Parker Owens

Coming from as accomplished a writer as you, this is gratifyingly high praise. Hope your heart swelled as mine did. This was a very hard chapter to write, so it makes me happy to know it worked for you.

So very sad. How lost this makes me feel. You have done well in this set, Emi.

After the last three, this one suddenly seems so ominous and melancholy. What happened?

I smiled to myself reading this. And then I hummed a long-forgotten tune.

You packed the image of a summer afternoon into one line. Perfect.

I can't help but agree with you - it's a perfect place for the two of them. Alone, finally, with nobody else to interrupt. Here, in the firelight, they begin a new life together. Thanks for your kind words and many insights.

Finally, just the two of them. Thank Eustace for the idea, and Toby for the execution. Andy and Zander complete each other by firelight. Thanks for reading and for your kind reviews.

Wow. Absolutely, convincingly creepy. Two men who will be damaged beyond any recognizable shape of themselves by Danny choosing to cross the line. Oh, man. This is so, so good.

A deeply compelling and tragic story. I devoured it. Thanks for sharing this.

This is so much the experience of so many boys, about to become men. And it makes me so very sad. You have written it beautifully, and with perfectly balanced description and emotion. It may be up to Ryan to push Brady over the line in the end.

Thank you for your generous and kind review. Roger Green Hat is a shrunken shadow of the man who hurt Andy so badly. And I'm glad you caught the fundamentalist prayer protest out in the rain. So insignificant, Andy almost feels sorry for them. Andy and Zander are pure fulfillment for each other in this chapter. This is firelit joy Andy will remember as long as he lives, chasing shadows and demons into oblivion.

A Hazard Taken Daniel Akindele stared numbly at the wreckage of the fancy hotel room. The remains of a sandwich still sat on the coffee table, uneaten. An unopened gift, pressed into Daniel's hands as they left their small wedding celebration – their very own wedding reception – atop a small suitcase. The silk sheets on the bed lay wildly disarrayed as he and his beloved Ibrahim – Ibi - had left them. As they had made love – and then slept in them. Now federal Immigration agents bustled about

Nigeria is no place to be born gay. One can escape, but will hatred follow one forever?

I am so happy you liked this chapter. It was very hard to write; many drafts worked and reworked. Thank you for reading!

Thank you for your very kind comments. This was a hard chapter to write. Zander and Andy both unsure, each needing the other, wanting the other. And they warmed up the cabin pretty well, didn't they?

A lot can happen in a year, can't it? At the beginning, Andy would never have thought the word 'lovebird' would ever possibly apply to him. But now...Zander and Andy are together, and happy. And that makes all the difference.

Thank you for your very kind words. I really appreciate your reading this. And yes, it is so very, very, good.

Entry for April 1, Saturday, continued… We were married. Father Brewer had said the words, pronounced us bound to one another forever. And now it was time for us to leave the church, to end the party, and let this wonderful, tumultuous, day come to a close. Somebody – probably Frank, the practical joker – had arranged a final touch. Toby Harris had Eustace's truck waiting in the rain at the curb in front of the church. He would drive us home. Down the stairs we went. I yanked the door to the

I am so very glad you made it to the wedding. Wonderful, full of joy and love and laughter. It was so very good of you to come. You must have been part of the crowd Andy can't quite remember, but whose presence supported him and Zander in their unusual (!) life decision. Andy is always surprised that people who get to know him get attached to him. Now he has inescapable proof that there is a crowd of people who love him, and Zander, too. Grandmother Walker's gift leaves Andy with less fear - and a responsibility to become himself, leaving his demons in his past. Zander read to Andy in love, as the verses relate both to Andy's experience and to Zander's experience of Andy as elusive, beautiful and somewhat wild. Thanks for being part of the fun. Did you get a dance with Kaz, or at least a strawberry?

You put it so rightly, my friend. Even with some plot strings to tie up, it was the moment to pull out all the stops and play for pure joy. Andy's new grandmother Walker undid some of the last fears tying Andy down to his past. I'm so glad you came to the wedding; hope you got a glass of bubbly!

I am so happy you enjoyed this part of Andy's journal. It was good that Andy got a day with unalloyed beauty and joy in it. And I'm sure he was blown away by the appearance of so many friends...including yourself! Gland you could come to the wedding, and I hope you got a bit of cake, too.

I am very happy you enjoyed this chapter. Glad you could make it for the wedding, and find a place in the back pew!

You have a very good point, here. I do not think that we are necessarily preprogrammed genetic products of our parents. On the other hand, Andy's mom didn't exactly have a fling; she was determined to have a child, at least if Delia Walker is to be believed. Regardless of his genetic makeup, Andy has overcome a great deal. He is truly himself. Part of his character has been molded by fear and fears of fear. In some ways, he is now free of Gunnar in a way he hasn't been. He beat the odds on his own, but Andy has one less hurt, one less demon to put to rest. Zander's verse spoke so much to Andy's own experience, and to Zander's experience of Andy. It was a lovely, simple wedding, and it was still so full, so joyous, that there is only so much Andy can recall. I am very glad you could come and be there for it!

I am so glad you could make it to the wedding. But at least your sniffles were sniffles of happiness, I hope. Thank you for reading and lend us your thoughts.

My imagination summoned the glorious bells that precede the final bars of the "1812 Overature", bells that aptly emerge over the fading reverberations of cannon fire. I'll save my last toughest for the last chapter . And thank God Zander didn't have to dance with Kaz .... I am so very happy you made it to the wedding, and could squeeze into a back pew. Andy's grandmother Walker snapped the last cord that tied him to Carlsberg and his horrible childhood. Andy's felt truly free. The churchbells ringing all over town had to be the work of someone who loved Andy and Zander enough to make some phone calls, and who knows just about everyone in town. I leave you to figure who that could be...but it was surely a glorious sound. And no cannonfire was present. And I'm sure Kaz saved his dances for Terry, mostly...so glad you liked this chapter. Nice for Andy to have some unalloyed joy. Thanks for coming to the wedding!