kajean

Quite a few years ago (I was still working, long before retirement, and I've been retired for 20 years) an old college buddy and his wife visited me here in my town about 30–45 minutes east of Canon City. They wanted to visit the Royal Gorge, so I hosted them. This was long before there was any amusement park stuff. It was just the visitors' center and the suspension bridge. There was a train ride available via an elevator down to the canyon floor. My friend was so acrophobic that he wouldn't even leave the visitors' center to cross the broad plaza to get to the edge of the canyon and the bridge. So his wife and I walked the bridge and enjoyed looking between the slats. It made me a little dizzy to do so, but it was also fun. We strolled across and back. There was nothing on the other side back then. But there is usually a rather stiff breeze causing the bridge to sway noticeably. My buddy was so frightened for us that he actually was sweating. He couldn't wait to get back into the car and leave the mountains. His wife and I thoroughly enjoyed teasing him, which he took well. And the scenery is fantastic. These days I'm a tad more cautious about heights. I live on the fourth floor of my building, not very high up at all, but I find I really do not like standing on my balcony. I have no problems with bridges or looking out windows -- even those on our twelfth floor -- but even changing the cover on my AC unit on the balcony is not on my list of comfortable things to do. And at my age I have no desire to visit the Royal Gorge again. This remains an entertaining story. Good work, Bill. The town of Jamesville where our protagonist Mac lives is fictitious, of course. In Chapter 46 Mac mentions that he didn't want to go to either University of Colorado Pueblo or Colorado Springs, even though they were close. So what town is Jamesville in actuality? To the west are both Florence and Penrose, but those won't work because Canon City's eastern city limit is literally Florence's western city limit. And Penrose is just slightly northeast of Florence on Highway 115 to Colorado Springs. Just north of Pueblo is Pinon, but it's a tiny collection of houses and not a town. Fountain is a southern suburb of Colorado Springs. So that leaves the towns east of Pueblo on both Highways 50 and 96. So, Bill, where is Jamesville? 😄 😄 😄

A fun chapter to be sure. I'm familiar with the word "chary". It can be found in 19th century American literature, but I don't recall seeing it before in British writing. And "tret" is completely new to me. Your dialogues, Robert, sound so natural as does your narrative. Such talent is wonderful. Now as to the Eartha Kitt song, one word: Fabulous. Actually, any song by the amazing and beautiful Miss Kitt would not be amiss. I love this song and listen to it every Christmas season and have for many years. Kudos to Summerabbacat for including it in the comments. You might also like to check out Pearl Bailey's Christmas offering from the same era, "Five Pound Box of Money". Not as slinky as Eartha's piece but a LOT of fun.

When I was still pre-school back in the mid-to-late 1940s, I had several of the Bobbsey Twins books. They were a lot of fun for a small child. The older twins, Nan and Bert, were 9 years old while the younger twins, Flossie and Freddie, were about 6 I believe. The stories are still fun but terribly dated; they take place in the early 1920s or thereabouts. Some of them are available as omnibus volumes and can be found at Amazon. The author was Laura Lee Hope, a pseudonym for several authors from the same publishing syndicate that produced the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Uncle Wiggly, and many other boys and girls books of the early-to-mid 1900s. I started in Shakespeare in high school drama class. He can be rather intimidating reading, but he can also be thrilling. His "band of brothers" speech in Henry V which Henry gives to his troops on October 25, 1415, just before they defeated the French at the Battle of Agincourt, always brings tears to my eyes and a large lump in my throat. I was never of fan of Romeo and Juliet, although there are some gorgeous speeches there, too. But I have read the entire Dickens canon. Numerous times. 😁 And, finally, another great chapter in the current Hugill opus.

Too late to throw Mom from the train. Perhaps Dad can throw her from the car. Or maybe the doctor, who seemingly hasn't missed her, can slip her a lethal hypo?

I forgot to mention "defiantly" when "definitely" is actually meant. Punctuation can be problematical also. At least I've not seen online what I experienced at my last place of employment. The engineering manager would send me emails requesting something. I say "something" because his emails were never quite clear; he used no recognizable grammar, no punctuation at all, and no spaces between words. Quickly I learned when I saw an email from him in my inbox simply to grab a pen and notepad and go down to his office to see what he wanted. Saved lots of time. He was a good sport about it and had no illusions as to his writing skills.

Not to mention "there", "their", and "they're"; and "to", "too", and "two"; as well as "you", "your" and "you're". And then there's "saw" and "seen" and other grammatical obscenities. And don't forget using the nominative case pronoun when the objective case is required. And some authors seem never to have seen an infinitive they couldn't split. I LOVE being a pedant!

I've run across the word "bandbox" elsewhere often enough that I didn't even think it unique. As to where I've run across it, I really don't know. Perhaps in Dickens or E. Nesbit or who knows where. I believe a bandbox is what we Yanks would term a hatbox, though why one would be particularly neat or tidy, I'm not sure. Perhaps it's because using one makes an area tidy? So we have a pile of hatboxes rather than hats dropped wherever they land? At any rate (or, again, is that anyroad?), I loved the chapter.

Works for me. The kids could probably get help with that from the train crew.

"Anyroad" was new to me when I first encountered it in Hugill's first work at this site, although it is a synonym for "anyway", which is MUCH more common in my part of the world. "Worriting", I've already discussed in a prior comment. "Lawks" is an old-fashioned exclamation from at least the 19th century. It can be found in American literature of that period anyway (or is that anyroad?). I believe Aunt Polly of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (pseud. for Samuel Langhorne Clemens) uses it. And it seems to me (but I'm not going to research it) that it may also appear in Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. The word is probably related to "Lawdy", a euphemism for "Lordy", a mild blasphemy. Offhand, I can't think of any British literature that uses it, but there probably is some. I have two degrees in Dickens, and I do not remember the word being used in any of his writings. And I do agree with all the commenters here, that this is a first-rate story. Thank you for sharing your imagination and talent with us.

