Summerabbacat

This magnificent story proved two things without a shadow of a doubt @Ronyx. Firstly, the delightful Mr Wilbur from Taking Off The Mask was not a flash in the pan because secondly, you are equally adept at writing characters whose teen years are long past with the same degree of authenticity, delight, wit and entertainment, as you are those who are in their teens (dare I say even moreso). Although I am almost 2 decades younger than Phil, @pvtguy's comments resonate with me as do those of @weinerdog, @Al Norris, @Paladin and the Man From Massachusetts, @drsawzall. I enjoyed this story as much as my hitherto favourite @Ronyx masterpieces Brittle As A Bird and Down A Darkened Path. From the tragedy of Phil's stroke emerged a family, both blood and non-blood, who have blended to improve and rejoice in the lives of each other. A family in the truest sense of the word, a little like that family from 28 Barbary Lane.

🎉🎉🎉🥂🥂🥂

Another gem from the master of simplicity. @Robert Hugill has an exceptional talent for making the mundane fascinating, for shaping characters who are as ordinary as most people are, yet making them so appealing that you cannot help but be enthralled by their lives, charmed by the simplest of pleasures which give them joy and fulfilment. This story, like Robert's other completed works, was a rewarding experience to read. I became far more invested in the main characters and some of the delightfully entertaining minor characters than I thought possible when the story commenced. And no story set in the Hugillverse is complete without some of the local idioms, wry descriptions of the physical appearance of some of the characters and architecture, and at times a riotous sense of humour. Robert's first story he wrote he has stated. What a spectacular literary debut.

Oh fuck. You warned us @Robert Hugill, but I am still sad. The sad 'emoticon' is not sufficient though. I want one that is for sobbing, shedding buckets of tears. It is a sad day when the Hugillverse has shrunk by 50%, leaving us with just a smidgen of Hugillisms to look forward to (unless a new story is waiting in the wings or the return of Brian, Gordon, Toby and the rest of the gang is imminent). My "complaints" aside, the story was ended beautifully, Thomas and Keith coming full-circle. Aside from their relationship with each other, it was wonderful to observe Keith being embraced wholeheartedly by Nate and Caroline as part of their family, and both Keith and Thomas extending their circle of friends and activities they enjoy, both singly and together. And for delivering one of the funniest, wittiest and cattiest Hugillisms in this story I nominate Caroline: “The view from the vicarage”, Caroline nodded, “I think it’s a good idea. The trials of living with a saint!” Fucking hilarious.

I agree with several of my learned friends who have speculated Samantha is aware Tim and Guy are a little more than just friends, and to her credit it appears of little if any significance to her. I believe she will prove to be a loyal friend and ally to Tim and Guy if they are given any grief by any of their fellow students. I also think Tim overreacted to Jason's taunt; as expressed by @Cane23 it was as telling what Jason did not say as what he did say which indicates he has no issue with Tim being gay. I perceived Guy's reaction to Tim's rebuff of his desire to fuck him differently from others it appears. Guy was disappointed, but that does not make him a bad person. His ego may have been a little wounded, that makes him human. The rebuff does not seem to have soured his obvious attraction to Tim nor did he behave like a spoilt brat; and for all we know, he may be equally horny for Tim to fuck him. And whilst it appears preparation for Tim's first time bottoming was lacking, Guy may be blessed with exceptional rimming skills, a tongue so formidable he was known at his previous high school as Guy "Gene Simmons" Harding. It gives a whole new meaning to I Was Made For Lovin' You. See that tongue working at 3.03 and imagine Guy's skills working Tim into a dripping frenzy. Another great chapter @Mark Ponyboy Peters.

Sorry @Cane23 (well not really), but Amii was discoliciuos and this song fit the theme of the chapter, well certainly the first part of the chapter very well. As for the second part of the chapter, well Amii could have celebrated it with Knock On Wood or Donna could have dropped in with some Hot Stuff. "I hadn’t planned on doing that either. It was actually a first for me, doing such a thing anywhere else other than the bedroom. And I found that I didn’t really care. It really had been my pleasure, giving him that release." OMG Adam, you have so many rooms in your new home, try them all. The laundry can wait, and if not, get yourself a Miele washing machine, they are so efficient that it will probably hang the washing out for you (well maybe not, but the drying time is considerably less because the clothes are spun so well). I am impressed with Adam that he hung the clothes outside to dry rather than loading them straight into a dryer. Well that chapter certainly sizzled @Andr0gene, so much so that I think I may have seen a fire in Brazil from my home in Australia. Maybe it was @Tonyr letting off some steam.

