Mancunian

It's easy to feel critical of both lads, but it is also easy to feel for them and understand where they are coming from. Guy has some experience and had time to accept who he is and his feelings, no doubt he has had more freedom in that respect. On the other hand, Tim has lived a sheltered life hiding his feelings afraid of backlash from his family, his dad for the most part. They need to talk properly to each other, this is the key and there is not enough of the right type of talking going on. Hopefully, things will work out for them but they won't until they have that important conversation.

Thank you @ReaderPaul for reading and commenting. And a special thank you for bringing me back to this story, it is one of my favourites.

I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you for reading and commenting throughout.

Thank you for your continued support in reading and commenting, it makes it all worthwhile. But let's not count our chickens just yet, the job is not quite finished and we don't want to tempt fate, do we?

You could be right about the word Techspert, I honestly do not know. As for Benjamin, well, the questions have been asked but we don't know the answer. It's down to our own Techspert's.

Keep your hopes up and say your prayers. Hopefully, your prayers will be answered. But if they are I don't know how they will be answered.

Thank you, I'm hoping that Benjamin will receive the love, hope and help that he needs. He has met good people.

Thank you @ReaderPaul, this was a difficult chapter to write. I didn't want to upset any of my readers with graphic descriptions of violence, and believe it or not, it made me emotional as I wrote it and it still does every time I read it. The drafts I consigned to the bin were too horrible to post.

I don't think we will have to worry about Joseph having a sensitive stomach, Shamira is a good cook and likes to present varying dishes to her family and guests. As Joseph meets more people throughout the story he gets a flavour of a few of the foods he will encounter and I'm sure that Ian and Kevin will want to continue eating some of Shamira's tasty dishes after they return to the UK. If Joseph is like most youngsters of his age he is more likely to get an upset stomach from overindulging.

The exact quote in at least one version of the musical was -- “Money, pardon the expression, is like manure. It's not worth a thing unless it's spread around, encouraging young things to grow.” -- Dolly Levi in "Hello, Dolly!" Since I have not yet read the original version or the rest of this one, I will throw some wild speculations around: Spec 1 -- It is learned that Joseph has a younger brother -- additional paperwork needed. Spec 2 -- It is learned that Joseph has a sister -- new complications to the plot. Spec 3 -- "John" finds that DNA "evidence points to Kevin and Joseph being fourth cousins. Now he has a UK connection via bloodline. Spec 4 -- Other. I love both versions of the quote from Dolly, there is a lot of truth in them. I also love the quote from Auntie Mame, I believe 'the who' is more valuable than 'the what' if you get my meaning. As for your speculations @ReaderPaul, all I can say is one of them is correct. If I said any more I may incur the wrath of @raven1 and I'm not about to upset my good friend.

Fascinating indeed, sometimes it's not what you know, it's who you know that makes the difference, even if you don't know that at the time.

You are right about Joseph feeling insecure, in his position that would be a natural response. I think he may still grieving for his Avi Emmanuel and is in awe of the men he is introduced to as Ian and Kevin also saw Manny as a father figure and loved him. I think there would have been an element of hope and disbelief in his voice during the closing exchange;- “Do you mean it? You...you will be my Ahkh? My brothers?” “Yes,” was whispered into each of Joseph's ears as the grip tightened.

The other driver makes another appearance later in the story, we then learn his name and a few minor details about him. As for the rest of your comment, I can't say anything.

You raise a good point, it hadn't crossed my mind when writing this. I think we can assume that Joseph is a typical boy in this respect and is currently going through the stages of puberty.

Is that a threat or a promise.

One of the stories I wrote included a German Shepherd called Missy, she got almost as many comments as the main characters which I loved to see. If we have an anthology about dogs count me in, I'll happily make the dog the main character.

It looks like the kids are settling nicely with Uncle Brendan and having more fun than they have ever had before. Let's hope they get more time like this before the court case starts as that is bound to put them all on a downer. Hopefully, the court case will not last too long and they can get back on with recovering and having a life.

I wonder if Joe was holding anything else back from Joey, I guess we will find out later, if they meet again. Ricky's idea for a new musical sounds like fun, I'll be looking forward to when it makes its debut.

Or mine.

And we all know that.

I'll tell you the truth about which author you can trust to tell the truth about the SA entries, none of them.

Just to give the readers a clue, my story has more than 1,000 words in it.

He's fine now, he told me it was one of those summer man colds, lol. I don't think I hurt him when I cracked the whip to get him to edit my SA entry, lol.

Oh he's fine now, like I said he has also been spending some quality time with his other half and enjoying life. That is when he hasn't been editing for me.

I can't speak for @weinerdog, but I do know that @raven1 has been ill and he has also been spending some quality time with his partner, and working on a s short story about.....something that I posted, lol.