Summerabbacat

The favouritism is so blatant @dboggs9700. I won't be surprised if there is something in @VBlew's speculation about James' lineage. Another possibility is that he is adopted, that neither parent is his biological parent and Sam is their only biological son, a son whom they thought they could never have.

Rector Reichenau. Just his name alone made me think of the nazis, and his demeanour and behaviour did nothing to dispel this. The man oozed evil, and is in a position to orchestrate it. I would not trust him as far as I could throw him. In comparison, Boris seems almost pleasant and harmless. The Golden Circle are a motley crew. I am intrigued as to why Ali's twin Felix is a member of this "exclusive club" and yet Ali is not. Was he perhaps a member before and he was exiled by his Dark Eminence, Anton, for some transgression. Anton reeks of repressed desire, quite possibly for Bastien, who is likely oblivious to this. I think Anton is the likely killer at this stage, jealous of Lukas because he had what Anton does not, Bastien. He is controlling and uptight, with barely contained fury waiting to burst forth. On the one hand we have Ali, Felix and Bastien, all of whom appear pleasant, but can they be trusted? On the other, we have Anton, Boris and Rector Reichenau, all of whom are unpleasant to varying degrees, and all of whom I do not trust. Another spellbinder @Laura S. Fox. If only Jack could teleport himself and his cards from Beyond The Veil to Veridien Academy, Lawrence may have a valuable ally. At this point in time I think Lawrence is on his own.

Hopefully the cranberry scones, the blueberry muffins and the carrot muffins contained a significant amount of e coli, enough to give James' parents and Sam an extreme case of diarrhoea at least. Of the three James' father is the least objectionable. He is clearly consumed with something akin to hatred for James but he at least keeps it to himself most of the time, with the occasional look of distaste. His mother and Sam openly mock him and both need to be bitch-slapped into the middle of next week. Another infuriating chapter @ChromedOutCortex. It is like observing the behaviour of some of the criminals in power from south of the border. Sickening. Hopefully before the story concludes James' father won't be the only one of James' family who is dead, and if the other two are not dead, hopefully they are suffering severely. Rotten to the fucking core.

I have to ask @Lee Wilson, did you write Buried Alive, words and music? If so, wow? I had a great laugh at Russell's disclosure of Reid's 13th birthday party tryst with Javier Gomez. It's funny how all the band members, including his replacement Fabian, can hear Russell speaking but Reid cannot. Is it a the age old case of workers vs management? LOL.

Jeez Louise. If Gran's offer to take Caleb on a cruise wasn't "sweet" enough, his positive response “Of course I’d love to go if it’s all right with you and Craig” sealed the deal. I shed a tear or two @Wombat Bill and I cannot blame hay fever or having just patted the cats excessively for this. “You’ve never mentioned your grandparents” “Don’t know who my father is so….and Mum’s parents disowned her and cut off all contact when she went on the streets. I don’t even know if they’re still alive”. I think I may have commented in the prior story, speculating it may be possible to trace Kilby’s maternal grandparents if he wishes to do so, particularly if Edward and he asked for assistance or guidance from Pamela. I eagerly await an update on Rajani's transition and if her ghastly sister, the uber-bitch Rani, has become aware of this. If so, I expect she will make an unwelcome reappearance with the intention of causing trouble and unhappiness for Rajani. I cannot remember for sure, but I vaguely recall she and Daniel may have moved interstate or even overseas. Hopefully he may have come to his senses by now and dumped her.

Riveting start.

