Summerabbacat

@Mark Ponyboy Peters does not usually resort to caricature or stereotype when describing his characters appearance, but I won't let that stop me from enjoying the opportunity to do so @CincyKris. Anne Rummery may be one of the following: bottle blonde 50'ish former Miss Thompsonville and high school knockout (read "popular" girl); heavily tanned and made up with bright red lipstick on a collagen injected trout-pout, and plentifully applied turquoise eyeshadow; dressed in a very tight leopard print pant-suit to display her augmented bosom, heels (which she is unable to comfortably walk in) and lots of mid-price range gold jewellery, including huge hoop earrings; drives a BMW natural blonde 50'ish former high school clever girl; dressed immaculately and very expensively in all white with sensible flat white shoes and tasteful jewellery; has had some subtle cosmetic refreshment; drives a Lexus natural blonde 50'ish former surfie chick who has aged considerably due to sun exposure and smoking a lot of weed before she got hitched to Troy, a plumber by trade and manwhore by nature, who ran off with her best friend from school after she gave birth to their third child; she mainly wears lots of cheesecloth/linen sun dresses and very little else; she has had no work done, so consequently everything has headed south, which is one of the reasons why Troy ran off with her considerably cosmetically enhanced fembot best friend none of the above, she is an average suburban wife looking for a bit of fun with her book club; she considers herself smarter than her fellow book club members because she finished her typing course at the local TAFE before becoming a solicitor's secretary; she subsequently married the boss and is now bored shitless; her main pleasure in life is the white wine and occasional vodka cocktails she "secretly" plies herself with A delightful chapter @Mark Ponyboy Peters with a hint of melancholy present in Tony's reminiscences again. I hope there will be a 6th person present at the luncheon on the boardwalk, and that person is as @weinerdog has speculated. If Aaron is a surprise guest I imagine there will be tears aplenty, although they won't be on the dance floor as sung by Womack & Womack 36 years ago (can you believe it @Mark Ponyboy Peters, 36 years has passed since that monster hit).

There you go again @weinerdog. Your observations are acute. Maybe you don't have a crystal ball after all, just a razor sharp mind or in this case a suspicious mind, a suspicion which I hope does not prove groundless.

I will even put my "two bobs worth" in before the workshop @CincyKris (see below).

I hate Brenda. "I know you're a 'glass is almost empty' kind of guy, never really approaching even half-full. But for your own sanity, you need to come up from the depths of pessimistic darkness. Come into the light." Bitch just described me without even knowing me (LOL). I have to say she and I can share a pizza anytime though; olives and peppers and none of that dead animal material. At any age waiting is a hard game to play, especially when the outcome could be a life changer for more than one person, as is the case with Derek and Jeremy/Bryson. Whatever the outcome he cannot go back to Georgia. If he starts listening to Ray Charles' Georgia On My Mind, Randy Crawford's Rainy Night In Georgia or previously mentioned tracks by Gladys Knight & The Pips or Vicki Lawrence, change the station or CD quick smart Derek. He must NOT be allowed to think of Georgia favourably. With the human brain anything is possible @Lee Wilson, no matter how ludicrous it may sound. If this were not the case, how could one possibly explain the outcome of a number of elections recently in several western countries or the popularity of "reality" TV shows about very tiresome people with little or no talent, and egos only slightly smaller than their constructed booty's. Compared to this, Jeremy's changing brain capacity is not far-fetched at all.

Great song by Vicki Lawrence. One of those "story songs" which were very popular in the early 1970's.

If the Gold Dust Woman or her Sisters Of The Moon visit Sara all will be well in the world, but If Anyone Falls and damages any of the Seven Wonders or the Leather & Lace then there will be Trouble In Shangri-La.

Yes you dropped many hints, but I hoped it was just "talk". Which is why your stories are so authentic.

Not only has Jeremy lost his memory again, but he appears to have become aggressive and possibly a little paranoid too. Hopefully the police will pick him up and take him to the same hospital he was at before. Did he take his wallet with him which has ID in it if the police do pick him up? What a clusterfuck @Lee Wilson. The old saying is two steps forward and one step back, not two steps forward and three steps back (LOL). For his sake, I hope Jeremy does not try to go back to Georgia. In his case taking the Midnight Train To Georgia would be a very bad thing.

