Cassidy's life has been lonely and full of heartache. Abandoned as an infant, bounced from foster home to foster home. He's never found a place where he's belonged. Then one summer as his life starts to turn around, something happens that changes everything...

CHAPTER 5
We were still naked when Ken came back in, his figure shadowy through the shower curtain.

“Got you this, duck. Clean clothes are on the table. Pair of flip-flops in her size as well, as long as those were her shoes”

He handed a safety razor and a pair of scissors over the top of the curtain rail, then blurred again as he moved away, calling back, “I can change the filter tomorrow, so don’t worry unless it clogs”

The King was furious.
The Queen was mad but stood in front of her daughter as her husband raged across the castle grounds.
The young prince had been banished from the domain, ordered to never return or communicate to the young princess. She made it her life’s mission to talk with the you first prince whenever she was away form court.

A wish for Joy

The old man fingered the ring, then summoned the genie.

“What is thy wish?” the genie asked.

“I’ve come to realize I never gave happiness to anybody. So my wish is that for whatever time I have left, I would be a person who makes others smile when I come into a room. To be a source of happiness wherever I go. “

“Granted”

Some time later, in a hospital across town, a baby is presented to her parents.

They say “Let’s call her ... Joy ...”

End?

Summer with Em - Chapter 25

By Julie D Cole

I burst into tears and ran to the nearest bathroom across the entrance foyer. It didn’t matter that it was the female toilet I went into. I was past caring if anybody complained and who cares anyway. I seemed to be more and more emotional these days that coincided with arriving in Manchester.

Shy and precocious, Martin, enrolls in graduate school in mathematics, never having had a girlfriend. With the encouragement of his parents, he stays with his mom's good friend Miriam, who provides a safe environment within which Martin explores his sexuality. Along the way he finds love and makes a major mathematical advance that assures his fame and fortune.

We argued all the time at weekends, usually starting along the lines of me shouting, “He’s my son.”
Countered calmly by, “No. She’s our daughter.”

Misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia and xenophobia are all born out of self perceived inadequacy and fear.

Stuck in a Rut.
By Rosalie Redd

Casey Church is a normal 13 year old girl, But in a world where there hasn’t been a girl born in over 100 years, Casey adjusts to her new life as a girl. Can Casey cope with everything that comes with being a girl, or will others conspire to ruin her life?

Chapter 43

Everything you know about yourself is wrong....

 
Introduction: This story is the third, the penultimate, in a series within a series. The overall series is the “Cynthia Chronicles”. This story is directly connected to “Simoné and the Second Time Around” and “Marti and the Doppelganger”. The latter left many unanswered questions. Some of those will be answered, some probably not. There are many references to previous stories in the series. If you are confused by some of them, just put it off to my senility. The Cynthia Chronicles takes place in a universe very similar to ours. Unfortunately, it might be too similar.

For any who read “Myrna and the Genetic Disaster”, this is the same story, only with the political rantings and scientific explanations removed. There may also have been a few edits and additions.

This is the fifth part of ten.

The girls from summer camp are going to get together at Rhonda’s home in Chico, California. The subject comes up about Wanda and Tamesha perhaps wanting some private time. It is not a problem.

The story begins with an off-chance visit to a female friend, now a widow, and what followed.