Muse
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

“You do believe that my work is art, don’t you,” said Claude.

“Of course, I do,” Blythe said. “And I only want to play a role in helping you to be that artist.”

And that, is the title and essence of this story.

Nancy encounters Gotham

 

Part 17 of 29

Monday, September 2, 2013
Labor day. Time for the big parade.

We were up early to get ready for the parade. The living room was full of boxes and hangers containing the costumes when my fellow workers arrived promptly at 8:00 AM to get dressed. Jenny and Beth from the library were part of the group, as well as Audrey.

Nancy sets forth in the world, qualified by her care of Little Edward, "hopeless as a boy."

Part 2

I woke up in the morning to the sound of a womans’ voice telling me to get out of bed and into the shower. I thought that I had been in the shower last night but obviously I was not clean enough. She told me to make sure I sat when I went to the toilet and to make sure I shaved my face twice while I was in the shower.

All was quiet in the house. The Sun had risen well over an hour earlier. The hum of London grew as the city started a new day.

There were two occupants of the house. For one of them this was a day to celebrate. For the other, the prospect of walkies, rabbits to chase and food was normal.

In a bedroom at the front of the three-storey terraced house, Vivienne Carter was wide awake. Today was her sixtieth birthday, plus it was the first day of what she’d been calling her ‘afterlife’. She’d just retired from her job as very senior official at the HMRC in the ‘Collections Department’. The previous day which had been a rather sad occasion. Vivienne, could have carried on working for at least six more years until she qualified for a state pension but she’d had enough of work, commuting and putting up with the incompetence of other people for far too long so she'd decided several months before to call it a day when she turned sixty years of age.

Author's note: For those that did not see my blog entry, I'll summarize. I've recently battled with suicidal depression, and needed to focus on the real world instead of escaping into fantasy. I'm doing a lot better now and plan to continue writing. Although I can't promise any regularity, I am hoping that I can put out at least two chapters a month. Please don't hate me if I don't live up to that though. Enough rambling and making everyone reading this feel bad and onto the story.

Summer with Em - Chapter 48

By Julie D Cole

 

Part 15 of 29

Thursday, August 15, 2013
Had another session with Audrey today. No tears and heavy stuff this time, but more "What do I do from here?" Somehow when I talk to Audrey I have to get things straight in my mind so I can tell her about them. She knows the right question to ask when I run dry and she's helping me.

Sarah and Lee live a life of quiet desperation until Sarah decides to take over. Her first step is demanding that Lee buy her a lipstick.

Larry was online for a while before Andy and spent that time hanging out and chatting with others. Viktor appeared and the two of them gathered some other people to participate in challenging quests. When Andy finally logged on, everyone was biting at the bit to get going.

As he entered the house Tuesday afternoon, there was a large package inside the front door. His mother called out, “Andy, a package arrived for you. Come in the kitchen and tell me why you are getting large packages I had nothing to do with ordering.”

From the archives of the Albany Estate, this letter was discovered in a copy of Dicken's Little Dorrit. The authenticity of the letter is not disputed. All artwork provided by the Tate Gallery, London, England; from the collection of the artist, Marie ter Hune, 1826 to 1897