Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Single Moms
    Single Moms
    Single Moms
    Ebook116 pages2 hours

    Single Moms

    By Bill Etem

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    We follow the single moms and their kids during their adventures on their mission to free some Avallonian P.O.W.s held in the enemy territory of Hibernia. We also follow along as flirtation between some of their kids leads to both bliss and heartache. Yes, adventure and romance unfold as the single mom's plans to free the poor suffering P.O.W.s proceed, while they settle into life, as enemy agents, in a hostile foreign nation.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBill Etem
    Release dateJul 2, 2015
    ISBN9781310292071
    Single Moms
    Author

    Bill Etem

    Bill EE-tem. Born in Minneapolis, 1.2.60. Now living in St. Paul. Had lots of jobs: High School math teacher, football coach, track coach, legal coding / data entry, production, bar bouncer etc., etc. Bounced around some myself. Lived in Mexico for 20 months, in Oaxaca. Lived in Los Angeles for a few years. Traveled for 4 months round Europe after graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1983, B.A. in Mathematics. "Constitutional History of the Western World" has over 500,000 words in it and is filled with important info but it's not exactly succinct. "The ABCs of Christianity" is more or less up-to-date. "Glamour Scammers" is my most up-to-date book that is succinct. My religious books argue that Christianity is true, Jesus is God, the Divine Son. But we have a big problem in that the Christian scriptures are clear there is only one True Church, only one Bride of Christ. And yet there are thousands of separate churches / thousands of unique denominations in the world. So this a big conspicuous problem! It's like you are a cop at a crime scene, and you're staring at some clues, but if your ideas about how the crime went down are contradicted by the evidence, then you have to re-think a few things. If you're looking at a corpse with a knife in his back and a cigarette by his head, then you're thinking perhaps he died from smoking, or perhaps that shiv in his back is in some way connected to his demise... We've got clear unambiguous scriptures which say there is only one True Church.  But we also have thousands of separate churches / thousands of unique denominations in the world. So this must mean... Some definitions: If a Church leads people to Heaven then that Church is the Bride of Christ, the True Church, the Church Christ founded on a rock, Matthew 16. 13-19. If a church is lost in heresy and drags people down to eternal perdition then that church is a false church. How do you find the True Church? I have some books which deal with that question! I've also spent 5 or 6 or 7 thousand hours working on my You Tube playlists, so be sure to scrutinize those when you get a chance: https://youtube.com/@billetem5868

    Read more from Bill Etem

    Related to Single Moms

    Related ebooks

    Fantasy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Slave Who Braved All For Love

      May 4, 2020

      The Wikipedia entry says it all: ‘Florence Barbara Maria Szász, an orphan who became a slave, explored the Nile and died a lady.’ If Hollywood had been around in the 19th century, her life would have made a blockbuster. Very few people who visited th

      4 min read

    • Article

      Pirates, Ghosts And Gangsters

      Feb 16, 2020

      Pirates, Ghosts And Gangsters
      2 min read

    • Article

      Tall Tales

      Dec 22, 2023

      Tall Tales
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Women Of The Palace

      Sep 19, 2022

      At Georgia’s ragged edge stands a causeway made of earth piled by hand atop bricks and tires, long grown over with grass and sandspur and sea oxeye. It is a tenuous ribbon of stability cutting through mud and salt and spartina, connecting land and ri

      11 min read

    • Article

      HEALTH & WELL BEING

      Sep 23, 2022

      ‘I’m not really sure why I’m here, lying in a bin-bag on the side of a hill, but I’m strangely glad that I am,” writes Raynor Winn, part of the way through her latest walking odyssey with her husband, Moth. She won’t be the only one glad. With her pr

      2 min read

    • Article

      Ufos Over Humqaq

      Aug 2, 2022

      Ufos Over Humqaq
      5 min read

    • Article

      Carningli

      Mar 22, 2024

      Carningli
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Lives Of War Prisoners And An Ex-spy

