All Comments on 'Survived By'

Brilliantly written, there are tears streaming down my face and I don't care if anyone see's them. 5 stars without hesitation.

Thank you

This story is outstanding! I could feel the emotion of the characters and the inclusion of Teddy’s emotions were beautifully written. Thank you for sharing.

Brilliant thank you RichardGerald, and the final paragraph was a perfect conclusion.

5 Stars

Very touching story!

5

Well holy shit, the pony learned another trick! Instead of writing about characters that are cancer in human form, you just wrote about actual cancer! And it's not 65 pages long! Will wonders never cease?

Smashing ending!

Thank you. Outstanding story. Still it's difficult to see cheaters try to justify their infidelity. Would've been interesting to see POV of Frank or Lenore, learning their spouses were cheating on them while they were ill. Wonder how the son would've perceived his father cheating on his dying mother. Personally hope Ed and Jean get together and have a miserable life, perhaps cheating on one another when the other is temporarily incapacitated. Sorry, lost any compassion for them when it became a multiple time affair, certainly wasn't a slip.

Find it interesting hearing those that cheat on a spouse that is unable to give that person sexual gratification or intimacy. Spouse in a wheelchair, okay to cheat? Spouse suffering from health issues, okay to cheat? Spouse gone from home all the time, okay to cheat? Spouse neglecting them, okay to cheat? I certainly feel for those caught in those types of situations but I really find it interesting listening to where people draw that line in the sand.

Again, excellent writing and story. Certainly made me think. Thanks RG.

Killian

Very heartfelt and very sad, with maybe a little hope for the future. Thank you for sharing.

Can't find the words to say how this touched me so I'm just saying this

Thank you for a great story! Very emotional. 🤝

Super original delivery. It brings a sadness to any one who has lived life! *****

I was fooled at the beginning when Teddy caught the strange scent, thought it might be a lover or something. Didn't realize until later that he was smelling the cancer.

Thank you for this.

This is without a doubt one of the best things I've ever read on this site. What I felt both while reading this and afterward, is what writers strive to evoke in the readers. Well-done! I've read the vast majority of the contest entries, and I think this one is the best. Amazing ending!! Thank-you!

Sad, but an entirely enjoyable read

A great story that was tough reading.

Thank you

For me the cheating was hard to understand and ruined it for me. Up to that part I was thinking this was more romance than LW category. Now I think non erotic would be best.

You write extremely well. Just that one part was a misstep for me.

For the first time in my years on Literotica, I had mixed feelings about giving this story a 5* rating. Not because it didn't deserve it, but because 5*. By Literotica's definition, 5* is "loved it". I know it's just a feeling of my mind, but hard to shake.

IMO, this is an extremely well-written story. I loved how you brought the dog into the story with his feelings that I don't think that many people think about. It all tied very nicely together and I like the ending thought of the 3 of them being together.

Congratulations on a fantastic story!

After having recently lost the love of my life, my wife of 53 years and just this week I adopted an Older dog,10 years,who had been surrendered to the SPCA because his mistress had passed , your story has touched me in a way all of the condolences I received never could. Thank you very very much. Great story.

This brought back many sad sad memories, loss without the chance of saying farewell is sometimes unbearable, at least Parker got that chance.

Wonderful story with an element of future hope at the end.

Different; 5* for originality and craftsmanship.

And a some tears, but few authors can end their stories with a believable ray of hope like you can.

Thank you for such a moving story. It’s one we can all relate to

A very poignant story about loss, well done.

I couldn't even condemn Parker and Jean for their affair. They were going through so much heartache watching their spouses slowly dying. It's understandable that they reached out to each other for some comfort.

that was tremendous! I have a lot to say but not much time to say it. The best work of yours I have read for evoking deeply personal emotions. Angst, dread, exhaustion, hope, regret, stoicism etc. 5*

A round dozen would be more like it.

This was an enormously sad and difficult story fot me to read. I lost my wife to cancer nine years ago. We were always surrounded by very supportive friends and family during the daytime but at night the loneliness set in. I would have given anything to have someone to hold and comfort me through the despair and emptiness of those nights. As opposed to infidelity as I am I would have gladly traded that for sympathetic arms during those nights. Needless to say five stars.

no the tear for me correct. agree with systemshock. LOVE slap hapy papy #9

After I wiped my eyes, you sir tell a story as well as anyone can. The loss and the hope .. you got it all in a emotional roller coaster. The dogs point of view - outstanding device. A tip of the hat to a someone who is a craftsman extraordinaire.

I have a short list of authors that I look for each day. You happen to be on that list. And I think your editor was right about the sex scenes. You don't always need them.

Outstanding you manage every single time. You do real emotion better than anyone else on this forum.

Excellent.

A story about people that sounded like real people.

All done so well in two pages.

Lue

where is the button for 10 stars? so much emotion, pain, love in two short pages... so well written

I just saw the movie "The Art of Racing in the Rain" (a book of the same name is available) and the dog in the movie (voiced by Kevin Costner), who also narrates the story, smells cancer in the wife of the dog's owner. It was a great movie and this has the same feel to it. Yes, it's sad but it ends with yet unrealized promise.

