Summerabbacat

I immediately thought that too @drpaladin, but when Caleb stated Vickie never went anywhere near him I wondered if it was so.

Grey Harbour appears to be very appropriately named. If I lived in a town where grey was the predominant colour, especially the weather, I think I would feel like murdering someone, possibly on a daily basis. Did Vickie's mother have an affair with Mr Park? Did Vickie believe he was somehow involved in the death of her mother? There has to be a reason why he is concerned about what Vickie said, if anything, about her mother. I guess it was a bit much to expect one of the students or one of the teachers get up and state what appears to have been the case "Vickie was a blackmailer and I for one am glad the bitch is dead". Realistically, only someone she was blackmailing would know this, therefore they are unlikely to state it, but I hate the way horrible people are "sainted" just because they die, especially if the death is suspicious or tragic.

Dyke bitch. Is that the best the cosmetically tragic skank, Shayna, can do? Clearly her ego is larger than her brain, but probably smaller than the "cathedral" downstairs if Jake's comment she "goes after anything with three legs" has any truth to it. Shir's comment she saw something in Shayna's soul that she is "not altogether comfortable with" was intriguing. Was she speaking literally or figuratively? If the former, does she possess some kind of "supernatural" gift? I had wondered when she first appeared in this story if she might be African American or Haitian given she was raised on the bayou in New Orleans. It is perhaps a stereotype, but if she does have some kind of "supernatural" gift, I am inclined to think it is more likely she is African American or Haitian than white. The brain is an astonishing organ, one we still know so little about. When I sustained a head injury in 2010 the only thing I could remember about the accident at the time and to this day, was lying on the bathroom floor and thinking I am not dead. I do not remember falling and smashing my head open on the corner of the spa bath, telephoning my neighbour to ask for her help, my neighbour arriving and taking me to hospital, or being at the hospital and having an MRI (I definitely would have remembered that under normal circumstances). I could remember coming home from the hospital many hours later as I was fully conscious by then, but not being at the hospital itself. It appears Mannly's current amnesia may be the brain protecting him from the horrific attack he suffered. He may or may not remember his assault, but hopefully will recover sufficient memory to know who he is. A little "comedy" again, albeit unintentional, in this chapter @Vcs. When Shir refers to Mannly as Cher, which she has done before, I have an image of the Cher, albeit a cosmetically altered hybrid, a redundant statement perhaps, in her If I Could Turn Back Time outfit, with a larger derriere and the addition of some cowboy accoutrements.

Is Charlie telling the truth? If he isn’t he is an even bigger arsehole than I thought. If he is telling the truth then Nathanial is in deep shit. A very complex and suspenseful story @J92.

I like Ryder too @dboggs9700, but I had some reservations about his parting "threat" to come to the engagement party. I, like you, am hoping his ploy is to help strengthen Owen's resolve to stand up for himself and not be bullied into submission by his parents and/or Margot. I think with encouragement from his Aunt Beth too, particularly if it is delivered when he has to say goodbye to the "Seahorses", Owen may find the courage to say no and refuse to continue with the charade in all aspects of his life, not just his fake relationship with Margot. I certainly hope so.

Perhaps she can off the bitch then. She could argue it was a mercy killing.

It is allegedly disrespectful to speak ill of the dead. Well I say, fuck that shit. Vickie Morrison was a contemptuous parasite whose murder was warranted for her abhorrent treatment of others. Given her increasing number of victims, it may emerge she was murdered by more than one person, like Lanfranco Cassetti in Murder On The Orient Express, with every victim of her evil extortion stabbing her at least once. The bitch got what she deserved. Councilman Archer is a prig. He has no sympathy for Tyler and what he has been through. His only concern, his own reputation and what it will suffer if word gets out about Tyler's sexual encounter with Caleb and his subsequent foray into child pornography. Tyler's exploits on Only Fans mirroring those of Traci Lords and Brent Corrigan, although In Tyler's case his porn shoots were solo efforts. @weinerdog was right @Topher Lydon, there are very few residents of Grey Harbour whom one could say are likeable. Thus far I can only recall Caleb, Billy and perhaps Billy's mother and Tyler. The one thing which disturbs me the most, in fact the only truly disturbing thing because Vickie's murder is, meh, the residents of Grey Harbour seem to know what Caleb's "mother" is doing to him, but no one appears to have tried to stop her. Is she some kind of evil force the rest of the town's residents are frightened of?

