ReaderPaul

I agree with @ColumbusGuy. In chapter 4 of "There's a Devil in the Dark," Charlie Boone!", the business was Third Planet Inquires, Inc. and TPI was referred to at times during the rest of the story. Only over a year old and a name change already? Or have they slipped into an alternate universe without realizing it, @Geron Kees?

@chris191070, I hope you are recovering well. @Wombat Bill, good chapter. James needs to let up somewhat on trying to make Francesco into an "ideal" look. Caleb has an advantage over Francesco in dealing with the non-circus world. He has been in it. and Gran has been very good to him. I think he has also been good for Gran. I have had friends and acquaintances in religions which do not celebrate holidays. @quttzik, you did miss a lot growing up.

Interesting. On my android phone, Chapter Four was showing as up already posted. But I cannot access it now. And posting notification has disappeared. I have a hunch that Kiernan needs to use his talent so that the person cannot look at them. But we shall see. Adrian might be able to use his electrical powers to short circuit that suit. Kip might be able to pick up the guy and shake him up. Pacha, Pip, and Frit may be able to shield the group somewhat from the intruder. And I bet Geron already has something else figured out about this situation. Very good chapter.

I don't have any hard and firm ideas yet, but thoughts are expanding into my skull. This may be something which Kiernan can help with, and Pacha. I look forward to more ideas before the Great Reveal.

@quokka, good chapter.

Oh, boy, @Geron Kees -- THAT is a change! RICKY being the sensitive one and pointing out Pyewacket's name. Usually one of the others is pointing out Ricky's lack of discretion. And Kiernan Willman! Wonderful! Hopefully, Pyewacket did not follow him. Uncle Bob teleporting, and Kip flying! Has Charlie manifested another talent yet? Or Adrian? And I remember Max's comment to Ricky, in the rescue of Pacha and company, last chapter, about being a magic mechanic -- Something to the effect that, (paraphrasing) -- "The more magic you understand, the more you'll eventually be able to do yourself." Now, Uncle Bob needs to go to Engris, Lyrgris, Lollipop, and Pacha's ship, so he will have been there and can teleport the guys there eventually, as his abilities grow. The offices at Third Planet Inquiries are cool!

Virginia needs to pay more attention to Desmond, instead of making him feel like a service animal. Even those who love each other can make the other feel very low down, sometimes without meaning to do so. (Adapted from something a friend said recently.) Some of what was not revealed in this chapter, @Wombat Bill, I look forward to seeing revealed in future chapters. What did Caleb and Gran do while Justin and Craig were away? What are the details about the upcoming resort? It sounds like Carol and Desmond both have some of the proverbial sour grapes in their proverbial mouths and stomach. And the next chapter teaser -- how I look forward to that one, Wombat Bill! This was a good chapter.

@Summerabbacat, your inner entertainer and imaginative improvisation elf are now exposed! I bow to the vintage of verbal tautology and terrific word-play shown. @chris191070 has reminded me of some of the things which would happen in retail, especially near holidays, when stockrooms were full-to-overflowing with merchandise -- usually. Over the years, we became much better at organization, and could find things quickly. Eventually, electronic location techniques were developed. But some customers were not convinced. When a customer would ask, "Is there any of {item zyxqwertyuiop in the stockroom," we learned in such a case to go back to the stockroom and stay a sufficient time to look well, either coming back with the item requested, or having stayed long enough to satisfy the Doubting Thomas or Desperate Diane that we had actually looked -- even if the stockroom shelves were empty! And Chris, I worked in a restaurant with some really good cooks. Some of the shortcuts used to be speedy without sacrificing quality are truly works of art. Two of the cooks I knew were not technically chefs, but were truly talented. @quttzik -- Raj and Juanito indeed have some difficult discussions to do.

@chris191070, I agree with you. Good to see Edward and Justin talking again, and Juanito and Raj definitely need to talk. Edward's surgery went well, but there will be some once-in-a-while twinges of pain for him, unless he is extraordinarily lucky. But the fact that it went well will work wonders with him. @quttzik, I agree about the teaser at this point. On the teaser, the naughty Christmas elf is probably Justin, but it COULD be Dante or even Jonathan. After all, Jonathan has been loosening up lately. And Cook and Carol could cause and conceive something, in the future if not in the immediate close coming up and converging commencement of events. By the way, is Carol young enough to get pregnant by Dante? Or Cook? That would shake things up! I hope Caleb has not waited too long, such that Lucas has another boyfriend already. @Summerabbacat, your prophetic perceptions have often been proved prescient. I look forward to your comments. @Wombat Bill -- how do you keep coming up with such remarkable paragraphs and passages in your chapters? I am going to need to come of with suitable synonyms for "Well done."

Well, @Summerabbacat, in my opinion, Rani makes Brett look kind, caring, and thoughtful!

