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?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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…”

A young woman has everything: a home, a job, a baby, and a husband that brings her flowers.

CHAPTER 20
The bike ran sweetly as we swept over the Severn Bridge, that wind once more surprising me by its absence, Kim sitting in a far more relaxed way on the pillion, and then we were pulling up behind what was now our house. Luggage in, a quick shower each, using both bathrooms, and then I pulled the tent out of its bag to hang from the shower head to dry out. All of our used clothing went into the washing machine, and then we walked the short distance to Ruth’s place for something nice.

“Special tonight is sausage and mash, girls. How was the camping?”

Kim grinned.

“Magic! I don’t think my legs will be working properly for a few days, though!”

Nancy's education in many areas continues.

From Boy-Wonder to Batgirl-4-Revealing and Ending
By: Kokopo618

Revealing

Dick stops on the roof of a small café in south Gotham realizing that he can't go to the Batcave because Batgirl doesn't know that place exists. Instead Dick excitedly takes out his communicator, and enters the code that Bruce provided him should he ever need to contact him. Bruce answers.

CHAPTER 19
Kim jerked at my words, turning her face to me with a look of obvious fear, shaded with guilt.

“What do you mean?”

“He looks really fit, that lad, doesn’t he?”

“Who?”