      Apr 19, 2024

      Don’t allow yourself to be put off by the cumbersome title because this is a good book. South Africa’s contribution to the Allied cause in the north African deserts and Abyssinia is well known – less so that it resulted in upwards of 100 000 Italian

      2 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Jun 16, 2021

      Great Read
      4 min read

    • Article

      'Queen Of The Conquered' Serves Revenge With Delicacy And Savagery

      Nov 14, 2019

      In their new novel, Kacen Callender builds a vast, immersive landscape based on the colonial history of the Caribbean, but it's their morally conflicted heroine who will really hook readers.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Mar 22, 2023

      Great Read
      8 min read

    • Article

      See How They Nun

      Mar 22, 2024

      What are we going to do about global heating, about mass extinction, about our rivers? What ability do we have to change things, now that power lies mostly in the hands of unaccountable corporations and shameless demagogues? Is there even any point i

      2 min read

    • Article

      Climbing Mount Cameroon

      Nov 18, 2019

      In 1895 Mary Kingsley became the first woman to climb Mount Cameroon. Her apparel was unlikely: long black trailing skirt, tight waist, high collar, a small fur cap, lace-up shoes and a parasol. In every respect she was unusual. With no formal school

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Witches Of Literature

      May 30, 2023

      Tor Books T. KINGFISHER challenges the idea of the “wicked witch” through the gravewitch in her subversive fairy tale Nettle & Bone. The nameless dust-wife—part witch, part gravedigger—is all too willing to help the novel’s heroine on her quest to ki

      2 min read

    • Article

      A Literary Zoo

      Dec 9, 2021

      A Literary Zoo
      4 min read

    • Article

      5 New Fantasy Novels Invigorate Old Tropes

      May 18, 2023

      Spell books, dragons, mermaids, fairies and a magic circus all take on new life in the pages of these five enchanting tales hitting shelves in May and June.

      5 min read

    • Article

      A Thrill A Second

      Aug 25, 2023

      Minutes after departing from Honolulu, Hawaii, one engine of Flight 1421 catches fire, causing the pilots to lose all control of the aircraft. There’s only one option open to them: an emergency landing at sea. Miraculously, they land the plane in one

      3 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Jan 23, 2023

      Books
      6 min read

    • Article

      SURVIVAL & SUCCESS

      May 25, 2020

      SURVIVAL & SUCCESS
      2 min read

    • Article

      Politics, Princesses, And High-flying Drama

      Jul 21, 2023

      It can be difficult to classify a book which has a cow's rear end on the back cover and, on the front cover, a ruminating cow's front end with a road sign pointing to the mustlive-in towns of Darling and Shaka's Rock. Is the book speculation, literat

      2 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      May 18, 2022

      Great Read
      3 min read

    • Article

      Killer On The Loose

      Dec 19, 2021

      Success can create problems for a novelist as Paula Hawkins found when she released the follow-up to her mega bestseller The Girl on the Train. It wasn’t that her second novel flopped exactly, but Into the Water was a trickier book and far less grabb

      1 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Single Moms

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Single Moms - Bill Etem

      Single Moms

      Published by Bill Etem at Smashwords

      Copyright 2015 Bill Etem

      Smashwords Edition, 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 recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      ebook cover by Kyra Dune

      Table of Contents

      Chapter 1. Arguments in the Wilderness

      Chapter 2. The Enemy Patrol

      Chapter 3. The South Face of Mt. Desolation

      Chapter 4. Scenes in a Krull Tavern

      Chapter 5. Rendezvous in the Dark

      Chapter 6. The Enchanted Forest

      Chapter 7. Life in O’Conner

      Chapter 8. Crack-Heads

      Chapter 9. Escape from O’Conner

      Chapter 10. Single Moms Living the Sweet Life

      Single Moms

      Chapter 1. Arguments in the Wilderness

      Company Roster.

      Seraphinaria - Commanding Officer

      29 years of age, Captain in the Avallonian Army, widow of a former Avallonian nobleman / cavalry officer, mother of boy (10-year-old, Jackson), girl (5-year-old, Morgan) and boy (3-year-old, Jay-Jay).

