Maryanne Peters

Loss of Consortium

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Loss of Consortium
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

You probably don’t recognize the name the physicians use: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS for short. You probably know it as motor neuron disease or Lou Gehrig's disease. But by any name, it’s a death sentence. It’s genetic. It’s in my body. There is no cure. Three to four years was all I had. It advances with age, and you cannot fight aging.

Or can you?

Signover

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Signover
The Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Jerry and I had known one another since childhood. We went through high school together and worked together after I finished college. I went into finance, but Jerry felt that he was ready to set up his own business. You have to admire him for that.

Call for Help

Call for Help
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I could hear the distress in her voice, my little Hannah: “Help Daddy. Mommy is really sick. Please come.” A heart-rending call for help.

“I can’t do that sweetie,” I explained. “Daddy is not allowed to be with you without the special ‘yes’ that I told you about, remember?”

“Please Daddy, please,” she said. I could hear Melody crying in the background. The sound of both of my children in distress was too hard to stand. What father could refuse to act, even in the face of the Court order.

Rowling across the TERF

I was introduced to a new term today: TERF - an acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist.
It brought to mind a prior blog of mine called "Feminine Stereotypes" where I mentioned Janice Raymond who would certainly be one.
But it seems that TERFs are still about.
What gave rise to it was a debate on the message board at FM based on a condemnation of the author J.K.Rowling.

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Underage

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Underage
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Everybody knew about Grace. My sister first created her when I was just 13. I wanted to get into a movie rated 16 and above and she suggested that we go together as 16 year old girls. I could never pass as a 16 year old boy, that was for sure. I had to pay for her as well, but even at that age I was earning money from some of the websites I was creating. I went to the movie as her sister Grace.

Twins

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Twins
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Part 1:

“How did you get me in to this?” Jasper asked his sister.

“It just came out,” replied Jade. “When he said he was a twin I just blurted out that I was a twin too. Then he suggested the double date, and … well, he just so cute I could not say no.”

St Beatrice

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St Beatrice
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

It was a combination of things that saw Lenny and I become schoolgirls.

Firstly, my girlfriend Hannah, was sent to St. Beatrice by her parents. Hannah and I were close. We had begun to have sex and we were in the throes of not really love, but that early sexual rapture that seems just like it. I did not believe that I could be parted from her. She felt the same about me. It was tragic.

Rivals

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Rivals
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Samuel Dunleavy and Nicholas Gubbins were friends and rivals. They had been since they were small boys. I had been a long time.

The truth is that it was this rivalry that had made them successful. What they lacked in basic intelligence they made up for with tenacity, and that was driven by they desire to outdo one another.

Prior Lives

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Prior Lives
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I regained consciousness with McLennan’s voice in my ear. I looked around his office to get my bearings and noticed the clock on the wall – 4:30 – I had apparently been asleep for well over an hour.

“Well I have to say that it was most interesting”, he said, flipping over some notes in his hand. “And I can tell you that I have reached some conclusions and some possible solutions to your problems.”

The Wager

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The Wager
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

“Are you proposing a wager?” Professor Harrison Hunt smiled mischievously at his colleague. The tall, sinewy academic leaned against the bookcase in his old fashioned study.

“I would be happy to take your money, Harry,” responded Professor Michael Danes. “It is a bold claim for somebody with my knowledge in the field.”

Gypsy Healing

Gypsy Healing
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

“Before I answer your question, I must tell you that I am not a religious person, and I do not believe in miracles,” said Dr Solander. “But spontaneous remission is a fact. It does happen. It happens rarely, but it does happen. Even without treatment, cancers can disappear.”

“But that is exactly what I am asking,” said Emmet. “How can it happen? Can there be some external influence? I am like you – not at all religious. I am looking for a rational explanation.”

She Wanted a Daughter

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She Wanted a Daughter
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

My mother had always dreamed of having a daughter, but she had four sons instead. I was her youngest, named Timothy after her father, my grandfather. But she always said that my name was the only male thing about me.

The Center

The Center
Inspired by a Captioned Image
By Maryanne Peters

Lee was my youngest son. A bit of an afterthought. My two older sons were in high school when he was born. My wife suffered after the pregnancy and by the time Lee started school, she was dead.

I suppose that I saw my wife in my youngest child. But then Lee became more and more like her.

Addiction

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Addiction
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

“Of course I respect you and your studies,” began Dr Julius Zelig, “But what you are suggesting is contrary to my research and all accepted understanding of this issue.”

“I don’t deny it,” said Dr Gordon Halsey, “But I tell you I have isolated the neurochemical.”

Frontier Bride

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Frontier Bride
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

If it were not for the disturbances that I had caused, and the trouble thus delivered upon me, I would not have gone West. I was a young man who favored the gentle life, though I could not afford it. I was certainly not ready for the challenge of hard work, it having been avoid assiduously for the first 27 years of my life. But needs must, and I was in need of escape.

The Rose of Kandahar

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The Rose of Kandahar
A Novelette
By Maryanne Peters

It would be good to say that grit and determination got me through it all, but that could not be further from the truth. I survived by surrender and submission. Surrender and submission and two Afghan traditions that turned strangely to my advantage – Bacha bazi and Pashtunwali. Then later another local tradition known as Shadabi. This is really a story about traditions.