Your work touched a deep place in my soul. The even, almost inexorable, pace and progression of the story added depth and credibility to the subject. A nice balance between the interior monologue of Teddy and the world he inhabits. Your segues between them are flawless. Thank you from another survivor.

One of the best stories ever posted.

Graphic sex would have been a pointless distraction. Sticking to the emotional aspects was more powerful.

Looking forward to Jimmy O'reilly's next adventure.

Needs more than 5*

You moved me to tears. One of the most remarkable submissions. 5*

Wow !!

Powerful.

The story from the dog's perspective was a great idea.

but this is very fine writing. He's taken a chance in how this tale is told, and it works very well. This is both poignant and intelligent.

Cancer stories always makes me cry.... the emotions were so raw. I felt so bad for everyone.. I loved it.

That's why I think this was good. Definitely enjoyed it. Thanks RichardGerald. 4 star.

RG I wish I had just a smidgen of your writing talent. You moved me with this stunning story of love and caring and the horrible truths and sadness that the big "C" brings to peoples lives. This brought back very deep and sad moments of my life. My loving wife of 44yrs. was an artist also that did quite well in the art market. She became ill and we found out she had a stage 4 brain tumor. They operated and couldn't get it all. Radiation treatments with chemo made her wish she was dead. It was just so horrendous to see her suffer so much. She did pass, and in my arms. She was in a coma for over a week and we didn't get to say goodbye. God bless you for showing other folks the relentless ongoing horror of Cancer. KUDOS BIG TIME !! This story deserves a 10 *

I don’t know how this doesn’t have a 5 star average. Well done.

Poignant, complex and soulful. Wonderfully written. Consider this opinion the counterpoint to DFW’s simpleminded and clueless perspective.

How the narrative moved through its many points of view was wonderful to follow. So very well done.

you really are a gifted writer.

Very tenderly written, and I loved the dog's point of view. The pain of loss is so evident in this story, it hits home. As far as Jean and Ed go, it is very hard to judge them, two people facing a life where the person they love thanks to a miserable disease is dying and they have to maintain strength through it,it is a very alone position, it is not surprising that they could reach out to each other for comfort and connection. Stevenson might have gone into remission,but someone who has faced 3,4 bouts of cancer is basically slowly dying. No easy answers, if it was me dying and the love of my life found comfort like that I couldn't resent it, that they found something. I would resent the disease that took me away from them.

And as sad a story as it is,Parker and Teddy find each other and kit of pain and grief there is a glimmer for the future.

Very much touched me and very different from the usual RG world of skeezy lawyers, politicians, amoral artists and the like:).

I’m crying like a f**king baby 😭

You so deserved to be in this event. Writers like you are what inspired me to actually try myself. Thank you for all you do.

Jack

My dog is a spaniel, so it struck another chord with me. Telling the story from Teddy's view is simply brilliant. Wow.

7 years ago Cancer took my wife of 27 years, You have brought back memories that I will never get over, I look at her picture as I write this with a tear in my eye. Thank you for the memories,,,,,5 stars

What an amazing story. I would say that this is your best yet. Thank you, the best of this series I believe.

somewhere east of Omaha

Not many Lit authors can fashion a story like this. Brilliant last paragraph.

Absolutely wonderful!

Thank you for a heart rending glimpse into the pain of loss. So well done, had me thinking of Thomas Mann’s “Magic Mountain”. Glimpses of love and hope amid the reality of suffering and separation. ***** Well written!

Wow. I couldn't sleep and got up at four and ended up reading. Just finished this and I don't know how I can get back to sleep after reading it. Very good. Damn good. Sad, but good.

This hit me right in the feels. Thanks for a great one.

RG! A very moving story!

Outstanding piece of work, absolutely. It had to be morbid at times but necessarily so to tell the story. Is it ever ok to cheat? I think this tale highlighted there are times when it's excusable if still not ok, and I know many will still disagree with that but life does throw us some curveballs.. Thank you very much for this.

Holy moly!!!

No one can accuse you of not being able to write!

There are no words to describe the kaleidoscope of emotions invoked. Truly masterful.

I may never read it again but I will never forget it.

Is all I can say. Once again you've pulled readers into the story. A fine piece of work.

Thank you, I appreciate your talent.

Woodmanone

Just WOW! What a poignant story makes you realize sometimes how people can so easily fall into an affair in certain circumstances. Taking it from both the POV of Teddy (the dog) and the husband was unusual.

What a melancholy story!! Richard Gerald frequently writes of sadness and loss, with very few happy endings. Realist or pessimist? Still, a compelling author who writes about life as he sees it. Once again, I read this RG story with interest, and thank him for his effort. Five stars ⭐️ for this one.

RIP

You gave us a lot to think about and all from the perspective of the loyal family dog. Great work. The story was perfect in length too.

You are a master craftsman to the pen RG.

I loved your tale of The Bridge & also Crime and Punishment.

5***

Magnificent. It literally brought me to years.

Excellent

Beautiful story, thank you

WOW!!! An incredible story!!!

