ReaderPaul

Interesting chapter. I really liked the cooking parts, even though those were not emphasized much. The animal welfare parts were good. Sometimes I might have to read a sentence or two twice to be sure of what was happening. A lot happened in the chapter. I am guessing that in another chapter or two more will be happening with Matilda. Possibly three or more chapters, with the dinner party, and other happenings.

Interesting! So is Missing Conversations Continue next on the writing agenda? Thanks for this info, @Wombat Bill.

Now the boys are thinking! Sometimes it is not necessary to know everything. Does Australia have DNA testing services such as 23andMe or Ancestry.com or MyHeritage? @Wombat Bill or @Summerabbacat, do either of you know? Sometimes those can turn up matches by accident. I also look forward to the ideas of @chris191070 and any others who might comment. And @Wombat Bill -- we still don't know what other male influences Alex and James might have had. (Hint, hint.) Great chapter.

I tend to agree with you in reference to Harry Turtledove. My favorite alt-history (combined with limited time travel) of Turtledove's books is "The Guns of the South." Regarding Dune, I feel it is a difficult novel to adapt to either the large (movie) screen or the smaller (television) screen. The sheer scope of the novel and its fascinating subplots would require a huge investment of time and careful screen writing to do well. But I will have to reserve judgement until I see more recent versions before final judgment.

Well, @Summerabbacat, we know Julia used a sperm bank, and it is quite likely Hannah did as well. Who knows what advice the ladies received from the sperm bank about what to tell the kids about their conception? Justin's reticence about solidly putting forth his ideas to Craig is likely to have been influenced by his father's temper. I have to agree that kids don't always have to have parents of both main genders. However, we have not yet received knowledge of how much male influence the guys have received. I received advice from uncles and sometimes fathers of friends, as well as Dad. The father of one friend had an unusual combination of careers -- he was both a librarian AND a master bricklayer. Another friend's father was a printer, and a third's father was a heavy equipment operator. Some of my other friend's father's careers included landscaper, pastor, barber, sawmill operator, assembly line worker at an automobile manufacturer, some farmers, a plumber, and an electronics engineer for a radio station, and the foreman of a road construction crew. Teens and preteens sometimes have significant influences from various persons. The parents may not always realize how much influence if from other people. Again, well done, @Wombat Bill. I agree that I also look forward to comments from @NimirRaj and @chris191070. Hopefully, others will join the commenting as well.

I agree on the horrors of war. But I don't want to get banned from here because of politics. Some vegans and some meat eaters go to extremes The majority of the vegans or near-vegans I know have chosen that for ethical reasons. Some have chosen it because of an allergy to beef or pork or poultry. Jared is setting himself up for potential problems, as he has presented differing sides of himself to Alex, James, Julia, and Hannah. At this point, I think that Hannah is the closest to seeing through him. Jared is a very complicated person, seemingly able to compartmentalize himself. He is much like Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. Interestingly, one of the functions of the Roman god Janus included giving advice, according to some sources. @Wombat Bill, I look forward to seeing comments from my fellow CWB groupies as this story progresses.

Very interesting chapter, @Wombat Bill. I cannot say much about the politics here, but I have long despaired of the ruins of war. In too many cases of war, the short and long term suffering is very regrettable. I also think Hannah is more perceptive about Jared, at this point, than is Julia. Jared is, to some extent, being pushy. He doesn't know much of what the boys have been taught by their mothers, and also is not yet aware of other male influences they have been exposed to and influenced by. He needs to tread lightly on that. Considerable differences in school environments exist, as well. Schools only a few kilometers or miles apart may have vastly differing cultures which also give shades of difference to boys and girls as they are growing and learning. Good chapter. One mark of good writing is when a chapter seems much shorter than it really is. This one seemed like about a thousand words instead of a bit more than twice that. Very well done indeed.

So, @Wombat Bill -- DO the boys have the same father? Vivid chapter. I can already imagine the boys continually jockeying for any advantage they can get in the family, at school, and so on.

Good start. I can tell the boys are far less sexually repressed than I was when growing up. My mother was very uptight about sex, and Dad almost as much. When I was told the facts of life at age almost 13, it was technically correct-- but Dad made it sound less interesting than digging up the garden by hand, with a pitchfork. My hormones were already telling me that sex was more interesting than that! The title of this story opens many interesting possibilities. I look forward to reading it.

Interesting idea for a story, @Wombat Bill. I look forward to seeing where this story will take us.

