Mattyboy

And I hope John Renkin and Hank Monroe are doing alright.

Oorah!, again. There's an interesting theme that developed through this . . . So many of the early chapters featured people trying to figure stuff out while within institutions that weren't working (or weren't working well or were corrupted in some way). But a whole lot of people chose good - in many different ways - since Mike Schultz's "a butterfly flapped its wings" moment in chapter 1. The eventual take down of the four Kings and the rest of the deck seems to have gone pretty flawlessly, and Family Court got it right this day. And the Academy is established and operational, even if Mrs. Lundgren doesn't like it. It feels immensely satisfying to read a story both about people doing the right thing, and the potential for old institutions to work well, or for new institutions to emerge and function. This section was set in 1992, but it feels very much like a story that we need today.

Or driving to a gas station or something. Interesting introspective recap of the story so far.

Hehe love triangle "in the wings"? This is ON, baby 😈⃤😈⃤😈 Will and Jonah are figuring out that they really have a lot in common. Will's wrap-up speech was a perfect complement to Jonah's improv. Also, why don't we have a pink triangle emoji on GA?

Oorah!

I see Puglisi strictly means "someone from Apulia," but it seems so close to "pugilist" in english that the transition from Puglisi to Cicero seems sharp on Roger's part.

One of the first things we learned about Roger, right back in the opening passage of the first chapter was about the watch, and here we are at the 30- mark and the little mystery of the watch's history is finally unwound. And -hehe- Thomas figured out how to slip Roger the equivalent of the mortgage cheque in a way he couldn't refuse, wrapping up that little angle as well. This happening exactly at the 30 chapter mark . . . did you have this all planned out around the motif of the watch, Empath? I hope this means we're halfway, and not at the end? -30-

Capo del Buono is a wonderful name. And will maybe be useful for orienting people in the de Luca "organization" to the new arrangement and novel status for Roger and his family. Arturo seems to believe the Clubs might come to take him, but tricks they've counted in the past might get trumped if they try to come into Chicago to do that.

World War Three with Victor sounds like a lot of fun, really. Ooh. . . finding James vs making friends with Will might mean some choices need to be made, but that's around the corner for Jonah who seems to be recovering so far.

Oh, yeah, somebody who knows how to organize a school . . . that's something Roger and the gang didn't quite have yet! And leads into a new suit of the Deck!

but . . . but . . . sex! they're terrible people but pretty great in bed. Gonna be a hard choice

" “Ethics be damned,” he thought ruefully, far more concerned with the ends than the means for the first time in his career. " There are rules about revealing information about ongoing investigations, and Janick may well be about to bend one. But ethically, tipping off an ally about what angles genuinely dangerous attacks might come from strikes me as permissible at least, and maybe even required.

Wow Grandpa Motts might be new at this but he knows what he wants for his grandkids and the lost boys. The Whites moving into Thomas' house might well be a good solution for the summer at least, but Thomas will need to mention about the house's history.

Jonah's seeing the school as a place where maybe he could flourish, so gets him out of his rut, and puts an end to being the "4th trip". And makes instant allies of all kinds of kids he hasn't met who are on the outside of Victor's circle. Which might well be a voting majority.

Yeah, I saw that too, but figured this meant the wife - Jonah's mother - was the host of the funeral; so it's sorta pushy of Jonah's dad (Marcus, I think) to be making rules about dress code, even if it was for nephews from "his" in-law side . Mother's funeral > mother-in-law's funeral for emotional hit. For decisions about how it goes, I guess there's some regional/sectarian variation.

Ooh, that's fun about Jonah maybe running for class president as honest neutral new guy. and yay Lila! Rhode Island is intriguingly accessible from Long Island! But sounds like something very ugly happened at James' house if he's now "taken up with distant relatives" It's amazing how english usage works sometimes. Jonah said "I can't believe it was that. It seems so…stupid! So mundane and tiny." And it all works out to "I completely believe it was that"

We are all John Renkin now, damned to suffer her animosity for many, many years. This was the price we paid for the cathartic Thanksgiving '24 story.

I'm suspecting something along this line now, too. John offered and seemed to have signed up to be the Academy's accountant, and it looked like Peter (and maybe John) were candidates for the Board of Directors at the unexpectedly well-attended founding meeting. But I didn't detect any undercurrents when Mary told Joshua at Thanksgiving '24 that John hadn't been invited. We haven't been told the story of what happened in between those two events, but feels like there's an ocean between them.

I get that there wasn't a promise, but enjoyed and was quite intrigued by this story, and hope it resumes.

So Emmett "can't see the forest for the trees," I kinda buy. But he also made a few edits to the table d'hôte menu, (but not to the peachy elements. He seems to get what Finley likes, even if he's not quite there on what Finley is. 🍑🍑🐲

Ian, these might be of interest, @MrM might have more to say. and

I remember that era of driveway and garage parties well, and this is a great description of that vibe. Also interesting that as Alan gets to know Cal and this is developing into something mutual, Alan seems to be mostly giving up on forcing their relationship into a top/bottom, dom/sub box. That was a big theme in the early chapters and hasn't come up much recently.

Yes on all of this. But as Mike Schultz noted, it's been quite a week. And that's counting from the trial date, it's been even less for Oliver. Probably there are more histories like Mark's than like Oliver's but there might well be some of the other brothers being re-united with okay-or-better families who want them. Yeah, the Whites spending the summer (at least) at the Academy might be a good and healing thing.

As much as I didn't see it coming, Jackie's account of why seems pretty plausible. Not fully thought out, but it scratched an itch and on it goes until the frog has boiled.

Yay for Grandpa Motts trying to make good out of this opportunity. Looks like the academy is going to have a lot of useful friends at its start. Including whatever Juan hopes a logistics officer and base commander are going to be in the mood for! Yes, "I'm coming, Oli" was a very powerful line.