Childhood Adventures

By Top Writers Block

The wonders of childhood - family, friends, playing, traveling, and sailing.
Being brave, being afraid...sharing, smiling, crying, laughing...
This collection by Top Writers Block contains nine short stories about the magic of childhood and all its adventures.

Top Writers Block is an international group of writers who continue to donate their proceeds to Sea Shepherd in France, an organization that devotes itself to preserving our seas and oceans and the life within. All proceeds from the sale of this ebook goes to charity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Top Writers Block
• Release date: Jun 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310703690

Top Writers Block

Top Writers Block is a diverse and eclectic group of talented writers who decided to write stories together - just for the fun of it! We are happy to announce that authors proceeds have always gone, and will continue to go, to Sea Shepherd.fr every time Smashwords has made a payment! Thank you to those who have supported the group, independent authors, and Sea Shepherd. Our collections are usually written with one theme or genre in mind. Each author contributes when they have the time, so some of the collections have as many as twelve authors participating. Every collection has something new, with stories and poems ranging from romance, drama, and adventure to mystery, fantasy, and horror. All the Top Writers Block's proceeds will go to Sea Shepherd, so by buying you are helping to keep our oceans alive! Thank You all so much!

Book preview

A Collection of Short Stories

by

TOP WRITERS BLOCK

Written on the theme:

Childhood Adventures

Copyright ©May 2015 Top Writers Block

Published on Smashwords

ISBN: 9781310703690

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Smashwords License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Inner Imp by Tracey Howard

Sail Away by Suzy Stewart Dubot

The Steam Circus by Barnaby Wilde

On the Roof by John Muir

A Summer’s Day by Tracey Howard

Gypsy Girl by Bill Rayburn

Sisters by Elizabeth Rowan Keith

The Nag’s Head by Melissa A. Szydlek

Rumpled Silk Skin by John Muir

INNER IMP

by

Tracey Howard

Copyright ©May 2015 Tracey Howard

Tracey is a stay at home wife and mother who has lived all over the United States. She is currently living in northern Indiana with her husband of nearly twenty years, their 15 year old daughter and two hairballs of the canine variety. She is an avid reader with an insatiable appetite, surpassed only by her child, to whom she has passed on the reader trait. She is a self-taught amateur shutterbug and although she has been writing for the majority of her adult life, she only recently put both words and pictures out there for the world to see.

Have you ever

Had a long-term

Completely

Dedicated

Committed

Open and

Trusting

Relationship

With your

Inner self?

I see your confusion

The lost look

In your eyes

"Of course

I know myself!"

You quietly confirm

To us both

What about

An open

Trusting

Fun relationship

With your inner imp?

Again the baffled look

But no forthcoming answer.

Please allow me

To explain…

Between the

White robed angel

Perched on your

Right shoulder

And the

Red-suited devil

Sitting on your left

In the middle

Of those two

Dwells a small

Rainbow-hued imp

It’s never completely

Right, some times

Maybe just a tiny

Bit wrong

But it’s always

Unflinchingly

Completely

The real you

Unfiltered

Uncensored

Always true

To you

When was the last time

You let it out to play?

When was the last time

You let YOU out

Just to play?

In this grown up

Existence

We too often forget

To color

Outside the lines

We neglect

To jump into

ALL the mud puddles

After running barefoot

Through the wet grass

We ignore

All the dandelion wishes

That sit inside

Caged and tamed

In the back of

Our adult minds

Isn’t it time

To take the time

To be a kid again?

Isn’t it time

To dream

Of dragons

And dancing in the clouds?

When did it become

Forbidden

To be the valiant

Horse-riding knight

Jousting with the breezes?

Why can’t we

Still be heroes?

Afternoon pirates

On a cardboard

Box ship

Bound for glory

And gold

Let’s slide

Down rainbows

Into enchanted woods

Full of fairy dust

And fantastical critters

Isn’t it time

To get to know

Yourself again?

Let your imp out!

Come out and play!

You bring your imp

I’ll bring the skates

And sidewalk chalk

TAG!

You’re it!!!

###

SAIL AWAY

by

Suzy Stewart Dubot

Copyright ©May 2015 Suzy Stewart Dubot

An Anglo/American who has been living in France for over 30 years, she began writing as soon as she retired. She recently spent seventeen months in London, UK caring for an aged relative. She is now back in France. Writing follows her as easily as her laptop. With her daughters, she is a vegetarian and a supporter of animal rights. She is also an admirer of William Wilberforce.

Our mother didn’t think it was necessary to tell us where or when we were going. I suppose she didn’t see any point in discussing anything with three children, all under the age of eight. We probably wouldn’t have understood the answers to our questions anyway, because we had no idea that there were places, states, countries beyond our own town of Lima, Ohio.

It was summer when we’d gone into town to have our passport photograph taken, and for once, we were told not to smile. Some months later, I had to practice putting my name into handwriting, which wasn’t easy for a second grader who was only just learning to handwrite with several parallel lines. My brothers’ and my passport had arrived and as it was in my name, I had to sign for us all. My mother grumbled at my poor signature but when I look at it today, all these decades later, I am pleased with the valiant effort of a seven-year-old girl. It is legible, albeit rudimentary.

My school teacher hugged me on my last day of school. It was then that I understood that something special was about to happen. Without trying, she’d instilled in me the first embers of excitement.

I don’t remember the day of the week we left, but it was already dark when my father delivered us to the train station. So many banal details escape me now that I’m a little sad that I didn’t pay more attention to the preparations. I don’t remember the drive to the station, but I remember how it was once we were there waiting for our train.

The March evening breeze made the station’s yellow lights sway a little, shifting the shadows, but not enough to make their feeble, yellow glow overlap. It was chilly standing on the open platform waiting for the Chicago train to stop on its way to New York City. We children were restless, but my father’s timing had been right, and the train soon rolled in spitting out steam as it came to a grinding halt. It had to be a ‘whistle stop’ because we were the only ones to board with no time wasted. Besides our own little bags, we had a large metal chest with labels, locks and stickers ready to board with us. I didn’t see who loaded the chest because our mother hurried us into the carriage so we could wave goodbye to our father.

The sadness of leaving would only come to me months later when I realised we would not be going home any time soon. I often relived that last image of my father, standing alone on the platform looking up to us. His coat collar was turned up against the chill of the night, and he was yellow. The station’s lights had at least managed to shine on him.

That night in the train seemed interminable.

The wagon was practically empty leaving us the choice of seats. They were hard leather-padded