An Unexpected Present, by Nigel Gordon

[PeterSJC]

What a lovely, heart-warming story! The parallel threads (David's relationships with Brian and with Tim) came together in a very satisfying resolution.

I think this story is a bit unusual in that all of the villains were off-stage. The characters whom we meet all show a great measure of benevolence, something that contributed to the good feelings I got while reading.

Thank you, Nigel, for this nice present to all of your readers.

[Rutabaga]

Ditto to what Peter said above.  I suppose we could all see Dave's part of it coming, but Brian's response was a pleasant surprise.  

R

[Rutabaga]

It seems like Chapter 2 of this story has just been posted under the name Brian and David, but the file name refers to An Unexpected Present-02.  

I had to chuckle when Miss Jenkins made a cameo appearance.

R

[Merkin]

"Brian and David" is an unexpected gift that keeps giving.  Thank you, Nigel.

[Rutabaga]

And now we have a third installment here.  Miss Jenkins puts in an important appearance, and Ben Carlton and Manston from the Johnny series are also mentioned.

But the greatest fun is some serious butt-kicking in the English High Court. 

And with the conviction of the security guard, the department store is in serious legal jeopardy.  The security guard's actions took place while he was on duty, apparently within the course and scope of his employment.  The employer in such a case is generally deemed to be vicariously liable for the harm caused by the employee.  The fact that he was acting contrary to the policy set forth in the employee policy manual will probably not help the employer here; an alternative theory of liability is that the department store was negligent in its hiring, training, and/or supervision of the security guard.   The important thing is that the security guard was on duty, in uniform, and purported to be carrying out his responsibilities as a security guard.  

It also seems like there is a strong case against the pastor's wife, made even stronger by her recorded testimony under oath.  An accusation of committing an imprisonable crime is slander "actionable per se," meaning no actual damage needs to be proven.  Here, of course, there is extensive damage, both the physical injury to David and the repercussions involving the boys -- including, I would suspect, the costs of retaining counsel in the various actions.  

Bravo.

R

[Cole Parker]

Very fine set of stories.  Nigel rocks.

C

[Rutabaga]

I wonder if any further installments to this series are coming . . . ?

R

[Nigel Gordon]

Nigel has asked me to write this reply. At the moment he has difficulty spending more than a few minutes a day at the keyboard. Any longer he is in severe pain. Medication, sufficient to control the pain leaves him in a fuzzy state where he is unable to work. Unfortunately, due to a speech defect, speech recognition software does not work for him. His doctor is hopeful that with time, physical therapy will at least ease, if not cure the condition, but has emphasised that it is likely to be some time before results are seen. 

A rough outline for a 4th instalment of the Brian and David stories was done last summer, with the intention that it would be written up for Christmas last. Unfortunately, health issues prevented Nigel from being able to work on this or anything else for that matter. At the moment it is unlikely that there will be another instalment.

Nathan

p.p Nigel Gordon

[Alien Son]

Hi, Nathan

Please convey our best wishes to Nigel, and our hope that he will make a full recovery.

John

[Rutabaga]

How sad to hear of Nigel's medical challenges, especially as he undoubtedly has much that he still wants to write.  Please extend our best thoughts and wishes for a prompt recovery.

R 

[Cole Parker]

Nigel:  Hope for better things, and quicker than the doc suggests.  You'll be sorely missed here.  Get well!

 

C