Summerabbacat

Maybe John, the husband, is a closet-case and when he meets Roger he will go all goo-goo eyed and dump the bitchster. John will realise how shallow his life is and divorce her and move in with Roger and bring little Mary and Joshua with him because they don't like their mother and she does not want them.

Her death was no loss to anyone other than herself. Good riddance indeed. Rosa would make an excellent choice to care for the boys, but it would mean having to give up caring for her beloved Mary and Joshua, unless of course their father is involved in the paedophile ring in which case he is out of the picture. I cannot see their mother Rebecca coping with them without him so she may be happy for Rosa to have custody of them. There you go @empath. Between @Danners we have developed another story line for you. John Renkin, high profile paedophile indicted on child pornography and trafficking charges. Rebecca Renkin, his selfish self-centred wife files for divorce and surrenders parental rights to the family Nanny whose services have been retained by Roger Cicero, the primary benefactor and architect behind the newly launched Thomas' house, a home for unwanted sons.

I find it difficult to believe Jackie would have taken Damian with her to complete the sham, or if she did, he would have been abandoned at some point in time, either left on his own to fend for himself, or returned to England to live with grandparents or other relatives perhaps. Damian is a smart lad. I hope he realises his disclosures of the bank account information on the scrap paper and the postcard he received were vital in locating Jackie. If he does realise this I hope he makes a point of informing Jackie of this, informing her with glee that he helped "bring her down". Perhaps he can also let it slip, accidentally of course, how happy he is that Ludo and Arthur will marry and that Ludo will finally find the happiness and the love he deserves. As for Ludo seeing Jackie, I think he should visit her so he can laugh in her face, particularly if it sets her off and she is screaming like a hyena. I think Lesley's idea of having Dot talk to Damian is a very good one. It would be very easy and tempting for Ludo to "poison" Damian's mind against Jackie, which given her prior treatment of him and Ludo, would be very easily accomplished. Damian needs to air his opinions of his mother and what she has done to him and to Ludo to a neutral third party. I am sure he can form his own views on what a c#@t she is. An impending wedding, one which was agreed upon without any fanfare or angst. An educational opportunity again @Robert Hugill. Lawks, joins anyroad and worriting as three of the marvellous Hugillisms I have picked up reading your works.

William is scum @Cane23. I just hope when "prison justice" is delivered to him it is frequent and violent and no one hears his screams or if they do they choose to ignore it.

I was not totally naive @Paladin because I recalled the ages of the girls sold by their parents to that well known British pop star from the 1970's who purchased them. I guess it was the age of the children combined with the apparent scale of the operation which shocked me.

The twins will not be returned to their mother @Danners. I think you overlooked this thought of William's "The man was tempted to ask for compensation for killing the boys’ mother, but he did still have Stan’s ten grand in the trunk." I wondered about Qian Chang too. Perhaps @empath will reveal more of his story in a later chapter.

I was shocked at the age of the boys mentioned in this chapter @empath. I had naively thought they were at least teenagers, not pre-pubescent. This makes the crimes of Jason Rizzo, Charles Miller, Carl Jenkins, William and all the others involved even more heinous than I had imagined. And I am incensed that the one decent thing in the twins life, Stanley Montgomery, was used as a pawn and murdered in cold blood. I am not opposed to the death penalty for people like William who so callously murdered Stanley to further his criminal activities. I strongly suspect Riz is being followed by someone employed by one or more of the "ancient Italian artefacts". @drsawzall vivid description of Riz is even more apropos, to me anyway, now that I know the age of the boys who are being kidnapped. I do hope he is not murdered by "one of his own" though as I would like to see him imprisoned with Charlie, William and anyone else involved and let "prison justice" take its course. Thomas has found his "calling" at least until this investigation is concluded. I speculated this may eventuate and am very glad to observe that it has. It will be beneficial for Thomas and critical for the boys he will help. I have to wonder if Roger is also going to become a patron, at least in a financial capacity initially, to a home where all the boys will be housed who do not have families of their own, which I anticipate will be many of them. Melissa may also find herself in some kind of "maternal" role with the boys, something which I believe she will relish and thrive on. A riveting chapter @empath. The murder of Stanley Montgomery very upsetting, although I feared this from the moment he was introduced into the story.

