Growing up, I spent a lot of time at my best friend's house. We would spend our days playing video games in his room in the basement until all hours of the day and night. His mom didn't mind as long as we were staying out of trouble. The lack of activity, playing video games, and eating junk food was a recipe for disaster. Brian's family was all heavy-set, but by the time we reached our senior year of high school, he was...

My wife was overseas on business for a couple of weeks. I tried to keep out of trouble by puttering around the house, but after a few days, I was getting stir-crazy. I decided to go out and visit a couple of my old haunts that I hadn't been to since getting married. One of the bars used to have a ladies' night with dance competitions, so I went there to check it out. I was a little surprised to see that it had turned into...

Normally, I would have driven to school, but it was my last football season, and I chose to ride my bike instead for the extra workout. I rode my bike home from high school after football practice Friday night, covered in dirt and sweat. I was immediately suspicious when Mom tried to hug me at the door when I walked in. We hadn't hugged in years—not since I hit puberty. I definitely didn't hug her after I started having w...

A few years ago, my wife found a cyst growing in the folds of her vagina lips that she was too afraid to go to the doctor for. It kept growing larger because she was too embarrassed to go and have it checked out. When I finally forced her to go to the doctor, it had grown enough that it needed to be surgically removed. It has been two years since the surgery, and she still claims that it hurts. So much so that we rarely h...

CHAPTER NINE. Lady Jane returns. I have been discussing the psychology of sex with a young French colleague, Jean-Martin Charcot, who is trying to develop the use of hypnosis as a medical treatment. It is way beyond my capabilities, and he is developing an association with Sigmund Freud to make progress in psychological theory. He knows of my interests in the more physical and genetic aspects, and refers me to the writing...

I landed in Russia for my final mission trip before graduating from Divinity School. I was supposed to stay at a parsonage, but the room that I was to stay in was being used by someone else, so they arranged for me to stay with an older couple who spoke English. Oleg and Polina, along with their granddaughter, Anna. Oleg worked long days at a factory, and Polina was a nurse. She, too, worked long hours at the hospital. I...

The neighborhood was dark and quiet, well past when everyone headed off to bed. I sat in the darkness, enjoying a cigar and sipping bourbon in the silence of night. The sound of our resident owl hoots was interrupted by the rustling of the bushes from between the houses. It was likely a raccoon or possum walking through. It had happened before, and I don't know who was more scared, me or the raccoon. I jumped out of my ch...

Erin leaned back against the warm lounge chair and sighed. The morning sun warmed her to the bone, and the fresh ocean breeze cooled her face and tussled her hair. Her tiny white bikini contrasted against her tan, smooth skin. Her legs were parted over both sides of the lounge chair, and she curled her toes in the sand. “Would you like another Mai Tai, Erin?” Luke asked from his beach chair just a few feet from Erin. “I’m...

I am sitting in the Hotel bar, late in the evening, but still dressed in my smartest business suit. I have finally completed days of business meetings in London, and this is my first chance to relax, but it feels too late in the day to change into casual clothes now. I think I will change in the morning, before heading home to relax completely. In the corner of my eye, I notice two young women enter the bar. It only takes...