This story is set in Ireland during the War of Independence, 1919-1921.

The Players.

An Cailleach, approximately Old Hag in English, is a term found in both Irish and and Scots Gaelic. It carries connotations of divinity or magic.

Volunteers, the name used by Irish national insurrectionists engaged in the War of Independence. After independence, these formed part of the basis for the new National Army which still has the letters IV (Irish Volunteers) on formal uniform buttons.

RIC, Royal Irish Constabulary, an armed police force responsible for crime and internal security. Recruited locally, it was heavily infiltrated by the Volunteers and many members left the organization during the war.

Black & Tans and Auxiliaries. These were paramilitary police recruited in England to support the RIC, notorious for indiscipline, terrorism and extra-judicial killings.

For a while, Archie thought about Amy.

Deliberate thoughts had become difficult now. They needed somewhere steady to stand, and stumbled around in his mind as the ground crumbled away beneath them. Each thought came without asking, soft and immediate, gliding softly around the gaps. Instinctive thoughts settled much more easily, as they could simply float through the spaces as they pleased.

He remembered the first time she had rescued him.

CHAPTER 64
We sat for a while enjoying the views, comfortable as a family, until Clara spoke up again.

“I got given a pressie before I came over, one for you all”

Maz gestured ‘go on’, and Clara chuckled.

CHAPTER 30
Our departure was a wrench, but we still had a lot more to see. It felt as if we had found the ideal holiday spot only to abandon it. As our train pulled out, clearly sharing my thoughts, Ange simply whispered, “We can always come back”

Society is a huge live role playing game where we have to learn the rules as we play, right?

I had a weird dream. I was Victoria, and we were back at the weddings of the previous week, but it was Victoria who got married to Nancy, to Mona, and to Aries in consecutive ceremonies. Of course, my parents weren’t there, like in all my dreams, but we went to what should have been their apartment afterward. Aries wanted to consummate our marriages, and her ovipositor was fully out, though I had no idea when she had had time to have sex with a man during the day. Then it turned out that Nancy and Mona were Pasthru emales, and I was worried that the group was going to impregnate me somehow. We got as far as the four of us nesting our organs when all of that evaporated and Victoria was there alone, and then I woke up.

Mark Lansing never wanted to stand out. He was perfectly happy disappearing into a football huddle with the rest of the team until one play made him the talk of the town. Thrust into a spotlight he never wanted, every choice can reshape his future, and every decision could transform him in ways he never believed possible. Mark’s destiny will be determined on the field … assuming he can figure out how to dress the part.

How can something be so wrong, when it feels so right?

That was the single most important thought that ran through Aisha’s mind as she fastened her padded bra behind her, before she took the pair of silky dark tights out of their packet and slowly stretched them one leg at a time over her hairless legs, until the control top held her abdomen and her backside tightly. As she took her plain white blouse and knee-length blue pencil skirt from its hanger, Aisha mused on how the clothes were a far cry from the hijabs and abaya her mother and sisters wore.

CHAPTER 63
The poor lad was twitching with nerves, so Maz just stepped closer to hug him, mother to the core, and I had a sudden burst of the hatred I would never lose for the bastards who had kept them apart for so long.

We waited, and waited some more, but I finally spotted a duty-free bag reading ‘Singapore’ and knew we were finally in the home straight. Each time the automatic doors opened, the lad twitched, and then she was there, and it was LC who saw her first and beat her brother to the hug. Ish was close behind, and there was a moment that touched me as, rather than usurp his sister’s position, he simply included her in the hug.

A Life in Plain Sight begins with Steve, a thirty-five-year-old man whose small, fine-boned body and naturally androgynous presentation mean strangers routinely perceive him as a beautiful woman—a fact Steve has lived with for years without allowing it to complicate his certainty about who he is. Intelligent, literal, funny, intensely curious, and comfortably isolated, Steve has built a perfectly functional life around work, family, hobbies, and the conviction that not unhappy is good enough.

Magnolia Blooms & Sakura Petals
By
Rebecca Anna Coleman

-6-
The Greenville Bazaar

The Greenville Bazaar was a massive charity shop that was located at the very start of main street. According to local tradition, main street started at the base of the massive concrete levee and ended on concrete steps of the courthouse. Anyway, as soon as I entered the building I felt a sense of wonder come over me. I felt a sudden sense of joy come over me.