You might ask #47. (For our friends not in the U.S., #47 refers to the U.S. president just elected.)

Mom is an entitled, spoiled brat.

Many years ago I worked for a company where my manager told me I would have to choose between my family or my job. I resigned on the spot. The cherry on top of the icing was that I had designed the job, and my replacement didn't know how to do it. Some supervisors have no common sense. But then some years later I was a volunteer for a particular political party. I left the party when the local chairperson told me that "party came first", and my job came second, my family came third, and my church came fourth. Loyalty to the party was paramount; all else, if there was any time for it, came after. Back in the early 1940's the chairperson at that time for the same party told my dad much the same thing. And I know they still hold that view; as several disillusioned young people recently have shared with me after they have left the same party. Cooper is not alone!

You're in good company with that word, Sir Robert; Dickens uses it somewhat frequently. In David Copperfield Mrs. Gummidge, that poor, forlorn, old woman is always worritting. It seems to me that Mrs. Cratchit in A Christmas Carol does her fair share of worritting too. So, now don't you be worritting none about your dialectal usage. Since much of Dickens stories are located in London, the word apparently is not localized. You do have the century, though.

I'm not completely certain whether punning is allowed here. 😛 Though you probably couldn't help yourself. This is a British story, so a little more decorum is probably in order. 😄 Stiff upper lip and all that, and no humour displayed. It's simply not seemly. 😁

You're doing good so far. Pacing is just fine. The "info dump" is just right. I'm ready for the next chapter whenever you're ready to post it. Thanks for an interesting story and for the delicious pun in the title.

If Molly and Ginny are in the Goblin mines, how are they going to send howlers to anyone? Also, Charlie disowned them, so they are not part of his family anymore and have no say as to what he or his mates do. And for the same reason, they have no say whatsoever as to whom his mates even are.

Do you have these suicidal thoughts often?

Wow! Does this bring back memories! I live about 45 minutes south of Colorado Springs. There's a LOT to do there. I lived much of one summer at Glen Eyrie about 60 years ago as a high school camp counselor for The Navigators, who owned the place at the time. They had bought it from The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, back when that was a legitimate organization. At one time the The Navigators were the publishing arm of The Billy Graham group. Several of the rock groupings of Garden of the Gods are at the Glen. It used to be that the only way you knew you were leaving the Garden was a little road sign telling you were now at the Glen. One of those rocks right across the street from the stone bridge is a red slab the size of a football field turned on end. I've lot's of stories of that summer of 1966 when I was only 22 (such as being tossed in the lake that supplied the Glen with all its water -- a rite of passage for all camp counselors. That was up in the mountains behind the Glen.). Also back then, Colorado Springs was little more than a largish village, compared to the metropolis it is now. I also used to have relatives in the Fort Collins area, which was then a tiny college town. So thanks for the memories.

Yes. Quite a few of our fellow readers are not young. In four and a half weeks I turn 80. And as with Armand, I watch friends leave. And they are missed.

It's also one of the funniest movies ever. And don't forget the RUS's (Rodents of Unusual Size). And the book is just as good. Don't put off getting the movie. It is inconceivable that you would miss this. Drsawzall will recognize that reference, too.

Happy memories of my own of the Bronx Zoo, and, yes, including lunch (Manhattan style clam chowder); I was 16 and on vacation with family. We drove from Colorado to New York to visit Dad's people. That was 62 years ago, and I still remember the thrill of being at the Bronx Zoo (and New York City). Learning other languages can be fun. While my college major was English, I also minored in French and German. I failed French but somehow learned it anyway and can still read it. Straight "A's" in German, and now I recognize when I see it, but it is a "foreign" language. Later in graduate school I studied classical Hebrew and New Testament Greek. Again, straight "F's" in Greek, but now I can read the New Testament in the original. Straight "A's" in Hebrew, and now I only recognize it when I see it! Never studied Spanish although I live in the Southwest. Never studied Italian, but I can understand it well enough in movies to know whether the English subtitles are correct. I never thought I would enjoy languages, but it has been fun over the years. Next: Dutch and Gaelic - if I live long enough. Colin can do it. Armand just has to "incentivize" him enough. Book stores (and Amazon) are full of books on learning just about any language you can think of. And there are loads of online language-learning tools also. To fit any age person. And, of course, I retired as a computer programmer. Computer code is just another language, albeit a lot simpler and infinitely more direct than any people language. Great memories in this story. Thank you for it (the story) -- and them (the memories).

Clancy59, I'm with you. Absolutely loved your "diatribe". And it is all true, too true. John (Ph.D. in English)

I recognized it. And loved it. But like you, my dear dachshund, it has been so many years that I didn't feel like commenting. However, since you did, I did too.

"...a pronoun is anywhere a mouse can go…over, under, through, around and others.” I believe you mean prepositions rather than pronouns. Pronouns merely substitute for nouns, e.g., he, she, it, they, them, etc. Prepositions can be tricky. I'm multi-lingual, myself, and I can assure you that prepositions can be VERY tricky. Even in ancient Greek and Hebrew pronouns are simple. I remember the day in ninth grade when suddenly prepositions made sense, and I knew I would become an English teacher. I did teach English for a short time before I went on to do other things, but I continued language studies in graduate school, eventually earning a Ph.D. in English. Another great chapter. These are wonderful guys.

Another amazing chapter in this superb story. Thank you.