Mark Arbour

Glad you liked it!

LOL. I can just visualize JJ's look. More ridiculous than scary.

January, 1800 HMS Valiant Monolithos, Rhodes “It would seem to be that we simply have to go to the top of that hill and utter the correct code, sir,” Kingsdale said, trying to understand why Daventry seemed concerned. “Even though we have the correct code, it is possible that this cycloptic priest will not release the chest to us if he feels we are not the genuine messengers,” Daventry explained. Granger hadn’t really considered that, that this

Thanks for the review! I'm glad you liked Odyssey. I think that of all the books I've written, that is the one I am proudest of.

I haven't done the treasure mappy thing, so it's a bit fun and different. :-)

It does. Hopefully it was just an oversight.

I think you're absolutely right about why Will accidentally outed Zach, but I think the other factor is that he trusts Carullo and was relaxed around him. No matter how made he is, Carullo is too honorable to out Zach. That just isn't part of his character.

The issue for Will right now is one of time. He's been spending time in LA/Malibu because Zach is there, and he's in New York now with JJ. If we dove into his mind, we'd find him jonesing for Hawaii, biding his time until he could make a trip out there.

Well, Will is only 16 for now, so he's still jailbait. You raise a really good point, and that is that by the time you get to the level Zach is at, you're part of a pretty tight, closed community. It's kind of like living in a small town. So you're right, in that the rumors are probably already there, and they can already be somewhat damaging. In reality, Zach has a balancing act to follow here (IMHO). If he's good enough, while still maintaining a reasonable facade of straightness, his teammates will probably ignore the rumors. It's also worth noting that in 2003, even football athletes were more tolerant. But regardless, that's a pretty tough path to walk down, and there isn't a whole lot of room for error. I'd say that if he maintains his relationship with Will, odds are strongly against him playing football, at least when he's out of college.

"if only to reach the high shelves"...classic. Especially when I think about how annoyed JJ would be if he was forced to ask Carullo to get something off of one of those shelves.

I think Tonto would be proud, but Will's motives aren't quite as altruistic as you imply. Yes he's a good guy, jumping in to help out his brother, but he's also doing it to avoid thinking about his own issues.

Thanks Gary! I think that Carullo is such a contrast to JJ, that they will either mesh perfectly, or fight like banshees.

I think that Zach's parents are over all that, and I really don't think they care who Will buys a car for, as long as it's not their son...but like I said, I think they've moved beyond that, so if he did, they'd probably be mellow about it.

I really loved the Bananarama song. Perfect call.

Ah, mysteries abound, but you'll learn more in the next chapter. Carullo tends to talk before thinking, so I think his reaction was pretty understandable.

This is an excellent review. I can do little else but agree with it.

July 21, 2003 New York, NY Will The limo pulled up to Dior Homme and stopped. “This isn’t Fifth Avenue,” I said, stating the obvious. “Very good, Einstein,” JJ said, being a dick. “It’s SoHo.” “Why are we here?” I asked him, barely controlling my temper. He’d been a total fucking bitch for the past few days, and I’d been pretty fucking nice, but he was starting to really test my patience. “Dior Homme is one of my favorite stores, and I need more clothes,

This is awesome! Bad boys can be hot.

That was interesting. I had cable tv in my dorm room. Of course. The biggest annoyances from that era, IMHO, are both in the article: typewriters and no cell phones. You had to become an ace with that correction tape shit, otherwise papers were a royal pain in the ass. And without cell phones, you had a tough choice to make. Stay home, by the phone; or go out and try to meet up with your friends? And once you left home, you were incommunicado.

You raise an interesting issue (well, more than one, but let's focus.) Could Zach have a closeted relationship with Will and be an NCAA/NFL player? I've actually done some research on this, and it's feasible, but tough. The hardest part would be what you identified...Zach constantly being in the company of a high-profile, out and proud guy like Will is a huge challenge. If Zach were with another closeted guy, probably another player, he'd possibly be able to stay under the gaydar. Many players in the NFL were suspect, but it seemed that with many teams, there was a 'don't ask don't tell' mentality. That would possibly work for Zach.

Thanks Maarten. It must really annoy you when Will does something nice. ;-) But you're right, he did perform well in this chapter.

A great review, across the board. I hate poached salmon.

I don't think JJ would have called Brad. Brad's help would come with a high price (for JJ) in that Brad would probably take over and dominate the entire process. JJ loves Brad, but finds him trying to deal with. LOL at Tony. Sometimes we can learn as much from shitty relationships as from good ones. I don't think Wade will ever discard Mary Ellen. His sense of family is too strong. If he hasn't completely thrown his mother to the dogs at this point, he's unlikely to do it to his sister.

I'm not sure I see the happy reunion of those couples that you hope for.

If you're puzzled, I'm doing my job. ;-) I think I addressed both of your major issues below, but I loved this line: "...thinks that anyone in his family other than maybe JJ would abide by that edict." As I said, that's just it. It's interesting to think that if Brad would have been an engaged father, and JJ had been his only son, they probably would have had a pretty good working relationship.