Lee Wilson

You're welcome. And thank you (all) for appreciating it. Truly, I never thought I would have had such positive reactions from my stories. Hell, until about fifteen months ago, I'd never even tried to write more than one, and it stalled quite early, although I have been adding to it more since I started writing here.

I think the majority of people THINK they're marrying for love. Love is a tricky thing, and I don't think everybody can really recognize it. Infatuation may be the case a lot more often than society thinks. I don't pay a lot of attention to the news. Most of what goes on outside my sphere of reality doesn't stick with me. If I'd ever heard of those organizations, I forgot them almost immediately. So, in that regard, I don't suspect I'll ever have a story with interference from things like that. As far as the rest, well, I'm just not going there aside from saying a high percentage of politicians are corrupt. I don't care to consider anything about any of them. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'd welcome your input on others. I feel your pain about the death of pets. I've been there many times in my 63+ years. Having escapes such as GA probably keeps me out of the nuthouse. And you'll never see anything bad happen to a domesticated animal in one of my stories. As a matter of fact, I can't even think of one instance where I've done more than mention a pet in passing. I'll have to remedy that in the future. I missed that for sure, and it was probably a final moment addition, so Zuri never had a chance to correct me. As you request, I will leave it.

That would have been funny. But if I had to guess, I think it would have been Manny.

Ahhh, alcohol related decisions, aren't they grand? Believe it or not, I really like someone thinking I'm that unconventional. Again, IRL I'm far from that. I couldn't kill them all. There has to be one survivor in stories like that for the sequels.

I will definitely try to. Thanks.

Thanks. My mind is a scary place, the twists and turns come to me out of nowhere. I guess Lee Wilson is almost really a different personality than who I am when I'm not writing. I may have to talk to my shrink about it, maybe I do have some level of dissociative identity disorder.

We've touched on a lot of this in DM, but I'll re-mention something. My stories are not planned out in advance. Sure, adoption was always expected. The getting shot didn't consciously occur as a precursor to that adoption. Not trying to make it a pun, but it wasn't intended to be a trigger for that. But, in real life, things never happen for the love of money, right? There are many others. In my mind, marrying for money isn't anywhere near as bad as arranged marriages. Those people have no choice. At least when money is involved there is some reason for the marriage other than 'just because.' Sure, they started to, but their love wasn't cemented until later. I'd be willing to bet a lot of marriages end because the people think they love the other, and sometime later, realize they never did. I like to end my stories with a 'what happened after?' If it ended without the epilog, I think more things would be wondered about. A sentence or two on each topic is all I ever see as needed, because technically, the story was over. If I ended it with the adoption ceremony, I think there would have been a small revolt with "what about this?" type comments. Perhaps he had a great psychiatrist. Perhaps he spent a year in juvie for something else and it opened his eyes. Maybe his father scared the shit out of him. The point is, this wasn't Bruce's story, going into more detail wouldn't have seemed to fit for me. And I appreciate your input, but as you said in one of your editorial comments, a lot of changes would have needed to be made along the way to change how some of the ending happens. I suppose if this was a book that was complete before being edited as a whole, we could have found a compromise for a lot of things. I appreciate the amount of love I've gotten for my stories. If someone asked me fifteen months ago if I thought I could write nearly 20 stories and have mostly positive feedback, I would have thought they were crazier than I am. And believe me, if you knew me better, you'd probably agree that I was at least a little crazy.

Appreciate the positive input. I'm sure my improvements have been partially driven by my editors, yourself and @kbois

Thanks much!

When Manny got home, he found Bass to talk about the visit to the lawyer's office. "So, what did the lawyer say?" "A lot, but the key point was that if I start the adoption process, he'd be able to release a small advance. He indicated, it would cover the prosthesis and a chunk of the hospital bill." "But he didn't say how much it would be." "Well, he did after I filled out the adoption application." "You're shitting me? You really started?" "I did. Why is it a surp

A nice calm chapter, I bet before the excitement of being with Mac’s family.

I looked up vegemite, I'd heard of it before, obviously, Men at Work/Down Under being my first introduction, I'd bet. The phrase "I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole" comes to mind. Tim Tams look good. Bovril is like beef bouillon, I guess. If it's anywhere near as salty as bouillon cubes, I'll pass on that as well.

If not insurance, he’s thought about selling his old house, so it can definitely happen one way or another

Hope you both test negative.

Well, since you put it that way… Throw a glass at Bryan, Diego!

Okay, so maybe I guessed wrong and he’s more like 350. Then he’d look like this guy: https://dutchgiant.com/about-me/

I’m sure he was the kind of child who would test the ‘don’t touch that, it’s hot’ advice.

I agree they generally don’t stop without some external involvement. But the rate exception does occur. He accepts what happened and moves on with a positive attitude. Just like he did accepting his role as foster parent. The next Emeril? Thanks. I’m sure it won’t take too long. Hopefully in the final stages of rewrite.

Perhaps my worst antagonist? I anxiously await your verdict.

I wad surprised when I stumbled across the site too. It’s nice to see a company not out to screw their customers with the help of insurance companies. Thanks.

True. Also true. It seemed inevitable. That they are.

No argument here.

Ad I said above, his initial entry was filled with anger without knowing the whole story. Temper control vs. asshole? Well, I obviously couldn't get into any detail without problems from the moderators, but out of context, let’s just say his thinking was any port in a storm to park his boat.

Any positive change is a good thing. A single father, very heavy with limited possibilities of remarriage visiting a local bar? Far from a stretch. It does seem like a no brainer decision.

Technically Brewster James’ devision at this point. Although Manny did bring up the option of selling his house. So, it would be possible for Manny to get an arm, transplanted or prosthetic, without Tanner money.