Rutabaga

I should clarify that I was only searching for "banana blueberry coconut" and not "Waldorf salad." Even I, out here in the depraved wilds of southern California, know the difference! If I was going to choose a salad, it would be a spinach salad with crumbled hardboiled egg and warm bacon dressing. R

The online recipes use sour cream instead of mayonnaise, and also include mandarin orange segments and little marshmallows. R

This story is a touching saga of one boy's determined (and ultimately successful) effort to bring another boy literally out of his PTSD-induced shell. I have no idea whether the medical/psychological issues are accurately depicted, but it doesn't concern me -- it's a good story, with an ending that is a bit of a surprise given where things seemed to be going. Ultimately very uplifting. R

Seems like there should be at least two more Tony stories waiting in the wings . . . R

What I’m really confused by, though, is: Are there more parts to this story coming? R

I was a bit jarred by this salad, also — especially juxtaposed with French fries. R

Just a quick bump to encourage people to take a look at this story reboot. As for which of Cole's stories is best, my vote continues to be for "On the High Plains of Wyoming." In the longer forms, I like "Ren" and "First Year" an awful lot. Honestly, though, I like just about all of them. R

Andrew Foote looks like quite a prolific author as reflected on his main story page: https://iomfats.org/storyshelf/hosted/andrew-foote/ R

Bits and pieces of this sound tantalizingly familiar, but not enough to crystallize into anything useful. At this point, I am hoping that someone will ride to the rescue because now I want to read the story. R

Well I have re-read the relevant portion of the story and I did okay with my memory, though it was not perfect. I am not sure why these story events popped into my head, but I’m happy to have found the source, which I would almost certainly have failed to do on my own. Now, if someone can help @Nigel Gordon . . . R

What I know is that a podium is something to stand on (the "pod" part is from the root meaning foot). Commonly people use this term incorrectly to refer to the thing the speaker stands behind, with an angled place for notes. But this latter item is a lectern, not a podium. I think this post is the first time I've encountered the word rostrum for at least a decade. I can't be sure without looking it up. R

I think you have hit the nail on the head. Now I can re-read it and see how far off my memory was! Thanks for clearing this up. R

Inspired by @Nigel Gordon, I pose the following: I have been struggling to remember where I read a story that had the following elements (as best I recall): The story involves a church where a new pastor has come in recently after the previous one (of many years) left/died/retired. It is run by a tight-knit group of church elders who have been in such positions for quite a number of years. The church has a public image of being very strict and conservative. I can't remember if the main character is a police officer, a journalist, or what, but I believe he is now an adult. Somehow it comes to his attention that adolescent boys are being molested on the church premises, and they are being photographed to produce child porn. The main character himself has some faint memories related to many years earlier when he was a youngster attending this church, which would substantiate this, but the memories have been suppressed. Somehow the main character persuades the local constabulary to take this all seriously, and they confront the new pastor (who apparently is now participating in these same activities). They persuade him, on the promise of better treatment in his inevitable prosecution, to help round up the other church elders. They invent some kind of phony church gathering or dinner where these elders (and their families) will be invited, at which the police will arrest the bad guys when they are assembled. Rather than do a lot of cooking in the church kitchens, one or two of the police officers bring in a bunch of take-out fried chicken. The idea is to get them all in one place so they can't warn each other that they have been busted. At another point (not sure if it is before or after the fake dinner, but probably before) the main character keeps insisting that there is a room where all of this took place, but the initial search of the premises does not disclose this room. Later, it is discovered that moving the file cabinets in a church office reveals a door to a set of steps leading to a basement that exactly matches the description of the main character. Moreover, the police discover other file cabinets (probably in the basement . . . I can't remember) that have a complete record of all the molestations, photographs, etc. In other words, there is pretty much incontrovertible evidence of the wrongdoing, going back maybe 20 years. Does any of this ring a bell? R

"Statements" - Found here. This was a really intriguing story that held interest right up to the end. Honestly, I think @Pedro must view these characters as family. He treats them with loving care. I hope the actual writing process is as effortless as he makes it appear. And special cheers for Grandad -- he is something else. R

I confess that I did not notice this story in the listings on the upper left of the AD home page until the posting of the third and final chapter with the bright red "FINAL" legend. It appears here. It is a charming and uplifting story that works pretty well. Well done. R

