Click to close

A wedding reception turns into an exciting opportunity for 16-year-old Peggy White.

“Patience, love,” Dad said. “You’ll have to wait. But once the meal and speeches are over, I’m sure you can knock yourself out.”

Peggy and Becky looked at each other with playful smiles, then, as one, they both feigned punching themselves in the face. Becky’s crosseyed expression, as she did this, made Peggy laugh. Becky had always been able to make the funniest of faces.

“Show some decorum, the pair of you!” Mum said sharply. “Especially you, Rebecca. You’re a bridesmaid!”

“Uh-oh,” Peggy said, not quite able to wipe the smile off her face. “Teacher Mum is telling you off, Rebecca.”

Becky rolled her eyes. “So I heard, Margaret.”

Click to close

Sequel to "The Ideal Candidate"

Returning from her lunch break, Francesca Scarlock found herself in the lift with Terry French, one of her co-workers in the team to which she had been assigned. He reached for the button marked “12” at the same moment she did, hesitated, then gestured for her to proceed. She completed the movement, pressing the button, then returning her hand to her side as the doors closed.

Click to close

A job interview with a remarkable interviewee.

“Well, you’ve certainly done an impressive technical test,” Tobey was saying. “I don’t think we’ve ever had a candidate get it one hundred percent correct before. Most people get something wrong. You did it in record time, too.”

Click to close

While working in the British Virgin Islands, builder Matt Lancaster meets a new girlfriend in unusual circumstances.

As the girl turned her attention to her bag, the man fished in his jacket pocket and brought out a very small bottle of some kind. Unscrewing the top, he glanced quickly at her, and, sure that she was still distracted, tipped something from the bottle into the girl’s drink.

Click to close

Richard Lockslie is the CEO of a company which makes unusual technology known by the acronym MAID, short for Multi-skilled Artificial Intelligence Device.

He looked up at the audience. "So what's in the pipeline for the coming year? How are we going to continue our growth, on the heels of the success of the recent MAID-7 models? After all, they already do pretty much anything that a person can do. We've reduced the mass by another ten percent, and the power consumption by nearly eighteen percent, compared with the MAID-6. The overall dimensions are also smaller, thanks to improvements in their circuitry and mechanical components. A MAID-7 isn't much bigger or heavier than a person, which means it can operate in pretty much the same situations as a person can. With its humanoid appearance, near-human artificial intelligence, and the ability to react to spoken commands as easily as a human being would, our Multi-skilled Artificial Intelligence Devices - MAIDs - can be used in almost any situation that a person can be used. And a few that a human can't, of course."

Click to close

Bryce Tanner is an artist who believes everyone has inner beauty, and is searching for a way to tap into it...

Click to close

Alicia isn't impressed with her friends' attitudes towards life.

As soon as she was inside, she could hear Mark’s voice raised in noisy high spirits. For some reason, the word “bray” came to mind. Predictably, her sharp wit kicked in at this point, supplying her with the thought that he was like the illegitimate offspring of a donkey and a fog- horn. It was a hilarious phrase, and she found herself struggling to prevent a fit of giggles. However, the desire to laugh was immediately quenched very effectively by Mark himself.

Click to close

Bob Green didn't find what he was expecting, when he climbed through a cellar window looking for somewhere to sleep.

The girl started screaming even before I hit the floor. Scared me so much, I almost lost my balance and fell on my face. How was I to know she was there? But there she was, huddled in the corner, cringing against the bare-brick walls and quarry-tiled floor as if trying to force her way through them, arms around her head as if she expected me to belt her. As if that wasn’t shocking enough, she was completely naked! Naked, scared to death, and sitting in a rapidly-growing puddle.

Click to close

Frank's friend Jim has brought back a very unusual souvenir from his holiday.

I stared at the woman, between waiting for my head to stop hurting. She looked about twenty, and was a real stunner. Her hair was long, and was arranged in a pony-tail, which fell down her back almost to her bottom. Beautiful, big green eyes, surrounded by long, black lashes, gazed impassively at me from a golden-tanned, blemish-free face which sported a small nose and a wide, slightly-pouting mouth. She was about five feet nine tall, and her slender yet shapely form was barely concealed by her light clothing, which consisted of a green saree blouse with a front fastening and knee-length culottes made from a gauzy, translucent material. I could just make out her white panties, under the culottes. A pair of Arabic-style shoes completed the rather exotic appearance.

"Who's she?" I asked. "Where'd she come from?"

Click to close

Moving to London for a new job, Mark Prechard meets an attractive young woman, who isn't what she seems.

Three men emerged from an area of deep shadow cast by a security light on one of the nearby buildings. The men were rough-looking, and of varied ages. They quickly spread out around Mark and Nina, effectively barring their advance or retreat from the side-street. Their menace was unmistakable, and Mark realised, too late, how stupid it had been to walk into such a lonely side-street in London, so late in the evening. Apart from Mark, Nina, and these three men, the street was deserted; which, of course, was why these men were waiting here.

