My parents are Jewelers. Dad is a wholesaler, while Mom has a Jewelry store that's been in her family for ages. That being said, we are fairly well off, and I guess Mom and Dad were feeling a bit eccentric when naming us.

This is a poem I wrote the day after Christmas. I am alone on Christmas and found this one hard. If you are looking for bright and cheerful, this is not it. Sorry.

Gakkou no Kaiden

To Curse Someone Visit the Shrine at the Hour of the Ox

Not too long ago there were two friends, their names were Ichika Nakamura and Sakura Suzuki both attended Satoyama High School. Now Ichika Nakamura and Sakura Sakura Suzuki had been friends since childhood. By all accounts the two should have been very close, almost best friends. Because the Nakamura family lived right across the road from the Suzuki Family and both families had served Oda Nobunaga when he had taken control of Mino Province during the Sengoku period.

As the virus spread around the world, Maxine and Hayley made plans for when they'd have to go into isolation or as everyone in the media was calling it, lockdown. All the businesses that were part of the Lorelei Investments portfolio were given updates on what Maxine was expecting from them. Mostly it was a complete freeze on both payments to Lorelei and investment in the companies with a few exceptions if a government mandate forced the business to completely close or severely restrict their operations.

*****
During the years after WWII the Raven family, while in many ways typical for the era, was anything but normal. The backstory began in the early spring of 1944. Then 20 year old Chuck Raven’s unit had just completed paratrooper training, allowing him to come home on leave before shipping out to Britain. Lorraine Rees, a stubborn and feisty 17 year old high school junior, had been forbidden to go out with a grown man. After arguing and sent to her bedroom, she locked her door and climbed from her bedroom window to the front porch roof, then eased over the edge to shimmy down a porch column to go out with him. Lorraine dropped out of school at the start of her senior year, giving birth to a son, Leroy, in January 1945. Since Chuck had been sent to Europe, a shotgun wedding had been impossible. Chuck’s parents lived on a farm a mile outside the town of Grantsport, 8 2/3 miles north of Reading, where Lorraine lived. When the weather turned warmer in the spring, she’d bundle her baby and walk the mile long dirt road out to the farm so the infant could meet his grandparents, 2 uncles, and a great grandmother.

No one knew precisely where it started, but it was generally acknowledged it was in a women’s bathroom at a shopping mall.

“Get the hell out of here you pervert.”

“I’m a woman! You can’t throw me out of here, you horrible old TERF!”

“No you’re not a woman. You may try and dress…..”

“Sorry what was I saying. Of course you should be in here. I’m so sorry can you forgive me?”

December 2021 Christmas Holidays Story Contest Entry

Big thanks to MonicaS for their continuous and valuable help in the writing of this story.

MY SISSY

By Rhayna Tera, copyright 2021

Vicksburg, Mississippi is an historical city located on the banks of the Mississippi River. As a port on the Mississippi River the city of forty thousand souls is far more cosmopolitan that the surrounding area. Vicksburg is also one of the most haunted cities in Mississippi. The city itself endured a terrible forty day siege by Federal Force's during the Civil War.

The Angel of Earth

by

Rodford Edmiston

Epilog

A being of light moved through the empty canyons of the ancient metropolis, the only sounds those of wind and waves and the occasional bird. It flitted along, the waters below reflecting its glow.

The Angel of Earth

by

Rodford Edmiston

Part Twenty

Melody screamed in mindless fear and rage against the all-consuming dark. There was no texture to it, no substance; it wasn't even black. Just nothing.

Then, a glow appeared. Pure, white light flowed outwards from a lone figure, leaving the reporter sobbing in relief at being real again.

The Secret Gift By Teek © 2021 Chapter 2 Shopping

Summary: There are a few shopping trips with Grandma and Grandpa while everyone adjusts to the new reality.

Barely gone and already back.
Lillyn has some unfinished business at Maynard Mansion.
A heist that dwarfs any raid done before.

Link: Every Day Is Your Last Title Page and Description

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Rich didn't ever tell me much about the time he spent in jail. He just would say, 'It wasn't that bad, really.' and change the subject. When Jack told the police that he hit Rich first and refused to press charges on the assault, the DA dropped the pending charges. Jack told me he was contacted by the DA while in the hospital saying they had filed assault charges against him, but Rich pled the fifth because testifying against Jack would incriminate himself, leaving no witnesses and a really weak case. So in the end, the whole matter was dropped and neither one was convicted of anything.

The Angel of Earth

by

Rodford Edmiston

Part Nineteen

"This is definitely worrying," said CornFed, in the computer room, the next day. She glanced up at the holographic model overhead, then at the latest analysis printout in her hands. "Not only is Blackpool missing, but Insight is growing increasingly unstable. It's worse than useless in trying to find him."

"Almost as if it's helping to conceal him," said Multi, thoughtfully.