Nothing really happen after that. The weekend came and passed, with me spending the weekend as Jamie. Since I had little pocket money, and my sister was likewise broke, we spent the better part of Saturday and Sunday doing extra chores around the house to earn some extra coins. Sunday afternoon, when we finally knocked off, the whole house had been cleaned from top to bottom, swept, mopped and dusted. We even tackled the corners and baseboards. I’m proud to say the whole thing shinned like new money.

A novelette ...

After a horrible tragedy years earlier, a Christmas miracle will bring love to a hurting family and a better future for a little girl!

Copyright © 2018 by AuP reviner

Lily did my hair and makeup. She wanted to do more, but the chime of the front door filled the air. Mom and dad were home early it seemed. Lily blinked and stood me up, and took me by the hand and guided me down the hallway and then down the stairwell and finally we reached the foyer. And there in the doorway stood mom and dad, see mom and dad worked together, my family was.. I guess you would call us bourgeoisie. We owned and operated a store in downtown Benton ‘Potter Mercantile’. It was among the oldest businesses in operation. And my sister and I attend Benton Academy.

That afternoon, as I peered toward the glowing computer screen of my laptop. Wrecking my brain for ideas and lead ins for the rp post I was working on. I noticed the door of my bedroom open and there in the doorway stood my older sister. She had changed out of her school uniform and into something more casual. A pair of jeans and short sleeve shirt that had the logo of a popular girls band written across it. She stood there, eyeing me for a minute before she moved into my bedroom.

Our house wasn’t there. Mr. Starrett’s house was on the left, with his red F-150 in the driveway, and the Petrovs' house was on the right, with no cars in the driveway but all their super-early Christmas decorations on the porch and lawn (it wasn’t even Halloween yet) — and there was nothing between them.

Sophie could barely suppress her giggles as she and the rest of the crowd stood in anticipation of the event that was about to occur. Sure, the weather wasn’t perfect, but that didn’t matter. Sure, she was several hundred miles from her home in London, but that didn’t matter either. And sure, she was clad in a snug pencil dress and uncomfortable stiletto heeled shoes, but that just served to make the event all the more exciting for Sophie.

The steaks I’d brought from Sunflower turned out to be perfect and my sister had seasoned and charbroiled them to perfection. We rarely ate steak, but tonight my sister wanted to celebrate. Celebrate what I have no idea, I did know she been working around the clock this week. Some crops where coming in on the farm and that required the hiring of extra field hands. Those crops where in now and had already been sold and a check for them deposited into the farm account. That much I knew from the small bits and pieces from over hearing my sister talking to some of her friends.

eather’s House Party was the bread and butter of PBS the American cousin of the BBC. Each week Heather Ford would welcome guest from all walks of life onto her show and for whole duration of the two hour block they would be toasted and welcome. Toward the end of the show somebody, be it a guest from one of the segments or a member of the audience would be put into the fabled “The Gunge Booth” a phone book looking box that was trimmed in faux gold and copper.

Saturday came soon enough. A hazy mist hung over the whole town, the air was hot and humid. Stepping outside felt like one was stepping into a steam bath. The sickly sweet smell of magnolia blooms and blooming flowers scented the air. Across the street Ginger’s Bakery was putting out some fresh donuts in the display window. A few people were milling about the front of the local Post Office and finally a lone bagboy was gathering up some stray shopping carts in front of the Local Sunflower.

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I take a deep breath as I wake up, but even this action is enough to cause me a lot of pain in my chest. As I open my eyes, I’m briefly confused by my surroundings- this isn’t my bedroom in Cardiff, or even my old bedroom in London, but somewhere else… A hospital? That’d explain the pain in my chest, anyway…

“Good morning,” a familiar Welsh accent says, chilling the blood in my veins as I slowly turn my head and come face to face with my mother, and the stern look on her face…

“Oh god…” I moan as I open my eyes and am greeted by the bright sunlight and the oppressive heat of the room I’m in. “Oh- oh god!” I try to huddle my covers around me in a vain attempt to sleep away my hangover, but when all that does is make me even hotter, I slowly roll out of the bed, landing in a heap not on the floor, but on top of the unmoving form of the woman who was my classmate for the last three years.

“Katie?” I grunt, rolling off the freckled girl’s body and giving her a shake. “You still alive?”

I let out a long, satisfied moan as I stretch my slender body out on the sun lounger. It’s the hottest summer I’ve ever known, but that’s not the only thing that makes it the best summer ever- there’s also the fact that I have a disposable income of my own from not one but two part-time jobs, I have a tall, sexy boyfriend who seems to fancy me more with every passing day, and the not-so-small fact that I’m currently wearing just a tiny bikini, whereas 365 days ago, I was stuck in a cramped classroom wearing a hot, stuffy school uniform.

The Treasure of Eerie, Arizona
By Christopher Leeson and Ellie Dauber

Chapter 3

Myra rides out to the scene of the robbery and encounters two problems: a strongbox too heavy for her to lift and a neighbor boy too friendly for her to handle.

My entry in the double dip contest.

"My God. A criminal. She’s a damn criminal! What am I, a magnet for psychos?"

“Sophie…” The brown-haired woman heard a distant voice coo, waking her from her slumber. “Sophie… Wake up, birthday girl!”

“Umf,” Sophie moaned as a pair of soft hands gently shook her awake. “My birthday’s not ‘will Wednesday, for god’s sake…”

Chain Reaction

When I was seventeen I fell in love with a girl named Amber. She was in two of my classes, English and French and she was at the top of the class in both languages and could flawlessly move between each language while I had issues with everything except sarcasm and dry humor. My French was limited to curse words and a few idioms.

Now that Myron has become Myra, he -- she -- is turned over to the attentions of Molly O'Toole. Shamus' wife will be able to give the young stage robber the advice -- and the clothing -- that she will need if she expects to pass herself off as a natural-born girl in Eerie, Arizona.

Hidden Talent – September Contest entry

Monday’s were always a trial for Tristram Morris. He worked in a TV Advertising sales office with three women. Monday was the day when his female colleagues recounted in glorious (or should that be gory?) Technicolor detail their respective weekends.

Most of the chatter was about men and who did what to whom in bed and how much booze they’d consumed in how short a time…

For much of the time that they were chattering, Tristram was simply ignored because he wasn’t a woman. Add to that, he wasn’t particularly interested in their frankly juvenile antics. He considered them just silly and immature even though they were almost the same age as him.

The only time his presence was recognised was when one of the three recounted a particularly intense or lurid sexual act. Then they sent their jibes in his direction in the hope of seeing him get embarrassed.

“Another question?” Becca asks, grinning as several members of the assembled crowd eagerly raise their hands. “Okay, you at the back!”

“What are your favourite tracks on the new album?” The journalist asks, making the four of us grin.

“Ooh, good question!” Adeola chuckles, even though it’s a question we’ve already been asked several times over the last ten days. “Mine’s probably ‘Overcast’, we’ve never really done a ‘dark’ song before, it was fun to mix it up a little. Bex?”