skyacer

Oh, my virgin eyes, ears, nose and throat...and bum. Well, sort of...

As the ultimate gated-community, Oasis sounds almost like a prison. I wonder who is being kept inside and who is being kept out? In this case it seems like the 'patricians' are being kept in their gaol/jail, while the rest of the population gets the rest of the world to live on. I wonder what the DNA tests will show...

Can't wait until Calumnia, alias Calamity Jane, sees Mort, finds out he's gay and... can't be manipulated by her. His nudity is bound to scare her into next week. So, Mort rescues Arch, but can the two of them sail off into the sunset to at least find their respective happiness?

If sparks flew, then Dillon may well become the love interest for Will, and by-by Zach, who seems to have made his decision to not be a part of Will's life. Great wrap-up to the 'war of the worlds' in the last chapter.

And so the Revolution begins. This might be the beginning of the end for Tryadd, or the female domination of it and the rise of either an enlightened equality, or separate churches of men/boys and women/girls. I'm hanging on waiting to see how it all shakes out.

Let the proselytizing begin! I agree that "prohibitions create desires." That was certainly true during the anti-alcohol Prohibition era in the US and has been true with marijuana since it was declared evil and placed in the same class as heroin. Once decriminalized, we'll see its recreational use spike and then level off, albeit after several decades. I'll climb off my soapbox now...but, this was a great chapter!

A dangerous game he has gotten himself into. Hale could still be a criminal and make or allow Mort to slip off one of the high bars. I think as long as he keeps his wits about him, Mort will learn what he needs or wants to learn and will move on. He may be hiding in plain sight from those in his past who might still want to do him harm.

Whew, I'm exhausted after all that! I'm looking for Mort to do more planning prior to getting too far into his next adventures, to exercise more control over what he allows to happen to himself; perhaps to not always rely on the goodness of strangers. He has exhibited intelligence and craft, but has also allowed himself to be manipulated. Time to change, Mort!

Great chapter. I think with Stefan I only want to know that he has passed, that there is an investigation, that Mort is miles away 'from the scene,' and that Lydia has made a final peace with Stefan. Being off the meds/chemo/other therapies will allow Stefan to die with dignity, whether or not he uses the Nitrogen gas. Isn't is amazing that our atmosphere is 78% Nitrogen, 21% or so Oxygen and some other lesser gases, yet Nitrogen would be used to kill a person?

"Although all governments were denying it, the planet was not in fact ruled by them, but by giant banks and multinational corporations that controlled all mass media and most people’s opinions, as well as food production and fresh water, industrial production and distribution, energy production and distribution, the pharmaceutical industry, sickness services and hospitals, and increasingly - education." This is so true on so many levels. I'll add to this that Wars, once fought on the 'domino theory of Communism (if one country falls...), have since then been fought for resources and boundaries, to keep those like ourselves inside and to keep 'the others,' out, little realizing that those behind the walls are very, very dependent for food and oil, on those people in the very countries that they despise. Probably the most philosophical chapter to date. Profoundly serious, accurate and sad.

In general, in my opinion, Aussies are great people. Keep in mind that with any country, it is important to separate the people from the self-righteous politicians and others in positions of power (and abuse) over us. I do not feel that I have anything in common with the fundigelical swamp-dwellers that are now infesting the US government, nor will I defend them in any discussions or arguments. I will though work to put the rule of law back into our government and elect those who want us to have a future on this planet. What we see now in the US is a government that hates its own people, that hates education, hates anything that is not white/Aryan and Hitler-esque. I am disgusted by what is being reflected back at me and shown to the world.

I think Mort has just had his life validated by Brawl, or he has been given some serious perspective on his life. Mort does see the men around him (school, nursery, party) being dominated by their wives, or allowing themselves to be manipulated to get laid, and then resenting it for the rest of their lives. Is this becoming 'Fifty Shades of Queensland?' I think Mort will either find a way to bypass or 'test-out' of the secondary education system he's in to get what we in the US call a GED (Government Equivalency Diploma); or he will find a way to use some of his money, which so far has not been discussed much, to be tutored until he can test-out of the rest of his secondary education. Sadly, it looks like Stefan is being set up as the next male in Mort's life to die. Can Mort intervene and get Stefan to a doctor before it's too late?

Nope - you continue as the author, please! You have taken this story places I could not foresee, even if I went back and started all over again. I look forward to your doing more of the same. As an avid reader, I've seen some of those possibilities in other stories over the years; however, if you use them then it compromises your tale... a tale that is best left unsevered (sic).

