To help Erica get over the trauma of the prosecution hearings, Susan invites her to a 'posh nosh' at a top class restaurant. There the pair unexpectedly encounter the judges and Hans, the boy Erica fancies but thinks she cannot have because of her HIV condition. The stress of the encounter causes Erica to have a near relapse.

Jacked Up Part 14

If commercial airlines could go this fast and this high there would only be a few very rich; or very busy people who would use it. We got high enough that I could see the curvature of the earth and above me there was a tinge of dark space.

Troublesome
A short Story
By Maryanne Peters

You may know the story. If you are reading this, you may have heard it more than once. I was a troublesome son. My mother took drastic action to curb my bad behavior. I resisted. I struck out and I hurt her. It was not what I wanted to do. I was out of control. I see that now. But she was desperate. That is why she called in her friend; to put an end to my bad behavior.

CHAPTER 54
To my surprise, Tiff wouldn’t talk to me when she first arrived. A small, huddled figure reeking of fear, she almost clung to Kim, who looked at me over the child’s shoulder with a little smile that clearly said “Leave me to deal with her”

“Tiff?”

“Yeah?”

“Going to take you out the back. Quieter there, just us girls, OK?”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. That OK?”

“S’pose so… Is there a door?”

History of Benton: Rising like a phoenix from the Ashes (1865 -1890)

Chapter 33

Over the course of the weekend Mark parents didn’t see him, but at least they felt somewhat secure in the fact that he wasn’t completely isolating himself like it had looked these past few weeks. Lisa came by on Saturday and Sunday spending a big portion of her day over. Passing Mark’s room they heard the occasional moans and creaking of a bed, but then again boys that age just were hormone filled creatures right? It wasn’t anything they even wanted to know or investigate. Giving Mark and his girlfriend their privacy they avoided going upstairs as much as possible.

Erica finally talks to Hans and explains why she appeared to snub his advances.

Michel and Delphine returned to their Devon retreat by train later that afternoon. It had been a long day. Neither of them was in the mood for much small-chat on the train.

Despite the latest episode with her daughters coming to an end, Delphine was still pretty down in the dumps. She would not admit it but the attempt by her daughters to have her declared unfit to manage her life hit her very hard. The effect of seeing them face to face in Verity’s Office was very real and impossible to brush off. Michel was there with her all the way but he knew that it was going to take some time for his wife to return to anywhere near normal.

Graphic created by Patricia Marie Allen from photos on Pixabay.com

Thorn in the Flesh

By Rosemary

I entered the bar with great trepidation. I hadn’t had any problems in several years of being a woman, but I had just had some terrible news. No, I take that back. It wasn’t terrible at all. It was a relief. I had developed lymphatic cancer, and like every other case, it was ravaging my body.

I was reluctantly taking part in a meeting of eleven other ‘Roses’ while we were at the SWEET (South Western Exposition for the Embetterment of Transpeople) convention. I sat down and started taking in the other Roses there.

Most of them seemed to be much more comfortable in their role as women than I was. I had actually been quite comfortable for many years, but I had never been transgendered. I glanced down at my jeans and western shirt. They were women’s – they had to be. Men’s clothing would have been ridiculous on me.

I considered babies to be creatures that would vomit on me from one end and extrude even more unmentionable material on me from the other.