I think I'll actually have time next week to get Chapter 85 written. Two days of showings this week, inspection this afternoon, a final walk through and closing tomorrow, then showings for most of Saturday. Considering that nationally, we're more than 2.5 MILLION houses short of where we need to be, it's not going to get better any time soon.
I don't know if anyone else is reading the public comments at the end of the story. I'm amused, because of three things.
One, apparently everyone has forgotten that this story is currently taking place in 1985 and not 2021. That means you can't apply TODAY'S standards to how people were then. How old were you thirty-six years ago? Me, I was 23, and just graduating from college. You think maybe YOU might have looked at things a little differently then?
Two, in line with that, yes, I've been married to my wife for 22 years now. I know some of you have been married for 40 years. Do you remember when you'd been together with your girlfriends for only four or five MONTHS, or LESS? You're assuming that Cal has the maturity of someone who's 50 or 60 years old ... not 16. If you're male, remember what an immature jackass you were as a junior in high school (or what a nerd, that got beat up all the time)? Really, guys? Would you like me to hold that ladder, so you can climb down off your high horse?
Third ... I even got a couple of emails that said Jennifer should know better because she's so much older, and been married before. Guys, she was married to a CHILD MOLESTER! She'd mentally compartmentalized things. This is all new to her, too!
In an upcoming chapter, Cal makes a comment to the effect of, "Whoa, this is a lot of changes in only a month!", with the response from one of his ladies being, "Now you know what you've been putting US through!" Cal landed in Kansas on August 24th, 1984. Chapter 12 starts on January 13th, 1985. That's a LOT of stuff happening in what amounts to a very short time.
This is coming of age story. The characters involved are going to make mistakes. They're human, no matter what planet they were born on. How they react and learn from the conflict is what makes the drama and story worth reading. And I think my editors would agree ... you guys ain't seen nothing, yet.