Everyone wants definite boundaries in life. Fire burns, ice is cold, electricity runs our appliances, lights our world, etc. Sometimes things happen that can't be explained. And sometimes humans exceed their own limits, such as the daughter who lifted a BMW off her father after the jacks failed and the car fell with him under it. Who or what helped her lift the car or did she do it alone?

Idol

This is the story of Dakota Sullivan. We all know him... a child star that had so much talent and his struggles to be accepted as an adult star. His life as an adult star in movies and music has made him a legend.
We have heard rumours and allegations about him, but his personal life was always hidden from us.
"Idol" is the true story of Dakota, where nothing is hidden. This will shock you and you will have a new view of who this Idol really is!

I, Georgia, who was born George, am doubtless like all others of my age. I have no problems with anachronisms and old word forms and grammar, but I find difficulty understanding modern speech forms, which I can’t help but regard as illiteracy. I accept that language changes with time, but I don’t like it, and I think poorly of those who use what I can not help but regard as stupidity. So, I’m no different from what older persons have ever been.

Christine goes looking for Cheshire. She and Lache needed to get back to Hollywood to continue working on the movie they had been hired to work on. She finally finds Cheshire in Mr. Bounty’s office along with Mrs. Bounty.

She knocks on the office door as she walks into the office “I’m sorry for interrupting, Mrs. Bounty and Cheshire, but Lache and I need to get back to Hollywood to finish the movie we’ve been hired to work on.”

“Mom, me and Catlin want to get married before we start our careers. I know you are going to be using Catlin in whatever fight you and uncle Bounty are involved in.” Krisha looks at her mother and watches her facial expression.

“You do know that my enemies and whatever enemies Catlin make will either come after you or try to use you as bait. Are you two sure about this?” Cheshire didn’t want anything to happen to her daughter or Catlin.

Christ, I never thought I’d see the day when I was hiding in a ladies lavatory in a hospital. But we went in and I pulled Elle’s knickers down. She had her wee and I pulled her knickers back up again.

Michel and Delphine returned to their Devon retreat by train later that afternoon. It had been a long day. Neither of them was in the mood for much small-chat on the train.

Despite the latest episode with her daughters coming to an end, Delphine was still pretty down in the dumps. She would not admit it but the attempt by her daughters to have her declared unfit to manage her life hit her very hard. The effect of seeing them face to face in Verity’s Office was very real and impossible to brush off. Michel was there with her all the way but he knew that it was going to take some time for his wife to return to anywhere near normal.

“And?” Asked Sasha in a tone of voice that demanded the truth and all of it. “And what do you mean by he changed after leaving home?”

“He says he’s trans and goes by the name of Harriet. I suspect that’s why Bert treated him so badly. He never was much of a lad and as a boy he was a natural victim just waiting to be picked on. When he telt me he was trans it all kind of made sense. He seems to be doing all right. He says he doesn’t get bullied now he’s living as a girl and he is much happier. He’s waiting on doing silver service in a big hotel in Didsbury as a waitress.”

“Bollocks! You need to start understanding how these sorts of things work, Pete. Her name is Harriet, and your niece is a waitress. Start thinking Harriet, female, she, her, hers and all that goes with that, and just forget everything before that. There is no Alex. Get her up here. Is that going to cause any problems between you and Gladys? Or do I have to have a word with her, Pete?”

“No. Gladys knows about Alex and is sympathetic.” Pete paused and after a few seconds, during which Sasha could see Pete was making efforts to change his thinking, he continued “I think she’d have asked Harriet to come up here a while back, but she was bothered about how I would cope.”

“You’re supposed to be a man, so you’ll stiffen your spine, and behave, act and cope like a man. Which means if necessary you’ll tell those who cause Harriet problems to fuck off and drink somewhere else. Write to her, Pete. Get her up here to speak to me and we’ll go from there. Send her enough to cover the train fare and be generous.”

The morning of the wedding dawned bright and sunny. Delphine was first to stir. Her new corset was rubbing on her hip. Henri had been right in that it was a lot stiffer than her old one. The boning was much wider and stronger than the training corset.

As they were still sleeping in the cottage, she had to go up to the new house to get a shower. Michel had been up there most of the previous afternoon working on something. He’d been very evasive when she’d asked about whatever it was that he'd been working on.

Graphic created by Patricia Marie Allen from photos on Unsplash .
Background by Jorge De Jorge , model by Alex Blăjan ,
coffee and muffin by Nathan Dumlao

Authors note: This story first appeared in the “ One Dozen Roses ” anthology and has been edited to be read as a standalone.
You can read it in the anthology here .

