Summerabbacat

What a surprising and moving chapter @Superpride. Anthony showed an emotional vulnerability hitherto not displayed, and frankly it added far more appeal to him than his usual bravado. I think Daddy dearest has really done a number on Anthony too, but it is not as obvious as what he has done to Todd. Todd's perception Sabrina was flirting with Barrett and the flirting was mutual was revealed to be a false alarm, but not before I thought, here we go again, Sabrina is now emerging as the eponymous Troublemaker. You are leading us a merry dance dangling these "red herrings" that one @drsawzall is particularly fond of @Superpride. Channing revealed himself to be somewhat conniving, admitting he convinced Dillon to lie to his mother and state Todd was his boyfriend. It may all be perfectly innocent, motivated by convenience, but then again maybe not. I still don't trust him and this chapter illustrated why. And now for the ABBA reveal @Tris. The B-side of I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do which I previously mentioned was a huge hit here in Australia. The video clip is from the TV show that more Aussies watched than the moon landing. I think there will be a little of this going on between the sheets at Barrett's home tonight.

It was a criminal offence in NSW until 1984 @Mancunian so Jake and Danny will be breaking the law if they engage in gay sex. The age of consent is now 16, but I am not sure if it was then. I assumed it was 18 when I commented above, but it may well have been 16 then too.

"A glossy blond advertising executive". So delightfully bitchy @Robert Hugill. She is at an age when the "gloss" will start to wear off permanently and a touch up here and there will no longer be enough to maintain the "gloss", only industrial-strength cosmetic "refreshment" will suffice. A pleasant persona might go a long way to assisting so she may have to invest in one of those.

Oh ye of so little faith in your fellow man @Mancunian. Bloody good judge of character I'd say you are. Fuddy-duddy's world-wide would likely to draw a similar conclusion without a shred of evidence.

I recall an early photo of her (I think) where the underarm was not the only location on the body with a dense covering of hair, and it looked coarse and very dark too. It is hard to know what she looks like now at 66 years of age as she appears to have had some serious cosmetic refreshment in the past few years. Her apparent drive to retain a youthful appearance is to me inconsistent with her expressed outrage regarding ageism against women in the music industry. I still enjoy her music though and welcome any new music whenever released.

You must have been a child prodigy who started university at the age of 12 or so @Gary L?

Love it @Cane23. She is behaving exactly as I thought she would. There has been no apparent malice ........yet. If bellicose bilious Barb continues to question Therese about Ralph's behaviour before and currently this may change though. She appears to be a real shit-stirrer.

I have not drunk cow's milk for 30+ years @drpaladin. It is truly disgusting to me. I was drinking soy for many years but now mostly drink oat milk, which is only in smoothies. I don't drink tea or coffee and don't put milk on my cereal either. I was buying oat milk yogurt for a number of years until the company which made it stopped making it, so had to revert to soy. I also eat soy ice cream and eat tofu reasonably regularly. A bit too much estrogen-rich food for a guy to eat really. I have tried soy cheese too and it was putrid, like all vegan cheeses I have tried (mostly coconut based) bar one. I love my cheese too.

This certainly appears to be the case @pvtguy. It also appears to be the case that she expects Ralph to make personal sacrifices though for the sake of Jane and Alisa, which he appears more agreeable to.

Long way off yet, we still have not arrived at this juncture by chapter 16.

I think many would fall into this category @drpaladin if abattoirs had glass walls. If I had to milk a cow or goat and make my own cheese I would stop eating dairy cheese too (the only non-vegan foodstuff I still eat).

Money and the desire to acquire as much of it as possible appears to me to be her primary motivation @pvtguy. She may love her daughters, but she admitted they are an inconvenience to her furthering her career, a mindset which Barb in particular seemed to encourage her to have. "Double, double, toil and trouble, Fire burn, and cauldron bubble". I can almost hear Therese, Barb and Dee "cackling" as they knock back a glass or ten of wine whilst making this statement @pvtguy. Three witches with a capital B.

In chapter 3 Todd had the following thoughts @drpaladin: "I started to believe that Friday night when I sang karaoke with Barrett put some kind of spell on me, causing me to lust after my brother’s best friend, like some Cupid’s arrow, and I didn’t know how to break it. He was the last person I wanted to be attracted to, mainly because he was an asshole who thought Anthony’s little brother having a crush on him was disgusting. The realization when my first crush and the person who helped me discover that I was attracted to boys thought I was gross really hurt. He didn’t seem to remember what he thought of me back when we were only teenagers, as if it wasn’t such a big deal that he was homophobic, which pissed me off even more. It was just a crush for Christ’s sake, not like anything could actually happen between the two of us. He was straight. I was gay. And that should’ve been the end of it. But the things I was told that he thought of me as made me feel like total crap, and I even wondered for a while if loving boys was morally wrong and that I needed to be fixed." In this chapter the following conversation took place between Todd and Barrett: “Well, that leads to the second thing I want to talk to you about… What did I do in the past exactly to make you hate me?” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Oh, um…” “Because if I said or did anything that offended or hurt you, let me know, so I can apologize and make it up to you.” I bit my bottom lip. “It wasn’t exactly what you said to me…” Barrett raised a brow. Taking a deep breath, I continued, “It was what you said to Anthony, who then relayed the information back to me.” “And what exactly did Anthony say to you?” “Uh…that you weren’t at all comfortable with me having a crush on you when we were still teenagers. He told me that you’d beat my ass if I ever got near you.” “...What? I’ve never thought of you that way.”