As the men hemmed the couple in, their expressions were of unconcealed lust, directed towards Nina. Mark's sense of dread became more specific, as he realised the nature of their interest.

Click to close

Barry and Kelly have been engaged for 2 years and life together is good; until Kelly spots Barry talking to another woman in the town square.

I ducked into a side street and watched her from this better-concealed vantage point. She must have been a year or two younger than my 26, with the same shoulder-length dark hair as me. From this distance her face looked quite pretty, but the most gut-wrenchingly envious thing about her was her figure. It was as slim and curvy as no amount of dieting had succeeded in making mine. I could have strangled her just for that; never mind for catching the eye of my fellow. Tears prickled my eyes as I watched them together. I knew that excuse about my birthday present had sounded lame! He hadn't come shopping, he'd come to meet her, hadn't he?

Click to close

Susan Francis is being abducted and things look grim for her. But when help arrives, it's her attacker who wishes he wasn't there.

The man's mouth gaped open in astonishment. Nina simply plucked the post effortlessly out of his two-handed grip using just her left hand. She tossed it aside, into the hedge which partly surrounded the nearby building. Then she advanced on the man, grasped his jacket collar in her right hand, and lifted him effortlessly off the ground.

"I've tried to do this without inflicting serious injury, and you appear not to have taken the hint," she said, her voice a level monotone. "Now you've irritated me." She nodded down at the hand which was gripping his collar. "This is me irritated. Do you want to try for 'hopping mad', instead?"

Click to close

Catching a chicken, to put it back in its coop, is easy, right?

By the time we've circled three-quarters of the way round the pond, I decide this isn't going to work. We could orbit around here for days, without me ever catching her. I stop. So does the chicken.

Hm! Maybe if I step back a little way, she'll decide I'm going away and will come closer. It's worth a try.

As I step back, the heel of my boot touches something. I put my weight down, and feel whatever it is roll under my foot, making my foot slip forwards. Too late, I remember that there was a garden rake on the lawn, lying prongs-up with its head pointing at the pond. I feel a sharp blow on the back of my head, stars appear, and I'm suddenly face-down in the pond. A second blow on my head must be the gnome toppling onto me.

Click to close

May has always said that, if she had the money, she wouldn't stay in this country.

My fifty-five-year-old cousin always did like her tea. I found myself wondering what she'd do for it once she'd gone overseas, as she was about to do. Probably get it mail-order from somewhere, I guessed.

"So, then," I said, once we were in the sitting room and comfortable. "You're all set to leave—"

"I'm on my way to the ferry right now," was her startling announcement.

Click to close

Jane thinks of herself as Plain Jane. How can she possibly compete with the office beauty?

And there she was, leaning all over him as she pointed at his monitor. Katrina – or Kats, as she preferred – the attractive, perfectly coiffured, well-manicured, skilfully made-up, designer-clad, trend-setting, extrovert brunette who was the departmental secretary. How was a plain-faced, mousy-haired, M&S-outfitted, introverted researcher like me supposed to compete with that? Jane by name, plain-Jane by nature, that's me.

Click to close

How can anyone make a coathanger and a piece of string seem erotic?

Todd reached down and took hold of the leather belt around her skirt. He wrapped a gentle finger around it to hold it away from her stomach, and carefully began tying one end of the string around the belt. Carla watched, intrigued, as his hands worked – touching her but not actually touching her.

Click to close

The business event is going really well for Alicia Oakhurst. Everyone wants to talk to her, and she's handing out business cards like they're going out of fashion.

All the worry and frustration of being late fell away, and Alicia found herself slipping into the swing of things amazingly naturally. She had never dreamed business people would be so friendly to chat to! Every one of them was only too keen to listen to her. She remembered what Paul had told her about the skill of "networking": listen as well as talk; don't try to sell to people; tell them what you're about without being pushy; ask yourself whether we might want to buy from them as well as if we might want to sell to them. And, above all, enjoy yourself if you can. It's just a bunch of people making first contact and seeing if they like each other enough to want to do business. Don't take it too seriously, and don't get uptight.

Click to close

Ben Forest is a businessman with a green conscience and an environmentally-responsible company.

Now, packaging materials often consist of substances which are, shall we say, somewhat short on "greenness". This fact has been worrying Ben's conscience, ever since his conversion to the environmental cause. Imagine his delight, then, when he read an article a few months back about alternative packaging materials.

He was in my shop, browsing through the latest copy of his trade magazine, Boxing Clever, when he came across the article.

"Here, Jane," he says, "there's an article in here about alternative packaging materials. A company in the States has been experimenting with using popcorn in place of polystyrene chips."