Trans-demic
Chinese Flu
Sam Wong read the email from Josh Epstein, the partner in charge of the fiendishly complicated real
estate deal that had consumed the last three months of their lives.
“You’re going to have to close this deal without me. I’m sick as a dog, and my wife just called an
ambulance to take me to Bellevue. I just hope it’s not that fucking Chinese Flu. Do whatever it takes to
get this done.”
Sam flinched at the slur but was used to minority bashing that goes on behind closed doors of politically

The weeks passed by, and before I knew it we had reached the October half-term break. I was relieved to finally have a week off work. While some of the classes I was teaching were enjoyable - year 7 were just so infectious in their naive enthusiasm, and year 12 were quite profound in some of their observations on Shakespeare and Christina Rossetti's poetry - the others were becoming less and less pleasant.

“Lexie, whom you will be voting for?”

“Voting?… Aren’t the elections more than a year away?”

All women exploded in laughter.

“The company best man, you goofy.”

“Sorry?”

“We just talked about it. Didn’t you listen?”

CHAPTER 39
The rest of the week was less scenic than my first visit, as I followed Kul around a number of businesses that included more than a few of that old favourite from Sheffield, the waste cooking oil account. Kul was quite bullish about them, which surprised me, for he had never pushed himself so far forward back in Yorkshire. I slowly came to understand how deeply he felt that the Australian venture was his own particular baby, and it would grow his way.

Mistress Athena swooped in and put a stop to my misery at work, sparing me from the constant harassment and bullying that had become all too familiar. She forbade me from going back to that toxic environment, and I couldn't be more grateful. Her online business was thriving, and she deemed it sufficient to support us both for the time being. She also had a plan to put me through a rigorous training program at home, designed to help me overcome the trauma I'd endured.

Champion
A Story for the BCTS Christmas Contest 2024
By Maryanne Peters

I guess I am just one of those people who can’t stand to see injustice being done. Sometimes I felt that it was my duty to stand up for people who can’t fight injustice by themselves. The way I see it, this has nothing to do with being gay or trans, it is about freedom, and that means being free to be who you are.

Diva in Disguise Chapter 19

After lunch I was engaged in doing the dishes after clearing away. I had been left alone to complete these chores as Madeleine had engaged my co-worker in other duties, a circumstance I found unamusing. After I’d finished, I tossed the dishtowel in the laundry basket and moodily marched upstairs to the maid’s room. I was at an all-time low. That dark cloud threatened to engulf me whichever way I turned.

It. Was. Divine. I had to have more! More! But, I didn’t take more. I took my hand away with my trick still active. I was in control, at least I was when I was not starving for the stuff. "That's it. Now, you just have to wait it out." I closed my eyes and opened them. The urge subsided a bit.

I walked back inside. "I'm done," I told the others. They went outside to see Douglas.

“She’s probably dead anyway,” said Hote, his voice flatter and distracted.

“Irish Dancing? Isn't that the rubbish where they keep their arms straight by their sides?" Nick peered myopically at the bulletin board. The poster actually showed a line of girls high kicking in unison, ponytails flying and, yes, arms held rigidly at their sides.

I shook my head, more to myself than anything. It really was a mystery to me how he'd made it to college with so little going on between his ears.

That didn’t cause me any panic. I was expecting a few deliveries and I was hoping this was the one I was really waiting for. When I opened the front door a delivery-man was standing there, brown uniform, a cardboard box in his arms and one of those sign-in document thingies for me to register that I had received the delivery.

Why did I feel the need to mess with my hair?

The Poise that Josey Found 2
Josey at Dancing Camp

A Family Reunion

Chapter One

Anne Marie Taylor sat on the train from London to Manchester, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her coat as the train rumbled along the tracks. The rhythmic clatter was almost soothing, a constant in a world that felt anything but steady. She glanced at her phone, scrolling through the texts from her mum, Diana. Each one was filled with warmth and excitement, a stark contrast to the chilly silence she’d faced from her family over the past four years.

Fifteen - Love

Anyone who tells you that tennis is a gentle sport is lying through their teeth. At the grass roots level, it is populated by eager children with overbearing parents, and overbearing competitors with overbearing managers and trainers at the professional level. In my experience, the best time to be a tennis player is the bit in between, where you can shed the parents clutches, and before someone wants to be your ‘guardian’.

Unblocked
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Vincent Page wrote “High Flies the Hawk”. You may have heard of it. It sold well, in fact it sold well enough to earn a retainer for his second book. There is always the assumption that every writer has a second book in them if their first is any good at all. But where does that assumption come from?

We'd Like to Help You Learn to Help Yourself
By Angela Rasch
(inspired by the Aria Nova image)

“Plastic. . .,” My sister said in an accusatory tone.

We sat in the living room of the Hinsdale, Illinois house we had inherited from our parents -- enjoying Sunday morning mimosas. Citrus and champagne tainted the air.

“Plastic?” I teased. “Is that a reference to that sixties’ movie with Dustin Hoffman, Katherine Ross, and Anne Bancroft?”

“The Graduate?” She shook her head.

Queen Dana of Highwinds the Elf Kingdom inside the Empire has a problem. One that she cannot fix personally. The problem is with a small minority of her population. A problem that has been brought to her attention by the half elf son of a problematic Duke. What is a Queen to do? She calls on help from a friend. The question now is does she realize what she is letting loose on her kingdom?