C James

The tires of Steve's Charger squealed in protest as we rounded the corner a little too fast. We were running a little late for the church meeting, and now we were unable to find a place to park. "Damn, no parking anywhere close. I've never seen them this busy, even on a Sunday," Steve said, as we cruised around the block for the fourth time. Finally, we found a parking space two blocks away, and ran all the way to the Church. Bounding up the granite steps, and through the carved oak doors,

"I just got some very weird news. The Piedmont Cop that Eric kicked in the nuts called me, demanding to know what kind of strings I'd pulled to get the charges against Eric dropped," Mr. Williams said, his voice rising, as Steve joined us at the door. Dropped? My mouth fell open as Mr. Williams continued, "I had to work at it to calm him down, and convince him that this was all news to me. So, he starts at the beginning, and said he just found out that his criminal complaint against Eric ha

I stared ahead at the highway, hoping against hope that Steve would slow down, but he was much too far ahead for me to see. Chad slammed his fist into the steering wheel, "There is no way we can catch him. He must have been doing a hundred and fifty when we saw him. He's gonna hit Piedmont about fifteen minutes ahead of us," he yelled. I knew Chad was right, and shivered, in spite of the heat. I saw that we were nearing the dirt road that Steve and I had chased Eric down, and wondered

The snap of the shattering glass echoed in my ears as I stared at Steve's letter. How could he? I loved him, and he loved me, I was sure of it. This just didn't make any sense. I knew there was something going on at his school, but I was sure he wouldn't do this to me. I didn't want to believe it, I couldn't. We had only been together for less than two weeks! He couldn't be cheating on me. Could he? Like a hammer, it hit me that Steve and I had never discussed being exclusive. I n

I woke up late that Sunday afternoon, to find Steve sound asleep in my arms. He was gorgeous, even while he slept. He stirred, rolled into me, draping his arm around me, and went back to sleep. I knew in that moment that this was the way I wanted to wake up for the rest of my life. I lay there, just watching Steve sleep, and feeling more complete than ever before. The night had been long and wild, and we had finally fallen asleep, exhausted, as the sun came up. I never knew it was possible

We turned off the main road when we reached the edge of Lonesome Valley. As we headed towards Veronica's house, I suddenly remembered that the party was a pool party. I also remembered Veronica's ribbing of Steve about needing to bring swimsuits, so I said, "We forgot our trunks." Laughing, then turning away from me, Steve replied, "Nah, I grabbed some from my room and stuffed them in my gym bag. That's what I was putting in the trunk when I slammed it and made you jump." We pulled up

A slight movement that was not my own awakened me. Steve had slept in my bed a few times before, but this time, I was lying on my stomach, and had my arm draped across his bare chest. I smiled as I remembered how much things had changed. I slowly opened my eyes, and saw a pair of sleepy blue eyes looking back at me from inches away. I reached up to run my fingers through his blond hair, "Morning," I mumbled, "been awake long?" Steve smiled, running his fingers through my hair, "Nah, no

I turned, seeing in the distance what Steve had spotted: the lights of my Jeep. I could also hear the faint and distant sound of its engine, echoing down from the hills through the still desert air. As I stood to watch, my Jeep resumed its climb up the winding trail. As it neared the skyline, I knew that we would soon lose sight of it. I felt Steve stand beside me and felt his arm return to its place across my shoulders, as he must have reached the same conclusion. "Shit" I growled, "f

I kissed Steve, deeply, and led him, with us still wrapped up in each other's arms, toward my bed. Steve and I, still entangled, sat on the edge of my bed and continued our feverish lip play. I caressed Steve's back and sides, while feeling him do the same to me. It felt like a sweet eternity, though only a half hour or more had passed. We broke our kiss, staring into each other's eyes for a moment, until I pushed Steve back, letting him pull me on top of him. It was a moment that I had wis

Steve turned to me, still using his very phony sarcastic voice, "Yeah, Prison would be bad, too. But, hey, ya know, I was reading the newspaper this morning and it had some sad articles, and," Steve turned to Eric, "Ya know what they were about, Eric? Well, they were about teen suicides." Eric's knees failed and he sank to cower in the corner, stammering, "S-S-Suicides?" Steve leaned over to get right in his face, and in a louder voice continued, "Yeah, suicides, Eric. It's really so s

