A heartwarming tale with a brief, sad beginning, and a full happy ending. Wendel buys his mother a pair of high-heel shoes. A hint of magical realism encourages them to dance.
Tom is invited over to his friend Doug's house to swim but when he gets there, Doug has gone out of town. Doug's mother, Kathy, invites Tom to stay and she makes it more than worth his time.
Trekking through a somewhat different jungle in search of somewhat different game. I had an idea and had to get it down, so here is the 'stroke story' version. Perhaps someday I'll come up with the 'finely crafted short story' version. You have been warned.
In a discussion of story ratings, Mr. Freeze wrote:
"That said, I do think there is a certain bias out there towards certain types of stories. Anything involving teenagers or incest or both tends to do really well. Throw in some science fiction and you are pretty well guaranteed a decent score. Romance does well to a point, but rarely reaches the heights of a good sci fi/incest/teen story."
That quote inspired the following short parody. Note codes.
Breaking rules is bad, being caught is worse and the punishment can be hell. Hell can even get worse or if you are very lucky, turn into something wonderful, although sometimes it comes from an unexpected source. Kelli was a cheerleader and thought she could break the rules. She was given only one chance, and it was going to be hell. She was lucky, there was someone involved who put her through hell and when it looked like hell could get a lot worse for her turned it into heaven.