Mawgrim

If only D'gar hadn’t been sent to Telgar when he was, both he and S'brin could have helped M'rell through his grief. Now M'rell is left feeling guilty about what's happened, as well as having to deal with his other emotional problems. R'feem's idea of getting the young bronze to fly with D'gar is to hopefully integrate him into the Wing more quickly and to give him some one to one training outside of Fall by someone who's closer to his own age. There is a reason why C Wing tend not to lose so many young riders as some of the others.

All extremely good points. When I was in the business, most of us refused to go in to a site alone. Even when there were staff and management on site, if we were going into a little-used area, such as behind a screen frame or on a roof, we'd tell them where we were going, how long we expected to be there and borrow a walkie talkie, just in case. The local managers (except for the odd one or two) generally had no real interest in learning about projection equipment. Firstly, their own job took up most of their working hours and secondly, most of them weren't technically inclined, or even very practical. That's why they'd gone into management, rather than become a projectionist when they decided to take up a career in the cinema. The only thing both departments generally had in common was a love of films. when I left the business, the turnover of management was gradually increasing as their workload increased. Older managers who had been on a decent wage were encouraged to take early retirement and the new ones started on a much lower salary while expected to work twice as hard.

As you may have guessed, some of this story is autobiographical! One of the things that always struck me when working in the cinema industry (particularly in the latter years) was the way people in head office perceived those who worked in the field or in actual cinemas. We were seen as inferior beings. The further removed your job was from what I considered the core of the business - showing films to the public - the higher regarded you seemed to be. One experience that really brought this home was when we had to attend the compulsory company Christmas do. Everyone was split up from their regular departments and put on a table with a load of strangers. You then had to introduce yourself. As they went round and various people announced they were from HR, marketing, finance etc, people smiled. When I said ‘ cinema engineer' they looked at me as if I was from another planet!

It's another step towards Craig becoming totally disillusioned with his job.

Glad that Lukas is awake. It probably wasn't up to Seb to tell him all that, but he was still slightly in shock at seeing him awake. And Lukas seemed to appreciate the honesty.

It had been dark for a couple of hours by the time he got home. Windscreens on the parked cars were already opaque with frost. He hurried in from the cold. The house was warm, but with the silent efficiency of central heating rather than the crackle of logs burning in James’s kitchen. He flicked on the light. Jerry had left him a hairball on the dining room floor, as if in protest at being left alone yet again. Sighing, Craig went through to the kitchen, dumping his bag and putting on rubbe

Very suspicious that the Watson's seem to have adopted Cindy. There are definitely some very unscrupulous practices going on at Greenstones. Meanwhile, Puppy and Dave's relationship is moving along well. He seems to be doing much better without all of the drugs.

I've had suspicions about Greenstone for a while. I wonder if all the children they take on are in a similar position to Puppy and Cindy and if they are abusing these children's trust funds.

I'm slightly worried about Max's news. It's obviously not good and I'm concerned it's to do with Puppy.

I still think the misdiagnosis and prescription of all the different drugs were intentional rather than due to incompetence. Greenstone was making him a compliant, institutionalised robot.

Aiden needed to learn that lesson but I hope Jason doesn't get into any of the trouble he's anticipating.

Beautifully descriptive, as ever.

If it was caramel yogurt, this may have been the discovery of salted caramel flavour!

That's what years of frustration and living in a toxic environment does for you. At least Rob isn't abandoning Seb totally.

Mass mating flights are dreaded for good reason.

D'gar will doubt his abilities for a while yet and will have to travel a long way to get his rewards!

‘Care to make a bet on the winner of Luduth’s first mating flight at Fort Weyr?’ T’garrin sat along the bench, boots off because of the heat. His slate lay on the table beside him. J’rud had already got himself a klah and sprawled opposite. ‘Hear that?’ he said to D’gar. ‘I got the same greeting just now. No, “nice to see you”. Or “how’s it been?”’ He caught sight of D’gar’s face. ‘Everything all right?’ ‘No, not really. I need a klah.’ Actually, he could do with something stronger but

Kai was certainly a nasty piece of work. Outing Josh to his parents like that was probably intended to make Josh more dependent on him, if his family had totally rejected him from it.

Well, we already knew Steven wasn't going to be happy and this just confirms it. I’m starting to wonder now if Greenstone offered a certain degree of protection to Puppy. Maybe, as a small child he saw something he shouldn’t (hence the Latin phrase) and once they find out he’s outside, they will try to kill him. Maybe over dramatic, but it’s just been confirmed they were never taken out of the home (he's never had a McDonalds or been to the cinema), and that's the way my thoughts are running.

All through this chapter I’ve been wondering if maybe the mafia are paying for Puppy to be kept in the home and that now his father has found him they are desperate to find ways to keep him there. One of the things that has made me suspicious all along is how little Puppy knows about the outside world. Surely any proper children's home would take them on visits and trips and try to make sure any long term residents don’t get institutionalized?

I was also wondering if Cindy even made a call. Puppy talked about her with Max and it's entirely possible Max contacted the home about the possibility of having them both of his own accord.

I know these feelings. Happiness is too fleeting.

The job is no longer what he wants, but he's not sure yet what else he could do. It took me about two years of getting increasingly frustrated with the way the industry was heading before I finally made the move. And having done it, I wished I'd done so earlier.

It would make for a fairly short story if he just moved it right away! Also, you are right about change taking a long time. I think as we get older and more set in our ways, it can make us more cautious. We've probably rushed in to situations, relationships and jobs in our youth and been burned.

Yes. You have to knock things down in order to rebuild. Did you notice he's been trying to eat more healthily as well? Little changes, but he's gradually moving out of his own 'dark days'.