To the tune of “You Oughta Be in Pictures”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Oughta_Be_in_Pictures
Composed by Dana Suesse and Edward Heyman
Originally recorded by Rudy Vallee.

https://youtu.be/aYkO1Jwlue4?si=JakMphzejll6iOID

Photo by Olga Solodilova on Unsplash

I blame it all on AI. So OK, everybody blames everything on AI these days, but in this instance it is the complete, unvarnished truth.

The ward bathroom. You are standing at the mirror with your shirt off and you don't know how long you've been standing here. The bathroom is empty except for you. The strip light hums above. Your hands are pressed flat against the sides of the belly, which is — large, is the only word, enormous compared to the last time you looked, the navel pushed outward, the skin taut and marked down the center by a dark line you didn't put there. You have been doing the inventory.

It's the FINAL FLASHBACK chapter.

Chapter 21 January 9th, 2024

Grace set her lunch tray down across from Angie and glanced behind her. Kylie and Mitch were still in line.

Angie didn’t look up. She slid a folded paper note across the table. Grace slipped it into her pocket.

“Thanks,” Grace said, forcing herself to take a bite.

“Yeah, no problem. You can pay me later. Everything’s set for tonight.” Angie lowered her voice. “Ava said we can both stay there. They’ll help us find jobs and all that shit.”

Chapter 2

I waited until we had finished dinner before I told my family the news.

“I went to Sydney this morning. I had a talk with the Head of News and came home as the new presenter for the ABC. My area is from the Gong to the border.”

Pauline squealed and stood up to give me a hug.

“That’s fantastic, Mummy. I’ll be able to see you on the box and shout at you without you yelling at me to be quiet.”

“Unless I’m in the room at the time, you minx.”

This is an unexpected continuation of ‘Anything Goes’ that started to gel while the original was being posted. The ABC in the story is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Historical references and all places are real.

Chapter 1

I was standing at the kitchen sink, washing up the breakfast things, It was a Sunday, the sun was shining, and I could see my husband and daughter frolicking in our swimming pool. It was now ten years since we had moved from Chelmsford to Australia, and things had changed.

Short part, this time.

Part Three

Chapter 20 October 20th 2025

Whit pulled up behind an ambulance. There was a loud quiet inside the Emergency Room at Mud Creek’s small hospital. Whit and Lucy helped Grace limp up the counter. Heads turned, Grace had a bloody towel against the side of her head, her big pink Hello Kitty sweatshirt was stained with blood, and her pink tights and short skirt looked out of place in the blue green fluorescent lights.

The woman at the desk didn’t react outwardly. She glanced up once, took it all in, and stood immediately.

“Head injury?” she asked.

Due to a corporate downsizing either Greg or Alice has to be fired by their boss Catherine. Catherine's weakness for submissive, feminine women, provides Greg with a path to remaining in the job he so desperately needs to afford his condo.

The three story town house in the outskirts of Birmingham looked occupied. The curtains were up and at the press of a button they closed as the day ended. The house was tidy and a pair of cleaners arrived once a week to keep everyone in order, but Graham was in the house on his own, and apart from a bit of dust there was little for them to do. Maisie and Jane tried to engage Graham in conversation but they often gave up after a series of monosyllabic replies.

Outside the window the light is flat and grey, the kind of March morning that hasn't decided what it wants to do yet. I kick the sheets off. The air in the bedroom is cool but my thighs feel damp, sticky almost, the boxers bunching up between my legs like they're caught on something. I press my palms into the mattress and push myself up, legs swinging over the edge - except my balance is wrong. Not dizzy. Just off, like my center of gravity shifted an inch or two south while I was sleeping.

Sent By Sophia

Chapter 1: The Loved and Gendered One

A Transgender Coming of Age Adventure

A Story from THE ONE

Ariel Montine Strickland

How could a person guided by Sophia, Spirit of THE ONE, make recompense for a wrong done 30 years ago and have their fondest dream come true?

Sophia and Mariposa snuggled down together under the mosquito netting. They didn’t need any other covering in the warm weather that was normal on the island. Last night’s rain had made the lushness of their island home just that bit more lush, and the perfume of the flowers was intoxicating.

This is a story about trans woman living her best life. It contains a sex scene

"No, I'm just a housewife."

As soon as I said that, it struck me with full force, that's what I was now to the world, just a housewife.

Sally smiled and said.

"Oh, don't say just. A housewife, Susan, it's a full-time job."

Bill's hand was working its way up my skirt under the table and was tugging the strap on my suspender belt. He loved me in stockings, which was why I wore them tonight.

Chapter 16 October 9th, 2025

Whit was shaving every morning, something he’d never done in his life. Wednesday after work he did something he’d been thinking of doing for years. He stopped at the Salvation Army store to shop for women’s clothes. The place was dead but he still was constantly looking over his shoulder. He found a top that was new with tags. “I think I can get away with wearing this,” he said as he took it out of the bag to show Lucy. It was a soft knit long sleeve sweater in deep red with a wider neck then a men’s sweater would have.

©2026, SammyC

A Grumpy Old Man’s Tale 67 All Changes but Stays the Same

“Pease, Sir Mister, have you any food you would spare? We haven’t had anything to eat for eight days and are hungry. We should be grateful and remember you in our thoughts tonight before we fell asleep if you would help us.” Arathane truly believed he had seen the worst that outsiders were prepared to subject their children to, yet as he turned to face the voice the sight of the three barefoot little girls dressed in little more than rags took him aback to a place he hadn’t ever in his darkest moments believed could exist. None of the emaciated girls, barely more than toddlers, looked older than three.

Chapter 15, September 30th, 2025

Whit unloaded the last of the dishes from the dishwasher while Lucy sat at the kitchen table with a calculator working on the budget. He glanced at his watch, it was 8:13. He slipped into the computer room and shut the door behind him. This room was meant to be a nursery, then a child’s bedroom, but plans changed, now it was his room. Whit opened up his closet and looked at the far end where he’d hung his small collection of feminine clothing. He took a deep breath and took off his clothes.