Feedback is Food

Has something happened, or is it just me?
I seem to be getting no feedback at all.
Unashamedly I cry out for it, but I am getting a lot of silence.
I have also contributed to a couple of blogs but I am not sure how they work.
Do they just die after a few hours? Or are the authors notified?
The recent one "Sigh, amateur (sic?) writers and laws" sparked my interest.
A big subject worthy of wider discussion but how do I know if my contribution mattered?
Maryanne

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Dinner with Polly

Dinner with Polly
A Short Story
(and certainly not an AR fantasy)
By Maryanne Peters

Maggie Dawson looked across at her husband Brian and smiled. They had been married for 26 years and he was still a good-looking man. He was also slight of build and not ruggedly handsome, and his hair was prematurely white, but his skin was remarkably unwrinkled, although thin and pale. She had far more wrinkles than him. She loved him now more than ever. There life together had been much more interesting lately.

“Is Polly coming for dinner tonight?” she asked.

Proof for the Emperor

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Proof for the Emperor
A Short Story based on Actual People and Events
By Maryanne Peters

My Master had once been an apprentice to the great Aelius Claudius Galenus of Pergamon, known simply as Galen, renowned as the greatest physician and surgeon of all time. Galen had been the court physician to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius and was given time and support to study the human body and all manner of treatments. That was Galen’s gift to history.

Legacy II - My Father's Legacy

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My Father’s Legacy
A Short Story following upon “Legacy”
By Maryanne Peters

Do you remember me? Some time ago I told the strange story of what happened after my grandfather, a famous drag artiste, died and the heirlooms that he left behind. Things that changed my life forever. Those things and meeting my grandfather’s … well sort of his adopted son, I think – Rodney Gaspard.

Neuron Transfer

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Neuron Transfer
A Novelette
By Maryanne Peters

For my 100th story posted on Big Closet, here is a novelette. Please read my blog "One Hundred"

When I died I was John Pierpont Morgan Backhouse. I was a successful businessman, although not as successful as my namesake. I was a father, but not a good one. I was a husband – definitely a bad one. In short, I was an asshole.

Caring

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Caring
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Nobody wants to be a burden on their family and friends, but a man with Multiple Sclerosis is a burden.

MS is an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system. It is more common in women than in men and is usually diagnosed much earlier that it was for me. Less than 5% of MS sufferers are diagnosed after the age of 50. I was 51.

Talk Show

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Talk Show
Fictional Transcripts
By Maryanne Peters

Season 3 Episode 5

JT: Welcome everybody to another “Tonight with Tanner”. I am Joe Tanner. And tonight, we have the star of the new Show “Crossover” with us tonight. Please welcome TJ Albright.

APPLAUSE

JT: TJ, Welcome.

TJA: Thank you Joe. And thanks everybody. It’s good to be here.

JT: I have to say it but once again you are with us in full costume.

Rescued

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Rescued
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I had never met Samantha Copeland until the day of our confrontation. Thinking back, you have to wonder why. We had lived next door to one another for about five years.

I had met her husband Keith Copeland the week they moved in. I suppose I thought she had taken his name – Copeland. it was not until afterwards that I learned he had taken hers. I found that a hard notion to grasp, at the time.

Sanctuary

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Sanctuary
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

“I know who you are,” said Mother Sophia. His hair hung loose instead of pulled back in a slick ponytail, and he had wispy hairs on what had always been a clean-shaven face, making it just look dirty. But it was unmistakably Esteban Moya, son of Carlos Moya, the dictator recently deposed.

Influenced

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Influenced
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

“Pernicious” is the word. The internet is pernicious. Pernicious and addictive.

What is an “influencer”? How can they trap people the way they do? It is pernicious.

I was just an ordinary guy. A shy person. I suppose one of the generation brought up with a screen before my eyes. Introverted you might say. Absorbed by the screen. Absorbed by the world wide web.

Public School

Public School
By Maryanne Peters

Attached as a file so that you can all appreciate the talent that is Ignatious Fluke, the creative force behind Tranzfiction Magazine.
I am looking forward to contributing more material to this gorgeous (free) publication.

Witches

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Witches
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

You do not choose your religion, almost all adopt the religion of their parents. And sometimes the religion that you are born into cannot be described by a word. So, I have always said that I was raised as a wiccan. I can call myself a wiccan. But that is not quite true.

Instrument

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Instrument
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

It all seemed easier that Manny had imagined. It certainly helped that he had a well-thought-out plan to follow. A plan that he would never have been able to formulate. Not in a million years.

Amazon

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Amazon
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I was born in Morocco into a Moroccan Jewish family. My family had been living in Morocco for many generations after my ancestors were driven from Spain by the Christians. I have always considered myself to be North African.

Uncle

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Uncle
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

“I don't want you to get you haircut,” my mother said. She was suddenly very serious, and I could see that something was wrong. It seemed like fear in her eyes.

“It's just a haircut, Mom,” I said. I was struggling to see what the big issue was. But there was something very wrong. I looked at her in a way that I thought demanded an answer.

Try Lesbianism

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Try Lesbianism
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

What man would be happy to hear his wife declare that she was a lesbian? That she was a lesbian and did not find him sexually attractive? That she never had?

I mean, such a husband would think: Is it something I did that turned you away from men? Or, if you have always felt this way, what does that say about me? Am I less of a man? When we make love, do you think of me as female to get off?

The Gibbon Girls

The Gibbon Girls
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

My father was known as “Snake” Gibbon. It was a good name. As hard men go he was not a “Bull” or a “Bear”, he was more like a snake. He was thin and wiry, which sharp, vicious features and greasy long hair in a queue down his back. He was known for getting own way, however he could, including stabbing people in the back, not always with a blade.

Vlogger

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Vlogger
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

“You owe me Bro, and I need you to do something for me”. Her words sounded ominous. It was as if I knew that afternoon, that whatever she was asking of me would have consequences – serious consequences. But I suppose that she knew I would say yes. Perhaps because I owed her, but perhaps because she was my sister.

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