I also think you should stick to the Armenti and the Charlie Boone version(s). I really enjoy that/those versions. I read the Heinlein stories as a kid in the 1950s and 1960s. I continued reading his books and short stories through the years, and he had some great ideas. Yes, a lot of the science is dated now, but the concepts live on in various forms. Have Space Suit -- Will Travel was a great book. The first time I read Citizen of the Galaxy I was to young and naïve to properly appreciate it. Farmer In the Sky was a great read, as well. The Heinlein book I have enjoyed most in recent years is the posthumous publication of The Pursuit of the Pankera: A Parallel Novel of Parallel Worlds. It is a parallel novel to The Number of the Beast: A Parallel Novel of Parallel Worlds (the revised title since Pankera came out). The protagonist of Tunnel in the Sky and the problem he and his high school class faced reminded me of Ronja going through the wrong elf-door at times. Also reminded me of the time Derry and Cally went through the door of the fur people instead of the door to Earth. These stories of yours are very good. I am going to have to eventually re-read one series of yours. Been a long time since I read the Road stories. Thanks for the great writing.

@Geron Kees, the last two days I have been re-reading "Tunnel in the Sky" by Robert Anson Heinlein. Some of his observations about the "gates" used in the book remind me of a more complicated version of the Doors. Heinlein talks about the fantastic amount of energy (from uranium) requited to operate the gates, and the mathematical precision required to get the alignment correct if one goes thru a gate to another world than earth. Obviously, the Armenti system is better. Did you ever read the Heinlein book? @drpaladin had some fascinating observations. However, I think there might be some limited circumstances where the clouds or part of a cloud could travers the door system, or the Armenti might not have put the restrictions in place. I am guessing you might address that in a future story, perhaps five or fifteen stories down the line. At the spaceport, some of the ships might be able to shed some light on things. And is there a shuttle so that the guys could go down to the planet the spaceport circles, and investigate further?

That's weird. As a site moderator, I would have thought you would have even less trouble than any of us. I know software can cause problems, and sometimes seemingly random....

I don't have any trouble on my Android phones, either.

I use Chrome as my primary browser, and I am not having trouble loading Stellar's profile at all. Or, for that matter, any profile. Haven't had any trouble on Edge, either.

Do you by chance have some filtering software on your devices that might be slowing that feature down? I know that is a long shot, but is a possibility. Also, my ISP [Internet Service Provider] has filters on some stuff, and I never know when they will show up and slow something down. Usually, they don't filter anything, but sometimes the craziest things seem to set it off, and the ISP will ask me if I want so see such-and-such.

Good chapter. Yes, there were a few word omissions and some sentences which were not purely polished. It happens. Glad to see this chapter appear. Thanks, @R. Eric.

An excellent story, Geron. I was only bullied two or three times, and once it was quite mild. But my school at that time was very tough on bullying, and quickly addressed the severe incident. I am told not all are so lucky with school administrations. Mike's considered thinking led to a good outcome. This had a more serious tone than some of your stories, but every story of yours has serious points in it. This one had more than many of your stories. Well done, Geron.

I would love to see you use the terms -- tourist from the United States, UK, Australia, fog, and friendly -- in a story sometime. I know that I am not an "official provider of prompts," but I predict you could build a fascinating story with that combination of terms, @Mawgrim.

Maybe they would calm down, maybe they wouldn't. I can imagine some of the religious fanatics and political leaders being really, really no good in such a situation.

@Mawgrim, this one you made me feel.

That would be fascinating indeed. @W_L, I have a few of the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mysteries and two Hardy Boys/Tom Swift Ultra Thrillers. I would like to ask @Myr if you have any of the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys or Hardy Boys/Tom Swift crossovers. My favorite of those was the one where Frank Hardy married Nancy Drew while Joe Hardy married one of Nancy's best friends, and the four of them went to Egypt for their honeymoon. However, the wedding and honeymoon were fake, because the four of them were working undercover for the State Department on a mystery. Lots of possibilities in what has been mentioned so far.

Okay, I missed Rani's name on that line of the story. My bad.

Too bad about Bernard. You wrapped up just about everyone except Rani. I am glad to have read this story, @Wombat Bill.

Doing some research, Alexander Elliot, who plays Joe Hardy, has to be at least fifteen, bur probably not more than twenty. He wrote his own bio on IMDB dot com. @Valkyrie said "Oh this does look interesting! I loved the Hardy Boys books growing up. Shaun Cassidy was my first true love." I agree -- this does look interesting.