We're a Wonderful Wife

Chapter 06

Mrs. A1C Campbell

The morning after their wedding, Don and Lanh woke up at three thirty and made beautiful, delicate love. In their breathless post coital euphoria Lanh murmured "I'm torn,"

Don immediately panicked; he was convinced that she meant his enthusiastic love making hurt his virgin bride. "Oh God, I'm sorry, should we go to the ER?" The ER is a half hour drive away in Bemidji!

"Silly," she put a reassuring hand on his cheek, "I'm emotionally torn, we could have been having sex two years ago, look at all the fun we missed!"

"I don't know," said Don as he pulled his new wife close. "I don't think I could have handled it two years ago, and just imagine your dad if he found that his baby girl was knocked up by a C minus student!"

"He would have shit," giggled Lanh.

"And your mom! Mai would have cut my balls off and stuffed them down my throat."

"Oh silly!" Lanh snuggled up to her husband, "She would not have done that."

"How can you be so sure?" said Don as he kissed the top of her head and luxuriated in the feel of her naked flesh against his.

"Because my brothers wouldn't have left that much of your body intact."

"That's very comforting to know."

"I wonder if they knew what we were doing in the hayloft," sighed Lanh as she thought back to their afternoons and evenings spent exploring each other's bodies and trying out Kim-ly's suggestions while trying desperately to maintain their virginity. "I'm going to miss that."

"Hey, just because we're married, a handjob in the hayloft isn't off our menu. We can still play "slap and tickle" as dad calls it."

Lanh smiled and thought of their future on the farm surrounded by a half dozen sons and daughters, and all the grandchildren! Working together until they turn the farm over to their kids. "Will you still want blowjobs when we're seventy?"

"If I don't want a blowjob when I'm seventy, then bury me, all those other signs of life are false readings."

After a quick pillow fight, they got up to help with the morning milking, but they found that Cliff was there with Ralph, and Ralph said, "Go back to bed, Cliff is working here for the rest of the summer." So, they headed up to the hay loft to start cleanup, but they found it was mostly done. All the chairs and tables were folded up and neatly stacked, and the garbage bagged and hauled to the dumpster that they had rented.

They walked down to the big tent and as the sun started coming up and it too was in the same condition, even the big, elevated platform that their table was on was taken down, the sections were neatly stacked awaiting pickup from the tent rental company. "What the heck happened last night?" was on both of their minds. Suddenly they heard a camper door closing and they stepped out of the tent where they found Don's cousins Geoff, Heather, and Billy Odegaard sitting on folding chairs sipping coffee from plastic coffee cups, an old, enameled percolator was on a Coleman stove next to their big RV.

"Morning," said Geoff raising his coffee cup to the newlyweds. "Cuppa joe?"

As Heather poured Don and Lanh cups of coffee, Heather gave Lanh a sideways glance and said, "Shouldn't you guys be fucking or something like that?"

Billy almost passed coffee out his nose from restrained laughter, but Lanh proudly said, "We were up at three taking care of that."

To the surprised cousins Don just shrugged and said, "We're new at this, we need to get the timing down."

"You really are virgins?" asked Heather in shock.

"Not anymore!" said Lanh proudly, and she started whispering to Heather about their ride back to the pond on the John Deere.

"So, what happened here last night?" Don asked Billy and Geoff. "We expected there to be about a full day's work to clean it up."

"That cop that was running the bar last night arranged it," grinned Geoff.

"Yeah," said Billy, "when he shut off the taps at one AM, he asked if anyone would be interested in an after party with free beer. About twenty people or so said yeah, so they had a clean-up party. You can't believe how fast a place can get cleaned up if there's beer on the line."

"So, where's the honeymoon?" asked Geoff.

"We didn't really have any plans, we want to save all of our money because we don't know what my orders are going to be like after basic training," said Don. "But Grumpy Ode gave Lanh the keys to his cabin."

"NO!" gasped Billy. Apparently, Grandpa Ode never gives the keys to his private realm away for any reason. "Permanent?"

Don and Lanh looked at each other. Eventually Lanh said, "I don't know, he didn't say."

Heather just laughed, "That ol' boy cracks me up." Unlike most of the Odegaard family, beautiful, tiny Heather wasn't cowed by the grumpy old patriarch. "I'll go ask him later, I've got The Duty today." The Duty she mentioned is an agreement that many of the Odegaard grandchildren have to check up on Grumpy Ode and Hilde at some time during the day and help with any chores around the house. "By the way, I hope you got a freezer, we have some meat left over."

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

After packing their bags, the newlyweds headed out to Grumpy Odie's cabin on Lost Long Lake. Don explained to Lanh on the drive out that there's no real standards for the names of the over eleven thousand lakes in Minnesota, so there's lots of Long Lakes, several Lost Lakes, and even a few Long Lost Lakes, but there's only one Lost Long Lake. "It probably has a real name that appears on the map, but we call it Lost Long Lake," said Don. "The nice thing about the cabin is that it's close enough to Grant Valley that you can drive into town if you need anything or if you have to go to work."

Last night, when they realized how exhausted they were at the wedding dance, they slipped out during the Chicken Dance and retreated to their apartment. There he carried her across the threshold and undressed her, then they did what she had been aching to do for well over a year; they fell asleep in each other's arms wearing only their wedding rings. When they arrived here at the cabin Don intended to carry her across the threshold just like he did back at the farmhouse last night.

"He gave you the key, you unlock it," said Don as they stood on the porch of the large cabin. It was still early in the day, before noon on a cool, cloudy spring day, in just a few hours they would be celebrating 24 hours of marriage.

Lanh giggled nervously, she was sure her husband was up to something, but she pulled the keys out of her purse and unlocked the door. The moment the door swung open, Don dropped the bags he was carrying and scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the cool dark interior of the cabin. "Ah HA! The tables have turned Dragon Lady, it is now I who have YOU just where I want you. Welcome to my lair!"

She squealed and laughed, she wanted to cry out "Unhand me you fiend!" but she had a case of the giggles and couldn't get the words out.

He carried her into the dark interior of the cabin where he set her down on the floor then crouched down suddenly and yanked her shorts and panties to her ankles, then rose up, and as he did, he scooped her back up, flipped her upside down and holding her inverted to his chest he attacked her pussy with his lips and tongue.

She was about to demand to be put down, but she remembered best advice she received from her mother, she and Lanh sat down on her bridal bed just before the ceremony and said "Em yêu, your husband may ask for something you will think is strange in the bedroom. There is no sin between you if there is love and respect, so give it a try before saying no. Sometimes you will find something you genuinely enjoy," she said in the same tone of voice that she would use when advising a child that they would soon get over their cold. "And don't be afraid to ask him for something you would like to try too. Never forget, he can't read your mind and men don't take hints." Unknown to Lanh, Mai had the same talk with Don earlier, she often felt the need to step in as a mother to him.

And now hanging upside down, the blood rushing to her head, her arms clutching Don's waist out of fear, he began to rapidly bring her to orgasm. Being held like this is scary, but with Don's lips and tongue at her pussy driving her quickly to a surprise orgasm it's truly exciting.

She crossed her ankles and now realized she had him in a scissor lock, the tables had turned again! she thought. She was able to undo his buckle and open his jeans and his cock sprung out, harder than she has seen in the past and she began to suckle on the head of his cock as her hands returned to her grip around his waist.

Just the rush of having him savagely attacking her pussy and clit in a strange fashion in front of an open door began to set her off, her cries of ecstasy were muffled by the cock in her mouth. They've tried 69 before, never standing like this, but for her it was always unsuccessful. Don was so good at driving her to a climax with his tongue that she was afraid of biting him when she lost control, which she always did. Lose control that is, she's never bit him... not to her knowledge.

To keep from biting him as he drove her higher and higher to ecstasy, she used his cock to "brush her teeth." It's kind of like a pussy glide, but with her mouth. She was stroking her front teeth up and down the length of his cock, stroking the sensitive underside of his cock with the smooth front surfaces of her teeth while her lips were brushing against it also, which drove Don out of his mind faster than a pussy glide or a blowjob.

He stopped and switched tactics, he swung her off of his shoulders, and flipped her again, and next thing she knew, she was laying on her back on the hard wooden floor, her ankles tangled in her panties and shorts. He pulled off her left sneaker then pulled her panties and shorts off of her left leg then Don pushed her knees apart and crawled up between them and lowered his hips. Lanh reached down between their bodies and for the first time guided a cock to her pussy and into herself. She missed at first and the head of his cock brushed against her clit causing sparks of erotic fire to sparkle through her groin, so she wiggled his cockhead up and down against her clit. God this felt good! She could picture masturbating herself to orgasm this way by just rubbing her clit with the big spongy head of his cock. But more awaited so she relented and lined him up with her vagina and actually had to ask him to start.

She looked into his eyes and saw passion, but also concern, he was worried about hurting her as he gently pushed forward. "Now... please... I won't break," she whispered, and placed her heels on his ass and pushed, urging him to fuck her.

Don lowered his hips, pushing his cock into her inexperienced pussy. She felt like a bug, pined to a display mat as his cock drove into her and she whimpered, both in pain and pleasure as his cock tunneled into her, spreading her vagina and delving deep. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she opened her mouth to moan but nothing came out. Soon he was fully into her. She squinted at him her infamous "Dragon Lady" persona came to the forefront. "Now I have you agent double oh seven and five eighths. Now you will proceed to fuck me, and you will be... OOOOHHHH!!!"

Don had eased his cock out, then slid it back in, all seven and five eighths' inches, until his groin pressed against her bare clit... then again... and again... and Don realized that he was no longer in control of his actions. He was fucking his teenage bride with all the force and passion he could muster, and he was incapable of slowing down. "Oh cô dâu của tôi! (My bride) I can't..." his attempted warning was strangled in his throat. The feel of her hot, buttery flesh sliding over his sensitive cock as he pummeled his darling was too much for him to handle. His excitement brought on by their playful sexy game caught the teenager off guard and soon Don was pounding into Lanh as hard as he could.

Lanh was in heaven; this is what she dreamed of ever since she started reading the "sex advice" columns in Kim-ly's women's' magazines. The floor was uncomfortable, he was on her hair, her clothes were tangled, her pussy was aching from the stretching, and it felt sooooo good! Don's cock pounded into her over and over, harder and faster with each stroke, she was so close to cumming when suddenly Don's head reared back, and he roared, and he was cumming in his beautiful bride even before he realized it.

He groaned loudly as his cock jerked and throbbed inside of her, splashing his sperm against her cervix, she was sad that she didn't cum but after their gentle predawn loving this morning, she was still sated, and aching. He lowered gently on to his elbows, covering her body with his and kissed her gently as his orgasm slowly subsided. "I'm sorry," he said as they cuddled on the hard wooden floor.

"For what?"

"You didn't cum."

Dragon Lady Lanh looked her husband of twenty hours in the eyes. "It's not a numbers game, and if it were, I'd be in the lead, eight to four."

He paused for a moment, then laughed, "But who's counting." He rolled off of her and lay at her side while his fingers reached for her pussy and began to gently massage her clit.

"Certainly not me," she smiled. "This was our first quickie," and the Dragon Lady kissed Agent Double Oh Seven and Five Eighths. She grabbed his wrist and tried to move his hand away, but he was relentless, he wanted to see her O face. "Don't," she gasped, but that only made his fingers speed up. "Stop!" but he was relentless, driving her closer and closer to an orgasm. "Please don't make me... aaaahhhhh... AAAAHHHHNNNNGGGG!!!" Her orgasm hit like a freight train, both hands held his wrist in place while her hips twitched and jerked as the orgasm pummeled her senseless.

Don did ease up on her as her shaking and twitching body relaxed and she let go of his wrist. "Mmmm you're my Teddy Bear," she moaned in boneless bliss. Her mouth opened for a kiss, and he obliged her, and he also removed his hand from her pussy, their safe word has been used. They relaxed together, gently kissing until Don got up, turned on the lights and got a damp cloth and helped Lanh clean up so she could explore the cabin.

The gift of the cabin on Lost Long Lake was a godsend, it was big and spacious and filled with all forms of hunting and fishing memorabilia. There was even a huge, ancient hornet's nest hanging on the wall above one of the windows. There was a tiny kitchen that was barely big enough for a closet. To the left was a teeny three burner stove and to the right was a small refrigerator. The two appliances faced each other, crammed into the tiny alcove, and Lanh scratched her head wondering how they got in there in the first place. There was a shelf filled with boxes of dry goods above the stove, several cast iron pans hanging from the wall between the appliances, and a wooden ammo crate on top of the refrigerator, the crate had a latch and hinges on the front edge telling Lanh that it was now a cabinet, but she had no way of telling what is in that crate, due to her inability to reach that high.

The majority of the cabin was a great room which contained a fireplace, a couch, and several easy chairs. There was a large dining table surrounded by ancient kitchen chairs, and against a wall next to the kitchen was a sink with running water and a counter with drawers and cabinets filled with mismatched dishes, a menagerie of glasses and jelly jars, and other various things. There was a second refrigerator next to the sink that according to Don was reserved for "Beer and mixer." Mixer is what Grandpa Ode called soft drinks. Dried herbs hung from the overhead beams making the cabin smell exotic and exciting.

Outside was a huge, covered porch spanning the width of the cabin affording a perfect view of Lost Long Lake and the forest surrounding it. Don mention that there were two other cabins on the lake, but Lanh couldn't see them, which was good, she wanted to continue the sunbathing routine she started last month in secret. With the skinny dipping and the pre-wedding sunbathing, Lanh became addicted to the feel of sun and wind on her exposed skin. Don loves the gold color her skin turns in the sun, so, while he's fishing and waiting for his balls to reload after the previous night's lovemaking, Lanh will lay out in the sun, naked. Or she would go fishing with Don close to naked in a skimpy bikini.