I posed this question to my friend who is a middle-school teacher in the south of France. His initial response was a blague (joke): Pascal: La nuit je dors. Et mes élèves pendant mes cours si c’est l’ennui ils dorment aussi. (At night I sleep. And my students during my classes, if it's boring they sleep also.) I persisted saying this was a genuine question: Me: Cet ami insiste qu’il y a une différence, quoique qu’il soit subtile, entre prononciation de les deux. Vrai ou non? (My friend insists that there is a difference, although it be subtle, between the pronunciation of the two. True or false?) And he replied: Pascal: Heuuuu petit problème d’orthophonie alors. (Hmmm . .. a small problem of correct articulation therefore.) Car la nuit son A et l’ennui son an. (Because "la nuit" has the sound A and "l'ennui" the sound "an") Alors c’est très rare que l’on confonde. (Thus it would be rare that we would confuse them.) So I followed up: Me: Et si je dit « La nuit je ressens l’ennui » une francophone peut remarquer différence de prononciation ? (And if I say "at night I experience boredom" a native French speaker could tell the difference in pronunciation?) He responded by recording himself speaking my little sentence into his phone several times and sending me the audio recording. I have to admit that I could hear a difference (notwithstanding his heavy Provençal accent -- he lives near Nice), but it was not so much the vowel sound as it was the cadence of the two syllables. "La nuit" was spaced out, whereas "l'ennui" was kind of run together and almost swallowed. Based on this, it seems likely that a native French speaker would note the difference. The actual vowel sounds were the same (at least to my ears); it was only the rhythm that set them apart. He added: Pascal: Il faut vraiment faire exprès de mal prononcer. Pour faire un jeu de mot. (It is truly necessary to intentionally mispronounce the words. To make a word game.) Il faut être anglophone pour confondre. (You would have to be an English speaker to confuse them.) So while it is still true that "la nuit" and "l'ennui" are technically homophonic, I concede that in spoken French a native speaker would distinguish them. R

The story has concluded. Thanks for a lovely journey. R

First time read for me as a Pick from the Past. I have to say that it took Austin a lot longer than the average reader needed to figure out what was going on. I also found myself pondering the fact that “La nuit,” which means “the night” in French, sounds just like “l’ennui,” which means “trouble” or “problem” (as well as “boredom”) in French. Coincidence? R

OK, I'm confused. "The boys who had attacked Rusty and David where shunned by the town, and soon they and their families moved away." I thought the boys were facing serious criminal prosecution and imprisonment. How could they just "move away"? R

Seems appropriate to start a new thread (rather than perpetuating an old thread) for the revised "Tim" that started posting today. If nothing else, the revised posting has modern CSS formatting rather than the hideous Microsoft mangling of the past, making it easier to read. When I read the "Coming Soon" post saying that this story was to be re-serialized, I was pretty sure I remembered it immediately. I had to confirm by email that I was correct in my recollection (since the old version has been removed from AD). I have always liked the story, including (in the original version) the somewhat-unconventional extended flashback section in the middle. Cole's preface suggests that he was unhappy with his execution of the original story. If this re-serialization helps him feel better about the product, then I'm glad it's happening. But honestly, other than the clunky formatting, I thought the original was pretty darned good. And I particularly liked the resolution where, much like Randy in the shorter "Exothermic Reaction" by Gee Whillickers, Tim finally sheds some core emotional baggage that has been wrecking his life. I remain confident that, in contrast to George Lucas's ham-fisted effort at "improving" the original Star Wars movie, Cole will preserve everything that made this story great. R

As long as Mr. Miller doesn't go out and try to turn the whole town against Abe and the boys . . . R ON FURTHER THOUGHT: Mr. Miller has just recently lost his older son in the war. Now he's jettisoning his other son. He needs help.

I am pretty sure it's not Joel based on past reading. But his writing is a hoot, so your research will not be unpleasant. Your description conjured memories of pieces of other stories here, but nothing I am familiar with really fills the bill. Might it be in one of Michael Arram's stories? R

"Right Up To London" -- This is one of the better tales in this series, and comes with a dandy picture: To which I would add this follow-up picture: R

R

Just want to say that I am continuing to enjoy the story. I could particularly relate to the narrator's comments about being alone after having someone else in the house for so long. R