I watched the expressions dance over her face, realising how much the ‘O’ and ‘W’ words meant to her, poor girl.

“I’m in Salfords, as Jules probably told you, so train will work well if you’re in Horley. There’s a bus stop as well. Where are you based?”

“Top end of Lumley Road”

“Ah. Several buses go past there”

He reeled off some suggestions, all of which I was aware of, although my own choice was usually the number twenty. I was a little puzzled by his knowledge, as he was a driver, like most estate bloody agents, but I assumed it was all part of the toolkit for potential sales.

“Where to, then?”

Friday morning came the way it usually did, far too late in the week. I managed a bus trip without added audio, and after assembly shepherded a flock of teenagers as they laid out the tables ready for our start at ten thirty.

I was still shaken by the scene with Jules, and the vast depths of her fear. I couldn’t quite see it as she did, because I was someone that fitted the lived reality of trans women rather than the usual fictional stereotype of ‘small, pretty’. I couldn’t feel all of her fear because she was in a place I had never been permitted to enter. No pain, no gain, and as I had never gained, I had avoided at least some of the pain.

Sod that. She had been smiling when she had left my place that evening; just stand by her, ready to catch her if she fell and pray that she wouldn’t.

[Monday morning]

“Thanks for seeing me at such short notice, Dana,” Melissa said as she sat down in her office.

Murder
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Have you heard it said that a friend is somebody who will help you move house, but a best friend is somebody who will help you move a body? That is the kind of friend my brother Dan was to Byron Marker. And I was as close to Dan as a sister could be, which was how I got to be included in their plan.

Alco’s Self Storage:
“Man, I am so sore from moving all those heavy boxes and that piano.” Rustie looks at Ivy as he sweeps up the last of the trash in the second locker.

Rustie didn’t know that when someone bought a storage locker, they had to throw away all the trash in the locker as well. It was a good thing the storage unit manager had a wheel barrel they could use to haul all the trash to the dumpster.

CHAPTER 80
We had other issues to think about just then, as Ish was navigating the sudden complications of primary school. There had been the usual sequence of birthday parties throughout his time in what I still thought of as ‘infants’ school’, but now he was in what my memories called ‘junior school' things were changing, as boys did their traditional dance of realising that girls were not only different, but actually distasteful which is not exactly the best process for continuing our species. His size and balance were both a little above the average, the latter no doubt helped by his emerging love of climbing, and that meant he avoided the old school horror of being ‘last pick’ for games, and THE local game for Perth was ‘footy’

Dawn and Diana – Our New Life – Part 4

By Kathi Jo Daniels

Chapter Seven: Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 25, 2004

Diana and I woke up early, showered, and dressed. Diana chose a pink surplice floral dress and loafers. I put on slacks, a long-sleeved shirt, and loafers.

I retrieved the daily paper, started the coffee pot, and began fixing brunch. I sliced the leftover bread from last night to make French Toast, bacon, and eggs.

Chapter 7: Mirror Image, Separate Minds

Being an identical twin wasn’t always the idyllic bonding experience that everyone else seemed to romanticize. For Danielle, it came with a tangled web of complexities, now more than ever. Though she and Tessa were physically indistinguishable—mirror images in the most literal sense—the inner workings of their minds were distinctly their own. Those subtle differences in thoughts and feelings ran deeper than they once appeared, creating a rift that often felt insurmountable.

“Don’t take pictures of my butt!”

Pete's Vagina
67. Uniform
by Erin Halfelven

A young New Yorker finds himself in over his head after finding a symbiote that changes him in unexpected ways.

Chapter 2 Someone who can help.

Dawn and Diana – Our New Life – Part 3

By Kathi Jo Daniels

Chapter Five: Changing Our Relationship

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Mid-afternoon – 2 pm

Doppelganger
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Part 1

I found only one of our bone knives was sharp enough to do it. There was a steel tool that was supposed to sharpen them, but it had rusted and could no longer do that. So we made do with the one knife, but when this session was over, I knew I needed to go to the city. When I told the others my plan, Sakura insisted on going with me.