Parker Owens

You describe the last concert I had to manage; the bus ride I took from university home decades ago; many, many hot summer nights. You capture the essence of dirty and fume filled August airports, and the dog days of summer. Wonderfully, eloquently put.

Thank you very much for the encouragement and kindness of reading and commenting on this. Your idea is quite right; certain flavors require a blending with others to be both rich and palatable.

That is beautifully put. You could set that thought to a poem, Dugh. Thanks for reading this, and responding to it.

But maybe this time will be different. Or so the eyes have it. Thanks for reading this and for responding!

You are so right: bitter offsets the sweet, forms it into something much more interesting to the taste. Thanks again for reading this.

This is wonderful. It is a marvelous summation of great truth.

Your face writes a sad tale of bitter disappointments etched around your mouth and nose in small type; and yet your eyes, alive with merriment, regale me with stories of pure delight to come.

Excellent writing, enough to increase the heartbeat. You have the burner set on high: how long will it take things to boil? Surely worth another chapter...or two.

So incredibly sad; so much sorrow wrapped up in this. A terrible cut, a slash across the face with a saber this is. You present the scar to us and I bleed afresh for you.

Chapter 2, in which Sim gets on his soapbox, meant a lot to me.

I am with Reader...I have come back to this story again and again. There is something compelling about it.

Indeed; lean and muscled...

Glad you liked this. The flavour grows on one!

Thank you, tim. Words like these from a culinary artist like you mean a great deal.

Your kind thoughts and words are themselves a refreshing draught. If you find this item on the Spice Rack good, then I am happy.

How good it is that you see these flavorful morsels as intoxicating. I am delighted you read this, and thank you so much for your response.

Warm to the touch...yes, exactly. In flirting, every move, every gesture feels that way. I hoped to convey the excitement and flush when one realizes what game is being played. Thanks for reading and responding to this!

Frisky? Well, Spicy, maybe. How else to say how the sight and sound of another person can affect you? It is a lyrical experience, and one that sets fire to the heart. Thank you for reading and responding to this.

It has that flavour, doesn't it? But sometimes just seeing and talking to someone can set one's heart racing. It may not rake much....thanks so much for reading these!

This center portion was not the sizzle, but the real main course, exactly as you say. Thanks for reading this!

Your laments pour out your heartache like cold water from a bucket. You are neither a past fad, nor bad, and this peer, at least, will not convict you of anything. Your poetry eloquently speaks for you.

This was a very lovely and interesting chapter. Jackson's parents are wonderfully supportive; their idea for a present was nothing short of awesome. Fantastic idea. Jackson and Luke can at least talk now. This chapter also rocked for the offhand way in which you easily paint the huge changes wrought in Jackson since the beginning of the story. He works incredibly hard at swimming, he schedules extra practices, he takes at least some relationships seriously. And he can actually think about going to college. I like the way you have created Henry. Poor guy has to live with Cindy. I can try and put myself into her place, walk in her shoes...in her mind, Luke is in real danger of straying into a spiritual disaster. In her mind, she is trying to protect her son from something he should not, must not, desire. But I cannot agree with her conclusions or resolutions. Cindy refuses to look at her son as he really is, instead of at what she insists he must become. Her intransigence could cost them both dearly. These chapters are so well wrought and worth waiting for. Thank you.

Thank you very much for reading this. It's amazing how sensual another person can be just in the way they speak and move. If I gave that sense, then perhaps I succeeded.

Thank you for that! That term summed up so much in my mind in three little syllables. Glad you liked it.

Tempt me with honeyed words, intoxicate all sense and with your grace and artless gait beguile; drive mad my heart by glimpses of your flanks, and shoulders joined to nape, all worshipping your smile.