The porch was populated with a loveseat glider, and wooden rocking chairs that Lanh found perfect for sitting and reading. Near the porch was a huge, ancient brick barbeque with an ancient iron cooktop, it could serve as a grill, griddle, or even a stove. The cabin had a large lawn that reached to the lake, and it was neatly mown. On the lake was a big dock, perfect for fishing and swimming from, and it's large enough to tie up several boats. There's also a boat house just begging to be explored. One of the keys on the keyring opened the boat house they found a seventeen-foot canoe, a nice twelve-foot oar powered Jon boat, and a small sailboat. Another key on the ring opened a small garage that contained a lawnmower, grills, and other tools.

They were hauling their bags and groceries into the cabin when a pickup truck arrived, and Lars and Hilde got out. Lanh ran up to her Grandpa Ode and gave him a hug as Don put his armload of groceries on the table in the cabin. "We didn't mean to intrude," said Lars, who clearly didn't expect to see Don and Lanh there.

"We brought some goodies for you," said Hilde as she carried a brightly decorated basket full of fruit, wine, and cheese.

Soon they were sitting around the table and Lanh made Vietnamese coffee, a treat that fits in with wilderness camping perfectly. A small filter device is placed over a cup, filled with grounds, then boiling water is poured into it, then the dark, potent coffee is sweetened with canned evaporated milk. Lars took a sip and was transported back to long ago when a Vietnamese girl offered him a cup of their unique coffee. "Just like snap dragon used to make," he sighed.

"Snap dragon?" asked Don, a little shocked and thinking that his grandpa may be having fun with one of his nicknames for Lanh.

"Oh... a local girl I knew in Vietnam." Lars had a pleasant lost look in his eyes.

"They called me Dragon Lady at school," said Lanh

"Dragon Lady was a pirate in the comic Terry and the Pirates," said Hilde. She may have had disdain in her voice, but it's hard to tell with Grandma Hilde.

"When she was coaching Rosa and I she would shout at us while we swam," said Don, "so everyone called her Dragon Lady. I didn't know it came from the comics."

"N'yen yen, and di di mao," said Lars. "We heard."

"You heard?"

"Of course," said Lars, "at regionals and at state championships."

"You were there?" gasped Don. "Why didn't you say something?"

"Oh, you were so busy with all your little friends. We didn't want to make a fuss," said Hilde, her response was typical of shy people across the globe.

"You should have come by! Don would have loved it," said Lanh.

"Oh, we don't want to intrude, like today. We just come by to drop things off," insisted Hilde. "You newlyweds should be doing other things."

"We've been doing other things since yesterday afternoon," said Don, hoping that his grandmother was talking about anything besides sex.

"We know," smiled Lars with a big un-Lars-like wink, and in response to Lanh's startled expression he added "no one really likes to drive a tractor that much."

As Lanh started to make a fumbled explanation for their long absence from the wedding, Hilde patted her hand and said "We're old darling, not dead. We know what you wanted, and as far as we're concerned, you should have spent all day in your love nest. You should take your time and relax the first time."

Don was shocked to hear his grandmother speak like that, but what really blew his mind was Lanh's response. "Our first time was magic," she sighed, "under the trees, right next to the lake where I caught my very first small mouth bass," her dark almond shaped eyes focused on a different place. "I'll never forget the smell of the pine trees..."

Grandpa Ode gave Don a knowing wink and a nod of approval. As far as Ode is concerned, being married to a woman that can associate fishing with sex is as close to heaven as a man can get. "Come on son, I've got some things to show ya while you're here." And he got up and led Don outside leaving Lanh alone with Grandma Hilde.

Without explanation Hilde got up and began to show Lanh the intricacies of the cabin, like the shutters on the windows, there were outer shutters and inner shutters, and because of a series of levers and latches, the outer shutters couldn't be opened from the outside and they couldn't be opened from the inside until the inner shutters were opened. Soon all the inner shutters were swung up against the ceiling and the outer shutters swung out, windows wide open, and the cabin was flooded with early afternoon light and fresh forest air. There was no TV, only an old radio and an ancient portable record player with an equally ancient collection of LP records. "In this cabinet are board games, dice, and decks of cards," said Hilde as she swung open a cabinet below the record player. "I'm sure as newlyweds you will make up additional rules for the games." She said this without a hint of a smile.

"Grandma Hilde, are you mad at me?" There, she finally said it.

"Angry? No dear," she walked to a wall covered with memorabilia and framed photographs. She took one down and handed it to Lanh, "maybe a little jealous however." Lanh looked at the photograph taken decades ago, it showed a young US soldier in helmet and combat gear standing next to a smiling Vietnamese girl in an áo dài. "You got to be your husband's first true love, I did not."

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~

Tam pulled up to the cabin at Lost Long Lake and looked around, Don and Lanh's GMC pickup was in the driveway, the cabin was wide open but "the kids" were nowhere around. Searching the cabin, she found it neat, their laundry basket overflowing, ready to take to the washing machine, and the garbage packed up ready to drag out but no sign of Don and Lanh.

She walked out to the lake front and found the sailboat tied up to the dock but not the Jon boat... there it was, out in the lake. Don was at the stern, he clearly noticed Tam and was putting away his fishing gear while Lanh remained standing at the bow, fishing pole in hand... was she naked? It was hard to tell at this distance, but Don must have said something because Lanh began reeling in her line and when she put down her rod and reel she bent over and picked up her bikini top and put it on... yes, she was naked. Going to have to talk to that girl.

Soon they were at the dock and carrying their fishing gear back up to the cabin. "We were supposed to open your wedding presents this morning, remember?" chided Tam.

"That's at ten," said Don who was not wearing a watch.

"It's noon," retorted Tam.

"That explains why I'm hungry," said Lanh as she set her tacklebox on the table.

"I got something for you to eat," grinned Don as he took his near naked wife of one week into his arms.

"Will it satisfy my cravings?" she smiled coyly.

"Don't answer that! Come on, Jake's waiting in the car," snarled Tam as she grabbed their laundry basket. "And put some clothes on!" Tam headed for the car grumbling "God damn it, I'm turning into my mom, and I don't have any kids yet."

"Just me!" sang Lanh right behind her carrying a cooler full of fish that they caught, filleted, and wrapped.

"What about me?" whined Don as he locked the cabin and carried the trash bags to the truck.

Don and Lanh arrived at the farm about ten minutes after Tam and Jake, Lanh was finishing a hamburger with one hand as she and Don carried the cooler between them. They took it to the chest freezer in the tractor shed, then after stacking the fish neatly in the freezer, they joined the small crowd in Lanh's apartment. Mai, Tam, Kim-ly, Rosa, and Sydney along with Jake, Craig, and Bao awaited them, as did a huge mountain of gifts and cards. Tam had set up a long folding table and organized an assembly line for opening, photographing, and documenting the gifts, all they needed was Don and Lanh.

For their part, Don and Lanh were stunned, their invitations said "No gifts" right? They're joining the military and going to mobilize anywhere; gifts would be an encumbrance. "We're not going to have enough time for sex tonight," muttered Lanh as she saw the mountain of generosity.

"You watch your tongue!" warned Don.

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

Sandy Robertson stepped outside onto the wide, breezy porch, wringing her hands. She's been through the mayhem of opening wedding gifts four times before with her daughters, she gave Lanh, Tam, and Kim-ly her best advice on dealing with the mountain of gifts, then stepped out to leave the girls to their own devices. And now she was free. All of her girls were gone, married to good men, and starting to shower her with grandchildren, the first should be here in a couple of weeks. Now, with Donovan married, there's no children left in her life, her only responsibility is that big empty house where she raised her girls. Yesterday she went to her manager at the bank where she has worked since she graduated from high school and informed him that yes, she would be retiring.

Big changes scared her. When her husband died suddenly it took her years to recover, and she vowed that a big change like that was never going to scare her again, but just the thought of calling the realtor on Monday morning terrified her, she both loved and hated that house, but it had to go; it's too much for her now. Then again, the thought of talking to the bank manager scared her too, and in the end it was easy. So, this should be easy too, right?

Sandy stood on the porch and breathed in the fragrant air, full of the scent of flowers and plowed fields, and cows. Songbirds called and in the distance a car on the highway could be heard, occasionally the neighbor's tractor, or a moo from a grazing cow. Enough lollygagging Sandra Robertson! she scolded herself, it's got to be now.

She stepped off the porch and brushed her hand on the tire swing, then solidly making up her mind she strode into the tractor shed where she found Ralph, he had a metal device in the bench vice and was cleaning up a welded joint with his grinder. She stepped up to him and he set down the grinder, lifted up the safety glasses and smiled at her.

"Walk with me," she said and headed for the door.

Ralph peeled off the gloves, glasses, and coveralls and caught up with Sandra and they walked back to the pond, silently, enjoying the warm spring afternoon. They ended up at the kids' campsite, and she leaned against the picnic table where Don and Lanh lost their virginity to each other. She took a deep breath; this was going to change everything, and she prayed that it would change things for the better. She took both of Ralph's hands into hers and looked into his light gray eyes. Do it! she scolded herself, stop dragging it out!

"Ralph, we've known each other so long, you were there to help when my Ken died, and I hope I was a help when you lost Emily." She looked up at his eyes and he just smiled that patient, caring smile. "You've always been a dear to me, and so, so patient waiting for my answer..."

He just nodded; he didn't push her to speak, his kindness and strength was a miracle. Oh God, this is going to change EVERYTHING. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Yes."

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

Don unwrapped the next box and laughter rang out; it was another rice maker. Lanh's face lit up like the wrapping paper had concealed the Holy Grail, because to her this was the holy grail of rice makers. Twenty different settings, slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice cooker, it was an all-in-one wonder appliance. "That's a keeper!" said Lanh as she reviewed the box. All that Don was able to understand was the cute little elephant logo on the box, the rest was lost to him. He liked the first rice maker he opened, a tiny red pot with one button - put in the rice, put in the water, close the lid, press the button. When the button pops out, eat the rice. "Look honey, it does wild rice!" she gleefully pointed out the mention of wild rice on the box. Minnesota wild rice is quite different from all other types of rice and a rice maker that will cook it properly is a rarity.

Don turned to his psychologist sister-in-law, "Are all Asian girls like this with rice makers?" He placed the wonder unit next to the other five rice makers they received.

"Oh yeah," said Tam as she wrote down the name of the gift and the giver in her notebook.

"Slap Sunshine Bunny! on it and it will fly off the shelves," said Kim-ly sadly. "It's genetic." Tam and Mai nodded in agreement. Tam long kidded about the "Kawaii gene" that causes Asian girls to fall in love with anything teeth achingly cute

The next gift that Lanh opened definitely came from Don's side of the family, a huge cast iron frying pan, the cooking surface was polished to a mirror finish. Asian or not, Lanh was now an outdoorswoman, and her eyes lit up when she saw this. To a Minnesotan, a frying pan like this is the perfect cooking utensil and finding a pan with a finish like that is so rare.

The gifts they received were beautiful, thoughtful, and desperately needed. In addition to these wonderful gifts there was a lot of cash, Don and Lanh were embarrassed by the amount of cash they received, not to mention the proceeds from the wedding dance. Many of the cards had a note that said something to the effect of "I know how tough it is on an E1."

"What's an E1?" asked Lanh.

Don smiled, "an E1 is the lowest form of life on earth, it's an airman basic, no stripes at all." However, when he signs his enlistment contract for six years, he will be elevated to E2 automatically and go through basic training with one stripe on his sleeve. In a land of naked people, the man with a jock strap is fully dressed.

The assembly line was in full swing when Ralph and Sandy appeared at the French doors separating Lanh's apartment from the dining room. They stood in the doorway watching the kids open and inspect each gift and document whom each gift was from in Lanh's Sunshine Bunny! notebook. Kim-ly looked up and noticed them first, then nudged Tam and pointed them out. Kim-ly whispered in Tam's ear "Someone just got laid."

Tam looked up and saw the smile on Sandy's lips and the happy smile on Ralph's normally placid face and gasped "Sonofabitch, you're right!"

Don looked at his dad with a question on his lips, but before he could speak it, Ralph said "We're going to need a best man.

"Guess we don't have to pull down the gazebo," grinned Bao as everyone lined up to hug and shake hands with the engaged couple.

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

Weeks later gang reconvened at the cabin at Lost Long Lake, Don and Huy were preparing the last of the meat from the wedding reception, it would soon be on the grill, a large fire crackled near the shore of the lake and in the gloom of the setting sun, Bao played guitar while Rosa and Kim-ly frolicked in the lake, laughing and splashing each other, their bikini tops currently laying on the grass. Saturday night in the Minnesota woods; good friends, cold beer, and lots and lots of mosquito repellent.

The gathering had the feeling of a wake to it, it was as if everyone knew that this would be the last time that they would all be together. The future was reaching out to them, tugging them all in separate directions. Craig and Sydney were seriously considering moving downstate, there was an opening at the Minnesota State Police academy, and Craig already had a year of Criminal Justice under his belt at the local community college, so why not? Bao and Rosa were talking about moving in together in Bemidji, Tam and Jake now both holding positions at Bemidji State, their wedding scheduled for August, Trung and Angela have settled down in Grand Forks, Huy and Ahnjong won't say what their plans are except that Ahnjong will be taking the bar exam soon.

Yesterday was Ralph and Sandy's wedding, a simple ceremony presided over by Pastor Loomis, Don was Ralph's best man, Sandy's daughter Doris was the matron of honor. After a small gathering the bride and groom left for a three-day honeymoon at an unnamed resort in Thief River Falls.

And Don is leaving on Monday. Lanh was sick with rage that the US Air Force would take her husband from her, ignoring how proud she was of him when he took his oath of enlistment this morning, and conveniently forgetting the hours of discussions they had over his enlistment. He said three days ago that he would not sign the enlistment contract if she had any second thoughts, for three days she said nothing and now they were committed. She knew it was for the best, so why did it feel so bad?

Even fishing couldn't ease the ache. As the last light of day faded, she reeled in her line, not even a sunfish wanted to play today. She walked the length of the dock back to shore then headed up to the grill, she heard a muffled sob and looked toward the boat house and saw her angels, the one with the purple tipped hair looked very sad, the other one looked concerned, but they faded into the gloom. Even sadder now, she walked up to Don at the grill and put her arm around his waist and hugged him. "What's wrong little girl?" he murmured as he pulled her close. "Sad?"

