Mark Arbour

Granger isn't afraid of ghosts. :-) I'll bet they are way relieved to be done with the Horn.

Thanks Andy. I just had to follow my muse, and I was distracted for a bit. I've got a few chapters on this one in the mill now.

October, 1797 Granger noticed the difference even before he was fully awake, a difference in the movement of the ship. For the past week, they’d fought against some of the biggest waves he had ever seen, struggled to make headway against strong westerly winds and raging currents. For the past week, they’d made little enough progress, although Granger was actually surprised they’d made any progress at all. He’d grown used to Bacchante’s movement, her violent pitch

Lmao. That would have been when Will ran away. That was tense. This is tense. JJ is intense.

Holy Hell usually does come to visit this family. :-) I think that Robbie figured Will was gone (which was probably one of their objectives) and wasn't coming back, so it didn't matter if JJ was there. And I think that JJ loved being in Will's room because he knew how much it would piss Will off. It was a total power trip.

I think you're onto something with Robbie. I think that part of the reason he can relate to JJ's desire to skate is because he played football, and was exposed to similar choices. He would understand how a professional athlete can be completely absorbed by his sport. But I don't see Brad that way. I doubt that Brad thinks (or wants) JJ to get involved in some aspect of the family's businesses. I'm sure Brad thinks it's important that JJ know how to handle money, but that's about as far as I see him pressuring JJ. I think that for Brad, he's siding with societal/family/cultural trends that say JJ needs his basic education (it's the thing to do) and he's also very disturbed that JJ has no balance in his life. And I can totally see where Robbie, at this point, has decided that these people (Will, Brad, et al) don't understand JJ, and aren't supporting him like he needs and deserves to be supported. He's actually got a strong sense of loyalty (at least with friendships), so I can see him picking up for Jeanine, and having that turbo-charge his resolve.

I visualize them this way: Will is the best student, Darius is good, JJ could be in between, but he doesn't give a shit, so he does worse than both of them. If I were to transplant myself into JJ's bitchy mind, I'd guess that he's doing badly on purpose, to fight back in his passive-aggressive way.

I get the feeling that the "results-oriented" Brad is the guy you saw here, laying it on the line with JJ. It almost feels like he's talking to an employee, delineated the required performance to achieve specific rewards.

I re-read this story and the last one and kept getting this feeling that JJ was just screaming for attention. Jumping up and down, doing backflips, whatever it takes, to get people to notice him.

Excellent point about Malibu. Had some friends I stayed with down there way back when I was in college, and felt like I was kind of on an island. But I figured for the right price, the kid from Encino will drive it down to Malibu. I'm a purist: Pepperoni and extra cheese. These are teenage friendships. I think that Will is being negative about Ryan because he's actually hurt that Ryan blew him off. He's smart enough to know that bitching about it won't get you anywhere (see: unsatisfactory Tuesday hanging out), but it has to bug him when Ryan doesn't really want to hang out with him anymore. And quite frankly, I think Will has a valid bitch. The question is whether that's a fixed situation, or whether he and Ryan will end up as closer friends after he breaks up (or gets sick of) Shiloh.

I love my readers, but I'm just wondering...how big are these mountains made of gold?

Dude ->

Thanks for being patient. Two more chapters, and things become clearer. You're probably right about H-W intervening, but then again, just because they intervene doesn't mean JJ's going to change. I see him as a passive aggressive kid. You know, where they have a big meeting, lay out all these plans for him to be more successful, while JJ sits there, seemingly nodding in agreement. The meeting ends, and he doesn't give a shit and ignores all the resolutions. Rinse, repeat. I think that in JJ's situation, being 30 and a retired skater would probably be alright even if he didn't have an education. He could still get one, and unlike most skaters, he wouldn't really have to worry about how he was going to eke out his next meal.

Robbie as the cheerleading mom: so spot on. I think that everyone can win. Before they win, they have to know which battles they're fighting.

Jeremy is creating a voodoo doll with your name on it, even as we speak. :-) Brad cancelled him out of one meet so far. I think that Brad views this as progressive discipline. What he doesn't get is that he can really mess up JJ's career by forcing him to miss key meets. Like Boston.

That's the problem with having no balance in your life. And I think that was Brad's big point.

Robbie is very sensitive to JJ's feelings, just not anyone else's. Brad's absence on the night before Will leaves is actually explained: he's in DC at Senator Danfield's Holiday Party.

If I were Brad, living in Paly would look pretty attractive right now.

When I wrote that line in about Round Table, I was wondering how the Californians out there would react. I figured you would scoff at some plebian chain and propose something much more trendy, but I'm not sure I'd put D'Amore's in the 'trendy' category. I like Round Table.

December 17, 2000 Palo Alto, CA Will The plane lifted off from Palo Alto and I hid how nervous I was. I really didn’t want to go back into that environment in Malibu. I didn’t want the stress. But my dad asked me to back him up; I said I would, so I was going to. Still, it was pretty frustrating to see him looking all calm. He looked happy, almost glowing. Then I connected all the dots. “You did it again,” I accused. “What are you talking about?” he asked, getting defe

What he said.

Thanks for the review! You hit on something when you noted that Will was maturing quickly. Going through a crucible will do that to you. I wouldn't be surprised if that is starting to show through in his attitude, and that's making him seem hotter. I don't see a Wade-Will hookup. Adoptive relationships are still relationships, and that's too incestuous for them. Then again, who knows what can happen 10-15 years from now. Will has a strong sense of loyalty to those he loves. He's going back to Malibu because Brad asked him to, and because he thinks Brad needs his support. For Will, even if that means it's hell on earth, that's a good enough reason. That's probably the side benefit to him being a royal pain in the ass. I think that education was always a strong subtext in the family. Will is probably smart enough to test out of high school, but that's not what he'll do. There's a lot of tradition, and expectations, of a scion of a rich and powerful family, and bucking that by testing out and going to college early probably isn't in the cards.

It's nice to see some people who aren't ready to give up on Robbie yet. :-) It's an unfolding story, and you're right, you get a very biased point of view because you're seeing things through Will (or Wade's) eyes. Most couples fight. I personally think that really passionate couples like Brad and Robbie are more likely to fight more passionately as well. The fact that they're completely at odds over how to deal with their kids is not an unusual side-effect of parenting (see story title). The question is one of how they resolve things. I think that Brad knows that cheating on Robbie was wrong. He must have been feeling pretty alone and isolated for that to happen, because he's normally pretty good at being faithful. He's been through a pretty chaotic couple of months, and we saw in Millenium how incredibly fucked up he can get when Robbie isn't there as his rock. He's floundering a little bit. I think that Robbie, when he's calmer, will probably see that.

I think that Will approaches school pretty enthusiastically, but that probably doesn't show through in the story. I'm sure it's hard for him to get as into it as he may otherwise, because his life tends to have a bit of drama to distract him. Something to remember is that times have changed, and a bachelor's degree in Brad's day is probably a Master's degree today. I thought that having Brad and Robbie dabble in grad school after college and then drop out as life enveloped them was pretty normal for my generation. This generation has a different norm. I also don't see JJ ultimately blowing off college, but I can see him going later. Nothing says he has to stick to a textbook life plan. What JP et al. will point out to JJ, though, is that his time in college will probably give him valuable critical thinking skills, and help him train his mind. That's important no matter what you do.

I'm not going to wish you immortality. I mean, who wants to be old and unable to die? But I will wish you a very happy birthday!!!