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					strings attached by inyx http://www.angelfire.com/ut/inyxfanfiction/strings1.html SYNOPSIS: Jessie and Kelly have been friends and flatmates for years when one stupid night Jessie does something stupid, and ends up pregnant. Together they go down the rocky road of having a child, told through the eyes of Kelly (the non-pregnant Uber-X character). Everyone thinks they're perfect for each other. They don't think they're gay. A dry and cynical look at friendship, and possibly love, under adversity. excerpt: Jessie has been my best friend forever. Well, maybe not forever. More like the past seven years. But in terms of friendship that's pretty good. Especially since my track record in getting friends sucks. My mother always blamed my cynic like nature on my father, who is dead and can't defend himself. I was four when he passed away and don't really remember him so what can I say? Except you'd think my mom would like me more since she married a cynic. EWOK: I was prepared to say this sounded like a good introduction to a teen's diary, with the voice of a 15-year-old captured well, and then I got to "I'm in my mid thirties and Jessie just barely turned thirty" and realised this wasn't the case... NANCY: I'm having Wonder Years flashbacks. OK, what you have to do to really get into this story is to pretend from the outset that the writer got it all wrong. The characters are actually in their mid twenties, have been friends since they were teenagers, and then the voice seems to make a bit more sense. Once you get past that issue, this is really very amusing! There's this whole issue about the two characters maybe/maybe not being gay, and Kelly's denial of it cracks me up every time. excerpt: Jessie looked to Kelly's family. She liked them, especially Dora Jean. And Travis wasn't so bad, he just rubbed Kelly the wrong way all the time. "Kelly and I have an announcement to make." Dora Jean promptly sat down in a chair next to Jessie and held her hand to her chest. "You're getting married!" Kelly gave her an incredulous look. "We're not gay, mom!" Jessie smiled. "I'm pregnant!" Dora Jean covered her mouth in shock. "Oh, Jessie!" She hugged her close and glared at her daughter over Jessie's shoulder. "And you said you weren't gay." EWOK: *giggle* NANCY: I was going to quote that passage too! It was a particularly good example of the kind of dry-yet-not-sarcastic humour that abounds in this story so far. The writer has hit upon something interesting here. Even though the story abounds in spelling errors and sentences that don't quite make sense, she has her own very cool style. EWOK: I'd have to agree with you there, Nancy. It struck me when she started describing the smell of teenage boys: excerpt: Here's an experiment for you: Get two or more boys, (must be between the ages of twelve and eighteen), and stick them in a room where they spend more than three hours doing something pointless with little or no ventilation, and cracking a window hadn't occurred to them. That could be a punishment for serial killers on death row. It also deterred me from dating any of them until oral hygiene was resolutely drilled into their single tracked minds. I'm reminded of the narrator's voice from Redemption. I don't think we're working with as strong, nor as experienced, a writer here, but there's potential yet. Room for improvement, for sure, and for a spell checker if it comes to that - but definitely enough nuggets of potential for me to want to keep reading... Plus, in lieu of the yet-to-be-posted Part 3, there's a poll and a movie review. What more can you ask for? EWOK: I'd go as high as a 7 for potential, but only a 6 for execution. Maybe we'll come back to this one when more's been posted. NANCY: *slaps Ewok* You stinge! And it's almost Christmas too. Well, if we're giving two ratings, I'd give a 9 for potential and 8 for execution! And I'm definitely coming back for more. I might even give in to evil temptation and hassle the writer for an advance copy....*g*