Watching Brad

[caddymac]

A great chapter. I am glad Ted is starting to see more to his selfishness! Thank you for a wonderful story Neil.

 

[gsdx]

WATCHING BRAD
Part 196​

"That's our bedroom, Uncle Nathan!"

"We pick-ded it and Daddy said ‘okay'!"

It was difficult to know who was more giddy - Justin or his identical twin brother, Jeremy. Both voices were equal in excitement and both boys bounced in our laps to identical altitudes as they pointed toward the laptop sitting on the coffee table before us.

I sat in the middle of the small sofa in Nathan and Barry's little apartment. Brad sat cross-legged on the floor between my legs with Jeremy sitting comfortably in the ‘seat' formed by his folded legs. Justin sat in my lap, of course, with Nathan sitting to my left holding Lindsay in his lap and Barry to my right with no-one left in the room to sit in his lap.

The image the twins were pointing to was a picture of the front of the house we would be building. ‘For a few dollars extra', the company from which we purchased the floor plans would also include an interactive computer CD allowing us to ‘walk' around, into, and through the entire house. We were about to do that.

"Show them our room, Daddy Brad," Jeremy said, still bouncing with excitement.

"Calm down, Champ,' Brad chuckled, wrapping his left arm around Jeremy to try to hold him still. "We'll get there soon enough, okay? We have to get in the house first!"

"That's Tudor, isn't it?" Nathan asked.

"Tudorish," I told him. "It's Tudor only as far as looking like it."

"But it looks cool," Barry said, which seemed to be the general consensus of everyone who saw it. "I can see myself visiting there quite often," he added with a gentle poke in my ribs from his left elbow. "Got a guest room?"

I looked at him with a smile and a wink and said, "Two, actually. It's a ‘four plus one'."

"Oh! You mean we get to choose where we want to sleep?"

"If you get there first, yes. Otherwise, you sleep where the other guests aren't."

"We could always come home, Barry," Nathan reminded him. "It's not like we're halfway across the province or anything."

"And miss out on the chance for you to cook breakfast for the kids?" Barry laughed one of the most hilarious laughs I'd ever heard come out of the man. "Who are you trying to kid, Nathan? You'd live there if Ted would rent you a room just so you could cook for everyone!"

That made us all laugh.

The image of our house remained temporarily ignored on the screen. It's a two-storey house, but not completely so. How should I explain this? Okay, when one thinks of a two-storey home, one usually pictures a second floor identically-sized to the main floor beneath it. Occasionally, the second floor might be confined to one side of the house or the other, or completely set back from the front and spanning the entire width of the house.

Our new home was different. The second floor was about two-thirds the size of the main floor and was aligned with the back of the house virtually in the centre which means that the front and sides of the second storey were surrounded by the roof of the first floor.

To the left was a two-car garage with identical double doors. To the right, a large bay window. The sheltered main entry to the house was inset between the two. Except for doors and windows, the entire façade of the bottom floor was clad in reddish-brown stone.

Four windows fronted the second storey which was clad in white stucco and decorated with the familiar dark stained Tudor strapping. Both roofs were shingled with reddish-brown shingles. The windows of the room which Justin and Jeremy had pointed to were the two above the garage.

"Where's your room, Lindsay?" Nathan asked after the laughter finally petered out.

"There," she said as she pointed toward the right side of the screen. "Above the lounge."

"You got stuck with the small room, eh, Lindsay?" Barry asked as he leaned forward to look around me and Justin.

"Lindsay shook her head ‘no'. "Daddy says they're both the same size."

Barry's eyebrows rose high on his forehead as he turned his eyes to mine. "Really? You lucked out there, eh?"

"Sure did. No arguments from anyone that way," I said. "The guest room is smaller, though."

Barry shrugged. "Squatters can't be choosers. As long as it's big enough for a bed."

"Oh, it's plenty big enough for a bed."

"But it doesn't have any closets," Lindsay added. "That's why I didn't want it. I would have to hang my clothes on the floor."

I'm not sure if Lindsay meant to make such a funny comment, but she had Nathan wiping tears from his eyes.

Brad began the trek through our house, running his finger over the laptop touchpad as he moved the image across the barren front yard toward the front door. "Of course, Baie Dankie will be doing the landscaping," he announced proudly. :"It's going to stop traffic."

