{"id":45493,"date":"2023-06-22T20:42:46","date_gmt":"2023-06-23T01:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/?p=45493"},"modified":"2023-06-23T15:27:58","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T20:27:58","slug":"the-path-is-swerving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/2023\/06\/22\/the-path-is-swerving\/","title":{"rendered":"The Path is swerving"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Path-illogical:<\/a>

Path-illogical: Pine Punched by Kris P. Kreme<\/p><\/div>
\nWhen Tom takes his teacher girlfriend Cindy on a morning hike around Mount Madness, he’s trying to help her de-stress before summer school begins.<\/p>\n

All Cindy can think about is the summer school she shouldn’t have to teach, the boys who don’t care to learn. She’s always been a rigid woman, hard on herself with a firm fit body, easily as hard on everyone else. <\/p>\n

But when Tom tries to present things from the boys’ perspective, he only pisses her off, sending her stalking away to cool off. When she wanders off marked trails onto a certain forbidden path, will Cindy find herself Pine Punched by merciless pinecones until her hard body has been softened in all the right places?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Find it on Smashwords now!<\/a><\/p>\n

Now On Amazon!<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The madness of June begins with a twisted tale about the maddening frustration with tackling a hard task, and the simple solution of softening up one’s expectations. <\/p>\n

Cindy couldn’t be more annoyed by where she knows her day is going to take her, and none of her frustrations have anything to do with the beautiful morning hike her boyfriend Tom has taken her on to try and soothe the stress she so easily lets get the best of her.<\/p>\n

Hiking the marked trails of Mount Madness, never intending to wander off into the places nobody is meant to go, Tom is trying to be a good boyfriend, assuming nothing could be more relaxing than getting away from it all, out into the peaceful surroundings of nature. But Cindy has somewhat of a reputation as a very rigidly strict teacher, and her mind is purely focused on the fact that by afternoon she will be dealing with ten of the worst students any teacher would want to deal with as summer school begins.<\/p>\n

As Cindy has explained again and again, the ten boys are perfectly willing to use their brawn in school, excellent athletes in various sports, but they have little to no interest in using their brains. And as a responsible dedicated teacher, Cindy has never been able to relate to such an irresponsible attitude. Even with her boyfriend Tom, Cindy wants him loving her for her brain, not her fit firm body.<\/p>\n

When Cindy complains about the simple fact the boys shouldn’t even be getting a chance at summer school to graduate like the rest of their senior class did, blaming it all on the coaches stepping in where they shouldn’t, Tom is trying to calm his girlfriend down, the hike meant to be a relaxation not further tension. But Cindy has rarely seemed anything but tightly wound, uptight, and very very rigid. <\/p>\n

In a way it’s a good thing for a teacher to have the focus and determination she has, but her lack of flexibility and stiff rigidity with her students has only caused problems, stress, but when Tom tries to present things from the boys’ perspective, he quickly earns more than a wintery cold glare during the heat of summer.<\/p>\n

As he describes what those boys probably think of her, why they are so stubborn to learn, so unruly to deal with, so frustrating to handle, Cindy can only focus on what he said, taking it very personally when Tom never meant it that way. As she stalks off into a clearing to hopefully clear her head, Tom stays by the marked trails, telling her not to wander too far, apologizing again for calling her hard and rigid. <\/p>\n

Yet as Cindy storms off in frustrated thought, will she end up on the path of madness which finds all new ways of softening her up?<\/p>\n

Walking along, debating to herself whether Tom may have had a point, that she is too hard on everyone, too rigid with her students, too hard on even Tom, Cindy is shocked as something crashes violently to the path mere feet in front of her.<\/p>\n

Putting her own issues aside, she steps forward to find a tiny crater, and in the center of that crater, the biggest pinecone she has ever seen in her life. Peering up into the canopy of thick lush forest surrounding her, Cindy finds herself in a dense grove of towering pine trees. But as familiar as Cindy is with pine trees, she has never seen massive bullet-shaped pinecones like the one that crashed so violently into the path.<\/p>\n

