A Kingswood Family Christmas - Chapter 1
Added 2024-10-11 16:00:01 +0000 UTCThursday 22 December 2022
Comments
It suddenly hit me -- Danny is having his midlife crisis about 20 or 25 years early!
Rutabaga
2024-10-13 13:24:26 +0000 UTCI considered actually writing the story, but unfortunately time got in the way as usual. Maybe someday though. Glad you noticed the way the sections connected. No deeper mean, I was just in a silly mood that day lol
Matthew Smith
2024-10-12 15:33:39 +0000 UTCI believe we were told that the medical facility donation was made anonymously by Chris's family.
Rutabaga
2024-10-12 13:57:43 +0000 UTCOh, and Matt, do you plan to publish βDante Devias and the Castle of Deception' as a side story? I'm looking forward to reading it! One more thing. The way Matt connected each section is really interesting!
Johnny Kape
2024-10-12 13:36:37 +0000 UTC@Matt You (should?) know that since I specifically point out Chris's dad what I expected the "appreciation" would be π
Johnny Kape
2024-10-12 13:32:56 +0000 UTCGood points, well made. With regard to the Year 8 accident, I think I put in some comments at the time to someone else that those sorts of things did happen, but it's the sort of thing that doesn't always make it into the chapters. I can understand how, from a readers perspective, those things may look like they're just skimmed over, but a lot goes on behind the scenes with the staff that I choose not to show. I'll keep it in mind for the future though. As for Ryan and Mark, this is where part of the problem came in with them. They were undeniably unpleasant boys, but their outright evil and malicious actions were all aimed primarily at Josh. While they were at Kingswood and away from him, that mostly came out in Ryan's influence over Alex, wherein they managed to poison his mind against Josh without ever meeting him, but outside of that they were fairly typical students. They were always a bit thuggish, but they were never outright bullies of aggressors to anyone else. All of their hate was targeted at Josh and mostly became apparent once he joined the school. They were also smart enough to keep their hatred and bullying of Josh discrete, never really being that bad with anyone else around. They're a complex pair because they have undeniable mental health issues around their father's death, and almost certainly bigger issues beyond that. Sadly, like so many problems, it managed to go unnoticed until it was almost too late.
Matthew Smith
2024-10-12 11:33:49 +0000 UTC@Rutabaga 1. Johnny is right, they will be arriving over the next couple of days. In-universe, it's because the families will have other things to do and people to see, and have other commitments. Out-of-universe, it's spread out to allow the new/less-known family members to be introduced gradually rather than all at once. 2. Eventually, but not for a long while. It's not been forgotten! 3. He was just checking up on Danny. Knowing about his issues and stress, he is just keeping a very close eye on him and they regaularly chat about how things are going. 4. He has not. His interest so far has been just on other students at the school, plus he's very pragmatic and likely wouldn't put in the effort to try and set up/hide cameras for people who would only be there a couple of days. @Johnny - You're right about dates/arrivals. As for thanking the Smiths, most of them don't even know they partically funded the set-up of the treatment centre. It was something Blane requested from his parents, but they insisted they didn't want any attention for it, as it was about helping Chris's friend, and not something they needed credit for.
Matthew Smith
2024-10-12 11:27:38 +0000 UTCDude! It's fiction. Enjoy the carefree, don't give a darn, atmosphere created by these wonderful characters. It's Neverland! Do bad things happen? For a while...but in the end all is well.
Notmy Realname
2024-10-12 11:26:55 +0000 UTCRob and Milo made up - yes! And I loved the short story - it really shows just how much Josh has overcome, and what a great inspiration he is. Can't wait for the others.
Rich
2024-10-12 09:03:11 +0000 UTCIt was just Dec 22 so it should be at least the next day or Dec 24 for the family to arrive Kingswood I guess. I'd like to see how the school and these boys show their appreciation to Chris's family (his dad, specifically) for their general donation of Josh's treatment devices π
Johnny Kape
2024-10-12 07:00:35 +0000 UTCI was thinking the same thing! I've never cared about characters as much as I do these boys!
Brandon Hardesty
2024-10-12 06:54:59 +0000 UTCMeanwhile, some other questions: 1. Where are all the family members supposedly joining the lads for Christmas? 2. Will we ever find out what the prank was that Danny's year tried to pull on the Year 7s? And what caused the plan to fall through? 3. What did Mr. Rudd want to talk to Danny about? Or was he interested in something other than talking? 4. Has David rigged up the guest quarters for video?
Rutabaga
2024-10-12 00:58:41 +0000 UTCReading Chris's story about Josh reminded me of Kingswood's complete, cataclysmic failure in admitting Josh's two older brothers when they started there, and the criminal level of negligence involved in letting them misbehave as they did over such a period of time. Did the brothers not have mentors? Were those mentors equally corrupt and evil? Was any adult at Kingswood paying attention? Where were the floor monitors? Where was Everett? It's the same lack of accountability that I observed in the aftermath of Chris and Danny's fall into the tunnel. Adults at the school were directly responsible for creating the circumstances that led to that perilous and life-threatening fall, yet so far as the story reveals, there was not one single consequence for any of those adults -- not even a stern talking-to. And I don't recall even an apology to Danny or Chris from any of the people who set them up for that accident. No one was put on probation, no one received training, no warnings were given. At most the school evidently decided that maybe it would be a good idea to close up or repair those tunnels so that no more students would be put in life-threatening peril, although it's unclear how serious those efforts were. Again, I fault Everett most of all for fostering such an irresponsible and lackadaisical attitude. It's inexplicable.
Rutabaga
2024-10-11 22:29:23 +0000 UTCWhat a loving chapter! How can you NOT love all these characters?
Johnny Kape
2024-10-11 17:23:39 +0000 UTC
