Henson

Ummm... The kid is in his mid-teens. He's not even really in high school yet, not really. I had a lot of really incredibly close friends when I was 14. Most of them, I don't even know where they live now. How about y'all let him just date and screw for a while, huh?

I very rarely reply (obviously), but there's much more interesting possibilities in the move up north and the "mean boys" idea than that in itself, and that is an exploration of how Ella and Darius fit into such a storyline. It doesn't speak much at all to the paternity theme, but a look at the relative maturity of Will and Darius, combined with a strong Will locking horns with a newly-bitchy Ella and her crowd, and how that all affects the brothers' relationship, would be much deeper and more interesting than a simple, shallow, teen angst retread plot. Especially with Will as a central character. Strong, confident, independent, volatile, (over)-reactionary - and often right. Watching Darius deal with that as well as having to deal with a girl that is changing for the bad before his eyes, well - there's a story there somewhere. Some here have a habit of jumping to conclusions at the slightest clue. Me? I'm along for the ride. This is a pure escape for me.

I've held off a few weeks before posting this, because I don't want to misinterpreted, and also because I never almost post in this forum, so you don't all know me. Suffice to say that I read both the stories and the forum religiously. One entertains me more than the other... Point of order: This is Mark's story. I like the way he tells it. They are his characters. It is his setting. Our imagination must grow to encompass his reality, not the other way around. Thanks Mark, for giving us a glimpse into a different world. It's a fantastic escape for me - not that my real life is all that bad to begin with. May I never feel possessive enough of your characters or settings that I see myself entitled to speak for/against or denegrate other readers' mental models of them.

First post. Sometimes the forum is more fascinating to read than the story itself. To add to all of this speculation, how about someone from Wade's world? The timing of all of this is interesting, to say the least, and there's plenty of power and money sitting on the east coast, just waiting to stir up trouble...