Is your confusion due to this conversation between Channing and Todd @drpaladin? “You don’t remember? You drunk dialed me last Monday and told me about what your father said to you.” “I did?” “Yes. You did. And then you spent more than five minutes talking about what this asshole thought of you all because you had a small crush on him when you were a teenager and how that affected you. You might’ve been too drunk to remember, but I remembered every single word clearly.” If so, I understood this was about two completely different conversations which took place years apart. The first conversation in bold text took place at the recent Sunday cookout Todd attended where his father was rude to him and "gay-shamed" him to other guests by stating he had not met the right woman yet and all the other bullshit he spouted which upset Todd before he stormed off. The second conversation in non-bold text was between Anthony and Todd years prior when Todd was still a teen and Anthony told him Barrett was disgusted by him being gay and having a crush on him.

Did women throw their knickers at him as they allegedly did at Tom Jones @Al Norris?

Jake and Danny should follow the wise words penned by John Bettis as so beautifully sung by Anita, ably backed up by her sisters. Of course they could not though as this story was set in 1975 and Anita did not deliver this beautiful song until 1981, but that is a minor inconvenient detail.

I just looked up ABBA's chart performance in France and for both singles and albums they were not nearly as popular in France as they were in the UK. That should have been reason enough to migrate to the UK. You made the right choice @Tris. I was fortunate to live in their Tropical Loveland where we worshipped them.

"Alan grinned at me. “Yeah, you have no clue how much you’re going to love your new life taking care of my cock.” This statement alone was the reason I chose the 'ha ha' emoticon for this chapter. Alan is so full of himself that he believes his own hype. This statement made it sound like he had a "pet" cock Calvin would enjoy feeding, cleaning up after, shopping for. OMG I am laughing again just thinking about it. Guess what Alan it's a cock, maybe a nice one, but a cock nevertheless. If I did not know any better I would be inclined to think he is taking the piss out of himself. The ruins explored sounded very interesting @KKirk. Are you acquainted with them yourself or did you research them on the 'net?

You sir are a man of superb taste as will become even more apparent as you progress in reading this fine work.

Therese outing Ralph to Barb and Dee was I assume to gain sympathy @CincyKris and not at all surprising. And what an obnoxious pair, particularly the former. The three of them together like a trio of old slags at a pie bake off or gossiping over the back fence whilst "sucking furiously on a cheap ciggy". No wonder Ralph divorced Therese, Dee's husband is not interested in her and Barb is, well she is still Barb. Compare these three harridans to Beth and there is no comparison. Speaking of Beth, she gave Ralph very wise counsel. She is a good friend and work colleague. If he forms a relationship with Nolan it might be pleasant for them to have Beth and Corrine as "couple friends". Morrie was very funny again. The image of him in a thong was not alluring to me, but he appears to have a great sense of humour and is self-deprecating. When Ralph first beckoned Beth to look at the photos Morrie had sent I thought maybe they were Mapplethorpesque, black models in swimwear being fisted. Another outstanding chapter @Robert Hugill. I hope Therese's behaviour in this chapter and the influence Barb in particular has on her does not portend difficult times ahead for Ralph.

And you never will @Tris as such a song has never been written by the Anderson/Ulvaeus/Andersson or Ulvaeus/Andersson partnerships. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do is a marvellous song @Tris. We Aussies loved it. It was #1 for 3 weeks in October 1975. It was knocked off #1 by Mamma Mia which was #1 for 10 weeks, which was knocked off #1 by SOS which was #1 for 1 week. A few months later Fernando was #1 for 14 weeks (the biggest hit of the entire decade), shortly after Dancing Queen was #1 for 8 weeks then shortly after Money, Money, Money was #1 for 6 weeks (it got to #1 only 2 weeks after it was released). In Australia Rock Me was the B-side of I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, and when it dropped off the charts after 34 weeks Rock Me debuted, went to #4 and spent 26 weeks on the charts. To say ABBA were massive in Australia is an understatement. We worshipped them as if they were our own. Halcyon days. What is the other language you speak?

As our learned friend, the maestro from Massachusetts, @drsawzall remarked earlier in the story, he is a "chip off the old block". In fact, they are so much alike @Cane23, perhaps they could "purchase" identical "girlfriends".

Anthony can "purchase" one online @Cane23 and use a bicycle pump to inflate her. He would not need to worry about offending her with tactless comments or farting incessantly in bed either. I assume he would have a wide array of colours and sizes to choose from too. She would remain silent at family gatherings and offer no opinions, which would please Daddy dearest no end. Perhaps he and Daddy dearest can "purchase" one each and get a family discount.

OMG I never even thought of this @gmc. I was thinking more along the lines of him realising Todd and Barrett are more than just friends and causing a commotion or getting really drunk and hitting on Sabrina AND telling her he would love to have a threesome with her and Vanessa or watch her and Vanessa get it on, but you have added another dimension to the embarrassment he may cause. I was surprised Todd and Barrett are so dressed up for the occasion. Clearly I am not of the "art world" as I thought such occasions would be far more laid back and casual. It is becoming very apparent both Todd and Barrett are equally smitten, but who would have thought it possible that Todd would be so assertive in the bedroom. It has surprised Barrett too. And if the boys relationship keeps progressing at this rate Barrett may have to call Muriel down under for some advice. If one thing can be certain, she will know the perfect ABBA song for such an occasion, after all it was she who chose this classic for her "special day". What do you think @Tris? A great song or what?

Me either.