ReaderPaul

I love this, @Geron Kees. I had noticed you have Chapter 2 in the que but I didn't see Chapters 3 & 4 -- yet. But I think many of us know someone like Donnie. I am aware of one person whom I would not talk about anything more serious than the weather or possibly road conditions or whether the grass is tall enough to cut -- he is THAT indiscrete. I had guessed there would be three chapters. But I certainly am okay with four. I am also glad that Donnie lives nowhere close to Derry, Cally, and Mike from the Doorways series.

The stories BY Ted Louis are migrating to storylover dot us and some of the other stories by other authors are on other sites. If people message me I can give you info. Due to time constraints on my end, it may be in bits and pieces.

I am curious. Even on my old, semi-smart mobile phones, which were only 2G capable, I have never had a problem reading text online, no matter how long the story, if there was any slight internet connection. Although I like chapters in stories, I do miss getting a whole story in one go. I will read them either way, Geron.

I know that there is at least one single-owner website that has a succession plan, but I am not aware of others that do. I have seen several good erotic fiction websites go dark over the years. I would hate to see many others do the same thing. It is a guess, but websites owned by a corporation probably have a better chance of continuing, but as i said, that is only a guess. I am aware of at least two single owner websites where the owner is in poor health, and neither of them, as far as I know, has a succession plan. It is a valid concern. One single owner has multiple websites, and it concerns me that all but one of those could go dark.

About an hour drive from where I grew up was an old mill located on state property where a large spring still exists. In the early 1960s, the mill, which still had much of the original equipment, was re-activated. It was fascinating to see the machinery work. About a year later, the mill stopped working because it was not profitable. The equipment was removed, and I was sad when I saw the empty spaces where it had been.

I prefer chicken gravy or brown gravy. But I don't mind if someone else has their favorite gravy.

titivate -- (verb) - to make or become smart or spruce. @Myr -- when I saw that, I had a vision of someone planting a large number of spruce trees, in very neat and long rows. @JamesSavik, I love the term autoincorrect. That needs to become a word for both the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) and the dictionary dot com website.

I am wondering if Adam sent the two vets to Australia in hopes they might straighten up over there, because they had been causing trouble in the UK. I also predict Marcus and Jexon will much more suspiciously look at any suggestion of exchange work from this point onward. Interesting story.

Good work with this, @R. Eric. Unfortunately, humans do need to know the dark sides of humanity. You are correct in having Joel and the others remind us of that in this story. When do we learn what the probe to Tau Ceti finds out?

From right below the story: Since I have absolutely no clue about modern middle school culture, I went with my own personal experiences. Middle school in the US is typically grades 6-8 (sometimes 5-9, depending on the district or state). How do your experiences compare to these field notes? In my district, "Intermediate School" (grades 5 & 6) has replaced "middle school." Junior High is grades 7 and 8. High School consists of grades 9-12. K-4 is elementary. Some other districts around do it differently.

“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.” ~ Coco Chanel

One question has not been answered -- why the exchange was proposed in the first place? The director seems one who needs to be watched very carefully. Perhaps the guys should get concealed miniature cameras and voice recording devices.

It was a tie on stories. @Geron Kees story, "Here Be Dragons, Charlie Boone!" and @Backwoods Boy story "The Jock and the Bookworm" tied for my favorites. But all on the list are by great authors. I would rather be in Daylight Saving Time year around instead of switching.

Well, Ian is living on the island. The guys can visit, and I bet Kiernan would like visiting there, as well. Speaking of visiting, have the guys retrieved their spacesuits on Captain Nema's ship and visited Oumuamua again since "Do the Stars Have Hearts, Charlie Boone?"

This is another fascinating story in the Charlie Boone universe. While this can be read as a stand-alone story, and considerable enjoyed, it is helpful to have read some of the previous stories for additional background. That said, if you have not yet read any others, go ahead and read this one. You will then almost certainly want to go back and read many others in the series -- as in all of them. Every story I have read by Geron Kees has been good. This is no exception. Charlie and Kip meet a potential client for their business, Arno Coldat. After hearing his story of rooms in an old mansion which will not stay renovated, they and their fellow associates at Third Planet Inquires take the case and begin work. Strange events happen. The more they learn, the more they are aware of what they need to learn. The culmination is a trip to South America, in which several things are explained. Well worth reading. Be aware, as with all of Geron's stories, this will inspire you to think, as well as be entertained. This story inspires more thinking than the majority of stories by Geron, and it is very well worth it.

Beautiful story.

It was established in a previous story that Nicholaas is around a thousand years old, possibly just slightly older. Nicholaas is the oldest human the elves seem to know about, based on the reading of the previous Charlie Boone stories, unless Max has been holding out on that info as well. Nicholas looks about 30 to 35 years old, according to a previous story, when he was thinking of partnering (or more) with Ronja. Robin has been tight-lipped on the subject of age other than himself or Nicholaas, but it would not surprise me if he knows of some humans who are up to 400 years old -- or not. And @Geron Kees has not enlightened us on how many and how old Robin's kids are, but has said that in 800 years, he surely must have some. (That was in response to a previous question I asked in a comment about two or three stories back.) Pacha'ka is several lifetimes old in human terms, but he said a few stories back that he is entering middle age for his people, the Kift or sometimes Kifta. Mike, that travels with Pacha and Bobby and Kontus, is in his mid-twenties, while Mike's boyfriend Bobby is in his eighties chronologically, but looks about twenty-four or twenty-five due to the time he spent on Kanthakos, that dark world where about two weeks passed for Bobby while the time passed from 1957 to 2019 for everyone else. (See, "Light My Roamin' Candle, Charlie Boone!") Hey Geron! Any chance of a romance between Pacha and Chirka? If there is, it should only take about twenty more Charlie Boone stories to come about.

