Wayne Gray

There is indeed. https://www.amazon.com/Intex-Unicorn-Party-Island-Inflatable/dp/B07F3RDK2P?psc=1&SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-ffab-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B07F3RDK2P

Hello, everybody. I'm about to embark on a four day houseboat adventure with my husband and four other goofy, great friends. We leave tomorrow. There will be pictures. There will be oaths to swear off alcohol after the second day. There will be broken oaths on the third day. Above all, there will be glory.

Nah, that one is just 12-13 chapters long. Though, I plan to add one more to that story to tie things up a little more neatly. 😄

FYI, it will be a WHILE before you see that connection. I like playing the long game.

Nothing is ever really as plain as it looks on its face in my stories. Or, maybe it is? Or maybe it's sorta plain? 😉 You'll just have to keep on reading to find out. Well, next week, when I get chapter two posted.

Thanks, Chris. 🙂 You well know that there's a lot more to come for this one. Stay tuned.

🙂 I'll update it once a week until we're through it. And then I'll do the same with what follows - A Silent Song. Thanks for commenting! Oh, by the way... this is a heavy edit of the original work. It should read a lot smoother than the first time you went through it.

Gregory Hanson pulled into the overgrown driveway in his new pick-up, towing a refurbished 1975 Airstream Argosy travel trailer behind him. Greg's hazel eyes watched its silvery shell through the rear-view mirror carefully as he gently motored forward into the campground. He was now at his destination, a tiny map-dot called Hiouchi, California. He had already flown out a month ago to lay eyes on the campground. It met with his approval on two counts: it was within his price range, and its ru

Camp Refuge is where anyone can find their place. This is the story of its inception.

Thanks, rick. This is a small community too. This is my job - or at least it is a part of it. It's the part I enjoy the least - medical billing is not my idea of a great time, and I've had to learn it all as I went along. But it can also make a big difference to someone, and so it's worth doing and doing well.

Thank you, both. Sometimes things work out so that we can be helpful. It's nice when it happens. Thanks for commenting. I hope you're both having a good day.

Thanks, Parker. It was nice to be able to help someone. And... it was nice to be someone's "Good Thing". 🙂

Me too. I know you're often in the same sort of position - where you're able to make a difference to a person through your work. This particular situation stuck out in my mind, thanks to that message on the sidewalk. I guess it's funny the things that make us think.

"Good Things are Coming" I stared down at the carefully written chalk letters on the sidewalk under my feet. I was on a walk during my break, and I wondered why someone wrote such a message. I continued on my way. "Good Things are Coming" 'Are they?' I asked myself as I rounded the corner to head around the block and head back toward my office. 'Are they really?' It's so hard to be positive sometimes. I'll admit, I felt a little irritated at the blind, uninformed, and baseless hopeful message. 'How could you know? You don't know.' "Good Things are Coming" I walked into the parking lot of my office building, and I saw someone leaving the place. The man's face was red, he wore a frown, and he stormed across the parking lot to his car. I caught a glimpse of a wadded piece of paper in his hand. 'Lab bill.' I know that blue, yellow and white form well. I am the guy patients come to when they have a dispute, or when there's an error. The sidewalk prognosticator was wrong. This was like the opposite of a good thing. "Excuse me, sir?" I flagged the man down as he's about to get into his beat up Toyota. "Did someone help you?" "No," he growled. He held the bill up, presumably so I could see, but he shook it around so much I couldn't read it. "Nobody in there knows what to do, and now even with my insurance, I've got a six hundred dollar bill for my lab tests." He shook his head. "I never would have agreed to get them if I knew how much they'd cost." I noticed that the man was dressed in clean, but worn clothes. His hands were wide from years of manual labor of some sort. I got it. He was someone who couldn't afford that cost. "Well, can I ask you to come back inside?" I stepped forward and extended my hand. "I'm Wayne. I'm our Lab Manager. Maybe there's a way I can help you with this." He blinked, then he gripped my hand. "Gerald." From that distance I saw the worry on his face. "I really hope you can help, because I don't know how I'll pay it." I took him inside and up to my office. We sat, and I looked through his chart, dug up his financial information that we had on file. Turned out there was an error when he was registered and his insurance wasn't correct. After some phone calls with his updated insurance information, the amount he owed on his lab bill dropped to $72. I walked him out to his car. There, he shook my hand again. "Thank you." I could tell he was relieved. "You turned a terrible day into a good one. So, thank you." I waved and smiled as he drove away. I turned to go back into the building, and then realization slammed into me and I barked a laugh. "Good Things are Coming"

I'm so sad for you and your family, molly. You're right - loss sucks. It just hurts, and now is the time to lean on those you love. If you need anything that your friends here can provide, ask it.

I think you're right about a great many things. Some stuff that's out there is A W F U L. I've seen it. I purchased a self-published, gay erotica just to see what I was up against. That did two things for me. One, it made me think "Wow, okay, I can do this." Two, "OMG, how could this guy put this out there?". But I've also seen self-published work that's polished, well plotted, and mechanically sound. It's a wild variety of quality out there. It's wonderful you're taking the plunge. Wonderful because you'll be one more example of well written stories done by a self-publisher. Good luck, Thorn. I wish you well on this quest. "Have fun storming the castle."

Thank you, Thorn. 🙂 It makes me want to write this story...

Thank you, Mike. Your boy set me on the path. Give him a kiss and a squeeze for me. What you squeeze, I leave to your discretion.

Thanks, Chris.

Awww. Thanks, rick. I'm pretty happy with it... surprisingly, but I'll take it. 😄

Thanks, Parker. That was the goal - to tell a story through the prose. I'm glad that it came through; and overall I'm happy with the end result.

Thanks, tim. 🙂 It was a fun exercise. I did enjoy it. You can definitely say more than my typical structure allows.

There was a man who never shed a tear, from love his heart was safely walled away. "I cannot be hurt since I never fear, the loss of something that's only for play." It seemed so genius this secret he'd found, this fundamental, oft unspoken truth. I watched him joyfully frolic around, still strong, handsome, in the picture of youth. We aged a bit, as we are are wont to do, and things were starting to change for my friend. His partners found for his nights became few, I saw in hi

Great chapter, tim. I love so many pieces of it. It's impossible to miss the way Keter and Stravor both struggle. I also notice you and Keter have a few things in common. 😉 The Searcher noticed he was being observed. He put down the knife and fork. “What?” Keter shook his head and sipped his tea. “What?” “Nothing, I just like to watch you eating.” Stravor smiled. “You do?” “Yes.”

Mornin' folks. I hope it's a good day for you all.