Low Flyer

It just doesn't make sense - if they're bothered by the medics spreading gossip then the story will get out no matter what name is attached to it. How many teenagers have struggled across the Southern Ocean in a jury-rigged and stripped-out catamaran recently? Attention will be garnered no matter who's involved. Surely Trevor has insurance to cover this - he regularly travels outwith the US on his charters so must have considered the possibility of needing medical treatment. I don't know how American health insurance works but doesn't it offer any cover abroad? You'd have thought it would - US health costs are probably the highest in the world so if their policy holders can conveniently get ill overseas, it'll save the companies money. But it raises another thought in my mind - between them, I wonder if George and Sanchez don't have the wherewithal to track Trevor down via his insurance company. It can't be impossible to figure out which company it is and George could probably get a court order in connection with the other ongoing cases to release the information. Sanchez' lot could probably just break in and steal it. What a pity - I was hoping Kline had been hit by a road train. Are you saying that you're going to tie this lot up in two more chapters????

Oh dear - getting closer indeed. I'm not at all convinced that pretending to be Shane is a good idea. There's the legal aspect of insurance fraud but, as Shane pointed out, folk in Carnarvon know him - the subterfuge won't last 5 minutes. I really don't think there's much chance of a GP or a psychiatrist leaking details of a patient to the press. The nurses did it inadvertently, but I can't see any medical professional doing it in the circumstances that Trevor's in. Maybe I'm just being naïf though. Let's hope Bridget and George allow themselves to be fooled, but I think they'll go with the obvious answer. We'll see how good the WA police are when Sanchez' friends come a-calling. Oh, by the way, the link at the bottom of the chapter to this forum actually links to a map... Obviously just another device by the goat to increase tension!

Never feel you have to apologise for posting early... You can post the whole of the rest of the story right now if you want, as far as I'm concerned. “We’ve got to go through with the meeting with Trev’s dad, I guess,” Joel said, his eyes glazing over for a moment as something clicked, and a vague thought began to nag at the back of his mind as they made their way to the food court. I don't suppose there's any chance that that thought is about how everything they say in Bridget's guesthouse seems to get Trevor into trouble. I guess there isn't enough evidence to make that connection yet if you don't know everything we know. I wonder if there's even enough evidence to make Henry and/or Gonzales think about checking the guest house for bugs. If they do, and presuming that they find one, they have to tell Lisa and Joel. Yes, they'll be devastated but, until the bug is found, information is just haemorrhaging to Bridget and George. Since Joel has now (albeit unwittingly) told Bridget that Trevor is in Carnarvon, it should take Sanchez' man about 5 minutes to find Trevor. Not sure how CJ's going to get out of that. Maybe the psychiatrist in Carnarvon will refer him to Perth, or even Sydney for further treatment...? One can but hope. I don't know anything about psychiatry but it seems unlikely. Or maybe Trevor will decide to go down to Perth to look for his relatives. It's not New York, but the chances of hiding in Perth are vastly greater than those in Carnarvon. It doesn't help that that reporter is determined to do his bit in getting Trever killed. Oh CJ, you leave us with even more questions, as usual. And yet you still maintain that you can sort it all out in less than 22 chapters.

Sorry to drag up an old topic, but, gotta love the Danes: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13536479

OK, granted, but Shane says, "you like guys, I like girls" or words to that effect. Why would he lie about it at this juncture? I'm not saying it's impossible (of course it's possible) but it does seem odd. And that's not a cliff hanger...?

Good chapter - it's nice that Shane and Trevor can be closer to each other now that his being gay is out in the open. Pity that Shane's straight, but that was always likely. It seems that Shane seems to be pretty clued up about the possible after effects of Trevor's adventures - I wonder if the Flying Doctor Service does psychological counselling. Oh, and another secret's out too. We now know that CJ's goat persona is just a ruse. The guy writing Trevor's story is a blond Australian hunk...