"Planting trees in the middle of the street, are you, Brad?" Barry asked.

Without skipping a beat and without looking away from the computer screen, Brad replied, "I was thinking retaining walls."

"Wow," Nathan said. "Talk about your speed bumps!"

Brad's practised finger quickly took us, the viewers, toward the sheltered front door.

"We can get in the house from the garage, too," I said. "Through the laundry room."

"Oh, that'll be nice in winter, won't it?" Barry commented. "No more wading through the cold and snow to carry in your groceries and stuff."

"Yeah," I said almost fearfully as I pictured the snow-covered ground in my mind. "Winter. I can hardly wait."

Justin tilted his head back until he could look at me upside-down. "We like winter," he said with an upside-down grin.

His brother twisted around so he could see me over Brad's shoulder. "We can play in the snow!"

I felt a nudge in my ribs from the right and glanced over at Barry. "That's all going to change the moment you hand them snow scoops and tell them to go shovel it."

"Don't remind me," I sighed with a sideways smirk.

Brad took us into the sheltered alcove where he let us stand for a moment before he clicked a button with his thumb and the wooden door opened. We moved into the foyer. The virtual house, for the most part, was generically designed and decorated and sparsely furnished. It's intent was specifically to allow you to see what the completed house would look and feel like without forcing any kind of style upon you. There was enough to give you ideas - flooring, carpets, tiles, and such - but not so much that you couldn't see past it all and imagine it painted and decorated in your own personal style with your own personal preferences..

The plain, tile-floored foyer spread out before us as we looked down the hallway, past the coat closet on the left. Directly ahead, at the spot where the hallway angled to the left, was the rather elegant stairway. It was a sleek, sweeping, curved staircase turning to the left as it ascended.

"We're changing the stairs," I said. "Mom suggested that we take it up straight ahead to a landing, then turn left and continue to the second floor. For one thing, she said it would be cheaper to build and, for another, it would probably save me a whole lot of trips to the hospital with two little boys who slid off the end of the banister and did a face dive onto the tiled floor."

"Prudent," Nathan commented from my left.

"I suggested a newell post," Brad said over his shoulder, but Ted said we'd be dealing with a broken coccyx instead of a broken face."

"And there's nothing worse than a broken coccyx," Barry said under his breath, giving undue attention to the first syllable.

Directly to the right of where we stood just inside the front door, two steps going up, framed on either side by an iron railing, provide ingress to the main raised livingroom, or what Mom liked to call the ‘formal lounge'. Brad took us up the steps and into the room. Directly ahead of us, between two tall windows, was a large and beautiful fireplace with some nondescript artwork hanging on the wall above it. To the right, at the front of the house, was the large bay which encompassed most of the wall. A cushioned, built-in bench inset into the bay provided seating beneath the windows.

"Wood, gas, or electric?" Nathan asked, obviously referring to the fireplace.

"Our choice," I replied, "but we're going with gas. The lines are already there from the old house. It's just a matter of reconnecting to it. There's two more fireplaces in the house, too, and gas seems the best option."

"But then we can't sit around and watch Brad and Barry chopping wood with their shirts off."

Barry, in true Monty Python form, began a boisterous rendition of The Lumberjack Song, sounding eerily like Michael Palin. And there was much rejoicing.

To the left of the lounge, through an open archway looking toward the back of the house, was the diningroom. It was large enough to seat our entire family with room to spare. Of course, on bigger occasions, we might have to set up a kiddie table as well. A built-in sideboard with drawers and shelves below was set into the wall to the left which, conveniently, made use of the wasted space beneath the stairway on the other side of the wall. Two more windows on the right wall let in ample light and would overlook the side of John and Bernice's home.

Directly ahead, through a second archway, was the kitchen. A reversed C-shaped counter began immediately beyond the archway, extending to the outside wall, left to the wall at the back of the house, and then left again to toward the back door. A corner sink was set into the counter at the outside corner. To the left of the sink, near the door, was a spot for the refrigerator. To the right of the sink was a space for the range. A perfect kitchen triangle as described in all the best decorating and designing magazines and television programmes.

"We want to open a pass-through to the diningroom just over the counter there," Brad explained, "and we want to put an island in the middle of the ‘C'."