She nodded her head, "It's over, this whole part of our life is done, and we'll never get it back." She watched her friends cavort in the gloom and it felt so final. "Even my angels are sad."

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My Dearest Em Yêu

I miss you so much. I know that it's only been two weeks, but I can't believe that we've been apart for 14 days, that's twelve days longer than ever before! I've been out at the cabin every chance I get; I don't want to disturb the honeymooners!!! Ralph and Sandy are so crazy for each other, I wish you could see them, Tam says they're as bad as we are.

I still go down to the pond every day after morning milking and try for that big brown trout. I haven't caught him yet, but I got his cousin! I sent you a pic, please try to notice the fish.

You're not going to believe this, but Sydney and Craig are getting married!!! They don't have a date yet, but I hope they wait until you get home. Kim-ly thinks that Sydney is pregnant, but I don't think so, Sydney would have told me if something was going on between her and Craig... wouldn't she? Kim-ly also thinks that Bao and Rosa are going to get married too. She says that all Bao talks about is Rosa, and she's getting tired of hearing about it. Má is right, weddings are contagious, I think Huy and Ahnjong will be the next after Tam and Jake...

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LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE

San Antonio, TX

Airman Donovan Coleman re-read the letter from his young wife one more time before lights out. He chuckled that Lanh was trying not to disturb the honeymooners, he couldn't picture his dad and Sandy making love in front of the fireplace... maybe they should... The letter also included a picture of Lanh in her tiny bikini top holding a massive smallmouth bass. He could still remember the day she caught her first bluegill, that little guy put up such a huge fight and she had so much fun landing him, laughing and giggling the whole time... that little fish made sure that Lanh was hooked on fishing but good.

"Five minutes to lights out!" called the Technical Instructor.

"Nice catch!" said a voice from over his shoulder, it was the fellow in the next bunk, Dominic Demarco, a self-professed "wop" from Brooklyn, "or you can call me a Dago if you prefer, just don't call me late for dinner." As he told Don, every military unit has to have a kid from Brooklyn who's too young to die, that's his job. He was annoying, disrespectful, profane, and one of Don's favorites. Don and Dom, Team Double D.

"She pulled that in from the pond on our farm."

"I ain't talking 'bout no fish," said Dom, "I see dose rings on her finger dare. Dat's the wifey, ain't it."

"Yep, that's Lanh Huong Nguyen-Campbell." Don refrained from providing any more information because Dom can turn anything into an inuendo.

"How long ya been married?" asked Dom.

"It was six weeks last Saturday," said Don as he put the letter and the picture in his locker and secured it.

"Imagine dat, two guys born a tousan miles apart end up in da same flight in basic... both in love wit da same woman," Dom leaned against his locker and rolled his eyes skyward. "It's just like one of doze old time movies wit all da singin an shit."

"You slay me D-Bag," chuckled Don.

"You watch, farm boy, graduation day, I'll give her da look with deez eye-talian eyes and she'll be goin' home wit me," grinned Dominic. "You watch, gonna happen."

Don chuckled, "Shut the fuck up Airman Basic Demarco."

"Oh yea, shake that entire stripe at me Air Man Campbell, I'm scared."

"LIGHTS OUT!"

As the scramble for the bunks began, Dom repeated "I truly am scared."

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

Each flight in basic training has two Technical Instructors, one acts as a team lead, the other is the team member, the junior member of the team, usually in training to become a team lead. Don's TI was Technical Sergeant Blankenship, a tough old cuss who was rumored to be a para-rescue specialist. The team member is Staff Sergeant Romano, a small blond girl whose career in hospital supply somehow led her to become a TI in basic training. Don's flight was her very first flight as a TI. Every night he sat down and wrote a quick letter to Lanh responding to her previous letter and telling her of the events of the day, no matter how boring.

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My Very Dear Cô Dâu

Waiting to be reunited with you is the second sweetest agony I have ever endured, the first being the agony that was resolved several times on May 17th. :-) I got a letter back from the publisher, they are happy to wait once they found out that I was in basic training, they said that the fact that we collaborated on it while I was in basic training can be used on the jacket cover. Thank you so much for collecting details from your... no, now it's OUR cousins and doing all the translations. This book is going to be awesome.

Today I took the USAF PAST test, the Physical Ability and Stamina Test and passed it with flying colors, 25 meters under water twice, 500-meter swim, pullups, sit-ups, pushups... it was a regular day of training for Regionals under the Dragon Lady. The hardest part was the pullups, they wanted a minimum of 8 in 2 minutes, I could only give them 10. It was pretty rough, but at least I got to swim again, and it got me out of an afternoon of marching, marching, marching. If I really wanted to march, I would have signed up for band in high school and I would have brought my own Kazoo.

I was made a squad leader, I'm in the first cot in the row and try to keep the guys in line. I'm not sure if it serves any function other than to provide an opportunity for a couple of people to aspire to a higher level of responsibility. I just want to do this quietly and fly under the radar until we can be reunited.

It's almost lights out, give my love to the honeymooners and my best wishes to all of the gang. You didn't mention Trung and Angela, I bet they marry too, as for you ...

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Don had signed off last night's letter with a few words on what he wanted to do with Lanh once they were reunited. He had to keep that part of the letter as non-explicit as possible, for his sake not hers. There's not much you can do for an erection in an open bay dorm full of young men in their underwear, privacy doesn't exist.

Now, 18 hours after sending off that letter, an hour before evening chow, the flight normally participates in some in-dorm training, or cleaning activities. Excitement is running through the guys, rumor has it that Saturday they may get their first base liberty, which means they may get to call home.

Don was adjusting his locker for inspection for the millionth time when he heard the TI bellow, "Campbell, my office! NOW." Don checked his uniform then said to Dom "Check me for ropes." Dom looked over Don's uniform quickly looking for any of those tiny errant threads that turn up on new uniforms commonly known as "ropes."

"Ok, you're good, let us know where to send the body when he's done with you."

"Thanks," gasped Don, then he scrambled for the TI's office. There he knocked on the door once, as hard as he could and waited at the position of attention until he heard the command, "Enter!"

He took his position in front of the TI's desk, snapped to attention, held the best salute he could muster, fixed his eyes on a point above the TI's head and said "Sergeant, Airman Campbell reports as ordered."

Miserable old TSgt Blankenship made him hold the salute for a good 10 seconds which felt like a half hour to Don, then returned the salute allowing Don to lower his salute and stand at attention. "Stand at ease Campbell." Don snapped to parade rest, feet shoulder width apart, hands clasped behind the back, eyes focused on the wall above the TI's head; it's a form of attention, it just appears to be more restful. "You did quite well in the PAST test, you're the first airman I've had to pass the PAST in a year."

"Thank you, sergeant."

SSgt Romano stood off to the side all smiles, it's obvious that TSgt Blankenship wanted to impress on his trainee how to congratulate an airman that excelled. The grouchy old TI continued, "Not just passed, you stomped that test Airman, you must have been an athlete in high school."

"I set the state record for two-hundred-yard freestyle in Minnesota two months ago, sergeant." This guy didn't call Don in to discuss high school athletics, Don was suspicious. He just wanted to get through basic training making no waves so he could be reunited with his bride and go to his technical school.

TSgt Blankenship slid a form across the desk and said, "You don't need to read, it's all filled out, just sign and date the bottom line, year/month/day using blue, black, or blue/black ink," and he pointed to the line he indicated. The cadence of his voice had the cadence of a man who has repeated this sentence a thousand times.

After a week of dealing with publishers, Don learned the hard way to read everything, this was drilled into his head over and over by his legal representative, Huy. Don didn't need to read this paper; it was a statement volunteering to join the USAF para-rescue career. "Thank you for the opportunity, Sergeant Blankenship, but I have settled on my chosen career. I intend to be an aircraft maintenance..."

"Airman, there is no greater opportunity to serve your country than to rescue downed airmen in their time of need." TSgt Blankenship sounded angry.

"Sergeant, I believe those airmen are better served by flying the most serviceable aircraft on earth, and that's what I intend to do. I intend to..."

"Airman, shut up. Romano, out."

Sergeant Romano's face showed shock momentarily, then her face went blank, and she executed a left face then marched from the office. TSgt Blankenship rose from his desk and stepped up next to Don and spoke directly into his ear, and Don could smell alcohol on his breath. "What the fuck is wrong with you airman? Did that one little bitty stripe go to your head? Speak!

"Sergeant, I have no desire to jump out of an airplane."

"Is jumping out of an airplane not good enough for you airman? Are you too good to rescue downed fliers? Is that it?"

Don learned a long time ago not to argue with drunks, and the reek of whiskey or whatever Blankenship had been drinking was starting to get to him. He chose to remain silent until Technical Sergeant Blankenship tired of harassing him. TSgt Blankenship growled and threatened and did everything he could to not sound like R. Lee Ermy, but of course, that is exactly who he was emulating. Every TI in the Air Force and every DI in the Marines or Army studied R. Lee Ermy's work in the movie Full Metal Jacket and worked hard to emulate his style without appearing to emulate his style. Finally, Sergeant Blankenship shouted, "Talk to me Campbell! What do you want?"

Don turned his head and looked directly into Technical Sergeant Blankenship's bloodshot eyes. "I want to speak with the First Sergeant."

"Dismissed," growled Technical Sergeant Blankenship. "Get the fuck out of my office you coward." Don performed a perfect about-face and left the office, as he stepped out through the door TSgt Blankenship bellowed "Romano! In here NOW!"

Dom ran up to Don and asked "Wat da fuck Donny? We could hear the ol' bull moose bellowing out here!"

Another airman, short, squat, a Wyoming ranch hand named Grizzard who slept on the other side of Dom came up also. "Seriously Don, you really pissed him off, what did you do?"

"I don't know! I took the PAST because he ordered me to, I passed it, and when I didn't apply for Para Rescue or Explosives Ordnance Disposal he freaked out." Before Don could say another word, TSgt Blankenship burst out of his office.

"Campbell, you're fired. Grizzard, you're the new squad leader, you two switch bunks and lockers NOW goddamnit!" SSgt Romano stood behind him, her face a mask of worry. The two trainees began to nervously move their gear from one locker to the other. "I won't have a coward leading a squad in my training flight," said Blankenship loud enough for the entire training flight to hear. "Romano, I want to hear your suggestion for flight leader tomorrow, and it had better not be this gutless imbecile," he said pointing at Don.

It was dead silent in the dorm room as Grizz, and Don switched lockers. Then as Don carried a drawer full of personal items to the new locker, Blankenship reached out and slapped the drawer out of Don's hands. Pens, pencils, letters, and other personal items flew through the air, and Don watched it all flutter to the ground in slow motion.

Blankenship picked up the picture of Lanh with the bass and muttered, "Cute little whore, I may have to go look her up, show her what a real man is like..." then he looked up and saw Don glaring at him. "Any questions, coward?" grinned Technical Sergeant Blankenship.

"Just one," said Don as he faced Technical Sergeant Blankenship. "Is that whiskey or bourbon on your breath?"

"You miserable cocksucker!" roared Blankenship and drove his fist into Don's gut. Don flew over his cot and landed on the floor as the entire training flight watched.

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My Very Dear Cô Dâu

It's been quite a busy three days, sorry that I haven't written. I guess I caused a stir when I refused to volunteer for that dangerous duty we discussed. TSgt Blankenship was disappointed in my decision and was a bit vocal about it. He used to be para-rescue and he thought I would be a perfect fit for the job. I explained to him that I wanted to work on airplanes and learn the technical skills needed to repair airplanes, but he wasn't happy with that. We decided that the First Sergeant might be interested in this discussion.

The first sergeant, Senior Master Sergeant Bowes informed TSgt Blankenship that my decision is my decision and if he doesn't like it to take it up with the commander. Well, he took it up with the commander and he must have caught Major Eversman on a bad day because we have a new TI now and a new flight leader...

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"Tellin' da little lady what happened?" Dominic Demarco grinned as he read over Don's shoulder.

"I'm telling her what she needs to know... for now," said Don as he tried to block Dom's view of his letter.

"She's gonna find out ya know."

"Yes, and I will tell her in person, she doesn't need to freak out while I'm seven hundred miles away." Don sighed as he sealed the letter and put a stamp on it, a hard task to do with his left arm in a sling.

"Lights out in five minutes!" called the CQ.

"At least ya kept your cool and didn't take a swing at da fucker," said Dominic as Don put the letter in the outbound mail slot.

"That was my plan all along," grinned Don. "If you keep your cool, hot heads and drunks always find a way to bury themselves."

"That fucker is getting' court martialed," said Dom, "you don't git more buried dan dat. He damn near pulled yer arm off yankin' yuz up off da floor like dat."

Don shook his head and said, "I will tell her, I know you're aching to, but I relieve you of that responsibility." as he started peeling the blanket off his cot. A well-made cot is as tight as a drumhead and it's tempting to slide into those tightly drawn sheets and just tug it tight in the morning, but a sharp TI will look at night to see if anyone did that and suddenly the entire flight will be doing drills to get out and back in the bed for fifteen minutes. It only takes once or twice for the lesson to be learned.

Don's guys have been helping him with making the bed and putting his locker together for inspection after TSgt Blankenship dislocated Don's shoulder yanking him up off the floor like that. Blankenship was so out of control that Staff Sergeant Romano went and got the Lieutenant to put an end to TSgt Blankenship's drunken rage. Don ended up at the hospital where he spent the night and TSgt Blankenship was escorted away by security police after calling Second Lieutenant Danielson a "Ballless butter bar."

Don could rest, heal, and graduate with a different flight, and another person might have done that, but Don wanted to ride it out with "his" team. He had a sudden thought and raised his hand and shouted, "Squad leaders! form up in the day room, Đi đi mau!" He got that out just as the CQ called "lights out," and shut the bay lights off. "Let's go squad leaders, this will be quick!"