I have "warmed" to Alan a little @drsawzall and I think Calvin was being very cautious with what he revealed to Bert regarding Alan. Having said this, I am still wary of him as he is still very much an unknown quantity. Maybe he is not being deliberately evasive or obtuse, he may be the type of person who does not have many friends, preferring to keep his distance.

I am beginning to question if I have in fact read Thompsonville before @Mark Ponyboy Peters as I have no recollection of Ben's accident at all. I have remembered bits and pieces of the other chapters to date, but not all, however, this very significant chapter I cannot recall at all. I am beginning to wonder if I read a subsequent story which makes reference to some of the events in this story or if I started reading this story and did not finish it for some reason. The gradual awakening of Ben's senses and realisation of his surroundings appeared to me to be very realistic. It was with amusement that I, similarly to @weinerdog, recognised early on that Ben has lost none of his smart arse sense of humour. He appears relatively calm thus far, but will that calmness remain if his amnesia is not temporary. Similarly to @Paladin I need answers, and I must have them sooner rather than later or my mind may well ...... snap. I was reminded of Rocky Horror Picture Show and specifically the pool scene towards the end of the film, with the somewhat melancholic lyrics of Don't Dream It on loop in my head with this one @Mark Ponyboy Peters. Give yourself over to absolute pleasure Swim the warm waters of sins of the flesh Erotic nightmares beyond any measure And sensual daydreams to treasure forever Can't you just see it? Oh, oh, oh Don't dream it, be it.

The appearance of the buck and the doe "did me in" completely. Tears before bedtime, more a tsunami of tears before dinnertime. A beautifully written chapter @Ticklishboy30, with a delightful mix of frivolity and earnestness.

I was not surprised by the revelation Detective Juan Ramos is the same Juan Ramos whom his mother, Rosa, described as having a "cute little butt" in a prior chapter. Perhaps Rosa and Special Agent Daniel Janick can compare notes on that "cute little butt" and its current state of "cuteness" if Daniel does manage to get up close and personal with it at any stage. It appears Carl Jenkins' home may also have been used as part of Rizzo's boy flesh porn racket. I assume his home will now be subject to the same meticulous examination as Charles Miller's and he interrogated to determine what role he has played in this sordid operation. He may also have to be placed into protective custody given Rizzo was seemingly lurking nearby. Speaking of Rizzo, I hope he is not successful in kidnapping or harming Rosa in any way to get Juan to back off his investigation of Charles Miller and by default of Rizzo himself. I suspect, or is it merely wishful thinking, that once the "ancient Italian artefacts" learn of the FBI's involvement in investigating Rizzo and Eddie's "cast-off operations" they may be even less willing to protect or assist Rizzo in any way. Those same "ancient Italian artefacts" may decide he is not worth the risk to their ongoing livelihood and therefore "dispense" with his services. The emerging connection between Melissa and Samantha is an interesting one. If it eventuates will it be a stand-alone relationship or will it interlink with the various combinations of the Roger-Thomas-Brendon-Sandra relationship and perhaps a Daniel-Juan-Rosa relationship. If the latter occurs, might there be a thawing in the estrangement between Melissa and her uptight bigoted sister or is that bigotry also encouraged and strengthened by her sister's husband. So many seemingly unconnected relationships just waiting for the right moment or circumstances to form a connection. It reminds me of that most marvellous of films Six Degrees Of Separation in which the "real" Rizzo played an integral role with her usual consummate performance. And finally, it appears the investigation of the boy flesh porn racket is a very personal thing for Qian Chang. Another well-written, suspenseful, challenging and at times ugly chapter @empath, ugly in that it revealed, albeit very briefly and with little detail yet, another case of the depravity of Rizzo's boy flesh porn racket. If he is not silenced by the "ancient Italian artefacts" and is imprisoned I can only "prison justice" is agonisingly slow but ultimately successful in his case.

It is those with strong opinions like yourself @drsawzall who can effect change and my God your homeland needs that now more than ever in its history. Your opinions are widely shared, including by this little gay Aussie. And the "real" Rizzo is way more attractive. She is 80 years old now and still looks fine, although there are some images online where she looks to have had some "unfortunate" cosmetic refreshment similar to Kim Novak.

I was surprised too @centexhairysub as I had stereotyped him (not saying you did by the way). He is very sociable and agreeable.

