mayday

Ok, but that make-believe world is pretty similar to ours in times gone by (hopefully). Thanks.

In the tags: Mature Fantasy, Romance Complete

Where is fantasy in that? This sounds realistic to me.

you have made me cry with this ending... And yet, let's hope he has learned his lesson and will respect his son.

Hard stuff! Reading how Eric is suffering makes me almost weep for him. I just hope it won't get worse before it gets better.

Our two guys have a lot to work through. Hope they will start talking soon. I thought that Amanda's upcoming wedding might give him a push in the right direction, especially as the last chapter ended with his very real question what he was doing in NY anyway. You have made things even more complicated with this chapter. Hope they'll work through...

Great family scenes. I also loved Eric falling asleep on that couch. Tells me that he feels safe, at home, trusting, trusted. Everything now points to him trying to be with Ryan. I wonder how that will be possible...

You are only too right in that. Your comments reminded me of Bob Dylan's songs Masters of War and Universal soldier. Let's hope that those who are making the decisions right now have a memory of what war means.

What showed him that the war should never be won was what Germans were doing apart from fighting. He only hinted at those atrocities, but we had been taught about that at school and as children we were encouraged to read widely and to ask questions in our family. So we could guess what he might have been referring to when he could not go on. He was the only one I heard about/knew who deserted. But I know that he cannot have been the only one. Your words about duty remind me of Antigone before Creon arguing that his decree - to dehumanize one dead brother - goes against the laws of the Gods, against humanity. I am glad that he left his troops and walked back. I admire him for it. His courage. His willpower. His stamina. His reasons. I admire even more all those wherever in Europe who did their part in resisting an atrocious and inhuman regime. Who hid people, saved their lives, helped them. Knowing full well what they were risking. Doing what was right. Just like your characters in your story.

What do you guess? The one that got defeated in the end. He was in Russia. He would only talk about what he had witnessed when he had drunk too much. And then only in bits. Small bits. But he knew then that such an army could only be defeated. Should be defeated. He deserted. Walked westward until he reached American territory and gave himself up. Almost died of exposure and hunger in the camp. Came home in the end. Sometimes I think that his desertion was when he became himself again. I will write sometime in the future. Thank you for your encouragement.

I remember the stories my grandfather told us about that war, and the time before. What he witnessed. What made him desert and try to get home. How he managed to survive. What kind of people helped him survive. And I remember what our grandmothers told us about life at home. What got you reported, put on lists. Sometimes I wish I had written them down. Maybe I'll find the time and the courage to turn these 'second-hand' memories into stories. maybe...

easy to read, hard to stomach

Now I really want to know how this will go on. I cannot really imagine Andy and Eric getting on after their first disastrous encounter. Eric's disappointment must have been terrible, especially in a man set in his ways who had gone out of his shell this once.

Thank you for a gripping and moving story, which could have been only too true...

Not sure about that... He steps in before he thinks about it. True, he seems very practical about it, but danger nears and he steps in. In between...

"So I did." Brilliant cliff-hanger. Who knows what stopping a shuttle with one stabilizer missing from crushing a crew member involves. Possible, impossible? How much strength do you need if the former. And what does that tell us about Cohen? And if the latter - but he says "I did". so not impossible. We know now that he does not want anybody crushed if he can help it. Will that reassure him about himself? (Him? Her? does it even matter?)

What a difference one word makes! Your last line blew me away. How you emerge from bitterness and the past ... may your present and future be all the brighter.

I love "beacon". It speaks to me. Has moved me to tears. Especially the last line, but even more the last two words.Thank you for sharing.

The only problems I have with your chapters, Cia, is that they are so short... you make it difficult to wait patiently for your next one.

You seem to know what you are writing about. In the village where I grew up who was being abused was common knowledge. I remember one mother taking her daughter with her into the marital bed and putting her in the middle in the hope this would deter her husband from abusing her. It did not. But with the taboo you mention preventing it, men or older boys never reveal what they suffer...

It's so well written it hurts...

Skilful - I had already written the word skilful and meant it - when I looked again at the very last line. And I noticed that it jarred - don't know why. Is it 'must' (at least over here snow is not the norm in winter any longer) or the simply that the verb is pushed to the end of the line? I do not know. But I know this: There is this memory of bright autumn leaves, the sight of the squirrel and other little creatures, then the background of browns, different hues in fading light, the light sounds of small animals moving and one of us, too, watching before winter is coming. And man - you - there combining random impressions to a picture that makes sense - your environment, your views of nature (so typically human), your trying to spot what you expect - and finally - something remote from your personal experience, something different and I sense some loss there - as if you yourself were gone from that part. I have looked again at the last lines: It is the creatures that must roam and prepare, not us. Winter is coming anyway, for them. we are warm and safe. I keep adding my own thoughts. You are simply too evocative in your poems. I love how the rhyme weaves its way through the stanzas.

what it means to me? I see a dance of stars and moons before me - revolving around each other, getting closer - moving away from each other like lovers, like people we meet in life I see attraction and feelings at work which get in the way (I am not sure I am saying this right) which draw us apart and hurt us And I do know that knowing about one another does not always help, sometimes it is more of a curse than a blessing.

only by not coming together can we see each other's light and recognize our existence - I am not sure if your wonderful lines are about love or life or both - but thank you

thank you for writing about healing which sounds so real, so convincing - the only problem I have with this chapter that reading it is over soooo soon.