Me too @Gary L, anything to piss off property developers. The initial physical description of Maudie "The speaker had emerged from the door into the other excrescence. She was probably in her 60s, rather buxom, with dyed blond hair, a pink sweater and alarmingly patterned leggings, her feet in pink mules and a cigarette in her mouth." had me thinking she was going to be a senior Vicky Pollard. "Yeah but, no but, yeah but, no but, yeah..." Fortunately for Alex she isn't, in comparison to Vicky she is a Rhodes scholar who was initially educated at a Swiss boarding school for young ladies. Uncle Edwin is a grub. It appears his "generosity" towards Alex has nothing to do with altruism, and everything to do with him keeping his flat (broom closet) safe until such time as the property has been rezoned so it can either be knocked down or redeveloped. Profit is Uncle Edwin's sole motivation for appearing to be "generous". Fortunately Alex is a good judge of character and has learned to expect nothing from Uncle Edwin which does not come with a price tag attached. Alex may have had better luck with expanding his musical audience if Uncle Edwin was friend's with another Dame Vivienne, Westwood to be precise, except she is dead. Neil is up to something. Either Charlie fancies Alex and Neil is going to test the waters for him, or Neil fancies Alex. Although I have no interest in classical music or opera, and have never read any Dickens @Robert Hugill, I am still enjoying this story because of the characters you have created and the humour which you are once again peppering this story with. Very English.

I have no idea what you and @Gary L are talking about @Robert Hugill, but you do make it sound as if it might be interesting.

A superbly crafted tale from @Mark Ponyboy Peters. Short, thought-provoking, universal, and more relevant than ever in the hostile times in which we currently live. A must read.

More damn hay fever @Mark Ponyboy Peters. A heartfelt tale, one which highlights demonisation of bunji-bunji, two-spirit, poofter, faggot, fairy, pansy, cocksucker, pillow-biter, shirt-lifter, and a myriad of other names for men who are same-sex attracted, is universal, regardless of culture, religion or any other man-made beliefs. I have often wondered why this is so, and I guess it must be the most basic explanation, because we are different, a minority. The mere mention of the Monolith, albeit in passing only, was enough to get my blood boiling. And for the first time that I can recall, Tony's biological father was mentioned, albeit in passing only too. This story showcased your imagination to its fullest @Mark Ponyboy Peters. I particularly liked how you attributed "human" characteristics to trees and rocks, and how Woorabull "shifted" to avenge the murder of his lover. Was he perhaps an "inspiration" for Septimus, part-human, part-serpent?

I just watched the video for We've Got Tonight and it was quite amusing. I did not realise there was such a height difference between the two, Kenny's 183cm to Sheena's 154cm. She still had the "good girl" image she had when she released Morning Train (9 to 5). She later shed that image with Strut and especially Sugar Walls (written for her by Prince) which made it onto Tipper Gore's Filthy Fifteen, and her magnificent duet with Prince, U Got The Look. You may not remember this MPB but Sheena was a wee Scottish lass, the birth nation of The Proclaimers whom you so admired. LOL.

Something In The Water @Mark Ponyboy Peters? Prince raised this same question 44 years ago (which I strongly doubt you were aware of). You are in rare company, the purple genius from Minneapolis and the Aussie genius from Armidale. Do you also like purple, can you sing and do you think Sheena Easton is hot?

Well that is the best news I have had since you posted Part 1 yesterday @Mark Ponyboy Peters. LOL. Shania will be happy too.

I didn't figure you as a fan of The Three Degrees @Mark Ponyboy Peters, especially this Eurodisco gem courtesy of Giorgio Moroder.

I have a question @Mark Ponyboy Peters. At the conclusion of this chapter you have indicated 'To be continued' but the story's status has changed to Complete.

Two tops eh? I wonder how long it is before one surrenders and then the other, and suddenly we have two bottoms. LOL. The boys live in an idyllic paradise. Oh to be young in such an environ; no wonder their hormones are in overdrive. Bring on the coconut suntan lotion, Speedos and pineapple daiquiris. Could you see yourself living in such a locale @drsawzall? No frigid winters or living under the rule of a demented despot.

You could be on to something with this speculation @CincyKris. Perhaps his mother was 'with child' to another man when she married the man James believes to be his father, or perhaps she was married to him already when she had an extra-marital affair, although it is hard to imagine any man wanting her, but then it is said some men will fuck anything. It is more likely the former though. Perhaps she blames James for her "having" to get married to a man who was not the father of her child because the father refused to do so. If this is what happened it would not occur to her that she only had herself to blame, that James was the innocent victim in such a scenario. She is selfish enough to believe this. And if James' biological father is another unknown man I can imagine his "father" resenting him, especially if he was already married to his mother.

