Canuk

135' catamaran is a very big cat! While my experience is in monohulls, I can't believe this would have a draft less than 12'. So if our hero hasn't seen it since he was 9, Im not sure he could just leap in a sail it....but its a story, so....

I'm in! Great start. Hopefully he'll need help wiping the sweat off.....

Nathans head was a bit of a shock! Great read , thanks.

Great to hear that he is fine. Frankly ANY crumbs from his (authorship) table very, extremely, lovingly accepted. 😍😚⚘

"Freedom" is going to be a very interesting challenge to our hero... Great start.. looking forward to the story as it moves forward.

Despite being a prize bitch, I do feel sorry for Linda. She has let her fantasy get in the way of reality. And a single woman with children is not going to be an easy life.

I do find the self harm very distressing. The emotional pain that induces that as a catharsis must be friggin' awful.

Great beginning. I know "they" say size doesn't matter, but hopefully chapters will get longer!😆😆😆

Great story, but is a lot of the chapter repeated? The entire firts night/departure at airport/arival at "beige" apartment seems to be repeated.....

Progress... The "mum hurdle" is going to be hard to overcome; i see few redeeming features in her. Declan, too, is going to have few hurdles to overcome But they are on their way!

Great story continues. Children and ss relationships are ... interesting! I do recall my youngest asking that I tell him when i stopped "practicing" safe sex and became good , so he could stop worrying. Even assuring him I was "good", didnt quite work as he wanted to know how I knew the other men were still practising.... Parenting is not simple!

Great story continues! Small glitch; if they are in a grand suite (the two storeys gave it away) they do not dine in the double height main dining room (Brittania Dining room), but the exclusive, suite only Queens Grill, with no assigned seating.... May their joy continue?

I think I may have been unclear in my post. I am happy for elected officials to make laws. I just think electing official to enforce those laws is weird. The enforcers should be public officials, employees of the state, employed to enforce/implement the laws made by the elected officials. How do you reconcile electing officials on a platform of disregarding laws made by another elected official? Case in point ss marriage: elected lawmakers decreed that ss mariage was the law, elected official sa I d they didnt want to implement ghe law as they were elected on a twisted sense of "family values" and so "morally" disagreed with the law. IMHO they have no right whatsoever to inject their morality into a law passed by elected officials.

If yu live in a country stupid enough to elect Judges and prosecutors, then you gets what you pays for.... whereas is Judges and prosecutors are officer of the law, you get prosecutions and sentences in line with the law. Doesn't it seem perfectly stupid to elect one group of people to make laws and another to implement them?

Just came across your blog. Interesting story with a very bizarre parallel. I have a son almost eaxctly you age. He is a qualified bilingual (french /english) pre school ( age4-6) teacher. After teaching from age 20 to 25 he chucked it in because of the parents. Loved the children, but being the only male pre school teacher he was hit on more than he really cared. He had 5 years of literally bumming about wandering through NZ, Vietnam and Cambodia. Then at age 30 he turned up in Darwin. He was at rock bottom. 12 months later, he has a girl friend, he is back teaching, he has really got his act together and importantly is happy. Perhaps its what happens in your 30s now? All the best for the future. Do visit Bali. Touristy, but an amazing culture.

This town seems to have a mayor and a sherif each with death wishes! Intriguing end...looking forward to the resolution...

I am writing here as not sure where to post. Hope that your quiet, Mr Arbour, is not a sign that things not going well. Given the "upgrade" (i seem to be one of the v few that's not a fan!), I thought that i may have missed something. Anyway, hope all is well and we get to hear more from either story (tho' Grainger is my favourite). All the best A

I would suport what seems to be the majority and go for the legal option, using it to "encourage" some of the town heirachy that gay is normal, but that self defence works. I would image that there will be an attempt by certain memebers of the town to sugest this demonstrates the evilness of being gay. I will admit the peeing in the showed scene; if they never do that again, it wil be still once too often for me. I am just so vanilla!?

Bubba Junior! But "BJ"? Really? I think I'd have another go at an acronym! Also while i fully understand the desire for retribution re the car accident, the bloke through his own stupidity and recklessness lost his wife, too, AND he has the civil suit. 17 years seems harsh, when he has his entire life without his beloved... Perhaps im just a liberal softey... The island sounds great. Perfect get away place. Thanks, enjoying this.

Do we get to see the pictures?

I am liking the story, and the realtionship between the two men coping with a young child does add a twist. In my own case i had two boys in their early teens; so many very strage conversations. Re guns. I grew up in the country, on a property where we had one gun, solely used to put down injured animals. The entire casualisation of guns, their use, the way they are talked about i find very distressing. To me they are a sign of a failing society. As mentioned in the story, people carry guns because law enforcement are so understaffed and under resourced people have an irrational belief that the only solution is to carry. This is a direct consequence of suppoting political candidates who regard the government as the problem and not part of the civilisation we live in and thrive in. Stories like this make me quite sad. Primarily as an indicator of the way some places are heading; the ultimate end of "society" and the moved towards a failed state. Rant over.

Smart move re decorations. Gives the child something to focus on rather than any loss. The genrosity of strangers and or acquaintances at times like these is always amazing. And it truly in in my experience in smal towns what goes around comes around. Disappointed they are going ro Walmart...i have a completely irrational hatred of that place.

Fumbling with a heifer... not a pretty sight! I did think the ball play would be about soccer... v glad it wasn't!

Great resolution to cliffy. Bit concerned by Jeffs "bear hands"; they would add an edge to sex.... I know its fiction, but great to see real firearm security treated as normal (key to gunsafe in a seperate safe). The bumbling firechief. In every small town there is always the idiot senior official who keeps their job because of who they married, who they are related to or who they sleep with! Looking forward to him getting his comuppance.

Loved the policeman scene, cliffy's...hmmmm, if its going to be that sort of story, i am glad i came late (to the story!).