Summer with Kenzie

We were a pack of four. Linda, Amy, Ozzy, and I - BK, pronounced as beh-kah, an abbreviation for Bernard Kurt. Two girls and two boys. We were friends, not boyfriends and girlfriends. Just friends.

A group of friends streams their gaming on Wednesday nights. But not all the action is on the dining room table.

“How are the sales today?” Hayley asked as she returned to her flat to find Sophie sat on the sofa, checking her laptop.

“Still good,” Sophie replied with a smile. “I mean, yes, they’re tapering off, but that’s to be expected after this length of time, so- yeah. Publishers are still VERY happy though.”

“I still can’t believe I know a famous author!” Hayley teased, giggling as her friend rolled her eyes and blushed.

A group of friends streams their gaming on Wednesday nights. But not all the action is on the dining room table.

A group of friends streams their gaming on Wednesday nights. But not all the action is on the dining room table.

Geneva at the front desk was the first to see Kim come in on Take Your Daughter to Work Day and noticed she had some kind of Vase but didn’t say anything except her usual “Good Morning!”

"Morning Geneva, going to be an interesting day with all these girls here today, isn’t it?”

A group of friends streams their gaming on Wednesday nights. But not all the action is on the dining room table.

If you reached the end, the final end of the final rope, and could take a mulligan, would you?

Of course it’d have to be on a “Take your daughter to work day” that we visit this factory. Of course, for me every day is “Take your daughter to work day.” I’m surrounded by small and big girls eager to ask me lots and lots of questions while my mother does what presidential candidates do. I hate having to participate in my mother’s campaigning but that’s Mother for you. Whatever can be useful not only can be used but MUST be used.

(Author’s note: This story picks up the action several months after the events in Love Has No Pride and When You Wish Upon a Star.)

A group of friends streams their gaming on Wednesday nights. But not all the action is on the dining room table.

Paul’s son Karl has a school assignment that results in Paul bringing Karl into his job.

Ellen Carpenter woke first. She always did on a work day, and almost always on weekends, too. After enough time, some habits just stick with you. The pattern had become a routine - throw on a dressing gown, step into slippers and pad down the stairs to make a pot of tea and some breakfast for both of them, sit quietly listening to complaints about work colleagues she had never met, make a packed lunch and a flask of coffee, then a quick kiss, a “have a nice day”, and she was on her own again.

A group of friends streams their gaming on Wednesday nights. But not all the action is on the dining room table.

A group of friends streams their gaming on Wednesday nights. But not all the action is on the dining room table.

A group of friends streams their gaming on Wednesday nights. But not all the action is on the dining room table.

A group of friends streams their gaming on Wednesday nights. But not all the action is on the dining room table.

A group of friends streams their gaming on Wednesday nights. But not all the action is on the dining room table.

A group of friends streams their gaming on Wednesday nights. But not all the action is on the dining room table.

Alarm clocks are like one of those double sword edge things. They’re loud and annoying so you have to turn them off to go back to sleep, but mom and dad are going to know that you woke up if you do that. Then they’ll come in to force you to get up themselves. There’s no way to actually get any more sleep. You’re doomed the moment you wake up.

I fought against my bed to get my eyes open, squinting up at my white ceiling and the surrounding soft blue walls. I reached over to the little table by my bedside with my last bit of strength and shut off the alarm.