      Valmyristarsis,

      25, Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, single mom, mother of girl (7-year-old, Heather), boy (6-year-old, Hugh ) and boy (3-year-old, Hamilton, aka Buddy).

      Casilevatates,

      26, Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, single mom, mother of girl (7-year-old, Jacqueline), girl (5-year-old, Camille).

      Mirabrasantes,

      27 Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, widow of a former Avallonian lawyer / army officer, mother of girl (8-year-old, Marla), boy (7-year-old, Brent).

      Navorasicaa,

      27, Lieutenant in the Avalonian Army, widow of a former Avallonian army officer, mother of girl (7-year-old, Barb), boy (4-year-old, Curt).

      Misevasundia,

      27, Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, widow of a former Avallonian businessman / army officer, mother of girl (9-year-old, Shelby), girl (5-year-old, Mercedes).

      Sevaladelia,

      29, Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, widow of a former Avallonian beer and spirits salesman, mother of girl (11-year-old, Desiree), girl (9-year-old, Delilah), boy (5-year-old, Dante).

      Heliomirabellisima,

      28, Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, single mom, mother of girl (9-year-old, Kayla), girl (5-year-old, Guilia).

      Martha Manning,

      37 (alleged), Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, alien (confirmed), parallel universe traveler (alleged), single woman with no kids (alleged).

      Luke, A Wonderful Little Orphan Boy (9).

      Jasmine, A Beautiful Little Orphan Girl (7).

      Jocelyn, An Excellent Little Orphan Girl (5).

      Guide to pronunciation: Ser-ah-fee-NAR-ee-ah, Meer-ah-brah-SAN-tees, Nav-ohr-rah-SICK-a-ah, Mis-eh-vah-SUN-dee-ah, Seh-vah-la-DEE-lee-ah, Hee-lee-oh-meer-ah-bel-EEE-see-mah, MAR-tha MAN-ing, Val-my-ris-TAR-sis, Cah-sil-eh-vah-TAH-tees.

      Navorasicaa and her little 5-year-old orphan pal, Jocelyn, were sitting on their ruck-sacks on a huge snowy mountain named Mt. Desolation. The name of the peak was sort of melodramatic and over the top as there was a fair sized town not too far from the mountain of desolation. The two females were perched high above the timber-line, on the gentle northern slope, close to a prominent granite buttress. It couldn’t honestly be said that they were well hidden from the sight of spies who might be lurking far below them, but they were to some degree camouflaged, reposing under a white canvas tarp as they were. This concealment blended in well with the snowy slopes, and so they were more or less invisible as long as they didn’t move about too much, or start any campfires. Both of them had their backs turned away from the cold north wind which was blasting them like an arctic gale.

      They were on guard duty. It might be difficult to find too many other reasons why a warrior woman and a little orphan girl would be encamped as they were, just the two of them, on this frigid mountain, where they were trying to remain invisible to their enemies lower down the mountainside. It was the responsibility of Navorasicaa and Jocelyn to keep an eye out for anything threatening, which would most likely come in the form of an Hibernian patrol. If such a patrol materialized suddenly into view, it would be revealed a thousand vertical feet below them, just at the line where the pine forest abruptly ended and the barren treeless upper slopes of the mountain began. Their thick woolen cloaks, along with the canvas tarp, the close weave of which worked better than the more open and airy weave of wool at keeping the wind at bay, were not all that they had in the fight to stay warm. There were blankets and there was a bottle of bourbon to warm them if the blankets weren’t enough. But the tarp and their blankets, and their cloaks, and their bourbon, were enough to keep Navorasicaa and Jocelyn warm, warm enough to allow them to think of other things besides freezing to death in the icy gale that was roaring through these peaks rising up all round them.

