Mark Arbour

There's no "coming out" in those days. There were some who were rich and powerful enough to avoid being completely ostracized, but that wasn't possible in the navy. BTW, if Calvert did show up and join Granger's ship, it would be a significant demotion for him, but he'd have the seniority to serve as first lieutenant.

I try to make all the various constituencies happy. ;-)

It is beginning. I would assume that such a summons would cause a lot of anxiety and excitement. The Earl of Bridgemont isn't worried, so I wouldn't be either. ;-)

April 7, 1797 For all of his exalted titles, Captain the Honorable Sir George Granger, Knight of the Bath, stood in the bowels of his ship, HMS Bacchante, looking most ungentlemanly. Granger was wearing trousers and a shirt, and if one overlooked the excellent cut of that shirt, and the high quality of the cloth of the trousers, one could almost be persuaded that he was an ordinary seaman. He was standing with his heel on the keel of his ship, looking up through the w

An interesting slide show on this topic in the Huffington Post.

Yep. What you said.

I think guys like Ryan all have their own hangups about intimacy and what bothers them. As for Brad and Robbie and moral authority, I think 'moral' is a subjective quality, not necessarily an objective one. What is moral for you may be immoral for me, or vice-versa. I think in this case the lack of respect has more to do with emotional abandonment; on both sides of the conflict.

And that is simply spot-on.

Good point, but Will wouldn't blow their skeletons out of the closet. He's too family oriented to go there. At least for right now. Both Stef and Wade would be huge brakes on him if he did anything like that.

LOL. The Jones reference probably works better in Odyssey. :-)

Next chapter, you get your wish.

I think you should give Will more credit than that. He's a really smart guy, and I think that his brains and wits will keep him safe, more or less. Thanks for sharing that. Not only was it interesting, it hit on some of the things I was trying to raise here. I think that if Will and his parents are that pig-headed and stubborn, a rift like you describe is entirely possible. I do think, though, that they would ultimately reach an epiphany before it got as bad as things did with your family, at least over the long haul. I think that it helps to think of this as a massive power struggle. In that regard, Brad and Robbie are probably completely clouded by the need to bring Will into line. They're probably thinking that he's turning into a college student at 14 (with the drinking on the trip, and at Stanford), and that in order to prevent him from totally becoming a burnout, they have to snap him into shape. So where did I learn to channel these people who lose sight of what's important? Well, I've written Will to be a lot more responsibly than my own son, and I've written Brad and Robbie to be a lot worse than I was, but I actually lived something like this, although I didn't hire a marine. That's the big point of departure here, but it makes the story more fun. :-) To be honest, I'm not sure how I would even tie that together, with some big overall dramatic purpose. I can see that as well. I do think that JJ could have done a better job with it, though. He could have enjoyed it a little more subtly.

If memory serves, Will only took off half a day to go see JJ skate. That's not exactly stretching their policies very far.

I think Brad's in a really tough situation, because he's totally unable to divorce the underlying power struggle here with what's really happening underneath that.

I remember some massive fights with my father, and conversely with my own son. What strikes me so strongly in retrospect is how easy it was to forgive and to be forgiven.

Your insight serves you well. ;-)

Well said, but I don't see this one getting me awards. It's not that type of story, because it's too polarizing. People either get it, because they've had similar experiences, or they don't. That's alright. I'm writing this one for myself. But I'm glad yo got it. ;-)

I think it helps to look at in the context of a power struggle, where actions cease to be logical, and become purely emotional.

How awesome that you found that quote! You're right about that!

I'm glad you enjoyed it! The next chapter is definitely interesting. ;-)

Well put.

October 11, 2000 Arizona Will I woke up and was nervous, wondering how Ryan would react to what happened last night. I lay on my side, staring at his amazingly hot body. I was close enough that I could get a whiff of his body odor, which was a mistake, because that just inflamed my hormones even more. “Morning,” I said cautiously. “Morning,” he said, and looked at me funny. “What?” “You’re not upset about last night, are you?” “Fuck yeah I’m upset,” he said, and

I don't think Will was really trying all that hard. I think he was going on the assumption that it wasn't even possible. Surprise! It was. ;-)

I'd bet on Stef too. :-)

Go easy on Ryan. He's working his way through it. He's only 14.