The flight was broken into four squads, each squad had a leader, and there was one flight leader over them. Grizz and the three other squad leaders followed Don into the dayroom, a classroom that each training flight has. "This is after lights out!" one of the squad leaders complained. Another asked "What's a Đi đi mau?"

"It means go fast," said Don as the four flight leaders gathered in the day room, a classroom used for in-house training, "if they have a problem with us meeting after lights out, I'll take the heat. What are they going to do, rip my arm off?" he grinned and slightly raised his left arm, now supported in a sling. "Ok, really quick, tomorrow is all academics and open locker inspection, this is a good opportunity to see how our boys are doing. Pay attention to your people. Tomorrow night bring a list of everyone that is having problems so we can help them, also, bring a list of your best so we can emulate them. And if you're having trouble let me know, I'll give you a hand..."

"What is the meaning of this?" came a demanding female voice from behind them.

The five young men in their underwear snapped to attention and Don turned to SSgt Romano. "Staff meeting ma'am. Formulating our plan for tomorrow."

"After light's out?"

"Yes ma'am, I don't want the squad leaders to miss any training or any time with their squad because of a meeting, I figure after the troops are bedded down would be the best time for us to get together."

The ghost of a smile crossed SSgt Romano's lips. "One hour at the most, then hit the racks. Carry on." And she turned on her heel and left. He figured that out quick and took the initiative to conduct staff meetings before instructed to do so, she thought, then congratulated herself for selecting Airman Campbell as the new flight leader.

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My Dearest Em Yêu

I can't think of how much I miss you without crying, but it's getting better, slowly. Just being able to live here on the farm where you grew up makes me feel like I'm in touch with you. And it's so wonderful to see Poppa Ralph and Momma Sandy finally be able to show their love for each other. It must have been so hard for them to keep their hands to themselves for so long! Tam says that they're worse than we are when it comes to "smooching and grabbing."

Our passports came in the mail yesterday, and guess what? I got my driver's license! Ba took me down to the DMV and I took the test in Má's Chevy. Also, I have everything we need for the move ready to go except for the bed, I'm still using that. The packers are supposed to be here two days after your graduation.

Speaking of that, I have my plane tickets for your graduation, are you sure it's OK if Kim-ly comes with? She's been kind of freaky about going, she's acting weird. I guess I've been grouchy and miserable since you've been gone too, Kim-ly says I have a condition called "Lackadicky" and she says a shopping trip with her will be the solution...

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Lanh followed Kim-ly into the "Adult Superstore" with fear and apprehension written all over her face. The front windows had mannequins wearing scandalous evening wear, see through evening gowns, sheer blouses, bras with holes to reveal the nipples, even crotchless panties. Inside it was worse, the store was filled with racks and racks of DVD's, and magazines, their cases and covers featured naked people in questionable poses. And their titles! "I don't think we're supposed to be in here," Lanh whispered to Kim-ly.

"Don't worry about it, we're both over eighteen, one of us has a college degree, and one of us is dressed nicely. We're good! Hey Davie!"

The greasy haired, pimple faced man behind the cash register waved his hand. "How ya doin' Kimmie? This your sister?"

"Yepper. We're on a fact-finding mission, her husband is in basic training and she's feeling lonely."

"Shhh!" Lanh was in a panic, did Kim-ly tell everyone about her and Don?

"Relax, Davie was in my physics class at Bemidji State, ain't that right Davie."

"Right as rain Kimmie. You guys want some tokens for the video booths?" Davie started to reach under the counter.

"She's not ready for that, maybe when her hubby gets sent overseas, she'll take the center booth," Kim-ly grinned.

"What's the center booth?" asked Lanh innocently, but she was ignored.

"Is anyone back there?" Kim-ly asked Davie.

"Nope, it's still pretty early in the day."

"Ok you," Kim-ly said to Lanh, "come on, you'll just have to use your imagination." She led Lanh to a short hallway with three doors on each side. She opened the center door to reveal a small booth with two folding chairs and a TV screen on the end wall. The two walls adjoining the neighboring booths had circular holes cut into the walls at waist height. "Any guess what those holes are for?" Kim-ly had a mischievous grin.

Lanh decided to wipe that grin off of her sister's face and said the most outrageous thing she could think of: "Some guy sticks his... uhh... his penis through the hole at you."

The look of surprise on Kim-ly's face was priceless. "That's right! How did you know?"

"Right?!? I didn't know! I just thought of the weirdest thing I could imagine... why would some guy do that?" Lanh was appalled at the thought.

"So the person on this side could suck it, silly!"

"But what if it's a guy on this side?" Lanh's head spun with the realization of anonymous sex.

"That's the thing, you don't know; in your imagination it could be anyone." Remembering Lanh's love for Magnum PI re-runs Kim-ly said, "Ok, picture yourself blindfolded, someone enters the room and starts going down on you, who is to say it's not Tom Selleck? It could be anyone, so let your imagination run wild and have some fun!"

The idea did have some appeal to Lanh, and she did use her imagination, but she never considered imagining anyone but Don. Kim-ly continued, "Say you're a guy and you think you might be bi; you could come here and try going down on a dick or two to see if you want to commit to the idea, or you're a horny, lonely divorcee and miss having a dick to suck, or maybe you and your hubby are a little more open and he wants to watch you suck a different cock or..."

Lanh interrupted, "Have YOU ever tried it?"

"A couple of times, but that was with a guy I was dating." Lanh looked confused but Kim-ly continued, "When a dick comes through the wall, it could be anyone. You might KNOW it's Don's dick, but unless he has your name tattooed on it, you really don't know for sure, so it could be Don, or it could be Tom Selleck." Lanh's expression showed that she wasn't sold on the idea in the least, so Kim-ly led her out of the booths. "We're not here for that, we're here for the toys."

"Toys?" Lanh couldn't fathom a place like this selling a Barbie Dream House or a train set for under the Christmas tree.

Kim-ly led Lanh into a separate room with a sign that said Toy Land over the entryway and in there were toys that Lanh would never have dreamed about in her wildest dreams. "If you had a proper bachelorette party, here's where we would have gotten your gifts... I wonder if Syd is going to have a bachelorette party, these would be perfect for her," and Kim-ly as she held up a pair of fuzzy pink handcuffs.

Lanh was no longer listening, she was doing a silent inventory of Toy Land, most of which she had no idea how they would be used. She picked up one that truly confused her, it was a beaver sitting on a big log, one end of the thick log was rounded, the other end was covered with buttons. The beaver's tail was pointing to the rounded end of the log. "What is this for?" she asked aloud.

As if by magic Davey appeared and said, "Let me show you." He fished a couple of batteries out of his pocket and in seconds the device was buzzing and wriggling.

"So?" asked a confused Lanh.

Realizing he was working with a total innocent Davey explained, "The log goes inside you, and it vibrates, and does this," he pushed some buttons and the log started twisting and curving around, and the beaver's tail started wagging up and down. "The tail licks your clit while the log squirms around inside you... I bet this feels really good." Lanh was hypnotized by the sales pitch, she tried to imagine how it would feel in her pussy, but there's no way she could justify the cost of that toy.

"That's a bit advanced for her," interrupted Kim, "We're looking for a temporary replacement for hubby while he's away."

"How long has he been gone?"

"A month!" Lanh moaned.

"Something to keep her in practice... ow!" said Kim-ly, she had put a supporting arm around her kid sister and Lanh had jabbed Kim-ly back with a boney elbow.

"Here you go," said Davey indicating a wall covered with dildos in plastic bags hanging from display hooks. "Hygienic, easily washable, you can even put them in the dishwasher... I'll be up front if you need me."

After a long embarrassing review of the wares Lanh settled on a girthy six-inch flesh colored dildo which included balls. Kim-ly also made several selections and paid for the purchase. Back at the farm, they sat in Lanh's sitting room and went over the purchases. Kim-ly took her purchase out of the bag, she got the beaver on the log, and handed Lanh the bag. "They're all for you," said Kim-ly, "think of them as late bachelorette presents."

Lanh looked through the bag that Kim-ly handed her and extracted a pair of fuzzy pink handcuffs. She smiled fondly remembering tying Don's wrists behind his back in the hayloft. The next thing she pulled out was something that looked like a lipstick with the smiling face of Sunshine Bunny! on one end. "What is this?"

"Here, let me get that," said Kim-ly and she proceeded to unscrew one end and insert a double A size battery, while she did that, Lanh found a very nice looking ornamental chain with small metal ornaments dangling from it. "Charm bracelet?" oddly she couldn't figure out how to clasp it around her wrist, there was no latch, only a slip loop at each end.

"Kind of, let me show you," smiled Kim-ly. She got up and stepped behind Lanh's chair and before she could realize what was happening, Kim-ly had Lanh locked in handcuffs with her hands behind her back.

"What are you doing?" asked Lanh. She wasn't scared, but she was suspicious of whatever Kim-ly had planned.

"Just a demonstration, and we don't need your hands in the way." Kim-ly then spun Lanh's chair to face away from the table then unbuttoned Lanh's blouse and found that she didn't wear a bra. "Ok, first let's look at Sunshine Bunny! Ever wonder why we're so addicted to anything with Sunshine Bunny! on it?"

Still struggling against her handcuffs Lanh said "Tam says it's the kawaii gene that causes us to..." she stopped talking when Kim-ly twisted the Sunshine Bunny! device and it started buzzing.

"It's because Sunshine Bunny! is so nice to us," grinned Kim-ly as she ran the small personal vibrator across Lanh's neck and behind her ear.

"Ok, point taken," said Lanh, trying not to show any enjoyment in the buzzing vibrator but it did feel good, "now let me out."

"Soon as we're done," Kim-ly whispered in Lanh's ear which now caused Lanh to become scared. Kim-ly wouldn't... would she? The vibrator moved lower down Lanh's neck, then it started in toward her breast, and suddenly it was on her nipple.

"Oh sweet god!" Lanh gasped, involuntarily her back arched as the vibrating Sunshine Bunny! touched her nipple. She tried to twist away but Kim-ly held her breast in one hand and buzzed her nipple with the other. Then Kim-ly did something with her nipple but she didn't dare look. The buzzing stopped but a delightful pinching was happening on both nipples now. All Lanh knew was that her sister was behind her, playing with her boobs and she wanted Don so bad... and suddenly the tears came.

"Shhh, shhh, shhh, aww honey," said Kim-ly as she hugged Lanh, "I didn't mean to make you cry, I just wanted to make you hot, look..." She put her chin on Lanh's shoulder and held up a hand mirror so Lanh could see her breasts and the chain that Kim-ly put on her. The "charm bracelet" was reached from nipple to nipple, the slip loops pinching her nipples that were buzzed to erection by her Sunshine Bunny! vibrator. "See how hot they make you look? Don is going to eat the fuck out of you," she grinned and gave the chain a couple of tugs sending undesired thrills from Lanh's nipples straight to her clit.

Lanh sniffed and tried to escape again but Kim-ly curled her arms around Lanh and cupped her tits, "God damn your boobs are nice," the older sister sighed.

"They're not for you," whimpered Lanh.

"I know honey, but... oh..." Kim-ly gave her sad little sister a hug, "It's just a couple more weeks..." she looked at Lanh's face again in the mirror, how didn't she see the bags under Lanh's eyes? "When's the last time you slept?"

"I don't know!" wailed Lanh, the dam broke, and the tears really began to flow.

"Come on you," and Kim-ly uncuffed Lanh and led the weeping young wife to the bedroom where she closed the curtains and undressed her then they laid down together under a quilt that that Lanh and Don received as a wedding gift and Kim-ly cuddled with her. She knew that Lanh would prefer feeling Don's solid masculine chest against her back rather than a pair of 32C's, but we work with what we have.

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Hey Brother!

Just a quick note to let you know that in your absence all of Grant Valley MN has fallen into chaos, the schools have closed, businesses shuttered, families disbanded, all the worst parts of the bible. Just kidding, we're doing fine, but we all miss you. The girls will kill me if they find out that I told you, but Lanh was having a rough go of it, not sleeping, not taking care of herself, spending all of her time with Marissa and the cows... sort of like she was before you guys met but with cows. Kim-ly has moved in with her and is taking care of her and Lanh doing much better now. Can you imagine it - Kim-ly showing a little human compassion? Inconceivable! You're working miracles from seven hundred miles away.

Hey, dig this, Ahnjong passed her bar exam! I know you won't have a lot of time between Basic Training and Tech School, but I am a man of my word and I promised Ahnjong, so... will you have time to be my best man?

Keep up the good work, we're all proud of you!

Your Brother

Huy

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It was the most boring parade Lanh had ever seen. With the exception of stripes on their arms and the hats on their heads, everyone was dressed in exactly the same uniforms, dark blue pants with light blue shirts, but that's a big part of what made it boring. Good parades have different uniforms, Lanh counted ten different flights, it looked like about forty-five people in each, it would be cool if each flight had a different uniform. The worst part is that they weren't marching, they were just standing at attention out in a huge field. More bands would be better too, right now they only had one band and they were kind of good. Every now and then they'd hit a clinker. She mentioned that to Ralph who sat next to her on her right.

"You have to give them credit, they have to complete the exact same training that all the other troops had to accomplish, but they also had to come together as a band in only eight weeks. All considered, they're doing pretty good," said Ralph

Lanh had Ralph and Sandy on her right and Kim-ly to her left. They arranged themselves that way so that they could catch Lanh if she tried to jump up and run after Don. "Still got your charm bracelet on?" Kim-ly whispered in her ear.

"Oh yeah," nodded Lanh with a smile. After a good 18-hour nap and a decent meal, Lanh was feeling much better. Kim-ly moved in with her and they slept together at night. It really helped Lanh to have someone there with her in those lonely hours, and it was fun to make fun of Kim-ly when she tried to help milk the cows.

As for Lanh's nipple chain, the two had turned it into an actual charm bracelet, they found charms for Bemidji which was near their hometown of Grant Valley, the state of Minnesota, the state of Texas, and Lackland AFB, and added them to the chain. The extra weight of the charms caused a little more pull on her nipples. She mentioned her charm bracelet in her last letter to Don and how she'd like to add charms from everywhere they go but didn't mention how she would be wearing her "bracelet."

