There is a long held belief among those who live in Yazoo County that the name of the Yazoo, the name given to the river that flows through it, and who's yearly overflow made it prime cotton growing ground comes from the old Choctaw word that means “River of Death”. I guess that is fitting enough because all the ghost stories and legends I've shared with you center on Yazoo County. This next story was told to me by a good friend of mine. Her name is Lana Edwards. She is one of the few remaining Edward's that call Benton home.

Fathers
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I found a canoe. I had taken a job for a few days cleaning out an old shed behind a house on the shore bought by somebody in the city. The realtor said that I could stay in the basement under the house for a few days and earn some cash for emptying the contents of the shed into a dumpster, sweeping the floors and wiping the place down.

An unexpected situation arises and turns into so much more.

A Lady and a Gentleman
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

He had watched her all night. He had danced with another lady, but his eyes had been on her, or rather her ears and her throat. He did not need to get in close to see that they were real diamonds. He knew that the quality of the settings was enough. You do not apply that much workmanship to protect stones of no value. He could see it from the clips behind the ears, and the clasp of the necklace below the nape of her neck exposed by the upswept hairdo. Quality work means quality stones.

I've told you a fair number of legends that center around Benton Academy, I've also told you one or two that center around Benton High School. The School I attend. The story I'm going to tell you now, is a ghost story that is well known to the cadets of Benton High School's Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps or JROTC for short. That is commonly pronounced “JAY-rotsee” for those who were wondering.

Mischief Night Magic
Sequel to
Cemetery Shenanigans
Part One: Heather Delilah Soenksen

My mother is the night nurse at King's Daughters Hospital, my father is a foreman at Benton Brickwork. Because of their shifting schedules it's rare for the two of them to be at home at the same time. My father was already at work when I left home to keep my appointment with the strange woman. My mom had just gotten off, and had already showered and was fast asleep when I left.

Hi, Sofia here. Mary gave me permission to tell her story so here it is, picking up from when I asked her a question, but here’s a refresher of where we were when she told it to me.

I got a cab round to Mary’s so I could change back and sort out everything the male me needed for work next week. There were a couple of questions I needed to ask her so once the change had started I said, “Mary, there’s a couple of things you said and I wanted to ask you about it.” She told me I could ask her anything so I began….

A conversation with a Phantom

The mall closes its doors at nine o' clock on the dot each night. On week nights I'm in bed by then, but on Friday and Saturday nights I'm still roaming the corridors. This was one such night, it was seven at night, the sun had set and a full moon could be seen against the backdrop of a dark, cloudless night sky. The mall was as quiet as the grave and a strange stillness was starting to settle over the building.

The next week at work was a bit of a come down really, everything just felt so drab and I think Anita knew I was feeling a bit down when he had our lunch time coffee. Finally she asked me to open up. I told her, “Everything just feels so different and strange now.

Chapter 12

It would take us about five hours to get to Jakarta in Indonesia and we needed to go through emigration in Perth and immigration in Indonesia. Before we left the hotel I went to see everyone who was flying with a bag and said that if anyone had any drugs on them to put them in the bag now.

Hannah was waiting for me the moment I walked out of work, and she followed me in her car as I drove home, insisting on being the one who took me shopping. Once we got to the shop, the idea was that she would pick things out that would be suitable for a young teenager to wear to a party, so there I was shopping for the other me, and trying to visualise how I would look in things. Hannah settled on a blue dress which I thought looked very short and very tight, but she insisted it would look perfect as she had been doing some research.

Wildman’s Wife
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

It was only for pure alphabetical chance that I met Albert. We shared a college dorm room since Idlewild and Ien were next to each other on the list.

Chapter 11

When we went to leave, Jim, who had been very quiet, then asked us all if he could stay with us over the break. He said he could use the smallest cabin and that he had some experience with boats. The girls were happy to let him, so he hugged everyone and thanked me.

I checked in with the marine chandler that looked after the moorings, and he was surprised at my appearance. I told him that it was only for the tour that I was flying around and found out that he and his daughters were booked in for the third show.

Photoshoot
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

I was accompanying my girlfriend on a photoshoot. To be honest, as a guy I was pleased to tell my pals that I was dating a model, but the truth is that she was not getting much work. She mentioned that her father had a hand is teeing up the session to promote a line of clothing that was just her style, so I have to say I wondered if Daddy might have sweetened the deal a little, given that he has bundles of cash.

“Cerridwen Circe Whitethorn!” I heard my mothers voice echo down the hallway. It seemed she was on the very verge of flipping her lid. I groaned as I looked down and then looked down at the toilet. Pieces of half chewed up chicken, sausage from this morning and bits of egg and corn floated in a light brown broth. Drinking the potion had forced me to empty my stomach. 

Cemetery Shenanigans
Part Four: Epilogue

I can't recall what happened next. But I remember following the woman's instructions to the letter. As soon as I reached the school I headed to the office and gave them the note the strange woman had given me. I had expected them to ask a few questions. Instead the office secretary nodded her head and made a copy and handed me the original. I then went to my first period class. That happened  to be Earth Science. 

Third Wife
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I had always had long hair. My mother let me grow it. She said that she had long hair when she was younger but cut it when she had children. She liked to brush it.

At high school I wore it in a long braid oiled so that it did not have too much volume. After it was washed it would gain volume and look like girl’s hair, which was not a look I wanted. It was interested in girls and so I wanted to be masculine. In fact, girls used to like to play with my hair.

Zane has worked for four months as an android operator at Castor Analytics.
A company specializing in storing androids and doing maintenance on them.
Of all the androids Zane had transferred into, Candi has a special place in his heart.
It had been the android he went through his trial by fire with.
And by now, Zane thinks he knows everything there is to know about Candi.
But Candi has a few more tricks up her sleeve.

Author retains all rights to this original work of short fiction.

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Do appearances really make all the difference?

Chapter 9

Our company ground crew finally came on board to take the plane to its parking spot and check it over again. I signed off and picked up my personal bag, put my heels on and left them to it. I knew that Betsy would be in good hands because she was our meal ticket. Without her we may as well go by bus.

This is a sci-fi story that contains forced crossdressing and sex. The character is one I have used from my earlier stories. He explored femdom worlds in two stories. This is the third. He investigates a world inhabited by giant mutant men.

I lay spread-eagled on a huge bed. I had just woken up from being knocked unconscious. How long I had been out I had no idea. The strangest thing would have been what I was wearing. This is if I had been on our earth. The one where Biden was U.S. president and Rishi Sunak was the prime minister.