Clancy59

A great ending for an enjoyable story. I learned a lot about Cuba that I was never aware of (unsurprisingly). I especially loved the officious TSA officer thinking he was going to get into a diplomatic pouch. Without a word, CJ simply called a number and quoted a password when the call was identified as connecting to the White House and was immediately identified by name and passed to the appropriate person. I think the TSA guy was getting the idea at that point. Then when he got a call from HIS supervisor and was read the riot act, well…. I almost hate to think of what happened later when the supervisor got ahold of him in the office! He deserved it! I guess he had to check, but he definitely went about it the wrong way. And I agree with CJ. The whole thing started when the guy pulled them out of line, understandably because they were coming from Cuba and old prejudices don’t fade away easily, but then he looked at them with ‘that look’ when CJ said Owen was his husband. (I could say something snarky here about the location, but I’ll restrain myself.) And that FBI agent! She most definitely has been fed a pack of lies by her buddy, Jay, based on jealousy. She obviously didn’t even bother to check into CJ and Owen’s backgrounds and possible connections for an explanation of what was going on. She had no idea of the type of person she was about to try to confront. She thought that the mere thought of the FBI questioning him would terrify CJ into compliance. It would have for 95% of the population. However, CJ isn’t even in that 5%. He’s more in the top 0.5%! If she had done even a cursory review of his professional history, she would have realized that CJ is way out of Jay’s league, and that Jay’s complaints are stemming from pure jealousy and anger at his ‘mistreatment’ by the Cuban officials. Ha! What did Jay think when the discovery of the shipwreck was announced and the guys were credited!? How green was he then? I’m sorry, not sorry. I just love when idiots get their comeuppance and Karma bites back…hard.

Although I am not into camping, I think I might enjoy traveling in a camper like that. The guys certainly had a wonderful weekend. ’Ranger Rick?’ Really? Were you a Boy Scout as a kid? Did he have a pet raccoon running around the station house? I just had to giggle every time you mentioned him by name.

I love The Princess Bride, also! It’s so campy! But I disagree that Fezzik was ever a bad guy. He was always a good guy, but he was very naive. He followed Inigo, who he loved like a brother, who did whatever it took in order to avenge his father. Inigo had been so damaged by what had happened when he was a young boy that he thought everyone was like that, which is why he saw nothing wrong in becoming a hire-sword. He connected with Fezik because he was so pure of heart, and Inigo simply knew, deep down, that Fezzik would be the one/thing that would (kind of) be his salvation. Then they met Wesley…

I agree with @raven1. At my college, the high rise dorm had the lowest GPA on campus due to the crazy activities there at all hours. I had a couple of friends there and they told me some horror stories. On top of that, the disabled students were required to live there because it was the only dorm with an elevator. But get this—they had to stay below the 5th floor because the fire equipment in this relatively small, rural town would only reach up that far. Too bad if you lived on floors 6-10! On the other hand, all the other dorms (about 8 of them) were low-rise with 4 floors. Stairs only. My dorm did have a ramp into the 1st floor which did allow for disabled intensive-study female housing my Senior year (the high rise had intensive study on floors 9-10 only). I don’t remember where they put the guys. My dorm had the highest GPA on campus and that was only barely 3.0!

Hadn’t thought of that, @pvtguy! Is CJ the new defector’s liaison? Jay better watch his step, because he’s not only offending his companions, he is definitely on his way to that international incident I speculated about! How anyone with his attitude got on this trip… He is burning a lot of his professional bridges, as well as his personal ones, probably, and won’t have anywhere to go when he eventually returns to the States. They’re just going to be there for a few days, right? Wait until he hears about this private, guided dive! What kind of new allegations will he come up with next? Will he be the nemesis in CJ’s future campaigns because of his jealousy?

Happy Birthday! Although we got the gift! Thank you!

They should prepare the boys for what is coming. They’ve never been through this kind of storm before. I grew up with tornados, which are short duration. I was extremely nervous waiting for my first hurricane. I really didn’t know what to expect, because, of course, you only see the worst of the destruction on the news, and we were expecting a nearly direct hit. Luckily, where I was, it was tremendous rain and wind, but little damage, although a lot of tree limbs were down. We only lost power for about a day (the advantage of being in the capital city). There have been a couple since then, but none as close a hit. Nor’Easters are worse.

