Pimping Out My Sister-In-Law*, Volume 1

By Sheldon Charles

An anthology of short stories selected to provide you with a brief escape from where you find yourself right now. Each will allow you to leave this reality and take a quick trip into a different one. Have no fear. It’s a nice place. Even better, they know you there.

Words Ever Unspoken
Years have passed since Carson and Melissa broke up. Even though time has passed, both still dwell on the last time the two were together. Was that night a way of marking the end of their relationship, or was it a desperate attempt on both their parts to prevent their breakup from being permanent? Neither of them said a word during that last time together. Will either of them be able to find the words to express what is going on inside their minds and hearts today?

It's a Surreal Thing
He was deep into that summer between being a kid and being a teenager. She was the kind of woman that was the building block of a young man’s fantasies. As he sat there alone, she walked up behind him unnoticed and for a brief moment became the center of his universe when she made a simple request... a swig of his Coke.

Just Down from Rimpy’s Bait Shop
Peter’s grandfather brought him to live on his farm during his most turbulent years. As the man he loves succumbs to the deterioration of age, Peter is increasingly frustrated as he is forced to deal with the aging man’s belligerent and sometimes dangerous behavior. Fertilizing a section of the lawn should be a simple chore, especially when there are explicit directions. But then again, maybe not.

A Scents of the Virus
A sleepless night filled with the boredom of the COVID19 lockdown, a distracting ad on the Internet, and a credit card leads to the purchase of a Hollywood star’s latest vanity project: A candle with a unique scent. The first time Munro smells it, he begins to recover a memory. It is a memory he suppressed for years of a woman and relationship his heart and body cherished. Now, whenever the aroma surrounds him, he is immersed in a world where she and the relationship still exist.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sheldon Charles
• Release date: Dec 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781733958875

Sheldon Charles

Sheldon Charles is a decorated Air Force veteran, whose career has taken him around the globe, and given his writing a unique international flair. He is the author of "Three Paperclips & a Grey Scarf", "Blood Upon the Sands" and "From Within the Firebird’s Nest". His last book ("From Within the Firebird’s Nest", the third book in the Evan Davis Trilogy) held the Number One Bestseller spot for Russian Historical Fiction, and was in the Top Ten for War Fiction, for 2018. Sheldon currently resides in Michigan, where he is a member of Michigan Writers.

Book preview

Pimping Out My Sister-In-Law*

Volume 1

* A Collection of Short Stories That Has Absolutely Nothing to Do with the Title or Cover Art.

By

Sheldon Charles

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

Pimping Out My Sister-In-Law*, Volume 1 by Sheldon Charles, Published by Valkyrie Spirit Publishing, PO Box 4357, Battle Creek, MI 49016-4357. http://www.valkyriespirit.com

© 2020-22 Sheldon Charles, 1st Edition, 1st Printing

Cover Art/Design © 2019-22 Sheldon Charles

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests contact: Valkyrie Spirit Publishing, PO Box 4357, Battle Creek, MI 49016-4357.

ISBN (ePub) 978-1-7339588-7-5

Available in ePub & Audiobook

Printed in the United States of America

Dedication

This anthology is dedicated to the nurses who battled COVID-19 in 2020-21. Humanity was saved through their selfless dedication, compassion, and professionalism.

Thank you for your service.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Words Ever Unspoken

It’s A Surreal Thing

Just Down from Rimpy’s Bait Shop

A Scents of the Virus

About the Author

From the Author

Acknowledgments

Thank You’ s are long overdue for two of my teachers:

Ms. DeLong, my eighth-grade Literature teacher, introduced me to my favorite kind of written storytelling – – the short story. A lot of class time was spent reading passages out loud from our anthology. Since I was good at sight-reading, I would get bored waiting on my turn and began to thumb through the book looking at the other titles. Because of the short time between having to read segments and waiting for others, I sought titles that were not overly long.

