Will Hawkins

I feel that Scott (or Scottie, as we are now referring to him) has the opportunity to turn his life around 180 degrees. We can only hope he will take advantage of his opportunity and use the support he receives from his Arkansas family to modify his attitude into a less destructive (or self-destructive) pattern.

It seems that there is hope for Scott even in Arkansas. His cousin, though straight, has expressed no dismay at Scott's alternative life-style. Maybe, just maybe Scott can get the support he needs to turn his life around. He can be personable and certainly is good looking enough to make friends and achieve support from Arkansas friends. Though, because I have read a couple of Ronyx stories before, I constantly look for the barbed hook buried in the bait! We will se how this turn out.

Arkansas could be an opportunity for Scott to turn his life around, but I have a feeling he will just be moving from one homophobic relationship to another. An Arkansas aunt does not hold out much promise for acceptance does she?

I suppose this is a case of two sides to every story and Scott's actions are a reaction to the training he received in his early life, but. as usual, young guys go too far the other direction – they have not lived long enough to learn moderation. Do I feel sorry for Scott? Not really, but I can see that he is just reacting to the way he was trained by the poor example of his younger years. The eventual basis for his negative actions is the behavior of his parents. They deserve to be in jail, perhaps for the crimes they did commit about the money, but in addition for the personal crimes they committed against their son. In my opinion there are only two reasons for putting people in jail, one as punishment for the crimes they committed, true. But the other is for the protection of humanity.

Okay, I am waiting for the Ronyx twist. Because there is only one more chapter to this series, I know it must come soon.

Sorry, but I am of a suspicious nature and have read several of Ronyx's stories in the past -- I think it is great that Mark is developing friends, but I am waiting for his tree limb to break. Even an oak tree (to mix in another story) can be damaged in a strong storm and Ronyx is famous in my mind for the twists he puts into his stories.The idea about training kids in martial arts is a good one – just as long as the baddies are not trained also.

Mark's magic bike that made its own way from his Aunt's house all the way home to use the next day!!!!!

I had to look up the recipe for 'chunky monkey ice cream'. It sounds delicious except for the bananas. I like bananas . but not in ice cream, The nuts and chocolate chips sound great however.

My teen-age years were somewhat different from those described in this story. There were two times in my life when I had to "come out" to a parent. The first time was when my father first was informed that I was smoking. It happened in a restaurant, my father finished his meal and got out his cigarettes to have a smoke. He offered one to my sister who was about 10 years older than I. She accepted one then said, "Don't you think you should offer one to Will as well?" There was a pause and then he turned to me and I accepted the cigarette he offered. I had been smoking for a year or more at that time, but the only one who knew was my sister. After that fact was demonstrated by my not coughing or choking as I inhaled, my father's only comment was "How long have you been smoking?" I told him "About a year," We just went ahead with the conversation as if nothing untoward had happened and my sister just winked at me. And I winked back at her to tell her "Thanks for the help." I never really "came out" as gay to my family, but that is a much longer story, so we will save that for another day.

This story so far has one twist that is different – it is Jack's mother who is most homophobic, not his father, at least so far. Maybe that will change too.

There is an expression in German: "to walk on the other side of the river". It refers to being gay in a 'straight' world. When I was assigned to a base in Stuttgart for my overseas service, I first heard it used by a woman in a nightclub with whom I was chatting. She had asked me if I wanted to sleep with her daughter and when I declined, she muttered about me 'walking on the other side of the river'. It took some research on my part to detrmine what she was talking about, but after I found out, I thought it was very appropriate.

Jack is going to be amazed at how athletic Tracy may be. Dancing. as a cavalier (male ballet star) is one of the highest forms of all-over exercise there is. He must control every movement and yet be strong enough to do the lifts that are expected of a cavalier. Ballerinas are not hefty, true. But lifting even 110-120lbs. over your head, several times during a performance is rigorous exercise for anybody. The biggest advantage cavaliers have is that they don't wear toe shoes. Those foot-coffins will kill your feet and drive a podiatrist up the wall! The author has not mentioned a 'dance belt' as yet (that is the undergarment for a cavalier) it is a combination athletic cup to keep a man's 'parts' under control and a thong so that no 'panty lines' show through the tights. One advantage that Tracy may have is that in North America, even a merely competent cavalier will find employment as, because of the prejudice against male dancers, the graduates of dancing schools are about 40:1 female. This is not necessarily true in Europe and South America where male dancers are held in higher respect than in the USA, and foreign men frequently migrate to the USA because they can find employment.

This is not an easy story to read – by that I mean it is an emotional Ferris wheel Ronyx, the author, wrings a lot of emotion out of a year in the life of a gay boy and his coming out, his friends support, his father's neglect and the crimes perpetrated by a gay teacher, on him and many others. Ronyx is a master of expressing emotions and involving the reader in the emotions of his characters. Not an easy read, but a meaningful one.

You told me too – You told me to. Marriage to breed heirs may be quite common in the world, perhaps even more common than we know, In those cases a gay partner must seek satisfaction outside the marriage. I am not sure whether it is more common in those nations where there are estates (property or business) or ranks (noble titles) to be passed on to the next generation, but I feel it is far more common than are we aware. In my country, there are no inherited titles, but businesses and property can be passed on to succeeding generations and keeping the business "in the family" is often just as important, financially, as passing on a title of nobility. Marriage "in name only", or the hidden boy friend or girl friend, is a solution in many instances, and the "mentoring" of a young same sex relative, a "cousin" for example or the "orphaned" child of a distant (perhaps fictional) relative, has been a solution of sorts ever since Roman times. However, if it is practiced by only one member of the marriage, it can be very hurtful to a marital partner. One partner in a marriage being wedded to a younger, poor but beautiful person, has happened so frequently in history that it has become a cliché. In times past it has occurred principally heterosexually, but with gay marriage, either M/M or F/F slowly becoming accepted world-wide, it may be more and more common in the gay community as well. One additional unfortunate consequence of procreation through a close relative was the disability through inherited faults like the cripples and mentally deficient rulers of ancient times when "keeping the bloodline pure" was a requirement. However, I believe we understand genetics well enough today to avoid this.

