Wayne Gray

I can't believe Dan didn't buy you a GAY SPRINKLE donut. On Donut Day. During Gay Pride month. I would question everything at this point, tim. Does Dan know you? Does he want you to be happy? Hmm?

Great snapshot into the lives at a dive burger joint. And the sweetness of acceptance by someone we value. I love it. Nice job. 🙂

I second this. I've needed the end to this work week since Tuesday. LOL

Thanks for the nice CSR feature! The Answer was a great challenge, and I do hope folks give it a read. It was awfully fun to write. 🙂

We call those “sky raisins” here. 🪰

You know what feels good? I wrote a scene just now that made me tear up. 🙂

Pfft. Y'all don't even say your roads right.

I probably could. I've never read this anywhere, but I figured out why cats RUN when you have a hot pan and drop something in it. It sounds like the person cooking, this gigantic "cat" the kitty lives with started HISSING like crazy at them. "OMG, hairless giant is mad! RUN!"

@kboisyou can lay a dummy keyboard nearby and that’ll sometimes trick them. It works really well particularly if you have a keyboard tray for you, and the decoy is just above it on the desk. #cattrickery101

Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. We know this is cyclic. And we know, once those appointed by the rich to maintain order (police, military, systems of law, etc) are themselves taken advantage of by the rich, that the whole thing unravels. And that will happen. The rich and greedy can't help themselves. They will eventually turn on even the mechanisms that keep them in power, because the idea of someone "not them" doing well is abhorrent. And that's when the system fails. When in one moment they're telling a policeman to keep protesters off their lawn, and the next they're cutting his pay because they want a few more dollars in the bank account. This has happened repeatedly. It's in process now. And it'll all come tumbling down—it's just a matter of time. I mean, look at Musk. He's still rich, but a lot LESS rich. And all because he wanted more and inflicted suffering on others (some of whom controlled the institutions responsible for his success) to reach it. Similar things will happen across the political spectrum. It's coming. Hang in there, friend.

You should be honored! You have been chosen!

Great teaser you've got there. Now that you've teased ... where's the rest?

@kbois aw, I'm sorry to hear you lost Zeke. You did a great job with him. You gave him a chance, and he knew he was loved, and he may have never gotten that with another person. 💚

Thanks, Dave. It's not my usual story, I know. So, thanks for taking the time to read and comment on it. It was something of a bittersweet ending. But Ian hung on, waiting until he knew Shawn was ready. I think that says something deep about how he feels, so I believe they'll be just fine. 🙂

Thanks for the read and the comment! I like how the poem reflects the other side of Shawn's experience, and I'm glad I wrote them the way I did. Thanks again for the read!

I didn't know you'd never seen this one. It's a bit different, since it's a short, and I usually write at least a novella. That's a good paragraph you chose. And really, it's the truth. Ian decided to love and wait for Shawn every day. I like how the signs were there all along. Going back to read it, knowing Ian was in love with him, you can see them. I enjoyed that part of the tale. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thanks for reading and for the comment, peter. I'm glad you took the time to read it, and that it touched you. 🙂

Thanks for the CSR feature, Cia! The Answer was an excellent exercise, and I hope others enjoy the work.

Everything can't go well all the time. Right? In addition to zombies wandering the world, there's just the randomness of being alive. Maybe their water heater dies. Maybe a pipe bursts. What if Buck's back problem is more than a sore muscle? A fire at the farm could be devastating, and that's always a danger when you use a wood-fueled oven. Add on the threat of zombies, and you have the potential for drama. I'll admit, later into my Project Zomboid games, the zombie threat became less and less. But something always happened to end my run (read: kill my character). I'd get careless and end up falling off something. Or fire would get away from me. Or I'd run into that LONE zombie I'd missed and wasn't watching for. The difference here is that the group isn't doing it solo. They have each other to look out for, so maybe they'll be able to win where I have only managed to postpone the inevitable. I suppose we'll see. Thanks for reading and commenting. 🙂

Thanks for the nice message, Jeffrey! I like these folks, too, and their determination and grit are admirable. They learn what they don't know and make what they don't have. And that's because they have to. People do what they must, and we're watching that here. Thanks again. See you back here soon.

Thanks, Tony! I’ll do my best to keep it going. 🙂

Logistically, centralizing services does make a lot of sense. And Buck is right—this design has been passed down through history and reappears in many cultures across continents. So something about it works well enough to warrant repetition. Ah, fire. If you've ever played Project Zomboid (the game this story is based on), you would know precisely how fickle and dangerous it can be. Even when you think you've got it all figured out, and have planned for every eventuality, a few in-game hours later, you're watching the fire you confidently started blocks away consume your base you worked so hard to build. If I sound like I know this from experience, it's because I do. So. Yes. They'd better be careful. 😉 Thanks for reading and commenting. More to come.

Flaming Zombie Apocalypse. That sounds a bit like a punk band. LOL We will have to see how this plan goes. There are a few ways it can go wrong, not all anticipated by our crew. I suppose we'll find out if they get lucky, or if the fates have decided another path for them. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Garrett is a handy guy to have around. And he’s a good example for Shannon too. They’re both learning how to be men, and how you do that is watching others. But everybody has a place and a role to fill. Garrett is important out in the world, but he takes a backseat to the others when back at the farm. And that’s fine. Thanks for reading and for the comment!

You’re welcome, Chris. Thanks for reading and for the comment. More to follow.