Marty

I couldn't be bothered but, as my grandfather used to say "There's nowt so queer as folk." (Actually he would usually continue that with "I sometimes think there's only two sane people in the world. Me and thee." Then he would give me a careful look and finish with "And sometimes I'm not even sure about thee!" 😂)

I suppose that's true enough. I suppose that the site could be set up to prevent the read count going up when authors read their own stuff. But, then again, I suppose if they really wanted to artificially boost their read count they could just log out and read as an anonymous user...

I'm not sure, but I suspect Tim's comment there was possibly in response to another member's reply much earlier in this topic. And, if it was, he was only saying what I was thinking myself.

As @Carlos Hazday has pointed out, lots of readers on here are not actually registered members, so they are unable to post likes or comments. I think I saw @Myr comment somewhere that of the number of people actually using GA at any particular time, usually around 90% of them are not actually registered members, so that may go a long way to explaining why some stories may be shown to have been read an awful lot of times, but have few actual likes or comments. Personally I would usually like or comment if I have enjoyed a particular story or chapter. As an author myself I feel that's the right thing to do. As for people doing the same for my own feeble(?) offerings - - - well, I'm happy if they do, but I'm not going to upset if they don't. The fact that I can actually see the number of times a piece of work has been read can be reward enough in itself (I don't think you can see that on Nifty - or can you?)

hair

world cup

Waterfoot, Northern Ireland

Ynysddu, Wales

he man

horse

A lovely case of the hunter becoming the hunted. Another delightful little story, Geron. One that left me with a quite warm feeling. 😊

rodeo

coming soon

Thanks, Gary.

Dove Holes, England

panel saw

berry

file

off side

Ninemilehouse, Ireland

cream

I'm also not a religious person. I was baptised in a Catholic church, but have considered myself a confirmed atheist since my early teens. But I agree with you about there being many important quotes from religious texts. Paul's thoughts on love (Love is always patient and kind....) in his letter to the Ephesians being a good example, as is the way Jesus is quoted to have answered the question 'But who is my neighbour?" in the parable of the Good Samaritan. I've no problem with religion. Nor with anybody who is religious. My only problem is when people use their religion to hurt others.

Oh, I always do! Sometimes I have to clean them thoroughly first, though...

Another great wee story, Geron! There were so many parts that I found I could relate to... The interaction between Luke and Sandy was sweet. It particularly brought back two memories from my past... The first is from back in the 1970's when I was teaching second level. We had taken a party of second year pupils (13-14 yrs - I think they have a different classification of school grades in England nowadays) out on a day trip to visit some fairly famous caves (the Blue John Caverns) in Derbyshire, England. For lunch we had driven a mile or so to a disused quarry and, after I had finished my sandwiches and flask of coffee, I was amusing myself by trying to traverse the quarry face. I had climbed about four feet off the quarry floor and was trying to navigate myself from one end of the quarry to the other without having to touch the floor on again the way. One of the girls came across and asked me what I was doing. When I had explained the purpose of my game to her she then went on to ask why I was doing it. "For fun!" I told her, "Don't you ever do things just for the fun of it? When she told me No, I felt really sorry for her. Sad thing was I couldn't think of a way to help her. 😡 I was happy that in this story Luke was able to help his cousin Sandy see that there is nothing wrong about his parents having a bit of fun. 😊 The second happened much more recently when I accompanied some of my friends and their young children to the beach one June Bank Holiday Monday. Whilst both sets of parents were taking it easy, sheltering from the sun in the shade of two huge beach umbrellas they had brought with them for the day, Uncle Marty was keeping the kids occupied - helping them build and destroy sand castles, throwing a frisbee up and down the beach (and into the sea occasionally), swimming and splashing in the sea, and occasionally letting the whole bunch of them jump all over me and push me under one of the incoming breakers. As I emerged coughing and spluttering from one such dunking, grinning evilly as I approached one of them (about 8 yrs old) playfully threatening to get my own back, he grinned at me and asked "Marty, are you ever going to grow up? I pretended to take his question seriously for a moment, then lifted him bodily out of the foam and, as I was throwing him at the next incoming breaker, just laughed out loud and exclaimed "Now why on earth would I want to do a silly thing like that?" (His parents gave me a copy of The Encyplodedia of Immaturity for Christmas later that year... 😂) So, Geron, it's not only cameras that can act as Eyes Of The Heart. A well crafted story can do that as well. And this one helped me remember a few memories of my own. I had a few other comments, but I'll maybe leave them for a later date. We wouldn't want this comment to end up longer than the actual story itself, now would we? 😉

Yes, what BB said. A difficult topic to write about, but you managed it brilliantly.