Starting to turn back, figuring she has enough problems already, Cindy ducks and dodges as another pinecone screams down at her, another one even angling from a direction that makes her feel like someone is throwing them right at her. But it isn’t until one of the menacingly large pinecones slams directly into her gut, knocking her violently back several feet, that Cindy finds herself thinking back on how those boys practically target others… shooting spitballs at them. Groaning in pain, getting up and running, Cindy feels targeted just the same, but by the most scary big pinecones ever, avoiding some, getting truly pine punched by others.<\/p>\n

But something is truly strange about these pinecone missiles seemingly launched from the trees at her as she runs back down the path she came from. Why are they not bruising her, no blood, no injuries? And why are the punches of pinecones slamming into her breasts, slamming into her head, hitting all sides of her starting to soften her up to entirely different thoughts about her students?<\/p>\n

Cindy may have always been a hard teacher, but more than her mind gets softened in all the right places when she finds herself Path-illogically Pine Punched. Will she make it back to Tom and how will more than her attitude have changed when she does? What about her students… will summer school be taking a decidedly entertaining turn for ten athletic boys less interested in brains than brawn?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Find it on Smashwords now!<\/a><\/p>\n

Now On Amazon!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Tom takes his teacher girlfriend Cindy on a morning hike around Mount Madness, he’s trying to help her de-stress before summer school begins. All Cindy can think about is the summer school she shouldn’t have to teach, the boys who don’t care to learn. She’s always been a rigid woman, hard on herself with … <\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[255,4],"tags":[256,63],"class_list":["post-45493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-path-illogical","category-tales-from-the-kreme","tag-path-illogical","tag-tales-from-the-kreme","item-wrap"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Path-illogicalPinePunched-cover.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2iXk7-bPL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45433,"url":"https:\/\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/2023\/06\/01\/you-can-be-path-illogical-in-june\/","url_meta":{"origin":45493,"position":0},"title":"You can be Path-Illogical in June","author":"Kris P. Kreme","date":"June 1, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Will you walk the Path as summer begins during a special Path-illogical event series? Three twisted tales take readers on the path of madness. When anyone walks the ancient path alone on Mount Madness, their inner conflicts, their frustrations, their desires, and their fate may lead them down a path\u2026","rel":"","context":"","block_context":{"text":"Path-Illogical","link":"https:\/\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/category\/path-illogical\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Path-illogicalJune-promotionalAd.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Path-illogicalJune-promotionalAd.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Path-illogicalJune-promotionalAd.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Path-illogicalJune-promotionalAd.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":45365,"url":"https:\/\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/2023\/04\/25\/its-going-to-be-path-illogical\/","url_meta":{"origin":45493,"position":1},"title":"It’s going to be… Path-Illogical","author":"Kris P. 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Starting soon!","rel":"","context":"","block_context":{"text":"Path-Illogical","link":"https:\/\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/category\/path-illogical\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Path-Illogical Series Ad","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Path-Illogical-promoAd.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Path-Illogical-promoAd.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Path-Illogical-promoAd.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Path-Illogical-promoAd.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Path-Illogical-promoAd.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Path-Illogical-promoAd.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":45497,"url":"https:\/\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/2023\/06\/23\/the-path-can-take-you-off-track\/","url_meta":{"origin":45493,"position":2},"title":"The Path can take you off track","author":"Kris P. Kreme","date":"June 23, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Chase has spent hours hiking behind Lindsay as she attempts to befriend him. She's barely seven years older but dating his father and Chase can't stand the fact she's probably playing his dad for a fool. Chase soon realizes he was foolish assuming Lindsay knew anything about hiking the trails\u2026","rel":"","context":"","block_context":{"text":"Path-Illogical","link":"https:\/\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/category\/path-illogical\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Path-illogical: Getting off Track by Kris P. 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Kreme","date":"July 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Brainy grad student Kimberly Craig believes she has found the scientific reason behind the crazy stories surrounding Mount Madness. Insect bites from an undiscovered insect, a form of nymph, could be causing hallucinations, swelling, aberrant behavior and mental changes. So despite the area being off limits, Kimberly has brought along\u2026","rel":"","context":"","block_context":{"text":"Path-Illogical","link":"https:\/\/www.talesfromthekreme.com\/tales\/category\/path-illogical\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Path-illogical: The Bite of the Nymph by Kris P. 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