"Good idea," Nathan said. And then, "Oh! And look. A breakfast nook."

That was in the far left corner of the kitchen, just to the left of the back door. In the images on the screen, steps led down into the den and a railing identical to those in the lounge lined the remainder of the edge of the kitchen with a table and chairs set before it.

"We're going to change that, too," I told him. "We want to get rid of the railing and replace it with a solid, partial wall and we want to build an L-shaped banquet bench instead. We want to leave it open to the den, but we like the idea of bench seating."

"Nice," came a whispered comment from Nathan and a quick glance his way showed that he was nodding his aproval.

Brad took us to the left next, down the stairs and into the den large. "This will be the main livingroom and play room for the kids," I said. A built-in bookshelf was inset into the wall immediately to the left of the steps. Just beyond that to the left was an opening which exited to the main L-shaped hallway. To the right was a set of double doors leading out onto the back patio and into the back yard. To the left of the doors was a large picture window which would flood the livingroom with the morning sunlight. Just to the left of the window, on the adjacent wall, sat the second fireplace in the house.

Brad moved his finger on the touchpad and took us back out into the hallway. Immediately to the left was a doorway beneath the stairs - the doorway Mom was talking about earlier. "That door is supposed to be for a utility closet," I said, "but we're going to put in a basement under the diningroom and we're going to change that closet into the staircase down."

"Always thinking," Barry said. "Where's our room?"

I gave him a quick jab with my elbow. "Keep your pants on," I told him with a chuckle, "or you'll be sleeping in the basement with the spiders. We're getting there." Directly ahead, across the hallway, was another door. "That's the door to the laundry room," Brad explained as he aimed his finger at the screen. "It exits into the garage."

To my left, Nathan sighed. "A laundry room," he uttered dreamily.

"The utility room is off the garage, too," I added. "That's where the furnace and water heater and electrical panel and stuff like that will be kept."

Brad spun us to the right, facing the end of the ‘L'. Directly ahead was the doorway to the bathroom and, to the right. . . "And there's your ‘plus one' bedroom, Barry," I told him, indicating the other door to the right of the bathroom door on the adjacent wall. "We'll have our computers set up in there, but there will be plenty of room for guests if we need it. I was thinking of checking into the prices of Murphy beds. I think they're a lot more practical and comfortable than futons and, when they're not being used, they just go away."

"Do they squeak?" Barry asked.

That earned him another jab in the ribs.

"Take us upstairs, Brad," I said with a nudge of my knee against Brad's shoulder. He quickly maneuvered us around to the base of the staircase.

"I see what you mean about the banister," Nathan said almost secretly. "Way too much temptation."

I smiled at him and winked.

With a twitch of Brad's finger, up the stairs we went. Both twins started bouncing in our respective laps. Jeremy began slapping Brad's forearm. "Our room first, Daddy Brad!" he screeched excitedly, and then he began clapping his hands together, joined immediately by his brother.

Brad turned to the left at the top of the stairs, now facing us toward the front of the house once more. Directly to our right was the doorway to the upstairs bathroom and, to the left, was the doorway to the guestroom. In the wall immediately ahead of us were two more doors and Brad led us toward the one on the right. He took us in. The twins squealed even louder and clapped their hands with even more enthusiasm and excitement as their bouncing reached optimum altitude. The fact that there was little more in the room than a bed between the windows on the wall opposite the door and a chest of drawers against a side wall did nothing to diminish their glee. There were two more windows on the wall to the right just beyond the double closet doors.

"There's our bed!" Justin shouted as he pointed toward the screen.

"But we can't sleep in it," Jeremy added.

"It's a pretend bed," returned Justin.

"Daddy will buy us a real one," concluded Jeremy.

"Indeed he will," I grinned happily.

Lindsay's room was a mirror image of the twins' bedroom. And, after a quick glance in the guestroom, Brad took us back down the hall, past the bathroom and stairway, and into the master bedroom. It was a somewhat oddly-shaped ‘L' as well. The room was easily the largest room on the second floor and opened up to the right of us, directly ahead of us, and also to the left beyond and around a diagonal wall.

