Parker Owens

Wally's vid was never going to be terribly secret. Perhaps that was Ted's sinister point. I think Wally is hoping that if he lays low for a day or two, Kenny will be unable to find him, get tired of waiting around, and go away. The cost of this is to be the chaperone for Michael and his friends...

He was quiet at dinner that night, and Oscar noticed. "Wally, you okay?" his host inquired sincerely. "Fine. Just rode hard this afternoon." Javier grinned. "It's good to ride hard. Exercise is healthy, right, Oscar?" Neither man blushed, but each smiled a knowing smile at the other. "Where's Michael?" he asked, changing the subject. The teen was conspicuous by his absence. "Over at a friend's house," Oscar replied. "It's not a school night, so it's okay." School nights. How different lov

A really charming little piece. It warms my heart, and makes me want to know these two. Thanks for letting us into their lives.

Sometimes inspiration comes out of the blue, and sometimes you know exactly from whom it comes. In this case,credit needed to be given where it is due. I am delighted you enjoyed this poem!

That you got pleasantly lost makes me happy. Also that you grasped the central idea so well. Again, you seem to see inside my head. I am so glad. You liked this.

Thank you very much for your kind and supportive thoughts. I am glad the ripples doing their healing work caught your eye.

I am so very glad you enjoyed it. Thank you.

The image is compelling to me. Many thanks.

Thanks for your kind and supportive words. But the inspiration was all tim

Oh, I didn't mean to make a mystery. But I am glad you liked it.

Oh man, and a prophecy thrown in! So much to take in for this chapter - lots of information, but there is a lot that is moving, too. Your chapter title is quite apt. But you still leave us wondering about Logan and what is going on with him...and if there is one hunter, there are bound to be more. Hell, do they multiply like zombies? Get out the Pepsi! Thanks for another great one, oh great one...

Thank you, Val. I am very happy you like it.

To a Rounded Stone And I would be your river fair, my dappled waters, singing low, to soothe and smooth your every care and all your subtle edges know. I beg you let each ripple kiss the place where you a flaw detect, though none shall know of aught amiss -- all hidden by my surface flecked. Fear not the gathered nimbus proud, for I shall hold you in my grasp, and there in bed to each we'll clasp together through the thunder loud. And though my face with foam be decked, and muc

We are indeed. Thanks!

Thank you, Def. It fits our tim to a t.

This is most marvelous poetic storytelling. I do wonder if you are telling a series of stories of real events, or a story of your own devising, or something else. But whatever, you are doing, it is being done with economy and grace and beauty. I can relate to the poet. I have never liked heights, and hated the high board. I can see the light you describe, and feel the cold and fear, still.

A journey in a car as metaphor; you spin it out so well. I am taken back to journeys made with my family, trapped next to an older sibling or cousin in the rear seat. I have images of long, tense rides, with silent tension in the car filling the air with unspoken conversation. I recall in this poem being alone with thoughts which refuse to let go, digging deeper and deeper into the psyche. I cannot help but identify with so much in this. It is deeply sad and enormously powerful.

This is a searing, simple cry of the heart. You express yourself so eloquently in plain words. It is a gift. Were I able to keep company with you awhile, I would offer you friendship, conversation and a warm hug of affirmation. As it happens, your words touch me as deeply, and I my grateful for them.

Thank you for sharing these, tim. You are so very good expressing the paradox of feeling love and pain, hope and sadness, all simultaneously. Poem 1: You define love so aptly in the second stanza – You accepted me as I was…gave eternity in a ring, I heard echoes of joy and distilled melancholy both in this one verse. You do not want to go, no, and I don't want you to, either. None can tell how kind the years will be, but we know we must be stronger together than as fragments. When memory brings you to us, we will yet be stronger, for you have a place in our hearts, indeed. Poem 2: Hope and melancholy coexist in the same heart, as dissonant notes and timbres exist in the same music. It is not as strange as it might seem. And the music of your soul – expressed in this poem – will surely echo always.

I wish I knew how it worked, too. Wally on Michael's bike is probably the last thing Kenny expects. At any rate, Wally is certainly surprising Kenny by not jumping at the chance to get back in business. Not that Kenny took 'no' for an answer, anyhow. Marquez wouldn't want that. Kenny might have been making a delivery, or on the way to see someone. It's not clear, but it seems coincidental. Probably. You are certainly correct in that Wally will want to think very carefully about exploring again. Many thanks for your review and commentary...and for reading this far into the story!

I have waited a long time for this chapter. You tell your story very well, with plenty of dramatic tension, yet filled with the joy and warmth of acceptance. Not everyone had your family, and you were fortunate in that, but the apprehension is surely enormous for anyone. Thank you for sharing this.

Bobby haunts John, doesn't he? But the mere fact turns on all the nasty sarcasm John can muster. Interesting to see the romantic attachments at school on display, like a map. How do the teachers have time for all that?

What a pair. What was Emma thinking by bringing the two of them together in the same school? There's such a thing as dynamic tension, and then there's a death wish. Nice added tension here.

Oh my - let's draw triangles, shall we? Alek and Nathan? I see you can have a great deal of fun in this story, but at the expense of someone's heart! Somebody is going to have his heart broken, and I sure hope it isn't Liam. He's been hurt enough. Nice to see Corey and Jason come through, too.

He'd better channel his inner Tour de France rider. Hope Michael's bike has a high gear. Thanks for reading and commenting!