Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 09:24:10 -0700 From: fritz@nehalemtel.net Subject: I Love Corey, Chapter Twenty-six Here we are again, at the start of another chapter. That means I once again have to take care of all the legalities. Therefore, if you are too young to be reading this story please leave right now, like immediately. You shouldn't have been here in the first place. After all, you don't need to be corrupted by my story and it was not my intention to do so. Get your dose of corruption elsewhere. I'd hate to be responsible for your turning out in any manner other than that which society deems to be correct. If descriptions of acts of sex between males is offensive to you, why are you here? After all, this is a gay male site and you should expect such things. However, if you arrived here by accident, please leave so you won't be offended. This story is a work of complete fiction. Neither the names nor the events herein depicted are real or based on anyone. If you happen to think you see such things you are mistaken. Yes I know, you never make mistakes. Well, in this case you have. Sorry about that. This story is intended for your enjoyment and amusement. Sorry, you may not post it on another site without my written permission, nor may you quote from it without properly crediting such quotes to me. If you think you know of a way that this story may profit you, contact me and maybe we can figure out a way so that we can both get some of the loot. Otherwise don't even think about it. If you do so, without contacting me, and I find out about it I'll make little dolls representing you and sit around sticking pins in them. I may also kick and scream and curse you. You don't want to see me all upset do you? Just a hint, pick up and carefully dispose of all nail clippings and hair. Thanks to poor, long suffering Ernie. He checks my stories and never complains. I think one of these times I'll double his wages. 2 times 0 still equals 0 If something about this story strikes you and you feel the need to criticize, feel free to do so. You can even ask questions, make suggestions, or just comment on it. I try to answer all such emails. If you haven't received a reply within a few days you may assume that your email got lost in cyberspace. You can try resending it or just forget it. It's up to you. I'm always happy to explain things about the story or just answer your comments. Send such emails to fritz@nehalemtel.net I hope you enjoy the following chapter. Fritz I Love Corey, Chapter Twenty-six So there we were, messy sheets and all. I was just starting to get my mind in gear again so that I might return Corey's favor when the stupid alarm clock went off. Damn, I'd forgotten I'd set it. The reason I had is because we were going to a trap shoot. Since it had been late when we went to bed I hadn't allowed much time for breakfast, let alone sex. What to do? "Corey, do you still want to go to that shoot?" Silly question. He jumped out of bed and headed for the bathroom. It was pretty obvious he wanted to go. As I started to get out of bed I noticed there was something running down the crack of my ass. Even I could figure out what it was without much effort. I'd been so wrapped up in my own feelings I hadn't realized that he'd climaxed too. The thought went through my mind that one of these times he was finally going to want to go farther in his love making, at least it appeared that way judging from this morning and his reaction to having his cock in my crack. I'd really like to suggest the big step and see what he would say but I'd told him many times that he got to decide what we did together. While I was a lot more experienced than he was, I wasn't what you might call real knowledgeable. I guess I didn't ever want him to think I was pressuring him in any way. He had to know he was in charge so he could gain some of the confidence he needed in his life. It was working. When I first met him he almost never voiced an opinion. Now he would, although not as often as I would have liked. Being in charge of sex had helped him in that. I also deferred to his likes in food. In fact, I tried to force him to make a lot of small decisions without really putting pressure on him, you know, just asking his opinion and yielding to it whenever possible and telling him my reasons when I didn't. So far he seemed to be responding. He was less afraid to say what he'd like for dinner or what we did on the weekend. Today he wanted to see a trap shoot. I grabbed a pair of briefs that were on the floor and wiped my crack. That way at least the floor wouldn't need mopping. A pleasant although somewhat brief shower followed by a quick breakfast and it was time to go. We loaded a couple of my shotguns and some shells and left. It was about an hour and twenty minute drive. When we arrived, the meet had just started. There