Cousins in arms 4(5) The trade

Molly Grows Up
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Chapter 7

I had to sit as I was feeling quite odd, as if someone was shouting at me inside my brain. They sat down and I said “Gwen, for the couple of years I have been thinking that there are things happening that I should tell you but I don’t know why.”

 
Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash

Making Beautiful Music

 
Introduction

It's about the oldest continuous memory I've got. Sure, I can remember flashes of stuff like a toy or an animal at the zoo, but this memory is like a movie. I'm standing with my sister in the wings of a stage in a theatre, watching the empty stage as the audience waits for the performance to begin. A spotlight comes on and my parents walk on stage. Dad is in a tux, as an adult I would say he was resplendent in a tux but I was only about six at the time and such words were not in my vocabulary. He was just my father and he was smiling, doing what he loved to do most - make music with my mother.

HOMEWARD BOUND

Author's Note: When the text is alternating colors, please be aware that the scenes are alternating between the heroes.

The New Kid

Patrick Chatham entered the band room and nervously looked around. He was new to the area, as his father was a pilot for an F-35, and had just been transferred to Eielson Air Force Base.. Patrick was two grades ahead for his age, and this was his 2^nd semester of ninth grade.

He carried his flute in and went to see the band director, Mr. Thomas. Mr. Thomas had the flutes make room and placed Patrick with the 3^rd chair, until he had a chance to challenge.

It was a perfectly fine day.
My espresso was perfection: overly sugared with whip cream along the top.
The coffee kept me level-headed—zen in a cup. Nirvana. A way to get my mind to not think about the forty-five minute drive it took to get to work from the suburbs. I had no issues getting from my apartment to the local Starbucks and then onto the “they call it an interstate highway, but it’s a parking lot”, just like Joni Mitchell said.

BIGGER THAN ME

Laundromat
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Despite the fact that they were the only two people in the laundromat at that hour, she came over to use the machine next to his.

She was tall. Her hair was blonde, in a short bob with slight curls. She wore makeup despite her clothing being casual. She was looking at his load of laundry.

During the course of the girls’ party with the boys, Greg gets some new insights into his ever-deepening relationship with Tracy.

Aurora

A Short Story by Rosemary

August 2020

I was born in the lower 48, back in the 1963. My dad was an engineer for an oil company, and my family moved around a lot.

When I was seven, something happened. I began to realize that I was looking at girls. My mom caught me one day, and told me it wasn't polite. Besides, I was too young to be checking out girls.

MOST OF ALL

“Honestly, there were times I thought this day would never come,” Sophie said as she fidgeted nervously in her smart blue pencil dress and matching designer heels. “And I definitely never pictured it being under these circumstances.”

“Well, regardless of the circumstances, you definitely deserve to feel proud,” Amy advised her friend, who smiled in response.

"We were face to face, me sitting in his lap, sort of sideways. “Damn,” said Rory.

Chapter 6

Back in my office I got stuck in to sorting out the problems. I was sure that the company would appoint a new Finance Manager and they would probably not want me around as I was now tainted.

Girl Friday
Adapted from “Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe
By Maryanne Peters

CHAPTER XIV

An old wedding dress has an unnatural attraction for three brothers.Fred does his best to protect his brothers, Sam and Michael, from putting on the sex-changing dress but his efforts may be in vain if he doesn't make a move, himself.

Patsy Power Part 29

Back at the hotel most of us found the lounge and coffee machine. I was sitting with Joanne, Nina and Riordan when the CEOs’ wife came over to thank us for the experience tonight and say that she was looking forward to the full concert on Friday evening. She said that she, and her husband, needed to go shopping on Friday.