Well, Perdita's elevator has never gone to the top floor, she seems to be getting off at a lower floor frequently. It probably will happen that she will snap and attack Mort. However, poor, widdle Perdita, will claim to the police (and the prosecutor who is one of her johns), that Mort attacked her, supported by Mr. Preggy. Mort will have to lay low for a while-he could go undercover as a girl for a while. Or, since he is 15, he'll find out that once he is 16, that he can sue for emancipation, which can be granted to a young person, providing that he/she can take care of him/herself. I continue to love this story!

So, is Mort going to become Perdita's pimp? her enforcer? her jailer (gaoler?)? Is Hans Hansen one of the unknown Hansen Brothers, hiding out looking for inspiration for a comeback album? Or will we see Mort hit the nearest docks and jump a freighter heading for wherever? Or, might he become a park ranger at the local Koala Sanctuary? Anything to escape Perdita's clutches, which are sure to become more desparate as she continues to fixate on Mort's wealth.

While Elbert seems to have had some redeeming qualities and a strong conscience, by the time he lay down with Mort, he had reached his decision to not go along with the ruse any further. A shame, because Mort was probably about to give him part of the 'infamous' inheritance. I think Mort will find out some background about Elbert and discover that the heavy signet ring he was given is a passport to adventures he can't even dream of at age 14 and that the ring is its own fortune and ticket to the future. I think with Perdita, well, her 'elevator never went up to the top floor' anyway, and now, 'the cheese is has slipped, or is slipping off her cracker (pick one),' but as we know, she always was a 'few sandwiches shy of a picnic anyway.'

"She's cunning and stupid, the most dangerous combination." Yep, she could be a politician and run a country with those qualifications, and filling Parliaments and Congress and Senates as well. I'd have to add 'conniving,' to the 'cunning and stupid.'

Cold chills! What a bitch. Obviously she had been scheming and laying a foundation to be able to destroy Marshall and Angelo. I wonder though if Mort does go through with the move to Brisbane, whether he will be a dutiful son in name only until he turns 18 and moves out permanently (about 4 years), or if he will lay traps of his own into which he will entice Perdita and Elbert. Perdita still seems to think Mort has an inheritance hiding somewhere. My guess is that she and Elbert are both a few sandwiches shy of a picnic and in danger of losing their house/lifestyle due to some bad habits.

Not sure. Were you just now thinking of the color Red? or Purple? Mort just might rescue Perdita, unless the 'unfriendly blokes' belonged to her, in which case I'd be looking for Mort to become a WMD and save himself. Although, if Marshall sent them, then Perdita might be on the receiving end of those blokes' ire and looking at doing some perdition time.

WWGD (What would Granddad do)? Perdita seems to be the perfect name for Mrs. Stygian, who has crossed back over the River Styx into Mort/Marshall's world, looking for some inheritance that she thinks she is due. Now, who are those 'unfriendly blokes' walking their way? WWMD? That's 'What would Mort do,' not 'what is a weapon of mass destruction,' doing in our story. Although, given Mort's history, Mort could well turn out to be a WMD and rescue Perdita from immediate, although not permanent perdition.

I actually have not kept track of where I've been right, wrong or even close. I enjoy the rollercoaster ride of your writing and storytelling. I think that you have the makings of TV and movie scripts in some of your stories, something to think about for the future?

So, I see Angelo meeting Marshall, finding common ground and Mort goes it alone for some time longer. Very well written, ennui and all.

Wow, what a chapter. Bravo to George and to Mort for standing up for himself. He obviously listened to his Granddad and to Leo, because he is continuing to be an opiniated youngster. I wonder if we'll see more of George.

"When the Prime Minister decrees that the Government will provide all supposedly secular state schools with fundamentalist Christian chaplains instead of properly trained psychologists and counsellors, and will pay for the training of priests and other witchdoctors belonging to religious corporations with multi-million dollar tax-free assets, then you know the end of secular government is at hand." A prophetic statement and probably happening right now. In the US, we are witnesses now to the rise of a Theocratic state, with the POTUS' Cabinet posts being filled by unqualified people, climate-change deniers, and fundi-gelicals of all stripes, all seeking to undo any federal programs which might have protected the environment, protected and schooled our kids to think for themselves (and yes, to question authority), all championed by Faux and the oligarchs. I see a descent to the bottom, as former allies watch with horror and their full bags of popcorn at a debacle they can't turn away from. By the way, absolutely great chapter!!!!

See the next chapter for my comments...where they belong.