A Taxing Situation

By Nanisi Barrett D'Arnuk

Science fiction author Joan Howell's whole world is consumed by interplanetary visitors. When she needs her taxes done, she meets Darlene Rogers, a very conservative CPA who doesn't believe in extraterrestrials.

The women soon find they have even more divergent points of view. Will Joan's quirks pull them together or force them even farther apart?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Apr 14, 2018
• ISBN: 9781634866286

Nanisi Barrett D'Arnuk

Nanisi Barrett D’Arnuk first published in 1996. In 2000, she and her partner were victims of a hate crime which burned their house to the ground, destroying everything. She has since rewritten her first series, The Cameron Andrews Mysteries. For more information, visit facebook.com/nanisibarrettdarnuk.

Book preview

A Taxing Situation

By Nanisi Barrett D’Arnuk

Published by JMS Books LLC at Smashwords

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2018 Nanisi Barrett D’Arnuk

ISBN 9781634866286

* * * *

Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

* * * *

For Her.

* * * *

A Taxing Situation

By Nanisi Barrett D’Arnuk

I packed all my papers and receipts into the new plastic crate I had bought yesterday and snapped it shut. It seemed strange to me. I’ve never kept all this stuff in one place before. I didn’t know I had so much of it. Sandy had told me I’d better see a CPA. I laughed. To me, CPA was the Cosmic Planetary Alliance.

Joanie, you can’t live twenty-four-seven in your sci-fi worlds, she had said. The IRS will catch up with you one of these days.

No, we don’t want that, I had answered, although I wasn’t sure the Interplanetary Reproduction Services had jurisdiction on our planet. Still, I wasn’t sure I was ready to have offspring yet.

So, I hefted my crate and drove to the address Sandy had given me. She had made the appointment for me and had reminded me almost hourly to be there on time. I hated schedules. I never checked my chronometer, and I expected computerization to keep things running. If someone wanted to be specific to Alliance Cosmic Temporal Chronization, then they had to have a chronometer to pick it up. I haven’t seen any in the stores lately, even though the price of an ACT-C had come down quite a lot.

I walked into the office—a small side room of a typical urban house—and was greeted by the CPA herself. She was dressed in a cherry silk suit, which looked like it had just been synthesized by Cerulean spiders.

Joan Howell? I’m Darlene Rogers. Sandy said you’d be in. Let’s see what you have.

Rogers? Are you a descendant of Buck’s? I asked.

It took her a minute to make the connection. No. Usually, I’m asked if Roy was my grandfather.

Was he?

No.

Oh. I never followed Roy, but Buck was my Grandfather’s hero when I was little. I couldn’t wait to grow up and be like him.

Like your grandfather?

No! Like Buck Rogers! I definitely didn’t want to be like Wilma.

Oh. She laughed, not knowing who Wilma was. Bring your stuff into my office, and we can start to go through it.

I followed her into the next room and set my crate on a chair. "Sandy tells me I’m not