was still plenty of time for me to sign up and so that was the first thing I did. I wound up on a squad that needed a leader. A lot of shooters hate to be leader as you have to shoot the hard lefts right off the bat. I never saw that it made much difference in my shooting so I didn't mind. However, by filling up an earlier squad it didn't allow time to see if there were any guns that might be appropriate for him. I had to hurry to catch my squad. In fact, I wasn't even able to shoot a warm-up round. Oh well, I somehow doubted that one round would make up for a couple of years off. I just hoped I wouldn't make a total fool of myself. I didn't do as badly as I thought I might. Two twenty-fours to start, followed by a twenty-five and a twenty-three produced a ninety-six. That wouldn't put me in the money in double A class but wasn't bad considering I hadn't been shooting much. I will say that there was a whole bunch of pretty weak hits. I really needed some practice. When I was done with the sixteen yard targets we headed back to the club house. We each got a Coke and then wandered out to the rack in front where I'd left my shotgun. I could see that there were several guns with signs on them. I pointed them out and told Corey we should look them over to see if one would work for him. As we strolled along, looking at the guns for sale, we saw the usual Remingtons, Brownings, some Berettas, and other makes. There was even a Ljutic but nothing that seemed like what we were looking for. Most were overpriced for what they were and the condition they were in. Also, any that might have been acceptable were long barreled. I'd found that a thirty-two inch barrel was about as long as I liked and figured that Corey would do well to start with a thirty incher. Had I been taller I probably would have wanted a thirty-four inch barrel and that's what most of them were. Not seeing anything we went back into the club house and Corey had a hamburger. I wasn't yet that hungry so I settled for a donut. We found a table and finished our Cokes and snack. Several people that I knew stopped by to say hello. While I hadn't been shooting for a while, about the same old crowd was here. I probably recognized a little over half of them. Some I knew well enough to visit with and others I just remembered seeing. We finally decided to take another look at the rack and see if anything else had turned up. There were a few guns we hadn't seen but nothing we were looking for. I was just about ready to pick up my gun to go shoot a practice round when I saw an older gentleman set a gun on the rack. I could see it was shorter but he was far enough away I couldn't tell much more. "Come on Corey, let's go look at that one." We walked over to the rack and there stood a Perazzi MX 3 Special. Not only that, it looked to have thirty inch barrels and the stock was not factory. It was shorter and fully adjustable and had a recoil absorber. "What do you think?" I asked him. He picked it up and I was proud of him. He remembered to open it and check to make sure it was empty. Then he found a place where there was no one in his way and shouldered it. "The length seems about right but the comb isn't high enough." I just smiled. I knew it could be adjusted. I wondered what the price was. About that time the gentleman who had placed it there returned. We exchanged names and started talking about the gun. Dale Metzer told me it belonged to a friend. The friend had bought it for his daughter and when she hurt her arm in a car accident she had been unable to continue shooting. She had only had it for a few months before the accident. Since that time, several years ago, it had been just sitting around. The owner had finally decided that he ought to sell it. Well, I thought to myself, that would account for the short stock. When Dale continued he told me it was a combination set and also included the original factory stock and a spare trigger group that was a release-pull set for doubles or you could just use the release for the single barrel. A Perazzi hard case was included. When I asked the price, I thought it was fair. I asked him if he was going to shoot in the handicap event and he told me he wasn't. With that I explained I had to go shoot as my squad was about up and asked him to fit the stock to Corey and let him shoot a couple of practice rounds. If Corey liked the gun, we'd buy it. When he agreed, I handed him a twenty to cover shells and targets and hurried towards my squad. The rust had affected the sixteen yard targets or singles as they're called but didn't begin to prepare me for the handicap event. I shoot from the twenty-four yard line and a few more performances like today would cause that to decrease. I can't really describe how poorly I shot but stunk comes to mind. Let's face it; eighty-five is not a good score. Not only that, there were a lot of