Patchwork People Chapter II The Good Man Hard to Find
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XIX. First draft people. An occasional bat flickered across the stars overhead. The gardenias and hibiscus had long drawn in their petal- awnings. Across the lawn, the hunched bushes looked like a queue of black-robed monks marching back to their monastery. And in the middle distance, fireflies marked a secondary night-sky of transitory constellations in what might have been an even more unpredictable universe than the one we find ourselves inhabiting, one that blinks in an out of...
IV. The big fat middle of nothing. Outside the bus window the night was something solid and impenetrable, not a star to be seen, only an occasional porch light burning on some farmhouse miles in the distance. For hours now they'd been passing through endless blind tracts of dark country, where shockingly few people lived, but Phoebe could still feel the cows out there in the night, watching, chewing, uncomprehending. Cows, cows, and more cows, that was her impression of the great...
XVII. Hell's Angel Walt was in the workroom of his shop when she called. He was putting new brake cables on a Rivendell Sam Hillborne. He was customizing the bike for one of his more well-heeled patrons, a dentist who fancied himself a cycling aficionado. He was the kind of guy who outfitted himself like he was racing in the Tour de France just to tool his way through the park. He always bought the very latest, most cutting-edge gear. Everything high-tech and top of the line. But he spent...
XXX. Book of changes. One morning Marcia came into the Blue Cat and found Grace packing up the snow-globe collection. She carefully wrapped each plastic globe in newspaper before nesting it inside a box beside the others. "What happened? Did Mrs. Pritchard have second-thoughts about selling?" Marcia's eyes widened in disbelief. "Don't tell me you got a taker for the entire collection?" "Neither, I'm afraid," Grace said. Marcia began setting out that morning's baked selections....
IX. The momster. Her whole life Phoebe's biggest fear was that her Mom would die suddenly and without warning. Even as a little girl, she was kept awake with nightmares that seemed to foretell his horrible event in detail. She remembered anxiously watching her mom sleep, afraid that she might stop breathing, nudging her awake just in case. How cranky she would be! "What!" she'd bark, snorting and spluttering. "What's the matter with you? What time is it? Why aren't you in bed?" It...
V. The diner on memory lane. The last time Marcia had spoken to anyone in her family it was to her brother Matt. That would be winter five years ago. They met in a 24-hour diner by the side of a highway in Metuchen, New Jersey. Pointedly, it was a restaurant Matt had never visited and no doubt never intended to visit again. Through a series of emails and two brief phone calls, she had explained the general situation and Matt's reaction had grudgingly advanced from "this has got to be...
XVIII. Beauty and the beast. So I finally got to meet the boyfriend. Surreal! He was one of those big, burly, biker-types. His arms (and who knows what else) covered in tats, the seriouso kind. I'll bet anything some of them are prison tattoos. Long gray hair tied back in a grizzled ponytail. Grizzled beard, too. He was exactly the kind of guy that every dad shudders to imagine his daughter will bring home one day. And here my dad was bringing him home to me! See what I mean by...
XXI. Full Xanax moments. Her heart skipped a beat before her brain was fully conscious of the reason. There'd been a total communications blackout between them of several years running but Marcia recognized Claire's old email address immediately. She remembered, too, clicking open the message, the standard post-divorce tone of Claire's emails: terse, authoritative, and demanding. Then, as now, Claire communicated with Marcia as she would with a subordinate whose compliance was taken...
VI. The perfect pie crust. The windows were dark, covered with condensation. Inside, at the kitchen table, Marcia pressed the heel of her hand against the back of the santoku knife and cleaved the apple in half. Fuji, this time. There were five other apples prepared on the cutting board, skinned an unearthly greenish-white, already tarnishing. She was making an apple pie for the Blue Cat. "I still don't understand," Grace had said. "What you've got against birthdays. What's so...
XIII. Lame burger. The bus that was supposed to bring Phoebe to Hope Crossing came and went with no Phoebe on it. Only a handful of passengers disembarked from the coach. A tall, elderly, stoop-shouldered man with a sharp-featured face descended first. He took a quick glace around, readjusted his grip on a battered suitcase, and trudged up the street. He was followed by a stout, middle-aged black woman in a church-lady pantsuit. Behind her were two children, chattering, bickering,...
X. The amoeba life. In the stories of people she admired, there was always a defining moment, a dramatic event that summed up their lives to a critical point and provided the pivot for a new life to come. Marcia would like to have had a similar "defining moment" in her life, but it struck her that her life not only lacked a defining moment, but that it really didn't have any definition at all. It was a more amorphous thing, her life; if it advanced, and that was often in doubt, it...
