ReaderPaul

The aluminum apron? To scatter the nefarious electronic pulses some have generated to damage equipment and/or human cells. As someone who worked in a store for more than thirty years, this was both truth-riddled and hilarious. You could have added -- Laundry aisle? No Tide had turned in there yet. Dishwashing aisle? It was the Dawn of Joy, and a Cascade of related products. Bean aisle? No gas had materialized there -- yet. Great work, Aaron.

Janey appeared, beckoning them. "Come on!"

Room glowed faintly. What's going on?

Good ending, @quokka. The language talents of the boys in the story reminded me of a gentleman from India I met years ago. He was fluent in 12 languages, and able to get by in nine more. He was fluent in four Indian dialects, plus English, Italian, German, Russian, Spanish, and three more. Do you think we might see a sequel to this story in the future? If we do, great, and if we don't see a sequel, still good.

Radioactive symbol on locked door? Why?

So, @wildone, when does Chapter 2 come out? I know, I know, not before tomorrow (sigh). I looked to see if the story was marked "Complete," and I didn't see that. This is a take on underwear in the swimming pool I had not seen before. I hope another ten to twenty or more authors give us their interpretation.

Loved all of them. Each is different yet full of meaning. While "Blue" spoke to me the most, all spoke or sang clearly and in a beautiful way. Haiku 1 and Haiku 4 were almost as meaningful to me as "Blue." Any single one of these six would stand firmly on its own. All together, they pack in the proverbial tons and tons of meaning. Exceptionally well done.

When I read PT Prompt #133 - First line "What are you cooking, and why does it stink?" "I'm cooking haggis, and it has a strong smell, but a good one." I thought of a story I read many years ago, where a man was visiting some acquaintances next to a railroad station, and the wife of the couple was making haggis, and he thought it had a terrible smell. However, he did not ask the lady cooking, but asked the daughter, "What is your mother cooking?" while making a face. One can look up haggis, if not familiar with it, at dictionary dot com or in Wikipedia.

I am old enough to remember when action figures started to be produced by the toy companies. I heard several parents sneer, "Those are just dolls for boys."

Numbers three and four especially spoke to me. I have known people who could explode at almost anything. I have known others who sneeringly denigrate anything and anyone they disagree with. All of them spoke to me, but those two spoke with distinctive clearness.

I was fascinated with all of them. But the banned books one got to me. As a former library worker, I abhor book banning. Number eight reminded me of some trees we had to cut because two fell on our house and one almost fell on it. We liked the trees -- until we had to spend thousands to fix the roof. Thank you for writing these.

There was romance between Jex and Marcus. Quokka is a master of low key (appearing so on the surface) relationships. Much of romance in real life that I have observed between same sex couples in real life is not in the mushy kissy-kiss-kiss stuff of high school and some college relationships. Further, same-sex couples often have been in "protective coloration" mode among people they do not know, and often express much more in private than in public. I have probably met at least 50 same sex couples in my life -- that I know of. I found the interactions of Marcus and Jexon very understandable and believable. The love was clearly implied without being "in your face."

@Drew Espinosa -- the comments about snow in Texas reminded me of, in the mid 1970s, my best friend and his wife moved from St. Louis, Missouri, to Fort Worth, Texas. They stopped in Dennison, Texas, for vehicle fuel and food, and my friend saw a screaming newspaper headline, something like: "Arctic Storm Paralyzes City!" There was maybe an inch to maybe one and a half inches of snow there, and they had loaded up and driven through 13 inches of snow in St. Louis to leave for Texas. So after living in Missouri for 23 years, his attitude as he looked at snow barely covering Dennison, "What arctic storm?" You did well.

Glad to see you posting. Good haiku.

I am very glad to hear that, @quokka. Would you tell us which book it is the fourth of, Preston?

A good example is Simply Red's song "Sunrise" which took Daryl Hall & John Oates song "I Can't Go for That" and put "Sunrise" on top of that, even taking a few of the same words at one point in the middle of "Sunrise" from "I Can't Go For That" -- Easy, Ready, Willing, Overtime -- (first time in song, in intro, Hall sings "Easy, Willing, Overtime" -- second time adds "Ready") Where does it stop, where do I draw the line -- You've got the body, now you want the soul-- Don't even think about it, say 'No go" -- The musical introductions are slightly different to "I Can't Go for That" and "Sunrise", but the music is so close I cannot tell any significant differences. John Oates in an interview said that chord changes can't be copyrighted (implied-- can't be copyrighted in the US) -- "Or Chuck Berry would be a gazillionaire!"

Love these, Gary, Haiku #3 and #4 especially spoke to me in the haiku section. The poem "Things" expressed so many of my thoughts well. Well done, sir.

I personally know of two projects, one from my youth, where the town in which my father worked was bypassed by a considerably realigned road that saved most travelers 7 miles (11.3 km) , eventually killed the town over a 25 year period. Another project about 15 years ago, bypassed three towns, two of which were almost dead anyway, this time saving about 8 miles (12.9 km) and the main remaining town is down to a school, a laundromat, and one or two other small businesses. Often the people and towns along a present road will fight to keep the road in or close to their town. In this case, it looks like shortening the good road by the improvements proposed won out. Would that all such projects could ultimately improve the lives of the majority of persons. Good work, @quokka/Preston.

Beautiful, Terry.

@Drew Payne, I am sorry for your loss. We had different types of parents; I was fortunate that my father was kind and always tried to express things in a loving way. My mother, not so much. My brother is five years older than me, and we are not close, though not enemies. We are closer as adults than we were in our younger years. Memories of your brother can be comforting. I am glad, as adults, you and Dave were able to become closer. I wish that peace will come to you with time. I wish I could give magic words of comfort to you, but I can only express sympathy for your loss. Paul

Once again, this chapter shows how resourceful Jex and Marcus are, and the positive, "we will make it work" spirit of so many Australians. Well done, Preston.

@Geron Kees -- are Ruedi and Esmerelda some of Robin's grandchildren or great-grandchildren? What Robin said about Ruedi being able to cover his skwish emissions, plus the clues in another Charlie Boone adventure, make me wonder.

Excellent chapter. Glad to see Martyn and Jonah there as well.

Good chapter, @quokka Have you personally been through any cyclones?

The Hero saved alien queen. Rewarded.