On an overcast morning in New England, a ray of sunshine! A new CJ story! YAY! Looks like Owen has his own version of Northman here. How did this guy get on this committee? His acerbity is going to cause problems, if not a political/international incident! His refusal to learn even the basics of Spanish and how to address the President properly smacks of such egotism as to qualify as narcissism, especially after we learn that he blames others’ attitudes for his not attaining tenure. It’s interesting that the other members are completely aware of who CJ is, and at least some of his accomplishments, but West just screams about how CJ shouldn’t even be here. He even accuses CJ of being a spy when he finds out his presence is sanctioned by the White House! And he just keeps insulting both of them by calling Owen a ‘farmer’ (Because of the family winery? They are all supposed to be working for the environment. They could all be called farmers!) and then denigrating his doctorate of law degree! Just because the US doesn’t recognize advanced degrees the same way the rest of the world does, does not diminish their value. Yes, Owen is entitled to be called ‘Doctor.’ This guy is just seething with jealousy that he is not the center of attention at all times. Did I mention something about narcissism? Then, to top it off, he tries to accost CJ?! When it is explained that he went flying onto a chair so hard that it broke, I wasn’t exactly surprised at CJ’s reaction. Except it wasn’t CJ. It was Owen! I wanted to stand up and cheer! Owen, the quiet guy from Down Under, has really come into his own, especially when protecting his family and those he loves. Go, Oz! Thank you, Carlos! I’m looking forward to next Friday’s installment!

Very true. But, hopefully, when he has a chance to think about it, Randy will realize the reason for the secrecy. This would be a good time for Ethan to have a one-on-one with him, as a former human who went through the shock himself. If there’s anyone around who can help Randy figure out his tumbling, confusing, mixed-up thoughts, Ethan is that person, I think.

Of course Randy needs time alone to come to terms with this shocking information. According to everything he has been taught, this is all fairy tale stuff. Trevor did a good job of calmly presenting the information in the least freaking-out way possible, and his friends backed him when needed. Randy will be back. It may be tomorrow or it may be next week or it may be next month, but he will be back. His feelings for the guys won’t let him stay away, no matter what his final decision is. He doesn’t even need to make a final decision now. He could make it a couple of years down the line, but I’m sure it won’t take that long. His feelings are too strong, especially knowing Trevor will be heading back for school shortly. He has to come to some kind of agreement with him, at least. I agree that a long, private discussion with Ethan is in order. He’s the only one who has been in Randy’s shoes and can really help him sort out his confusion, emotions and understanding. Hang in, Trevor and Skyler. Things will work out.

Wow! Like I said. I’ve never seen anything like that. I don’t know if it would work here with all the underpasses, tunnels, etc. People don’t always pay attention to height warnings. I was just telling my husband last night about a time when I saw a large delivery truck ignore the height warning for an underpass and as he tried to go under, he literally rolled the top of the cargo area off

The boys will be lucky to travel like that. I’ve wanted to do so for a long time, I would be very satisfied with a smaller sort of vehicle. I’ve never heard of one of these with two levels, though. In the states, that would be referred to as a Class A RV. I would be happy with a Class C (think of a Barbie motor home model built on an extended pick-up truck type chassis).

@frosenblum, thank you for the information. I wasn’t aware that had happened. I was in college concentrating on finishing my degrees and student teaching in multiple venues (my school believed in lots of practice to make sure you knew that you knew what you were doing and that you really wanted to do it!). I barely had time to keep up with family news, let alone national news!

I absolutely agree there is no reason a POTUS can’t serve on the Court. I was even aware of Taft as Chief Justice. Did he serve as an Associate Justice first? Wasn’t one of the Adams also on the Court? Or did he just argue in front of it. My question stemmed from Obama’s position as an Associate Justice and then becoming Chief Justice. I just wondered if an Associate could be promoted to Chief. I didn’t know. According to Carlos, yes it can happen. OK. That’s all my question was. RBG could have been promoted by these rules. Too bad it never happened!

As are we all! Once again, a thoroughly enjoyable story, even as short as it was. CJ showed tremendous restraint during the entire visit with Pam’s over-the-top reactions to things (I don’t count the rocking chair amongst those, because I can understand her reaction there, and I think, once she understood it’s significance, she let it drop). Even at the end he didn’t lose control. I know Hunter Valley is kind of in the boonies, but they are NOT cut off from the rest of the world. Pam’s issues have closed her to the realities the rest of the world lives with every day. She seems to be trying to create a small bubble world in her own image. I understand that Australia doesn’t have the mass shooter problem the US does—I don’t think anyone does, according to the news—but they have had a couple. I can understand her amazement and confusion at the nonstop coverage. The guys threat about Liebe in the past seemed to shake her up enough to get help. Maybe realizing she won’t be allowed to come to DC for the birth of her grandsons will have a similar effect. It looks like it’s now in Geoff’s hands. LOL! When I realized you were giving Biden a chance to get a Justice on the Court, I wondered if he would nominate Obama. Great choice, especially with him being a Constitutional Scholar. He can help keep the extremists under some control, hopefully, while not be glued to the Constitution as gospel. It was written to grow as the country grew, something these extremists don’t seem to get or want. I do have a question about this, however. In the story about CJ’s inauguration, didn’t Obama give him the Oath as Chief Justice? My question is, if Obama is already on the Court, can he be ‘promoted’ to Chief Justice? I honestly don’t know if that is possible. (BTW, I was wondering if/how you are going to work yesterday’s news bombshell into the storyline. This was a doozy, and although they say it’s too early to celebrate anything, when I heard the news last night, I screamed and started jumping around my kitchen.)