targets I just dusted. Normally I should score in the low to mid nineties with an occasional upper nineties score. It was frustrating. I knew what I was doing wrong but couldn't correct it. I wasn't picking the targets up properly and kept jerking after them. I was glad when I finished and could slink away. Corey definitely would not have been impressed with my performance in this event. When I got back they were just finishing his second practice round. When I checked his score he had a thirteen. Not bad for a strange gun and as little shooting as he had done. "Well Corey, do you like it?" I asked. "It's real nice. It doesn't hardly kick at all," he told me with a shy grin. "Doesn't hardly, what kind of English is that?" I grinned as I asked. He blushed. I wondered if his brain was going into overload as he tried to think of how to phrase his comment properly. I swear, if there had been gears in his head he would have stripped them. "It umm, doe..uhh..it hardly kicks," he finally spit out with a look of triumph on his face. "Very good, do you think it would make a nice birthday present?" I asked him. Once again I could almost see the wheels turning. "Yo,,you mean for me?" he stuttered. I grinned. "Well, it is a little short for me." His eyes flashed back and forth between me, the gun and Dale. He'd heard Dale say the price was five thousand dollars. He hadn't heard all of our conversation as I'd made sure he wasn't in hearing range when I told Dale to fit it to him and if he liked it we'd take it. I was beginning to think he was going to wear his eyeballs out from the rapid motions they were making. "Bu,,buu,,,but it's a lot of mmm,,money." "The Colt's worth more." His eyes continued to flash back and forth between the gun and me. I decided to offer a little more explanation. "Well, your birthday is in a couple of weeks and so far you haven't told me what you would like. Do you think that would be a nice birthday present or do you know something else you'd rather have?" His eyes continued to flash back and forth between the shotgun and me. Finally his mouth opened and then moved. I didn't hear a sound. His mouth moved again. Still no sound. "What's the matter? The cat got your tongue?" Suddenly there was a sound breakthrough. "Yes! YesYesYes..." I grinned. "Yes the cat's got your tongue or yes you think it would make a good birthday present." He stuck his arm out holding the gun in Dale's general direction. Fortunately Dale grabbed it. I suddenly had my arms full of Corey. He was hugging me and jumping up and down. I managed to keep my chin out of the way of his head as he bounced there, hanging on to me with a death grip. I grinned at Dale. "I think this means yes," I chuckled. Dale started shaking his head. "I think you're right." It took a while for Corey to calm down. When he finally did I started to make arrangement to pay. I had just started when an old friend saw me and came walking over. His name was Kelly Robinson and he was the manager of the local branch of the bank I used. I'd gotten acquainted with him when he as assistant manager of the branch my account was in. I know it was a promotion but hated it when he moved. "Hi Sam, Dale. Long time no see. You still teaching?" he asked me. I laughed and told him that yes, I was still teaching. It was apparent that he and Dale knew each other. We stood there batting the breeze and getting caught up on each others lives. Finally the subject of what we were doing came up. When I explained I was buying a shotgun for Corey he asked me how I was paying for it. That produced an explanation that I was going to give Dale a check and make arrangements to pick the gun up when the owner was satisfied the check was good. Kelly asked who the owner of the gun was and just laughed when Dale told him. He whipped out his cell phone and scrolled through the menu and pushed a button. It wasn't long before I could hear him telling a Mr. Arnold Morrison that he would guarantee my check was good. Finally he handed the phone to Dale and the next thing I knew Dale was handing me the hard case with the rest of the stuff in it and I was handing him a check. All this time Corey had been standing off to one side just kind of gently stroking the shotgun and grinning. Dale and Kelly decided to have a beer and offered me one. I declined as I still had to drive home. Instead I had another Coke and we sat around bullshitting for a while and I showed Corey how to break the gun down so it fit in the case. Finally I told Kelly I'd probably see him around more as I was going to get back into shooting. We all shook hands and Corey and I left. When we got to the pickup I put my gun in the back as usual. When I looked around Corey was in the passenger's seat with the case between his legs. He had what almost could be considered a death grip on it and it didn't look like I would have any luck