Will Hawkins

For a man to address a multiple amputee friend as 'legless' is a form of affection that I do not believe any woman could fully understand. The friendly insult shows two men to be 'brothers' at least to the extent that society allows, and is an acceptable form of address. However to call another person 'Pocahontis', especially someone who is a political opponent is stepping well over the bounds of political correctness in my opinion..

Flip-flops are good, but not comfortable on rough ground. Here is a little test for your feet: while standing bare-foot have your partner place a thin stick or a rod against the outside of your big toe. If the rod touches your heel you have well-formed feet. Almost everyone who habitually wears shoes will see space between the rod and their heel. Bare-foot boys can see the ground between every toe.

'for you and I to catch up.' – for you and me to catch up. Object of preposition 'for'. Do you want grammar suggestions? If not I will not make them. The story is too interesting for me to screw up by insulting the author. Foot fetish – I am currently living in Brazil where everyone takes off their footwear when they enter a private home and children do not wear shoes until late high school or college age. For an admirer of bare feet, this is heaven. Going barefoot is so good for your feet, straight toes and strong arches just turn a podiatrist on. Even I, who was a flat foot through Grade School and had to wear special shoes with internal arch supports for far too many years, am now enjoying nude toes, and good arches (in my late 80's).

Beautiful boy, except for the tired/dopy eyes. I would love to run bare-foot through those curls. but I would do a search for needle tracks before giving him an unqualified vote. MisterWill

I just shifted over here from Black Widow as I find I understand this story line much better than trying to keep up with all the different characters on that one. I have been following this series since the very beginning (Gun Room?) and feel I have learned a great deal about the 1800's British navy and the politics of the period especially the relationships (many) between Britain and the other monarchies of the 19th Century. I made the comment about Paul I of Russia because my superficial readings of history lead me to believe he is the mad Czar and he is due to be assassinated in March of 1801, which, considering the slowness of ocean travel, would be just about the time Lord Granger is in Saint Petersburg. I am sure THAT will make his stay there interesting to say the least. Misterwill

I am back after a long hiatus, and am enjoying the current updates to your stories, Mark. But I will have to admit that conditions in the world have changed dramatically since last I chatted with you. Misterwill

A mad czar in St. Petersburg, a mad king in London – these do a great deal to justify a recommendation against inbreeding among the various monarchies of Europe. At least we cannot blame Richard III's scoliosis on the closeness of British royal in-breeding this time as he lived about 300 years before this. Is this mad czar the Paul who was assassinated in March 1801? So Lord Granger is enjoying a peanut butter sandwich with two Norsemen . . . . that is exciting. I wonder if he will be able to work his wiles on the mad Czar?

out of my pours – out of my pores . . . . these two words are 'homophones' a pore is a hole in the skin.

Your last line confuses me: Whoops, no. I had misread it the first time. When I went back and re-read it. it made sense. Sorry, all is OK now. Misterwill

Your commenters positive responses mean that this is a well written tale and I am looking forward to reading it. It seems that some have commented about reading this story or versions of it before from other sources, I feel myself fortunate not to be a member of that group – I approach this story totally as a virgin, a condition to which I have not been subject for many decades – let us see where my exploration leads me. MisterWill

Factoid for your future writing: burying a body deeper than about 3ft puts the remains below the bacteria and bugs level. This only means that it will not decompose as rapidly as it would if buried in a more shallow grave where insects could reach it easily. The first effect in either case is large quantity of internal gasses created, causing extensive swelling. The final effect of the deeply buried body would be dehydration of the skin and internal organs leaving a mummy which would give pride to an Egyptian. The dehydration stage may last a long time if the soil is dry, or cease in a few months in the presence of high moisture. The skeleton itself may still be preserved for hundreds of years . . . . witness the discovery of the skeleton of Richard III in what was destined to be a parking lot nearly 500 years after its internment.

Alpha Mate has prolonged her confrontation – Alpha Mate has postponed her confrontation "Sandy haired, clover-eyed, Munchkin" – the best description of a green-eyed blond, smaller man I have ever read!

I was about to respond to the question about the 'wife-beater', the term has unfortunate connotations, but it is almost a uniform among men who perform heavy labor in the South and West, that is when they wear any shirt at all. To my great delight, I have seen men riding to work on the bus in heavy boots, very short shorts and not wearing any shirt when I lived in southern Florida. When they put on the nail belt, the shorts would disappear too. oh yeah! Picture Marlon Brando in your mind.