Right now, she was wearing an extra small dark blue t-shirt that was almost tight enough to show off her hard nipples. It said in big white letters, "Proud to be an Air Force wife" on the front, and "Toughest Job in the Military" on the back. She considered wearing a jacket over it but the high temperature in San Antonio today was expected to be in the triple digits, so she carried a Sunshine Bunny! backpack and if needed the shoulder straps could cover her nipples.

Each flight had a short guy (or gal) up front carrying a small flag which Ralph informed her was a guidon, a holdover from olden times. At the start of the ceremony all the guidon carriers along with the flight's senior TI walked up to the presiding NCOs at the middle of the field and presented their guidons. The announcer said, "The Commanders Excellence Streamer is awarded to the six ninety seventh training flight," as a high-ranking NCO attached a gold-colored streamer to one of the presented guidons.

"That's Don's flight!" squealed Lanh, and as the guidon bearers turned back to their flights, Don's flight suddenly snapped to attention and all shouted "Đi đi mau!" in unison then snapped back to parade rest. Lanh jumped up and shouted, "You tell 'em baby!" causing laughter in the section of the stands that could hear her.

Eventually all of the flights passed in review, marching in formation around the parade field as the band played marching music. The band broke into a familiar tune, one Lanh had heard from several old movies, she even knew some of the words,

Off we go into the wild blue yonder,

Climbing high into the sun;

Here they come zooming to meet our thunder,

At 'em now, Give 'em the gun!

It was then that Lanh finally realized that this wasn't a morning stroll, or a chance to show off their pretty blue uniforms, was a celebration of the culture of the Air Force, of patriotism, of tradition, of espirit de corps.

Down we dive, spouting our flame from under,

Off with one helluva roar!

We live in fame or go down in flame. Hey!

Nothing'll stop the U.S. Air Force!

She was a bit upset that she couldn't get a good view of Don, but as they marched by, she saw flight six ninety-seven, her husband's flight, and by extension her flight. Black, white, brown, there was even one Asian in his flight, but they were no longer those colors, by completing their training they traded in those past stereotypes for the blue of the USAF. Every one of these hundreds of young men and women would become brother and sisters in a family that volunteered to defend and protect the United States up to the cost of their own lives. Lanh had no idea how difficult the job ahead of her of being an Air Force wife would be, but they spoke at length, and when he finally signed the papers, they did it together.

Finally at the mayhem of the reunion, Lanh was able to locate Don in a crowd of well-wishers and hugging couples. She couldn't get through the throng of people, so she called out "Em yêu!" as loud as she could, and like a sunflower turning to the rays of the sun, Don turned to the sound of Lanh's voice. "Chi yêu!" He finally caught sight of her through the press and he charged through the crowd and reaching her he caught her up in his arms for the sweetest kiss of their short marriage. To them the crowd faded, it was just them, together at last after an intolerable, agonizing eight weeks.

When their lips parted, they gazed into each other's eyes and smiled. "Hey GI," Lanh whispered, "you want girlfriend tonight?"

Don started to chuckle. "Stop it," he warned. "You watched that damn movie, didn't you?"

Her eyes twinkled with evil merriment. Of course, Kim-ly brought a copy of Full Metal Jacket over to the house to watch. She nodded then whispered in his ear, "Me so horn..." he sealed off her exclamation with a kiss.

"Hey colonel!" a voice with a heavy Brooklyn accent interrupted their moment, "Is dis my girl dat ya be pawin on?"

Reluctantly Don broke their kiss, turned, and said "Lanh, this is Dominic Demarco..." His voice caught as he turned and saw Dom holding a two-year-old girl, a four-year-old girl at his feet, and his arm around a very pregnant woman. Dom never mentioned a wife and two and a half children. "Dom? I think there's something you didn't bother to tell me."

"Well, yea. I'm not da type to be leavin' personal information layin' around where anyone can pick da lock and read at dare leisure. Dis is my wife Dianna, dis is Deena, and dis is Doris." Lanh desperately tried to hold back the giggles and Dominic eventually shrugged and said "What... I majored in alliteration at NYU."

Don asked, "and the baby?" dreading the answer.

Dianna patted her tummy. "David." Lanh burst into laughter.

Later at the dormitory they stopped to get Don's duffle bag full of uniforms and personal items. "It's going to be nice to slip into a pair of blue jeans and sneakers," he sighed. He didn't get a lot of grief for his short hair because when he was swimming, he kept his hair shorn short, but his flight mates had left a lot of hair behind at the barbershop on day one and their families were teasing them for their ultra-short hair. Don slung his duffle bag over his shoulder, grabbed his yearbook and his orders, then turned to look for Lanh and finally found her with a few other young wives looking at pictures from the basic training ordeal that the TIs took and pinned up on the squadron bulletin board. Lanh looked over at him and said "Em yêu, why is your arm in a sling in this picture?"

Grizz appeared at Don's side, "You weren't ready for this conversation, were you."

"Nope."

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

Every Saturday, every Sunday since that horrible day when Don received his orders to Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, Lanh waited for a phone call. It wasn't fair that his first assignment out of technical school was overseas, but there were manning issues in Europe and Don was chosen to go. Luckily there were what Don called "morale calls" though MARS, the Military Affiliate Radio System. These calls were annoying, sometimes you could barely hear the other person, but they had five minutes together and that sometimes made all the difference in the world. The fact that there were at least two radio operators listening along with anyone with a shortwave radio didn't bother Don and Lanh, just as long as they could hear each other's voice for a few short minutes.

Lanh waited in the dining room of the Campbell family farmhouse along with Kim-ly who had made coffee and massaged Lanh's shoulders to help to keep her awake. Finally, after midnight the phone rang...

"Good morning, is this Lanh?"

"Yes, it is. Good morning, Rudy, how's the propagation tonight?" As Lanh spoke on the phone, Kim-ly gave her a kiss on the cheek and wandered off to give Lanh privacy.

"It's much better than last Sunday, that's for sure, are you ready?"

Lanh gave a sigh of relief, radio propagation was horrible last weekend, she could barely hear Don through the squealing and static of the shortwave radio. "Let's do it," she said. These calls were a godsend for GIs stationed overseas where mail is slow and international phone calls are insanely expensive.

The system works like this: a HAM radio station in the United States makes contact with multiple radio stations in Europe or Asia. A GI in that area calls his base MARS station and says he wants to talk to mom and gives them mom's phone number. The MARS station sends that info to the station in the states who contacts mom, then the two radio stations connect the phones to their radios and a five-minute call is made for free. Being on High Frequency radio there's static and squealing and only one person can talk at a time, but it's a call home. The number of lives of lonely service men saved over the years numbers in the thousands, because sometimes hearing a loved one say hi is the difference between a smile and a suicide.

Lanh heard Rudy do his incantation for the fiftieth time "Alpha Gulf Alpha Two Sierra Poppa this is Alfa Fox Charlie Three Golf Delta." She heard the two stations make contact, AGA2SP in Germany and AFC3GD on Long Island, she heard the static and the squeals of the shortwave radio, but she heard Don's station clearly so it's going to be a good call tonight. Finally, Lanh heard Rudy say, "I have Lanh on the line for your number three call." Then through the squeal and static she heard AGA2SP say "Roger, standby one..." then Don's voice came on the line "Hello darling, I have some great news, over."

She waited the prescribed two seconds for the radio operator at AGA2SP to release his microphone switch and for Rudy at AFC3GD to hold down his mike switch. "Hi sweetheart, I have wonderful news also, Rosa is expecting! Over."

"That's wonderful, Bao must be ecstatic... how are you doing? Over."

"Bao and Rosa are very happy... I'm happy for them, over."

"That's not what I asked, I'm concerned for you, over."

Lanh sighed; she knew what he meant. Tam and Jake's baby was due in July, now Rosa and Bao... it's like everyone in their wedding party was getting married and having kids, everyone except for the bride and groom and being separated as much as they were, wasn't helping the average, they've been married for nine months and separated for five of those months. At least they got to have Thanksgiving together before Don took off to Germany, but he's been living in the dorm waiting for housing to open up. "I'm doing ok, I'll be better when I have a home. Over."

"That's my good news sweetheart, our house will be ready for us on March first, I went and looked at it today. It's off base housing and it's in good shape. Your plane ticket is in the mail. Over."

Suddenly it was like Roll Call on the MARS European Phone Patch Network, "Congratulations you guys, AGA2BT out." That was the Mars station from Bitburg Germany.

"We were rooting for you, AGA2LN out." That was the MARS station from Lakenheath England.

"That was a long time to wait! Way to go Lanh. Give our love to Rosa, AGA2RS out." That was a surprise, the MARS station from Ramstein never has a word to say on these phone patch nets.

About four more air force bases that rarely check in to the network sent their congratulations. Although these stations don't log in to the net with traffic, they monitor it in case there is a call for them, and they have been following the conversations between Don and Lanh over the months. Spangdahlem is a good assignment but it's difficult to get housing and it sounds like everyone knows it. "That is awesome news honey, I'm going to start packing now. Over," said Lanh.

"I love you, out."

"Love you too, out."

Finally, Rudy said "We hate to lose our customers but we're happy for you." As a radio operator for the Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) Rudy has patched tens of thousands of phone calls to Europe via shortwave radio from the HAM radio station sponsored by General Dynamics, and you develop an affinity for your customers as you hear their lives play out over the air.

"Oh, you didn't lose a customer Rudy, I've got my folks plus five brothers and sisters, I'll be talking to you from Germany." After saying her goodbyes and thanks to Rudy, Lanh pulled down a suitcase and started packing. Most of her clothes were sitting in a warehouse somewhere in Europe waiting for her new home to become available. They're all probably too big for her now, she thought. Despite the best efforts of Ralph, Sandy, and Kim-ly, her weight has slipped eight pounds since Don left for Germany, and when you're as small as Lanh, eight pounds is a lot. Only 5 more years until they can return to the farm for good!

Hearing the clatter from the bedroom, Kim-ly wandered in from the main living room where she was watching the snow fly outside the windows. A late winter/early spring snow fall was hitting north central Minnesota and both Lanh and Kim-ly wondered if Germany had crippling blizzards and subzero weather for weeks on end. Seeing Lanh's bedroom door open and the sound of Lanh moving around in a closet, Kim-ly tapped on the door. "Not spending any time with Little Stanley tonight?" Little Stanley is the name Lanh gave her 6" dildo.

"No time!" Lanh whirled around, there was a look of joy on her face that Kim-ly hasn't seen since that hot August day in San Antonio Texas when Don's basic training was over. "We got a house!"

Immediately Kim-ly started to join Lanh in her packing. She opened up her underwear drawer and as she grabbed a stack of panties to pack, she asked "When are you going?"

"March first... I think."

Kim-ly stopped. Yesterday was the ides of February. "You're going to live out of a suitcase for two weeks?"

Lanh stopped then gave an embarrassed smile, then started putting clothing back in the closet. "Probably not."

"Oh baby, I'm happy for you," she said as she hugged her little sister. Kim-ly and Lanh have grown so close this winter, much closer than they were before Lanh married. Helping Lanh get over her separations from Don also helped Kim-ly get over her separations from... NO! Don't even think that way! Just be happy for Lanh.

There was a gentle tap at the French doors leading into Lanh's apartment indicating that Sandy and Ralph heard the excitement too. "Come on in," called Lanh. Kim-ly glanced at the dresser and there was Little Stanley, laying out in the open. A practiced hit with her hip closed the drawer just as Sandy and Ralph peeked in the bedroom door.

"Hi!" called Sandy, "What's all the commotion? Did Don get another stripe?" She was referring to the party at Thanksgiving celebrating Don's second stripe, and immanent departure for Germany ahead of Lanh.

"We got a house!" then seeing Ralph's skeptical look, "Maybe an apartment, he didn't say. It's off base."

"Good for you!" grinned Ralph. "Living off base will show you the REAL Germany. Folks who live on base miss out on so much." Ralph had six years in the marine corps, but he rarely spoke of his service. "Be sure to keep a room open for us, we might come visit you."

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany

"The Spang"

Lanh decided that time moves at the inverse of what you need it to move. She noticed this phenomenon several times, the past two weeks seemed to take two years to crawl by, but the time she set aside for goodbyes and getting ready to leave her family for the first time in her life flashed past like lightning. Waiting for her connection at La Guardia airport in New York city was the longest three hours she ever experienced, the only longer time she ever spent in her life was the Lufthansa flight from NYC to Frankfurt. But what a flight! She was seated halfway back in coach, but it felt like first class. The seats were large and comfortable, drinks were free, well at least her soft drinks were free. The meal was an interesting hamburger steak with egg noodles and the flight attendants handed out steaming hot scented towels which really helped wake her up after being lulled to sleep by soothing classical music and overpriced wine.

Finally, she was able to get off the plane with the help of a nice red-faced gentleman that spoke no English or Vietnamese who helped her get her bag out of the overhead compartment. Soon she was in Germany looking at her first stamp in her passport, she decided that she was now a "stamp collector" and vowed to fill her passport with as many stamps as she could. She was trying to read the wording on the stamp when she heard the call "Chi yêu!"

"Em yeu?" she cried, then she saw a hand waving at her through the press of the crowd, and there he was! The sweet kiss of reuniting, it didn't make up for the months of separation, the five-minute-long shortwave radio calls in the middle of Saturday and Sunday night, the handwritten letters mailed daily, the aching hours of loneliness, but it helped.

As they waited for her luggage she chattered happily away about Tam and Rosa's babies, about the cows and Marissa, about how awesome it was plowing the snow off the driveway with the John Deere tractor... but Don kept saying "Baby... honey... wait... stop..." The words kept flowing out of her and he finally stopped her with a kiss.

"What's wrong?" she asked, she wanted to talk to him so badly and he stopped her, it hurt.

"Chi yeu, I love you, but I don't speak Vietnamese... yet."

"I know...so?"