I have to agree with @Ivor Slipper in that I had not expected Max to show up in this particular tale. But as I think about the story, I am less surprised. It was good to see Dollen the bartender, and Chirka'ka, again. I was not clear if Ragal, Casper, or Uncle Bob were with The Four and Browbeat, Horace, Amy and Robin, or not in the lower level. I would be interested in the answering service Third Planet Inquires uses. It is Irving, or a paid service? As The Four (Charlie, Kippy, Ricky, and Adrian) grow in their skwish, and it continues to grow, the parents and siblings of The Four must also be being stimulated in their skwish. Ricky's younger sister and even younger brother would be especially able to be sensitized to skwish. But Adrian's mother probably also works around persons with some skwish in her job as an editor at Ornament Graphics ("a division of Northern Industries," one of the companies owned by Nicholaas, as established in the second Charlie Boone story) would be exposed perhaps even more than some of the others. It's time to have another side story, this time another Pacha'ka Adventure, featuring Kontus discovering other hidden power users among the Trichani people. After all, it was hinted that Kontus is a power user, though not consciously aware of it yet. With Pacha and Max available, as well as others, Kontus has plenty of possibilities in learning skwish/the craft/ka/the power. Good story as usual, @Geron Kees.

Well, I was not expecting to see Ian. And Reudi -- no end of surprises to him. Licensed as a water pilot in South America? And Browbeat -- his sensitivity to what is happening is continuing. Geron, this is increasingly fascinating.

I think each person who has posted has brought up valid points. Some of the best stories I have read have been a mix of the viewpoints expressed. At one point, I was asked by a relative who used to write romance stories for some suggested story titles and plot ideas. One I proposed was, the title "Bye, Bye, Black/Byrd." Plot: A bisexual man, Mr. Blue, is very attracted to two people: Mr. Black, and Ms. Byrd. Which will get Blue? While improbable, it could, in theory, happen. I have read some very good books where people do ordinary things, for the most part -- go to work, pay bills, take care of the kids, get the vehicles repaired, go grocery shopping (growing up, the men and boys in my family did most of the grocery shopping; all of us shingled roofs, we all put up sheetrock on the ceiling for better insulation in that old house; we all carried water from the spring to the house, etc.). Sometimes, even books about the seemingly mundane can seem escapist. IMO (In My Opinion), some of that might be seeing things from a slightly different angle that we are used to. there is room for all of it.

Reading takes a bit of time for most people. However, as part of his magic mechanic talent, Rick and Charlie could probably work together to give Browbeat the ability to read English, and with Charlie's vocabulary. Add Robin to the mix, and Browbeat could learn to read and speak several languages. Of course, @Geron Kees might save the discovery of that talent combo for a future story.

Wonderful! I am curious, however, on how the folks of Third Planet Inquiries explain the beam to non-skwish users in their traveling. Or will Robin put it in a coating of negative light so only Charlie, Robin, and company can see it? After all, Charlie's second presence and Robin working with him could extend it to the rest of the group. Additionally, Rick's and Horace's and Amy's sensitivity would also allow them to be aware, I think.

Quoting from this chapter: Charlie nodded. "You're doing fine." He frowned. "I was thinking we'd go back to talk to the pizza guy and see if we could learn from him of any local experts on the house or the Oshtàpày legend. But...I think we're beyond that now. All a local could tell us would be local interpretations and stories. I think we're arriving at the idea now that Tasker brought our friend here somehow from the same island we just witnessed in the vision." Kippy nodded. "That's an assumption, but one I agree with." Rick smiled. "You know, we could always go to Engris, visit a spirit dome, and call for Tasker. He could tell us the story, himself." Charlie nodded. "That could possibly work. And if it comes down to that, we will." He smiled. "But Murcha has Lollipop engaged just now, and we'd have to pull the ship off a contracted run. I'm really not willing to do that unless we have to." Kippy laughed, noting Charlie's look. "And?" Charlie smiled. "And, I'm enjoying the hunt!" He turned to Robin. "Aren't you, my dear Holmes?" The man laughed. "Indubitably, my dear Watson." "So, then what's next?" Browbeat asked. He sighed, his face aglow with pleasure. "This is so fun!" Charlie looked to the small flyer with interest. "What do you think we should do?" "Me?" Browbeat laughed. "I don't know. I think we have to wait on the nishpah to tell us more." Kippy's eyebrows danced upwards at that. "Nishpah?" Browbeat turned to look at him. "Uh huh. That's what we call these types of life on my planet." Ricky and Charlie are forgetting that both Uncle Bob and Robin have been to Engris, so could teleport the guys to there and then try to call Tasker. No need to involve Murcha.

Ah, not me. I love Geron's plots. And @drsawzall does great plotting and stories, as well. If he and @Geron Kees ever teamed up, what a story it could be! Or for that matter, @Backwoods Boy, if you and Geron ever teamed up wonderful as well. But cooperative story writing is quite a challenge, and it might be something none of you have time for, in the present.

Okay, @Geron Kees and @Backwoods Boy -- We have established that the older guy, the pizza cook, is named George. The younger guy is named Jordan. Geron, you said that one of them might have more information later -- much later. So the group may be going through or in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, again sometime, for a mystery? A future story?