trying to pry it out of his hands. As I started home the cab of the pickup was filled with such words as totally awesome, so kewl, and a bunch of others. I really kind of wondered why he was so thrilled but it didn't seem like I would have much chance of finding out until he calmed down some. I just let him babble on. I must admit I was surprised that he hadn't stopped by the time we got home. He was out of the pickup in a flash and by the time I got into the house he had all ready gotten the cleaning supplies out and was starting to clean it. I showed him how to take the trigger assembly out and clean and oil it. By the time I'd finished showing him it was time to start dinner. When Bob walked in Corey immediately launched into an excited spiel about his new gun. All I could do is grin and listen in. He finally seemed to run out of words when the dinner was about ready to go on the table. From the looks I kept getting I think it was a question of being so busy swallowing that he didn't have time to talk. His eyes kept darting between the stove and the table. Dinner wasn't anything special. Just hamburger patties, string beans, a simple pasta dish, green salad, and biscuits. As I watched Corey inhale half the pan of biscuits all I could do is marvel that such a small body could hold that quantity of food. When we had finished I poured Bob and me some coffee and we continued to visit. In a few minutes I saw Corey's hand snake out and take the next to the last biscuit. Shortly thereafter it had joined its mates in that bottomless pit known as a teenager's stomach. Bob and Corey headed for Corey's room to work on his art lesson and I cleaned up the kitchen. When I'd completed that task I started in on the papers I had to grade. Surprise, surprise, the scores were down from the usual ones. Guess the team's performance had distracted almost everyone. I hoped my students didn't think they would be allowed any slack just because we had a team in the play-offs. If they did, they would soon be surprised. Bob finished his lesson and after a little conversation he headed home. Finally I was alone with Corey. "Well, do you think we ought to wrap it and you can have it on your birthday?" I asked. The incredulous look he gave me was priceless. He mouth opened like he was going to say something and then moved a few times. Just like earlier in the day no sound came out. A couple of quick breaths and he solved that problem. "What!" "I asked if we should wrap it so you can have it as a birthday present." "BuBuBut..." "But what?" He took a couple more deep breaths and finally seemed to get himself under control. "But I thought it was mine." By this time I was finding it almost impossible to keep from erupting in laughter. I knew his brain was now in nothing less than warp drive trying to figure out what to say. "It is. I got it for your birthday, remember?" As he continued to stare at me with his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water I finally lost it. "You're mean!" I heard over the sound of my laughter. I was laughing so hard by now there was no way I could say anything. I finally just held my arms out, inviting him into them. He hesitated just an instant before he came over and almost jumped into them. As I hugged him I couldn't resist. "You should have seen the look on your face." He was silent for a while and we just hugged. I wondered if maybe I'd made a mistake when I heard the words, "Paybacks hell." Those were the same words I'd used several times when he got the better of me. The soft sly tone in his voice told me that I'd better stay on my toes. I finally leaned partway back in the recliner and Corey squirmed around until he was curled up in my lap. When he laid his head on my shoulder I felt like I'd just made it into heaven. This had to be one of the best things we did together. It just felt so right to have him in my arms. It made me feel like I could love him and keep him from harm, almost like he had surrendered his life to me. I just wanted to hold him and keep him safe. His arms were loosely around my neck and my hands were softly rubbing his back. We just sat there, happy to be in contact with each other. "Happy?" I asked softly. "Uhm," I could feel his head nodding on my shoulder. As I sat there holding him and rubbing his back my thoughts went back to earlier when I'd wondered why he was so excited about having a shotgun. "Can you tell me why?" I whispered. There was a long pause during which he just seemed to slowly sag against me. That was followed by some jerky breaths and I knew I'd started him thinking and those thoughts were far from pleasant. When he started quietly sobbing into my shoulder I wished I hadn't asked. "What's the matter? Do you want to talk about it?" I just wished I could make the pain go away but since I'd started this I figured I might as well go ahead and see