"Baby, you're speaking Vietnamese. I know that when you get excited it happens, but I don't understand it yet."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't realize..." Lanh was shattered, she didn't notice that in her excitement she was speaking in Vietnamese. She always thought her problem was her English diction would start to fall apart when she's excited, she didn't realize she switched to Vietnamese.

Don held her hands tight, "It's ok, I understand that when you get excited it happens. Vietnamese sounds pretty to me; I just wish I could understand it."

"I sorry..." she really felt bad that she had such little control over her language. "Me... I... should... no... talk..."

"No, honey, come here," he pulled Lanh close to him and hugged her as tight as he could. "I have a friend who thinks she's crazy, she told me that she went into psychology to figure out what is going on in her head."

Lanh glared up at him. She knew he was talking about her sister Tam. "You say me crazy GI?" She was taunting him now.

"No, but listen, I also have a friend who couldn't balance a checkbook, she's now an accountant, I have a friend who wanted to figure out how to get out of a speeding ticket, he's now a lawyer. You're a Nguyen, your whole family solves your personal problems with education, and there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's noble."

"Ok, I know about Kim-ly and her check book and Huy and his tickets, what about Bao? He's an accountant too," asked Lanh as Don grabbed her suitcases off of the carousel.

"He told me that he took accounting to keep an eye on Kim-ly," said Don returning to Lanh with her luggage.

"And Trung?" she asked.

"He told me that he has a thing for blond farmers daughters, so he found himself a job that has the farmers inviting him on to their farms." Lanh couldn't help but laugh, it sounds like something Trung would say, he's now a state agronomist for North Dakota in the Red River valley and is engaged to a blond farmer's daughter.

"Good thing for him that there's a lot of blond farmers in North Dakota," said Lanh, her self-flagellation starting to ease up.

"Look," said Don, "lets figure this out together, you teach me Vietnamese so I'll understand you, and you take a few Speech Pathology classes so you can understand you."

As they led Lanh's suitcases out of the area and out into parking, Lanh thought about Don's proposal. "Only if there's sex involved..."

Don's car was a tiny green Opel Rekord a car that is smaller than anything that Don had driven stateside. It had a five-speed manual transmission with a column shift. A column shift is something Lanh is familiar with, but the GMC pickup they left parked in a corner of the tractor shed on Ralph and Lanh's farm was a three speed. She couldn't wait to try out this Opel. After a short struggle to get the suitcases into the car, and a long, tender kiss and not a little bit of groping, they were on the road.

As they drove toward the western edge of Germany the country began to reveal itself in the early dawn gloom, and Lanh wasn't impressed. Through the misty rain she could see that the rolling hills were covered with large sticks standing vertically spaced about ten feet apart. The farmer in her began to wonder what was going on and she eventually asked what she was looking at.

"Those are vineyards, this is called the Mosel region, and they make a lot of awesome wine."

"Wine?" Lanh asked cheerfully, this might not be a bad assignment after all. It was a long journey that passed through several tiny towns and villages, and Germany was still waking up. On a couple of occasions, they were held up by herds of farm animals walking through the center of the villages. Once Lanh got out to talk to the cows, but they didn't understand English, or Vietnamese. The farmer driving the herd chuckled at Lanh's frustration. Somehow with a lot of hand gestures and fumbling through his English-German dictionary Don was able to communicate to the old German that they were "Bauer," farmers. "Ah, sehr gute," said the German farmer, then he asked "all cows? Or do you have other animals."

"One goat," chuckled Don, "And we grow hay... heu, feed corn... mais, potatoes... kartoffeln, and other vegetables... Gemüse, for her parent's restaurant."

"Ausgezeichnet!" said the farmer with a huge grin, then he called out as he hurried to catch up with his herd "Excellent! Guten Tag!"

"He could speak English?" asked Lanh.

"Most Germans can," explained Don, "but this is their country, their language. As long as you try to speak German they will help with English."

"Mmmm," she moaned happily as they hugged one last time before getting back in the car. "Let's go home."

Their home was an apartment on the second floor of a three-story tall apartment building in the tiny walled village of Dudeldorf Germany. It was four miles from Spangdahlem Air Base where Don was assigned, and they were close compared to some of the other guys in his unit.

"It's the third place they offered," panted Don as he hauled Lanh's overstuffed suitcases up the stairs, "and it's the nicest I've seen in our price range."

For her part, Lanh was enchanted by little town. When they drove through the ancient city gate, she felt like she was transported back in time to a medieval country. All the little churches, and farms, and vineyards, and tiny narrow streets, ancient buildings... the oldest building in Minnesota is a sod hut that's 150 years old, that would be a new construction here.

Don unlocked the door to apartment 21, there's only 12 apartments in the building, four on each floor, their apartment was on the second floor, first apartment. Don pointed to 23, the apartment next to them, "This guy is Marty, he works third shift, he'll be home soon, but he's a day sleeper." Lanh was about to step into the apartment, but Don stopped her. "Let's do this right beautiful."

She laughed as he scooped her up and carried her across the threshold, kissing the whole time. "Are you going to carry me across EVERY threshold?" When she opened her eyes and looked around, she saw that the apartment was filled with boxes and a few sticks of furniture. "You can take me home now," she announced.

"Our hold baggage just came yesterday, and I was on duty last night. What do you say we have a little tour first, then we'll run in terror, ok?" Don carried her around showing her the interesting features of their German apartment.

"You got the bed together I see," she smiled.

"I'm not sure if I got it together right, we may have to test it." Their kiss was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Don carried Lanh out into the living room/dining room and there was an Air Force staff sergeant in a rumpled camouflage uniform holding Lanh's suitcases. "Oh, hey Marty."

Marty set the suitcases down, "I found these in the hallway, I wasn't sure if they were forgotten or a giveaway."

"Hi Marty, I'm Lanh," the little woman said from Don's arms, "I just got here, and we were just about ready to have sex."

"You said that out loud," whispered Don. Lanh's eyes flew open wide. "In English," he added to her shock. A shocked Don set her down gently, and said "She used to be subtle, but I guess living with her sister for the past four months took care of that."

"I'm so sorry, I've been up for two days, and my sister is a bad influence and..." gasped Lanh who was punch-drunk from 30 hours of travel and two glasses of wine on the flight. She shook Marty's hand desperately.

"I want to meet your sister!" grinned Marty. "It's ok, relax, we've all been there and we're all in this together. If you guys need anything, you come see me, ok?"

'Ok," said Lanh, finally releasing Marty's hand. After their goodbyes and a double check that they left nothing more in the hallway, Don locked the door and led Lanh to the bedroom where he began to undress. The first thing that Lanh did was search through her Sunshine Bunny! backpack and pull out her long-distance pillowcase showing a stick figure girl catching the stick figure sergeant's kisses and fill it with her pillow. The stick figure Don and Lanh were back together, now it was time for the real Don and Lanh.

Don showed her how to work the unique German water heater, a five-gallon tank that heated the water for your shower, you had to push the button to start heating the water, when the button lit up the water was ready. Don had hit the button when they first got in the house anticipating Lanh's desire for a shower, and now it was ready. "That's uncivilized!" exclaimed Lanh who loved long, steaming hot showers and baths.

"Here they think that heating up thirty gallons of water and not using it is uncivilized, and electricity is a bit expensive over here," said Don as he helped his bride undress. Soon they were under the spray of the shower, enjoying the feel of soapy hands sliding over their bodies, trying to find points that have never been explored before, then drying off with fluffy towels. They climbed into bed, between cool, crisp sheets and with a gentle kiss Lanh lapsed into the deepest, most refreshing sleep she's had in four months.

Lanh woke up and it was dark in the apartment, they slept through the entire day. Don was still asleep, he was exhausted too, he said he had been scrubbing the apartment and sleeping on the floor until the furniture arrived. Then setting up what furniture he could, unpacking what he thought they would need first, all the while still going to work on second shift and dragging home at two AM, it's been a long two weeks for him too. But she needed him awake so bad right now...

Actually, she realized that she only needed a part of him awake. "I've done it before," she smiled to herself as she rolled back the covers and there he was, her buddy Stanley. It was so hard for her to believe how small Stanley gets when he's not paying attention to her, usually he's ready for action. She gently leaned over and took Don's cock in her mouth and began to gently suckle on his cock as lovingly as she could and after a few minutes nothing happened. "Oh no!" she thought, "he's broken!" never had Don ever failed to become erect when Lanh reached for him. "Maybe he doesn't love me anymore," she thought miserably.

"One more try," this time she started to suckle on his balls, he really likes that. When they were beginning to experiment with mutual masturbation he loved to masturbate while she sucked and licked his balls. Now Stanley was beginning to show signs of life. She went back to running her tongue up and down his cock and soon it began to grow, every pulse of Don's heart pumped up his cock a little more. Now she began to suck it a little more aggressively, but still trying to not wake up Don, and she soon had him up to full erection, his thick cock laying ready.

Gently she climbed up and threw a leg over him, then lowered herself until her pussy lips were just touching the underside of his cock, her hips rocking forward and back gently to rub her labia against his cock. Gentle thrills began to radiate from her pussy. She whimpered softly, it felt so nice! So much nicer, and warmer, than Little Stanley. She lowered down a little, putting a little more of her weight on his cock, which forced her outer lips open and now his cock was rubbing against her inner labia and her clit.

The thrill grew more intense as her clit was now being directly stimulated, little sighs of pleasure escaped her lips as her fluids lubricated their connection allowing her to press down harder, the incredible sensation of his cock sliding between her lips, dragging across her clit was indescribable. She wanted to pinch her nipples, but she was resting her weight on them, her whimpers becoming little gasps, and pants. Her hips moved faster; it was so good! Before she knew it, she was cumming. Her breath was coming in sudden gasps, her hips were out of control as she drove them down on his cock, pressing her clit and her pussy against his throbbing meat. Explosive waves of pent-up sexual release shook her body, shattering her mind.

Then suddenly it happened... what they almost did the first time they tried this, she slid forward too far, his cock popped up a little bit, and when she slid back his cock drove into her smoldering pussy. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and as she pushed back his cock slithered deep into her cunt stretching her out and filling her like her fingers or Little Stanley never could. She fell forward onto her elbows and began pushing forward and back. She felt herself driving to a second, stronger orgasm, her body was no longer her own, she felt Don's hands grip her hips and he began to drive her back and forth, pummeling her with his cock, her clit being scraped and tickled by his pubic hair, her nipples dragging across his chest.

"Gonna cum, gonna cum, gonna cum..." she gasped quietly over and over, he loved to hear her announced her orgasm. It took a long time for her to get comfortable with that, but it was a huge turn-on for Don. They gazed in each other's eyes, and she could tell he was getting close, he got that playful, romantic look in his eyes when he was getting close, and his hips started driving up into her. For his part, Don saw that desperate, wild look in her eyes as she began to demand, "Cum with me!" He slammed into her with all his might, and she took each powerful thrust with a grunt and suddenly it was on him, his cock and his mind exploded in release. He moved his hands to Lanh's breasts and pushed so she was sitting straight up, at the same time he drove his hips up, his cock surged deeper into his tiny woman than ever before.

"CUMMMMIIINNNNNNGGGG!!!!" She threw her head back and shrieked in duet with his loud growl of release, volley after volley of sperm erupted from his cock and flooded her vagina. They slammed their sex organs together in a dance of release, their fluids mixing and covering their groins, until finally, exhausted Don slowly lowered his limp little wife to his chest where she panted, overjoyed with their mutual release.

"Now what do we do?" she asked softly.

"I'll get a washcloth, clean us up, maybe another shower, then we step out to a gasthaus for a brat and pomes fritz and enjoy the night, ok?" She nodded and Don got up and grabbed a washcloth, hit the heater in the bathroom then went to the kitchen and fetched a bottle of wine and two glasses.

While he was gone, in those few minutes the reality of the situation struck Lanh like a sledgehammer, she was suddenly four thousand miles away from everything she knows and loves. She's going to miss all of her friends having their babies. Tam, Rosa, and Sydney are going to have babies, Rosa and Bao will be parents any minute now. Sandy and Ralph, mom and dad, and Kim-ly is all alone now...

Don returned to the bedroom and gently washed his wife. "It's cold!" she protested. Her mood had changed from playful to something Don had never seen before, it's like Lanh left the room and her body remained, empty and mirthless. The reality of being thousands of miles away from home, out of reach of her parents, brothers, sisters, an entire ocean separating them, the concept was too much to endure.

"The water's heating for the shower, hang on." He poured her a glass of wine, he was sure she's going to love these German wines, they're sweet, and she loves sweet dessert wines. He turned to face the bed and she wasn't there, he found her in the living room area wearing his t-shirt staring out the window at the damp, rainy German cityscape below.

"Lanh?" She didn't respond. "Lanh?"

---------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Lanh,

I can only imagine how difficult it is for you, but please, I beg you, you haven't been there two months yet, give it some more time. You need to concentrate on getting your European driver's license so you can get out more. Have you thought of getting a bicycle? If base is only three and a half miles away, you can do that in a matter of minutes on a bike and go shopping and hang out with Americans.

All I can say is to hold on, Kim-ly has applied for her passport, she can be there in a day after she receives it, until then keep asking Don to take you places, go for walks, keep busy! I beg you, don't come home! Of course, we will welcome you, but what are you going to do, divorce Don? It will kill him; it will kill you both.

Please, think this through

Love

Tam

---------------------------------------------------------------

Don put the letter down, his stomach twisted up in a knot, he didn't think he could feel so horrible. He was driving himself crazy trying to make Lanh happy, but all she wanted to do was sit in front of the window and look out on the street. Spring in this section of Germany was cool, cloudy, and rainy. Perfect for wine grapes, horrible for lonely young wives. If going home would make her happy, then he'll send her home, but they don't have the money.

"I'm sorry, but this was sitting out, I didn't know if you wanted me to read it or not..." his voice faded off into silence.

Lanh didn't even look at him, she just shrugged. "It doesn't matter..."

