CHAPTER 40
Ian was away not that long after his first session of treatment, and that was difficult enough for the girls. Perhaps even harder than seeing him trying to smile through his pain, but he had a living to make, and his pride to uphold. For their part, they had schools to attend, and I gathered some new friends to maintain.

I suppose in those few minutes I managed to learn pretty much everything I wondered about concerning wearing a strapless ball gown. I walked around the house for fifteen minutes to half an hour without my feet, legs, or back bugging me. I actually felt kind of pretty and didn’t have a bit of that undressed feeling I had when I was first trying on the gowns. I began imagining Cathy dressed in a nice party dress, her hair down like mine as we were presented to the maddening throng as Lady Stevens and her daughter Catherine. That brought a smile to my face.

Sunshine…Part Four.

Sonya…

Sonya Thompson.

They said that was my name and I guess I believe them. I know it sounds strange and paranoid but the things I’ve heard while I was waking up…Nano-remodelling, and bad companies and being asleep…well in a coma for so long.

Nightmares of fire, of burning aren’t helping me and the fact that they said that someone had set me on fire?

Well there’s a good reason for the nightmares.

We broke up to head for the rest rooms and the cars. I availed myself of the Ladies room discovering I had it all to myself. I did my duty then washed my hands and checked my makeup, lipstick and clothing. I took a couple of minutes to quickly brush out my hair again before I pulled out a scrunchie to put it up into a ponytail. I was beginning to love my rabbit fur jacket, it had been a good purchase, dressy but casual, not to mention - warm, even if I was out in the wintery cold. My ponytail hung down just enough to help the jacket keep the back of my neck warm but when indoors I would be cooler than if my hair hung down covering my neck and upper back. Ten of us piled into two of the rentals then headed for the airport while the other four guys George specified took the third rental car back to the Lodge to acquire our Armored limo before following us to the airport.

Bridges 33

Chapter 33

Tanya…

And I’m actually at the point with the way that I’m feeling that I could go and cry in the bathroom right now or just as likely ask her what the hell does she want.

The second feeling actually sort of surprises me into smiling a little bit. I actually had been through enough with her and had been so post war screwed up that when we were together she was a complete bitch…one of those man hating lesbians that was chique lesbian and all la-te-da with here clique of friends and stuff and honestly…I was scared of her and I ran from the relationship.

And I’m kind of smiling that right now after the guys…after Brandon and now Cass I’m actually considering just telling her off if she’s going to act like the complete bitch she used to be.

I’m not really used to being all empowered as a woman really it’s kind of heady.

“Molly? Assaulted....she assaulted a child?” Lionel asked, now very confused. He leaned back in his seat, stunned. The only time she had ever struck a child was when Scotty wouldn't mind her. Then he remembered the day his daughter had left, he knew Molly had slapped her a couple of times, but that was at home and not some stranger. “What happened?”

The deputy opened up a small note pad. “First of all, has your wife had any contact with a woman named Maggie Patterson, or her child, Troy?”

Edited by Djkauf

This time I focus on Molly Hallmark,and her children. Tracy shall be back next post.

Martine continues her recovery and goes home. She discovers more about who she is and her life.

I know this is mostly a non-political site, and it is a world wide site, but this story begged to be written. I hope you enjoy it.

“Catherine? Who’s Catherine?”

“Beats me. He didn’t say. Maybe she’s his wife. If I were you, I’d go.”

“He didn’t kiss like he was married.” I pointed out. “Great. Okay. Okay. I’ll need to borrow Nicci again today. I need to try on the two gowns at Macy’s and I’ll need her to help me with the ski stuff. You can reach me on my mobile if anything Earth shaking happens. I checked it last night and I’ll leave it on while I’m away from the car. If you call and I don’t answer then at least I’ll know to give you a call back. While we’re out, I’m also going to get Nicci a company mobile phone. She’ll probably hate me for it, both for the additional workload and for the size of the thing, but she needs to be more in the loop.”

A tale for the season. I know the contest cited was long-closed, but, to quote Doc Brown at the end of BACK TO THE FUTURE I, "I figured, what the hell."

Chapter 6: Was Blind, But Now I See

Synopsis: A family goes to Bikini Beach for a quiet day of fun and sun. Imagine the surprise of the father and little boy when they get to spend the day seeing the world from other side.

The Bikini Beach story universe and characters contained therein are copyright 1999 by ElrodW, all rights reserved.

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Chapter 5: But Now Am Found

And I'm telling you son,
Well, it ain't no fun
Staring straight down a forty-four.
- Gimme Three Steps, Lynyrd Skynyrd

Chapter 4: I Once Was Lost

Looking at myself I wanted to shout every expletive I knew. I tried to remember sentences and fragments of old English, but I couldn’t, only reinforcing my unfortunate predicament. It literally was all foreign to me. I’m guessing that anything I’ve learned from a later life can’t be remembered in this one. As in fact, the only thing I could remember was that I was a man.

CHAPTER 39
It went on. I dropped in when I could, as the first session tore his health to shreds, and he would be there, silent and grey, staring into space. There were times he didn’t speak, just holding my hand, tears falling, and there were other times.

“No, Ian, I had your promise, aye? Just two more days and home with me, and Larinda will do better stuff than you’re getting here”

“Not eating it, lass”

“And why not?”

The next morning a light snow was coming down as I made my early way to the office, this time I was dressed in a nice pant-suit with a paisley print blouse in darker colours and a pair of black, hopefully antiskid, low heeled pumps, very businesslike.

I called James’ office first thing even though it was still slightly before eight there. Surprise, surprise, I actually reached a live person, or at least they or it could interact with me verbally, “ I wish to leave a message for Mr. Thompson. This is Lynnette Stevens and I’m afraid that I shall be unavailable to accompany his entourage while in Vail.”

“But you work for a ranch that deals with them?”

The story of a ranch that is a safe haven for children who are LGBTQ and a man who had a falling out with his Transgendered sibling and his journey that takes him back home again.

While no actual sexual abuse is depicted, other than an attempted rape and pictures, the cautions are there for other mentions of sexual abuse. And harsh language

FTL-15…Faster Than Life.

Chapter 15

I guess that part of me wants to say that like any good girlfriend I pined away and mourned our relationship and the parting of ways. But I guess there was still too much of the old me still lingering in the fringes of my head and the first thing I did was go back to our cabana and packed my things and went and rented a single.

I just couldn’t face the rest of my time here in the place we had so much fun in and made love in so many times.

CHAPTER 38
“Aunty Jill, where’s the spare loo roll?”

“Under the sink in the wooden cupboard”

“They’re all wooden!”

“The one that LOOKS like wood, Bethy!”

“Oh, right…got it!”