As Brad moved us into the room, it became clear that a large, walk-in closet was immediately to our right. Beyond that, on the outside wall, was a doorway which opened onto a private balcony, large enough for a hot tub, an outdoor bar, patio furniture, and a healthy gathering of friends if we so wished. Two large windows, set side-by-side, would ultimately face the south and Lake Ontario. Three more windows set into the adjacent wall would let in more than enough of the morning sunlight. The third fireplace was situated in the corner against the opposite the balcony. Conveniently, the fireplace was situated directly above the fireplace in the den downstairs and, hence, would share the chimney.

Finally, to the left of the fireplace and set into the diagonal wall was the doorway to our en suite bathroom. Brad took us inside.

"We don't have a clue what it's going to look like yet," I told our friends.

"Are your parents still going to do it over for your wedding present?" Barry asked.

"They're going to take the plans back to their designer along with a copy of the floor plans this week," I said with a nod. "Since he doesn't have to actually build a bathroom now, he can cut costs and probably do something for our bedroom as well, but we. . ."

"My Uncle Warren and Uncle Bill are going to do my bedroom," my daughter interjected happily. "I told them I want pretty wallpaper on the wall behind my bed and I want a nice vanity so I can put on my make-up."

"When you're old enough to wear it, Sweetheart," I told her with a smile.

"I can practise, Daddy," she said shyly. "Terry is teaching me how."

"Then you'll have your vanity to practise, Sweetheart."

"What about our room, Daddy?" Justin asked.

"We'll do it," Barry said.

"Well, that's what I was just going to tell you, Barry. Brad and I have already talked to our parents and they've agreed to cut back a few grand from our reno to do the twins' room."

"Not anymore, Ted," Nathan told me firmly. "If Warren and Bill can do a room for Lindsay, then we can sure do a room four our godsons. What's our budget?"

There was no talking Nathan and Barry out of their intention to do over their godsons' bedroom. Personally, I didn't want to argue with them. I figured I could handle Nathan easily enough, but Barry could hurt me really bad with both arms duct taped behind his back, and I would much rather see him happy and smiling at me than breaking me.

* * * * *

Brad was practically beaming with pride as he took the family out to dinner that evening at their favourite eatery at his invitation. For the very first time, he paid for the entire meal himself, and he paid for it with the proceeds of his very first paycheque. Granted, the meals at their favourite eatery were served in a cardboard box with a kindly old gentleman with a white moustache and goatee printed on the side, but we went to Tim Horton's for dessert.

It was Brad who talked Jeremy into sleeping in his own room that night. As we had suspected he would be, Jeremy was reluctant to let Brad out of his sight even for sleep. He was sniffling gently now as Brad cuddled him against his chest. We were sitting on their bed in their room. Justin nuzzled himself against me in silence as he watched his brother and Daddy Brad and listened to the words which passed between them.

"I don't want you to go away," Jeremy simpered in his squeaky, saddened little voice.

"I'm not going away, Jeremy," Brad replied with a reassuring hug. "I promise. I'll still be here when you wake up."

"No."

"Jeremy, look at me." When Jeremy didn't respond, Brad picked him up and turned him to face him. "Look at me." Slowly, Jeremy's gaze lifted to meet Brad's. "I love you and Justin and your sister and your Daddy very much, and I'm not going away ever again. Now, I want you to be a big boy now and sleep in your own bed tonight, okay? In the morning, when you wake up, you can come into our bedroom and you'll see that I didn't go away. We'll even leave the door open for you. Can you do that for me?"

"I don't want you to go away," Jeremy repeated sadly.

"I won't," Brad said as he hugged Jeremy to him again and kissed his hair. "Now, come on. Into bed. We'll stay here with you until you go to sleep."

Jeremy fought sleep as long as he could, but his exhaustion from the day's fun and adventure ultimately overtook him and he finally fell into peaceful slumber. Only then did Justin fall asleep as well, hugging his younger brother a bit more closely than usual.

I took Brad by the hand and led him back to our bedroom, closing the door behind us.

"I promised Jer. . ." he began, but I silenced him with my lips against his. I hugged our bodies close and kissed and held him until I felt the pressure of him growing against me before leading him over to the bed. We stood there beside it as I began to slowly take off Brad's clothes, pulling his T-shirt over his head and dropping it to the floor. I knelt before him to remove his shorts and his socks before burying my face in his burgeoning underwear-clad crotch, using my tongue to tease him into full readiness. Brad's groin had the manly smell of being enclosed in his clothing all day, but the scent was intoxicating and brought me to full readiness as well as I nuzzled into him with tender gentleness.