Trevor paced the decks of Atlantis for most of the night, torn between anger and hurt. He finally fell asleep, just before dawn, on his beanbag chair in the cockpit. “What are you doing asleep out here?” said a voice that chased away his troubled dreams. Trevor opened his eyes, squinting against the glare, to see Julie standing over him. “Dad and I had a big fight,” Trevor mumbled, and sat up, scratching his head and yawning. Julie sat down and studied Trevor for a moment. “He

Trevor walked out into the salon grinning at Joel and Lisa’s note, which was still in his hands. He placed it inside his nav desk drawer, and then glanced at the clock, seeing that it was almost five. ‘Thanks to Joel and Lisa, there’s something I can get done today instead of tomorrow.’ Bolting from the salon and leaping to the dock, Trevor took off at a run, heading for a florist’s shop a few blocks away, where he picked up a small wreath he’d ordered. After returning it to Atlantis and p

With the hot sun beating down and sweating a little from the humidity, Joel and Trevor loaded the file boxes into Trevor’s hatchback. Trevor looked at the boxes, idly curious, and then locked his car. Joel gave the decrepit old Civic a suspicious glance. “Does it still run, or do you just push it now?” he asked. Trevor snorted. “It gets me where I need to go, so why spend any money on something newer?” Joel wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and glan

When Atlantis returned to Fort Pierce, Julie asked, “Anything lined up for next weekend?” Trevor shook his head. He didn’t volunteer that he planned to take Atlantis out alone that weekend, for his annual visit to what he thought of as his mother’s grave. “Nope, no charters until the following week.” On his way home, Trevor stopped by his insurance agent’s office, and took care of his single largest expense; Atlantis’s yearly insurance premium. Paying it in full garnered him a small di

Atlantis is handling more like a raft at the moment, you're right. She's only able to run downwind (or, with some rudder input, a little to the left or right of the wind's course). Trevor does have a problem regarding shore; an exposed sandy beach, with it's large breaking waves (there is a lot of surf on that coast) would be deadly to Atlantis. She'd beach on the sand, still in the surf, and slowly be pounded to bits. Trevor would be okay (assuming he could find people on that largely uninhabited coast) but Atlantis would be destroyed, and Trevor sure doesn't want that. Trevor is at the end of his rope now; Atlantis is failing fast (the flooding, the failing sail, etc, etc) and he's about out of food. If he passes shark bay, he'll hit the southeast trades and be pushed northwest, away from Australia. The next land he'd have a chance of encountering would be around Diego Garcea, with is in the west central Indian Ocean, over 3000 miles away. With Atlantis half flooded and his sail kaput, Atlantis would just drift with wind and current, making maybe 15 miles a day, tops. So, he'd reach the Diego Garcea area in about seven months, by which time he'd have the additional complication of being dead. Cliffs? Well, you'd have to blame Graeme for those... the Zutydorp Cliffs are an Australian placename, so it's not my fault they are there. If Trevor called Lisa or Joel, I'm sure they'd keep it confidential if he asked, and so no one but they, and the microphones in the guesthouse, would know. See? Nothing to worry about.. or as the Australians say, no worries. I can't say much, but I can say that Frank is a recurring character. Great points! Those are some great links to Shark Bay... It's a fascinating place. I've never been there, but I'd very much like to. Trevor would be okay if he fell overboard and Atlantis was moving slowly, but he's done about all he can already. He could try dismounting the cockpit's hard roof, but that would be a hard task, and would give him very little sail area. He can also try re rigging the netting sail so it's at a 45 degree angle to Atlantis's centerline, which would allow him to sail at an angle to the wind, but she'd be very slow and unstable like that; he'd be doing a knot or two and have to stay at the helm constantly (and let her drift free while he's asleep). Trevor is just about out of tricks... The next chapter is called Threading the Needle. CJ