"Just tell me what I can do to make you feel better," he pleaded. He's tried everything, flowers and candy, stuffed toys, drives through the area, walking tours of great German architecture like the cathedral in Köln. She ignored it all. When he reached out to her at night she froze and refused to acknowledge his touch. The only question she answered positively was when he asked her if she wanted him to sleep somewhere else, so now he lies on the couch at night.

"Baby," he said sadly one afternoon. Another morning of being ignored by the love of his life was tearing at his stomach. "I know what to do, I can..."

She didn't even turn to face him, "There's nothing you can do."

"Lanh, why won't you even look at me?" She just shrugged and continued to look out the window. "I have to go to work," he muttered. He knew exactly what he must do now.

"Fine. Go."

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

"Airman Campbell, I want to have a word with you," said Chief Master Sergeant Brown, beckoning Don into his office with a crooked finger. Chief Brown was the highest-ranking enlisted man in the squadron and an imposing figure. Tall, rail thin, hair trimmed tight, severe bushy mustache trimmed to within a millimeter of USAF requirements, Don thought of him as a tall skinny version of Mr. Wilson from Dennis the Menace. He was a chief's chief. He could use the English language like a sledgehammer when investigating a maintenance mishap on one of HIS aircraft, and a nod from him was high praise. Rumor had it that he will only smile when the last commie is dead.

Don stood in front of The Chief and tried not to shake, he passed an eval yesterday by the skin of his teeth and maybe the chief wants to take a bite out of his ass? "Campbell, on May seventeenth there will be a dinner or some damn thing at the Top Three Club and they're going to give me a plaque. I need a fourth for bridge so to speak."

"C-congratulations chief..."

"No, Airman Campbell, congratulations go to you. I've been keeping an eye on you, and you're doing a damn fine job. Your reward is to spend an evening with me."

"B-b-but sir, that's our first wedding anniversary, Lanh and I had made plans..." Actually, Don was formulating a plan, the USAF would fly Lanh home if he did it.

"Excellent! Your plans are to bring her along! It's the top three dining out, so make sure your uniform is in tip-top shape, semi-formal, and get your bride something nice to wear."

"But uhh..."

"That's ok Airman, you can thank me later. See you Friday evening, nineteen hundred sharp! There's a penalty for being late, and a penalty for a clip-on bowtie, oh, and it's a squadron tradition to wear red socks to a dining in."

"Yes chief, but my wife..."

"Of course, there will be a very special gift for your wife, it's important she be there, so don't let me down, son."

Don sighed in defeat, "Yes chief."

The chief smiled under his bushy mustache. "Good! Utter capitulation. That's the spirit airman! By the way, bring a copy of your book, I have a need to peruse it."

"My book chief?"

"Yes, a book was published with your name on it, am I wrong?"

"No chief."

"No chief, there's no book or no chief, you're not wrong. What is it airman?"

"Uh... uh... No chief, you're not wrong. We just got a case of copies from the publisher."

"Outstanding, a complimentary copy would be in order, am I right Airman?"

"Yes chief."

Don was all the way home that evening when it struck him, how did the Chief know about the book?

How is Lanh going to take this? A military function on their wedding anniversary. Don had originally asked her to go out to a gasthaus for dinner that night, and as usual she refused, but honestly, he was considering ending this gut-wrenching misery she was putting him through. He was beginning to consider an "accidental" fall from the apartment roof to the stone driveway below. Lanh would have $250,000 in serviceman's life insurance and a ticket home, and he would atone for putting her through this nightmare. He'll ask her about the party, if she says yes, maybe she'll be happy, if no, then a short trip off the roof and he's gone. That's it, she goes home, he's made up for making her sad, everyone will be happy.

Don opened the apartment door slowly, Lanh was sitting, looking out the window at the rain. Don's stomach was knotted up in terror, he was horrified to see the woman he loved so depressed. She's probably not even going to care if he dies. Probably be happier, it's his fault she's here. "Lanh? Honey? Em yêu?"

"What." She didn't turn her head to look at him, she was still wearing her pajamas.

"On Friday evening the chief kind of ordered me to accompany you to a fancy dining out. It's a big-time deal, everyone in their dress blues, everyone with their wives all dressed up." She didn't move. "He said that he has an important gift for you." She still didn't move. "It's on Friday at the Top Three club."

Lanh looked in his direction, slightly, not directly at him. "Top three? I heard they have good food there." She returned to watching the rain falling. "I need something nice to wear."

The next day Don dropped Lanh off at a fancy German woman's clothing store in Bitburg a large town 10 miles east of Spangdahlem, she went in alone and he waited in the car for her to return. In the store she met an Asian who was working there, she spoke passable English, but she was born and raised in Germany. Lanh didn't realize that there was native born German Asians here and soon Gundi was helping Lanh pick out a dress. Shopping seemed to lighten Lanh's mood a little bit, at least enough for Don to postpone his climb to the roof.

On Friday night Don and Lanh strolled into the NCO club, a club that Don was not welcome in because he was below the minimum required rank, there was an All Ranks Club for airmen such as Don. They walked up to a side room called the Top Three Club, a club reserved for Master Sergeants, Senior Master Sergeants, and Chief Master Sergeants, a requirement that he fell four stripes short. His uniform was immaculate, standard dress blue jacket and slacks but instead of a light blue shirt and straight dark blue tie, he wore a white shirt with black bow tie, a tie he practiced for two days to master. And while every person in uniform wore six, seven or eight stripes, Don wore two.

Lanh was dressed in a beautiful red full-length gown, backless, and the neckline plunged deep enough to cause a scandal if she hadn't used fashion tape to hold it over her breasts. Her long, luxurious hair was pulled back into a very tight braid, giving her a "don't fuck with me" look about her. When Don announced his name to the steward at the door of the Top Three Club, he and Lanh were ushered into the bar room. Don handed his car keys to the bar tender and in return was handed a glass of Spätlese for Lanh and a gin and tonic for himself.

Don looked around in terror, he knew a few of the people there, all were high power NCOs in his squadron, but he didn't see the chief. His stomach twisted in knots; I don't belong here he thought. Luckily, Don and Lanh were ignored, and Lanh started a love affair with Spätlese, a sweet white German wine that originates right outside of the base fence.

Just then a bell rang calling the assembled NCOs and their wives and two high ranking female NCOs who brought their husbands, to dinner, Chief Brown walked up to Lanh and offered her his arm. "You must be Lanh Campbell; may I escort you to our table?" Don looked at the chief in terror, Chief Brown had so many ribbons that Don couldn't begin to count. The top ribbon, the most important, was the Air Medal, oh crap, Chief Brown is a certified hero! He also wore two sets of wings, command crew member and jump wings. Don had one single ribbon nicknamed "The Battle of San Antonio" ribbon, it signified that he graduated Basic Training. Chief Brown led Lanh and Don to their table where they sat and sipped their drinks. The chief was charming to Lanh. "You may call me Royce," he smiled, then he turned to Don and said sternly, "And you may not."

Both embarrassed and terrified, Lanh giggled and said, "Is funny," her vocabulary starting to devolve.

"This is quite the tome!" Chief Brown said as he flipped through their book "Journey to Freedom." He looked at Lanh, "Your family comes from Bướm?" He mentioned the small hamlet outside of Saigon. "I've been in that area."

"Yes, many families leave..." she said softly.

"Why'd you do this Airman? It's quite a story."

"I started it in high school as a literature assignment..." Don's voice started to taper off, then he said to himself "no guts, no glory," and he looked the chief in the eye. "Our teacher was being a real bitch to Lanh because of her race, so this story was a way of shoving it up her ass."

Chief Brown chuckled, "literary mayhem, I like that. Go on airman."

"It suddenly became a gift to Lanh, it's the story of her family," said Don. "It's how I met and fell in love with my in-laws; I did hours of interviews with her relatives."

"I work it more when he go basic and tech school... our school publish..." she went quiet as her English language skills disintegrated under Chief Brown's glare.

"It's just a term paper..." Don said softly.

"Damnit son, I have a masters in ferroequinology and one in personnel management, and my papers were nothing like this!" Chief Brown was nearly shouting. "This stuff is good; you got the facts but you also put a heart to a very nasty time in history." He pulled a pen out of his pocket and handed it to Don. "Now I want you two yahoos to sign my copy, so I make a few bucks off of it on ebay when it becomes a best seller," he added with a wink.

"Yes chief," muttered Don as he started to sign the book.

"Oh, my goodness, I promised you a gift! It completely slipped my mind," smiled Chief Brown, his manner started to soften. He stood up and extended his hand and behind Lanh stepped up an elegant, Asian woman, who appeared to be in her late thirties, maybe early forties. Her hair cascaded down to her shoulders in ebony waves and her bearing showed that she was as iron stern as her husband, yet her smile was cheerful and infectious. She was dressed in a form-flattering full length black dress and stood almost the same height as Lanh. "May I present my wife, Nguyen Lieu Ahn. Annie, this is Nguyen Huong Lanh, and her husband Chet."

"Don."

"Whatever." But the chief actually smiled.

Lanh and Ahn eyed each other up and down then smiled and began chatting in Vietnamese and were soon laughing together, Lanh's musical laugh which had been hidden since she arrived finally sprung free. "Congratulations son," said the Chief to Don, "You just picked up a sister-in-law."

"Just what I need, chief."

"You will be thanking me. In Vietnam, family is everything. The Nguyen family is the largest family in Vietnam and these two may be four thousandths' cousins, but right now they're the only Nguyens in a hundred square miles, which makes them sisters."

"Thank you, chief, it's the first chance she's had to speak Vietnamese with someone since she crossed the pond."

"I should be thanking you Airman, Annie is happier than a pig in shit right now, she has a relative she can talk with, and it's all because of you."

Annie (as Ahn liked to be called) and Lanh immediately became fast friends and chatted the night away as Chief Brown turned his attention to Don, guiding him through the intricacies of a military dinner and the military in general. "Airman, rule number one at these affairs is "No shop talk," so bring something else to talk about, like your book. Bad mouthing another squadron or another base is bad form, but it doesn't violate rule number one.

"What's rule number two?"

"The rest of the rules are nonsense, just play along and keep your uniform clean, it's all in good humor." He then turned deadly serious, "Your book, you have something there. No one gets their first book or paper published, but you did it, and at a high school level? Airman, I want your ass over to the education office at sixteen hundred Monday after work to sign up for everything. Take giggles with you." He indicated Lanh who hadn't stopped laughing since Annie sat down.

"I'm on second shift, chief, roll call is at fifteen hundred." He'd be working on a balky airplane at sixteen hundred or studying. In the USAF, studying never stops, especially when you're working on sophisticated aircraft.

"You were on second shift Airman, report to Staff Sergeant Hinsdale at oh seven hundred on Monday, he's expecting you."

Don's head was spinning, Hinsdale runs a team of maintainers that are the envy of any other F-16 squadron, only the best of the best work for him. "I... I'm honored Chief."

"Son, this ain't no honor, it's tough work. I may be breaking you; I don't know. Keep your nose to the grindstone and make me proud, that's an order."

"I'm not sure if I'm up to it yet chief..."

"Airman! What color are your socks?" Chief Brown's demeanor was suddenly demanding.

"Black, chief." He even tugged up his pants leg to show that they were indeed black.

"Didn't I say it was squadron tradition to wear red socks at a dining in?" he demanded angrily.

"Yes, you did chief, and you also said that this was a dining out," responded Don as calmly as he could.

Chief Brown leaned back and actually smiled. "And that, Airman First Class Campbell, is exactly why I want you working with Hinsdale, you pay attention. Hell, most airmen fresh out of tech school are still showing up late to roll call and can't tell what day it is, you're giving us results, and I intend to cash in on that. None of your peers know the difference between a dining in and a dining out, let alone how to tie a bow tie."

Both a dining in and a dining out are military traditions going back to the British navy. It allows military men and women to dress up in their nicest uniforms, have a dinner together, and have a chance to get to know their fellow unit members, and while it looks like a strict and formal occasion, it's actually a relaxed event with silly rules put in place to make the event fun. The idea is to foster camaraderie and esprit de corps among a unit whose mission is so broad and diverse that most members never get a chance to meet each other. A dining out is similar to a dining in, but a dining in is just for military members of a unit, a dining out allows guests and spouses to attend, and since a young airman rarely gets a chance to attend, it's rare that they would know the difference, or even care.

Pushing his luck, Don added "Thank you for your faith in me Chief, I won't let you down... but isn't this whole conversation shop talk?"

"Yes, it is," the chief growled and stood up. "It appears that I made the right choice after all," he grumbled in mock anger. The penalty for shop talk is to purchase the table a round of drinks. Don chose ginger ale with a cherry, it looks like a whiskey drink, but he decided that he's already had enough to drink if he is poking the tiger before dinner is served, Lanh had more Spätlese and was truly enjoying herself by the time the beef wellington was served. All through dinner, Annie and Lanh were in their own world speaking in rapid fire Vietnamese, laughing and having a wonderful time.

When the dinner and the presentations were over it was another social time, everyone returned to the bar area where Annie filled Lanh's hand with another glass of Spätlese then took her around the room and introduced her to the wives of the top NCO's in the squadron as her new protégé. There were a few Asian women in attendance, Filipino, Korean, and Japanese, but most of the women there were good ol' girls from the heartland of America who were ecstatic that another farm girl had arrived to fill their ranks.

Soon Lanh was known to the most powerful women in the squadron, the wives of the most powerful men in the squadron. The wives have an unofficial rank structure too, and it reflects the rank of their husbands, but their standing also reflects the unofficial ranks of their friends. Being Annie's protégé meant that even though Lanh was the lowest ranking woman in the squadron because of marriage to the lowest ranking man in the squadron, she was one of the most respected because of her relationship with the most powerful "enlisted" woman in the squadron. And Lanh didn't have a clue it was happening.

Don was talking to a Senior Master Sergeant about activities off base when he felt a poke in his arm and he turned to see that it was Lanh. Annie had given Lanh a quick makeover. Her hair was unbraided and combed out and flowing down to her waist again, and now she was wearing scarlet lipstick. It made her look exotic and sexy. This was the first time she tried to initiate a conversation since back in early April. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "I didn't know, I didn't realize..."

