Mark Arbour

What a great post! I especially liked your last paragraph.

Maybe. But if he is a sociopath, it's probably more accurate to say he knows how to work around the rules. I think that you hit on something important here, and that is that he his now out of his element, away from his hometown. That pulls him apart from friends who could have been a bad influence, and away from situations and routines that were causing him problems. A lot of times, guys like him will just find new friends in the new town to screw up with, but as noted, Zach's a bright guy, and he's good at getting what he wants. So that means he'll still go on burn rides, but even though he has a car, he'll make his friends drive, just in case they get busted.

That's a very good point. The dynamics I've shown of the Hayes family seems to indicate that Wally is a gruff but kind-hearted guy, and Clara is a worrier. Neither one of those personality styles is conducive to healthy communication with a teenager. Add to that Zach's general cockiness, and his tendency to be a shit-disturber, and the reasoning chasm between them seems to make complete sense. On the other hand, in a situation like that where no one is really listening to anyone else, sometimes having the issue forced upon them (like Will did) is a good thing.

I think that with practices and the like, it becomes a much bigger hassle to take suburban transit, which as Jeremy rightfully noted, generally sucks. It's not impossible, but it's a pain in the ass. And Zach's probably been bitching like crazy because he can't understand why he's supposed to schlep along in busses when a car would make his life so much easier. He's probably thinking that it's total bullshit that with his decent grades, and his performance as an athlete, that he's being 'deprived' of a car for no good reason. By the time you're 16, I think that you have the right to demand at least a reasonable 'why'.

Let me pontificate for a bit and note that we all look at things through our own, biased lenses, and we all project our own issues onto others. Maybe not all the time, but some of the time. What happened to Will in this situation is that Zach's predicament (the non-UN Sanctioned Car ) so mirrored his own, it must have seemed like he was witnessing his own battles with his father all over again. He's looking at Zach, but seeing himself, and when he thinks about Wally and Clara, he sees them being control freaks just like his own parents. It's got to be satisfying for him, at a very deep level, to be able to help someone out who is struggling with some of the same things he dealt with. The other thing to consider is that Will usually jumps in to help out the underdog. He did it with JJ, defending him from bullies; he did it with Kai, saving his virgin ass from Scott Slater; he did it for Gathan (or offered to) when he got into financial problems with the Vegas excursion; and he's doing it for Zach. That trait he definitely inherited from his great aunt!

Thanks Terry! I think the signs were all there; it makes sense that Will would buy him a car.

Thanks for the review, and for the Thanksgiving wishes; they are returned! That's a really interesting strategy for Brad and Will, but both of them are too big of control freaks to pass the blame off like that and thus to admit to not being masters of the universe. ;-)

Thanks for the review, and I'm so glad you liked the chapter!! I can much more vividly see JJ giving them the raspberry...that's so him.

I think that his conflicts with Brad, combined with the conflagration of 9-11, have shot Will up to a pretty high maturity level. I can see how that could happen. FYI, in Wally and Clara's defense, they only have two kids of their own. The others they more or less adopted. Thanks for the review, and you have a Happy Thanksgiving as well!

Great review! I think you picked up on a couple of things that are going through Will's mind. The first is that he's learning to control things, and not just be controlled; he's learning about influence. The second is that he loves a fight for the underdog, who is lucky enough to be Zach in this situation.

Thanks for the review Kevin! I think it's interesting to see how Will's approach to these conflicts changed. He's actually viewing them as battles, and strategizing about them, and how to win (whether that means victory, or damage control). We'll see how Austin develops. ;-)

You make some good points. I'm sure that Brad is unhappy about the car, not because of the car, but as you noted, he's unhappy because of the issues it raises with Wally, Clara, and Gathan. And he's probably really unhappy because he's starting to realize what a minefield he's just walked into with this family and these trusts. It may be disrespectful to Wally and Clara, but Will doesn't seem to hold them in very high esteem anyway (which you could certainly construe to be a problem). I think that Will sees Zach fighting a microcosm of his own battle for independence, and is naturally inclined to help out. That's where, IMHO, the immaturity shows through, in the projection of his own battle onto Zach's, and his willingness to fight that battle without thinking of the unique situations Zach faces. That being said, it is pretty ridiculous for Zach to go to school in a completely different city and to be virtually stranded. That is probably a bigger safety issue than him having a car.

I think Will is actually a unifying figure in the family, but he's also the mirror, and with this group, it's tough to use a mirror without pissing them off. He's the guy who's going to do what he thinks is right, and damn the consequences. Over time, perhaps the consequences will factor more into his calculations.

You are welcome! I hope you have a great Thanksgiving, even if it is fraught with traffic delays and the like.

Thanks for the great review! I think that Gathan is doing what he thinks he has to do in his self-appointed (and Robbie-appointed) role as the defacto head of his family. He's not approaching it very well, but his motives are pretty clear. You can be sure Will is going to mention Kevin's car. :-) And I think that JP's relationship with Will is probably the most important one to Will, possibly after Brad's, but possibly not. JP really has, and does guide him along, not by dictate, but by making him think. And I think that JP secretly relishes those times when Will challenges his views.

I'm glad you like the chapter! I think that Will is learning how to handle situations better, and to mitigate conflict by letting people calm down first.

October 2, 2001 Palo Alto, CA I was kind of worried that John would give me all kinds of shit about Zach at school today, but I guess our big argument in Malibu had shut him up. He acted like nothing had happened, which was cool with me, since my big issue on that ended up being with Gathan. I got that John didn’t like Zach, especially after what happened with the three of us, but in the end, it probably wasn’t that big of a deal to him. We both let it go. I wa

His brain is hot.

I'm trying to get back onto a weekly posting schedule, and I think I'll make it this week, so expect the next chapter to post on Wednesday.

:wub:

Thanks for such a great, insightful review! I was thinking about your post regarding Granger waiting so long to be with Eastwyck, but in reality, he hasn't really had an opportunity to spend meaningful alone time with the young lieutenant. Granger was almost completely pre-occupied with Calvert until they split company near Manila, and I think that Calvert occupied Granger's lustful thoughts even on those parts of the mission where they were separated (like when Bacchante went to chase the whalers). After they split up, they spent most of their time fighting storms, and then Granger became ill with the fever. So Granger may have lusted at Eastwyck, but he didn't really have a good opportunity to act on it.

It's a good thing Eastwyck came along when he did. Probably saved poor Donegal from being molested. LOL.

Calvert likes things long and hard, so he'll probably be quite happy. ;-) Thanks for the review!

Well, I'm not a big fan of unrequited longing, but I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! We'll have to see if the French tire of Granger's charming (but somewhat sarcastic) company.

Actually, I think the West Indies is a nice compromise. It gets Calvert out of the way, but does not send him so far away that it would be two-three years before he could reasonably return to England, probably longer. And by the way, the admiral in the West Indies is Parker, so Calvert should be OK under his command.