if there was a way to help him. "It's the first birthday present I ever got," his anguished voice told my shoulder. We'd never talked much about the past. He hadn't volunteered much information about his life before I met him and I hadn't asked him. I'd always thought that if he wanted me to know, he'd tell me. I just sort of figured he'd tell me anything that he thought was important. Now he'd told me something that was important to him and I didn't know what to say. "God Corey, I'm sorry your mother didn't have enough money to buy you presents." He'd taken me by such surprise I couldn't think of anything else to say. After saying it I just continued rubbing his back. "I only remember once when she wished me happy birthday. It wouldn't cost to do that." The bitterness and sadness in his voice made my heart ache. "I remember hearing other kids talk about presents and I didn't get no presents to talk about," he choked out. "Why?" his voice sobbed. "Why?" I was stunned. As he continued to cry my mind raced, trying to come up with some way to soothe him. The problem was I couldn't think of anything or anyway to take away that pain. I suddenly understood that there was a complex problem here. He loved her but maybe sometimes he hated her. From the way he tried to please me I wondered if he'd spent his life trying to get her approval and love and didn't think he had. The worst part of it was that I wasn't sure he was wrong. Some of her actions showed a real lack of concern about him. Things like taking off for several days just as she was doing now. The fact that she was happy to let him stay with me and didn't seem to worry about not seeing him made me wonder if I'd misunderstood her. If you added in her taking money from him when some of her boyfriends or tricks, I wasn't sure which, had given him some made me think about her in another light. Could she have known why he had the money? I tried to think back and remember what he had said but I couldn't be sure. All I could remember for sure was that he'd said his mother had taken the money. I couldn't think of what to do or say. All I could do was hold him and rub his back. We must have sat there for quite a while until his crying slowed. The thoughts in my mind were rushing around trying to settle into something coherent. I just couldn't seem to come up with what I ought to say or tell him. "Don't she love me?" his plaintive voice asked. I wanted to say yes, of course she loves you but suddenly I didn't know if she did. Little things were flashing through my mind. Things like I'd never seen her hug or kiss him. The times when she'd said she loved him suddenly seemed like they were perfunctorily uttered. That left me a lot less sure of myself as to whether or not she did love him. While I had a hard time believing she didn't, I wasn't sure I was comfortable asserting she did. "Maybe her parents never taught her how to tell you she loved you. If they never told her they loved her, where would she have learned?" It sounded pretty weak to me but maybe it would get his mind off of the subject. After some more thought I continued, "Maybe she never had any birthday parties or gifts. That might be why she doesn't say anything about it." He was quiet as I held him. I wished I knew what was going through his mind. Maybe that would allow me to make his world better, help him to understand how his mother might not understand how important it was that she tell and show him that she loved him. Maybe I was wrong but my gut told me that this was important to him. Maybe he needed to know she loved him in order to make him feel he was important, that someone besides me loved him. Suddenly I remembered that he'd told me she read to him. "Corey, didn't you tell me that she used to read to you when you were younger? If she didn't love you why would she do that? I think she just doesn't know how to tell you she loves you." I managed to say that with what I hoped was enough confidence to make him believe it. He seemed to think the last statement over. His crying stopped and his breathing steadied. "In fact, I remember your saying she used to help you with your schoolwork when you were in the first few grades," I added. "Don't you think that means she loves you? I think she just doesn't know how to say it. Why don't you try telling her how much you love her when she gets home? Then, if she tells you that she loves you, you can tell her how much you worry when she doesn't leave a note when she isn't going to be home." His head moved a little bit and I knew he was thinking about what I'd said. I didn't know if I was right but hoped I was. He finally squirmed around and got down from my lap. After getting a tissue and blowing his nose he looked up at me. "I was happy because I knew you loved me enough to buy that shotgun for me. It's expensive and I know you wouldn't spend that much