I had, indeed, missed him much more than I could have imagined I would, and I was glad our sons were not sharing our room that night.

I peeled off Brad's underwear, dropping it to the floor with his other clothes before sucking him into me as deeply as I could. Brad's cock quivered with excitement and swelled within me as I tasted all the manliness he had to offer to me. All too soon, though, he leaned forward, hooking his hands beneath my arms and lifting me easily to my feet. He thanked me with a kiss of his own as he removed my own clothes, settling on his knees before me and treating me to the same pleasure as I had recently given to him.

It was my turn to return Brad to his feet and I hugged him, trapping our cocks between us. We kissed again as our hips rocked and rolled, grinding our cocks against each other until slick droplets of sweetness began to moisten our skin. My hands slid down his back, sliding over the full, solid, rounded mounds of his ass and pulling him even closer to me.

"I need you inside me, Brad," I whispered to my husband. "I need you."

Whether it was Brad's sexual frustration from the past few weeks or whether it was his lingering dissatisfaction toward my recent behaviour, I may never know, but he made love to me that night with a strength and intensity which had me straining and gritting my teeth to keep up with him. Never had he filled me as he did that night, and never had he used me for his pleasure with little concern of my own.

His lovemaking began slowly and tenderly as I lay on my back in the bed and he locked his elbows behind my knees, raising my legs and surrendering myself to him. He moved his cock within me but, as time passed, the speed of his strokes increased as did the intensity. The heat of the summer night filled Brad to brimming and came out in his sex. Even in the moonlight filtering through the window beside us, I could see the effort in his face.

Brad's vocalizations began as tiny puffs of breath and blossomed with each increasingly-powerful thrust of his hips until each thrust was accompanied by a manly grunt. Soon, the soft slapping sound of skin on skin joined his grunts as his pelvis slammed into me. With my hands clutching Brad's back, they quickly became slick with his perspiration. It wasn't long before his sweat dripped off his face and onto mine. I could taste his sweet saltiness on my lips as my tongue licked away his moisture. I lifted my head from the pillow, extending my tongue and using it to gather as much as I could directly from the skin of his face.

My right hand slid off his back and between us, wrapping itself around my cock and beginning to stroke in tempo with Brad's thrusts. I wanted to share his orgasm with one of my own. When it came, Brad's orgasm was well-suited for someone nicknamed ‘Tiger'. It was animalistic to say the least, strong, powerful, and ultimate, and the sound of his groans of pleasure seemed to fill the room. His sweat dripped onto me in a shower and I could feel his orgasm inside me as his cock pulsated and pumped his juices into the condom. My own cock pumped my own juices onto my belly where it mingled with our sweat and made our skin even more slick and slippery. Brad's heated and exhilarated breath wafted over my face from above until he collapsed in exhaustion atop me.

Later, after a quick shower together, and with our bedroom door open once again, Brad and I lay together in our bed. He apologised to me once more for getting so carried away and treating me the way he did and for not taking care of me the way he should have.

"I didn't mind," I assured him.

And I didn't, really. In fact, I suppose I deserved it.

To Be Continued


* * * * *


For a special treat, here's a little something I did up for you:

http://justusboys.com/forum/userimages/1/5/7/5/297807.gif​

 

[Kyanimal]

Oh, WOW!, Neil!

Oh, WOW!!!

THANK YOU!!

Keep smilin'!! "Kiss", "HUG!"
Chaz

(This deserves MORE Smilies!!!!)

 

[thermodynamics]

Yep. They're back together!

 

[harry113]

Neil, what to say?? Fantastic, Wonderful !!!
They really are back together, and as a family.
Thanks for the house plan & wonderful description ... A lovely nest for all the family,.... & friends.
Thank you again
Harry

 

[upyrkilt469]

Neil, that was a great chapter. It's good to see that Ted came to his senses and things looking pretty good now. Thanks for a great read.
Vic

 

[welshboy]

Hi Neil, only joined two weeks ago, and happy to say have done nothing but read this story from start, to, well, where we are now. You are a truly gifted writer. Will there be any more?

