Sometimes you just fall into good luck, and I sure did when Eleanor moved next door. I had lived in a lovely home with a pool and patio for over ten years when the house next door went up for sale last winter. The buyer was a mid-30s professional woman who had recently divorced. She was attractive and slim, and we waved now and then when we were outside an...
Los Angeles Union Station was bathed in the soft orange light of dusk as I entered the huge concourse, headed for baggage check-in. I had my tickets for Amtrak's Train Number Four, the Southwest Chief, heading for Chicago, and was looking forward to spending almost two days on the train, seeing America from ground level. I had booked a Deluxe Bedroom, comple...
She told me to come by after work. I got off a little earlier than usual and headed over and I figured I might even beat her home. I pulled up to her place and lightly knocked on her door. I could hear something inside, a faint noise, like a tv or something. She had always told me if she doesn't answer and the door is open to come on it; as she may be in the...
Night shifts are usually pretty quiet when I'm working by myself. Which is pretty often actually, I rarely get to work with another gaming inspector, so my nights are usually always quiet. That's not uncommon in a small tribal casino in eastern Kansas though. My name is Carmen Wakane, a 5'9" Native American girl in my mid-twenties, with long dark hair halfw...
Charlie's an "Angel" "Charlotte! Are you ready for school yet? I have to go to the market to pick up dinner before I go to work!" I can hear my mamaw yelling up at me from the bottom of the stairs. I hadn't even rolled out of bed yet. I shoot a quick text to my friend Jayne asking if she can take me to school. I do not want to go to school looking like I wa...
Amanda sat alone in the real estate office's reception area. Most of the Realtors were off at lunch. Her being the newest in the office and basically still in training was 'volunteered' day in and day out to sit her lunch at the phones. She had eagerly anticipated this profession. Her only thought was finding the 'perfect' home for a family to be happy in t...
Alex was sitting in his office. He was quite satisfied with himself; he'd landed a teaching assistant job at least a year before graduation. His office was tiny, more a broom cupboard; there was only room for a small desk facing the door, two chairs for visitors and one for himself and a row of shelves. But it had a window and it was his. It was located on t...
Everybody was happy with the outcome of the divorce settlement except for of course Mr. Blair. Within the next six months Mr. Blair sold both of his houses, liquidated all of his companies and moved without leaving any forwarding address. He established a trust fund for each of his grandchildren in the amount of one million to be managed by his daughter unti...
As with all stories of this nature.... It's a dark and stormy night. Victoria is finishing up her first solo beat as a rookie cop. She gets a call from dispatch that there's a disturbance at the old abandoned mansion at the edge of town. She's pretty sure it's a hoax, and the night's been long. She thinks about ignoring the call and just calling it a night,...
Last Friday was our 30th anniversary. My husband, Jim came home on Thursday and asked if I wanted him to cook our anniversary meal the next day. That's just the kind of guy he is, offering to do something nice for me. With Covid keeping us from our favorite steak house, he was willing to give me the night off. "No, thanks. I am planning your favorite meal,...