Geron Kees

You got that right! Language used to have some finesse to it. If you could insult someone without swearing at them, you had a 'sharp' tongue. These days, everyone has a club, and uses it indiscriminately. In the same way, 'foo fighters' was originally 'f***ing foo fighters!'. Military brass and journalists moved to clean it up when it started into the public usage. Men have always cussed a blue streak, but they always reserved it for use among themselves. And the feminine among us would have considered it extremely un-ladylike to have employed such language. Amazing what a desire for free speech will bring. Rudeness and crudeness are no replacement for finesse.

I think that's semi-private then, at the least, as anyone can read these comments. An argument could be made for this being public, but I want to give you the benefit of the doubt!

Charlie had that love for reading and knowledge before he met a single magical person (Max). But knowing things is the first step in doing things...so you never know where it might go!

I think you've got it!

Hope so!

Thank you! Merry Christmas!

I'm happy if you're happy!

Well, thank you for that one! Actually, the very first Charlie Boone was a Halloween story with no magic at all. Just a costume party and dance, and where Rick met Adrian. I didn't hit on the magic aspect until Christmas, where they then met Max online and he helped Rick and Adrian stay together when Adrian's mom lost her job. The Halloween tale with Will and Billy was the third story. The fifth story was the first Valentine's Day tale, and the sixth story the first July 4th tale. That's kind of been the cycle since then, with four tales per year at Valentine's Day, July 4th, Halloween, and Christmas. I kind of enjoy them all, but the Christmas tales are always a little special. I'm happy you enjoy the series!

How close do you want to be? What has been apparent so far is that both Kip and Adrian show a certain precognitive ability. But they will each prove to have different abilities as time passes. Neither Charlie nor Rick have shown anything concrete just yet, but that will come. I just have to think of something fun, is all!

Thank you!

Glad the guys infurred things correctly!

Is this a private quip club, or can anyone join?

A moth in the emperor's new clothes! Holy fabric softener!

The Christmas Moth. I'd type his name, but i don't have enough fingers!

I kind of like that! I'll ask you next time I want to name a magical creature, okay?

Can you say that real fast, ten times?

My pleasure. Thanks for saying!

Ronja was a wonderful hostess as well, and set a fine table. They met in another great room, down a long dining table that immediately made Charlie think of Oliver Twist, though the setting here was much nicer than a poor house for children. The tablecloth was white, the dinnerware was blue, and the glasses all cut crystal in the finest of traditions. There were candelabras along the walls in which candles burned but never seemed to shorten, and a chandelier above the center of the table that Ch

I tend to consider Charlie and Kip about equal in the stories, with Charlie sort of being the intellect, and Kip being more of the heart. So you are right in calling Kip by that definition. But the story really is about the group. If there is magic here, it comes from the things they do together. Ulp! A mate for Oogie? Um, Auggie? I'd have to think about that one!

You set a grand table, my friend! I just don't know if there are enough waiters to serve all the food you mention! It's a gay guy series, of course, so women have not been a huge presence. I can remedy that, and I'll think about it! As for Ricky's brother and sister, aren't two Travers enough?? Haha.

The Moth are not very powerful users, so if they mess up, all they get are tiny foobears, too small to be anything but a nuisance. I wanted that clear, otherwise I'd be dealing with crowds of playful or evil foobears following our guys through the next dozen tales! The guy who accidentally created THIS foobar was a big, BIG power user, and that's why Kip and Adrian and the others were able to make it real, and why it had enough juice to become sentient on its own.

Thanks so much for that kind review. I consider these tales part of the holidays they represent, and I have a lot of fun writing them. I just wish I had more time for more holidays!

I have so many characters in this series now that i have to keep a list of them! Hmm. Uncle Bob in space. Hmm! I have heard another meaning for the fubar acro: fouled up beyond all recognition. But in this case, the 'foo' in foobear means exactly the same as the 'foo' in foo-ighters. 'Foo' was a popular term in American culture in the 1930's, derived from the comic strip Smokey Stover, who drove a foomobile fire engine with only two wheels. At that time it was often used to signify a goofy or strange technology, or a goofy or strange social custom. The term 'foo' was borrowed by a radar operator in the 415th Night Fighter Squadron in WWII, who was a great fan of Smokey Stover and his favorite phrase in the comics, 'Where there's foo, there's fire!' It was that radar operator that gave the name foo-fighters to the strange, apparently way-too-fast or maneuverable aircraft seen sometimes on his radar screen, or chased by fighters of his wing, mostly at night. The term later became a generic for any UFO. For Max and his crowd, a loose ball of energy that can cause mischief is definitely a foo!

Are you saying that your mind is twisted? Or that logic is simply not always a straight line affair? I was also thinking about the Bugs Bunny cartoon and the gremlin. Um...you're scaring me!

Figures that California would have a lock on Santa, too!