“Mum’s home?” I said in surprise, as Claire pulled onto the driveway.

Seeing my Mum back from work before 7pm at the earliest was unusual. She was a bit of a workaholic, albeit a very successful one. As the divisional CEO of a large segment within a FTSE100 consumer goods business, the financial rewards almost matched how hard she worked. My Dad, before he died, had been the Group CFO of the same business, him and my mother having met each other at work many years ago.

“However, back to the matter at hand. Nowadays, the matter of male and female is considered by the open minded to be a very broad multi dimensional continuum, a multi dimensional spectrum if you like, rather than two points at the opposite ends of a single dimensional line. However, the question I would love to have answered is at what point, and why, does a person of one apparent gender or perhaps that’s better expressed as one apparent identity, wherever they are on that multi dimensional spectrum, make the decision that they are in the wrong body, or indeed that they are in the right one? I’m asking what is the trigger mechanism that brings about that magical transformation? I know the matter is much more complicated than that, but you have to start somewhere. I am sure I’m not the only one who would like to know. I also suspect the matter to be deep, very, very deep.

This is an extract from A Grumpy Old Man’s Tale Ch. 36 Changes Ancient and Modern that is not yet ready for posting, but I considered it to be capable of standing alone as a solo tale perhaps of interest to those who have no interest in the GOM tales.

Jennifer did her best to talk to me during the nearly three-hour journey from Shropshire to York. I wasn't in the mood to talk. My rumbling stomach soon alerted her to one of the reasons why I was fairly uncooperative. She took pity on me after an hour or so and we stopped for a late breakfast which made me feel a good deal better, but not enough to engage in anything other than a casual conversation with her. I wanted to know more about why she and her colleagues thought that I could be useful in their investigations.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Devin once again found himself staring at his reflection in the mirror. He'd been doing that a lot recently. Perhaps it was because he was obsessing over every little bodily change the hormones brought him. Perhaps it was because he was inspecting himself to see if he really looked like a girl. Perhaps it was because he simply liked looking at himself. Devin silently laughed at that last thought, as if.

Or perhaps it was because it was an easy way to force himself to do some mental introspection.

AA Lock Stock and Barrel 3

Isabel. Entrepreneur and asset stripper.
Edward Thorpe Isabel’s father. Deceased.
Josephine Thorpe Isabel’s mother.
Lucinda Thorpe Isabel’s sister.
Abigail Thorpe Isabel’s 2nd sister
Veronica Thorpe Isabel’s 3rd sister
Jacqueline Thorp Isabel’s youngest sister
Marjorie Tansley Lawyer to Edward Thorpe
Shula Isabel’s bisexual female partner.

“I don’t have any pyjamas. I don’t wear them; I’m neither seven nor seventy years old! Can’t I just keep this on, until going to bed?” I said, gesturing towards my current outfit?

“No. I don’t want you crying all over my clothes. And you need those as costumes, don’t you?” My sister replied.

“Why on earth would I cry? What are you going to do to me?” I queried in fake panic.

“Nothing. I hope you don’t. But trust someone who knows from experience, these girlie chats about boys often end that way.”

“Boy chats?”

“Excuse me. Sarah. Have you seen that key you gave me earlier?” I asked

Sarah looked confused, “Not since I gave it to you earlier. Why? Have you lost it?”

“I don’t think so. I left it in the keyhole, after locking it from the inside, to stop, erm…” I paused.

“Yes, to stop anyone else bursting in. Sorry again about that,” said Sarah, picking up my pause.

“Well, the room is now locked. With my other costumes in there,” I went on.

“Oh,” said Sarah, “just your costumes? Your change of clothes is still in the gymnasium?”

“Yes, Sarah.”

It was listed on the map as “Farmington River Watershed” and in the early spring it would flood over and just about—well, once—filled the ‘Subway’ shop with about a foot of water. It was an ideal place to swim—if one did not mind swimming with various flora, fauna and whatever that was that brushed against your leg—along with just walking on the side. It was the place, that as a kid, you assumed only you knew about.

This story came about from messages I exchanged with Holly Snow. I had written that I was trying to set my stories in various places and she suggested that I write something about Northern Europe. I joked that I could call it ‘Antonia from Estonia’ and this is the result, some 65,000 words later.
Marianne

E’volvo’lution Chapter 1

“Hi you two!” Gary says, greeting me and Kayla with hugs as we enter his home and drop our travel cases in the hallway.

“Hi dad!” Kayla replies with a giggle, before we head through to the living room and flop down on the plush sofa.

“Hi you two!” Charlene- Kayla’s mother- says as she emerges from the kitchen with four warm (and very welcome) mugs of tea. “Did you have a good train ride from London?”

“Yeah, it was great, thanks!” Kayla replies. “Didn’t get mobbed by TOO many fans, hehe!”

Skater Girl
A Short Story from my Latest Anthology on Amazon
By Maryanne Peters

The sound made by my high-heeled sandals clicking along the wooden flooring was almost hypnotic. Despite this being the furthest I’d ever walked in heels, and also the first time wearing some outside my own house, I was ‘in the zone’. What had once taken serious concentration to avoid breaking my ankle was now coming almost naturally.

One More Day

by

Rodford Edmiston

"Look, Mommy! A horse lady!"

AA Lock, stock and barrel 2

Isabel. Entrepreneur and asset stripper.
Edward Thorpe Isabel’s father. Deceased.
Josephine Thorpe Isabel’s mother.
Lucinda Thorpe Isabel’s sister.
Abigail Thorpe Isabel’s 2nd sister
Veronica Thorpe Isabel’s 3rd sister
Jacqueline Thorp Isabel’s youngest sister
Marjorie Tansley Lawyer to Edward Thorpe
Shula Isabel’s bisexual female partner.

Albert Sidney Johnstone Memorial Library was the heart and soul of geek culture in Benton. Here each Tuesday the anime club gathered together to watch a few episodes of any given anime that seemed popular or given reports on the manga we've read that week. And on Friday and Saturday evening the Roleplaying Club would host sessions. Of course Dungeons and Dragons was the main draw, but there were other games people could play. Little Fears was another darling and my personal favorite.