First, and Australian 12 days of Christmas, then at the end, a verse just for Trevor; On the 1st day of Christmas My true love sent to me, An emu up a gum tree. On the 2nd day of Christmas My true sent to me, 2 pink galahs, And an emu up a gum tree. On the 3rd day of Christmas My true love sent to me, 3 kookaburras laughing, 2 pink galahs, And an emu up a gum tree. On the 4th day of Christmas My true love sent to me 4 koalas cuddling, 3 kookaburras laughing 2 pink galahs And an emu up a gum tree. On the 5th day of Christmas My true love sent to me 5 kangaroos, 4 koalas cuddling, 3 kookaburras laughing, 2 pink galahs, And an emu up a gum tree. On the 6th day of Christmas My true love sent to me 6 brolgas dancing, 5 kangaroos, 4 koalas cuddling, 3 kookaburras laughing, 2 pink galahs, And an emu up a gum tree. On the 7th day of Christmas My true love sent to me 7 possums playing, 6 brolgas dancing, 5 kangaroos, 4 koalas cuddling, 3 kookaburras laughing, 2 pink galahs, And an emu up a gum tree. On the 8th day of Christmas My true love sent to me 8 dingoes digging, 7 possums playing, 6 brolgas dancing, 5 kangaroos, 4 koalas cuddling, 3 kookaburras laughing, 2 pink galahs, And an emu up a gum tree. On the 9th day of Christmas My true love sent to me 9 wombats working, 8 dingoes digging, 7 possums playing, 6 brolgas dancing, 5 kangaroos, 4 koalas cuddling, 3 kookaburras laughing, 2 pink galahs, And an emu up a gum tree. On the 10th day of Christmas My true love sent to me 10 lizards leaping, 9 wombats working, 8 dingoes digging, 7 possums playing, 6 brolgas dancing, 5 kangaroos, 4 koalas cuddling, 3 kookaburras laughing, 2 pink galahs, And an emu up a gum tree. On the 11th day of Christmas My true love sent to me 11 numbats nagging, 10 lizards leaping, 9 wombats working, 8 dingoes digging, 7 possums playing, 6 brolgas dancing, 5 kangaroos, 4 koalas cuddling, 3 kookaburras laughing, 2 pink galahs, And an emu up a gum tree. On the 12th day of Christmas My true love sent to me 12 parrots prattling, 11 numbats nagging, 10 lizards leaping, 9 wombats working, 8 dingoes digging, 7 possums playing, 6 brolgas dancing, 5 kangaroos, 4 koalas cuddling, 3 kookaburras laughing, 2 pink galahs, And an emu up a gum tree. And now one for Trevor, On the 12th day of Christmas my true enemy sent to me; 12 reefs a menacing, 11 Sharks a feasting, 10 rogue waves a breaking, 9 bullets flying, 8 Pirates attacking, 7 Killers stalking, 6 Bombs a booming, 5 Storms a blowing, 4 Kangaroos a singing, 3 Bilges flooding, 2 bows a breaking, And a Trevor lost upon the deep blue sea.....

Thanks Mike!! That was awesome! And I live the goat pic, too. Very christmassy.

