Summerabbacat

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.

And the dildos and butt-plugs.

I am as surprised by Ben's behaviour in this chapter as was my esteemed fellow reader @weinerdog. I really did not think Ben's attraction to Justin was anything more than a little man crush. Apparently, this is not the case, and apparently Samantha is the only one who has not noticed Ben's staring at Justin for the past 5 months, or has she. I was even more surprised Ben's primary curiosity is what it feels like to be buttfucked. This certainly "flips the lid" on the stereotype, the butch rugby-playing top wanting to try bottoming for the much smaller twink. If Justin and Ben do end up having sex I suspect Scott will be far more forgiving of Justin than Samantha will be of Ben. Scott very well may punch Ben's lights out, but I don't think he would harm Justin. I am unsure what Samantha might do, but she has shown herself to be no pushover in the past. The rolling of the boat and the description of the rough sea was very effective @Mark Ponyboy Peters. I felt myself starting to feel a little unsteady whilst reading this and I was seated. I can only but sympathise how poor Lovey Howell must have felt.

Roger should consider severing his representation of the mafia and take on cases pro-bono if he has more money than he can ever spend. I am certain there would be many in Chicago in need of the expertise Roger could offer who could not afford such expertise, even if he was to restrict himself to representing members of the LGBTQI community only. He has the opportunity to make himself known to the LGBTQI community with Sam writing an article on Thomas and his defence of him. Chief Monroe may be a "dinosaur", but his experience in policing without sophisticated technology and "science-y shit" alerted him to the fact something suspicious was taking place in the interrogation room. Fortunately the recording device reminded him of his VCR, so unless it was faulty he should have recorded the whole conversation between Joe, Sal and Charlie. He has likely assisted Detective Ramos and the FBI agents immeasurably as they now have on record who is the mastermind of the underage male porn racket and have exposed the moles, one of whom is now dead, within the Chicago PD. “We might be the only horny teenagers in Chicago trying to get out of each other’s pants!” was a moment of comic relief for Thomas and Brendon (and for we readers too). Each has been brutalised not only physically and emotionally, but intellectually too, both victims of filial and social intolerance, some of which results from the literal interpretation of religious dogma. It appears from this chapter @Danners that any same sex interaction Detective Ramos may have is likely to occur with Special Agent Janick rather than Roger. A rewarding read again @empath. I like @pvtguy's comments above that "several stories going on at the same time that will come together at the end in a connected manner." I could not have said it better myself.

We don't know enough about Jackie as a person, other than that she is a scheming, selfish and manipulative bitch, to suggest any unusual punishment befitting her crimes, her embezzlement being the lesser of her crimes in my opinion. Usually, one might recommend a mother be deprived of ever seeing her child again, but I don't think this would upset Jackie as it appears Damian was merely a prop, as suggested by @CincyKris. A life of poverty is obviously something which would not appeal to her, but if she is captured and imprisoned she will not be forced to live a life of poverty. Perhaps an enforced orgy on a regular basis with Andreas after he has consumed a huge amount of food and is very sweaty, flatulent and lecherous may be something which would revolt her. I could also suggest all manner of nasty things be done to her various orifices singly or in any combination or all at the same time, but some poor sucker(s) would have to perform said nasties on her and one would not wish such a thing on one's worst enemy. I just hope if she is caught and is still alive that our author has something dastardly planned as her punishment(s).

A fun-filled story again @ObicanDecko. Reggie is the last person I would have pegged as the murderer. Poirot or Marple I am not. I have to agree with @chris191070 and @VBlew, we definitely need more Samson and Troy.

Like our waistlines in later years the Hugillverse is expanding @Gary L.

It was my impression too @Philippe that Uncle Rick was much loved by Todd, which made his witness to his murder so much more devastating.