A very interesting story thus far @Lee Wilson, very believable. Your expression of Jenny's grief was very respectful, and at the same time very humorous, each task to be achieved punctuated by an intake of wine. I know consumption of alcohol is often viewed as a panacea for grief, and for some it can work very well, whilst for others it only magnifies the grief. The financial and immediate dilemmas to be faced both Jeremy and Jenny are very real and would be very daunting for both. Hopefully William had good worker's insurance for both himself and for Jeremy, although getting the pay out may be like getting blood out of a stone. Insurance companies of all types are notorious for having short arms and deep pockets. Jeremy's amnesia and its aftermath illustrated how frightening it would be to lose your memory, as our being able to live our lives to any degree now is so dependant on passwords and PIN numbers. If you cannot remember them or prove you are who you say you are, you're well and truly fucked.

Well 'Twizzler' you have saved yourself, for now. Maybe (LOL). Jeremy Berger, the electrician's assistant formerly known as Bryson Jeremiah Burlington, is alive but remembers nothing of the past 2.5 years, a time when he has likely been at his happiest, having escaped a homophobic father (at least). I agree with the speculation of @weinerdog, his birth name suggests he may have been born into wealth or at least those with a pretence to wealth. I wonder if there is a Jr after his name or a II or III. I also wonder if there is any significance to Jeremy having assumed Berger as his family name. Is it perhaps his mother's family name? Jenny Perch's reaction to her husband's death was not the norm, but is not unheard of either. People react differently to the death of a loved one, particularly a death which has happened so suddenly. She may be in shock, or she may be someone who is stoic by nature, or someone who wishes to grieve in private. This appears to be one of your lengthier stories @Lee Wilson. I sense a challenging road ahead for Jeremy (Bryson) and Derek, which can only mean first rate entertainment from your pen.

This must be what you get from listening to too much Molly Hatchet @Lee Wilson, nightmares about severed penises, although in this case it does not appear the penis was severed with an axe. The Aussie group, The Models, who had a worldwide hit in 1985 with Out Of Mind, Out Of Sight, had a song on an earlier album entitled No Shoulders No Head, which had an insistent industrial sounding beat. I kept hearing it whilst 3D were at The Wilson Estates, but with different lyrics. No Penis No Balls. Jesus, what a start to the story @Lee Wilson. Lorena Bobbitt's gay brother got the ball (or should it be balls) rolling with a poorly cut piece of meat, the "meat" in this case being his boyfriend's penis. And if that wasn't enough for we readers to contend with, the fate of the protagonist's boyfriend, Jeremy, lies in your hands until chapter 2. Given his profession and the cliffhanger, the electric chair may be waiting for you if you kill him off so soon. Macabre and suspenseful. A riveting opening chapter @Lee Wilson.

Aaarrrggghh. You are like the great Stevie Nicks I see @Lee Wilson. She apparently has a tape recorder beside her bed (although this may have changed to some other type of recording device now) to record ideas for songs when she wakes in the middle of the night. I guess I will just have to Stand Back and observe from afar, or perhaps from the Edge of Seventeen, if this story has a Landslide of emotions capable of setting the Rooms On Fire. Being a story from your pen I assume there will be a Whole Lotta Trouble, possibly a character who is a Gypsy or a Beauty And The Beast, maybe even a character named Rhiannon. Whatever the case, I Can't Wait to read it so shall commence doing so without further ado.

Another of @Lee Wilson's earlier works which I enjoyed immensely. It features a very large cast of characters, and some very topical themes such as racism, homophobia, bullying and teenage angst. Although not always a pleasant read, in fact there are a number of events take place which are thoroughly unpleasant, it was a deeply satisfying read. Tissues at the ready are recommended as there are a number of plots within the story which were terribly moving, both pleasant and unpleasant. Well done Lee.