“Perhaps my best con was on Belinda. I telt her there was a song from the sixties with the lyrics ‘Lie down girl let me push it up push it up lie down.’ She absolutely refused to believe it. I kept that one going for thirty years. It was only when one of her mates said, ‘I remember that,’ that my ‘con’ was busted.”

That was the beginning of the Bearthwaite covid rebellion.

Introduction: I’m sure everyone has come across a story or two about someone finding that bottle or lamp that after the appropriate action releases a genie who will grant a certain number of wishes for the lucky person who happens to find it. Quite frequently, the person finding the genie doesn’t read the ‘fine print’ and the results are frequently not what the person making the wishes desired. The greedy and the dishonest seem to get the worst of it. In the case of this story, I guess we’ll just have to wait and find out.

Time flies when you’re having fun. Our two lovers have been married for 10 years; 10 very happy years, I might add. Now we are back in the town where Sandy’s adventure began. Rick had some business there, and the entire family came along. They were seeing America. Then Maxie showed up.

Introduction: I’m sure everyone has come across a story or two about someone finding that bottle or lamp that after the appropriate action releases a genie who will grant a certain number of wishes for the lucky person who happens to find it. Quite frequently, the person finding the genie doesn’t read the ‘fine print’ and the results are frequently not what the person making the wishes desired. The greedy and the dishonest seem to get the worst of it. In the case of this story, I guess we’ll just have to wait and find out.

Apparently, Becky was not too upset about finding out about Sylvia. It certainly had to have been a surprise, but obviously things did work out. At least our narrator thought they had.

While they waited for things beyond their control such as passports and driving licenses to be processed, Michel and Delphine worked together on the Smallholding and the new house.

Despite Delphine's protestations, she eventually gave in and started wearing a pair of dungarees and work boots. She refused point-blank to stop wearing stockings even though on some days, a pair of leggings were worn between them and the dungarees.

Introduction: I’m sure everyone has come across a story or two about someone finding that bottle or lamp that after the appropriate action releases a genie who will grant a certain number of wishes for the lucky person who happens to find it. Quite frequently, the person finding the genie doesn’t read the ‘fine print’ and the results are frequently not what the person making the wishes desired. The greedy and the dishonest seem to get the worst of it. In the case of this story, I guess we’ll just have to wait and find out.

Vivienne spoke at length on the phone with her lawyer, Verity May later that day. After some discussion of the downsides to the plan to change their names, Verity agreed with what Jacques had outlined. Their previously planned meeting for Monday was still going to take place but at her offices. That way, anyone watching her offices will see nothing out of the ordinary other than a client visiting their lawyer. Verity called it ‘scheming in plain sight’.

Verity had promised to have all the documents that Vivienne had requested ready for their signatures apart from a few missing details that would be filled in on the day.

The rest of their journey down to Devon was done in relative silence. It reinforced the reality that Jacques was going to have to do a lot of explaining to do later that evening.

The sun was still high in the sky when Jacques drove the Van up the track to their home.

“Why don’t we leave unloading until morning?” suggested Jacques.

“Good idea. I’m bushed,” replied Vivienne in a firm voice.

The three-and-a-half-hour journey from Totnes to Portsmouth allowed the two women to begin the process of getting to know each other.

At first, Gabrielle was a little defensive towards her father.

Then Vivienne said,
"As I said when we were back in Totnes, I've just sold my home in London. In a few weeks, I will have the equivalent of more than three million Euro in my bank. I'm not after any money that Jacques may or may not have but this is not about that."

The arrival of the supposed ‘Downsizing Experts’ the following day proved to be rather an anti-climax. They talked the talk but didn’t really persuade Vivienne that the services that they offered were what she really needed.

Their estimates of the costs for their services based upon their inspection of her home and garden made Vivienne gasp with surprise.

“That is an awful lot. It seems rather excessive,” she said to one of the three companies.

Once Vivienne had gotten over feeling so foolish, a silly old woman and a dozen other even more derogatory things she suddenly felt a little lost. This sort of thing was all new to her. Back in London, her life had been framed by routine. Walk Betty, go to work, come home, walk Betty and go to bed. Rinse and repeat every day with a slight variation at the weekend.

Standing there with nature alive all around her made her realise that she was very much out of her comfort zone.

The sun was just poking its head above the horizon as Vivienne left home the next morning. She had high hopes for the weekend despite not having anywhere to stay for the next few days. The traffic was light at that early hour. It was just before 05:45 when she reached the start of the M3 close to Kempton Park Racecourse. The battery gauge on the dash told her that the battery in her car would get her to the charger at the Supermarket in Wincanton just as she’d planned. She hoped that she could get a late breakfast while the car was also fed but with electrons rather than her choice of Sausage, Bacon, Eggs and Hash Browns all washed down with a large cup of tea.