Zuri

Wow, you had me in tears! I'm not sure if it's your best chapter yet (strong contender, though), but sure the most emotion-provoking one. Good job! You really put us and these three people through a lot … I hope, Bass tastes good 🤔 Hopefully, Bass and Manny used protection, so no surprises come up when there's a transplant.

The story, being placed in the future, is essentially a Sci-fi story 😉

Well, it's not his money, so if Manny needs it, as caregiver, to provide proper care, he wouldn't have much of a choice. Rocky is not an infant anymore, so he could possibly argue, that caregiving has less physical requirements. If I had a real issue with that, I would have voiced my concern. On the contrary: I found the ambiguity very fitting there. Actually, never heard of those two other definitions. So you're right, I didn't mean either of those. I didn't know the word at all, aside from the software, so I had to look it up in the first place, hence my knowledge about different meanings 😅 Your editor not knowing all the words—who would have thought? 😂

When you think, it's already bad, you sometimes are surprised, when it gets worse despite your hopes. I'm not sure, Mr. James would be easily convinced in that respect. I'm not sure but there might be people who actually consider the hand to be part of the arm 🤔 Just admit it: You love making us do things 😜 Interesting choice of words, though, as "gimp" can both mean "disabled person" and "sex slave"—well, and of course a painting software, but I'm sure, you didn't mean that. I always hated that about hospitals: You don't get breakfast and you can only guess, why that is, even though one might have a few ideas. And then the doctor comes in and it's already scheduled without you knowing. Well, as Manny says, he doesn't have a choice anyway and knowing it beforehand wouldn't have changed it, but I assume, this can still come as a shock. And not just to Manny but also to Bass and especially Rocky, who Manny couldn't inform in person.

And what there is, is constantly changing. Pretty sure Georgia’s got a little more restricted this year. Right before being bombed by Putin. But it's the effort that counts. It was red when he was carried out.

And gun regulations—or the absence of them. Did he wear a red shirt, by the way?

[…] believe it or not, there was no pre-thought about doing that. It came like so much more of what I write, stream of consciousness. Well, it is actually very fitting, given that he hasn't very visually shown grief about his parents' death. Manny being the catalyst for both his own situation and the one of Rocky's parents, makes sense and Rocky kinda had it coming, being only human.

Well, maybe a statement for gun regulation after all ^^

And then, Lee releases a new story called "Rocky road into a post-nuclear future" 🤷‍♂️

Relevant contemporary story ✅ I mean, your story taking place in the near future, makes this not impossible, but in that case, I hope, it's not foretelling 😱 Well, or maybe—just maybe, as River Song puts it:

I know, the surprise ending will be "everyone died" 😜

Well, that's tough—one dead and Manny alive, yet considerably injured. You gave us some Bass backstory as requested 😲👍🎉 Nice to see that Manny and Rocky have become that close

Yeah, sorry, this went a little out of hand and isn't fair towards your story to hijack this chapter's comments for such a distinct and potentially emotionally-loaded off-topic discussion 👍

Well, I guess, one thing, people constantly get wrong about politicians or "making politics" is that people assume, delegates know about the field they serve in during their term or that their work there involves concerning oneself with that topic. While some lawmakers might actually do so (I don't want to wrongfully accuse anyone of the opposite), for most of them, their daily business is more about policies—towards corporations, towards their affiliated parties, towards the voters, always concerning the next election. The ones working on the topics are their employees in their offices. The quality of the delegates' laws depends on how good they listen to their employees, how good their judgement is, and how well this decision would fit the overall policies.

Wow, didn't know that. Quite interesting 👍 Haven't met any batshit crazy Republicans during my stay—guess, I must have been lucky 😅

Well, I might not remember which store we were in during my time in Alaska just a few years ago, but we walked through the gun section as if we were selecting vegetables. That was a memorable thing—not in a good way, to say the least.

Wally just needed to go to Walmart on the other side of the street (so to speak) real quick and come back with a gun—couldn't have been easier for him to commit or attempt murder 🤷‍♂️

Might be, but she never trusted Bass. I mean, newly enamored couples aside, when people go to a party, they are invited to, there's more for them than their partners, they could just as well see before and after in the privacy of their own homes. And despite being in love, they can be interested in other interaction with other people, even though that might be baffling to Danny.

I could only speak for myself. You might have had a different perspective, even though, although, I kinda doubt it, it might have been a little weird to find out this way, but better than never ^^ Thanks!

Oh, I love nasty twists 😅 Yet she was overly afraid of that involving her stepson. Interesting backstory, however, what I meant, is, that if you consider yourself more or less unfit for company of other people if you're not in a relationship, you make it hard on yourself to be part of any social activities.

Maybe, I can step in and answer that: I'm an author myself, so I can have that perspective when needed and put myself in Lee's shoes. I try to do both line and copy editing, so my goal is to do an as all-encompassing job as possible. If Lee is fortunate, however, I can't answer 🤷‍♂️

Kelly did a really good job, teaching him internalized homophobia. Being unconsciously homophobic is one thing, but believing, all of them would take advantage of one's size is a little more misled. Yeah, I was about to point out that is weirdly American and wouldn't be perceived the same outside the U.S. I mean, it would be an interesting turn of events if there was a new stepparent when Manny dies—but Lee wouldn't do that to us, would he? 😏 People always seem to have children at the right age available for their co-workers and such. Well, if that already is his bar, I don't see him leading a very successful social life 🤷‍♂️

That is my concern as well 🤐

I thought, I posted this here already, but I can't seem to find it anymore 🤨

What about … *drum roll* … "Man(n)y a trouble"—but instead of the chapter title, it could have been the story's title: