Talk:Penpal/@comment-25280329-20140808125336/@comment-25417080-20140913205140

1. My family lived on a large property near a river, and even if he was smaller, it seems his backed onto the woods. Although my family would have killed me if I had gone wandering the neighbourhood, it was totally normal for my brother and I, and our friends, to have free run of the 5 acres we lived on and (if we asked) to go for walks on the crown land behind (but not touching) it, the whole time I was growing up (I lived there from 0-18, and was born in 93, so I was this age around 1999).

Although we weren't allowed to go to the river alone, we were pretty much given free reign when at it, and I think it's fair to say a lake is safer. I don't doubt the neighbourhood moms and stuff kept an eye out the back windows/patios on the kids in the lake. It seems realistic enough.

Around the time we were ten my friend and I would take her younger brother (7ish?) and we'd all march around on the growing part of the land they were logging near her house.

So, if other than Penpal (the character) it was a pretty quiet and crime free area, I wouldn't be surprised that they were running free a bit, and while it seems like, well, a lot in this story, I think this story shows the most significant times he was running around and had reasons to, as most of these events wouldn't have happened in the house (stalker would, but not finding holes and stuff). I think it's a bit biased toward making it look like he was out a lot, when really these are the main stories of his outdoor adventures.

Of course it's fiction, so any of this could be totally right or wrong. I'm just explaining how I see it as realistic.

2. I thought that was weird too, but maybe that he just took a backhoe and filled the hole with a quick pass, since he was just doing an off the clock quick job, and didn't really investigate further. Still, that seems really unsafe (what if the ground wasn't sturdy enough for machinery, or the hole extended under what was visible?), and even if he rushed it you'd not think Penpal would have taken that risk (seeing as he wanted to be burried alive. If he and Josh were already dead, it wouldn't really matter).