Sanctuary
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

“I know who you are,” said Mother Sophia. His hair hung loose instead of pulled back in a slick ponytail, and he had wispy hairs on what had always been a clean-shaven face, making it just look dirty. But it was unmistakably Esteban Moya, son of Carlos Moya, the dictator recently deposed.

26 months later, September – At a bar in a small coastal town in Northern California.
The place was fairly quiet as it was early on a Monday evening. It would get quite rowdy later as the ‘Dallas Cowboys’ were playing at home that night against the 49’ers and the game would be shown on the big screen. Naturally, this being California, most of the locals supported the 49’ers.

Two people were working behind the bar preparing for the night ahead when the door opened and in walked a tall Blonde woman wearing a white blouse, black tight leather trousers and black ankle boots.

“Hello Sean. I’ll have a G & T please but hold the T.”

The barman looked up from the ‘shot’ glass he was drying and saw Ingrid standing in front of him. His face dropped. To him, she looked the spitting image of Marylin Monroe in the ‘Seven Year Itch’. Another words, totally stunning and totally out of place for the clientele of ‘Big Jake’s Famous Bar & Grill’.

Shampoo
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I am still having problems with formatting images in a story, so here is another story on pdf

“Well- okay, if you’re sure,” Janet said into the telephone. “If you need anyone to talk to, the offer still stands, as believe me, I have some experience with this sort of thing.”

“Thank you, Janet,” the ebullient voice of Joshua Benedict replied. “I shall see you back at work in the new year, and I hope you and your family have a very merry Christmas!”

“You too,” Janet said, smiling as she ended the call before sighing as she turned her attention back to the living room.

Having realised that her unaffected sperm is somehow connected to her entire metabolic immunity to the Covid Virus's, Terri decided to helt her dangerously sick friends in the 'Nightingale' hospital

Luke was standing in the domestic flights arrival area of LAX with his aunt and uncle waiting for his parents and twin sister to come down the steps. It was a little over two months since he saw them so today was a big event in Luke’s life. As the moment of reuniting with his family was coming near, the teenage boy started to feel the entire gamut of basic emotions. These feelings came one by one.

Our intrepid Wizard Du jour is sheltering in place with Murphy, the love of his life. Things are quiet, the physical and magical worlds have paused, and the loving couple can finally relax and get down to business (literally). Unfortunately for Harry, nothing is ever quiet, or simple.Contains mature themes, descriptions of sex, and transformations of all sorts. Spoilers for all Dresden Novels.

I wish I could say my motives were as selfless as Christina thought they were. In part they were because by admitting to being at fault I diverted attention from him looking at her license. I knew if there were more than a cursory glance and he saw the M that I suspected was in the box for sex the whole atmosphere might change.

Rose the Bunny

Rosey Red gave me this idea. Make of it what you will.

His name wasn't Scrooge, but it might as well had been.

His actual name was Richard Rose, and throughout the small town he lived in, there was no one richer, but no one less kind or less generous.

And yet there was one person who wanted nothing more than to see his heart soften.

Her name was Penny, and every night she prayed for him, saying “Somebody must have hurt Mr. Rose, which is why he’s so mean. So God, heal his heart.”

Influenced
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

“Pernicious” is the word. The internet is pernicious. Pernicious and addictive.

What is an “influencer”? How can they trap people the way they do? It is pernicious.

I was just an ordinary guy. A shy person. I suppose one of the generation brought up with a screen before my eyes. Introverted you might say. Absorbed by the screen. Absorbed by the world wide web.

I took a deep, deep breath as I climbed up the soaking wet ladder. Holding in that breath, I started to slowly climb from the ladder over to the dunking board that was already soaking wet. My heart started to flutter as I inched my way toward the very end of the board. Looking down, I noticed there was a good two feet from where my feet were tangling down and the freezing water below. Releasing my breath I eased my hands down to my side and focused my eyes toward the crowd that was starting to huddle around the throwing line.

Our intrepid Wizard Du jour is sheltering in place with Murphy, the love of his life. Things are quiet, the physical and magical worlds have paused, and the loving couple can finally relax and get down to business (literally). Unfortunately for Harry, nothing is ever quiet, or simple.Contains mature themes, descriptions of sex, and transformations of all sorts. Spoilers for all Dresden Novels.

After super that night I was laying in my room looking at the news reports on my phone.

The numbers were still rising, some doctor gave an interview saying how they were doing the best they could to figure out what was happening.