A cliffy? From me? Never! The shoreline of Western Australia... spectacularly rugged in places. Trevor coming ashore in the Cape Leeuwin region, for example, would have been likely a bad ending, for Atlantis at least. The Zuytdorp Cliffs area, which Trevor is seaward of, is well named; over a hundred miles of cliffs plummeting into the sea. The overwhelming majority of that area would not be a healthy place to reach shore. Incidentally, the cliffs are named are the Dutch sailing ship Zuytdorp, which disappeared in 1711 after using the roaring 40's route (like Trevor) to cross the Indian Ocean, bound for Java. No one knows what happened; the wreck wasn't found until 1927! He's off the Zuytdorp Cliffs area, which starts on the seaward side of Shark Bay and runs south for quite a ways. He's well north of Perth, though at one point his nav fix did show him in downtown Perth. "Deadly cliffs". Nice joke Goat, slipped in slyly at the end, and another deadly cliffhanger to jangle our worry beads over Christmas Flipper!! That's not a cliffy, that's just a description of the wonderfully scenic area nearby. It's not my fault the Australians have cliffs there... Yep!! A lot more! And now Trevor doesn't trust his navigation. No worries! The Great Barrier Reef is off Queensland, on Australia's east coast, and he's heading up the west coast. So, nothing to worry about... except that there are tons of reefs in that area too. And salty crocs... and great white sharks.. and all sorts of other sharks... and let's not forget giant poisonous lizards (the Perentie) that grow up to eight feet long. Add in all manner of deadly poisonous sea creatures, and then factor in that Australia has about ten of the world's 12 deadliest snakes, and has spiders that are the stuff of nightmares. Here one (it's real, not a photoshop) of a giant spider eating a bird caught in it's web. That's not a small bird, either. See? No worries. Thank you, I love this post!! Yep, Trevor's a teenager, and will make mistakes, and hopefully learn from them. In some cases, he's making mistakes due to lack of knowledge (like not knowing of the Equation of Time) and on other cases, due to himself. Thank you for bringing this up! I was hoping someone would. I had a hunch that the Equation of Time stuff would be confusing. I tried to keep the explanation as brief and understandable as possible, but... I should have done it better in that regard. I had to explain it somehow, because it's a very real phenomena, and it's one he (or anyone in his situation at that time of year, anywhere in the world) would have encountered. It has a big impact on the plot, so I had to feed it in somehow. However, the good news is that this was the last very technical thing in the story. Was anything other than the Equation of Time stuff difficult? If so, please let me know what, so I can be more careful in future. I do have a known tendency to use specialized terminology without explanation, which I try to avoid doing, but sometimes I do it unawares and it slips through. Thanks for bringing this up: I need to know how things are coming across, good or bad, in order to improve.

When we finally broke the kiss and came up for air, Steve said, "As much as I want to keep doing this, we need to deal with Eric first. He's got a hell of a lot of money from us. We need to get it back. Got any ideas?" Steve sat on his bed, and motioned for me to join him. I did, before replying, "Not really. Think there is any left, or would he have spent it all?" "Eric is a greedy little bastard, always has been, and loves money. I'd bet anything he still has most if not all of what

Waiting for the pain to start, I realized that Steve was pulling me into a hug. Huh?? "Chris, relax... Calm down... You mean that's it? Somebody found out you're gay, then threatened to tell me, and then you paid them five grand not to?" Steve asked. I was stunned. Steve was still hugging me! I still couldn't meet his eyes, but I told him, "Uh, basically, yeah." I was getting more and more confused, but my heart was soaring that Steve hadn't said a single negative word about me be

I'd had to hand over most of my bank account to the bastard, and then pay him every week, more than I could afford. For a while, I was able to use the last of my savings to cover the shortfall, but now my savings were gone. I didn't even have enough money for the month's rent, let alone my weekly blackmail payment. A blaring horn startled me and bought be back to the present. I guess I was too distracted to drive, because I was weaving a little. I pulled over, splashed some bottled water on

Chris grew up a loner in small-town Arizona, but things began to change for him when he started college. Sometimes for the better, but sometimes for the worse, and often with humor, the changes affect his life, as he sets for on the road of life, and towards finding the love of his life, with a lot of adventure along the way. Genre: Action/adventure Status: Completed

“Can I help you, Chris?” The bank teller’s words shook me out of my trance, and I moved forward to cash my paycheck. The teller counted out two hundred dollars. As I stared down at it, I knew that it would never be enough. I walked out of the bank in a daze, knowing that I couldn’t go on anymore. My world was about to come crashing down around me. My hands were shaking as I climbed into my Jeep and typed out a text message on my cell phone. I hit send as I felt a streak of cold on

Chapter 58, the Equation of Time, is up. It's not up on the new GA stories system yet (I'm still working on getting Circumnavigation in there) but the next one will be. This chapter is a long one, so we could get to a nice safe calm point before Christmas. CJ

Yep, low pressure systems rotate clockwise down there. Yep... that's just one of the little challenges he faces. It's just a minor navigational issue though... not a cliffe. ACK! Emoe!!! Thanks!!! Yep, they'll be getting worried about him. The next chapter is called "The Equation of Time" and should post in a half hour or so, assuming my internet connection (which is erratic at the moment) works.