Who might be Margo(t)'s nemesis @drsawzall? Might Nora surprise or Ellie gain a voice and become an Eve Harrington? Or better still, might someone emerge as a Veda, the horror daughter of Bette's hated rival, Joan. The potential for bitchy cat fights is unlimited.

"Ryder flicked the cigarette into the gutter. Kicked the bike to life. The engine rumbled through the frame and into my body and my bones and my teeth." I like Ryder, have done from his first appearance, but he needs to ditch the cigarettes. If he does not, he at least needs to STOP flicking the butts into the gutter. Cigarette butts, like one-use plastic bags, are a scourge environmentally. I am a little surprised Owen was able to kiss Ryder given he had just smoked a cigarette. As an ex-smoker I find the smell of them disgusting.

I will be very surprised @weinerdog if Margot does not turn on Owen and become the nasty bitch I suspect is just below the surface of her carefully constructed facade. I have little doubt she will throw him under the bus and play the "wronged woman". I believe her arrogance will not entertain Jules might dump her, perhaps until it is too late. I think Jules and Aunt Beth will both be an ally for Owen. Aunt Beth's support may result in her being ostracised by the rest of the Donnelly family, but hopefully she will be strong enough to overcome any hostility. If their hostility is severe enough she may file for divorce, and wouldn't that upset their perfectly constructed homogenous lives.

Clearly I should just stick to making comments and posting songs @weinerdog. My timeline accuracy is fraught with errors, except for The Seventeenth Summer which was set in 1975, the year ABBA exploded on the Aussie pop charts.

Me either @Lozza, but delaying the pleasure of reading a new chapter only increases the pleasure. One thing we readers do not have to be concerned with is @Mark Ponyboy Peters suddenly abandoning the story, unless he becomes ill, but looking at his profile picture he looks as fit as a mallee bull.

Until this chapter I have thought it likely Charlie is the one who has attacked, raped or otherwise abused Nathanial, but now I am a little concerned it may have been Alex, given his apparent jealousy of Charlie. Perhaps I am reading too much into it, but I thought the fact Nathanial's head had been completely shaved was significant, related to Alex shaving his body for his swimming. Charlie is dangerous, and such a parasite. He will no doubt dump Claire and has already co-opted the script written by Nathanial, which has become "our script" now.

A fatal dose.

A surprise birthday party, totally deserved. Nathanial is such a wonderful person, plagued by the voice of his hateful ex-boyfriend, Jake. It appears Alex may be the only person who has an inkling of Nathanial's mental health issues, his possible schizophrenia.

Levi's emotional farewell to Julie at the cemetery certainly had an effect on @weinerdog and me, and I daresay many of the other readers. In honour of that parting a beautiful song, written by Sinead O'Connor, superbly covered by the incomparable Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.

Rather than delivering the bite of death, Theo's biting of his fellow pack members, including his father, was the bite of life, with the possibility of resurrection for the pack members as noted by @Doha. The Great Passing, seemingly awash with vampire mythology or Christian imagery@Laura S. Fox. "Sing, little wolf, sing!” Jack ordered. “You should let him use his mouth, Jack,” Vince said kindly. “Right.” Jack let go of poor Skarg’s muzzle but didn’t get off him. “Let’s hear a little trill. Like now, Skarg!” Vince realized Jack’s urgency almost too late. He jumped out of the way as a huge trunk fell, cutting him off from the other two. But the attack seemed to convince Skarg to help. A strange, low and sweet sound emerged from somewhere inside him. Vince blinked hard trying to stay awake but a languid stupor overcame him. He fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes." Might I suggest Skarg warble a few tunes by Adele; this would have Jack and Vince out cold very quickly.

They drove past the edge of town, the trailer rattling gently behind them, then Matt slowed and put his indicator on, before eventually turning. The trailer bounced and rattled some more as they travelled along the gravel road, and when they finally pulled into the driveway at Avalon, they found that Luke was already waiting on the verandah, smiling broadly. ‘Welcome home,’ Luke called as they got out. Levi climbed out of the car and stretched, then looked around – at the house and gardens, the bushland that surrounded them. He listened to the sound of the breeze in the trees, and the rolling waves just through the bush behind the house. For the first time, the word home didn’t feel quite so foreign. He was here. Really here. And this time, he wasn’t leaving. Another big sobfest @Mark Ponyboy Peters. Could Luke be any more supportive? Almost perfection, the only "chink in his armour", he is the nephew of the bloody awful Monolith.

