Summerabbacat

I recall Fernando is Mark’s favourite song by ABBA because of it’s folk/country flavour.

I did predict this, but not with the same degree of confidence had I borrowed @weinerdog’s crystal ball.

🥳🎉🥳🎉🥳🎉🥳🎉🥳🎉 Another top 10 placing @Mark Ponyboy Peters. Debuting at #1 in the General Fiction genre for the month ending 03/07/26. Not surprising given the quality of the work, but continued recognition must be pleasing. You are making the top 10 almost a permanent home now. Well done. Can you hear the drums @Mark Ponyboy Peters? I remember not long ago on a starry night like this. I have not read this chapter yet, waiting for this result. #1 with a bullet will only increase the pleasure of the reading.

🥳🎉🥳🎉🥳🎉 Another top 10 placing @Paladin. #5 in the Comedy genre for the month ending 03/07/26. Not surprising given the quality of the work, but continued recognition must be pleasing. You are making the top 10 almost a permanent home now. Well done.

🥳🎉🥳🎉🥳🎉 Another top 10 placing @Robert Hugill. #8 in the General Fiction genre for the month ending 03/07/26. Not surprising given the quality of the work, but continued recognition must be pleasing.

I think Levi has been having too much medicinal cannabis with his evening meal @weinerdog.

Owen needs to do two very important things and quick smart. Firstly, take that damn crucifix off his bedroom wall. It is creepy and it clearly depresses him, staring at him in judgment. Secondly, zip those lips. Do not reveal to Margot that Ryder has contacted him again. It is none of her damn business. I was thinking this evening at the bus stop, waiting to come home from work on a bleak winter day (I loathe winter), about Margot and Owen's lavender relationship and the fake engagement. Margot is clearly ecstatic about the engagement, and I don't for one moment believe it is entirely because it strengthens her heterosexual credentials. I think she is loving being the centre of attention and is going all gaga about being engaged to be married, even if the relationship is fake. I was also thinking how disrespectful Margot is, not only to her parents, both of whom are tiresome, but also to other family members and family friends. These people will feel pressured to purchase an expensive gift of gifts for a relationship which is a fabrication. Will Margot return the gifts unopened when she decides to call time on it? I strongly doubt it. Will she share the gifts with her "co-conspirator"? I strongly doubt it as I imagine most of the gifts will have been purchased with Margot in mind rather than Owen. I don't usually have a lot of respect for social norms, but I think willingly accepting these gifts under false pretences is just plain wrong. Perhaps she has a career as a politician @drpaladin.

I think it must be his blonde hair, lithe body and his coquettish sassiness, but I had an image of Bastien as Sabrina Carpenter without the heels. I think there is more to Bastien's flirtatious behaviour than meets the eye. Is he looking for The Perfect Kiss? Maybe. Might he be the murderer? Possibly. Is he suspicious of Lawrence? Most definitely. Very intriguing @Laura S. Fox.

@Laura S. Fox had to stop @drpaladin, she knew you were getting too close to that sweet moment, the moment of the 'little death". So you see, she has saved you. Either that or she is "edging you", building towards that titanic crescendo, when waves come crashing, wham bam it's the 4th of July moment.

Are you holidaying in the Dachshundverse?

Aarrgghh! So you do have some "taste" after all. That fabulous album and a 12" disco collection. Who knows, we may even have some of the same 12" and albums.

Glorious, Vicki Sue Robinson. Halcyon days @Cane23 and @Robert Hugill. Perhaps he was suffering from a little Love Hangover as he looked a little rough around the edges.

One of the reasons why our stupid species repeats the same mistakes, commits the same atrocities, time and time again. Combine this with the rise in religious fundamentalism in many parts of the world, and you have a recipe for disaster. I assume Uncle Carlos is as Ximo speculated, either a maricone himself or a maricone sympathiser. Your "Englishness" shone again @Gary L, the absence of excessive graphic violence more disturbing than an over-saturation. Your description of Marco's appearance the most confronting of all because of the degradation he had been subjected to.

I have not seen the movie, but I could happily exist on nothing but disco music, although not in a cold climate.

Five hours of disco hell @Cane23. You underestimate my collection. It would likely to take at least 5 months of daily listening to multiple albums to enjoy them all. LOL.

The arrival of Neil in Bavaria was such a surprise for me, even though @drsawzall at least had speculated it was on the cards. I was on my way home from work on the bus, reading this chapter on my mobile phone, and found myself having a little weep. As is invariably the case with Neil, he dismissed his actions as daft, but Alex was terribly pleased, and rightly so. It was just all too much delight @Robert Hugill for moi to cope with, so I had a torch song moment. Winter weather and torch songs sung by Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Julie London, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald and others too many to list, have been my aural delights of late, but with that comes a price, a propensity for weeping. "Not a bit. Frau Kostner, wife of the Festival Director, had a hand on Neil’s arm and the two seemed to be talking intently about something. She was a big woman, forthright yet charming. “Ah, Alex. I have discovered your lovely boyfriend, Neil.” Neil flushed at the ‘lovely’ comment. “Anna thought I looked a bit lost.” “And then I find he makes furniture.” She beamed. “So I tell him about Mutti’s Schrank.” Frau Kostner, raised on beer and sausages. She sounds adorable Herr Hugill, reminiscent of Marianne Sägebrecht, who will be 81 years of age next month. It does not seem that long ago she radiated onscreen in Bagdad Café, which I cannot believe was released 39 years ago. A marvellous film I have watched a number of times over the years and never grow tired of. Coincidentally she was born in Starberg, Bavaria, and claims to have been inspired by Mad King Ludwig II.

