Bill W

I got rid of my leisure suits long ago.

Naming the bar Toad Hall - was that a nod to the story The Wind in the Willows? This story really made me think, especially since I'd be on that roller coaster called love a few times before. Oh, and by the way, I've always loved the song Brandy and the song Two Out of Three Ain't Bad struck a deep chord in me. Thanks, Cole, for this provocative short story.

What is love? Is love real or is it something made up and we just accept it because we've heard about love in songs, books, and movies? What if it's unrequited love and your feelings are never returned? This is an interesting short story that addresses those questions through characters that have given their hearts, yet their love has not been returned. Can they ever find love after these experiences or will their hearts be forever hardened into stone? This story will cause you to think about these questions, but don't expect to find any answers here. In fact, I'm not sure if you'll find those answers anywhere.

Ephemeral comes from New Latin ephemerus, which comes from Ancient Greek ἐφήμερος (ephḗmeros), the more common form of ἐφημέριος (ephēmérios, “of, for, or during the day, living or lasting but for a day, short-lived, temporary”), from ἐπί (epí, “on”) + ἡμέρα (hēméra, “day”) The word "ephemeral" was first used in English in the late 1500s. The earliest known use of the word is in 1576, in a translation by Thomas Newton, a translator and Church of England clergyman.

This is an upbeat story with a dubious beginning. Sometimes we don't understand our parents' actions when we're younger, and sometimes they become clearer as we grow older. This is an emotional story about two brothers that haven't been in contact with each other for twenty years, until the younger brother used a PI (private investigator) to find his older sibling. Take a few minutes to read this charming short story, because I know you'll enjoy the ending.

Val, thank you for another sweet story with a sad and somewhat dubious beginning. When you were talking how the parents were trying to keep Eli and Isaac apart, my thought was that Eli was the child from a previous relationship and his father had turned out to be a criminal, and that's why the parents were worried about him hurting Isaac. They were fearful that Eli had inherited the bad genes from his father. I might have been able to understand something like that, but to treat Eli that way and separate the brothers merely because Eli was gay - that was totally inexcusable. Anyway, I'm glad things worked out and I hope neither brother contacted their parents after Isaac found out that they knew where Eli was and withheld that information from him, along with the birthday and Christmas cards Eli sent. Eli also mentioned brothers and sisters, so I hope Isaac told all of them about what their parents had done and they all turned against the parents in return. I guess I'm a vicious person like that, once I learn of the despicable and intentional things that someone (including more than one) has done. Once again, thank you for the upbeat and happy ending.

Plus lots of poisonous spiders and snakes - oh my. 😲

I'm usually satisfied living in Georgia, except for January and February. That's because the temperature during those months has been known to dip down as low as 14 degrees F (-10 C), as is predicted next week. I don't do well in the cold any longer, but I don't want to move any farther south, because then the summers get too hot. We have hot days in Georgia as well but not as hot as the temps get in Florida and Texas.

Herbivora is derived from Latin herba (small plant, herb) and vora, from vorare (to eat, devour). Herbivore is the anglicized form of a modern Latin coinage, herbivora, cited in Charles Lyell's 1830 Principles of Geology. Richard Owen employed the anglicized term in an 1854 work on fossil teeth and skeletons. Besides cattle, horses, deer, kangaroos, elephants, camels, giraffes, bison, beavers, goats, moose, elks, zebras, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, manatee, and many other animals are herbivores. Others may be carnivores, which means they eat meat, or omnivores, which means they eat both plants and meat.

A carnivore /ˈkɑːrnɪvɔːr/, or meat-eater (Latin, caro, genitive carnis, meaning meat or "flesh" and vorare meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose nutrition and energy requirements are met by consumption of animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other soft tissues) as food, whether through predation or scavenging. Borrowed from French carnivore, from Latin carnivorus. In the zoological sense, coined by William Whewell in 1840 as an adaptation of Cuvier's coinage, French carnivore. Animals that get 70 percent or more of their nutrition from meat are called obligate carnivores or hypercarnivores. Animals whose diet consists of about 50 percent meat are called mesocarnivores. Animals whose diet is only about 30 percent meat are called hypocarnivores. The word carnivore was first used in English in the 1850s. The earliest known use of the word was in 1854, in the writings of Richard Owen, a comparative anatomist and paleontologist.