I am when it comes to cruelty to animals and children @Anton_Cloche. I like your idea and @drsawzall's idea of punishments, but I don't think it is harsh enough. @Lee Wilson is on the right track though with: Why not @Lee Wilson? Add in a few black widow spiders and enforced binge-watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians and you have a punishment befitting their crimes.

Shit stinks but it doesn't set or cause permanent damage @Lee Wilson. How about cement or nuclear waste?

I agree @Tonyr. I commented after the last chapter that Jill appears to be handling her abuse far better than Steve. This chapter did nothing to change my view on this issue. He is definitely very traumatised both physically and emotionally.

"One thing he wondered about was how Nick could run, and walk, for most of two days between the two houses. It would probably have taken him less than two hours. When he asked Nick about it, Nick simply said he walked around in circles a lot. Further interrogation would wait, but Brendan thought it was more than that." Methinks @weinerdog's speculation that it was not coincidental Nick found his hitherto unknown Uncle's house is gaining merit @Lee Wilson.

In comparison @Paladin, Crackhouse Chrissie is a lightweight. The only thing which has surprised me thus far is that Nick has apparently escaped any form of sexual abuse from either spermie or the incubator.

It's what is known as value for money; getting the best possible "performance" from your employees. An honest days work for an honest days pay (or some such aphorism). Perhaps for some it may even be an "employee incentive scheme".

Spermie and the incubator are well matched, both pedophiles and rapists of their own children. I seem to recall several of my fellow readers previously speculated the family may have had to quickly relocate from South Carolina to avoid trouble there. I think it very likely spermie and the incubator have been abusing Jill and Steve for quite some time, so this speculation has great merit I believe. @Anton_Cloche's comments that the children need thorough physical examinations is paramount after the revelations of this chapter. I also think spermie and the incubator each need a physical examination, although of a very different kind to the children. Spermie and the incubator could be in for a rough time if it becomes known in prison what they are doing time for @Lee Wilson. Oh well, shit happens.

Perhaps the invitations were hand-delivered by some of the lads from Ares Security, maybe even by Brian and Gordon themselves, showing some arse in jockstraps or lads resplendent in leather harnesses and cod pieces, with sweat sheened pectorals and ample muscular butts. Perhaps Jonty may be invited to photograph the "event". Francis appears well informed of Dante and Vaughan's comings and going. Suki apparently revealed their little tete-a-tete in Ercole's "famous playroom" whilst in Verona. I suspect Francis may have many useful "connections" in many locations who are prepared to curry favour with him by providing useful tidbits of information . A little more revelation of the man who is Francis Heyward @Robert Hugill, or at least the man he wants people to believe he is. Argh, there is a Neil Tennant lyric in their somewhere, although he would make it sounder far more sophisticated and intellectual.

I can barely change a lightbulb let alone pick a lock @Al Norris. Anything "handyman like" and I am a complete klutz.

An "investment" which earns us "interest" @Mark Ponyboy Peters. A rare commodity these days.

Bloody hell @Mancunian. You are another @Paladin. Very observant; nothing escapes either of you. Eyes in the back of your heads. Well done.

If I may be so bold @Gary L, I recommend Cut The Talking, Waiting, Taken By Surprise, In Your Car and Gay Guys by The Dugites. Actually, anything by The Dugites. Gay Guys is a remarkably positive and affirming song written in 1979, and has a sense of humour too. They never achieved the success they deserved and disbanded in 1984 after Cut The Talking.

I had the same bad feeling @Gary L, anticipating the police would shine a flashlight into the front seat of Guy's car at any moment. I am in agreement with @chris191070 and @Ivor Slipper. I too think if it was Tim's father who concluded the chapter with "And just where the fuck have you been?" he would have been shouting, all bluff and bluster. I suspect it is Jason or perhaps it might be Elvis, paying a visit because none of his songs have apparently been selected for the school musical. Tim's father is behaving like a spoilt child, a little like Luke's father initially did in After We Danced. Although misguided, one can a least sympathise with the rationale why Luke's father's was homophobic in the true sense of the word i.e. frightened of homosexuals, but with Tim's father it appears to be simply a case of homomisia. Walkin' After Midnight by Patsy Cline would have done very nicely for this chapter @Mark Ponyboy Peters, as would Sweet Dreams or In Your Car by The Dugites. Do you remember them Mark, a band from Perth who had some minor hits in the early 1980's, led by a female singer, Lynda Nutter? One of my absolute favourite Aussie bands, right up there with Icehouse, Skyhooks, Mental As Anything and Split Enz (OK so they were from NZ, but they were based here).