 

[gsdx]

Hi Neil, only joined two weeks ago, and happy to say have done nothing but read this story from start, to, well, where we are now. You are a truly gifted writer. Will there be any more?

Thank you, and there will be more. . . but not today.

I'm afraid I must apologise yet again to everyone.

Life sucks at the moment and my mind is on many things other than the story. There are just too many things going on which are constantly beating me down and I'm finding it very difficult to keep my mood 'up'. I'm not depressed, but I think it's safe to say that it's my next-door neighbour.

Lately, I've been fighting an incredibly long winter which seemed to end only a few weeks ago. The world is turning green once again and the lilacs are about to bloom outside my window, so that may change things. I've also been fighting with my upstairs neighbour who insists that I must listen to her music. She's moving out soon, so that too may change things.

Unfortunately, my back problems are worse than they ever have been and and walking is even more difficult for me now, and that's not about to change. It's also interfering with my sleep more than usual. It doesn't keep me awake. . . it just wakes me up before I want to wake up (like at 5 o'clock in the morning).

On top of all that, there is a good possibility that my landlord will be selling the building. If that happens, the new landlords certainly won't let me pay the rent I'm paying to my current landlord. I've know him for over 30 years and he's giving me quite the bargain on this apartment. I doubt if the next landlord would be as considerate.

I really feel like I'm letting you all down, and I'm sorry for that, but I want you to know that I have no intention of abandoning this story and leaving you hanging. Believe me, the de Villiers family is as important to me as it is to you. It's a life I wish I had been able to live and I'm living it in my writing.

Anyways (to borrow from Bradley) the next chapter is about half done, but certainly not ready to post yet. I'm giving a tentative posting date of this Friday. If that changes, I'll certainly let you know.

Again, I'm sorry for messing up your routine, but life is really messing up my routine these days.

Thank you for your understanding.

 

[crowboy]

Sorry to hear that things are not the best for you at the moment Neil.

All us Watching Brad fans can wait for our next fix. You health and well being is important to us.
A well and happy Neil is a productive writer.

All the best and good luck to you.

 

[caddymac]

Neil, that is a lot to deal with at any time. Losing sleep is enough of a problem without adding anything else. As we have told you before, please take care of yourself first. We will wait until you are ready. Thank you kindly for allowing us to be a part of your life.

 

[shaff2525]

You do what you need for you!
Your loyal fans will be waiting for you!
Take your time
Your story is amazing I will wait no problem!!!

 

[RBRCNDR]

I am only repeating what others have said, Take care of yourself. We'll have to do with the cheap drugs this week. RBRCNDR

 

[Kyanimal]

Neil, Buddy!

I, along with Everyone Else, am sorry to hear about Your current "Trials and Tribulations"! However, the IMPORTANT "THING" is to Take Care of Yourself, FIRST!

Not only are "We" disheartened by Your recent "Troubles", but are also quite Concerned about YOU!

DO, Foremost, attend to YOU!

"We" can certainly, patiently, wait for "Our FIX"!!

Of course ... no matter what ...

Keep smilin'!!
Chaz

 

[sheep]

Neil, this is just another reason to get this book published.

 

[gsdx]

Guess what. Life sucks even more now.

As bad as I thought it was, it's got even worse. And now life's sucking to the tune of 175-odd dollars. To start this little adventure, I have to take you back to April 9 when over $130 was taken out of my bank account for payment of a bill. Now, I knew I didn't have any bills which even come close to anything of that amount, so I went to the bank to question it and discovered that it was paid to Bell Canada. Well, I happened to know that my Bell bill was somewhere around 25 bucks and even if you included my internet service (which is also through Bell), it still would have been half the amount withdrawn. I contested the withdrawal and got my money back on April 22.

But that wasn't the adventure. That began with a phone call from my internet provider saying that the $130+ was for my internet service. Apparently, I hadn't paid it for 3 months which I knew was incorrect because I had my bank books handy with the withdrawals all printed out as neat as you please, and the 3 months she claimed hadn't been paid actually had been paid.

She gave me a number to call, which I did, but I needed a 9-digit account number which I didn't have and had to go online to get it. But to get it, I had to log in which I tried to do and was told I had to change my password. I tried to do that and was told that the account didn't exist. I nearly had a panic attack from the frustration and finally figured out that I wasn't being asked to log into and change the password for my account, but an account which hadn't even been created yet.

