At the end of a late summer's day, Jordan just wanted something, anything to happen, but one thing was as tedious as the next until a discovery was made that changed everything and opened ...

As we say good night, I notice that she is wearing a new necklace. I don't know why I hadn't noticed it earlier. I guess that I am not all that observant at times. Anyway the necklace looks disturbingly familiar. Hanging from a delicate gold chain around her neck is a gold colored charm in the shape of a running shoe.

As I look at it, she says “It reminds me of you,”

and winks at me before heading inside.

Chapter 5: Not Again!

“You are right Marla, but he's much better than most men so cut him some slack,” Mom replies. “We don’t have time right now to settle scores. Why don’t you go warm up the register so we can ring things up as we make our selections?”

There is that time issue again. What is up with that? I know better than to ask as the only answer that I am likely to get is I’ll find out later.

Chapter 2:  Confusion

"Good afternoon and welcome to this special edition of WHO's weekend news. My name is Jeanette Crowder," I started, beginning the broadcast with a warm smile hardly befitting the chaos that seemed to have been let loose on the planet that day.

"Today, at approximately 10:58 a.m. Iowa time, an event took place that has altered almost all of mankind," I said, reading off the teleprompter. "What some people have begun calling The Great Shift has migrated souls from one person to another person. This was a totally random and still unexplained event."

Synopsis- Middle aged television news anchor Paul Hanratty is working the weekend shift in Des Moines Iowa when The Great Shift takes place.

Tom Slater’s brain began to race. Maybe that day presented an opportunity to her. By telling Chuck the truth about his wife, Tom would be able to save the Australian as she hoped.

“Kimi-chan, you can tell me anything.”

Synopsis- Tom Slater reawakens to find herself in the middle of a Yakuza power struggle.

This page is dedicated to Andrea, an author with an uncommon talent. She has penned a series of children's adventure stories in the style of Nancy Drew or The Famous Five, all revolving around a similar theme. In those stories, that theme was usually about the child, or children, confronting adversity and triumphing in the end... and so it is with The Petticoat Detective Squad.

Alas, these are all there are in the series, and there can be no more. Andrea was taken from among us. We will miss her great talent and her gentle spirit as exhibited in these elegant tales of naiveté and wonder.

These stories are posted with permission. All stories  © 1998 - 1999 Daphne, all rights reserved. Please contact [email protected] if you would like to know more about Andrea, or the Petticoat Detective Squad. These stories are presented just as they first appeared on "Daphne's Secret Garden." I have not changed anything except some minor HTML coding in order to get each story onto a single page.

These stories are written to depict a young boy's first innocent encounters with cross-dressing and his subsequent feelings. If the reader is seeking descriptions of explicit or adult sex then they will be disappointed because this sort of thing is not included here.

Return with me to the age of innocence and as a child, thrill in the mystery and adventure, as Andrea's stories come to life on these pages.

The Mystery of the Girl in the Garden

This tale concerns a young boy spending a holiday with his older girl cousin and favorite aunt. The children become obsessed with the mystery of the figure of a lonely girl who regularly appears in the garden of a nearby manor house. When our hero's cousin and a small group of school friends are invited to spend a couple of days staying at the manor to work on a school project, she is presented with the perfect opportunity to solve the mystery. To make her plan work, however, she must enlist her cousin's help and get him included in the party. The only problem is that the party must consist of girls only...

It was amazing how one simple question could bring back so many memories. Some of those memories were heartwarming and others were frightening, but they all came rushing back when Ricki innocently asked that one simple question.

"So, Letti, how did you and Meg meet?"

Tomatsu Ichikawa stopped looking at the glass in front of him and studied Hiromi Sato instead. He was fifty years old give or take a few years, and had a pockmarked face. A lit cigarette dangled from the man’s lips.

“So am I, Sato-san. If my bosses knew you were here....”

Synopsis– Agent Chrysanthemum’s body is located and Gabrielle Tanaka makes contact with Hiromi Sato.

I am trying to answer a Writer's Challenge as sugested by Melanie E. Hopefully this will pique your imagination.
BrandieS.

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

“What the hell...?”

He knew that he hadn’t seen that piece of paper before, and it hadn’t been in his locker when he closed it up the previous afternoon. Someone had shoved it between the venting slats after he left the previous day or before he arrived that morning.

Our two visitors started shifting anxiously in their seats. I couldn't imagine what was on their minds.

"Uh, one reason we came over—"

"...if you don't mind..."

The old story of the scorpion and the frog came to mind. Maisie would be the scorpion... striking out at people is part of her nature. Maybe someday she could heal and change. Maybe. In a way, it didn't matter, because I knew that from now on, at least a part of me would always have an eye on her, ever vigilant. I'd been stung already, and I wasn't going to get stung again.

I sat down on a tree stump, away from the action. My cell phone battery was dead, and I still hadn't called my parents. And I was cold. Really cold. So cold that I wasn't trembling anymore. My energy was utterly depleted.

A police detective approached me, a woman, and she asked, "Is anybody helping you? Are you okay?"

Her brow wrinkled. She looked hurt and offended, and she started to fade away.

Alarmed, I said, "No, no! Misty, don't go anywhere!"

Grabbing one of the boards with both hands, I climbed and got both my feet up on the wall. Straddling the board, and hanging like a spider, I pulled with all my might. Nothing happened. I tried a series of tugs, but still nothing. There was no "give" and no hope that I could get a board loose.

I got back down and after a few deep breaths I gave the lowest board the mightiest kick I had...

"Hoo, boy," I said. "You got the wrong girl!"

"I'm SO sure," he said sarcastically.