Life Can Be Lonely by Colin Kelly

[Rutabaga]

Well, I can think of only one scenario that would allow all this to be wrapped up in three more chapters. 

The apparent execution of Kevin’s family was actually staged.  For some reason the authorities wanted some bad guys to think they were dead, but actually his family is still alive and has been in hiding.  Kevin will find this out when he talks to the police and FBI.  

R

[Cole Parker]

I don't think there was any swearing involved.  I simply said I don't write sequels—and I hadn't at that point.  I know Trump is trying to change things, but so far we're still free enough to change our minds.  Should Colin get the urge, or fall in love with characters that he wants to use again, as I did with mine, he might well write a sequel, too.  The option is open to him.

 

C

[colinian]

10 hours ago, Altimexis said:

Cole swore he'd never write a sequel, yet he wrote Another Summer in Georgia. Never say never.

Yeah, that's Cole. The one time he lost his grip on a claim. It will probably haunt him forever.

Colin 

[Cole Parker]

Sounds like a story line to me.  A boy goes to the pool on suits-optional day and hands in his clothes, gets a claim slip for them, and then, out on the pool deck, looses his grip on the claim slip and it blows away in the wind.  He's naked and claimless.  He goes to beg his clothes back from the attendant and is told they've already been claimed, and he points out a boy standing the doorway with a big grin on his face.

What does he have to do to get his clothes back?  Huh?  Huh?

C

 

[Camy]

5 hours ago, Cole Parker said:

Sounds like a story line to me.  A boy goes to the pool on suits-optional day and hands in his clothes, gets a claim slip for them, and then, out on the pool deck, looses his grip on the claim slip and it blows away in the wind.  He's naked and claimless.  He goes to beg his clothes back from the attendant and is told they've already been claimed, and he points out a boy standing the doorway with a big grin on his face.

What does he have to do to get his clothes back?  Huh?  Huh?

C

It sounds like a job for Law & Order SVU... wait a minute! Suits-optional? We never had those. Damn.

 

[colinian]

Instead of paper claim tickets for checked swimsuits, you get a plastic tag on a rubber band that you put on your wrist.

Colin 

[Cole Parker]

And there you have it: Camy being whimsical, Colin being staid.  Would anyone have expected another less?

C

[colinian]

4 minutes ago, colinian said:

On 8/2/2019 at 4:17 PM, Camy said:

... wait a minute! Suits-optional? We never had those. Damn.

Neither did we. But when I was between 9 and 11 it was fun to look at the front of boy's suits and try to guess what was inside. Even more fun when their suits were wet!

Colin 

 

[Cole Parker]

Suits optional was me being whimsical.  Or perhaps wishful thinking.

C

[Rutabaga]

On 8/3/2019 at 12:59 AM, colinian said:

you get a plastic tag on a rubber band that you put on your wrist.

Or somewhere else if you're feeling whimsical.

R

 

[colinian]

7 hours ago, Rutabaga said:

Or somewhere else if you're feeling whimsical.

R

Just so somebody doesn't decide to grab it and yank it off!

Colin 

[Cole Parker]

Or unlock a locker while it's still attached.  Ouch!

C

[Rutabaga]

Trial?  Does that mean they know who did it?

R

[Camy]

4 minutes ago, Rutabaga said:

Trial?  Does that mean they know who did it?

R

It must do. You can't have a trial without perps. Exciting times are upon us!

[Rutabaga]

On 8/7/2019 at 7:43 AM, Camy said:

On 8/7/2019 at 7:34 AM, Rutabaga said:

Trial?  Does that mean they know who did it?

R

It must do. You can't have a trial without perps. Exciting times are upon us!

This kind of picks up on the same themes @Altimexis was sounding earlier . . .  this whole situation seems a bit too surreal.  This kind of incident would have been headline news worldwide, yet Kevin's world seems utterly oblivious to it.  Except that Alex knew something about it.  And now the police are talking about a trial exhibit when so far we have heard nothing about any progress in solving the crime.  Weird.