He was an awful person as a teenager, but I was profoundly sad he ended his life. Whilst one cannot blame ones parents for everything unpleasant which happened to them, which Marty never did, he got a lemon for a father, a complete deadbeat who did nothing to help his troubled son at all. Marty's suicide reminded me of a man who used to work for the same government department as I. I did not know him personally, although he was the friend of a former flatmate. He was an outrageously camp gay man, who looked liked he came directly from a 1970's heavy metal band. He had been rejected by his religious parents as a younger man and I was told was profoundly unhappy. The afternoon he retired he did the same thing as Marty.

Abbreviating Alistair's name to Al has been a curse when reading this story @Lee Wilson. Although I know it is an abbreviation of his name, I have read it on numerous occasions as AI, which only serves to remind of one of the world's most unlikeable, odious, "human" beings. I assume Marty is not going to have a HEA. I would so much prefer it to be his father.

A very talented quartet of Britons.

Candy and Bruce Jr? Now that was a shock @Lee Wilson. Seemingly Bruce Jr is colour-blind when it comes to sexual attraction, or perhaps being exposed to the relationship between Matt and Reggie and having met Elias and Calista on a number of occasions has quelled has hatred of African Americans. The unsupervised teenage parties at age 14 would never have happened in my youth, although at age 16 or 17 parties with alcohol were certainly something I attended (and made a complete fool of myself at the first one, blind drunk). This delightful story continues to entertain and amuse (on occasion).

Audrey was the name of the carnivorous plant in the film Little Shop Of Horrors.

I have sympathy for Marty too. I am appalled the guards in this juvenile detention facility know what is going on and turn a blind eye to it. For some of the teenagers in this facility there may be a chance they can be rehabilitated, but if subjected to this sort of abuse I imagine that possibility goes out the window. I thought I recognised Nikola Tesla Carrington's name, but could not remember in which of the stories about Carlo Marini he appeared. After reading this chapter @Lee Wilson I don't think Ramona Martin is that much smarter than her husband George. Why in Felix's name would she contemplate taking him back? Is she really that desperate?

Audrey "disposed" of Henry with a minimum of fuss. Drew and Leo welcomed Uncle Andrew for the first time as their biological father. I doubt it will be long and they will be calling him Dad, after all Henry Pierce has gone and won't ever be coming back. "Positive. Henry wasn't the best husband in quite a few different ways. Maybe you'd like to remind a girl how to be satisfied?" "Well, Brando, you just made me an offer I can't refuse." "Follow me, said the spider to the fly." "Buzz, buzz." I have to ask @Lee Wilson, was Audrey named intentionally as such after a certain carnivorous plant?

Henry joins George in the "dumb as a post or a box of rocks" category. Seemingly Audrey is not perturbed by the possibility Drew may be gay or at least bisexual, which begs the question why she married Henry in the first place. An example of love is blind perhaps. Henry, another of your "horror" creations @Lee Wilson. He and George would have to be two of your stupidest characters, right up there with Kathy Nelson, Abel Kraft and the guy who shot Manny in the bar.

Your stories invite speculation, sometimes the wildest of so, which is for me at least, part of the joy of your story telling.

The teenagers at Matt's school who name-called him "fag" or "faggot" are no better than Marty himself. There is no logic in their thinking @weinerdog, if one can even call it "thinking". I did not understand either how they arrived at their conclusion. I suspect one person made the comment and the rest of the sheep followed (my apologies to any sheep who may be reading this story, whose intellect would likely surpass these morons). Alistair is an unusually direct lad, perhaps a little too much so (I am "guilty" of this on occasion myself). Matt, Reggie and Drew may be a good trio to bring him out of his shell. And I am ashamed to say I did not know who Alistair Sim was as I have never seen any of the films he appeared in @Lee Wilson.

I have to wonder if Reggie's expressed desire for violent retribution against Marty is subconsciously influenced by the guilt he still feels for having stood by and watched others beat Jerry, resulting in Jerry's death. Is his reaction partially compensatory? Whatever the reason, it has upset Matt greatly, possibly moreso because he is now aware of the truth of what happened to Jerry. Marty's resigned acceptance of his fate was very sad @Lee Wilson, an indication of his unhappy home life perhaps. Does he feel any remorse? If so, there may be hope for him yet if he survives adult prison.

So Ramona is not a total loser like George. His son is likely to be sent to juvie and likely prison and George bails. He won't be winning any award for Father Of The Year.