Chapter 62:

CHAPTER 34
“Mum, this is Jen, my fiancée”

We had had to make all sorts of allowances for the extreme time difference, staying up past midnight, and god knows what time it was in Christchurch, but there was Mrs Meads on screen, and she seemed to be smiling.

“Hiya Jen! Call me Raewyn, eh?”

The River and the Stone
Chapter 1: Session One — The Gathering of Currents
The waiting room of Dr. Vance’s office was quiet, save for the low, continuous hum of a white-noise machine near the baseboards. On the deep leather couch, eighteen-year-old Leo sat with his ankles locked in a wide, rigid figure-four stance—his right ankle resting square over his left knee. His right thumb came up automatically, the edge of his thumbnail digging into the dry cuticle as his left heel tapped a rapid, impatient beat against the carpet.

Part 15 The Shiny New Penny

Monday morning arrived on time and so did Sam to take me to the studio. Odette went in Tonys’ Porsche and Tanya went with Steve, via his place so he could get a change of clothes. It looked like the penthouse had gone from housing one tenant to now looking after five, at least.

At the studio we had a cast meeting to talk about the direction that the show would go next. We ended up with a good set of scenes that would take us beyond the halfway point, and we would think about the further plot lines then.

CHAPTER 33
Ange and I looked at each other, clearly weighing up the conversation that evening in Nice, and then I answered for both of us.

“Neither, woman”

“Yet! Admit it!”

Ange sighed, theatrically.

“You getting paid as a matchmaker or something?”

John was currently waist-deep in a cardboard box filled with crocheted doilies and yellowed newspapers from the seventies. The attic of his grandmother's house smelled like old cedar and dormant dust, a cramped space where the roof slanted low, forcing him to hunch his shoulders. He had spent the better part of the morning moving stacks of magazines and sorting through porcelain figurines that looked like they belonged in a museum of things nobody actually wanted.

Sunday Morning Pantyhose XXXIV
By
Tracy Davis

This is a true story of how my Mom feminized me as a teenager. She had caught me wearing her pantyhose the summer before seventh grade. I got the surprise of my life the first Sunday of junior high, when she bought me pantyhose and started encouraging me to wear them, and then it was all downhill from there. -- Tracy

I felt my face turn pink. My feelings about Josh had changed.

Megan's painting her toenails when I get there, door propped because she heard me on the stairs, foam spacers wedged between her toes, and she doesn't look up right away. "There's beer in the fridge," she says. "Grab me one too if you're getting one."

The approval did not come immediately.

There were meetings, written requests and legal formalities. One document had to be corrected, and another required approval from the education board.

Whenever the process became difficult, Mrs. Patwardhan helped Mother understand the next step. She spoke to the school management, explained Aaradhya's successful temporary term and made sure the application was not treated as an ordinary uniform request.

After several difficult weeks, the board accepted the arrangement.

12.1 The Long Night

Mother barely slept that night.

Whenever she closed her eyes, another part of the past year returned to her.

The forgotten nail-paint. Aarav's red eyes after school. The small bindi that had finally made him confess the bullying. His poor monthly-test marks. The boys avoiding him after the suspensions.

Then she remembered the girls' building.

She had seen Aarav become less frightened there. His marks had improved. He had made friends and become someone his classmates approached for help.

Outside the lift, Anaya and Kavya were waiting.

Both girls became quiet when they saw Aarav. Their surprise was clear, but neither of them laughed or made a large reaction.

Anaya looked first at his arranged hair.

"The clips match the kurta."

Kavya noticed the painted nails and the two bangles.

"You came fully prepared."

Aarav looked down at himself.

"Only for today," he said quickly.

"Okay," Kavya replied.

Once the first surprise had passed, she asked, "What should we call you today?"

9.1 The Appointment

By the time lunch was nearly over, the result-day excitement had settled into a quieter happiness.

"School will reopen in ten days," she said. "I have booked your usual salon appointment for Saturday. Your hair has become too long for school."

Aarav's spoon stopped above his bowl. The happiness from his result disappeared almost immediately.

He looked down and said, "Okay."

Mother heard only agreement. Riya heard the sadness beneath it.

9.2 Today Is Yours