      And there was so much which had happened in recent days for them to think about! Al Mancini had returned to them, though he was no longer their slave. Perhaps someday he would attain his official freedom via an official decree from the Kingdom of Avalonia. The reunion with Al owed everything to his break-up with Jennifer. She turned out to be a really pushy and uptight sort of young lady, a classic control-freak and domineering sort of ex-girlfriend. Al decided he had to get away from Jennifer before she dominated him completely and bossed him yet again into slavery and submission.. Of course, as with most break-ups, each party probably had a few legit yet negative comments to say about the other party. Jennifer might have had no end of legit gripes about Al. Who knows? Anyway, those two were no longer crazy about each other.

      Al had always been fascinated by the prospect of the single moms and their kids conquering Cromwell Town. And so, naturally, when he decided to make his escape from the controlling, slave-owner ex-girl-friend, Jennifer, he also decided to venture north, to find his former owners, his first slave masters, from whom he had also once escaped.

      It took Al Mancini two days of diligent searching, and this was after he reached the high country, merely to locate the fixed ropes which led up and over the vertical 7,000 foot South Face of Mt. Desolation, the great wall only a few miles to the south of where Navorasicaa and Jocelyn now rested. Al was presently with the rest of their company of warrior women and little kids, a little higher up on the slope of the North Face. The company above were completely hidden from sight of any patrols which might emerge at the point where the evergreen forest ended and the treeless slopes began. But they also couldn’t see those enemy patrols should they start advancing. That’s why they need a lookout post lower down the mountain.

      The sky was magnificently blue. Odd how the gales could be so fierce in these mountains under a cloudless sky. Still, one had to expect storm clouds and blizzards to appear at any moment with a wind as strong as the one hitting Jocelyn and Navorasicaa. Amid the ribbons of snow rushing past them, the two of them, still sitting motionless and silent, not too far from a big granite buttress behind them, had lots of time to think about the world round them. Jocelyn remarked that the reddish gray color of the rock made an aesthetically pleasing contrast to the blinding white of the slope and the clear blue of the sky. Navorrasicaa though it a queer remark from a 5-year-old but decided to not lash out at her viciously. Instead she shivered and drank more bourbon.

      It wasn’t just those on guard duty who had been languishing from tedium for day after day, waiting interminably in the cold for the signal fire which never came. They were waiting for any sort of sign from Luke and Seraphinaria on their mission within Cromwell Town. Those two were supposed to have lit a fire from atop the wall surrounding Cromwell Town, and then the warrior women would be in position ready to scale the wall the following night, assuming they had the aid of a rope let down to them by their comrades inside the wall. But the signal fire never came, and no rope was ever lowered to aid their invading army.

      The dreariness of life for those waiting for that signal fire dragged on for days, dragged on until the day when Al Mancini showed up in their Alpine camp, amid their cluster of tents, to stay the monotony for a little while. And then passed only two more days after Al arrived that Luke and Seraphinaria returned to the high mountain lair, bringing with them two Hibernian refugees, young Debra and middle-aged Katie. Everyone was curious indeed about these two, who no doubt were now being hunted as traitors by their Hibernian ex-countrymen, though they were heroes certainly to Luke and Seraphinaria. It was Katie and Debra, after all, who saved Luke and Seraphinaria from the cruel fate of being tossed into a cage holding 4 big hungry tigers. Katie O’Callaghan, it turned out, was also useful in another very significant way. Not only did she save Seraphinaria and Luke from the man-eaters but she also offered them military intelligence which seemed almost too good to believe. Katie informed them that in the great Hibernian city of O’Conner, which was situated 200 miles to the north of their present camp, there were 1,000 Avallonian prisoners of war, 1,000 wretched captives loaded with chains and confined to the darkness and retching squalor of a huge dungeon. This frightful cage, medieval in its design and monstrous in both its purpose and its proportions, might be breached, perhaps perhaps, by a band of brave adventuresses. If those 1,000 prisoners could be rescued, then, the warrior women might well, with their numbers swollen with 1,000 rescued prisoners of war, make another attempt at conquering Cromwell Town. Even if that failed their mission would still be a huge success provided they were able to get the POWs back to their families in Avallonia.

      Only a few days ago Navorasicaa recalled she was in the depths of despair: she was convinced that their entire venture into Hibernia had degenerated into an ugly farce. The signal fire never came from

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1