jkwsquirrel

We'll have to be careful around you! lol I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!

Now there's an angle I hadn't thought of! lol

An enjoyable discussion, as always! Not sure why Billy would want a paternity test at this point. He wants to hide the truth from Brett, not reveal it. Well, he doesn't want Brett to know he knows, he may not care so much about Brett discovering the truth about Jack! Billy isn't all that interested in stirring up trouble. He's more interested in protecting himself and being left alone.

Always fun to hear, or I guess read, your thoughts and conversations. Okay, so here's the thing, Billy, as smart as he is, is just a kid. If some adult who you know is important and you kind of respect yourself suddenly tells you that he's going to sue your family and destroy you, you don't think rationally about that. Jack scared Billy so much he threw up. Even if Jack was mostly bluffing, Billy thinks Jack's going to do something terrible if Billy tells anyone what he knows. It's a grown adult with years of battles behind him against a 16-year-old kid who is scared for his life. Then there was the double whammy when the preacher went after him too. To Billy, it means the whole world is against him. Maybe Billy is right to be afraid?

David, who Billy lovingly refers to as the "vanilla douche" is the man who Billy thinks is having an affair with his mom. He appeared briefly chapter three, asking Paula to come to a dinner being held for Pastor Carl, without George. Billy took and instant disliking to him when David called him "Willy." I've left it ambiguous whether or not they really are having an affair.

Wait no longer, my friends!

For some reason, my mom didn’t want me to go to church with her on Sunday. It couldn’t be because I’d humiliated Joey the last time I’d gone, was it? Anyway, the simple fact that she didn’t want me to go encouraged me all the more to go, of course. I even went to Sunday school for once and had a good time. Hell, I was even respectful and asked thoughtful questions of the teacher. It was kind of nice. I felt invincible. I was on top of the world. I had a smirk on my face that I j

Thanks dude! I appreciate the love!

I really enjoyed the conversation about Billy, Joey, and Brett! There are a lot of ways the future could go, but I think it will be very clear after Fallout how it will play out. Yes, Brett was a late arrival, but it's been about eight years since he moved to the outskirts of nowhere. Joey was very much Billy's friend when they were little. Don't let his revised view of things distract you. Joey grew more distant as they got older, as he began trying to fit in with a cooler crowd. He would do anything to fit in. It became his quest to lose his virginity, not because he wanted love but because he wanted the badge. B&B had sex because it was the next step in their relationship. Joey couldn't care less about a relationship. Why buy the cow if the milk is free? Joey's grown on me as a character in Retaliation. He reminds me of a little kid who puts on his dad's clothes and tries to be like him, but looks ridiculous because everything is huge on him. He can't be what people expect him to be, so he rebelled. But then he got in too deep. Then Billy nuked him. If this were Joey's story, Billy would be the villain.

Should be interesting to see how they deal with each other!

I think you have described the interaction between Jen and Billy well. Keep in mind, she's been lying to Brett his whole life. It takes a certain level of callousness to hear your son begging to find his father and to lie right to his face just to protect your own interests. Not only that, but to see his interactions with George, his longing to be loved by a father, and to see him interact with Jack and to remain silent, to allow him to live a lie. She used her professional knowledge of intimate details of Billy's life and personality to manipulate him. At this point, he's paralyzed, thinking that telling Brett what he wants to know will hurt him. I've sometimes said that Brett and Dustin are both abused by their parents. I think Billy's starting to see that just because someone has a nice reputation doesn't mean they're a good person.

lol, brother-in-law! Love it!

Thanks Benji! There has been a connection between Joey and Brett for a long time that hasn't quite made sense. Brett is just about as out as he can be, Joey seems to delight in torturing Billy over his homosexuality. And yet, Joey not only holds his fire but is seemingly best buds with Brett. Maybe, deep down in their subconscious mind they know they're connected by blood? As for Billy, he is one of the best poker players around, now he's holding all the cards. But never underestimate a sleazy lawyer.

That would have been quite the development! Not sure if Frank and Jen have even met each other actually!

Thanks Okie! Seems like everybody's got their secrets. That was originally going to be the title of this part, "Secrets." But Retaliation fit the WAR theme better, so there you go!

So many lies! Things might be easier if the kids in the story could trust the adults, but the adults haven't exactly proven themselves all that trustworthy!

Thanks Jay! There's always fallout after a nuclear explosion, right?

Thanks Wesley! What do they know and when did they know it? We'll find out!

Don't worry about it Bubby! In the mind of a 16 year old boy, everybody over age 20 is a pervy old man. Just keep doing what you do, my friend. Time does get us all eventually.

Kind of makes sense why Brett has never gotten along with his mom.

Yes, I think this explains the cultural ramifications quite nicely. Even if it's not necessarily illegal, adultery is definitely not approved of in this culture. While there could hardly be any legal issues over an affair that took place sixteen years prior, there will certainly be some moral outrage considering the lofty place in society in which Jack dwells.

No problem. I think the biggest issue is the lying. If there's one thing Brett hates it's being lied to. For Billy, the problem is he just destroyed someone who turned out to be his boyfriend's brother. Brett was already a little it upset with Billy for what he did, but now it's worse, at least in Billy's mind.

We'll have to find out, but it doesn't look like Brett knows. I don't think Dr. Reilly would have survived the apocalypse that Brett will surely cause when he finds out he's been literally in the same house as his father and didn't know. The McKenzie family is for Brett like the Barnhart family is for Billy. The parents are long-time friends, so the kids are friends. Jack and Jen have been hiding what happened from Joey's mom for sixteen years, they're pretty good at lying.

Yep! And how Billy was ready to do pretty much anything Jack wanted him to do.

You're very kind! When I was writing that chapter, way back when, I could have phrased it "Joey's dad and Brett" or even "Brett and Mr. McKenzie." But then I thought hmmm... He's really Brett and Joey's dad, or Brett's and Joey's dad, or what have you. So I worded it a little awkwardly. If anybody ever goes back and reads the story again, it was always my hope that those little things would stand out.