I think Zack would be in his mid to late 20's now @weinerdog. I think we last saw Zack in the last few chapters of A Good Place, which if I remember correctly was set in 2011. I think Out Of The Blue is set in 2021 or thereabouts, so I think Zack would be about 25 or 26 now. We will have to wait for @Mark Ponyboy Peters to verify this for us. No reason Zack could not still be friends with Levi, but close friends like a close school friend, probably not. That line got to me too. It was Levi's acceptance he will not see his mother ever again and his acknowledgement he is moving on without her physical presence. I had a good sob, as has occurred frequently in this story thus far.

"They hadn’t even bothered coming over after his mum had died, or attended the funeral, yet he had known them for years. He felt strangely detached as he realised with a quiet jolt that most of them had never really known him that well. Not the real him. And they were already moving on, just like he was." The fact none of their fellow "Christians" seemingly attended Julie's funeral and gave no assistance to Levi whilst he single-handedly looked after himself and Julie, did the shopping, paid the bills and essentially ran the household, spoke very loudly to me as it did to @pvtguy. I found this more upsetting than any other fact presented in this chapter. It appears to me, although I am prone to reading what I hope is being said in statements, Levi was somewhat disenchanted by his fellow "Christians" and their lack of caring and charity when he and Julie needed it the most. The fact his grandfather had been a brimstone and fire tyrant, should not have kept his fellow "Christians" from seeking to comfort Julie and Levi. Frankly, I thought Mrs Hargreaves, her son and his friends, only came over to say hello to Levi as they were having a sticky beak as to what was happening with his childhood home. Levi was of course far too polite to do anything other than bid them goodbye. Once he has moved to Thompsonville he will be out of sight out of mind for them, and he may be far better off for it.

They advertise on eBay too @Mark Ponyboy Peters and @weinerdog, and I think I saw something on eBay recently that St Vinnies have a live auction every Friday, but I might be mixing them up with another charity.

Paul Lekakis, Lana Pellay, Divine and Sylvester perhaps? These were all massive hits in Australia, not just in gay clubs. Paul Lekakis was #1 for 5 weeks and one of the biggest hits of the year.

1976 top 5 hit. From the album How Dare You.

“Saying what? ‘I’m gay. Fly me?’ ” Is that a reference to I'm Mandy, Fly Me by 10CC @Robert Hugill? "Oh God. Pray he does not turn into a Wagner fiend. I enjoy Wagner in small doses. But the idea of having to sit through his interminable operas because my boyfriend loved them did not bear thinking about." I guess you won't be inviting Alex and Neil over to your castle in Valencia when they visit Spain @Gary L. When Rupert was driving recklessly with gay abandon all I could "hear" in my head was Autobahn by Kraftwerk @Robert Hugill. Neil continues to impress, embracing new things whilst acknowledging he is scared shitless of making a fool of himself. His fear of flying and getting lost is perfectly rational to me as one who has the same fears. Twenty two chapters in @Robert Hugill but there seems to be much to still learn about these delightful characters you have created. Neil's sense of humour surprised me in this chapter, especially: “There’ll be others.” I grinned. “Better be!” “The Greek bird.” I rolled my eyes. “Iphigenia.” “Yeah. Need to learn that one.” “Lila’ll be pissed if you call the play The Greek Bird.”

Bugger. I read that conversation twice. The first time I read it I thought it was Nathan who made the statement, but the second time I read it I thought it was Martin. "Nathan, I love you and I also want there to be the two of us in that sense." (obviously Martin) "I know I love you and I feel comfortable loving you." (obviously Nathan replying) Nathan paused. "Why do I feel a 'but' coming?" (I thought this was Nathan continuing after he had paused, but reading it for the now third time, it seems pretty bloody obvious it was Martin) "Because I'm not comfortable about telling people about loving you. I'm especially scared about telling my siblings and their families and my cousins. I don't know how they'll react. I mean I'm thirty seven and they've only ever known me as a straight male." I am going to blame it on my mucous saturated sinuses, heavy as lead head and freezing everything even though I have the aircon on. I will go to the naughty corner and hang my head in shame after Frida has delivered my punishment. I don't remember the age gap being mentioned before, but from your comment above I assume Martin is in his early to mid 40's, which means he was in his 20's when Benjamin and Maria were born. This is still quite young, maybe not so when we were born, but nowadays it is.