GLH

I tend to think the damage is done whether the emancipation goes forward or not. The court battle is going to do nothing but add insult to injury. Then again, this IS a dramatic enterprise so BRING ON THE DRAMA!

Darn it! Now I have to take time out of my car shopping to read the new chapter... Oh, the drudgery!

At the risk of appearing repetitious:

At the risk of oversimplification: Yes, our children are supposed to be the jack-booted little minions we insist on them being, carrying out our every edict with goose-stepped precision. Unfortunately "Kids do/say the damnedest things", and that old saying didn't just fall out of some random parent's ass one day for shits and giggles. Thanks for the great chapter, Mark. I still feel that Will has been backed into this corner and that Brad, once he gets past his self-righteousness, will be inconsolable. Or not. Seems lately he's lacking any strength of character and may not get beyond his shallow self.

Random thought: Although I tend to side with Will due to the trauma he's suffered and my perceived lack of consideration from his family, I can't help but feel sorry for Brad and the blindside he's about to suffer. I think Brad's been pretty boneheaded about Will (with the occasional flash of cogent thought), but I still can't help but empathize since what lies ahead for him will be gut wrenching, to put it mildly.

Thank you centexhairysub.

Given Will's history I'll tend to be pretty forgiving so long as his 'character flaws' are credible depiction of common symptoms displayed by sexual abuse victims. In fact, if anything I'd have to say that Will is handling everything better than most do. It appears to me that the majority of the clan could stand a little compassionate enlightenment.

Frankly, I think Will is acting pretty damned rational given he's still suffering from PTSD. When any one of you have been raped and abused as Will has then come back and talk s***.

Thanks Mark for four years of quality entertainment! Keep up the good work so long as you're happy doing it.

I don't think it will be JP as much as it will be Claire having a high-speed come apart all over Brad that will leave him a broken bloody heap. I'm tellin' ya, that woman is about to explode and Brad will be left wishing it had been JP that checked him.

My sentiments exactly.

As I said, I'm not too picky about who narrates, I'll just sit back and patiently wait the four days, thirteen hours and twenty-eight minutes from chapter to chapter. Isn't insomnia grand?

Either one, though I was really starting to miss Wade.

Okay, so my political proclivities are showing once again. Though I started my political life as an enthusiastic Republican, the more I study history, politics and current affairs the more I abhor my shameful past and the further left I lean. That said, Virginia does tend to be a 'purple' state, but in this instance it went 'red' in 2000.

Once again, given that this is 2000, Senator Danfield is a shoo-in. He could be convicted of raping and murdering his mother and still win the election. It's that conservative mentality.

I thought it was common knowledge that any pickup that had oversized tires and a lift kit was generally referred to as "redneck penis enhancement", or compensating.

If I may interject, both Tim's and Canuk's calculations on Jeremy's existence as a child of the 80's/90's are incorrect. The 80's decade ended at 12:00:00 a.m. January 1, 1991, therefore Jeremy lived 1850 days during said decade and 3653 days during the 90's. Given that fact, Jeremy actually lived 33.62% of his first fifteen years as a child of the 80's and 66.38% as a child of the 90's. Isn't insomnia just grand!

Given the fact that this is THE contentious 2000 election, Jeff Danfield is from Virginia and is a Naz... er, conservative Republican senator, in an election that Dubya stol... er, won, is there really any other way the election could possibly go for him? Truthfully, the 2000 Senate election in Virginia went to a Repugnantone...

Size queen... Have a great vacation Mark! Salutations and greetings from Jackson, Tennessee, where it's painfully obvious 'zoning' is something you do after smoking a big fat hooter.

That's a question that's always been in the back of my mind ever since Will and Raine's little encounter. A pregnancy seems to fit with Will's luck at the moment.

I meant nothing derogatory by it, just the miscellaneous ramblings of the terminally bored. I've been reading online serials since I bought my first PC almost 20 years ago, so I am very much aware patience is compulsory. I might add that I cannot recall offhand another writer that has kept me spellbound through the years as Mark has.

I hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend. The temperature here is in the upper 90's and breezy, perfect weather for hours in the back yard pool and traumatic sunburns in spite of the SPF 50 sunscreen. Compulsory vinegar baths, sitting inside under the A/C and ceiling fan on HIGH being the mode of the day, I'm killing time crunching meaningless numbers and awaiting a new chapter, I suppose. For those of you who may care, average posting frequency has been 4.3 days per chapter. If you deduct the 'rapid fire' chapters (32-36) the frequency decreases to almost 4.9 days per chapter. I guess that makes the new chapter 19 hours and 52 minutes later than usual? Oh well. It IS a holiday weekend, afterall. HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY, Mark!

After reading through the posts for the last two chapters, my first thought was "but Will was RAPED!" There is nothing on this Earth that can shatter the psyche of a completely sane adult male, let alone that of a 14 yr old BOY like that of being raped. The pedophile Martin should be counting his blessings that he survived his encounter with Will, I don't think he'd have been so lucky under other circumstances. The attitude of some in here almost sounds like the old "Well he had it coming"... Just sayin'.

Scorched earth, I reckon! The fact that Brad and Robbie would walk off and leave Will in that situation to begin with just shows how far up their a**es they both have their heads planted. They should have stuck around long enough to see that the situation was reasonably settled before taking off into the wild blue. If they ever have an ongoing relationship with Will after this, I don't see it happening anywhere in the near term. I think that Will is in need of far more intensive therapy than he's received up to this point. IF and until the Paris situation is resolved he won't be able to move past it, or any of the rest of the upheaval being heaped on him. That so-called child psychologist should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for child abuse as well as criminal sexual abuse of a child, as well as any and all civil remedies available. If I really cared, I'd suggest that Brad and Robbie find a remote corner of the world to hide in for a while, as I expect that the rest of the family will be after their hides when they find out what's happened. At this point I wouldn't piss on 'em if they burst into flames right before my eyes. Ah, isn't fiction induced insomnia just grand!