For Madison Sander, the path home is not a straight one, nor is it always a happy one, but there's always room for friendship, family, love and hope.
Note: The CW is related to the first scene only.

The Long Route Home
By Marissa Lynn

Prologue

"You ready, Emily?"

"Yeah. I've been slowly having Cecily take a few things while he's been out. Everything else is in the trunk."

"Great. Get in. She should be waiting for us."

Dave doesn’t have friends, he has acquaintances. He sees the same people in the same pub every day, always betting on the horses. And for all the friends he doesn’t have he does have secrets, he’s unemployed, he likes men, and... well... he’s been on female hormones for over two years.

With Cheltenham, the biggest jumps racing festival of the year coming up, a string of bad luck means Dave might miss out on the week of gambling. That is until Chelsea—the only female gambler in the bar—makes an offer; a simple, honest offer, and one from her heart. No, she doesn’t want Dave in a dress, she doesn’t know his secret. It’s something far more direct than that.

A once off, self contained short story.

Sam had played rugby ever since starting secondary school. They enjoyed it so much they decided to keep it up even after graduating and moving on to college. They figured it was a great way to keep in shape and also to support their local Sports Club which had come close to shutting down for a lack of finance. Thankfully grant aid was found from a charity that demanded that everything at the Club was inclusive. Nobody should be denied access to sport on the grounds of ethnicity, religion, sex, or social standing, they said.

This is a story about a trans snooker player.

As I bent over, lining my cue with the white ball, my mind was in turmoil. What should I do? The cue felt like an extension of my arm. It was a Peradon. I remember back to the hell my mother kicked up when my father brought it home. He showed me and we stared in awe at it. It was as if he had shown me Excaliber itself.

I'd also like to thank Melanie in helping me get this posted!

As was usual, she was lonely, especially on this day, as it was Christmas Eve. She got up and went to the kitchen, poured herself a cup of coffee, and instead of creamer, she poured a bit of eggnog in with the brew. She considered something stronger, but even though only she would know, she wasn’t yet of the legal drinking age, and it wasn’t like she had any alcohol on hand.

She put the nog back in her fridge, then returned to her recliner.

She lived in an apartment that wasn’t lavish by any means. She needed to save as much money as she could, so whatever was left each month after basic necessities was put into a savings account. Once it was large enough, it would fund her needed surgery.

As she sipped the coffee, she thought about the events that had brought her to the present. Her mother had played around a lot in high school and she kept it up as she went to college. She had been the stereotypical proud cheerleader, who felt no one but the football team was worth her time.

Usually.

Welcome to Smart Tech, the leader in biomedical enhancements.

Have you ever felt inadequate in bed?
Maybe you would like to experiment a little with your partner.

We at Smart Tech have the answer. You can have it all With our new specially-designed Enhancement Suits.

Author's note: Here it is, my first story here, originally started as a New Year's Contest entry, but as the story played out, I felt I'd be truncating it too much to get it to 5,000 words. Thanks for the encouragement and inspiration, getting me to move from reader to writer!

'Til You Make It
By Marissa Lynn

September 17
"Dammit! I can feel it right there, but, crap. Something's not right. I'm not right."

Mini synopsis: This story involves the loss of a parent due to Alzheimer's. We often wage the battles of 'I should have said...' or 'Did they come to understand...' as we watch that person slipping away. This story tries to focus on the ideas of love and hope, which added to loss can be a very emotional balancing act to read.

-----------------------------------------------

Rene Auclair stared at the card.

The last two years were difficult. The pandemic triggered a new business model for the company. Working from home, there is little work related human interaction. Some enjoy these changes. For me, having replaced Darren Rogers as Networking Director in the middle of the pandemic has been hard. I’ve never met in person with some of my subordinates.

This is a story I had given up on. It just seemed trite. Then I realized I was telling it from the wrong viewpoint. Mathew's viewpoint may may offend or trigger some people, but here it is.

It was the worst holiday I can remember. No, it was the worst day I can remember, period.

I was in the kitchen helping Mary cut up a pork loin for our traditional New Years day family dinner of shrimp cocktails followed by chop suey when Jeremy came down the stairs. I couldn’t take it all in at once. It was all just total perversion.

Constance listens to the music as she dances across the room. She loved old disco music and music from the seventies. Sure, she had her favorites of today’s modern-day music, but she also liked the old-style music. She dances in time to the music as it plays.

When the current selection of music stops playing, she stops and wipes her face. She takes a sip from her water bottle and replays the recording of her dancing. She watches herself as she dances to the music. A smile appears as she edits it and posts it to her YouTube channel.

Orphan Petal

September 2023 - Part 4

Just as Shirley is happy with who he is, things change

You’ve read this story at least a dozen times on BigCloset or some other site. Maybe those stories were all farfetched, had some mystical or magical component, or maybe even an alien encounter of some type drove the story. This story won’t involve any of those things, though theoretically my story might actually benefit from the introduction of one or more of those ideas, but I’m hoping this is an interesting enough read without those distractions.

So, let’s get the basics covered, and you’ll see what I was dealing with as I tell my story.

”My New Year Resolution is to the win the school beauty pageant this year!”

That came at the end of several days of not so subtle pressure on me. Not to participate in the pageant but to “man up” and be more assertive and competitive. My family is very competitive. No matter what, they always competed. Sports, academics, work … you name it. My big brother was the school quarterback, my big sister was the girls’ athletics team leader. Since they were twins and seniors they also competed to be the valedictorian. That fight was vicious.

Orphan Petal

September 2023 - Part 3

Shirley decides that he is now a girl. This means also that everyone knows he is a girl!

A Needed Change - Part Six

Ten minutes after sitting at my desk, an email alert came in, but I was looking at other stuff and day dreaming about the invite from Luke for a date. Ok, it was just an invite for a coffee or a drink, but in my mind it was a romantic date. Anyway, I heard Steph squeal with delight at something, and looked at her. She was extremely excited about something and told me to check my emails.

Lucy Goes Visiting

So I put my bra, enhancers, jewelry and Mom's sweater in my backpack, along with the flats Caitlyn gave me. I decided to walk to her house, partly to give me practice walking like a girl does. The Internet is full of good advice. The other part was hoping that if Caitlyn came back to our house we could walk holding hands.

Caitlyn, meet Lucy

"Hi Caitlyn. You wanted to meet Lucy."

Her eyes got wide, then she smiled.

"Hello Lucy. You're not what I expected."

"Should I go up and change back?"

"No! I just… Damn, you look cute!"

What is the best Christmas gift?

You know it.

Decision Time

Sunday morning. I suppose some folks would be getting dressed for church, but that's not what happened in our house. Mom hasn't got much use for religion. When I noticed that people like my buddy Jasper went to church on Sunday and we didn't I asked Mom why. I was pretty young then, so she just said something like she didn't believe in god.

Confusion

Caitlyn and her Mom went home, Caitlyn grinning from ear-to-ear because she left her bra and panties in my room and knew that I couldn't tell anybody about it. I have to admit I was thoroughly distracted as we watched the rest of the movie.

"You seem restless," Mom observed when the credits started to roll.

"Yeah. Caitlyn and I were talking and I'm confused."

“I’m trying to be serious. I have the perfect resolution for you.”