Rigby Taylor

This is inevitable in a society in which indoctrinated feelings of guilt about natural expressions of sexuality are used as psychological weapons by religion to control the political agenda. In a sane society this would not occur, but the omnipresent religious interdiction of nudity, innocent sexual exploration and activity outside marriage, too often ensures a lifetime of self abuse of one sort or another by those caught 'sinning', to atone for the"sin". Only those who have no dealings with organised religions have a hope of sexual sanity. As his father didn't invoke religion and seemed easy about the affair, it is almost certain Anthony will sort himself out, because he is very proud of his body and will not want to defile it. Stephen is a student with concerns of his own, but his interest and admiration will reinforce Anthony's sense of physical self worth, and from that it is but a short step to mental re-balancing. I have no fears for his future well-being. Thanks so much for your thoughtful comments.

I'm pleased you get the reference - most of my characters have such names.

That is a wonderful story - thanks for sharing.

I am so pleased you fell out of the fiscal fire into such an idyllic place. It sounds much more attractive than cold and wet Seattle! I hope the current political disturbances don't affect you. A partner, animals and a view of a lake -- what more could one desire? I think Portuguese is difficult to learn... it certainly sounds difficult😎.

Hi, Will, My dictionaries reckon there's no such word as exhaduration. The nearest it has is adjuration -- urge or request (someone) solemnly or earnestly to do something: I'm pleased you're enjoying Frankie. It's my last novel. If you eventually feel the urge to try my other offerings, they sort of refer to each other in that characters from all the books finally meet up. They are all independent of each other, but the characters are introduced in this order: Rough Justice, Dome of Death, Sebastian, Jarek, Mortaumal, Fidel, NumbaCruncha. Ha ha - a fan after one chapter... that makes me nervous. Thanks for commenting.

Yes, Will, Most states apart from Queensland, have legal, clothing optional beaches, although there's a famous nude beach in Noosa, where I live, and also north of Cairns -- so much for laws. You can wear pretty much as little as you like on all beaches -- as long as your bits are covered and there aren't complaints from other beach goers. While females are wearing less and less in public, young males seem increasingly more conservative in dress, I suspect because they are more heavily influenced by the USA than my generation, who looked to the UK and Europe, where nudism has always been an accepted activity for those who feel like it. But even there, puritanical US attitudes towards sex and nakedness appear to have infected the young. Immigrants from Moslem countries also appear to be having an influence on how much flesh it is acceptable to bare. I am very, very pleased to have been young and sexy before the mid 1980s. Today's priggish, censorious attitudes to male nudity offend me. [I'm referring to reality -- not the two dimensional fakery of internet porn, the proliferation of which is a symptom of a sexually warped society.] My books use nudity as an indication of decency -- a healthy mind in healthy body -- in the classical tradition.

Thank you Jdonley.

Thank you NoSkis. for your thoughtful comment. Rather than go into a detailed description of Anthony's misery, I thought it more interesting to let readers invest him with their own feelings. As for self censoring -- I have to, being prone to polemic hyperbole. 'Less is more,' my Art teacher used to insist when I tried to include every detail. 'Set the scene and let the observer have the pleasure of filling in the gaps.' Thanks for your generosity in taking the trouble to comment. So happy to have a comment from you, Okie -- You are right, boys and men are subject to heavy behavioural obligations -- it may not make them happy, but it does make them unquestioningly obedient workers and soldiers. Surely it's worth it, so the rich can get richer? Great to have yet another comment from you, Canuk. Yes. Deidre suffers from a common adult fantasy that young people have the same sorts of feelings and desires about sex as adults. It's deliberate amnesia. Like all sexually awakening young people, Anthony was simply testing his attractiveness, not soliciting for sex; never imagining his behaviour would be misinterpreted and he could lose control. I still recall vividly the horror I felt as an adolescent when fondled by an adult because I was wearing a backless thong at a beach party. Anthony's father was remiss in not taking his son's experience seriously. Public exposure would compound the problem, but he should have taken his son and confronted Dierdre, forcing her to accept her error and apologise, thus restoring Anthony's self respect. For me, the most worrying development was his sudden callous contempt for Deirdre, then going off to pose naked with a stranger. It suggests his comments about being 'soiled goods' were not a joke -- that in his heart he does feel soiled -- a slut -- and might as well act like one.

Thank you Chris.

I suffer frequently from "News Blurps"

Quote: It is necessary for the government to protect the country from developing in a sustainable style. The government should do anything they could to prevent our posterities suffering from our outcome. After eating far too many ripe pears my posterities are definitely suffering from my outcome😟

A Misunderstanding. At Art School, Marjory discovered she had the skills but not sufficient imagination or ego to be an artist, so she became a wife and mother. Twenty years later when all except her youngest had fled the coop, she set up a studio in her basement and gave classes to people who had always wanted to draw, but never got around to it. Her ‘Life’ classes proved the most popular, but this evening the model was late and the students watched with concern as Marjory’s self-confi

An unpleasant misunderstanding threatens to cut short Anthony's part time job as an artists' model.