money unless you did." I wondered to myself if now was the time to try to make sure he understood that it wasn't a question of money when it came to gifts. It was the thought behind them. I decided to let it go for now. I didn't want to do anything that might confuse him. Sometime in the future I'd get a chance to explain that. For now the most important thing was that he understand he was loved. Besides, it was getting late and we really needed to go to bed. Sometime when we had more time I'd try to explain about the value of gifts. In fact, I knew just how I'd do it. I had a couple of inexpensive gifts that meant the world to me because of who they were from and why they were given. They'd be a great way to attempt to explain both what value is and why it can vary so much with the price one must pay to acquire something. I'd tried to explain the concept of value to him several times before but I still wasn't sure he understood. In fact, I knew a lot of people who had never fully grasped the concept. They still thought that the number of dollars it takes to buy something determines its value. I'd gotten a bunch of money from when my parents had been killed but there could never be enough money to make up for the loss I felt because of their absence. We took a shower that was for us, very subdued. I couldn't remember if we had ever taken one in which there wasn't at least some hint of fun or sexual innuendo except for this past week. Tonight there was none. Things had been like this since last Thursday, sometimes the showers were full of fun, sometimes not. Corey didn't say anything and instead seemed to be thinking. I got no response from him even when I washed his groin. I could tell his mind was a million miles away, thinking and worrying about his mother. I knew I couldn't help him anymore right now and we'd just have to wait and hope she came back, safe and sound. Until then all I could do was try to help and support him. As we were crawling into bed he seemed to shake himself. No, it wasn't a physical thing, kind of like he shook himself mentally. He rolled over close to me and kissed me. "Thank you." That was all he said. That was all he needed to say. As I wrapped my arms around him I knew he had started to understand that maybe sometimes, sometimes a person didn't do what was right. It wasn't that they wouldn't like to do what was right but they truly didn't know what was right or how to do it. Maybe he would be able to forgive her for the things she hadn't or couldn't do for him. Hopefully he'd come to understand that it wasn't his fault. We just lay there for a couple of minutes. He started to get in his favorite position and I could feel his hardness pressing against my hip. "Think maybe little Corr wants some attention?" Corey giggled. Not only that, he humped against my hip a couple more times. "By golly pilgrim," I said in my best John Wayne imitation. "I think the little maverick needs to be looked after. Maybe I need to brand him." We both liked old John Wayne movies. I guess that was the wrong thing to say because instantly that part of him was as far from me as he could get it and still be in the bed. Not only that, the giggles were now coming about as fast as they could. That's something that always surprises me about Corey. He can change moods much more quickly than I can. Here he was, all full of giggles and I was just starting to get in the mood. I wouldn't have even responded this quickly except he started giggling and I knew what he wanted. I'd have been happy to just hold him and go to sleep with him in my arms. Instead I knew I needed to help cheer him up. Not only that, I knew exactly what kind of cheering he wanted. A few quick trips around the bed and finally I said, still in my best John Wayne voice, "Guess that there maverick needs hobbles. Either that or I'm going to have to get my lasso and rope him." I never did get the lasso but I guess you might say I threw him. Well maybe that's stretching things a bit but I finally got my hands on him and he surrendered. It worked out just right, almost like he planned it. In fact, if I had a suspicious mind, I would swear it worked out just like he planned it. His head was towards the head of the bed and mine was towards the foot. Not only that, a certain part of him was within easy tongue reach. Perfect. Now to take advantage of that fortuitous fact. I'd just completed one tongue swipe from base to tip when I felt a hot tongue doing the same to me. That was about all it took to get me really revved up. I started concentrating on what I could do with my tongue to that most desirable cock that was just in front of my mouth. By now there was a little precum flowing and I was starting to get my ration of Corey. I just took the head in my mouth and let my tongue caress it. I felt him do the same to me and we ended up just lying there, savoring