Merkin

Cumru am Byth!

A lovely read, and a very elegant solution.

HA HA HA HA. Love it, especially the waste basket.

Very inspiring. I've always admired the flugelhorn, but they barely exist here in the States. I was a trumpet player: on the first day of seventh grade a trumpet was shoved into my hands by our junior high school music director as he said "Here, this is your instrument." "No, no, no!" I protested, but to no avail. My dreams of becoming a drummer like Gene Krupa were derailed and I wheezed and puffed and generated a lot of spit throughout my school career with an instrument I worked hard to tolerate and never mastered.

Unh oh. Are they, perhaps, the Flying Monkeys of OZ? Shiver.

Nigel, much of the eggnog sold in grocery stores here is flavored with fake rum flavoring, since most everybody is aware that true eggnog is booze-based. A lot of that store-bought eggnog is topped up with spirits once it arrives in the home.

Followed up on Dude's post below and found this. Jack the Drummer, age 8. Woah.

The drummer has CHOPS!

Hugh Jackman is listed as former Uppingham Physical Education teacher (1987) before he moved on. I love Wiki footnotes!

21. Wherever you go, there you are. Your luggage is another matter.

At my age, every experience is an avant-garde experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krHXnPND6RQ

I'm in for the long haul. Three characters, each already vying to be my favorite.

Now I see why all we get over here is your damned baking shows.

Bravo! Well said.

Disingenuous? Cole?

Oh, wow. More Alan here (many of his video covers are listed under 'It'sAMoney' as the performer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWKPc0-LYak Here he is doing a Q and A. Most memorable quote 'I don't use sheetmusic. I do it all by ear...' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozQW3XZkvt4

Thanks for the tip, vwl. It's a gem of planning, pacing, and execution, and the language is delicious. I especially liked '...making love to her was like riding a magic carpet'.

Is haiku the sound a masked sneeze makes?

I sincerely doubt, if in fact she is a miss, that she has an epizeuxis.

Bwah ha ha ha ha ha!

Oh, I don't know. The object of Derrick's attention is the flautist. I think this cover illo gives the story a nice teaser.

Tell those bags to pack it in.

I would never fault any author, on this site or others, who takes the time and trouble to write a 'flyleaf' or blurb to promote his work. These would be extremely helpful, if done in the spirit of Talo's suggestion. On the other hand, I find myself already committed to reading the work of a certain few writers, no matter what their topics or where their plots take me, solely on the basis that any new title by them is bound to be good writing based on exceptional imagination spun into a most satisfying tale.