These last few chapters have been quite revealing. Suddenly our hero, who is just beginning to accept his own 'gayness', finds he is surrounded by gay men (and women), it is really exciting for him. He so thought he was alone, but now finds, not only that he is not alone, but is the object of sexual interest from others he thought were either very disinterested or string straight! It is like a rabbit waking up in a cabbage patch! He has a very poor self-image, yet finds that some of 'hunks' about whom he has been having imaginary or computer fueled dreams, appreciate him as well. Do you feel that may improve his self-image? His first reaction is; 'What the fucj does he see in me?' Eventually that may change to a form of mutual admiration. Fascinating study in teen angst.

I think Woody's report on Oak Trees was a very creative response to a dull school assignment. If I were his English teacher, I would try to find a way to encourage his creativity. But then, I was a teacher, no not an English teacher and in a Community College, not a High School.

Esky - Eskimo Cooler; styrofoam box to keep contents cold manufactured by Igloo or Eskimo in sizes from 24 quarts up to 148 quarts- WA - Western Australia Toyota Landcruiser Back Tray Pickup style truck. the Back Tray refers to the 'tub'.

RORO - Roll on, roll off. Piggyback road/rail facilities. Sometimes double stacked to permit two levels of truck trailers to be loaded on each rail-car-

Whoops! skipped that one. Dunny – outhouse. By the way the symbols cut out in the door are the 'crescent' symbol for the goddess 'Diana' or female and 'sun' or star standing for male, the 'sun' symbol may have five points, six points or many points, and the crescent symbol may face either left or right or 'points up', but usually not 'points down'. In addition to indicating 'male' or 'female' these cutouts add to air circulation. Sometimes there are two seats on an outhouse, and, infrequently a greater number. If there are two, one is probably smaller than the other for use by children: if there are more than two . . . Well, Victorian ideas of person privacy were somewhat looser than in 19th Century America. The cutouts in the door also indicated occupancy at night by lantern light shining through the holes. In lumber camps occupied only by men, there were often larger numbers of seats as 'privacy' was not a problem in an 'all male' situation.

Cattle Station – Ranch Water Bore – well Reticulated System – a method of supplying water, frequently by means of pipes and sprinkler heads, to large areas of pasture or crop land. Used mostly in Australia which suffers from frequent droughts. Boxing Day – the day after Christmas when historically the lord of the manor boxed uppitiest all the leftovers from the Christmas meals and distributed them to the tenants of his estate. Nowadays those who serve like the dry cleaner or barber or the pizza delivery boy are given envelopes containing sums of money as a reward for good services throughout the previous year.

MI5 and MI6 are two intelligence branches of the British Government. MI5 has to do with domestic Intelligence and MI6 with foreign intelligence. Both departments were severely penetrated by Soviet Intelligence in the period of the Cold War A gap year is a period of time off from school frequently taken between the completion of the equivalent of American High School and entry into College. Swat is a week just before the beginning of the final examination period with no classes, supposedly to permit extensive revision (studying for tests). Note that the British (Canadian, and Australian) school system is totally incomprehensible to most Yanks, me included.

The big problem with Dorian was that it stalled over the Bahamas. Instead of continuing to move northwest at its normal pace, it took several days to move from one end of Grand Bahama to the other with winds at cat 5 all the time as well as the expected storm surge. The southerly end of Grand Bahama was totally flattened and by the time Dorian moved on to hit the Carolina coast, it had expended a great deal of its force. But the destruction of the Bahamas was catastrophic.

I was pleased to see the use of birdseed thrown on the departing newlyweds Yes, the use of rice is more traditional – it comes down to us from pagan days (Rome) when it was used to symbolize rain falling on the fields to make the crops grow so the married couple should have enough to eat, but in recent times it stood more as a waste of food, and it is dangerous to the birds that may come the next day and eat it. The rice grains get into the birds crop, absorb the digestive juices and swell up causing great physical distress. It is not even necessary for birdseed to be swept up later – our feathered friends will take care of the clean-up very well. And birdseed does not swell up dangerously. Just as a suggestion, readers should listen to the Trumpet Voluntary by Purcell "The Prince of Denmark March", it is truly a magnificent substitute for the Wedding March which, in my opinion, has become somewhat overused and hackneyed. There is a version of it played on a magnificent pipe organ on the net, it even starts with a snare drum!

Let's see – Page boys; I love page boys, they have such cute haircuts! They could lead the groom's horses down the aisle, or hold his helmet while one kisses the other. There will be a shield showing the 'escutcheon of pretense' showing the sigils of the two houses combined And a sword for the officiant to touch to the shoulders of the two grooms, and somebody has to call out the name of the house after they are united. Oh, and in place of flowers the pages could toss out small coins with the portraits of the two men involved engraved on them as souvenirs of the wedding. There are just many things that could involve pages in a wedding of two knights.

Kev should be happy with the latest election results in UK. The Conservative party won an overwhelming victory to the point that they no longer have to combine with the Irish to maintain control of Parliament.