drsawzall

Great news @Valkyrie, thank goodness my muse was napping and missed the October deadline.....

Brilliant....just loved "Scarlett the Bald"...hopefully she spends the rest of her live servicing hairy-assed trolls....

Why do I get the feeling little Timmy is more than the sum of his parts/existence...He may be something the bitches, I mean the ugly, cackling wart nosed crones, just may fear???

The drift between Will and Joey is becoming very noticeable, even if it is incremental. This little bombshell is very intriguing... You know, if you weren't so busy being a big baby, I would have helped. But anyway, there's this girl in one of my classes. She's so hot—" "Hold up. Aren't you dating Mackenzie?" "It's only been three weeks! We're not married." I'd like to know more about Mackenzie.... And Joey certainly has no shame does he, I seriously suspect he knows all about Will's infatuation and does what he can to string him along...can only imagine if he was wearing baggy, loose shorts....Sounds like those boys need to breathe.... "Hey, Aidan!" he said as he strolled into the living room and dropped into the recliner, legs spread wide, hands on the armrests. I can't wait for the Good Pastor and his wife to visit the "art" gallery, talk about the cat fur flying @Summerabbacat... In other good news, both Killian and Asher appear to have made it back home safely, of course a photo of the car would be helpful...

So true... “Remember when they liked telling that story at the group sessions? The one about ‘how many therapists does it take to change a light bulb’?” Edwin snorted. “But that’s not the point. I think… the real choice isn’t to stay trapped in the guilt. It’s about facing that voice—the one that keeps asking if we could have done better.” The spotted dog turned to me, looking with his good eye. “I think of it as a push forward.” “A push… for what?” I mumbled, unsure if I understood him. “To do better,” Edwin said, a faint smile tugging at his lips.

Jamie, do whatever you need to do to grab that feeling and keep it close to your heart and let it blossom inside of you, let it be your shield!!! After everything, the tension at home, the silence in classrooms, the weight I’d stopped noticing because I’d been carrying it so long, was gone. This felt like breathing again. Not all at once. Not everything is fixed. But a moment. Real and mine. Just maybe, that was enough for today.

What tricks will the evil one be up to, I might want silver bullets for my gun....I suspect she'd like nothing more than to gate crash a party...

Alls well that ends well, at least for this portion of the trip...I am wondering if Marco will follow the boys...

And the wonderful honeymoon comes to an end with the task of buying groceries...as always, life goes on...

The rafting is always fun and there's more to come. Little Clint is certainty a precocious little tyke...

Wow...well that answers some questions and raises a whole bunch more....

Will Zorro ever come across those he saved again?

I have to think this is one of your finest chapters yet...once upon a time, as the youngest of three in a dysfunctional family, can I relate.... "Yeah," I admitted, my voice rougher than I meant it to be. "It hurts. It hurts every time he shuts me down. It hurts every time he tries to force me into the mold he wants me to fit in. It hurts every time my mother tries to defend him. It hurts just being in that house." *************************************** “Like yours.” I said sullenly. “She’s being split between us and she doesn’t know whose side to pick and I’d rather she didn’t have to choose. She doesn’t deserve it. I mean I know she just wants me to be happy. It’s my dad that’s the problem, he’s not happy unless everyone else is miserable. Classic definition of my father.... “What about your mom?” “Like yours.” I said sullenly. “She’s being split between us and she doesn’t know whose side to pick and I’d rather she didn’t have to choose. She doesn’t deserve it. I mean I know she just wants me to be happy. It’s my dad that’s the problem, he’s not happy unless everyone else is miserable. Sometimes it is the smallest of things, the quietest moments in the still of the deep, dark night.. I shifted my weight, careful not to let the futon creak, my knees tucked up close to give me a steadier angle. It wasn’t about getting everything perfect — not tonight. It was about feeling it right. The quietness, the smallness of the moment. The way it made my chest ache in a way I didn’t have words for. When the realization finally incrementally dawns, that just maybe it isn't you who's at fault Instead, it sounded almost like a lullaby. I finally let sleep take me. For once, I didn’t fall asleep bracing for the worst.

I'm late getting to the chapters, so many things I am reading at the moment. One in particular is the March '25 issue of Smithsonian magazine and an article called The Cuneiform Challenge and much like the Rosetta stone, there was a contest to accurately decipher writings 3 to 4 thousand years old. This challenge took place on the 1850's and one factoid stood out to me, an Assyrian account of the flood that swallowed the world. It buttresses the point that @Philippe made in his comment...this account predated the bible by 3-4 thousand years... Now, leaving my nerd soap box aside, who knew there were so many soapboxes..., if I were a betting man based on my prodigious prognostication powers, I would bet the house on Niki having Will's father for lunch at the art gallery, should they ever meet there...

BTW...I have to assume Asher was driving as they made the trip in one piece, that's my story and I am sticking to it...till I see the car in the morning....

Enjoyed this chapter immensely, a perfect way to set up what's to follow.... I feel that both @Summerabbacat and @Philippe made cogent, worthwhile comments....kudos to you both!!!

I'm finding it difficult to have any sympathy for poor old Charles, he's reaping what he sowed.

As long as we don't hear from any dirty sheets.....

It more like he's chewing the table legs, ever so close to the floor....

After reading all the comments, I forgot what the heck i was going to opine on, which means...I got nuthin......

I am finding the following a bit concerning, and is it the proverbial bug in the rug??? The male shopkeeper had hit him with that weapon and, as Ryder had quickly figured out, that sort of thing had been made centuries ago with the sole purpose of injuring an alpha, if not even killing him. Ryder had been lucky that the wielder of the weapon had been a weak human.

Our intrepid author after reading all the various comments....

I wouldn't say that's the right word to describe you. I don't think that word has been invented yet! 🤪 It isn't just one word, but several involving nuns, bicycles, thunderbolts, rampaging penguins dressed up as vikings for starters... More stories to read...I desperately need longer days!!!

And about frigging time.....

I found the following to be very on point.. The warmth of his touch lingered for a moment longer than I expected, and it pulled me out of the fog I hadn’t even realized I was lost in. I wasn’t used to people seeing me like this. Not even Luca, really. It felt too personal, too raw, for someone to reach out in the way he just had. But... it wasn’t just that. There was something in the way he looked at me, not with pity, not with the weight of judgment, just... understanding. A quiet, steady kind of understanding that made me feel like I wasn’t as broken as I sometimes thought. It's not you who are broken.... There was a crease between his eyebrows, small, thoughtful, and the faintest tuck of his bottom lip under his teeth. I watched it for a moment longer than I should have, then set about trying to capture it, to keep it before it vanished. That was always the hardest part: holding on to something fleeting. Sketching wasn’t just about the shape of things. It was about the way something felt in a moment. About catching something real before the world buried it again.