R

[Rutabaga]

Maybe I should not have used the word "sequel" in my earlier comment.  "Continuation" might capture the concept better.  There  is an awful lot to wrap up in one more chapter.

R

[Camy]

On 8/10/2019 at 3:07 AM, Rutabaga said:

. . .  this whole situation seems a bit too surreal.  This kind of incident would have been headline news worldwide, yet Kevin's world seems utterly oblivious to it.  Except that Alex knew something about it.  And now the police are talking about a trial exhibit when so far we have heard nothing about any progress in solving the crime.  Weird.

R

Perhaps it's a kind of Westworld thing?

3 minutes ago, Rutabaga said:

. . .  There  is an awful lot to wrap up in one more chapter.

R

Yes.

[Cole Parker]

You guys are hilarious.

c

 

[Camy]

2 hours ago, Cole Parker said:

You guys are hilarious.

C

Really. Why?

[colinian]

Umm...

Who said there's only one more chapter? Not me!

Colin 

 

[Cole Parker]

You guys are over-analyzing and coming to the wrong conclusions.  It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion.  

I'm thoroughly enjoying it!

C

[Paul]

19 minutes ago, colinian said:

Umm...

Who said there's only one more chapter? Not me!

Colin 

 

Pssst... Rutabaga did on June 25:

Quote

Perhaps I should not mention that there are 15 chapters in all.

 

[Rutabaga]

The main index page has had, and still has, hidden "placeholders" for fifteen chapters.  These are made active one by one when the next chapter is posted.  There is only one left hidden at this point.  Ergo, it has seemed like the plan calls for 15 chapters.

Now, it is easy-peasy to add more "list items."  It is also easy to continue this story in a continuation (which I referred to as "sequel" a while back).  Frankly I'm hoping that one of these outcomes is ahead.  Wrapping up this story in a single further chapter would be kind of abrupt, like the way Arthur Hailey ended his novel "Hotel" by having half the characters perish in an elevator crash.  

So it seems more likely that we will see something akin to the "One" series ("One Warm Coat" etc.).  Maybe a follow-on called "Life Can Be Lonely, Part 2" or "Friends Make the Difference" or something.  I used the word "sequel" earlier but what I meant was continuation.

R

[colinian]

5 hours ago, Rutabaga said:

The main index page has had, and still has, hidden "placeholders" for fifteen chapters.  These are made active one by one when the next chapter is posted.  There is only one left hidden at this point.  Ergo, it has seemed like the plan calls for 15 chapters.

R

This is what happens when someone sneaks around and tries to find meaning in the hidden depths of arcane HTML code, especially when it's coupled with the laziness of the coder of same. If someone had looked at the index page when Life Can Be Lonely was first posted (even at chapter one) the response would have been, "Ah ha! This story must be a novella because there are placeholders for only five chapters!" And, etc., etc., etc.

So, if I were wont to say "Gotcha!" (which, of course, I'm not)... but I digress. To clarify: there are not and will not be only fifteen chapters in Life Can Be Lonely. How many will there be? Only the author knows, and he won't tell. Instead, it must remain a waiting game.

Sorry to disappoint.

Colin 

[Camy]

6 hours ago, colinian said:

To clarify: there are not and will not be only fifteen chapters in Life Can Be Lonely. How many will there be? Only the author knows, and he won't tell. Instead, it must remain a waiting game.

Sorry to disappoint.

Colin 

A waiting game! Terrific...

When one picks up a book, it generally has heft - depending on how many jolly old chapters there are. Its index helps the reader decide if they want to expend their energy reading it.

I am beginning to feel a wee bit like Sisyphus. 😎

 

22 hours ago, Cole Parker said:

You guys are over-analyzing and coming to the wrong conclusions.  It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion.  

I'm thoroughly enjoying it!

C

So glad Swede and I entertain. Me, I'm thinking of taking my rock and joining a monastery.