XIV. Gimme shelter. "You live in a garage?" They were standing on the little concrete square outside the front door, staring up together at a tidy two story structure that, modifications notwithstanding, still, in fact, looked very much like a garage. "Well, it's not exactly a garage. Actually, It's a converted carriage house. I'm just renting. The woman I work for owns it. She lives in the main house across the garden." "A carriage house? What's that?" "It's where they used...
XVI. Buried Secrets. First thing I do on that first day is I take a detour through town to check out this totally demented store where Marcia mentioned she has a job. What kind of a job, I can't quite imagine. From what I can tell, it sounds like something super low-ambition, some not-trying-too-hard menial position that can't possibly pay very much. Given my main reason for showing up here in Hope Crossing, that doesn't bode well for the future of yours truly. You can imagine my...
XXV. Who's your daddy? When they asked me at the hospital who my parents were, who my emergency contact was, I guess you can say that I kind of panicked. They were making it pretty clear they weren't going to let me out of here on my own, no way, so I had to come up with someone. Who could I finger for the honor? Mom was out of the question, at this point, and once Marcia found out that I'd lied and basically stolen her money, which I'm sure she must have realized by now, she wasn't...
VII. A bicycle built for two. Everyman's Cycles looked like a bicycle field hospital. Wherever you looked bicycles, or parts of bicycles, stood, leaned, or lay in various states of distress, awaiting Walt's attention. He'd get to each of them, eventually, in his methodical, patient way. Walt took in stray bicycles the way crazy old ladies collected cats. Most of them were rescues. Bicycles he found abandoned in fields, weeds growing through their spokes. Or locked for months to streets...
XI. A ghost and a riddle. Night again. Bus travel made her sleepy, but only during the day it seemed. She traveled through the night hours wide awake. Phoebe could see her reflection like a ghost super-imposed over all that limitless darkness. She felt like a ghost, too, like something not quite real, a figment of someone's imagination. But who's? She was a ghost floating across the countryside to haunt a person who'd run as far away from her as possible. What brought her back...
XX. Glass houses. To the sadly uninitiated, a bicycle is simply a convenient means of transportation, low-tech, eco-friendly, inexpensive, ultra-democratic. For the fitness conscious, it's a superior form of practical exercise: you could get your aerobic workout and run errands at the same time. For others, the bicycle endures as the conveyance of childhood memories--tricycle, Big Wheels, training wheels, scraped knees and paper routes. However to someone like Walt, a bicycle was all...
XXII. The x factor. It was a strange council they made that evening sitting on Grace's porch. Walt and Marcia, Claire, and, of course, Grace herself, puttering about busily, trying to make everyone comfortable. It brought to mind those old photographs of Yalta, where Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill posed with forced congeniality for the camera, the most unlikely and unnatural of allies, each of them knowing full well that their cooperation was only temporary. That the moment the...
XXIII. Strange geography. They really should teach more geography at school, that's what I'm thinking. I mean, I've got to get to New Mexico, but I'm not even sure where it is. In the Southwest, somewheres, which is good enough to say, if you're living two thousand miles away in New Jersey and have no intention of ever actually going there. I don't even know if it comes before or after Arizona. I'm in Oklahoma now, a really godawful place from what I can see of it, which isn't...
XXVI. The great escape. One could imagine a thousand things going wrong, but there was no hitch at the hospital. Their quickly improvised charade worked like a charm. Walt's performance as Phoebe's concerned but understandably angry father was spot-on. Marcia, in her supporting role as distraught mom, hadn't had to act at all. There were the usual papers and forms to sign, a brief interview with a representative from the Chupadero police department and another with a representative...
XXVIII. Departures. It was one of those mornings that seem unable to decide what it wants to be. Halfway to the airport, a fine rain blew up against the windshield of the pick-up. A few miles later, the sun unexpectedly broke out from a temporary gap in the impregnable line of gray clouds massed like battleships laying siege on the horizon It had finally been agreed that Phoebe would return to New Jersey and sign in to an outpatient rehab clinic. At the same time, she would take...
XXIX. When cows fly. There are no cows outside the window at thirty thousand feet, no oil drills, no billboards, no fast food chain restaurants either. Nothing but space, space, and more space. You always expect to see things clearer on the way back from a journey. I'm not sure if anything is really different than it was before, but I do see it differently, and maybe that makes all the difference. We'll just have to wait and see. I'm not so mad anymore, I guess. That's one thing...