@quttzik and @Summerabbacat have brought up some good points. Brett is trying my patience. At this point he seems to have the sensitivity of a drugged armadillo. He brings the term "clueless" to a new low on this happening. Yet, there is a spark of hope in there -- somewhere -- if it can be dug out. He is not ANTI Raj -- but needs to learn, somehow, how not to act like a nearly blind rhinoceros in a glassware shop with narrow and twisting aisles. Raj and Juanito have a lot of talking to do. Transitioning, whether in whole or in part, has to be done carefully, for the mental health of all concerned. Rani is worse than a bitch. Bitches can sometimes be lived with. But she is even more a control freak. Whatever happens without her pulling the puppet strings is, to her way of thinking in many things, terrible -- unless it advances something SHE wants. I disagree with Justin. Sometimes the best thing one can do for a partner is to keep a secret to yourself, especially if no one is likely to discover the secret at this point. Craig and Romel are correct to stress to Raj that they are not experts on gender transition. I must slow down. I had to correct six spelling errors in the first sentence of this paragraph. Related to my stroke last year, I'm reasonably sure. Edward is gradually returning to his wise counselor role. Good to see. @Wombat Bill, amazing and good chapter. I also look forward to seeing what @haines87 and @chris191070 have to say.

Unfortunately, @Summerabbacat and @chris191070, you are at least 95 percent correct. Some of the most anti-gay and anti-trans persons I know are cisgender women. Quite a few cisgender males, even some with strong religious belief, are much closer to acceptance of gay relations and transgender persons than cisgender females. Even some women who are not religious at all are anti trans and/or anti-gay. I wish it were not so. I even know one -- male -- Baptist -- pastor who is anti gay, but for some reason is very accepting of transgender person. I haven't got that figured out yet.

What worries me about Raj and Juanito's relationship is the last sentence of the chapter. Will Juanito still feel as much love for Raj when she has a vagina? I have a friend who went to Canada and became a woman. She said that the hardest part of her transition was when her prostate gland was removed, as part of the process of making room for a vagina. She also said of the 150 people at the facility where we both worked, only two of us treated her as the same person with different clothing and different hair style. Even though she had a legal name change, one female insisted on calling her by her previous male first name. I predict Edward, Romel, and Craig will have the easiest time of accepting Raj if she decides to have surgery to become female. Of the friends, Rani will probably have the worst time of it. I will be interested in the comments of @Summerabbacat, @chris191070, and @haines87 on the idea of Raj transitioning fully to a woman. Good chapter, @Wombat Bill. Edit: I see @Summerabbacat has already replied. Well said!

I knew it was a dream, but Caleb needs to work on his speech and talking skills with the same sex. There is still a potential relationship there, but Caleb can't play it TOO cool.

Good chapter, @Wombat Bill. I wonder if Francesco and Caleb might eventually become friends? Perhaps they and Lucas might all form a friendship.

I am enjoying this story, Preston. Thank you.

Well, I see that @Summerabbacat beat me to replying, and that is certainly fine with me, as this is not a reacting-to-chapter race. Candy's manipulation skills are far superior to Jack's. Wanda's skills are also superior at diplomacy and manipulation.

Wow, @Wombat Bill. Really good chapter. Some loose ends cleared up, some possibly created. In a few chapters, I will be interested in seeing what Hannah finds out from the Public Trustee and Guardian. The next chapter teaser-- That will be interesting. But will Justin call a psychologist, or will he call the parents of Lucas to set up a sleepover for Caleb and Lucas? I certainly look forward to seeing what @chris191070, @haines87, @quttzik, and @Summerabbacat have to say on this chapter and the teaser.

By the time I had a device I could use comment with, my fellow CAB groupies covered the items I was going to comment on. Well done, all. Good chapter, @Wombat Bill

@Summerabbacat, I can answer some of your questions about the prostate surgery. When I was researching my prostate cancer treatment, with the help of my cancer doctor, we spent nearly three hours discussing treatment options. With surgery, the side effects are almost almost always temporary reduction or total lack of bladder control, and temporary impotence (anywhere from two or three months to two years). If the surgery is inexpertly done, the side effects can be permanent. With the radiation, which I had, I had 43 treatments, ten minutes each, Monday through Friday except holidays, and also one day of no treatment when a special mirror in the machine broke. (The company which made the machine flew in a tech and another mirror and the machine was up the next day.) If a day was skipped for a holiday or the mirror problem, one more day of treatment was added at the end. My side effects were tiredness (sometimes extreme), having to sleep at least two more hors per day, and sometimes an almost orgasmic burning sensation when I would pee. Also, when I needed to pee, I had to go pee right then, or I would start to dribble. I would have about 60 seconds to three minutes maximum if I was standing and needed to pee. If I was sitting, I had a slightly longer time. There were two very minor side effects which the doctor had never seen before, but those were not troublesome. (My pubic hair changed color slightly, going from brown to dark red. I have red hair on both sides of the family. And the hair on my lower thighs and lower leg fell out, which the nurse said SHE wished she had that side effect.) A month after the radiation treatments ended, the minor side effects and the tiredness went away. I was told that the tiredness often lasts longer than a month, sometimes up to six months, after the treatment ends. Radiation often has the least side effects in the long run, at least in my part of the United States. Craig is right. Justin has to talk to a professional. Love Caleb and Gran! Another great chapter, @Wombat Bill. I wish I could give the chapter a Love, a Wow, a Fingers Crossed, and a Like Icon all at the same time. Very well done.

