Carlos Hazday

Yeah, they're simply being nice for now. Let's see how they handle the adults once at sea. Oh, wait, everyone will be cursing like sailors!

Welcome to the party, Jeff. LOL The next couple of chapters will feature the family playing in Barcelona before they board the Flying Circus. I recycle a couple of characters and introduce a couple of new ones. Let's see if they fit in.

Oh, please. You have plenty of supporters of your own. Aren't your stories the most popular ones on GA? I'm sure your readers will back you up.

I can see Jeffer and Roo getting into fights when some kid uses a homophobic slur like most boys will. That might be a fun flash piece to write.

You mentioned food in stories in your AAA outing. Get ready for a lot of eating and drinking.

And if they wind up spending time in Australia, mingling with vineyard and winery workers, they'll be fluent in American and Australian cursing.

I'm not sure I did it consciously, but you're entirely right. Looking at my recent stories, characters are introduced when they become part of the action; in this case I lumped them all together at the beginning. Although I'll share tidbits about most of them in future chapters, I wanted the focus to be on the family and how they interact. I'll identify them when they show up again. LOL

Thanks, Tor.

The only Bravo show I religiously watch is Top Chef. It has influenced meals and restaurant choices in my stories. I've caught at least one show from each of the Below Deck franchises (a couple more of the Down Under 'cause the captain's hot) but those shows concentrate almost entirely on drama among crew members. I guess my story's more Above Deck than Below Deck. LOL CJ may have a word or two with Nina at some point.

Totally! Did you see I called you my hero? I'm kinda jealous to be honest, and so should everyone else. I'll rally my readers to support you if you need a hand.

I have a feeling those three (and eventually Davey) will be as foul mouthed as CJ. We got an inkling of it in Loving Anniversary.

Mrs G beta read my anthology entry and mentioned something about Liebe being headstrong and resembling her. Then she mentioned kicking a bully in the nuts while a kid. I sent her the little section where Liebe explains her issues. Mrs. G became my hero at that point. And you're entirely right. Yes, her getting suspended was something fun and funny to write, but the intent was to show her developing a personality similar to her parents and how CJ being in the public eye will impact their lives for the next 20+ years. They're all stuck on a boat together for a week, so except when the kids and CJ nap, they'll all be in every scene. Okay, not when they hit a dance club in Ibiza. The toddlers and the geezers will remain on the Circus.

The entire story's posted but I thought only staff and I could see them. How did you manage to read ahead? They didn't even offer chicken fingers as an alternative to burgers? I've been on a couple of cruises, but this is something I've never done. You realize the ratio of crew members to guests is about 1 to 1? I think they'll get better service than I ever did.

I debated delaying chapter 1 for a day or two, but decided I wanted to bring the family in as soon as possible. Next week we explore the Gaixample, visit a little church, and hear about what they did the previous day before Ritch arrived. We get to meet a new character and hear about th lives of two we met in a previous story.

We might get to see one or two of their antics. The have a father who wants to try everything at least once, an uncle who's a speed demon, and a grandfather who's a 4o-something teenager. I'm sure those two will be the best behaved kids in school. The principal may have CJ's number on speed dial.

Hitchcock did it before Lee. And as I've previously mentioned, the inspiration to include myself came from Clive Cussler's books. I always thought his MC, Dirk Pitt, was hot!

I'm glad I don't get called out more often for all my typing mistakes.

Thank you! My next story's title Newport! LOL 21 started having financial issues a while back and I was worried I'd written in the future about it. Not sure what the current status is, but I thought they had found financing or a buyer. That place's an institution and I hope it remains open. At least I got a visit there a long time ago.

LMFAO FanDuel has really good odds on them right now. I'm planning a semi-involved conversation about pro sports ownership during the next Everhope dinner party I write. Two of the guests will be NFL players. After I wrote this, Welcome to Wrexham started airing on FX. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought a football team in Wales and made a documentary about the club's first year under their ownership. I planned to trash several owners (Commanders and Dolphins in the NFL and Suns and Mercury in the NBA and WNBA) I'll bring up Wrexham and how Rob and Ryan are interested in winning but more so in the community. I see CJ and Owen following that approach. Can you imagine CJ in the middle of an election and the pro team he owns being in the playoffs ?Not that he would milk the publicity, but I'm sure his opponents groaned whenever CJ was on camera talking about his team. At least they got Liebe a decent tutor!

That Carlos guy is popular with this family. It's like he's their Big Daddy or something. But they've also read stories by some guy named Wolf. Brett loves werewolf and dragon stories.

I'm pretty sure in a few years they'll be referred to as the Abello Family by almost everyone. CJ does get the most important job in the world.

I think it's too late for you to be reading at lunch. LOL This is a true prologue. It tells us what's going to happen and introduces most of the support cast. The drag queens don't make an appearance for a while.

I previously mentioned my big boat experience was limited to sailing on a 65 footer. With only 4 of us on board, I pulled my share of lines and I didn't have a Champagne flute in my hand every waking hour. This is not a vacation you plan in a month or two, unless you're buying the yacht. I figured Brett had at least a year. The first indication this group's not typical of other wealthy Americans was them having no dietary restrictions. Can you imagine a group who order food the same way they order at Starbucks. I'm pescatarian, lactose intolerant, and don't eat carbs. Please prepare a five-course banquet within those parameters. The chanlers in Barcelona and Palma will help coordinate several events related to Cesar's 50th. I said this was much longer when I first wrote it and a big chunk of what I deleted concerned Nina. I had her as a Putin supporter who decried Western morality that allowed men to marry other men. But that would have repeated some of CJ's previous battles and I prefer to offer new conflicts. I had them suggest hand food while sailing, but Nina's being difficult. How about a 20 degree tilt? LOL Such a pleasure to see you comment on the story!

I rewrote the prologue countless times. The original was much longer and I realized these was the support cast I was introducing and there was no need to mention a lot more about them. We'll get a few more bits about them in upcoming chapters. But CJ & Co are still the stars of the show.

I think Liebe keeps her last name when she gets married, but Baravento will need to be added to the list. CJ and Owen we know have experience sailing in Tom and JP's catamaran. Hell, CJ even took sailing lessons his first summer in D.C. Now about our favorite couple stealing a boat as I may have mentioned...