Author’s Notes: ‘Patchwork Knight’ is set in the Sweet Dreams universe, but is otherwise a standalone story. *** ‘Patchwork Knight’ *** Does everyone remember their first crush with such clarity? Forgetting his is impossible, and if he were honest with himself, he would acknowledge that she is the standard by which every other woman that he has admired or dated is judged, and has found them lacking. He knew that he was not the only one who fell in love with her in those glory days of high...
VIII. Snowballs in paradise. Grace was unpacking a snow-globe collection from all fifty states that Mavis Pritchard had brought into the shop the day before. "Look at this," she said, holding one up with a hula girl and a palm tree inside. "There's even one from Hawaii. "Hmph. Snow in Hawaii. Who would imagine something like that?" "Someone who'd never been to Hawaii?" Marcia suggested. Grace turned the globe over. "Made in China. Well that explains it, I guess." She gave it...
XII. Mirror, Mirror. The woman framed in the glass wore a flower-print silk skirt, a white blouse, and a light black sweater cinched tight above the waist. It was the sixth outfit she'd considered that morning, not counting the dozen or so she'd tried on mentally, rejecting them one after the other with a shudder of second-guess horror before they even made it out of the closet. "What do you think about this? Too frumpy, right?" Walt was sprawled on top of the bed, head propped on...
XV. Breakfast club. Sunlight poured through the checkered curtains of the kitchen window. The sliced bananas and butter were simmering on the stovetop. Marcia added to them spices she'd already toasted--cinnamon, nutmeg, clove. Together they filled the carriage house like incense. This was the Church of Home and she was performing the celebration of Good Morning. She measured out a half-cup of white flour and poured it into the mixing bowl. In another bowl she whisked three eggs, a...
XXIV. Cactus country. The day was cool and clear. An auspicious day for new beginnings. The cloudless sky stretched tight, a blue tarpaulin snapped to the horizon. It was almost enough to give Marcia a feeling of hope. Between all the preparations, hastily made as they'd been, throwing together a pair of travel bags, gassing up the truck, collecting maps and whatnot, they were on the road a little later than they'd planned. Traveling south on I-640, traffic was still light but picked...
XXVII. Just south of normal. For the next month, they very much resembled a real family. In the meantime, peace talks with Claire continued, though they were touch-and- go. Grace had gently offered to help mediate and Marcia gratefully accepted her offer. Grace was making progress, working her indelible magic, but it was magic in slow motion. In Claire, she'd met her match, a woman as resistant to miracles as they come. Marcia's ex was angry and would likely remain so, on some level,...
XXXI. The wisdom of ghosts. Edgar Birdwell was an awful poet. There was just no two ways around it. It wasn't only that his language was stilted and clunky, antiquated even in his own day, or that his themes were self-censored, disguised in tortured euphemisms to the point of utter obscurity. He was simply a bad writer. There was a good reason he was self-published. Who else would? Birdwell had an ear with more tin in it than a can. Marcia's fantasy, ex- graduate student of...
Tim, the Teenage Part Thirty-Two By: Rass Senip +++ Chapter VIII: 9th Grade, Summer 1986 - After Summer Camp Part 3 - Who's The Master In This House? (mc, mf) "Tim, you never did say why you were coming with us," Penny said as she got comfortable against Michael's chest. We were riding in the limo with the permanent bed. I had planned to use it for sleep if not sex. Penny was a little mad at me for insisting I ride along with her. She thought I wanted some gratitude from her in...
This is in continuation with the part 31 which you have read recently. It was Saturday morning and we both, me and my husband have decided that we will not go out and will play our favorite fucking game within the walls of our apartment till next day as many as times is possible. We were completely naked and were playing and playing. Things re-started in the morning after we had our breakfast in naked position while playing with each other’s hanging parts. We went to bedroom immediately after...
Aank 31 wa dusra part jo aapnae pahalae pada tha. Shanivaar ki subeh thi, hum donno, main aur mera pati nae yae nischay kiya kae hum gharmain hi apni judai ki game chalu rakhangae jitna chahae utna ek dusrae ko mazaa dengae dusri din ki subeh tak. Shanivaar ki subeh hum dono nangae ghar main ghum rahe thae, hum nae nashta bhi nangae hokar hi kiya, nashtae kae waqt hum ek dusrae kae jhul rahe aango kae sath khel rahe thae jaisae hi nashta khtam hua mera pati nae mujhae apni baho main uthaya aur...
