mayday

I guess Kent needs to experience helplessness outside military service to accept help. Help offered in such a selfless way. The brothers give him what he needs. I am glad he is able to allow them in.

The ending is promising. I am relieved for Kent and glad for his new friends. Great story!

A moving and very well-written story about two boys, one shy and one self-confident, great friends. It is about being there for each other, caring for each other, especially when help is needed. And it is about learning about oneself, one's strengths and interest - even when that leads to opposing people we love. Well worth reading and absolutely edifying.

Light and dark are both present in this chapter. Cliffhangers - not my favourite... I love the beautiful scenes between the boys.

Great story to read! Thanks for sharing. I guess that this is the first time Kent really opened up to anyone. A sliver of light coming in through the crack...

I can't remember ever reading scenes which depict PTSD so vividly and close to me... I hope Kent will find a reality worth living for soon. Maybe the relatives will make him face a different sort of battle. But we know one of his strengths is reading a room. He will shine in the end. Not only for his beloved brother.

Thank you, Tony S., for this great story. Not an easy one to read, that's true, but well worth it. What would interest me is how somebody like Stephen was raised. I could not imagine him ever to change in his righteousness. Until Susan stood up to him at the hospital. That he could become humble and change has moved me deeply. That he had no idea what he was doing to Kitt long before he threw him out was obvious. I was also deeply impressed with Kitt, what this sheltered and suppressed teenager managed to survive and with his courage. A great story!

Stephen has come a long way. Matt's elation was a joy to feel. How lucky he is to have parents like his...

What a great chapter! The eye opener at the park, Mateo, the best friend to have, and finally the lake. Their own place. Thank you for sharing!

Mateo is a friend. The best, reliable. Matt is more. There is no competition. It is up to Kitt. And we know who he loves.

True example of mercy, to write a postcard in order to ease the parents' minds. How generous and loving of Kitt. Interestingly, he sends it to his parents, who get that their son's love does not come with conditions. Matt Kitt is sure of. Mateo is a hoot. Gets me back down to earth when tragic memories strike. Has Stephen ever laughed at himself? A B+? What an aberration from the straight and the narrow... Kitt has outgrown his parents. When he returns he will do so out of his free will, not to fulfill an obligation. He will be his own agent. Independent. Free of his parents' stifling expectations. If he hadn't run - would he ever have learned to break free? But what a price to pay? His generosity has rightly shamed Stephen to the core...

Stephen has impressed me. Not everyone is capable of admitting to being wrong, especially so completely and utterly wrong and cruel. Better late than never. The young men won't blindly forgive him. But now there is a chance for a good ending. I think Stephen needs to show that he is changing and needs to act on this change. Helping others who need help. Otherwise there can be no real trust...

A mere coincidence. I agree wirh weinerdog completely unexpected. Now we have read how deep Stephen has hurt his son by reducing his son's goals to match his expectations exclusively. Kitt had nothing left, when he ran, nothing but what he had been forbidden - Matt and his feelings for his only friend - and the conviction that he must not destroy Matt. It is even worse than I had feared. Kitt still is his father's son. I had hoped he would learn to be himself know. He had even started to remember his education.

It is very easy to judge characters from our readers' distance. Kitt's indoctrination cannot disappear simply because he is not at home anymore. He still considers his father's reaction normal and expects Matt to face the same when he confesses his feelings for Kitt. We know he won't but Kitt does not. Kitt needs to learn to be himself and to accept his feelings. But let's not forget that he first had to ensure his basic needs were met: shelter, food, safety. He has done so now, but his situation is still precarious, very much so. And he is still dependent on Javier, Tom and Mateo. He is not a free agent.

Finally, Kitt has a chance to see Matt as he is. The one he loves. Too deeply to hurt him. But Matt was hurt anyway. Will Stephen ever realise what he has done? How dictatorial and oppressive he has been? I cannot believe so. Yes, this story moves painfully slowly. But now I feel that is exactly as it should be. Kitt's loneliness will feel the same, long, no real chance of ending, of changing into something better, something he dares not hope for. After all he does not want to drag his friend into it. Kitt still lives in the confines his father has set up for him. And to me it seems now that Stephen has only ever seen that cage but never the person within. Tom gives him something he has never had: the freedom to find out for himself what he wants. And he gives him time to do so. No pressure. Most of us take that for granted. Kitt has hardly an idea what freedom is.

What a contrast to the last chapter! Beautiful ending to a heart wrenching and great story. Thank you for sharing such superb writing.

Camille has put her son first. We all know that she should have done it 16 years earlier, but hindsight does not mean she knew then. I am impressedby her selflessness. All three of them will have to adjust and learn.

It is easy to see what to do about a bad situation looking from afar. Being part of a situation is a completely different matter.

Great story! Thanks for sharing. Has it always been the same? The chosen versus the rest. Superstituon and faith versus knowledge and science. Self-righteousness versus logic and wisdom.

Great chapter. A lot of things happening. Like everyone I could not get over the shock of Ty's proposal. But now he makes more sense to me. Laying everything out there like that is daring. But he opened himself up to Lonnie, first explaining, then trying very carefully to gain his trust and affection. Leo - to me - seems real enough in the sense that people we love are still with and within us once they have gone forever. It takes time for their presence to fade. To Lonnie Leo is real. So what?

No, Matt has not given up. He has started to build a future for Kitt to share.

I did not expect Stephen's pastor to counsel him towards love. Stephen must be a loner, an isolated entity with his own brand of faith, to expect validation from his pastor. Has he never listened to a sermon by his pastor or is Pastor Greene insincere? Doubt the latter very much. I do not condone Susan's passivity. But I understand it to a degree. She must have been raised to submit to her husband in everything. She stays at home - we never see any of them outside, at work, at church meetings. She seems without friends. Isolated. I know I am filling gaps the author left on purpose unfilled. But to me it seems that Susan's refusal to acknowledge her husband's role as the head of the family as to the dynamics between the three is her only way of dealing. Banning him from their bed, denying him any affection or acknowledgement may not seem much to someone who has always been self-sufficient and autonomous in one's decisions. I wish she had gone to get Matt's help. Anyone's help. Earlier. But it is not my decision.

I did not expect Stephen's pastor to counsel him towards love. Stephen must be a loner, an isolated entity with his own brand of faith, to expect validation from his pastor. Has he never listened to a sermon by his pastor or is Pastor Greene insincere? Doubt the latter very much. I do not condone Susan's passivity. But I understand it to a degree. She must have been raised to submit to her husband in everything. She stays at home - we never see any of them outside, at work, at church meetings. She seems without friends. Isolated. I know I am filling gaps the author left on purpose unfilled. But to me it seems that Susan's refusal to acknowledge her husband's role as the head of the family as to the dynamics between the three is her only way of dealing. Banning him from their bed, denying him any affection or acknowledgement may not seem much to someone who has always been self-sufficient and autonomous in one's decisions. I wish she had gone to get Matt's help. Anyone's help.

To me, that came out of the blue. I do not know Ty well enough to judge his proposing this way. Without preamble. In their first ever private talk. But maybe ambush-like tactic is the only way Lonnie would accept anything at all, being just friends, moving forward - whatever without retteating back into his shell of memory, grieving and dealing with it. I do not know what to think, nor what to wish for....

Can't say it better than Cane 23. Beautifully rendered.