I just hope they're all still alive to go through the forehead-slapping moment...

Oh for heaven's sake!!! How long are you going to keep us hanging on for Trevor (or Shane, come to that) to go beyond flirting? I see in your signature that some fellow called Low Flyer reckons you don't use cliff hangers; well, he clearly doesn't have a clue what he's on about! Good chapter, otherwise. Getting on for a year ago I spent three days crossing Australia on a train and it became a standing joke that we never saw any kangaroos despite assurances that they were very common. It wasn't until the third morning that we saw any at all. The Australian Tourist Board may or may not be covering up kangaroos' bloodthirsty nature, but I was beginning to think they'd invented the entire species for their marketing campaign.

I'm beginning to hate the journalists as much as Bridget and George. What is it that makes him think he's got the right to write a story which Trevor quite obviously doesn't want told? I realise he gets paid for it, but something's given him the idea that his salary is more important than Trevor's privacy. Were Trevor a public figure then there might be a reason, but in this case it's nobody's business. How much longer is CJ going to keep us hanging on about the Shane/Trevor situation (or non-situation)?

Speak for yourself! Pure as the driven snow, me!

For those of not familiar with US car rules, can you expand that a little? After Bridget handed over the cash, didn't Joel go and get the papers and sign them over to her there and then?

I read (or heard, can't remember now) that some huge percentage of American money is tainted with cocaine. People use the notes for the drugs and then the traces get passed from one note to the other. That said, a couple of senior high school kids are in the prime group for suspicion and Bridget is a model citizen (well, outwardly, at least). Who's going to be believed?

Or, just possibly, by standing between Trevor and the sun, Shane could do all the ogling that he wanted safe in the knowledge that Trev wouldn't be able to see what he was looking at. I think it's more likely that Bridget wants Joel and Lisa to have a large amount of money that they can't account for - nobody will believe that they got it for a wreck of a car. If someone's already planted the suspicion of drug dealing (or planted evidence of such) then it will more likely be taken to be the result of that.

So, despite all your claims about not using cliff hangers, you're even introducing them on the forum...?

Oh come on, CJ, do you really expect us to believe that...

LOL So now we know why you're wearing sunglasses in your pic...

I'm with Colin - a pretty good chapter. I'm so jealous of the boys getting to sail around such an amazing place and basically do whatever they want. Of course, getting to do it in the company of a real hunk who can't keep a shirt on is just the icing on the cake... And no worries at this point about the reporter, the assassin, the drug dealers or any of those nasty people. Trevor's right, of course, about telling Shane before Joel comes aboard - there's no chance of keeping his sexuality a secret then. I'm trying to remember being 18 again and it did seem like the biggest secret ever so I guess I sympathise with him. It's not as if they can just avoid each other if things go badly. On the other hand, I managed to live well into my 20's without telling anyone - wasted years they seem to me now, but it is possible.

The one time I visited Australia, I had loads of pies - they seem to be ubiquitous. The idea of floating one in pea soup sounds delicious to me... Surely common sense will prevail if the idea of using Kookaburra to search for Ares is ever resurrected. Even if the insurance company were paying for the charter, it's got to be cheaper, and would certainly be vastly simpler, just to fly back to Florida and rent another boat - and preferably one with powerful enough engines. The idea of sailing getting on for half-way round the world just so that he can use a boat similar to Atlantis but which is inadequate to the task is plain daft! Yes, it's quite possible that Shane just fancies the idea of spending a few weeks alone with Trevor (though I still maintain that there's nothing so far in the story to indicate that) but there'd be nothing to stop him flying over to the US as well - assuming that the terrible crimes that the Carnarvon folk accuse him of don't prevent him getting a visa. Oh and, by the way, that reporter is bad news. Even if it takes him a few days to break the story, Sanchez has got weeks, if not months, to catch up with Trevor while he's still in Australia. We've no reason to believe he's an evil person and might be open to being persuaded to delay his story if someone realises what he's up to and can get to him in time. I didn't mention this before because the reporter bit at the end of the chapter seems to end at a moment that could, conceivably be called a cliff hanger but that can't be true because CJ doesn't use cliff hangers - I read that on the internet, so it must be true, mustn't it?

