A story of great interest. But will Doug take it to
the honest conclusion, or will he choose the easy path of
"and everyone lived happily ever after"?

	I ask this in part because of the title. Almost ALL
children level this accusation against their parents. What
they don't understand, what they CANNOT understand is that the
unfairness they feel is no more real that the ghost of a dream.

	Being an adult means the death of innocence. It begins
on that day when you _understand_ that, yeah, you're going to
die. That someday SOON, someone's going to kick dirt over your
face, and you'll be nothing more than rotting meat in a hole in
the ground. And you can ACCEPT this. You're an adult when you 
can say "Yeah. I'm going to die. Now, let's get on with it."

	Someone once described life as a game where you can't
win, you can't break even, and they won't let you quit. Life's
unfair. Children can't accept this. An adult can. And before
someone complains, yeah, there's a LOT of 40-year old children
walking around out there.

	Usagi and Misako, if caught, will probably whimper
that they didn't MEAN to cause any hurt. That they had
good intentions.

	It's said a road was paved with good intentions once.
Once guess where that road leads to. Intentions don't count.
Only results. Usagi, being a member of a ruling house, needs
to learn that. And learn it FAST.

	Will Doug take the hard path where Usagi and Misako are 
faced with having to make the painful, cruel choices that
their parents must make regularly? Will they SEE the grief
that comes with being an adult? A grief that you CAN'T avoid
by making a wish on a magic crystal?

	Or will he write the "and everything came out good
in the end, and both Serenity and Usagi learned to appreciate
each other and there was happy happy joy joy." ending version
of this story?

	 And it will be just another sit-com style
comedy where nothing really serious happens. No challenge.
Bland. Vanilla.

	And I'll feel terribly shortchanged and cheated.

	So far it's a good story, Doug. Question is, which 
path will you take?

	Either path, I'll be waiting to read it.

	Just a little philosophy from a very tired old soldier
who's seen a bit more hard road than he cared to. Take it with
a grain of salt, and in the helpful spirit in which it was 
intended.

	Ed Becerra


	"Dreamers may die, but the Dream is eternal.."