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Explosives
Are actually very easy to make, as long as you pay attention in your chemistry class or get into a job in the construction industry. The hard part is detonating them without killing yourself in the process.
Your protagonist had that worked out!
Nice one, Marianne.
What a lovely story.
This story got a few tears out of me, I think like all of us, your girl intended to go out the way many of us wanted to when the burden of living turned out to me too much. Very touching, very life like. And I'm glad everything worked out for the best. This was a lovely story, thank you so much for sharing it with us.
Another example
Of your mastery of the written word. Very succinct and real. A beautiful explanation of a common ptoblem. To my mind this is a standout. I know it is early in the contest but with all the joy you've given me this year I knew I had to wait and look for your contribution. Good luck with Jill and Emma.
Ron
Suicide failed?
Trust you to come up with a new twist on dealing with the stresses,
that a lot of gender troubled have to endure.
This short story is well up to the quality that we, have come to expect from you.
The final few paragraph's were magic. The rubbish truck driver would have
nearly had a heart attack, when your head appeared.
Polly J
Parents fell down on the job
Unconditional love is something parents should have for their children. Not love only if the child follows the parents beliefs.
Parents should be there for their children when they need help understanding themselves. Or when they start down a path where directions are needed.
Because the parents didn't go after their son when he left home at sixteen, that's proof enough to show they lacked any understanding of real love.
What could she now do with her life? Without a high school diploma or higher education, what she could do was what it took to survive. Until she ended up in the hospital.
It's an act of pure depression when the only thought is to end one's life. Tomorrow holds nothing for the person, because they can't see tomorrow as being better than today.
What better way to get rid of an attacker than to let them do it themselves? And what better way to have a better tomorrow than to tell the truth when asked the question by those seeing a talent others dismissed?
Not every one is as fortunate as the young lady in this story. Many only see the futility of their life or are so deeply mired in guilt they see only one way to end the guilty feelings.
Would it be wonderful if those aiming to take their own lives were as fortunate as the character in this story. Sadly, reality is different. And lives are lost, because their cries for help go unheeded.
Others have feelings too.
Never Trust a Stranger...
(...since we're dealing with Kim Wilde titles. Very few of which made it here to the U.S.)
Anyway, if our protagonist's nemesis had already killed three genetic women in that alleyway, it'd seem that she'd have been toast eventually regardless of her anatomy. And his compatriots in the gang probably didn't know or care that she was trans -- just that she wasn't dead.
(Not a complaint at all. Really good story.)
Eric
Great story - again !
Damn but you're a great writer Marianne !!
I doff my bonnet - and wish you many more such wonderful tales in 2024 !!
Hugs&Kudos!!
Suzi
View from a bridge
I enjoyed the story. It was well thought out. My only regret is that it might be read by someone who tries their luck making such an explosive device. I know there are lots of TV shows that warn you 'Not to Try This at Home' but weed killer and fertilizer bombs are very unstable with or without the cartridge trigger. I cannot quite think how to make it seem acceptable to commit suicide in this story without making it seem attractive for someone in real life with an inclination to hurt themselves; and of course all the people who happen to be round them at the time. Too many car bombs used in the Troubles in Northern Ireland used this mixture.
As a Chemical Engineer……
I can tell you that it is very easy to make a very effective explosive from easily obtainable materials. Hell, one of my class assignments in college was producing a viable plastic explosive from materials purchased at the grocery store, lol.
Two drops of gasoline, properly vaporized and contained, has the same explosive potential as a stick of dynamite. Gasoline burns quite well - gasoline vapor is very explosive. It is just your basic air/fuel bomb. Hell, dust makes a good explosive if it is properly distributed with air.
It isn’t hard to make an explosive. The difficult part is safely detonating it, lol.
The old joke about the teacher at a suicide bomber school is, “Pay close attention because I’m only going to show you this once…….”
D. Eden
“Hier stehe ich; ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir.”
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Actually
the challenge is not to make an explosion but to control the explosion to do the job you intend it for. Without careful planning much of the energy you have generated will be wasted as it goes in unexpected directions. If you have done it right you can propel a bullet; if you've done it wrong you get a face full of shrapnel as high school classmate of mine did when he tried to produce a "hot" shotgun load.
I had my period of suicidal ideation.
Was hospitalized in the pink room a half dozen times. I didn't understand that suicide is very hard on those around you. The last time wasn't even an attempt. I was riding my bike across a bridge late at night, and stopped to sit on the rail to admire the lights on the water. I was sat there when a car stopped and girl got out and started screaming at me and beating me as hard as she could. "My brother just killed himself, and I am not letting you do it". She cried.
A cop came up and put my bike on the bumper of his car, and hauled he up to the Hospital. I told him that I didn't mean to cause trouble. He said that he knew that. That was about a decade ago, I think. That was the last time for that. I hope I am different now.
Gwen