What an amazing series and what a wonderful way to end it. The stories were great and the recipes incredible - a nice way to offer up a lasting Christmas present. Thank you very much, @Valkyrie, @Aditus, and @Cole Matthews.

I wonderful story and it made me think about my own grandparents and great-grandparents. They also had some Christmas traditions that I wasn't able to partake in as I was growing up. Thank you for the memories.

Thank you for this interesting story and the multiple topics you discussed. I'm amazed at how differently the Victorians did things, part of which had to do with no electricity or gas service. However, I thought Pam did her best and Dean's parents were extremely rude, seeing they were in Dean and Pam's place and getting a free meal. Anyways, thank you for making us think about these things and being more careful when we're invited to someone else's home.

I enjoyed this story and thought it was tenderly and realistically portrayed, especially considering Loris' handicap. I had several relatives that at the time where described as mutes, but today they'd merely be referred to as being deaf. It's not easy being deaf in a hearing world and trying to communicate with those who aren't deaf, unless of course they know sign language. Some of my deaf relatives became so frustrated that they only associated with the small community of others like themselves. It was nice to see you portray a deaf character in your story and his struggle with his handicap when he was younger.

The word "cacophonous" comes from the Greek word kakóphōnos, which means "disagreeable-sounding". Kakóphōnos is a combination of the Greek prefix kak- ("bad") and phōnḗ ("sound" or "voice"). The word "cacophonous" was first used in English in 1797, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). The word "cacophonously" was first used in 1864. The earliest known use of the noun cacophony is in the mid 1600s. OED's earliest evidence for cacophony is from 1656, in the writing of Thomas Blount, antiquary and lexicographer.

https://gayauthors.org/story/bill-w/my-prompt-stories/3 Just a little something I whipped off quickly to Prompt 267. I hope you enjoy it.

This short story is in response to Prompt #267: It's Groundhog Day and a crowd of people, along with throngs of reporters, are waiting for the furry beast to pop out of its den and see its shadow... or not. When it finally does surface, the first thing it does is run to the nearest reporter and grab their microphone, then proceeds to start speaking. What does it say? I’d just been rudely awakened, hauled out of my den, and held into the air by this really old human wearing a

Interesting story and I really enjoyed it. Out of the mouths of babes comes pearls of wisdom. My mother-in-law always used a lot of garlic, and we not only enjoyed it, but it seemed to keep us healthy as well, because none of us seemed to come down with colds during the winter once she and my father-in-law came to live with us, and that covers several years.

A cute story and very touching how the collection started. I had a thing for Swedes after a family moved into our area when I was in high school. The father had been transferred there for work, and they guys had such wonderful blonde hair and blue eyes. In fact, their blond hair was lighter and more yellow in color than any other blond in the area, except for the females that dyed their hair, but I don't collect gnomes. They're not blondes. 🤪

What a cute story. I found it very enjoyable.

What a cute story and a wonderful tribute to your friends. There were times when I laughed and times where I felt sad for the characters, but I enjoyed every second of this story. Thank you for sharing this semi-personal story with us.

A sad and moving story. Thanks for writing it, Val.

This wasn't what I was expecting when I began reading this story, Addy, but I loved it. What could be better than a little magic for Christmas. Thank you for writing this cute story.

I'm glad you threw that curveball at the end, because despite what you told everyone else, I was about ready to advise Cole to leave Taran as quickly as possible. Glad I was wrong. Thanks for the interesting story, Cole.

Cute story, Val. I just wish it was that easy to meet a prospective partner at the grocery store. Maybe I need to go shopping more often.