That is as likely to happen as @Gary L listening to my complete set of ABBA, Donna Summer, Kylie Minogue, Madonna, Boney M., Silver Convention, KC & The Sunshine Band, Barry White, Chic and a myriad of other disco artists on CD and vinyl (I have albums by the aforementioned acts on both CD and vinyl) and experiencing ecstasy.

I had not thought Margot was callous, but after reading her interaction with Owen again, I must agree with you @mayday. Her response to Owen was perfunctory, a series of platitudes. She may as well have been an AI bot Owen interacted with on Live Chat. Margot is basking in her glory, relishing the attention, her dreams all set to come true (or so she thinks). Her lover Jules, seemingly happy to remain invisible, on the down low, and her charade engagement to Owen wrapping her in a cocoon of heteronormative fairy floss (cotton candy for Americans). She may find her perfect world shatters if she does not start thinking of someone other than herself.

Very profound and sadly very true @drpaladin.

You are too kind sir. Owen is very self-aware and self-deprecating. I believe Ellie is drawn to Owen and he to her because they are quite alike. His one moment of joy in this chapter was Ellie's response and Aunt Beth's observations of his interactions with Ellie. I don't know how Aunt Beth manages to remain sane in an environment where she may be suffocating too. Although her husband, Gerald, and her son, Eric, are not bad people, it must be somewhat difficult living with two adult males who are so rapt in working with the dead, one of whom at least, Eric, seems to get a hard on over arterial injections, cavity treatment and embalming.

"Theo ran at me the second I walked into the gym. Full sprint, arms out, the usual. He hit me at knee level and wrapped himself around my leg and looked up at me with those big eyes and said, “I missed you, Owen.” Thankfully Theo is a 7 year old boy and not a dog as he is awfully fond of wrapping himself around Owen's leg. Owen has the patience of a saint. "A kid from another group walked over. A boy, maybe eight, with the kind of confidence that comes from never having been told to be quiet. He stopped in front of Ellie’s painting and looked at it and said, loud enough for everyone nearby to hear, “Why don’t you ever talk? Are you broken or something?” I was hoping for a miracle, something totally out of character, something totally non-VBS, Ellie uttering her first words "Fuck off you little prick and mind your own goddamned business". Alas it was not to be. I hate to say it @weinerdog, but Nora did something in this chapter which made me think well of her. "Nora had noticed what was happening and was keeping the rest of the group away with the silent authority of an eight-year-old who understood things most adults didn’t." Clearly I was wrong about her, she is not a future young Republican as she is far too "woke". "Margot: honestly? i think you should get back on Ember. not to replace him. just to remind yourself that he’s not the only person in the world. talk to someone. anyone. just don’t sit in the dark waiting for a text that might not come". Margot needs to learn a new skill. Silence. She has caused enough trouble already and should just butt out. But she won't of course, because she is all knowing. "I drove home. Had dinner with my parents. Dad talked about work. Mom talked about the engagement party and how she’d already started a guest list. I nodded and smiled and said “that sounds great” and went upstairs and closed my door and sat on my bed and looked at my phone." Suzanne's endless drivel would be enough to send anyone barking mad. When reading of this "interaction" between Owen and his parents I was reminded of the song Ticking by Elton John, a song in which the perfect son has a meltdown, gets a gun and goes on a shooting spree in a bar. A suffocating chapter @mastershakeme. I don't know how much longer Owen will be able to maintain a semblance of sanity before he cracks.

I daresay there would be some in the community, even in a socially liberal community like Thompsonville, who believe these altruistic gay men are taking advantage of these children/teenagers and "recruiting" them into the gay lifestyle. I hope such people would get very little respect from the majority of the townsfolk. I remember one incident when Tony was in a cafe and a woman recognised him and made some inflammatory remarks about him, but was quickly shown the exit by the cafe staff/proprietors. I think it was in A Good Place and he had not long been back in town. I suppose he was more likely to be verbally attacked as he is something of a "celebrity" in Thompsonville and known to be gay. Then there was another incident, perhaps in The Rip or maybe A Good Place again, where Scott and Justin's caravan park fencing was defaced with "faggots live here" or words to that effect. I recall Mrs Hamilton's gay son and his partner (I cannot remember their names though) came by to lend a hand to remove the offensive wording, and an elderly gay gentleman walked past and offered his sympathy. @Mark Ponyboy Peters knows how to take care of such people.

@mastershakeme may have been teasing we readers with Beth's apparent observations of Owen, but if not, I believe she is the only family member who may suspect the engagement is not what it appears to be, and the only one who will show Owen any support once the sham is revealed.

This is my concern for Owen @sandeman. Regardless of what Margot may or may not say when the engagement ends, I fear Owen will be the party whose reputation is in tatters, whilst Margot will be pitied as the wronged woman or the jilted lover. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 This is the funniest comment I can recall you ever making @weinerdog, and possibly the only truly spiteful thing you have ever said in a comment. I love it and am envious I did not think of this. For this comment you are awarded 10 @Summerabbacat's out of 10. Those veterans at the San Diego Retired Marines Community Centre will be proud of you.

I have known a few Shayna's in my time, not biblically. Most have been quite harmless to all but themselves.