Dodger

The Cobourg Yacht Club is a little pretentious. There's more to it than simply sailing which doesn't really interest Don as much as having a boat in the harbour. He wouldn't be happy with a dingy. As for the kids, well, I imagine most teenagers would be lured by the prospect of having their own sailboat, especially in a place like Cobourg. Don even managed to bribe Robbie, who was equally excited and admits to being just as shallow as Nicola and Daniel. Matthew predicament shows another side of him though and perhaps a growing maturity. So far, he's probably done the right thing by thinking it through and not telling anyone else. He's a good guy at heart and will want to help the kid without putting him in danger, but at the moment he hasn't got a plan.

Glad you weren’t late for work @Gary Land I'm pleased you enjoyed the chapter.

Yes, March 2011, but Robbie is still 16 until September. Cobourg is a town I visit quite often. It's a very friendly and vibrant community especially in the summer. The beach and harbour provided the perfect setting for this story and I know the places well enough to be able to write about them fairly accurately from memory, which helps. The school, of course, is fictitious, as are the various road names where the characters live and Don's church. In the story, Nathan's family come from Ottawa.

I think Robbie knows how important it is for him to keep this secret until he can talk to Matthew again.

Conversion therapy was still legal at the time but not Symmonds' version.

Symmonds is definitely not a nice guy.

I'm not sure if Robbie has a plan at the moment, other than to talk to Matthew and try to persuade him to tell someone like Jo. I think he will try to avoid the pastor and Symmonds as much as he can.

I think Robbie called it right when he accused Symmonds of trying to get him into trouble. Symmonds was annoyed at the time because Robbie refused his help. We know that Don and Symmonds are like-minded in many ways although I'm not sure if Don would condone the counsellor's tactics.

I feel for both men in different ways. Five years is a long time, especially back then. They probably didn't live anywhere near as long as we do nowadays. I know they're both young, but Boone is right to think of himself. He can't afford to lose another five years treading water. Maybe Coy will be able to understand his feelings. It would have been difficult to get advice in those days without counsellors, television shows, movies, magazines, and the internet.

Fifty-seven thousand dollars sounded like a lot of money to me, but that was the cost of Don’s new floating man-toy, and apparently, he got it cheap. The soon to be re-named ‘Elizabeth’s Legacy’, however, wasn’t quite the boat that he showed me in the glossy catalogue, but an earlier version of the same model. Don insisted that fifteen years was still relatively new for a sailboat, and on Monday morning, he took Daniel and me to the Cobourg Yacht Club to inspect his proud acquisition. It wa

My football soccer team has had the worst start in it's history, but the Blue Jays are breaking records.

Honesty is the best policy and so it proved in this chapter. I like Sheriff Willard. He's a cagey character but a good man. I'm pleased to see Boone and Coy rewarded, but how will this affect Boones plans?

Boone is a good man and it's going to hurt him to leave his friend, but I understand his reasons. So far, I can't see any other solution. Normally, i would say get it over with as soon as possible, but in this case, I'm pleased he's taking his time. Perhaps I'm hoping Coy will start to see Boone in a different light. I can see how the right choice of words in the dialogue is so important in this story, and you've done an excellent job. I'm no expert, of course, and it's not a genre that usually appeals to me, but this is an enjoyable read that demands my attention. I'm so impressed, Gary. Well done.

Glad to see Coy is a lot more understanding and accepting of his brother's fate now that he's sober. It's a shame so many tents have to be taken down because of one bad man.

I'm not surprised Boone didn't trust Will. He was a thoroughly nasty piece of work who met a fitting end. Shot in the back after shooting the two old men in the back for their gold. They were violent times and I like the way you use the dialogue to remind the reader that incidents such as these were not unusual. In the story notes you mention you did a lot of research and that's the impression I got from reading the first chapter, even though I'm not familiar with the wild west or American history before the first world war. I enjoy history and often wonder what it would have been like for gay people in earlier times. I imagine it wouldn't have been easy in the period and place where your story is set and I'm glad I wasn't there. I can see you put a lot of work into this, Gary. I'm glad it's been well-received.

I call it autumn too, but that's because English is my first language. It's still summer here in Ontario. Sorry Steve, I couldn't find anything suitable for under $5000.

The pastor's been around a long time and he thinks he can convince Robbie to change. Unless he has a few tricks up his sleeve, he will have his work cut out.

I think Robbie's doing the right thing, providing he keeps the pastor to his word and doesn't allow himself to be coerced into something unexpected and provided it has nothing to do with Symmonds.

I'm not sure about Don, but the pastor may enjoy such a show.

Sorry, Steve, but eventually there has to be an ending, and this is the beginning of it.

The pastor will try to convert Robbie for sure. Robbie know this, but he's confident with his sexuality and probably not as vulnerable as the pastor expects. Don is more difficult to predict and not easily fooled. It's entirely possible that he's aware of what's going on.

Robbie has benefitted enormously from Jo's therapy and advice. He's confident and knows what he wants to do with his life. The pastor won't have it easy if he thinks he can talk him into going straight, but will try his best. Maybe he really believes that it's a personal choice.

We know the pastor will do his best to try to convert Robbie, although it's unclear how he intends to do this in just two hours.

If you're good at sport, doors tend to open for you. I'm sure it's the same in the US. Robbie has been incredibly naive in the past, but on this occasion, I'm not so sure. It sounds like a good deal, after all, Robbie needs all the help he can get and the pastor is talking sense. Robbie is comfortable enough with his sexuality to know that there is nothing the pastor can say to him that will make him question it. It's not like he's undecided or open to persuasion, so he has nothing to lose except a couple of hours. We will see how it pans out.

I suspect this person may have a lot of shoes!