Webster’s dictionary defines Speed as the fallowing: the rate of change of position along a straight line with respect to time over a set distance. In other words, the quicker you can get from one place to another. The question is what do you, do when your family has spent the last two generations in search of ways to accomplish this goal faster and faster. Would do you do when the family business is the search for more Speed. For Robert ‘Robby’ McGuire the answer is easy. You grab your sister and strap on a pair of Formula One race cars then go for broke.

Cast of Characters in “The Siege of Fiddler’s Vale”

(Author’s note: To whet your appetite for my upcoming story, “the siege of Fiddler’s Vale, [which is a sequel to my "The Trio" stories] I thought I would first introduce some of the people whose lives will be affected by it ...)

Time on My Hands
Chapter 29: 273-285 CE: The Thebian Legion

Just after dawn 500 Palmyrene cavalry formed in the square. They carried unlit torches and buckets of burning charcoal to ignite them. Firmus emerged with his entourage to address the troops. As he spoke, gesturing for emphasis he stopped abruptly. Everyone was stunned to see the feathered end of an arrow had appeared in his mouth. As his body crumbled and twisted they could see the point was protruding from the back of his neck. His second in command was quickly down with an arrow in his heart. The troops reacted with shouting while seeking the assailant. Those on the steps with the now dead Firmus ran in panic. Six more high ranking officers were dropped before they reached cover. By then dismounted troops were rushing into the temple.

Please note: Grooming, as I use the term here, does not refer to keeping oneself clean, but to someone picking up young folks, telling them that they can have a good life if they come along with them, then the kids end up being coerced into becoming either thieves or prostitutes.

I'm not sure why, but I was pretty wiped out after the fair had shut down on Sunday evening, and soon wandered off to my bed.

CHAPTER 37
We were back in the office on January 3rd, and I spent the morning going through the parish notice e-mails, or, as we called them, after the head admin woman who issued them all, ‘Weller Deletes’. Open—scan—delete. Several were attached to a read receipt system, so I then took a while longer deleting the out-of-office auto-replies to the auto-replies to…

It filled the morning for me, between sessions of team brew-ups and runs out to the local supermarket for biscuits and muffins.

Dom had been asked by his parents to clean out the attic of his great grandmother’s mother’s place. His parents were thinking about selling the old farmhouse. He had asked a few friends to come over and give him a hand.

He climbs up the ladder into the attic and starts handing things down to his friend George and Casey. The small stuff was easy to hand down the stairs, however, there were like seven large pieces of luggage that looked to be from the early 1800’s. He had seen streamer trunks before, but nothing like these.

CHAPTER 36
I felt better after that, enough to talk at last to my husband. We lay in the darkness at Mam’s, our last night before we would decamp back to our old house along with the girls. Rhod was burbling away in his little pull-out bed, while I just lay wrapped around my husband, street lighting leaking enough around the curtains to see his expressions.

“Christmas, love. I had some news”

“That phone call?”

“Yeah…”

The beautiful, talented, and fabulous Imp is back to continue her adventures, both on and off the Whateley campus.

http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php

Andy Bishop is an engineer working on a new self-contained medical device. He is picked to be the first person to be examined by it. What could go wrong?

Before I could render a full explanation to the single officer in the first car, another Police car drew up at the house. Inwardly, I groaned when I saw the officer getting out of the driver’s side. It was none other than 'Ian 'I'm not one' Pratt. He was the class bully when I was at Hendon. His Sergeant's stripes shone brightly in the light from the porch.

He entered the hall and looked hard at me. Then he looked again before turning away to speak to his colleague.

“What is the problem Sadik?” he asked.

“We have this person here claiming to be an undercover police officer. She had only just started to explain why she's on our patch unannounced.”

It was Friday, June 22 during the end of season JV baseball game to determine the county championship. The score was 2 to 3 in favor of the other team. There was a man on first with 2 outs at the bottom of the last inning. The pressure was on. Kyle stood at the plate staring down the pitcher. The pitcher was clearly sweating as he kept wiping his brow. The first pitch was a ball. Kyle had almost swung at it. The next ball was a strike, a real whiffer. Kyle began sweating. Soon the count was 3 and 2. Kyle then whacked 3 foul balls. Everyone held their breath as the next pitch came in. As the pitcher wound up, Kyle took a deep breath. As the ball flew to the plate Kyle decided it was a perfect pitch. With every bit of his strength, he swung for the sixth time this at bat, exhaling sharply as he did so. The CRACK echoed through the ball field. The ball sailed high for the center field fence. All eyes were glued onto the ball.