I, like the majority of my fellow readers, think it is a forgone conclusion Jill has been sexually abused by one, if not both parents. In addition, I will not be at all surprised if it is revealed Steve has been sexually abused by one, if not both parents. This could account for Steve's stuttering. In some respects the sexual abuse of Steve would be "preferable" to the possibility as speculated by @Anton_Cloche that he may have been subjected to repeated head strikes, which has left him with neurological damage such that he stutters constantly. Repeated head strikes could also lead to many other conditions such as those suffered by boxers and football players. From the little revealed in this chapter, I have to speculate Nick's treatment at the hands of spermie and the incubator may have been the least brutal and psychologically damaging. It appears to me that whatever the children have suffered it has affected Steve to the greatest extent. The revelation spermie broke his arm, slapped him on the back of his head with his ring finger and taped his mouth shut when he would stutter, had steam coming out my ears too @drsawzall. Even if the incubator has not tortured the children in any manner, either physically or psychologically, she is complicit. I will not accept she may have been too frightened to go against her spermie's wishes. If her children have been misttreated as we expect may be the case then she should have done something about it. Additionally, Jill did report to Rich that both parents had abused all three children. A riveting chapter @Lee Wilson. The pace was frantic but may quieten a little now the children have been removed from immediate danger. Now it is time to "take out the trash". Whatever you have in store for spermie and the incubator it won't be enough. They both need to suffer painfully and protractedly.

A very valid viewpoint @Paladin when one compares the suffix phobia to some other words with the same suffix e.g. arachnophobia, claustrophobia, nyctophobia or ornithophobia (I can so relate to this one), all of which are a genuine fear of something, whether it is a rational or irrational fear. You are not alone in your dislike of the term "homophobia" as it is widely used. I just did a little research which indicates the word in its technical sense means a fear of sameness, yet in the manner in which it is commonly used it implies a fear of homosexuals, which for some who have this "phobia" may be true, but for many is not. Several alternative terms have been offered such as homonegativism and homosexism. I don't consider either of these is adequate to describe the reactions of hostility, anger, abuse, discrimination, violence or threats of violence, which you have perceived, perceptions which I share regarding many of those whose negativity is directed at members of the LGBTQIA community and/or its allies. May I offer the terms homomisia or homodevaluation (or does this sound too much like a monetary term) as more suitable terms for use in the aforementioned circumstances, although I daresay experts may dismiss these as far too simplistic.

Riotous, riveting, rambunctious, raunchy (at times) and readable. A story which provokes rather than prods, one which is not for the faint-hearted at times, with some characters who are likely to frustrate and infuriate beyond belief. Ultimately though it is a story of love, the love of a father, Diego Padilla, for his sons Bryan and Caleb, two boys for whom life has often been less than happy, and Steve Jensen, for whom a life unexpected is about to unfurl itself. The author has crafted a story which if I were to come across it now in its ‘Completed’ state I would find it very difficult not to devour with gluttonous relish. A truly wonderful story with so much to offer anyone fortunate enough to undertake the journey to read it to completion.

In keeping with the joy of the wedding I am only going to make positive comments about delightful people in this chapter. I must thank the 'Man From Massachusetts' aka @drsawzall for making comments on the less savoury characters who populated the landscape of this story far too often. He did it with such restraint and without an expletive in sight, a far more eloquent man than I. The incorporation of the adoption into the wedding, a beautiful touch, overwhelmingly moving and unexpected, but in hindsight not at all surprising given it was instigated by "Daddy". I frightened my youngest cat when I read this scene as I became quite emotional very quickly and she was sitting beside me at the time undertaking some evening grooming. A journey has been completed @John Henry and it has been a joy to take. I sincerely hope the telling of this story and the welcome it has received from your readers has been of therapeutic benefit to you. If I was religious I would say God bless you; as I am not I will say Felix and Sylvester bless you.

The pace was positively sedate without the presence of Baldy and Sugarpuss. I think after the excitement of the day before this was just what Adam and Kai needed. I am with Kai on cereal. I always have cereal for breakfast, so I don't think I will be coming to visit any time soon. I could not eat what Adam cooks for breakfast, even if I weren't vegetarian. It seems Arya has settled into the community well and has made herself at home in more than just her own domain. Jack's a character and I dare say has many a story he could tell. Languid. A great word to describe this chapter @Andr0gene. It made me think of the Isley Brothers Summer Breeze.

Another foray into something new by our intrepid duo. Announcing themselves as boyfriends appears to be "the norm" for Keith and Thomas now. What a wonderful change from the two frightened men they formerly were. I had another great chuckle at one of your physical descriptions of a minor character again @Robert Hugill. "Paula, a tall slim woman in her 60s with an amazing helmet of dyed burgundy hair and a voluminous blouse in an alarming matching colour took their contact details." made me think of Zandra Rhodes, although her hair would more likely be fuchsia, lime green, electric blue, violet or burnt orange.