Returned 100 fold. Like all family members we get the shits with each other at times, especially Ava (Gardner) and Frida (from ABBA) getting pissed off with me, but all is, or in Ava's case was, forgotten and forgiven. Frida's face is laying partially on my Apple Mac laptop keyboard as is her wont as I type this, even though I continually move it away which earns me a glare, a yelp, a snit or a paw smack on occasions.

Spectacular Samantha. A superbly written chapter @empath which moved me tremendously, a reminder of all the unwanted and unloved cats I have fostered in the past 16 years, the 7 who became my unconventional family, the 5 who have since passed away and the 2 who remain. The achievement in my life of which I am the "proudest" and which has given me the greatest joy and happiness. In loving memory of my boys Rupert and the exceptional Bassey, and my beautiful girls Ava, Kiki and my most recent loss, my beautiful Zelda; and in celebration of Frida (Zelda's sister) and Missy who remain as my family.

Well I got that wrong. Why did I think Seville? Valencia looks to have glorious weather with lots of days 35°C+ and high humidity. The weather in Sydney is shit at the moment, with summer just around the corner it has mostly been in low 20's since the beginning of spring and very windy. Terrible hayfever for me and my youngest feline, Missy.

Just remember the weather, the cold bleak weather, although I guess Seville has some of that too.

@Robert Hugill perhaps Ralph and Gordon may become friends again with the benefit of time and distance having been put between them. Perhaps Ralph may delight in introducing Norman and Sheila to Drew and Evie again. Now wouldn't that put a cat amongst the pigeons. No doubt the parents of "that boy" would also be considered perverts by Norman and Sheila. Perhaps Evie could bare her breasts to them or Drew could moon them (LOL). I can think of so many things "one should not do" which Evie and Drew would delight in doing to taunt Norman and Sheila. They are soooo miserable and pretentious. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

"Streams of water were running from a net that was bulging at the seams, alive with shimmering, silvery bodies twisting and turning and writhing in their nylon prison". This powerful image expressed the terror for those fish caught for human consumption. This filled me with such sadness @Mark Ponyboy Peters, even greater so because I only gave up eating fish, prawns and oysters, three and a half years ago, although my consumption had been decreasing for some time. I cannot even tolerate the smell of fish cooking anymore and the thought of eating such food fills me with shame. As all have commented Cye and the boys are at the mercy of nature and at present they are subject to its fury. Let us hope Poseidon is their friend rather than foe, otherwise they are fucked. A very well written chapter @Mark Ponyboy Peters, the growing tension between Ben and Justin, parallel to the growing atmospheric tension. Will they survive, will Flipper come to their rescue or will they become food for Jaws.

The intrigue continues, the mystery deepens. From the acid-tongued Beverley to the cool level-headed Nora, the competition between Alex and Jack, the quiet but I suspect calculating Arnold, and the very observant Giovanni. Anyone of them could be Roland's murderer. Sultry, sinister and spellbinding @E K Stokes. A gripping story thus far.

It is even discussed in polite company now @Mark Ponyboy Peters, no longer taboo, a bit like rimming.

The twins seem to charm all with their antics, apart from uptight Sheila and to a lesser extent Therese. Morrie seems especially taken with them, although he has to date only witnessed them in relatively small doses and has likely been flattered by their interest in his boat and car. He may not be quite so enamoured with them if they were to misbehave in his presence or when they are intrusive or incessantly inquisitive or chatty. "After a slight hesitation, the two men kissed then Nolan greeted the girls and had to try and make sense of a somewhat incoherent narrative involving Morrie, an old lady, cake and going to sleep." Who woulda thunk it at the beginning of this story? Ralph in a public display of affection and with another man no less. If Norman and/or Sheila had been present they would have had a conniption, worriting about what their friends might think of such a brazen display of perversion. A rather calm chapter this one @Robert Hugill after the dramatic events which have taken place in more recent chapters. Perhaps the drama will occur when Ralph and Gordon finally meet and acknowledge each other after all these years. Tears before bedtime? A good snogging? A slap across the face?

But was it a well known "thing" then like it is now?

I had the same thought @chris191070, but was not sure if "pegging" was "a thing" back in 2003.

Maybe the gayteway might be a three-way, a throuple @Danners.