Trying to find a story I read

[James]

Hey guys!

I'm trying to find out the name of a story I read a while back. I don't remember the names of the characters or anything (or even where I read it...)

What I do remember is that the main character (if not the narrator) is an orphan (or separated from his parents) and he lives in an apartment, in a storage closet that he's fixed up. The tenants all sort of look the other way for years so that he can do so. Other important characters are an old man who runs some kind of restaurant, and he gives food to this kid regularly and talks to him (doesn't know about the situation though). The character also goes to "school," or so he tells the old man, by which he means he goes to some woman's house and reads the books she owns.

I think the character actually moves in with someone later, adopted or something, and a big issue in the story is that he wants to keep in regular contact with some kids he babysat a lot in that apartment.

Any of this sound familiar? Heh.

[Cole Parker]

James: Any of this sound familiar?

Yeah, actually; it does.

But that's the exact end of the help I can give! It's lost to me in the fogs of memory that seem to be getting denser.

But I'll agree that such a story exists/ed.

C

[Trab]

Vaguely familiar, but the story I've been thinking you mena is a bit different. Young kid, taken in by older man who owns a bookstore and he and kid talk with older lady with restaurant. The kid needs help and the bookstore owner opens up a youth center above his bookstore. If that sounds more like it might be the story, let me know.

[clay49]

Try this story Billy Lancaster's Gift by Sam Lakes

[Trab]

Is that the story James is looking for, or a different story you are recommending? If the latter, it should probably be posted as a new thread, don't you think? :)

[clay49]

I think it is the story that James is looking for. Just click on the link and check it out.

[James]

Yeah, that's the story. I remember now, that guy writes that same story like two or three times with variations. Guess he really liked the basic premise, heh.

Thanks guys!

Anyone else hate it when you can't remember something you've read? It happens to me with some of my older stories because I used to just keep all the stories I liked open in their own tabs and then Opera decided to forget all my tabs after upgrading one day...

[The Pecman]

Yeah, I recently found a story I had been looking for for years, but discovered it wasn't nearly as good as my memory of it. :-)

That actually led to me writing Project Cerulean MX, and I'm going to give a nod to the author of the original story, which had the same basic premise: two kids find what's left of a secret government project, and morph into something different. But that's the only part I used -- everything else is 100% original.

I also agree with James above that there's a difficult tendency for a lot of net authors to essentially write the same story over and over again, or with minor variations on a theme. I try to avoid it myself, but certain elements invariably sneak in, despite my best efforts.