A Grumpy Old Man’s Tale 56 What You See is Never What You Get

How calt will it get? Who knows. I can’t even hazard a guess because I’ve got nowt to base one on. We’ve never hit minus thirty [-22℉] before anywhere in Britain in recorded history, though it’s said that during the winter of sixteen eighty-three going into eighty-four the ice on the Thames was a foot thick [305mm]. I’ve never manage to find even an estimate of how calt it was, but it’s reputed to be the most severe frost recorded in England. It always seemed daft to me to use the expression worst recorded when there’s not even an indication of how calt it was, how is that recorded? Come to that what was it they were recording? Maybe we’ll hit minus forty [-40℉] this time. I wouldn’t rule it out, but like I said I’ve never bin here afore. Think on, it’s not that long since for the first time recorded the temperature in the UK went over forty Celsius. Forty point three [104·54℉] it was at Coningsby in Lincolnshire on the nineteenth of July twenty twenty-two. So owt’s possible.

Dot and Sam 44

All was chaos in the house. With the forth of July conveniently occurring on a Thursday this year, those that could stretch the holiday into an extra-long weekend did so. Thus Chris and Sandy, a modern couple with demanding jobs, chose to leave their teenage children home to fend for themselves and spend four days backpacking in the woods. Naturally, this occasioned some acerbic comments from Melissa – age 13 – and Carter – age 15 – concerning the decrepitude of their aging parents and doubts as to their ability to survive without Cable, Internet and Fast Food.

Chapter 28

As we moved into the year, I made the final film of the trilogy, ‘Kathleen Cary, the Slide’. It was hard for me to make, with a lot of emotional scenes. If this didn’t win anything I was in the wrong game.

I gripped the sheets tightly, burying my head in the pillow to stifle my moans and avoid waking Jackson. Being with Tom always felt incredible.
 
With each deep thrust, he forced involuntary cries of pleasure from my lips. I've always wondered whether the pleasure I felt when we lay together was typical or if Tom was just that good.
 
I had no way to know because I hadn't been with anyone else since I had my surgery and I could never achieve similar results when I played with myself either.
 

Chapter 27

We, in Europe, now think that the influx of migrants is a problem. In Germany, after the war, there were over seven and a half million German prisoners, as well as an influx of thousands more being shipped in from other theatres of war.

On top of that, there were tens of thousands of Displaced Persons, some fleeing the Soviets and the Soviet Zone. The British, alone, had two million prisoners in a space no bigger than Suffolk, on top of the local population. The speech was wishful thinking, at best.

Cerridwen Circe Whitethorn's Debutante Ball

Part Two of Three:

Vanishing My Own Shadow

I blame it all on dad. He was a glutton. He ate himself to death.

Chapter 26

I did what I had done before, by starting to write it as a story before aiming at the screenplay. I had a lot of it on the computer when Jacquie informed us that we had nothing to go to the Globes for, but a number of nominations in the BAFTA awards this year.

Tom and Taylor had been best friends ever since kindergarten. They weren’t exactly inseparable any longer but every minute they could you would find them together. It really was quite fun to see them. Tom was BIG. A star athlete. Discus, shot put and things like that. Taylor was tiny and cute. He excelled in softer areas. Home Ec wizard, dancing, fashion … You couldn’t imagine two boys that were more different. It was really quite fun to watch them. No denying that there was a very close bond between them though. Perhaps it was because both of them were such firm conservatives.

I want to make some things perfectly clear.
First of all, I NEVER said I was a girl.
I was not girly in any way.
I wasn’t petite. I’m slightly above medium height (male).
I did not have long flowing golden locks. Not exactly short but certainly not long.
I was not a social outcast. Actually, I was quite popular in school and did honor list (though not potential Valedictorian) well in school.

Chapter 25

When we arrived in Los Angeles, we were swept up in a tidal wave of media hype. As defending champions of the Best Film and other awards, we were a hot topic. We were a few days early, which were filled with interviews and TV appearances. ‘Thirteen Women’ was controversial, seeing that it acknowledged the Devil without a mention of God. The ultra-right was in an uproar, which meant that everybody else supported us, ‘just for the hell of it!’

Chapter 24

“There’s also something else I need doing. Make sure that your passport is up to date. I have the house near Valencia. I would like you to go there, in October, and open it up for me. Colin, Ruth, Larry, and Brendon will be spending a few months in it, and we will close this one down for winter. Talk to Michael and get a credit card linked to my account for all your living expenses.”

“Thank you, Julia. I’ll be careful.”

Part 1: First Impressions

Photo by Pablo Heimplatz on StockSnap

It happens when you're an old fart. You just sort of doodle along, until one day you open your dresser drawer and there is only one pair of shorts left in there and when you put them on they sort of droop and barely hang on, the elastic shot from too many washings. Back when I was married such things just wouldn't have happened, my wife would have replaced my worn underwear as part of her wifely duties. Seriously, that's how she thought of such things – wifely duties.

A Grumpy Old Man’s Tale 55 Just Three Longer Tales

“Yes. I’m interested. You said you wanted a wife and were honest as to why. I’ll be just as honest. I’d be grateful of the care and protection of a decent man, but I’ve a son to protect. I’m no whore, but the exchange of bed comforts and a well kept dwelling for the protection of herself and her children is an exchange so ancient it’s decent way beyond decency, so my price is marriage. When do we get married? because till then I’m not prepared to offer you the opportunity to father my second child.”

It was around 8 am the next morning that I ferried Jackson downstairs in search of breakfast. He'd already been up for thirty minutes at that point but I'd been up thirty minutes prior trying to decide what he and I were going to wear for the celebration.

Deciding on Jackson's outfit had been simple enough. I'd chosen a button-down shirt and khakis, a timeless choice for any event. Dressing a young boy was easy, if a bit boring.

A bit more difficult though was choosing an outfit for myself.