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You tell yourself that you've given up, that you've lost all hope; you tell yourself often, until you half-believe it yourself; not because it's true, but because hopelessness is the only thing that makes the wait bearable--the wait for your dream to come true. I. All her parallel lives. Questioned about her past, Marcia Hammond always lied with great creativity and no conscience. Her present life felt like something she'd stolen and had the perfect right to steal. Still, like any...
III. Today is your birthday. "So what are you doing tonight anyway?" Grace asked as they closed the Blue Cat for the day. "Please tell me you have something planned. That you aren't just going home and watching reruns of House." "You know I only watch reruns on the Food Channel." "Then tell me you're doing something more special than that." "I really don't think I could bear anything more special than that." "Let me at least take you out to dinner. I promise I won't tell the...
"Morgen" brachte Lena hervor als sie schlaftrunken durch die große Wohnküche des Ferienhauses in Richtung des "kleinen Badezimmers" torkelte. "Guten Morgen" lächelte Frank, blickte vom Frühstückmachen auf und sah seiner achzehnjährigen Stieftochter nach. Durch den dünnen Stoff ihres Nachthemdchens zeichneten sich ziemlich deutlich Details ihrer Figur ab, die ihn an Sabrina erinnerten. Sabrina war Lenas Mutter, die er vorletzte Woche gehreiratet hatte. Frank hatte lange gedacht, nie wieder eine...
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“Not a bit. I’m interested in finding out what’s going on too.” The weather forecaster said that it was a typical Fort Worth early September evening and sunset would be about 748. It was followed by the local news. The crackle of the radio continued, “This is our top local 630 news story. “Jacksboro prison officials report that some prisoners escaped from the state jail at Jacksboro today. Authorities believe they are on foot and are reminding motorists to not pick up any hitchhikers...
Monday Janet Vargas settled into her office for the day. She had been Principal of Clinton High School for many years but had always hated this task — the annual budget and next year's personnel issues. Books, equipment, paper, pens, replacement desks, replacement chairs, building maintenance, the cafeteria, the list went on and on and on. And personnel! Old teachers retired or transferred, new teachers had to be found and trained, even teachers that stayed on from year-to-year needed skills...
Book One: Naughty Fantasies Created Chapter Fourteen: Naughty Welcome Home By mypenname3000 Copyright 2018 Note: Thanks to WRC264 for beta reading this. Linda Davies I had so many questions. It was so strange to realize that I had lived another life. That Steve knew it and I didn't. I glanced at him as we left behind the naked woman. We had sex in public, and no one cared because he edited reality. The power my husband had. A strange, dizzy sway rushed through me. My husband had all...
As I walked into the living room it was then that I got quite a surprise or more like a shock. Standing in the middle of the living room were two absolutely perfect visions of beauty stark naked and smiling. It was Janet and Susie. They, in unison, said "Greg we missed you so much we just had to come over here to greet you." I heard the front door close and lock. Turning around what did I find but Grace and Kimberly in the process of stripping down also. Janet and Susie each grabbed a hand...
Introduction: Soldier returns home to his young wife *This story was inspired by watching the Veteran Day tribute to the soldiers on ESPN. It showed soldiers coming home to their families after being gone for long periods of time. So I decided to do a tribute myself. The characters in this story are based on real people. Thank you for reading, hope you enjoy, jdm320 Corporal Jeff McAdams threw his bag over his shoulder as he walked out of the Afghan village of Zaranj, towards the Huey waiting...
We got a good deal on our neighbor's motorhome, and we were anxiously making plans for getting Peggy fucked by some young guys.We bought it as a sexond vehicle, so even though it wasn't cost effective my wife drove it back and forth to work. While she was working one day the owner introduced her to a very young man and told her to show him the way around. They were picking an order to be picked up and she was explaining how to find all the items and where they were. She noticed his eyes were...
I walked up three steps outside the gloomy looking building into a hallway that was so, so typical of government owned properties, beige, tatty, threadbare cheap carpet, peeling paint and a noticeboard saying in directive terms what is not allowed. A glass screen opened beside me and a dowdy woman with blonde hair (greying roots) and ridiculous glasses with blue-tinted lenses peered myopically at me.“You, Tatton?”“No.”“Well, who are you then?”“I am Lady Emily Cawston-Tatton.”“Oh, pardon me, my...
LesbianThis story is sure to contain femdom, specifically tease and denial and non-consent/sexual slavery, so I hope that's to your liking. Waking up in the middle of a summer meadow wasn’t so bad. At least the sun was warm and the ground was dry when I peeled my face up off it. I stood up and had a look around. Surrounding the grassy field were trees, and beyond that more trees. There was a rustling behind me, and I turned to see two beautiful girls in tank tops and jean shorts, as befitting the...