The Great Australian Bight is the huge bay that takes up most of the south side of Australia from the south-western corner to at least Adelaide. On other matters, the chances of Shane being gay seem ever slimmer - the previous girlfriend could just have been an attempt to ignore his feelings, or she could be a purely invented story, but why would Shane go to such lengths? Oh, and I'll bow to Graeme's greater local knowledge, but I thought a pie floater was a pie floating in gravy. One lives and learns.

That's OK - you take all the time you need. We'll be patient. On a completely unrelated matter, CJ, do you happen to have contact details for that Sanchez fellow in the story?

I bet it's not as nervous as I'd be... I still don't think we've any justification, other than our own preconception, to suppose that Shane is flirting with Trevor. It's not impossible but I don't think anything in the tale has given us anything concrete. It's possible that any drugs planted in Joel and Lisa's luggage would be found by sniffer dogs before departing the US, but that wouldn't really help them - the Americans aren't exactly known for their tolerant attitudes in this area any more than the Australians. In either event, they'd be out of the way for a good wee while. Their protestations of innocence might be easier to verify in the States, but they might well still fall on deaf ears. That journalist bothers me. With a bit of luck the coastguards might catch on to him and, by letting him in on the whole story, persuade him that it's a really bad idea for Trevor's whereabouts to be broadcast. It surely seems likely, though, that the rumours in Carnarvon will have made their way sufficiently into the public domain for Sanchez to hear about them independently. I mean, does no-one in the town blog? Oh and, incidentally, the key lime pie thing - google returns more than half a million hits for a recipe. Mrs Fowler might just like limes - there's no reason to suppose that she has any connection to Florida far less that she's Trev's mum. I mean, the speculation is fun an' all, but speculation is all it is.

Wow - some family's not feeling the recession obviously. What a cool room. For a six-year-old, that kid's got some seriously heavyweight-looking books on his shelves.

Well, now we've had chapter 67 and I, for one, am glad that you didn't break the chapter in the middle. That said, the tension was probably lower than some of the places where you did leave us hanging... It was good to get the whole story of the plot to foil the press in one go, though I notice that you still managed to leave us with a cliffhanger hook for the following chapter. My vote is for longer chapters with you doing your best not to make us wait too long between them. I'm sure we can trust you - goats are trustworthy animals, aren't they?

Didn't the boatbuilder say that he'd have to order in a lot of the fittings? Surely the first few weeks are going to be pretty basic stuff - making her watertight again and beginning the process of reinstalling plumbing and electric lines. I don't see why Trevor has to be there for that. Even if he could vanish for a fortnight or so, the press would probably go elsewhere. It would have the fringe benefit of upsetting Sanchez's hired gun as well, but I don't suppose Trevor has any reason to realise that.

Of course it would be good if someone found the bug in the guest house but, at this stage, there's no earthly reason why anyone would go looking for one. Joel and Lisa are totally convinced that Bridget's on their side and whiter than white. They have no idea that they've been bugged and no reason to be suspicious. Neither does anyone else, as far as I can see. I really don't see how CJ's going to get round the bug. Even when/if suspicion falls on Bridget (from Lisa and Joel), it just doesn't seem likely that they'd think of it - I mean, surely that's not a possibility that normal people consider. BUT, as long the bug's there, it's going to be impossible for Trevor to keep anything secret from Sanchez. I doubt there'll be a gun on the Kookaburra - outwith the US most people don't really think about buying guns for private use, even assuming that that would be legal. Trevor's best bet, now that he knows that the press are on to him, would be to give the boatbuilder enough to get him started and then vanish into one of the big cities - Melbourne or Sydney, for example.