Right now, it seems that Dean is the closest thing to neutral of any of the group of friends. But friendship has many levels. Some friendship are mainly "surface" and suffer being rent asunder (and I'm using "rent" in the old-fashioned way of being torn or ripped apart) quickly and under many circumstances. Some friendships are long-term, and have grown slowly and sturdily under a variety of circumstances (Craig and Romel, for example). Some friendships are in-between, deeper than a casual friendship, but not as time-tested and firm as those which could be considered truly long-term or lifelong. (This paragraph is adapted from something a friend observed and stated in the past.) Edward is finding out that many of his friendships are the more casual types. Sometimes friendship partially depends on who is pulling from what direction, and why. Friendship can also depends on perceptions of events which may be true, or which may not be true, or may be a mixture of truth, falsehood, or perceptions of various proportions. Usually, each person in a friendship group has only a part of the truth available. When combined with someone's various personal personality peculiarities, problems may arise. Dean probably does not have any magic friendship fixing formula. But by listening, he may nudge Edward into something helpful. Edward also needs to remember that time and continual evidence of changed behavior sometimes is the only way for things to be resolved. Sorry, friends, for waxing so much philosophy on you. Justin also needs to remember (or be told, bluntly, if he does know know or realize) that holding on to a grudge eats away at the person holding it. Yes, he was hurt by Edward's actions. Yes, Edward was wrong to write the story such such minor changes. But -- Life moves on. Justin needs to realize that the world has more things to do than only scrutinize his family and him. @quttzik and @Summerabbacat and @chris191070 have all pointed out pieces of what is happening. Before there is any sort of final resolution, IF there is, more things will happen. Our @Wombat Bill will have more info for us, I am certain, as chapters go on.

It certainly took Edward long enough to get the message that his actions had hurt Justin, and, by extension, Justin's close friends. Ego can certainly get in the way of doing the right things. Gran's actions in wanting to see the manager reminded me of when I was working for a large corporation, and we heard a story of how the President of the Company had a mother in his home town who always wanted the store manager or the manager on duty to wait on her. However, in her case, the personnel of the store never dared to be rude in the slightest to her. Caleb and Gran are okay, but Justin and Craig need to get back to a better relationship outside of their mutual care for Caleb. Edward's actions reminded me of another writer who admitted to me that the first five paragraphs of a story published a couple of years ago were based on actual events. However, after that point events diverged so much that it could not possibly be confused with real life. There is a huge difference between five paragraphs and many chapters. Hopefully, Caleb and Lucas can explore friendship, whether they explore more than friendship or not. Good story, @Wombat Bill.

@Wombat Bill, HOW do you manage to come up with all these plausible plot permutations? Your imagination must be the proverbial "head and shoulders above" almost everyone else! Loved this chapter. Gran and Caleb make a great pair. And the teaser for the next chapter? Diabolically delicious distraction as we doggedly drag our imaginations for clues and possibilities!

@quttzik, I agree. Jack is obviously VERY stupid about minimum wage laws, and probably greedy, to boot. I don't know if he was deliberately ignorant (I suspect he was -- and that he did not inquire about all the differing laws on purpose so that he could claim to be unknowing). I do believe that Hannah has not just a plan, but multiple plans for pulling Jack up short in his greed. I look forward to her filling Julia and James in. Candy is also showing her ignorance, especially about sperm donors. I think Alex is getting a good education on just how hard circus life is. The teaser for the next chapter is intriguing. I look forward to it. Good chapter, @Wombat Bill.

I look forward to seeing how this is resolved. What did Wanda suggest? Enquiring minds want to know! I foresee at least another chapter, probably two or three, before this is resolved. The teaser: It could be relating to the situation with Francesco and Jack, or it could be relating to Craig and Romel or Craig and Edward, or even (though very unlikely) with Dante and Cook and/or Carol! Or even -- Gran and Justin! The teaser is incredibly open ended. It will be interesting which possibilities you go with, @Wombat Bill. There are several other possibilities I have not listed -- just some of the most likely. I am sure that @chris191070 or @Summerabbacat or @quttzik or @haines87 or someone else will have some interesting commentary.