So, I created an account and then had to register my internet and phone to that account. All to get that 9-digit number.

I called the phone number back and wasn't even asked for that 9-digit number.

But, the guy was nice despite my anger and frustration and he told me that the girl had given me false info. All my bills had been paid except for that one for $130+

Like me, though, he couldn't figure out why it was so much and he did some investigation and discovered that the excess money was for an 'early termination fee'.

"But I've been with you guys for 12 years!" I told him.

"And you're still being billed by us," he told me. "This doesn't make sense."

I'll say it doesn't.

So, he gave me yet another number to call tomorrow during business hours so I can figure out where that 'termination fee' came from.

Oh. And if that wasn't enough, I'm no longer on automatic withdrawal with my ISP. I have to start that all over again after I get that fee sorted out.

And all that other stuff? It hasn't changed. . . yet.

So, no update tomorrow. Sorry. I'm shooting for Monday now if I can get all this crap sorted out so I can start relaxing and thinking about the story again.

Thanks for your understanding.
Take care, always.
Neil

 

[sheep]

No wonder Ma Bell is for sale. I could tell you stories that would make your blood boil.

 

[Kyanimal]

Hey, Neil, Buddy!

Are You sure You're with "Bell" and not "Time Warner"???! (THAT'S an entirely different story! )

I'm betting their System is 100% P.C.'s with no Macs! THAT would explain it ALL!! "Termination" while You are still "There"!!

Have I told You about the Fire/Paramedics breaking into our house because there was a "Medical Emergency" button pressed (which we don't have on our NEW system panels) when no one was home to press the button that no longer exists??!! (Brinks had the back door sensor ... which, apparently, wasn't closed tightly, configured wrong after the panel update!!) Talk about "misunderstandings" and "mayhem"!!

I remember, years ago, when this "odd" lady kept coming to our house, to "warn" my Dad (the minister), that it was All "A Conspiracy by Wires!" Now ... since so long ago ... it would seem that "Crazy Mary", as we "nicknamed" Her, was quite Prophetic, afterall!!

I do believe, with our current Reliance on Computers, to "weed out" the element of "Human Error", that Civilization, as we've known it, is sliding down a very "Slippery Slope"!! And our "New" problems? Contrived/Created by those very Computers, "themselves"!! Gotta' love "MicroShaft", and "Widows XP", or "Verspall"!!

But ... I, and ALL of "Us", are surely hoping this can all be sorted out, by Humans, come Monday!!

Wishing YOU All the Best!! And, awaiting, breathlessly, for the eventual story updates on/through our "P. of C.'s"!!

Keep in mind that it shall all be resolved, eventually, with "micro-steps", lot's of deep breaths, and a conscious effort to maintain a low blood pressure!

Do TAKE CARE!!

HUGE HUGS!!!

And, of course, especially now ...

Keep smilin'!!
Chaz ;-)

 

[gsdx]

No wonder Ma Bell is for sale. I could tell you stories that would make your blood boil.

My ISP is still through Bell Canada, but the ISP itself is now owned by MSN. Never had any problems until MSN took over.

 

[consult28]

Neil, Sorry to hear about your problems. Those companies can really screw things up. Maybe you can get Sheep to give us some of his ma bell stories for entertainment until you are able to give us our injection of Brad etc.
Good luck just get your money back.
consult28

 

[sheep]

Neil, Sorry to hear about your problems. Those companies can really screw things up. Maybe you can get Sheep to give us some of his ma bell stories for entertainment until you are able to give us our injection of Brad etc.
Good luck just get your money back.
consult28

Sorry, there is a ban on publication of any correspondence relating to me and Bell Canada as part of the settlement to re-establish business phone service after 4 weeks of no service following a move. This is complicated by the fact that to reach 310-BELL you have to have a wired phone. A cell phone or cable phone will not work.
You can only imagine what no phone service will do to a business after 27 years in business. HINT dont come looking to borrow money from me guys

In the early '90's Bell Canada was using Macs but found out that PC's were actually faster than their 4 or 5 year old Macs so they switched. Imagine that! Perhaps they should have tried a new Mac to see if it too was faster