Smiles Everyone. Smiles!

A short story by Rosemary

Special thanks to Malady for his help editing.

Brad Tyler.

He had just turned eleven years old, and he hadn’t gotten much in the way of presents for his birthday. In fact, all he had gotten was a twenty-five dollar check from both sets of grandparents.

His dad, Bill, was being laid off from his job as a groundskeeper from the local hospital, so his parents weren’t able to get him anything really. He understood, and was grateful for the fifty dollars he’d received.

The next couple weeks leading up to the book report were pretty normal, aside from my new wardrobe options. As the day I would make my debut as Annie Oakley at school drew nearer, I started to anticipate the event and harbored a mix of anxiety, excitement, and hope that my decision to go “all-in” would be well received. As I finished typing up my report, I had a little bit of trouble concentrating as I thought about all of this, but ultimately buckled down and got it done.

Mom had me practice my presentation with her, and even gave me a few pointers.

Part 7 of 7

Chapter 14
How did four years go by so fast? Seems like just Yesterday Rose was starting high school and in a few minutes she would be walking across the stage to receive her diploma. Travis and Ruth smiled to think the entire family was there to watch, and not incidentally keep track of the active four-year-old and frenetic two-year-old grandchildren who were bored with the whole affair.

Allie - The teenage years of Alexander Horten

August 9 - 15, 2015

Chapter Three

Roland led me into the building, going past empty offices before we walked into a large room with eight people working on computers. They all looked at me up and down and I realised that this was what I would have to get used to as I could see a couple of the guys undressing me in their minds.

Gerold vs. the Good Old Boys

6/ Recovery

By Jo Dora Webster

Cover Art by Melanie E.

What produced the crying jag
which Gerrie had in the hospital?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's note: There is a very pivotal event that will be occurring soon (hopefully in the next few chapters) that has the potential to change a lot of things. I am (kind of) giving you (my readers) a chance to influence how the entire story plays out. Please comment or send me a private message to cast your vote. Will this event turn Holly dark, very dark, or will she remain grey? Originally, this was going to be a dark fic, but things are shaping out very differently than my original ideas. I'm happy either way it goes, so please vote.

Nancy is told her task is unfinished.

(I apologize for posting chapter 14 before this one.)

It was dark when I woke up. Only five in the morning and I felt wide wake. Waking up later even if only an hour was bliss. Papa was already chopping firewood as the cold and snow was coming fast. Even faster in the mountains.

My chest felt itchy and as I began to help him cut fire wood, my chest felt continually itchy and sore. I’m not as skilled as he is but I can still hold my own. Of course, I could’ve gone faster if my chest didn’t feel so itchy. Placing the wood on the stump and slamming the axe into it. It wasn’t long until the sun began peeking out from the horizon.

CHAPTER 24
We stayed that way for the rest of the morning, alternating a few of my more ‘lyrical’ albums with a couple of Nell’s tapes. There was one I did like, as bits of it were almost like heavy rock, but the others were a bit too fiddly for me. Nice tunes, especially in the one she had started with, but not really my thing.

“What was that loud one called again, Nell?”

“Sinfonia da Requiem. Britten wrote it for the Japanese, and they didn’t like it. Too Christian, they said. You liked it?”

Part 5 of 7

Chapter 11
"All right, you rapscallions, quiet down! We are here to make a joyful noise and not a cantankerous cacophony."

Allie - The teenage years of Alexander Horten

July 26 - August 1, 2015