Wow. This story just keeps getting deeper and deeper with intrigue! I don’t know about anyone else, but there’s so much going on (and it’s been a while since the last chapter) that I find I have to reread the previous chapter or two to refresh my memory and get back into the correct frame of mind. But every time I see it listed in the lineup, I get so excited! Keep it coming!

I never said my scenario would/could possibly happen. All I postulated was that the McKinneys could have been stupid enough to think they could take out the Beta ‘Leaders’ of Pit River because they are not Alphas. How could they possibly stand up to the powerful Alphas of the McKinneys? If they were stupid enough to think that (and they weren’t just being framed), they could be stupid enough to think they had succeeded. After all, they weren’t around for the aftermath when Aiden and Ethan were named the new Alphas. They wouldn’t necessarily know the guys were involved to that extent. If they did, I doubt they would have attempted this. They would have run far, far away. Of course, that also depends on how much they would also believe in the Elemental powers the guys possess. I think it was more an exercise in wishful imagination and it just kept exploding from there. 🫣

I may not be creative in a literary way, but I can be creative in a twisting, devious way! 😈 Maybe it was all those D&D games I played in college!

Wonderful for the boys to still have relatives. It will free the way for them to go back to WA. Maybe Mrs. Appleton could come, also, since she would also have family again. Just to be clear, the estranged sister, Augustine, would also be the first cousin of Mrs. Appleton, since she was the sister of Cousin Margaret, an acknowledged first cousin. Their children would be second cousins. In this case, we are talking about Mrs. Appleton’s son (the boys’ father) and Jexon’s mother. This would make their children, Jexon and the boys, third cousins. Sorry. My husband does genealogy and these kinds of details get ingrained into the psyche!

Well, if they were to do something like this, they could keep Wade and Ethan isolated using devastating grief and counseling as the excuse. There wouldn’t be a need for the local security for Thad, because they would think their duty to their charge was done. They could actually be transferred to keeping Wade isolated! Casey and Darius could take over the protection of Thad and keep him away from prying eyes. Aiden and Trevor could pull off the preparations for a ‘funeral’ while secretly planning to capture any straggling radicals. During the funeral itself, Wade and Ethan could be guarded and separated by their details to the point that no one would be able to get close enough to see that they are acting a part. I’m sure Wade could be convinced to bring out his best thespian efforts in order to avenge Thad. In fact, his anger and despair over Thad’s injuries in the first place might be enough to fool anyone! Even if their pack guards suspected anything, their first duty is to their charge. They would have to bring any concerns to their superior, who would take it up the chain, which would probably be Casey or Darius before ultimately landing in Trevor’s lap. Whatever, it is unlikely to get out in public, and we’re only talking about a few days or a couple of weeks here. Rumors will fly, no matter what the truth is.

Granted. However, in the instance with Dorian, they kept it secret from the Alpha from another pack. She and Dorian were going to be, but were not yet mated. Here, Wade and Thad are already mated. They could, theoretically, keep Wade isolated using his extreme grief as an excuse. That would keep people from being able to tell, although, Ethan would again be a problem. They kept the truth from him the last time because he tends to wear his heart on his sleeve. He would also have to isolate. Maybe to console Wade? Hmmmm…….

Well, I did say the McKinneys were delusional!

The McKinneys may have people in place to attempt a coup d’état, but so many of their followers, most of whom were family members, were ousted from the pack, there can’t be more than a handful left. And, as @Salerion pointed out, someone could be trying to frame them. (Who could that be?) They have very little power left, especially in this pack. I do like the idea of pulling another Dorian trick, although many pack members have seen Wade around after the assassination attempt, it is well-known about how seriously Thad has been injured. It would be easy enough to fake his death and, therefore, have a (seemingly) devastated Wade, temporarily, give up his position to Trevor or another representative. It would normally be too soon to pull the same trick, but the McKinneys are so delusional about, and anxious to obtain, their right to rule the pack, it would probably work! And I agree with @Geemeedee. The fact that they are still performing surgery is a good sign, I think. They are being careful and not rushing. Cardiac surgery is one of the most delicate surgeries around. It’s one of the reasons they had such a hard time finding an appropriate surgeon (in addition to the Lycan situation). There are just too few of them and they are in high demand ! They are being careful to remove the bullets and damaged tissue while not causing any more damage, if at all possible. Ethan’s presence will likely be a major help in this as he will be able to mitigate at least some of the silver poisoning, and promote preliminary healing, giving Thad a leg up, as it were. Really, Thad has the absolute best team caring for him possible (unless—GASP—one of the surgeons is affiliated with the McKinneys! Please say it isn’t so!).

I figured the Justice was fictitious. You are a stickler for the details. I’m aware you’ll answer the questions next week. I just have a tendency to ‘think out loud’ in my comments! 😉