Call of the Canijo
A Short Western Story
By Maryanne Peters

The bullet had entered his chest and pierced his lung. Captain Glenn Kilbourne had been told that he was one of the last Union officers to fall in the Civil War. It was April 1865, and it seemed a cruel thing to be told that his survival would be a miracle, but he fought hard to heal himself. The surgeon was skillful but told him that recovery would take a long time, and a New York damp fall and cold winter were now his enemies.

House Spouse
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I worked alongside Matt Linaker for three years. I had no idea that he was anything other than a normal guy. I knew that he was married, so the fact that he had a slightly effeminate appearance I simply put down to “metrosexuality”.

The Beer Festival
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

Karl and I come from a small town in Germany – in Bavaria, close to the Alps. We have lived there all our lives. We went to school together and we became friends. Then we became more than friends – we became lovers. And then more than lovers – we moved in together, as a gay couple.

The Package
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

The problem was that my whole family knew Bobby really well, which made it hard to introduce Bobbi to them. They all knew that Bobby was a joker and the life and soul of every party, and true to form, that is where the idea came from. All I had to do was to play along and take the photos.

Feminine Deportment
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

My mother said that if there was a male equivalent she would have enrolled me in that, but she bemoaned the fact that boys are expected to be boorish and crass. To her, that was unacceptable. There had to be a way.

White Knight
The Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Jerry and I had known one another since childhood. We went through high school together and worked together after I finished college. I went into finance, but Jerry felt that he was ready to set up his own business. You have to admire him for that.

Love in Paris
From an image sent by Typsie Tinker
By Maryanne Peters

That was the moment I fell in love with the woman who used to be my best friend. I could still see the man in that face, but when she turned to watch the shouting across the street I saw only the woman she now was.

Formula X
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Nothing can prepare you for a blow like that – the day that my best friend told me that he had raped my sister.

My sister Bridget was the nicest human being in the world. Everybody loved her. She was only slightly intellectually disabled, but she didn’t look it. She was pretty, and she was always happy, even if there was not reason to be. She made our home, my parent’s home where I had my own space above the garage, a brighter place. My mother called her “the sunshine in my life”, and to her, she was.

Sales
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

My grandfather was in sales. My father regarded it as a lowly occupation, and he often gave his father-in-law a hard time about it. He said that salespeople would say or do anything to close the deal. He said that it required no qualifications and attracted people with short attention spans. My father had qualifications – not great ones, but something to hang on his wall. My grandfather had sales awards, but he didn’t display them.