Mark Arbour

I really appreciated this review, because in the last paragraph, you summed up the situation perfectly. You also wrote: "I think there may be a really big blow-up still to come before things get worked out." You have no idea. :-)

I'm not quite sure that "comfort" is what Will has in mind for Shane Jackson. ;-) The Colorado River trip happens in Chapters 29 and 30. Hang in there.

You can bitch as much as you want (insert heart emoticon!). It's totally fine. But here's the deal. I'm trying to show Will as a realistic young teen, and that means he'll be annoying, and relentless. If he annoys you, skip the chapters he's involved in; I totally get that. You won't offend me. But I do have a method to my madness, and even if it seems like nothing is happening, tension is building, and that is something.

Two related posts. Jeremy, you have clearly forgotten what teenagers are like. They can change abruptly in a very very short period of time. They can go from being incredibly happy to morbidly depressed in a simple 5 minute time span. So I'm sorry if you don't think such massive swings are possible in a mere three months. You're wrong. As Tim noted, there's also a very definite self-absorption factor here, where kids like Will don't have the ability (or willingness) to look at the other side of the situation. These are not always pleasant traits, and they don't tend to endear a character like Will to readers, especially mature readers who have limited recent experience with bratty teens. I'm not trying to make him endearing. I'm not all that concerned with whether readers like Will or not. I think when he matures, he'll be a really neat character. Right now, he's rather annoying. I think that's realistic. I also think that he has some definite grounds to be bitchy, so even though he may be annoying and self-centered, his points, I think, are valid. Again, kids his age don't always communicate in a productive way. If I wrote him in a way such that he addressed issues in a rational manner, I'd get howls from those who know what these young creatures are like. Again, I was going for a more realistic portrayal.

Yep!

October 7, 2000 El Segundo, CA Wade I waited in the lobby of the rink for Father Tim and Max to show up. JJ’s competition was going on, and would end in time for us to join the family for a quick dinner before our game. That put me on a tight schedule, and made a trip to the Mission almost impossible, so I was really glad that Tim and Max had agreed to come here to meet with me. I bought them both tickets to help make up for it. While I waited, my mind drifted to Gat

Navel? Perhaps you'd be willing to share your own navel's history? Sorry. Couldn't resist.

That's a really good summation. I think that looking just at the parents, though, leaves the other half of the equation as unsolved. Kids are different, and while Claire and Jack seem to be lucky in that John and Marie are relatively easy to handle, I haven't really gone into that too much. If Marie turned into a complete rebel, with a boyfriend who had lots of tatoos and a pierced tongue, some of that calm veneer may just crack a bit.

Yes, it was. Thanks for posting it.

I'm not sure it's a conservative vs. liberal difference, I tend to think that it's more generational.

Sometimes when things get so emotional and intense, it clouds logic and reason. I think that's happening here.

Someone has to lose. I'm in.

I think that would have been an interesting point, to discover whether Robbie and Brad actually heard their phones ring. They could quite easily have turned them off when they went into the game (good manners), or not have gotten the call when it came through, or not have heard the ringer. That would have played out in a calm, rational conversation. But that is really the point here. None of these people (except Wade) was being calm and rational. Robbie and Brad are pissed off at Will, and vice-verse. Add to that the fact that Gathan is in the hospital, and that's a big crisis, especially for Robbie, who is notoriously bad at handling crises like that.

I've got a mental outline of the next story in my head, but I'm going to work with it a while before I launch anything. Please be patient.

Jeremy's been bitching and moaning about the challenge of finding music, what with only a couple of thousand years worth of choices, only nothing beyond 2000. So I carried some water for him on the Sammy Hagar song.

Jack was there for JJ's competition. Please review the previous chapters. ;-) Good point on the cell phones. Did they get the calls? Did they ignore them? No, they just argue.

And that's one of the more galling things about parents, no? They want their kids to be perfect when they weren't. I agree completely that Brad would have been just as bad, and I think that Will knows it. If he doesn't, JP certainly does. ;-)

Again, Robbie is not handling a crisis situation well, which is very normal for him. And no one is communicating at all, which is very normal for this crowd.

I think Robbie is very true to character in this chapter. He has a lot of qualities, but he's not real good in a crisis.

No matter what happens, Gathan needs to come to some sort of conclusion with Kristin. This would be an open wound for him.

I can see Stef doing that, but Wade will be more diversified.

Thanks! I love hockey. Can you tell? :-) You'll get to hear about Wade's plans in the next chapter.

October 6, 2000 Burbank, CA Wade We were about to walk into our locker room when my phone rang. It was Sean; I could tell from the ring tone. I’d programmed Sammy Hagar’s ‘Red’ in for him. Matt heard it and shook his head with a smile. “Sean?” “Yeah,” I said, chuckling. “I’ll catch up with you.” He nodded and I walked off to the side and answered. “They move fast,” Sean told me as soon as we exchanged greetings. “They?” “Well, your mother,” he said,

And it was a good one.

Wow. You've been there, and done this. I think that all kids are different. Some are happy, or willing, to fall into the mold and do what they're supposed to do. That can be a good thing. But those that march to their own drummer require a little more work, and a lot more patience. They're usually the ones that end up inventing things like the computer I'm typing on.