ReaderPaul

In most of the US, SEX is legal at age 16 or age 17, but posting pictures or video of a nude person under age 18 is illegal. It is a patchwork of (sometimes crazy) state laws. In some cases, whether sex is legal between two persons if one us underage (defined for most legal purposes as under the age of 18 years) depends on how much OLDER the older person is than the younger. It is a lot more complicated than just those facts in some jurisdictions. The craziness needs some consistency, but I do not see that happening for a long time, if ever.

I can guess what happens next from what would happen in the US if underage porn were uploaded on an adult's account or on a neighbor's wifi signal. The adult and/or the neighbor or would be the ones going to prison for child porn, even if they knew nothing about it. The neighbor would be guilty of not password-protecting their wifi. The adult would be in trouble for collecting money on child porn (meaning porn produced when one or more of the participants are under 18 years of age). There have been cases in the US where neighbors have been convicted of crimes committed by other neighbors "piggybacking" on their wifi, even without the wifi-originating person's knowledge. Sometimes even password protected wifi can be too easy to guess. I do not know what Australian law or UK law has to say on this. Perhaps, @Summerabbacat and @chris191070 or @Wombat Bill can enlighten us? Cook has been resourceful as well at finding things out. I bet within three chapters or less she WILL know more of what is going on.

My phone, using Chrome browser, is acting normally as well now.

In spite of psychological testing, things can go wrong Someone might have a head injury and personality could change. A stroke can happen. Something might be overheard and misunderstood. Life can be a balancing act. Good story.

Site is working normally for me this morning. Using Chrome browser on HP desktop.

I had some success with the regular format for a couple of stories and then the weird format showed up again. Now it appears to be back to normal. Hope it stays that way.

Hmmmm. The plot and subplots thicken. I will wait and see what happens before i speculate more at this point.

I had much the same problem. Took seemingly forever to navigate to what I wanted to see.

Over my more than 65 years of life, I have seen too many cases where someone who seems unlikely to learn Item A from Person P learns it because Second Person S tells Third Person T who tells Fourth Person F who then knows originator P but also knows Person A and tells them about Item A being told by Person P. The swath of indiscretion from persons who all should have kept their mouth shut caused relational rifts that last anywhere from months to years to permanently. In cases of mistaken identity this may be even more so multiplied. So Patrick should quickly tell Carol about being mistaken for Dante, so his version is the FIRST she could possibly hear. I respectfully agree with @chris191070 in this case. I still hope other previous CWB commentators will comment on this story. Speculation fuels even more interest in the stories of @Wombat Bill and others of our favorite writers.

@Wombat Bill, I think Patrick quickly should tell Carol he was mistaken for Dante. Otherwise, Cook's warning could be taken wrongly and cause unneeded extra drama. Glad to see Edward and Andy on the team, and looks like Juanito will also be working with Thomas and the team. Great! I look forward to seeing what @chris191070 and @Summerabbacat have to say, and hopefully other commenters as well.

@R. Eric, I thought this chapter advanced the plot and set up more possibilities. You did imply that this would be a longer story than many, and an epic normally had a lot of things going almost simultaneously. You have introduced interesting characters which will provide many potential story plots in this. I am looking forward to the future chapters.

The first set of bold print is in my appreciation of your beautiful poetic language, @Summerabbacat. The second set of bolded print is in the humor of referring to @Wombat Bill as a "quadrupedal marsupial." As far as the parents of Dante and Patrick, all of those are possibilities. One other possibility presents itself to my mind. One of the parents could be in a coma in a care institution of some kind. Another possibility just appeared in my mind -- one or both parents could have been married to someone else than each other. Neither possibility seems likely, but they are possibilities. Two more grim possibilities come to mind: their mother might have been raped, or it could have been an incestuous situation similar to or varying from Jared's biological parents (though I hope not). @chris191070 is also right -- "Dinner and drinks round the kitchen table, certainly reveals things."

Wow! Just -- Wow! You have me wondering what comes next, @Wombat Bill.

Interesting speculations in the story, @R. Eric. I am gradually catching up on the chapters. Indeed, while persons may be technically one thing or another, what they consider themselves is often something else. @Sandbear, you are technically right, but feelings sometimes overrule, for practical purposes, technicalities. I look forward to the future chapters.

@R. Eric, I love that you had the Nesmith kids learning to swim at an early age. I feel all kids should be taught the basics of swimming, floating, and some basic water safety rules.

Well, interesting. I was going to point out that a word probably had been left out of the passage @Summerabbacat quoted, but thankfully he beat me too it. It would seem Cook, Thomas, and now even Dante seem protective of Carol. I look forward to Patrick meeting Justin. Good work as usual,, @Wombat Bill.

In three of my jobs before I retired, I met several VIPs. About two out of three were nice, and many of the rest could indeed be APITA. Worse were the ones who THOUGHT they were VIPs, but were not. The worst VIPS I met were a televangelist and his family, and the best VIPS were another televangelist and his wife who were just the opposite, and several wonderful musical performers were excellent VIPs The second televangelist my spouse and I ran into at a shopping mall, and he and his wife came across as a low-key, down-to-earth couple who wanted no special treatment or attention. The really successful musicians also knew they were a success, and were very secure in that, so again demanded nothing special in treatment, no discounts, no attention. @quokka has a way of working pleasant surprises into many of his stories. I am glad they had mostly good weather on the voyage from NZ to Australia, and look forward to seeing the new passengers.

With Carol and her appetite, it seems like "It's Raining Men" by The Weathergirls (available on YouTube) might end up being appropriate. Are Carol and Patrick using condoms? Thanks for the welcome back, @Summerabbacat.

So-- the question occurs to me: Was Carol a sexual virgin when she and Dante had a fling? I don't remember it that was ever stated or not. @Wombat Bill, you keep weaving more and more threads into the plot. I see lots of possibilities opening up. I also look forward to seeing comments from @chris191070 and @Summerabbacat, and anyone else reading this.

I agree, @chris191070. @Summerabbacat, good things you pointed out in the chapter. I am also wondering about the teaser. @Wombat Bill, do you know if we will be seeing Andy and Dean, even briefly, in this? Or even Virginia and Desmond briefly? Even if we don't see any of those, it's gonna be a great story (paraphrasing a character in a story by an author I'm currently not remembering).

I must agree with @Summerabbacat. The dialogue was very well done indeed. I have also read stories where one could not tell for sure who was speaking. You avoided that pitfall, and made the story interesting, as well, @Wombat Bill.

Glad to see this start. I wanted to wait to start until I could have a chance to read every chapter in a timely fashion. Looking forward to seeing what Mrs. Cook, usually just called "Cook", and the rest of the crew, have happen this time! Thanks, @Wombat Bill.

Unexpected passengers! I hope they don't get seasick.

Jordan having the new ship tethered near Zac is probably a very wise move. This is a good story, @quokka. You are getting practiced at using dialogue and description in good balance in your stories. I look forward to seeing them sail from NZ to Australia.

So true, @AlexLittel. Mustard, ketchup, dill pickles, sweet pickles, lime pickles, lettuce, tomato, onion, relish -- but not mayo! Of course, my allergies influence that decision a bit. Yes it does, @Geron Kees. And writers are a very valuable part of the world!