I Wanted Her
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I fell in love with Alex when she was 13 – when she was a boy. I was 16 and had everything a young man could have, except love. I never thought of myself as gay. I still don’t. I just happened to be there when I saw the woman in her poke out through the boy.

Nancy attempts to flee with Sandy.

(My apologies. This chapter was originally and inadvertently posted as chapter 13, instead of the real chapter 13)

Six dark figures jump out of an ordinary propeller prop plane at night. Their target was just below them. They glide down out of the sky, using the darkness and lack of a moon as cover.

A lone figure laying down on top of the roof of the log mansion spots the figures. She watches as they glide down through the night sky.

“Little Sister to Grease Man. Our visitors have arrived. They are approaching from behind the mansion.” Rachel watches the figures through her specialize scope on her sniper rifle.

CHAPTER 23
Kim was off out early the next morning, to help with the breakfast trade, but she promised to be back at one for our shopping trip. She had clearly stirred Nell up, as that girl was the one who knocked on my bedroom door with a morning cuppa.

“Um, Kim said I should…”

“Thanks, love! Kim’s jeans and one of her tees?”

“Yeah, and she lent me…”

Errol is a high school senior, who while finishing his secondary education, is experiencing his first great love. His girlfriend decides to take the sexual reins. Little does Errol know that his personal dominos are starting to fall.

“When the door closes on you, it's because life knows you deserve better. And, if we really knew our worth, we would close the door ourselves.” S. C. Lourie

“Watch out guys.” Tammy fires three rapid shots from her rifle.

Three guys fall from three different trees they had been concealed in. Tammy spotted them with her thermal scope. She looks where they dropped and noticed they had rifles as well.

“Guys, they have upped the game. They are using rifles now.”

“Thanks for the update, Tammy.” Paul knocks another of their attackers out.

“How are those jammers coming, guys?” Kat does a spin kick at another attacker.

Becoming a Gill
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Mother

Melanie Gill had been so proud of her garden, but now it was a mess. The illness and death of her youngest and favorite daughter Helen had destroyed her will to do anything but weep. But now she looked out at what had been her pride and joy, with determination rather than despair. Maybe, if she got busy, her mind might be distracted from her grief. Even for a moment, that would be a relief.

Gerold vs. the Good Old Boys

4/ Discovery

By Jo Dora Webster

Cover Art by Melanie E.

How can Gerrie, who is finally good in her own skin,
impersonate Gerold's male gender expression?

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Dinner time at the Hazel’s was unlike dinner time in my family. Sure, mom cooked once in a while, but she always got lazy and would slouch onto her bed for hours. Florence cooked for a bit until she went off to college. It was up to me; Florence taught me the basics, but sometimes I didn’t have the time to cook meals, or dad would scream about me cooking cuz it’s a ‘girls’ job’. Often leaving us to buy take-out. Looking at it now, I think my mother is more depressed than an enabler. This is odd because when Naples started showing mental illness signs, she readily took him to a therapist.

CHAPTER 22
I watched the new arrival, and her gaze went straight to Anita, who shrugged in the most obvious of ways before pointing at me.

“Debbie’s house, Eleanor. Her call”

I turned to Kim, smiling as gently as I could manage.

“Upstairs here makes sense. Eleanor?”

Her reaction was delayed, so I asked myself how long she had used that name, at least openly.

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The following are previously published short stories and novelettes. Real Life, heartache and sacrifice, celebration and joy, fantasy and even romance are included herein to hopefully bless all. Thanks to every one of my friends here who served and who yet serve on our behalf.

Rumspringa
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Ours had always been a very religious household. I guess Mom was really the key to that. Dad always said the strength of faith comes from the women. But he was the elder in our church, and he seemed fully committed.

Nancy helps a friend and tries a new persona.

Deliveries
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Hot Water Helps You Clean
by Angela Rasch

I had just finished conditioning the oak woodwork in our twenty-year old home’s basement with Murphy Oil Soap when the doorbell rang. I scanned myself in the wall mirror and wished for the millionth time that my uniform fit me better. There’s only so much you can do to make a maid’s dress look natural on a forty-year old male body that weighs in excess of two hundred pounds, unless you make drastic changes. . .operations and hormones. I sighed . . . Once again considering things that could never happen.

“How’s the fit?” the shop clerk asks me as I smooth the long, flowing dress over my narrow waist and smooth, curved hips.

“Be honest, Laura,” mum advises. “If there are any problems, you need to let us know now as there won’t be another chance before Saturday, and you’ll be in that dress for a long-“

“I know, I know,” I interrupt. “It’s still pinching a bit around my armpits…”

“Okay, we can do something about that,” the clerk says. “Are there any other places it’s too tight?”

“Nope,” I reply, smirking as I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

CHAPTER 21
Sparky and Kim helped me into the living room, and then Sparky went back into the kitchen for a minute, returning with a towel and a bag of frozen peas, which he pressed against my face.

“You are going to have a real shiner tomorrow, woman. Let that chill, and then I want to feel your face. The cold will numb it enough, I think”

“What for?”

“Broken orbit or cheekbone, love. Give it a few minutes…”