"You the writer bloke, then?’ she said at last. ‘Yes, ma’am.’ A faint twitch touched the corner of her mouth. ‘Don’t ma’am me,’ she said. ‘Makes me sound dead, or worse . . . American . . . and I’m not either of those things!" I like Aunty Pearl. She has a dry sense of humour and a no-nonsense attitude. I wonder if her enquiry if Tony is bunji-bunji was her asking if he is gay? I also wonder if Jack was sent to Tony's reading at the Macquarie Harbour Writer's Centre for the specific purpose of engaging with Tony and inviting him to Mission Island to listen to Aunty Pearl's stories? The description of the island housing made me think of Danny and Jake's housing in Nimbin, in fact, much of the housing in Nimbin, bright, colourful, made from whatever materials could be found and without uniformity and monotony. An intriguing start to this latest offering @Mark Ponyboy Peters. Looking forward to reading more.

@Robert Hugill stories are largely so uplifting @pvtguy. And no one is the master of the mundane and turning it into something at least interesting like he is. A rare gift.

Sorry @ChromedOutCortex, but fuck being respectful to these tyrants. They deserve nothing but James' contempt, although the rational part of me, which does surface from time to time, recognises that if he spat the dummy at them in a violent and/or harsh manner they would likely throw it back at him. I suspect cold, clinical, politely expressed fury would irritate them most. Either this or send them south of the border without the proper travel documents, or maybe even with the proper travel documents, and see what happens to them. As Vanilla Ice sang, Ice Ice Baby.

Ya just gotta love Fabian. He is going to be a rockstar and he is not interested in, at least not yet: booze drugs orgies with groupies waking up in a pool of vomit with a bevy of underage babes wrecking hotel rooms beating up photographers All this AND he drives, or at least was driving, a Toyota Corolla. He is also polite, well-spoken and grateful. I guess he is only 19 so there is time to develop the rock star persona, the stereotypical arsehole with too much money and too much time on his hands. For now though, he is charming and thoroughly deserving of his big break. It's so cool he is so "uncool". This fabulous disco-stomper, specifically its title, by your fellow Italian-American describes him well @Lee Wilson, as it does this story:

Unfortunately all too true @Cane23. I am hoping he can divorce himself from reality, even if only for a moment, and express his contempt for his loathsome family.

I think @Lee Wilson would relish the opportunity to dispose of them in a "novel" manner.

James should pick out a coffin big enough for three. Maybe he might get a family discount if his father, mother and Sam are put in together, even if the latter two are not dead at the time they soon will be after "cooking". I can almost bet James will have to pay for his father's funeral. Will his mother thank him for that? Probably not, she will find something to complain about or demean him for. I absolutely detest her.

With every chapter James' parents and Sam prove to be bigger c u next Tuesday's than what they were in the previous chapter. His mother is a selfish, spineless, heartless, judgmental, manipulative bitch. His father is nothing, a hollow, shallow, well of nothingness. And Sam, he is the dog shit you might get stuck on the bottom of your shoe which you try hard to scrape off on the grass, but you have to end up washing off with a hose. For all their faults, and there are many, James is a twat for putting up with them. His self-respect has been so diminished by these hideous people that he kowtows to them at all times, allowing them to treat him like an unwanted stray. I think I detest his mother the most as she enables both her husband and Sam to treat James appallingly and pays lip service only to admonishing them. Both James parents need to be put in a room with Sam, the doors locked and the place set fire to. Of course this will not happen, his father will die, his mother will wallow in self-pity, Sam will use her and James will sweep in and clean up the mess. Will he get any thanks from his mother? I doubt it, she will probably blame him for his father's death and for Sam being a totally irresponsible prick. I am hoping Evan may do something though to put James' mother and Sam in their place after James comes to the rescue. @ChromedOutCortex you have created three of the most hideous characters ever witnessed by me on GA. Well done; it is a thrill to detest these people.