each other's taste. Neither of us was going anywhere so there was no hurry. We could take all the time we wanted. After a while I took a little more in my mouth. I started sucking on it and swallowing like I was drinking something with a straw. You know, suck and then swallow. As I did that I just kept taking a little more of him into my mouth. At this rate it wouldn't be long before I had all of him. His top leg moved. He bent his knee and moved it until it rested on my shoulder. I knew what he wanted. Moving my head back I put my finger in my mouth to wet it. A little rubbing and another trip to get some more saliva. In the meantime I also doubled my top leg up. I could feel his finger doing unmentionable things to me. One more trip with my finger for a little more saliva and I started to work in earnest. I could feel him buck with uncontrolled thrusts. As my finger slipped in he thrust into my mouth and clamped down on that finger. I just waited as I knew he would relax soon and I could continue. Sure enough, his hips moved back just a little and my finger was once again free to continue its journey. My finger was about as far in as it would go when I felt his enter me. I started to move mine around, searching for the spot. When I hit it his hips thrust forward and once again his ring clamped down. I was just waiting for him to relax when his finger hit that place that sets me on fire. I'd told him we ought to call such actions the fickle finger of happiness when doing this to each other and about all I would have been able to say if my mouth hadn't been full was WOW. Any more rubbing with those fickle fingers and we weren't going to last long. When he didn't quit rubbing I knew he wanted to finish. No delays, no long savoring of this, just release. Come to think of it, I didn't want to wait either. The emotional roller coaster we'd been on didn't allow for delays. We both got right with the program and of course it didn't take long. I could feel myself clamping down on his finger about the time his ring almost immobilized mine. I could still move the tip pretty well and I did so all the while feeling that pressure build up inside me. His hips started to buck and thrust towards me just as I went over the edge. I pulled my head back just a little so I could taste his essence. It didn't take long until we were done. When I came down enough to once again take note of things, my hand was trapped between his thighs with my finger still where it could send shivers through him. I felt him withdraw his finger and knew he was done for the night. I got my finger and hand loose and turned around, dragging the covers over our feet. When I was beside him again we shared a kiss. He then settled into his favorite position. In once sense I hated having his head and leg on me after we had just made love. I was hot and sweaty and really needed to cool off but he wanted to be there. How could I refuse? Instead I just loosely draped an arm around him and relaxed. It wasn't long until the sandman claimed us both. To be continued... Postscript This is the last of the finished chapters. From here on out there will only be postings when I complete a chapter. Normally it takes two to four weeks to write a chapter. I guess it depends on how ambitious I am. Sometimes I just don't feel like writing. For those of you who have made it this far, if you'd like, drop me an email and I'll put you on a mailing list so you can be notified when a new chapter is posted. The list will only be used to advise you on chapter postings and will not be shared with anyone. Otherwise you can do what I do. That is I just put the directory of a story I like in bookmarks or favorites and then check every now and then. I have two folders in favorites that deal with stories. One is labeled continuing stories and the other is labeled story sites. I'm currently tracking twenty-six stories and have nineteen sites I check at least occasionally for stories. Some of the story sites I should just drop as they don't seem to be updated any more. I thought about starting the list with those who had written but decided against it. That allows you to choose whether or not you wish to receive posting notifications. I know I hate unsolicited emails, although I don't consider letters over the stories unsolicited, so thought I'd better give you the option of being on the list or choosing not to be. It's your choice. Chapter twenty-seven is almost completed so it shouldn't take long to finish. After that, who knows how fast I'll write. It's taken almost fifteen months to get this far in the story. I keep thinking I know how all the rest is going to be and then I come up with something more I want to include. Sometimes that adds several chapters to the story. Anyhow, thank you for reading this story and I hope you continue. Best wishes to all. Fritz fritz@nehalemtel.net