The next day Dan was very wary around Mandy. She of course sensed this and asked him out to lunch. At first, he refused, but then thought it was unfair. It was his problem, not hers.

Sitting in the café the conversation was muted. Dan was wary of her. She seemed to be able to look into him. He suspected that she knew he wanted what she had.

“Dan, I think I understand what’s going on. You dress or have dressed as a woman before, haven’t you?”

Dan could feel his face flush red. He could barely look at her.

Idol

Idol - 1984- Age 15
I should try and be normal!

Dad’s Style
An Illustrated Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

We always thought of my father as being the most masculine of men. He was fairly big with a square jaw and a strong nose, but people will always say that the features that made him stand out were his bright blue eyes and his huge mop of grey hair.

Dan waited outside his boss’s office bedside the door. He could smell the sweet perfume coming from Cindy, his boss’s secretary. He looked at her as she faced away from him photocopying. She was slim but had a nicely rounded bottom. She wore a narrow black skirt and black stockings. He wasn’t sure. He knew she did sometimes, as he had seen the bulges of the clips outlined in her skirt before. She had a silky white short sleeved blouse on and 3-inch heels.

Thanksgiving

Sometimes Chaos can be a good thing. The old place was filled to the rafters, but we managed to find places for both visiting families to sleep. I graciously volunteered to sleep at Lucy's place to make room. Hey - I'm a writer, I make up stories for a living. I don't claim they're convincing stories.

I'm Elliot Beekman, and I'm a guy. Or I was a guy.
It's something I'll have to figure out, and by the end of this story,
you'll understand my perplexity.

"You gonna live?" he asked...

Chapter 3 “Monkeying Around”

The following morning there was a table for four and they sat to eat a solid breakfast. Jasmin was still on a high after last night and hoped that there would be other evenings where the two of them could grace the stage. Shelly wasn’t so sure, thinking that every moment was already mapped out and that last night had been a one-off.

Changing Roles
By Julie Dawn Cole
Chapter 4

The Letter

I had fallen into the habit of checking the mail each day when it came through the letter slot. Today's missive contained something different: a letter with FINAL NOTICE prominently printed on the envelope. Mom was three months behind on her electric bill.

“Did you see that new bridge at the end of town?” Julie asked. “It looks really high class. Doesn’t fit this town very well.”

Ronald looked up from his laptop at the sound of his wife’s voice. “Yeah, it’s, uh, it’s weird.”

The married couple’s conversation was interrupted by Elise coming in through the front door.

“You stayed a bit late.” Ronald said to his daughter. “That makes me kind of upset.”

“Oh shut up Ronald, our daughter is very responsible.” Julie said. “Just ignore him, sweetie.”

What if supernatural beings like Witches, Faeries, Demons, and their ilk are all real? Glen Evanston is about to be caught in their many traps in my new work in progress: Magic, Mystery, and Mayhem a Graphic Novel by Raine Monday

Idol

Idol - 1982- Age 13
Being what others wants me to be is not easy

Jane begins to learn more about what it means to be a girl. She gets something to start her off in her quest to solve the source of the information leak.

Love and Decision
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

She lay beside him. It was a Sunday afternoon. He had called her over. He had just enjoyed a lunch with one of his sons and his son’s pregnant wife but seeing them together had reminded him that he needed intimacy. He called and she had agreed to come round to his house.

Phyllis was cynical, perhaps with good reason, and considered the delegates and deliverers of the course to be a typical, left wing bunch with a disproportionate number of non whites, non binaries and generally professed anti establishment pedants, despite most being paid good, upper middle class salaries by the establishment which they were in truth pillars of. ‘Ah well,’ she’d thought, ‘It’s good to know that hypocrisy is still alive and kicking at all levels.’

A Rude Awakening

I woke up when my phone started ringing. I knew it was my sister Caroline since the ringtone was Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline. Caroline thought I was a genius to be able to do something like that and had me put Croche's Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown on hers so she knew it was her husband calling. I had better add that Leroy was a nice guy, not a bad bad one.

"Whazzit?" I mumbled.