Thanks, Jeffrey for your thoughtful comment. I'm glad you liked the story and agree that the guilt should be shared - adults have much more influence over youth than they often realise.

Thanks for the comment. I totally agree. The Queensland Commissioner of Police agrees, has stated publicly that putting young people into prison creates more criminals -- but politicians only follow the polls, not informed advice. So as our mass media demands we build more prisons and incarcerate everyone -- so do the voters. Ain't democracy grand?

Dear Okie, Such generous compliments - I'm thrilled with your good wishes for Peter and Maurice -- you show you are a man of great empathy by agreeing that it makes no sense to demand submissiveness to the "one size fits all morality" preached by those who think they have the ear of god. Although it is a fact that all humans share many individual characteristics, we are also individuals, and the variety of situations, backgrounds, characters and other influences on individual behaviour are infinite. So I reckon that once it is established that no harm is done, or as in this case, that further action would do even more harm, how people live their lives is their concern -- not that of others. As for further tales about the engaging pair of lovers... I assure you that Peter and Maurice live as happily ever after as any human is capable of, but they have asked for privacy so I've agreed not to use the rest of their lives as fodder for my stories.

Thanks, as always, Canuk for your kind words of wisdom and perspicacity. I'm especially pleased that we've both managed to escape the bonds of normalcy.

Freewill I reckon there’s no such thing as free will. We’re manipulated from birth to be obedient conformists who never rock boats, take risks, or think for ourselves. It doesn’t matter who you talk to, pretty soon you realise their ideas, opinions and actions are copied from videos, TV, newspapers, magazines, books… There's nothing original in their heads. People don’t think—they respond to prodding. When we were kids my best friend and I were always pretending we were heroes fro

A summer holiday with his uncle, sets Peter on a dangerous course.

Hello Jeffrey, Thanks so much for reading and commenting so positively. I've been hesitant to publish my short stories, thinking they were a bit strange - too polemical and sometimes dark, but your kind words give me confidence. I'll sort out another soon. I try to write exactly what I want to say in the fewest, but most apt words, and sometimes that can make confusing what is in reality simple. R.

I was the second and very scrawny child of a very active 'farm-girl', who could turn her hand to anything. She it was in our family who skinned, gutted and dressed rabbits, decapitated and dressed poultry, scaled and prepared fish, gardened, made all our clothes, was never seen without her knitting, had three wholesome meals on the table every day of her life, could charm cows and milk them like a professional, had taken charge care of lambing before marriage, chose to ride back to town on a horse after visiting the farm, instead of using the car. I can see her now, galloping along beside my Grandfather's Ford - racing us... I have the impression that most female humans are not conscious of the fact that it is due to their differences in behaviour from men - not their similarities, that humans have survived. I sometimes wonder if women were genuinely proud of their differences and celebrated them, instead of demanding to be treated as if they are identical to men, they might be more appreciated. But here is not the place to discuss such things. As for the electric shock and my brain - the jury's still out on that.

Thank you Okie, I'll try not to let your fulsome praise distort my reasoning. There are a few more dark and sombre tales to come - if I find the time to edit them into a readable state.

Women aren't written off - they're half of every Numan. Where do you think the pragmatic common sense exhibited by those guys comes from? I'd say they're mentally more female than male, being risk averse, take life seriously, not prone to irrational emotional reactions, prepared to live with what they have instead of always inventing new [and usually destructive] ways to do things.... the list of male idiocies is long. Their main masculine attribute is physical strength. Thanks for reading and commenting. I wrote the story ages ago, then decided to elaborate on the theme in NumbaCruncha, then decided that story needed a prequel, and that caused Fidel to arrive. The electric shock and Clovis' birth are true . My father was out of town so mother was staying with her parents at their beach house where she licked the electricity lead and suffered an electric shock as described. Later, when sitting on the 'long-drop' dunny, I arrived - a week early, in the same manner as Clovis. After my grandfather - a sheep farmer - cleaned his daughter up, we were taken to the hospital to make sure everything was as it should be. Mother liked to remind me of my inauspicious birth when I was particularly aggravating. 😎

Oh dear - Your age is showing, Canuk. And you are far too modest - I see you as a Zeus of the pen. A sexy young lad like Jag wouldn't go for a bearded muddle-aged man, no matter how well built, nor would he fall for a somewhat straight-laced looking bloke with skinny ankles, wearing a long dress. He'd go for the totally sexy guy [also with a great butt] who doesn't fear executing his enemies [also he looks a lot like me].

Dear Canuk, You say write such sweet things - makes a boy [mentally if not physically] blush. Moi? soft and civilised? I've tried, sir, honestly I have. Great to have your comments again.