"Religion is the wall men like him stand behind when inflicting misery." That statement is true, but Men like the Pastor are capable of believing in themselves – as if he and he alone has a connection directly to God. "There are none so blind as those who WILL not see. May be an old saw, but it is still frequently true. Truth and acceptance are the rock, the foundation, upon which 'old saws are erected'. We instinctively recognize their truth because it is so very apparent. By the way, you can recognize the popularity of this story by the high number of comments it calls forth. Your readers have strong opinions about it, otherwise they would not take the time to make a comment, congratulations! Mr Will

I wonder about the Reverends change of heart – I find it difficult to accept that a person so basically evil as he is portrayed can turn 180º so quickly and easily no matter what the provocation. Well, we shall see as we read on, Wayne. At any rate you are a genius at creating characters both good guys and bad. It makes for a fascinating read!

Harlan has made move one against the evil preacher, unfortunately those who don the armor of righteousness very seldom give up that easily. This is just the opening salvo between Harlan and Preacher, Let's see where the war goes from here. Mr Will

It is good to see that there is a potential crack in the Biblical armor worn by that a~~ h~~~Minister. Unfortunately amateur 'do gooders' like him frequently surround themselves with 'self righteousness' to the point that they are unreachable. Let's hope for the sake of Rayne's sanity that there is a widening of that crack to the point of preacher destruction. Mr.Will '

Pastor Rogers is so typical – he is in a situation that is exposing his ignorance of the psychology of a member of his flock and his failure as a supporter. It's good to see Harlan's support and anger at the preacher. I am a believer in the fact that 90% of the wars in which mankind has been involved throughout history have been caused by religious fanatics who have cherry-picked the Bible to support their ignorance and narrow minds. Even an agnostic like me can read the love that Christ wanted us to express for one another. Pastor Rogers is NOT a psychologist and he should leave medical treatment to those who are properly trained. This is not 'hate mail' directed to the author, if anything it demonstrates how well the author is doing in presenting his characters.

Just one small hint – the difference between shaking and nodding of one's head. Normally to nod your head is to agree or answer in the affirmative; to shake your head is to respond in the negative; answering 'no', 'not', or 'never' to a question or situation. As a reader who has not been introduced to the characters here by reading a previous story, it is going to take me a few chapters to get up to date on the relationships and reactions of the several characters. But your writing style makes me eager to do so. Writing about a character who cannot speak is a real challenge, but you are handling it well. I am fascinated watching the relationships be created, keep up the good work and, yes, you have a hooked reader. Mr Will

Michael is an archangel, that is pretty high up in rank so if he approves of the relationship between Stephen and Nohr everything should work out OK.

Having a virus infecting large numbers of people is not a new thing in the world. There have been hundreds of pandemics in history, but it is only in the last hundred or so years that doctors have known what caused them. Social separation is difficult both personally and in a civilization, but it does save lives.

It is likely that what the cow was being fed was not only hay but also grain to keep up the quality of her milk. Grain is like candy to a cow and Betsy will make it a habit to always enter Stephan's stall as he will develop a relationship with her.

the cow, like every other farm animal, is a creature of habit. As long as they are accustomed to being milked every day, they will line up at the barn door at the same time to get in. In the "milking parlors", a fancy name for for a place to milk cows in the USA, there are several more automatic methods of handling large numbers of cows to be milked. The entrance, for example is up on a higher floor – called the second floor here, but the first floor in Europe and the ramp that leads up to that floor has flat places in because it was established many years ago that a cow would poop right at the top of the ramp into the barn so the flat places in the ramp give her several places to poop rather than on the floor at the milking level. The cow will walk along until she gets to her usual milking place and if there is another cow in there she will wait until number one moves out. Another example of habit in animals. As soon as she moves into the stall she will start to eat the grain that is in the bin in front of her, that grain has been blown into the feed bin by air pressure and is a measured amount. There is a hose with warm water there to wash off her udder and paper towels to dry it. Then the milking machine is put on her teats and a mild vacuum will collect the milk in its bucket. The bucket with milk must be weighed as each cow's annual production is recorded in a computer. The milk is then poured over cooling coils and is piped into a trailer on the floor under the milking level to be hauled off to the bottling plant for pasteurization and packaging. Finally the milking stall is released and the cow walks out and down to the pasture. The weighing of the milk is the only time the milk is moved by hand. After all the cows have been milked the milking parlor is stem cleaned to make sure it is sanitary for the next milking.

we couldn't access the damage – we couldn't assess the damage flashlight is correctly spelled as one word. You have it as two words in one place and as one word in another. 1. What happened to Stephen's mother? 2. Is it legally possible for a parent just to sign away the responsibility for a child? I, too am of the mind that Michael is the archangel Michael.

In order for someone to hold dual citizenship one parent or the other must be a citizen of the other country. We know Stephen's father did not, so it depends upon where his mother was born.