The book contained an extensive mix of literary types, including excerpts from novels, poems, plays, newspaper articles. I focused on the short stories because I could quickly read a couple of pages and get away with it. I tore through the macabre and suspense stories first and then on to humor. When the Scholastic Books flyers came around every month, I sought short stories and soon had a dogeared collection on my bookshelf. Hours spent immersed in the joy of reading, thanks to Ms. Delong.

Harold Przygocki was my high school English teacher. On the first day of class, he gave out an assignment for a weekly 500-word essay. After a few weeks, I figured out that an essay could be a story and sometimes could be a bit longer. I began to write stories and trying to fit them into a 500-word container. Some were good, and some weren’t, but it didn’t matter. The assignment taught me that if you were going to write, you needed to write. Writing is a muscle that needs exercise before it can be used optimally.

Both teachers affected the reader and writer I am today. Much appreciation is due to both.

As usual, my Editor Marni MacRae was indispensable. Her input and support turned my stories into the polished collection you are now reading. YOU ROCK!

My puppy MacBeth was always there when I needed a distraction, helping me find my Satori.

Finally, thank you, Constance, for your love, support, words of encouragement, advice, and putting up with me during this journey.

Foreword

This collection’s title comes from the answer I’d give people when asked what my next book title would be. It became a running gag over the past few years, and when I decided to put this collection together, I could think of no better title to use. I can guarantee you that none of these stories have anything to do with pimping anybody. Likewise, the cover photo has nothing to do with any of the stories and is not of any sister-in-law. What follows is a collection of short fiction from various genres to keep you entertained for a brief bit of time. Some are shorter, some are longer, but all fall within a short story's basic guidelines.

Short fiction is challenging for an author. A writer must quickly lure the reader into empathizing with the story’s characters and, at the same time, push a plot forward that is always just a page or two from the ending. Yet, simultaneously, it gives an author enough freedom to write a framework that will allow the reader to fill in the blanks and expand a few words into thousands.

Unlike my novels, I chose to serialize this collection into three volumes, to be released over the next year. The volumes can be read in any order, just like the stories within each book. After all the volumes are released, they will be combined into a single tome and released in paperback.

I hope the stories provide you with a brief escape from where you find yourself at this moment. Each will allow you to leave this reality and take a quick trip into a different one. Have no fear. It’s a nice place. Even better, they know you there.

Michigan, December 2020

Words Ever Unspoken

Carson stopped just outside the door of the Starbucks and carefully peered inside, looking from table to table to see if Missy was already there. Three decades had passed since he saw her last, but her visage was so engraved in his mind, he knew, even with time, he would be able to recognize her. After confirming she was not there, he walked inside and to over to an empty table with three chairs, setting down the box he was carrying. After retrieving a cup of coffee, he sat in the chair facing away from the door, moving the box from the top of the table to the empty chair on his right.

He hated Starbucks. Not the coffee, he loved the actual coffee—he hated international conglomerates taking over sectors that should have been owned by local people, even if run poorly with lousy coffee. He was also not a fan of Starbucks’ support of political issues, preferring coffee to be a simple way to start the day instead of something complicated by guilt and ideology. Taking a sip from his cup, he closed his eyes and saw Melissa as she had been when they were together.

She’d had long, dark, tawny colored hair with ringlet curls framing the soft features of her face. Missy’s smile had been gentle, amplified by the joy reflected in her eyes when she was happy. Her almond-shaped, dark-brown eyes were a feature he’d spent many hours staring into. When he’d needed to find peace, all it had taken was a few moments of staring into her eyes before he was enveloped in the tranquility found there. Carson had loved the way her lips moved when she spoke, and when they were not speaking, how they seemed inviting. As simple remembrance bridged to more sensual memories, and he shook his head to clear it as he was flooded by a string of random thoughts.

What the fuck am I doing thinking about such things? Remember, you broke up with her, not the other way around. It’s been almost thirty years, and if either of us wanted the other, we could’ve picked up the phone. The only reason you’re here right now is to return these photo albums. Remembering the box drew his eyes toward it.

The box was not overly large, it was what was known in the moving industry as a standard book box. Soon after the relationship