My Hero
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

It was that period in a hotel cocktail bar when all those who were going to dinner had gone, but before those returning might catch a night cap before going up. Drake was at the bar because he had nowhere to go. The attractive woman was a late arrival.

Chapter 5

Thursday, May 4^th, 2023

2:05 PM

Darryl was sitting on the porch of the farm house. He had been helping in the gardens, but now was on a break. It was strange. He wasn’t used to being away from Marcia for so long. Even on base, they had worked together, and had dinner together every day. Granted, they had spent the nights without each other, but they were back together the next morning.

Sam saw Michelle sitting at the kitchen table her head down looking upset. Fiona was grinning like a Cheshire cat. She was dressed as she always did throughout their marriage, dowdy. She was wearing jeans a baggy sweater and minimal makeup.

"What do want Fiona?"

"Is that any way to greet you wife Sammy?"

"You're not my wife for much longer, what have you come for?"

Kerry Cottage
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

In that part of the West Coast of Ireland the bad weather can come at speed and without warning. He had asked the hotelier if it would rain and had received a typical twinkly-eyed Irish response.

“Well this is Ireland, so it will certainly rain. The only question is when, and where, and how much?”

The answers were here and now and a lot.

Chapter 5 – Morgan Emerges

Over the next week that became our routine, walks around the house and lessons in basic womanhood. One day we spent several hours on the glory of childbirth; and then some time on getting through periods. “Every woman is different” said Gwen “we will know what you are like with your first. Some women have it easy and some have some pain. All of us have mood swings and most of us become bitches for a few days.”

A man, a succubus and a gift he won't refuse.

They talked into the early hours of the morning. Sam told her that he had been involved with an on off relationship with his room mate in medical school. He said the sex was very infrequent as he never felt fully comfortable with being with another man. The only time they had sex he used to insist his room mate wore a pair of knickers that one his old girlfriends had left behind. His room mate soon tired of this.

After trying on his mothers underwear and being screamed at by his father, he knew that a boy wanting to be a girl was a horrible thing. He knew at the tender age of six he must bottle it up and never speak of it.

One day his mother and her friend were getting him and his brothers dressed and he heard his brother screaming.

"No,no, there girls. They have a rose on them."

There was a chill in the air by the time they walked through the front door. Sam went into the kitchen to get glasses and a cork screw. Michelle lit the old log effect gas fire and turned on the old radio gram. It took a few seconds to warm up as it was the pre-transistor valve type. Michelle loved it as it had a deep rich sound.

They moved into the living room. The old but comfortable sofa welcomed them both. They sat apart, but at a angle so they could talk. Michelle's knees touched Sam's. Unwilling to part from such an understanding warm presence.

"So how long have you felt this way Michelle?"

She thrilled at being called by her female name. Until today no one had ever called her anything but Micheal, or freak.

Chapter 2

Sunday, May 2^nd, 2023

5:52 AM

Marcia woke up and was disoriented by the unfamiliarity of the room for a moment, then remembered the day before. In two more days, it would be her seventeenth birthday, and she was very much looking forward to it. She and Darryl were planning to spend time heading into Anchorage and exploring before her birthday dinner. Her parents were heading down from Fairbanks, and would be arriving later in the day.

This is my take on a Poco song from 1976 . Please give it a listen. I find it insanely catchy. It's about a woman called Rose Dunn in the old west.

Roll along, roll on
Rose of Cimarron
Dusty days are gone
Rose of Cimarron

Rose stood there staring out of her window, She was wearing a long black dress and was tightly corseted. She wasn't expecting any visitors, but liked to look presentable. Just in case.

I.

I used to live in Seattle.
I want to say it was a great town.
Fine, it was okay.
Would you believe we tolerated each other?

Allan Rogers loves teaching community college and running stats for the football team. What happens when he gets involved with a secret genomic project in his spare time and who will he be after? I light, fun illustrated story!

As I walked down the stairs of Theobalds Grove station, I felt scared and thrilled. I was a girl. I had seen my reflection I really looked pretty. All the same I was waiting for someone to leap at me and scream;

“Look, that boy is wearing a dress!”

As we walked down the high street, with my hand in my mothers, I realised nothing was going to happen. She looked down at me and smiled.

Allie - The teenage years of Alexander Horten

December 27, 2015 - January 2, 2016

“You didn’t break your foot by kicking your boyfriend, did you?” he asked.

Butch
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I always said that I needed violence. I said it then: There is nothing like another man’s blood on your knuckles to make you feel like a man. Or that moment when you know a stand-off is going to turn to blows. The adrenalin is surging in your blood as you imagine the sound of his face being crushed. Yours or theirs, it makes no difference. It’s the buzz I needed.

And I know why I needed it. Because I knew that deep down inside me, I was a girl. I fought that every day of my fucking life.

Solicitation II
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I have said it before - I don’t like prostitution. I don’t like it because it degrades women and I think that women are special – two women in particular.