

2:46PM

The office building was half a block off the main drag in North Pole, but there was a large sign that was placed at the corner, pointing down the cross street letting people know where they were. Beside the office was a salon on one side, and Ross’ Diner, the same fast food joint where Chet had finally realized how he felt about Mage, on the other.

Bob pulled the car he and Mike were driving into the parking lot. They’d called ahead and found out that it had been a busy day at the office, so when they got out of the car, they went to the diner and ordered some burgers for the office staff, which consisted of Rick and his wife Carla.

In an effort to help her stepdaughter Airelle, and also to avoid bloodshed in Ulik's civil war, Necromantra proposes a daring plan to rescue the princess from the fortress city of Roch. But every move she might make toward her goal is froth with danger. Even if her plan succeeds, there is no way of telling what the fallout of it might be.

Chapter 2

My head is throbbing and I can't focus on anything. It feels like I've been put through a wringer. My memory is fuzzy, I seem to have conflicting memories that I can't get straight. I don't know what's going on, I remember being in a fight using a sword but also being blown up in a HUMVVEE. The fog is starting to clear and I can and I can start to piece things together.

CAUTION: There's a really creepy scene in this story. If something like that might bother you, then please be careful.

Dreams, Spells, and Closet Monsters - 1
Copyright 2022 by Heather Rose Brown

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House sitting
 

I lost all my savings. I lost my job. I could survive anything but the loss of my best friend.