Can happiness flourish after tragedy?

My entry in the Reader Retention contest.

I’m in a bind. Not just any bind, the type of bind that normally means you’re in deep shit. I’m currently staring at the decorated walls of the principal’s office. The constricting room was littered with paper and folders. Pictures of his family were ornamented on top of the mess and the trashcan was full of fast food. The principal sat in front of me. A balding middle age man still tall and not any less attractive. Not that I’m into men or anything.

As asked, I filled out the form and returned it early the next morning. The whole day passed in me taking notes, talking with a friend and catching up with the newest drama. You know your average school day. Around mid-afternoon, a student who belonged to the 4H club returned saying the Benton PTA Board had approved my request and informed me to wear a nice dress, but not too nice. Again the rumor mill started to turn, this time the rumor centered on the going ones at the old Lomond Farm.

An arrogant boy needs to learn some lessons... And to regain a spirit that had died within him...

My entry in the Reader Retention contest.

CHAPTER 64
That removed any traces of darkness from the table, Frank explaining what he had said as Deb sat chuckling.

“All I actually said, in Welsh, was that you will have to learn it. My family, or what’s left of them, are first language, so they will expect no less. Some of the courtesies, anyway. Rhod?”

“Yes, mister?”

Terence Campbell apparated in front of his house. The November winds were tugging at his gown. From outside, he could make out the light shining through the green curtains behind the windows in the living room on the ground floor. Apart from that, the small house lingered in nocturnal darkness.

Webster’s dictionary defines Speed as the fallowing: the rate of change of position along a straight line with respect to time over a set distance. In other words, the quicker you can get from one place to another. The question is what do you, do when your family has spent the last two generations in search of ways to accomplish this goal faster and faster. Would do you do when the family business is the search for more Speed. For Robert ‘Robby’ McGuire the answer is easy. You grab your sister and strap on a pair of Formula One racecars then go for broke.

The summer had been horrible for Rick. He was even more depressed and frustrated than ever. His mother was a nurse, and earned decent money but his father’s falling off the wagon had put a massive strain on the mother-son relationship. Karen was totally pissed off at Frank and that disgust overflowed to Rick. She shut down every and any habits and actions that would be considered masculine. When she discovered evidence of his male puberty maturation she went nuts. The next day, a month before the end of the school year, she gave him an injection, followed by another every week.

Perfectly Reasonable

I was just about to turn in when when I heard a knock on my bedroom door.

I slipped on my robe, and opened it to see my brother Arthur standing there in just a towel.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I demanded.

“I need your help, Gwen” he said.

Yes, I’m Guinevere, or just Gwen. Our parents thought that would be cute.