Beautifully written: not an excess word, but the characters' emotions plain for all to feel. Using Teddy as a central character was a stroke of genius. Your editor was right; adding a sex scene would have detracted.

Still, it would be a tragic thing to be facing death again, knowing that your beloved wife loved another.

GA

Frank Redmont

What a lovely story centred around an adorable spaniel, of love and happiness lost, love and happiness in stasis, and prediction of love and happiness to come. Excellent.

Really quite a captivating story, where you can hardly call the cheating couple cheaters !!!

Just a great 5* story. Perhaps it belongs more in Romance than LW, but there is a lot of loving in wives here.

I could feel the people and the canine, even though I am not a dog person.

This is stellar work, unique and original, rare for LW. This story hits me personally as my 2yr cancer is in remission but still present.... The quarterly treatment side affects are a butt licker but it beats the alternative. I hope Parker and Jean have a good life - they both went thru hell to deserve a reprieve.

/

6*, Hooyah, salutes!

Good story, extremely sad in an all too realistic way.

What a beautiful description of the pain, the emptiness, and the struggle of the survivors. You should seriously consider to be a professional writer. You pull the reader in the spider web of your stories and they carry a profound human sense, showing the bright and the ugly in a balanced way. Reflecting above all life with its challenges and pitfalls. Thanks for this masterpiece.

Thank you!

All I can say is wow!

What Parker and Jean did was still wrong, on every level, but sometimes life is what life is.

You have shamed so many "writers" here with this story. Well written, engaging, unique in design, and as much as I hate to say it it does get to an emotional level. This has only happened here 3 times for me and one just recently, though years old.

Thank you for this one.

Another classic tale of love and loss that leaves me wanting the rest of the story.

Thanks

A tinge of dishonor, but given the story, hard to fault.

Very much unlike me to reserve judgement on people who step outside the boundaries that they themselves had established and promised to abide by, but this story was exceptional. I feel ambiguous about that... it's still betrayal, and it still did lead to Jean falling in love with a man not her husband, but I can't raise the ire to despise them for it.

Given a slight shift in outcomes and I would feel very different about the surviving husband and the other woman, but I don't, and it's a credit to your authorship.

Well done. 4 stars for a story well told, but not given in the end, because of the simple commitment that they both would have agreed to, that is not a convenient option, but an undertaking, and given the circumstances, a more serious requirement when someone you love is someone in need...

...that commitment is... "In sickness and in health..."

I am living Parker's life in many respects, save that I didn't have a Jean. The story is such an accurate portrayal of the life of one whose partner is terminally ill. Even to the extent that Jean is unaware of her husband's impending relapse. I even suffered Parker's frustration that she 'just gave up' when, of course, the reality was that my wife had resigned herself to the reality of her mortality.

I enjoyed reading the story from the dog's perspective too. When my wife started chemo, we were advised to keep our dogs away from her. That was advice she would not accept. The dogs were a comfort and companionship to her whilst I was at work and the same to me after my wife had died.

Awesome writing RG!

Evah_Rheddy

I got dust in my eyes ...

You're also the author who penned "Another Love".

Another very well written story, and one of the iconic tomes that have generated many follow-ups,and garnered much attention. Another story where the outcome is not as cut-and-dried as most of the works here.

For that story, I had a much stronger reaction. I suppose that's a given, considering the tale, but I, for one, felt it a complex and well written story, but ultimately a shallow attempt to get the protagonist past the truth of the matter, that he had been betrayed, his children tainted by those betrayals, all by an unrepentant selfish woman, to establish the outcome that the affair be forgiven.

The same can be said for this one. An attempt to write a story that all but justified their actions.

So now at this point, I am glad that I didn't attribute that four points. I didn't give you a one star, it's still well written, but I abstain from any voting on this.

Not that you'll probably care.

One of your best, hands down. I was crying toward the end. 5+*

The most memorable line was 'It was the unfinished portrait of an unfinished life'. I've critiqued a few stories but never suggested a different title. But I think "An unfinished life" would have worked very well. TY

It was ok....

Just kidding Mr. Gerald. This story is magnificent. Great characters great plot perfect dialog amazing descriptions. This may in fact arguably be your best story yet

What an impressive story, an excellent take on the after the affair story.

The pathos and drama was gripping, anyone who has sat everyday in a hospital with a dying loved one knows this tale well. We have lived it!!!!

Another brilliant 5/5+

OUT.......STANDING!!!!!!!!!!!

What a wonderful story with a gret perspective. Well done!

Drama Pathos and a happy ending

cancer sucks

Brilliant writing and storytelling, sir

Challenges those of us who want to believe there is an ironclad definition of cheating, which is always an unforgiveable betrayal.

But cheating assholes are cheating assholes. The betrayal of sick spouses just makes them more reprehensible.

Saying this is a five star story is an understatement! So much pain and emotion in two pages. Thank you, RG for this masterful story.

What a great heart wrenching story. Thank you for sharing it with us.

A very moving story. Keep up the wonderful writing.

Such a real story of life and how things can get twisted and bent for those who have lost hope for their loved ones knowing they will have to go on after their loved ones are gone. Very sad and well written.