It’s late at night when he got back home. All the lights were closed, the interior of the house dark. He sighed in frustration and leaned against his car. Apparently, she didn’t wait for him to get home before going to sleep. Not that he blamed her with all the late nights he had been working. Come to think of it, he had been barely able to kiss her goodbye this morning. He gathered his bag and other documents and fumbled for his keys. He opened the door and reached out for the switch and...
Introduction: From a friend. I have been extremely busy here as of late so I havent been able to write much. I am currently working on the next installment of The Goth and three other series that I think you will enjoy. However I have been given some stories from a friend of mine that wants to know what you think. Here is the first one. Welcome Home. She waits, standing on the balcony looking out at the view of the mountains in which she lives, the negligee she wore, thin almost sheer white...
It was a cool, overcast evening. I cracked the window to let the crisp air blow in over my face. It gave my arms a chill but felt good blowing across my wet, silky skin. I’d just stepped out of a hot shower, the water from my hair dripping down my back and my breasts. I walked over to the bed that sat against the large brick wall. I grasped a bottle of vanilla scented lotion and sat on the edge of the bed, hot tea waiting for me on the nightstand. He always knew exactly when I needed tea. It...
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IncestIt’s late at night when he got back home. All the lights were closed, the interior of the house dark. He sighed in frustration and leaned against his car. Apparently, she didn’t wait for him to get home before going to sleep. Not that he blamed her with all the late nights he had been working. Come to think of it, he had been barely able to kiss her goodbye this morning. He gathered his bag and other documents and fumbled for his keys. He opened the door and reached out for the switch and...
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It was meant to be a welcome to the neighborhood party, but was more of a welcome home party. You’d invited many of our soon to be new neighbors, but for us we’d been down to visit many times and over the years had fallen in love with the area. After a lot of hard work and a few years of saving I’d finally had enough to make the trip a permanent move. So for us it was more of a homecoming after being gone to long, then a fresh start away from the big city lights. It had started with a simple...
It was meant to be a welcome to the neighborhood party, but was more of a welcome home party. You'd invited many of our soon to be new neighbors, but for us we'd been down to visit many times and over the years had fallen in love with the area. After a lot of hard work and a few years of saving I'd finally had enough to make the trip a permanent move. So for us it was more of a homecoming after being gone to long, then a fresh start away from the big city lights. It had started with a simple...
Quickie SexWelcome Home by: honeywldcat“Mmm..."" His hands glided from the edges of her breasts down to her hips, his mouth on her stomach. She felt his tongue lick and then the soft love bites on her hips. Impatient, she shifted her legs back and forth trying to ease the ache between her thighs. "Please..." Trembling at his husky laugh, she moaned as his fingers dipped inside her damp panties. She could feel his thumb lightly brush her clit. Her hands clutched the headboard of the bed. "Lorena Jo,...
Straight SexThe homeless and poor peoples winter feastBy RotnebSynopsis: Every year there was organized a charity festival in the village hall for the city's homeless and poor people, a feast where all the poor once a year get filled stomachs and amused. This year will be something special when Lisa and eight other young women voluntarily donate their naked meat to the feast banquet and to entertainment for the homeless and poor. The story is only fantasy.The meats The first Sunday in February came the...
It was probably about one in the morning and I was on my way out to this old picnic area by the lake where I live. I was a sissy on the prowl, looking for some cock! I was wearing my tight little khaki shorts and a sexy halter top with a thin little jacket. I also had on some cute little sandals that showed off my pretty red toenails. As I pulled up to the spot I was looking for I started to get excited. There was already a big pick up truck parked by the picnic tables just idling with his...
"Dear mother and father," Ayeka wrote. Now siting in her side of the divided room she shared with Sasami. "I hope this writing finds you in the best of heath. I must confess I have been remiss in my correspondence with you, but with father's quite verbal abatements as to my 'living in shameful denial of my family duties' Nothing I could offer would have done more than simply aggravate the situation. To that end, I hope this pronouncement will gladden father's heart, as I wish to...
Wife welcomes home hubby at the airport.I was flying back home on a business trip and was glad when I heard the pilot say over the PA system for the "Flight Crew, Please secure the cabin for landing". Minutes later, I hear the flaps extend and the landing gear extend down. The plane banked sharply and then straightened out and began the final approach to the airport.Once the plane was on the ground, I turned my cell phone on and sent my wife a text message saying that I was on the ground and to...