Carlos Hazday

Loved the story and I was honored Parker asked me to beta read for him. As soon as I get my crap together, I'll write a proper review. Great writing and storytelling my friend! And thanks for the shout out!

What? Another story with skiing in Colorado? I swear I didn't plagiarize! LOL Someone started a thread about Anzac and I posted a picture on it. I was in Sydney for the celebrations in 2009 and thoroughly enjoyed talking to a bunch of veterans. I kept Brett's reaction low-key on purpose. He was surounded by a bunch of high school students and felt he would try to control his temper because of them. As for the politics, it's all similar crap no matter where we live. Unfortunately, they are a fact of life and what politicians do affct all of us whether we like it or not. CJ may still be a bit naive about the shenannigans but I have a feeling he'll get a quick education if he becomes actively involved in any of the campaigns. Thanks for reading, for the praise, and for commenting!

Anzac Day Parade New Hyde Park, Sydney, NSW, Australia April 2009

So, was what enventually happened with the younger set match your vision? LOL

Almost two years after you wrote this, I marvel at how you zeroed in on what was coming. The cief did try to pour oil on the roiling waters and bent over backwards to make his problem go away. And the second encounter with Francis Kennedy took a long time to come bout but in the end it went down pretty much like you expected!

Thanks, Jeff- CJ did something special for each of his friends 18th birthdays so I had to top when it came to his. That's why I started setting the stage for the trip by having CJ discover Brett owned a place in Colorado and complaining the dads hadn't told him about it!

LOL I actually had thought about one of them breaking a bone but then decided it was forced drama! Hell, I thought the same thing when I wrote about them white water rafting. I'm itching to have someone brak a boke and end up with a cast! Last time that happened was after Brett's helicopter crash at the end of Spring.

You want Harley to get laid. Okay, let's see what I can do about it.

LOL- I'm keeping Trump as far away from the story as possible for now. The jokes are just too easy!

Thanks, BA! Clinton's recommendation wasn't something CJ went looking for. He asked Robbie to do it and Mook suggested the President instead. Further proof the 'old boys network" is alive and well. The kid's building his own network and he'll eventually learn some of them can help open doors. At Thiago's suggestion, The GSA at Walls held a similar event the previous year at Arlington Cemetery. I thought since Brett was a marine, CJ would use his influence to hold the ceremony at the Marine War Memorial.

You do remember there's a minimum age to run for President, right Def? CJ's 18 and he would have to be 35 to run. But I guarantee you he'll be back at the WH soon anyway. Like in the next chapter? Are you getting Sean in trouble again? Did I see you perched on a stool at the end of the bar last night while he worked at PRIME? I want Ritchie to have his own personality; he'll never be as aggressive or outspoken as CJ but living with his brother and the dads the kid has to learn how to keep up or he'll get lest in the shuffle. The next two chapters will give us a glimpse at how he's doing in that respect. If you ask me, Thiago needs to forget about that woman and come over to our side. Good looking, well- endowed, black kid could be very popular at the bar Thanks D!

Thank you, my friend!

CJ's made everyone aware of his litmus test for politicians: support GLBT rights or I won't weven consider supporting you. Over time I've realized younger people tend to be rigid in their opinions but with age and experience they gain flexibility. Lets see if CJ follows the pattern. Sorry but there might be a little Republican bashing in the future LOL But I think you'll like some of the developments in chapter 2 of the next book. And no, CJ doesn't become a Rubio supporter! That chapter ends with the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

LOL Yeah, Harley's a good bet for that comment. I like the idea of not tagging comments when they're thrown out in a group conversation. Some of them could come from almost anyone of them while a few can easily be attributed to a character based on how I've described them in the past. Even though they're still close, Thiago's a college man these sdays and CJ may not see the entire interaction with his friend's girl. But I think he nailed this one!

Trust me, I want to go on that trip too! I'm not sure if you remember that when the Obamas decided to stay in DC until their daughter graduated from high school I mentioned CJ would be visiting their house in the Kalorama neighborhood. You made a comment wondering how I would work that into the story. Here you go! It took me a few months to get here but... When outlining Ritchie's move to DC I realized he couldn't attend Walls and started looking for a school for him. Georgetown Prep was the first to come to mind but while looking at a list of quality schools in Washington Sidwell jumped at me. I thought it would be interesting to use the younger, apolitical brother as the key for CJ to meet the President and the First Lady. Hope it was worth the wait!

Bloody authors! I was one of thiose with this chapter, wasn't I. But, I did learn my lesson: No more cliffies unless they;re resolved within 7 days.

Obrigado, Tesao. With the Obama girls being so close in age to CJ and Ritchie I wanted to show a little of their relationship with their parents. Teens can be so predictable when talking about their parents, sooner or later the 'old folks' will do or say something to embarass them. Even if they're the most powerful man in the world!

Thanks Chris! Birthday celebration coming up soon!

LOL Okay, if you insist. I'll keep writing. After the next chapter, I'll reveal the name of the 7th book in the series. I've been working on it on and off for quite a while and this week I took it up with a vengeance. The first couple of chapters in that book will focus on the 2016 US presidential campaign and CJ's involvement but not at the expense of the rest of the story arcs. The focus will be on CJ and Ozzie but the rest of the Squad and the Elite will still play a role.

Redundancy has a lot of appeal! The next two chapters cover December 2015 and there'll be information in them to clear up some of the open questions. Including Thiago's relationship!

I teased you all about the plans for CJ's 18th birthday and I finally revealed them. You won't have to way long to find out where he'll be attending school. He applied for an early decision and those come out in December. Coincidentally, that's the next chapter! Thanks for the continued support, Dave!

CJ expressed an interest in politics early on so living in DC through a presidential campaign was bound to be a part of the story. I'm trying to find a proper balance so eventhough this chapter and the next couple ones will be light on the stuff. A stray comment or two may still find their way into the story...

Thanks, bud!

Damn it feels good to reply to comments here without fear of not being able to read the second page. I wanted to get CJ into the White House and doing something non-political involving President Obama appealed to me. An additional benefit of doing research for that scene was I was inspired to write Talking Turkeys. Gotta keep the humorous edfe to the story!

This is still one of my favorite comments on a chapter!