Timothy M.

I usually do, but if the prologue is very short I may skip it and read it later. Or if it's info like character names I'll use it later to remind me who's who.

That'll teach him to make his own lunch from now on, and to not play cruel jokes, April 1st or not. What happened to the poor spider ?

I'm glad Frankie managed to re-educate one silly, bigoted Indian. But for both of them it's better their meeting stays a fond memory.

By the way, I noticed the Russian ships were made from pine as I expected. And I'm curious about the the Russian prisoners from the merchant ships. Were they released and taken back to the frigate ? If most of the officers had been killed, they might have needed those men to sail the ship. And surely Granger isn't keen on carting them around or having them with him when he reaches Russia? But I suppose he can hand them over to a Danish ship when he gets to Øresund.

Please don't listen, Mark. I thoroughly enjoy Granger's exploits with handsome charming men.

Of course not. But wouldn't you be sorry if I stopped speculating ?

If it stays on the market long enough for Mason to notice and explain the need of buying to his parents.

I hope Granger will explain his decision about the frigate to Weston at some point. I know he doesn't have to, but he's usually good about letting his officers know these matters. Daventry was a good friend and ally in explaining the problem, and Captain McDougal was nicely rewarded for his candor about the Russian navy.

I'm glad I know you're already ahead with writing the story, and you'd never go back and change anything, just because we've made an educated guess. Right ?

Uhm, Mason will be in Sydney, while the Leopards are in Melbourne. So the only Leopards he'll meet at first are Deon, Clarissa, Neil and Liam. Unless the Mardi Gras parade is the time and place they meet, but even so he won't see Ben there, and Ross already has a boyfriend. But I agree it will be interesting to find out how he'll 'fit into the whole Leopards extended family.'

We have exactly the same system in Denmark. When I went to university, the minimum scores required for each course were posted in the three main daily papers, but today they're posted online of course. Back then you got a physical letter of acceptance, but now it arrives electronically in your official digital letter box (all Danes have to have one, unless they get an exemption). Anyway, on the crucial day back then, I was at my grandmother's, and I looked in the morning paper and exclaimed: "Yay, I've gotten into university." My English cousins, who were visiting, stared at me in confusion. "Why do they mention you in the paper?" It took a while to explain I knew because my score was higher than the one required. A little later my parents called and told me a letter had arrived and they were slightly confused at my casual reply: "Yeah, I know. I got in."

Well, I hope Pedro and his cousin get José killed or thrown in jail. That would solve one of Mason's problems nicely. Not enough to come home, but at least he won't have to worry about a killer turning up. Not that he does now, since his parents foolishly kept it from him. Which is why he blabs the story to the first sympathetic bartender, not knowing if he has ties to organized crime. But I hope he had a nice time with Dexter after midnight, assuming he wasn't too drunk to perform. I'm hoping you're slowly setting us up for Mason sharing a place with Deon and Kevin, although he may not want to, since he doesn't know whether they'll be in Sydney for more than a couple of years. Although I doubt Kevin will want to leave Daphne even if the Sydney swans won't prolong his contract. As for Ben, I bet both his father and uncle were abused in that school, and Ben's father feels guilt over not protecting his younger brother. Or perhaps the brother tried to tell him he was gay, and when Ben's father turned on him for being perverted, he killed himself. If so, he might not make the same mistake with Ben.

I noticed as well. I'm assuming Jon hadn't finished editing, because there's also problems with line spacing in the flashback. so maybe next time wait till the boss says Go. At least, Brady now knows Ember is jealous, or he would if he stopped to think about it. Also, Ember did them all a favor by getting rid of Mickey. Has Brady found out about his son telling Ember about the crush ?

Much better - he got the confirmation he needed to kick Darren out and focus on getting his business back on track.

Ethan needs to listen to his instincts and break up with Darren.

Poor Buddy, Andy and aunt Mavis are spilling all his sad secrets to Kyle and his father. He's gonna be mortified when he wakes up. On the other hand, he might also get some help and a boyfriend, although Kyle seems to be more attracted to Andre. I'm glad he revealed the lack of support in the school for gay kids. Kyle's parents will come down on them like a ton of bricks.

Nice, tidy solution and I'm glad Frankie and Prudence have confirmed their friendship and trust in each other.

I always find it interesting how most people think the deal breaker in cheating is when you have sex with someone else. As far as I understand relationships can survive one mistake of casual sex, but they can never survive one part getting emotionally attached to someone else. If Eric had done what he admitted he should - broken off the engagement with Brian before he had sex with Jamie - then all the blame for the break-up would have fallen squarely on Brian's shoulders. But the damage was done long before Eric got physically intimate with the person who took an interest in him. Eric was an idiot for being caught having sex with Jamie, but mostly because it prevented Brian from understanding the real reason their relationship was destroyed. The physical cheating was a symptom, not the cause, and I do not feel sorry for Brian, who put Eric through months of slow torture as he felt his love and hopes die. Cheating is what happens when you become intimately engaged with other people but intend to keep going in your current relationship for the advantages it offers. Eric wasn't cheating as much as being a coward in telling Brian their relationship was over. He should have done, and he knew it and admitted it. For that I blame him, but it was still Brian who destroyed the love, and he should feel guilty about that.

I have faith in Frankie's ability to handle whatever happens.

Great questions and wonderful answers. Thanks for putting this together, Carlos. Now you made me late for work, because I had to read it immediately.

We had a similar case in Denmark last year where a doctor saw an interview with a man and recognized symptoms of a benign brain tumor causing acromegaly. He also contacted him on Facebook to ask questions and propose a possible diagnosis. Three other doctors also contacted him with the same idea.

If you make a terrible mistake, do you deserve a second chance ? Maybe if you atone, make amends and try to do better, but how do you know if you've changed enough ? In spite of the sadness in this story, there are tender moments and rays of hope in the blizzard of fear and painful memories. As the chapter comments show, this is a tale which provokes a lot of thought in readers.

Reading all the comments on the story makes me think Ivan and Dana will have a better chance of friendship and more, if they're not living together. Dana needs to have his own space where he's safe and if he's a guest, Ivan can probably steer clear of most problematic behavior.

I suck at coming up with chapter titles, but I always have them in my ongoing stories, because I dislike coming back to my favorite stories (by other authors) and being unable to find the chapter I want to read again which is what happens if they just have chapter numbers. You should check out the stories and ask the advice of two GA masters at chapter titles : @AC Benus and Gary aka @Headstall

I'm always happy to see confirmation of LGBTQ+ equal rights. Same-sex spouses have EU residence rights, top court rules (I asked before posting this link, and Graeme says to remind you that any discussion of politics related to this story has to take place in the Pit.)