Gee Whillickers

Sadly, there are those here in Canada that would welcome this with open arms and help it happen. The kind of extremism being seen these days is not limited by borders, sadly.

I loved this story! A feel good story that really show's what's actually important in life, and what matters. Very well done! Here's the link: Todd Bowman's Composition

Yup, I know what you mean. People can disappear suddenly from here and then there's no information on what happened. I always hate it when that happens and tend to worry and hope whoever it is is okay.

I've been in touch with him! Though I won't go into any more details about that here..... Yup, I'm okay, thanks for thinking about me Cole! And ever since the holidays definitely more 'a round' than I used to be, though I'm working on that!

Thanks guys! Glad to hear people are still enjoying that one.

Why not both? 🙂

Another gem by Cole Parker. I always like stories written in Multiple Viewpoint First Person, as it lets the reader see inside distinct characters. The hard part for a writer is ensuring each character comes across as a different human being, with different values, thoughts, motivations, ideas, preferences, and experiences. That's hard! Cole did this well. The detective in middle school, of course, immediately brought this meme to mind: But that's fine, I just rolled with it, and it was worth it. My only quibble is that it ended too soon! I want to see more of Caden's struggle's and development! Especially at a school run by Mrs. Barkley. This was just chapter one, right Cole?

This is devastating news. I'm so very saddened to hear this. May he rest in peace. I agree, a bit of time is needed before decisions are made about Awesomedude.

Thanks! I have been wanting to sit down and so some more writing for quite a while now. I actually have four separate stories I have a bit of a start on and that I have some idea of where I want to go with them (mostly notes). It seems it always slips down on my list of things I need to free up some time for though, for one reason or another. It'll happen, when the time is right and my muse makes me write.

I usually try to wait until a story is completed posted before I read it. That way I can read as little, or as much, as I want at my leisure. However, I often will open new stories that appear and read the first chapter or two, and in this way I can determine my interest. I know it's a good story when I end up reading all that's posted so far, without meaning to, and then looking frantically for the missing 'next chapter' link. This is one of those stories for me.

What?!? No thread yet for this truly engaging story? It's great so far, Cole! Here's me on the story page, waiting for the next chapter:

An old game apparently has plenty of new young fans. https://www.polygon.com/tabletop-games/23679440/teens-love-chess-memes-boom-2023?utm_source=pocket-newtab

I too remember that story, and really enjoyed it a few years ago. I'm honored that you thought it was one of mine.

Thanks! Nice to see someone found this one again.

You called?

I'm down to two clocks total that I have to change by hand. The kitchen analog wall clock and the digital clock on the stove. That's it. Every other device in the house that has a clock changes itself. Likewise, the clock in my car. And I don't miss doing it. Though I'll be glad if and when we do away with this twice yearly ritual.

So now, who's gonna write the short story about this? I can see it already. Gay and out pitcher. Bi, closeted, and questioning batter. First meeting, lots of parental pressure with regards to baseball, it almost writes itself! But, it needs someone who knows the game better than I do. I like and watch baseball, but I've never played it, even as a kid, so doubt I could do it justice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1aXpLR_lUw

This was great! Wonderful use of metaphor, simple and sublime. I loved this story. Well done. Thanks for writing this, Alan!

Yes, we do. I'm in mine all year 'round, and winter is the best time to use it. Especially when it's between 0 and minus 15 C, snowing very lightly, lights cycling through the rainbow, soft jazz playing, and a libation in hand, watching the steam rise through the cold air.. Nothing like it. Hot tubs on the patios are real popular in the lodging at ski resorts for example. When it drops down to minus 20 or 30 the worst part is getting out. Bare wet skin and minus 20. Fun. Not as bad as you'd think though since you're hot after soaking in 104 F water for some time, so you don't start shivering or really get cold before you can get inside. But the sudden cold air on your, ahem, nether regions is interesting. A bathing suit makes it *worse*, as the wet fabric immediately gets really cold when it's that temperature. When it's below minus ten or so, you put your crocs or water shoes on while still in the tub, otherwise your feet on frozen ground is a bit too much. But, when it's really cold, if you stand there to towel off for more than a moment your wet shoes will freeze to the ground, and you gotta kinda rip them off of the deck when you're ready to move. Some of my story ideas came while I was sitting in the hot tub on a cold day, watching steam rise, sipping a nice Glenfiddich. Hot summer days, when it's above 30 C (above 85 or 90 F) I simply turn it down to the high 80s or low 90s F, or lower, and it's incredibly refreshing. And thanks for your comments on the story!

