Ren by Cole Parker

[Lugnutz]

Don't call him old. He'll beat you with his walker.

[Cole Parker]

Hah! Like my wallet was heavy enough to do any damage, hitting someone with it! I wish.

Oh, wait. Walker! I thought I read wallet. I think my eyes are failing me. Must be that age thing.

Yeah, welcome Chris. The more the merrier. And we need to move the age average here downward.

C

[Merkin]

Cole's memory is shot, too. He forgot to finish this week's chapter.

[Cole Parker]

Ha ha ha ha ha!

One more chapter. Then we can put these boys to rest. And the rest to rest. And me to rest. Ahhhhh!

C

[Lugnutz]

You're like the Energizer Bunny. You keep on going.

[Chris James]

Another delightful story from Cole, I could almost smell the horse droppings emanating from the barn....no wait, I need a shower.

I was glad to see the story wrapped up so neatly in 18 chapters. The ranch angle brought a new dimension to Cole's writing and that leaves me wondering where he will go next. But I get the same feeling from all of Cole's stories in that he makes a young hero shine. Ren is a fine character and could probably carry another story or two on his back but sequels are rarely a boon to an author's sensibilities.

It is always a pleasure to watch these young gay characters develop and discover themselves in a loving way. Any story that expresses boys becoming men, embracing family and friends, and taking the moral high ground in life is well worth reading. Thanks for all of that, Cole. May we have another?

[Nigel Gordon]

I think Chris has just about said it all. A great story well told, can't wait to see more.

[Cole Parker]

Thanks, you two. I do have another ready to go. A short story. A respite from 18 chapters.

C

[ChrisR]

One of the best stories I've read in a long time. (Though unlike Chris I won't say it smelled like horse dropings! ;) ) Thanks for the work, Ren. Look forward to many more.

[Rutabaga]

I decided this time to wait for the story to be completed before reading it, which is why I haven't commented before.

When Ren walked up to meet Mesa I couldn't help thinking of Harry walking to meet Lord Voldemort toward the end of "Deathly Hallows."

One tiny loose end -- we never did find out what happened to the bad guy that Ren hit with the hypodermic.

Good luck to them trying to get any money back from Turner -- it's probably either spent or well hidden.

Anyway, a very engaging story with nonstop surprises.

R

[Cole Parker]

Everyone likes to be an author. I'll leave you to figure out what happened to the Mexican sleepyhead. Maybe Ryan dispatched him. Maybe he woke up and ran away. Maybe he was still sleeping when the bandits were rounded up and he went with them, yawning. See, you can add your own twist, satisfying that writer's itch you have!

Most everyone who wrote me while the story continued had suggestions for the way it would end, and most of them involved Ryan being engaged more than he was. I felt doing what he did, collecting the rifles, loading them, and stashing them behind his house for Andy and Ren to find was about the limit of his capabilities.

Thanks to everyone who's commented. It was a difficult story to write for a number of reasons, and I'm sort of proud I finished it.

C

[Merkin]

Wha...? Is it over? But there's still that mess in the Statehouse in Austin for Ren to clean up...

Kidding aside, this has been an enormously satisfying read of one of Cole's most complex stories. Very few kids get a chance for a "do over" for their personality and their character and their view of life, and very few kids, if given that opportunity, would be able to rise to the challenge. This story has been as much about parenting and mentoring and taking chances and adults being there for kids as it has been a grand tale of high adventure.

I'm particularly glad Ren, at the end, has the opportunity to be a kid again. A clumsy one, at that!

[Rutabaga]

I think Cole has a great gift for setting up and then taking readers through situations like the arrival of the armed Mexican bandits in this story. We see similar kinds of scenarios, where a young lad using ingenuity and pluck, must cope with armed peril in stories like "On the High Plains of Wyoming" and "They Came With Guns." What makes these stand out is that the young heroes are not cool, sophisticated James Bond types -- rather, they need to reach deeply inside themselves for all the courage and focus they can manage in order to succeed, and are profoundly affected by the experience.

It's a gift to make that kind of story line work.

R

[JamesSavik]

I know another Jackson boy that needs to move to Texas.

Well done Cole.

[Lugnutz]

Impossible. Two from there? I know of one guy from there, but he's a dick.

[Joe]

Another delightful story from Cole.

[Cole Parker]

Thanks, Joe.

C