Baby Joan has been diapered, and only have a few moments left to live, but who really has the last laugh?

Chapter 20

At the end of two months my parents, Sofia and I sat down for a meeting to decide what to do about her guarding me. The threat was gone and as much as I loved Sofia, there were times I wanted to be alone or with Cindy, just the two Musketeers, like it used to be.

Are we really happy here
With this lonely game we play
Looking for words to say
Searching but not finding
understanding anywhere
We're lost in a masquerade

A young man, stuck in an orphage, suddenly twists into a girl, and not just any girl, but a girl with special powers and compulsions with infants. He's thrown out of the orphanage and taken to a women's shelter, where he makes two new friends,one of whom is also Twisted. Unfortunately, the clinic's doctor suspects that the girl's is Twisted, and now their lives are suddenly very interesting - and a bit perilous.

The author would like to thank Morpheus for letting me play in the sandbox he created, Sir Lee, Maggie Finson, and the other volunteers who helped me add some editorial polish and offered their suggestions. Your efforts are more appreciated than mere words can say.

Introduction: This is another story that fits into Part 2 of the Cynthia Chronicles. Chronologically, it takes place a little more than a year after the ending of Adam and the Three Wishes. There are some interesting parallels to that story; however, there are significant differences.

If you are not familiar with the series, you should read An Incremental Journey, Cynthia and the Reluctant Girlfriend, Cynthia and the Dumpster Diver, Cynthia and the Moment of Truth, Cynthia and the High School Years, Parts 1 & 2, Charli and the Man Cave and Adam and the Three Wishes. Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling and Randi and the College Professor take place about seven years after this story.

Chapter *21*

On Your Own

The Peters weren't the first to leave, nor were they the last which allowed several of us to be distracted by the renewed activity on the boards. Several riders were whizzing around the boards, laughing and joking as they went, clearly comfortable with each other and the track, the only one I recognised was Chris Hoy. It was with very mixed feelings that I watched my cousin and her parents depart but any chance of regret was interrupted by my being addressed from behind.

Why do some men cross-dress? It's a question which confounds the experts, which even the cross-dressers themselves cannot answer, and to which many others will simply reply, "Because they're weirdoes." But maybe, the author suggests, the answer is analogous to questions such as why do we enjoy sex or why do birds build nests? The answer in both cases is, of course, to propagate our respective species.

This is Book One of the Human Cuckoo Trilogy, a standalone story reproduced in full. The entire trilogy of stories, along with discussion is available on Kindle.

CHAPTER 7
It turned into a good solid evening, enough beer passing my lips to relax my tensions but not so much that all carefulness went back to the bar with the empty glasses. Vicky was far more entertaining than I had expected her to be after the revelations in the toilets, but Siá¢n still seemed to be on guard, paying careful attention to everything Kev came out with. The man himself seemed to think that he was the centre of the world, as why else would three women be so rapt?

Introduction: This is another story that fits into Part 2 of the Cynthia Chronicles. Chronologically, it takes place a little more than a year after the ending of Adam and the Three Wishes. There are some interesting parallels to that story; however, there are significant differences.

If you are not familiar with the series, you should read An Incremental Journey, Cynthia and the Reluctant Girlfriend, Cynthia and the Dumpster Diver, Cynthia and the Moment of Truth, Cynthia and the High School Years, Parts 1 & 2, Charli and the Man Cave and Adam and the Three Wishes. Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling and Randi and the College Professor take place about seven years after this story.

Freed from her programming at last, Jo Stark thinks about her past and wonders about her future. And her first case since her release takes her team back to the US, to help a man in a trap from which there seems to be only one escape.