Thanks everyone. I appreciate it.

A short winter tale that came to me on a hot summer day. Hope you like it: A Snowball's Chance... The radio said, “And finally a break from the deep freeze. Today’s high will be 6 degrees Celsius with sunny skies.” I smiled to myself. About time. It had been a brutal two weeks. And now, finally, above freezing. I got dressed, looking out the window at the slowly melting snow. T-shirt, fleece hoodie...and basketball shorts. Low cut socks and sneakers completed my outfit, and I went downstairs. My mom looked up and smiled at me, and then did a double take. “Shorts, Dwayne?” It’s one degree out there.” I grinned. “Sure, but a high of six. And sunny.” Mom started to shake her head, but before she could say anything I kept going, “Hey! I’ll be fine. I’m just going over to Ryan’s for a bit, and that’s a five minute walk.” I grinned wider and added a bit of false bravado, “After two weeks of minus thirty this is tropical. And I’m a tough Canadian kid, remember?” Mom rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything else. And I knew I won that round. I was about halfway to Ryan’s, just passing the park, when a snowball hit my bare leg. That was cold! I turned to confront my assailant. A grinning face, brown eyes, and a mop of messy brown hair sticking out from a striped toque looked back at me about fifteen or twenty feet away, standing in the park. He was right around my age, about 14. In his right hand he held another snowball. He wore a light jacket, the aforementioned toque, and like me, shorts. He raised his eyebrows in challenge, the grin never leaving his face. I’m not shy. And I knew the mandatory rules. I bent down, scooped up a handful of snow and packed it into a loose snowball. Not too tightly packed; that would hurt! Before I even stood up again I wound up and let fly, hoping to catch him by surprise. My sidearm delivery wasn’t great, but my surprise release worked and my aim was pretty good. My low shot hit him right on his bare knee. He reacted to the cold snow on his leg about the same way I did. And didn’t hesitate since he was already armed. He wound up. Of course, immediately upon releasing my own volley I was already re-loading, another handful of snow being shaped into the required weapon. But I had to turn to get fresh snow, and I was still bent over when his snowball hit my just under my armpit on my side. I laughed, tripled the size of my snowball, and let fly once again. He was closer now, so no way I could’ve missed. This one hit him mid chest. A second later we were both flinging snowballs as fast as we could scoop up snow, and laughing. We were closer still, somehow, and pretty soon the throwing became pushing snow onto the other person. Aiming, of course, for those bare legs where the cold snow had that much more effect. He tackled me and we fell over into a snowbank, still shoving handfuls of snow where we could, trying to find opening in the other’s collar, wrestling now. Suddenly I felt a big handful of snow get pushed up under my shorts on my left leg. Brrr!!!! Naturally, I retaliated. A short minute or or two later we lay there exhausted, still laughing. I looked into his brown eyes. “I’m Charlie,” he said. “Dwayne,” I answered. I looked down at myself, then at Charlie. We were both covered in snow, half melted, even on our bare legs, now red from the cold and rubbing of snow. I shivered, realizing how cold that was. “I’m freezing,” I said. Charlie’s hands were as red and cold looking as his legs. “Yeah,” he answered. “We gotta warm up.” “Yeah,” Charlie said, again. I was really beginning to like that grin. “I gotta hot tub. In our yard.” Charlie’s eyes lit up. “Really?” I stood up. “Yup. C’mon.” I pulled out my phone and texted Ryan. “Something came up, I’ll call you a bit later.” We got to my place. Mom took one look at us and laughed. “You both need to get warm.” “Yeah. We’re going in the hot tub.” I grabbed a couple of towels and walked with Charlie out to our back deck. “Uh, I don’t have a bathing suit,” Charlie said. “I can lend you one if you want. But, it’s private, and I guarantee my mom won’t come out there. Family rule.” That grin came back, just like I hoped it would. “What are we waiting for!?” He began stripping off, with me not far behind.

This was fun. The dialogue between the twins was a hoot, as well as their interplay with their parents. As soon as the missing boy was mentioned it was clear that the boys would somehow be heavily involved in the whole thing, and sure enough they were, even more than I realized. The ending was great! Thanks for another great story, Cole.

Absolutely! It also should have been 'your,' not 'you're.' 😂

I waited until the last chapter was posted before reading this one. The wait was definitely worth it! This was great. I really liked how you wrote Scottie's first sighting of Micah, and his emotional and physical reactions to that. Well done. Of course, the bowling definitely should have been five pin, far more romantic. Another excellent story, Cole! Thanks as always for writing it.