"Realize what?"

She looked incredibly sad, her sweet face was turned down and her eyes were filled with sorrow. "You talk in your sleep." She looked up at him, "I can't lose you, I'm so sorry, Annie said she would help me..." her words were nearly indecipherable, her accent was so thick.

He leaned over until their foreheads touched "All I ask is that you try, we can get through this together, OK?"

"Ok," she said, and he gave her a little kiss. She hung on his arm for the rest of the evening, sipping wine and meeting the highest-ranking enlisted men and women of the squadron. By the time it was time to go, Lanh was feeling no pain.

"How much wine did you have tonight?" he asked.

Lanh held up four fingers, "Three glasses." She looked at her fingers, shrugged, then said, "Annie says I'm a cheap date, do you think I'm a cheap date?"

"I think you're an exquisite date," he turned to the bartender to get his car keys and the bartender handed him a fob with a single key hanging from it. "These aren't my car keys," Don complained.

Lanh pointed at Don, "He thinks I'm a squizit," she slurred to the bartender.

"That's from Annie Brown, she says Happy Anniversary," smiled the bar tender. Don looked at the key fob and it said VOQ Room #1. VOQ is the Visiting Officers Quarters, also known as the base hotel, and room number one is reserved for VIPs.

"Isss our firss avi-nursery... anniversary," smiled Lanh holding up one finger.

"Happy anniversary," called the bartender as they left.

It was a cold and misty spring night, the VOQ was only a block away and Lanh kept up a prattle as they walked, "I really like Annie, it was nice that Chief Brown married a Viet so I would have someone to talk to... do you know they have two girls? One is a lieutenant and flies airplanes, the other is in the academy... you should get medals so our kids can fly airplanes... Don á, chi yêu em."

"I love you too darling," said Don as he found the room and opened the door. The room was big and airy, there was a large dining room/living room area, a kitchenette just off the dining area, and two bedrooms, for the for the business traveler this would be a typical suite, for the military this was living high on the hog. He turned around and Lanh had shrugged off her damp jacket and was starting to take off her dress. Don quickly closed the door as Lanh's dress slid off of her and puddled at her feet. "No panties?" Don asked.

"They're in my purse," she slurred. "Do you want them?"

"I'm just surprised."

Other than her heels, Lanh was completely naked. She took Don by the hand and led him to the center of the room. "You look so hot in your uniform," she sighed, "thank you for tonight... I'm sorry I made you sad. Annie said I was a bad wife for making you sad."

"I just want you to be happy..."

"Annie says you're too nice to me, you should spank me when I'm bad," said Lanh as she started to unbutton his dress jacket. "I think she's right."

"She is right!" For the first time in his life, Don was furious with Lanh. He grabbed her by the shoulders and made sure she had his complete attention. "I know you're sad and lonely and away from home, but I am too! And you locked me out!"

"I was bad..." she agreed with Don.

"Lanh, you don't understand, I was going to kill myself for you so you could have the insurance money to fly home! If Chief Brown hadn't hauled me in his office and invited us to dinner tonight, I would be dead right now so you could go home!"

"Don't leave me," she whimpered.

"But you left me!" he wailed, "I couldn't see another choice! You wouldn't talk to me, I wanted to die so badly, I can't live without you, and you left me!" Now they were both crying, holding each other tightly. "I thought that if I killed myself, the Air Force would fly you home and we'd both be happy."

"How you be happy if you dead?" wept Lanh.

Don looked her straight in the eyes, "When you stopped talking to me, I was in hell. Satan has nothing that could make me feel worse than when you turned your back on me."

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." she wept over and over, then she gently pushed away from Don and led him by the hand to the dining table. She turned a chair around and pushed him back in the chair. As soon as he was sitting, she lay across his lap, her cute but skinny little butt sticking up in the air. The invitation was clear, the husband must become the daddy.

*SMACK!* Her body shook with the force of his blow and his hand stung. He hated this; he has never wanted to cause his beautiful little wife pain but...

*SMACK!* he's be dead now if something hadn't intervened...

*SMACK!* this whole month could have been avoided if...

*SMACK!* she had just talked to him and...

*SMACK!* trusted him with her pain...

*SMACK!* now he has to...

*SMACK!* remind her that he is...

*SMACK!* here for her.

Lanh was shocked when Annie told her that she must do this, and even more shocked when Annie said she will find a way to enjoy it, but Annie was right, what she did to herself and Don was wrong. She took the blows to her ass in silence at first, but then a fire started to build, each blow was met with a little squeak as the heat and stinging of her ass cheeks began to spread to her pussy. Instead of dreading the next blow, she began to reach for it. Utter confusion began to ring in her head as she tried to understand what was happening.

Finally after a dozen solid spanks, six on each cheek, Don stopped. Lanh slid off his lap and crouched next to him, her eyes spinning, he couldn't tell if he saw hatred, fear, or something else in her eyes. She sprung and her lips met his, her tongue driving into his mouth, searching, tangling with his tongue, fucking his mouth! It was definitely something else he saw in her eyes.

She pulled away, her face a mask of the Lanh he first met, unsure of herself but curious of this boy before her. She grinned, "You DO love me..." and with a quick kiss she grabbed her purse and went to find the bathroom, "Don't move!" she admonished. She was only gone a minute or two, but when she returned, she coyly urged him to his feet.

"You wanted me to give you a...?" She silenced him with a finger to his lips.

"Shhh, I'm trying to be sexy. Now shut up and let me fuck you."

Shocked at Lanh's remark, he let her undress him. She eased off his shoes then took off his unbuttoned blouse (suit coat) and hung it on the chair then she slowly undressed him, carefully folding each article of clothing, and placing them in a neat pile on the couch. But as she turned and bent over to place his underwear on the pile, he noticed that there was a large jewel right where he should be seeing her tiny, tight anus. It was a green shamrock shaped fake jewel, something for his Irish heritage.

Finally, they were both naked. She knelt in front of her husband and licked his erect, throbbing cock from the balls to the head her tongue slithering up his length, her eyes locked with his. "I have a special present for you," she whispered as she kissed her way down his cock to his balls. "It's better than spanking."

"I thought I saw something back there," he said as she gently sucked and licked his swollen balls.

She rose, picked up her purse and walked over to the kitchenette and climbed up on the dining table, the cool wood soothing the burning ache in her spanked bottom, then she lay back, her ass at the very edge of the table. The invitation was unmistakable. "People have to eat on this table," he admonished with a smile. An

She simply nodded and said, "Yes you do," and held out her hands in open invitation.

Don pulled up a chair and admired the feast laid before him. Her pussy glistened with her moisture and that bright green jewel called to him for some reason. He started with gentle kisses and licks to her inner thighs. He was always astonished at how smooth and silky her skin was there as he centered his attention there. He kissed first her left, then her right inner thigh, slow wet kisses and licks sending thrills through Lanh's body. Back and forth from one thigh to the other, her pussy only getting the occasional kiss while his tongue and lips made love to the velvety soft skin of her thighs. As her desires wound up tighter and tighter, she began to whimper and finally with a little cry of anguish she tried to capture his head and hold him to her pussy.

Don trapped her hands with his and now he was holding her hands motionless, at the same time forcing her legs open, she was completely helpless as he slowly licked either side of her pussy. She whimpered and shook and trying to sit up and watch she gasped "Eat me, lick my pussy!"

Don stopped and gave her a stern look, "You made me wait for over a month for this moment, I'm going to make up for lost time."

Lanh softly groaned "Oh daddy," and lay back and patiently endured the slow-motion erotic torture that her husband was giving her. Softly his tongue flickered around and around her pussy, gently teasing her outer lips, often exploring the warm soft flesh of her thighs, and sometimes a long slow lick of her labia. Eventually Lanh was ready to believe that her brain was going to melt from his gentle, torturous attention. "Please daddy," she whimpered, her entire body trembling with pent up sexual desire, "I'll be good."

Don grabbed the jewel poking out of her tiny anus and pulled, it was an anal plug and as the main piece came out it stretched open her sphincter causing her to gasp. "If I lick your pussy and suck your clit," he slid the plug in and out a little, "and made you cum," he paused and continued to play with the plug, letting his words sink in, "will you give me your ass?"

She was in no condition to bargain, she was riding the edge of an orgasm and was dying to cum. "Yes!" she hissed, "do it."

"Ok, chi yêu, hold yourself open for me." He moved her hands to her vagina and arranged her fingertips, making her spread her red, swollen labia so he could get to her damp, musky goodness.

Lanh never felt so hot and so slutty, lying naked on a dining table holding her pussy... her cunt wide open for a man, wearing only a pair of fuck-me pumps, her glasses, and a wedding ring, expecting to be sodomized at any moment. Her sixteen-year-old self would shriek in horror at the thought and would have talked another Marissa to death. Her nineteen-year-old self said, "Oh god yessss!" as his tongue finally slithered deep into her pussy. "Oh my god I love you," she gasped as his tongue now flicked her clit gently and he grasped and wiggled the stem of the anal plug around.

Don was pulling out all the stops, his lips and tongue now loved her clit while two fingers began sliding in and out of Lanh's wet pussy, all the while Lanh babbled semi-coherently "Oh god it's so good... I love when you do that..." Soon she was up on her elbows looking down at her husband, his nose buried in her pubic thatch, his piercing blue eyes locked on to her own coal black eyes.

His fingertips buried deep in her pussy found her g-spot and the sudden shock of pleasure caused her to groan and she fell back against the table with a thud that she ignored "Oh God, that's the spot, right there!" and with a series of cute little sighs and some very unlady-like grunts she started that climb to orgasm.

Don was relentless, he slipped off her heels as he ate her because sometimes, she runs her little feet up and down his shoulders and he loves that feeling, but tonight she dug her heels into the edge of the table and started to lift her stinging ass up off the table. Don began to tickle the sole of her right foot with his free hand, something that would normally cause her to snap to the fetal position shrieking in laughter, but tonight with his mouth on her clit and two fingers in her pussy, her body ate it up as more sexual teasing.

"Ahhhh! Ahhhh! Ahhhh!" cried Lanh as she forced her pussy up higher and higher to Don's relentless mouth and tongue, he was now standing because her hips were raised so high, her body as taut as a bowstring and trembling almost violently, she grasped Don's head and held tight and suddenly... a silent explosion went off inside her head as a tsunami of pleasure crashed through her body. She suddenly went limp and crashed to the table, she pushed Don's hungry mouth away but sought him out with her hands at the same time as she convulsed in ecstasy, her mouth wide open but no sound coming out.

It must have gone on for five full minutes, the wave after wave of rapture crashing over her senses, her legs spasming, her pussy clenching and unclenching trying to squeeze the semen out of Don, but he wasn't inside of her, her anus grasping at the shamrock. His mouth was placing little kisses in the "Black Forest" of her pubic hair, her spaghetti wobbly legs propped over his shoulders, his hands clenching hers.

"Hey," she said weakly.

"Hey you," he smiled up at her.

"You're so good to me," she sighed. She fumbled for her purse and dug around and found what she was looking for. She handed Don her Sunshine Bunny! vibrator and a small bottle of lube.

"You still want to go through with it?" he asked. "What would Tam say?"

Lanh nodded. "Tam likes it."

"What about Kim-ly?" Don asked as he placed a gentle kiss on Lanh's still throbbing clit. As he did that, he eased the anal plug in and out of Lanh's ass.

"She's the one who gave me that, and the lube."

"I'm surprised she didn't send one for me too."

"She did," said Lanh as she searched her purse. She soon produced a butt plug featuring the smiling face of Sunshine Bunny!

"I'm the Irish one, shouldn't I get the shamrock?" he asked.

"Why? You can't see it."

"Good point," said Don as he eased a lubricated finger into Lanh's ass. "How does that feel?"

She rolled her eyes up in concentration. "Good, I like it. Hang on before you try two..." she fumbled for her little vibrator, then she started to use the vibrator on her labia, getting ready for the adventure. When the good feelings started to radiate from her pussy she nodded, and Don added a second finger to her anus. He gently eased them in and out, twisting and rotating. Her brow wrinkled at first, then she relaxed, then as she got used to his invasion, she squeezed his fingers with her sphincter.

"Ready?" Don asked. Lanh bit her lower lip and nodded. "Ok, here comes..."

As Lanh applied Sunshine Bunny! directly to her clit, Don pressed his liberally lubed cock to her tiny pore and pressed gently. Like Kim-ly told her, concentrate on the feeling of the vibrator, and when it gets good push out when he pushes in. "Ok, now," she whispered and pushed as if she were trying to force a bowel movement. It felt like his fist was trying to push its way inside her ass. Slowly the head of his cock burrowed into her rectum stretching her ass open wide.

Don watched in amazement as his cock penetrated and entered her tiny bud about an inch or more. Lanh continued to buzz her clit, the pleasure overriding the pain, and she gasped, "more." Slowly yet firmly Don pushed inside his darling, little by little, he put his hands under her knees and pushed them up to her chest, which seemed to help. "Oh God, I think I'm going to cum," she muttered as she looked down at the juncture of his cock and her ass. There was only an inch of cock that wasn't inside of her.

They waited a long time for her to get used to his throbbing flesh as it invaded her most private hole. Occasionally he would flex his cock inside of her, causing her eyes to open wide. "That feels so weird," she gasped as she continued to buzz her clit.

"Can I?" asked Don as he gave a little push.

"Yeah," she panted, "easy, nice and easy." He slid his cock in and out gently, maybe two inches, the feeling of her sphincter trying to squeeze his cock was incredible. He could feel her heartbeat! Then he pulled back all the way. Lanh's eyes rolled back in her head as she felt his pubic hair tickle her. "One more, just like that," she whispered.

Don pulled back two inches agonizingly slow, the feel of her intestines on his cock was almost as stimulating as the incredibly tight ring of her sphincter. He stopped and paused, then pushed back in.

Lanh waited a minute or two then said "Ok, fuck me nice and slow."

Don started again, nice and easy, but his body was screaming at him to fuck her senseless. "Oh God!" his voice was shuddering, the slow easy movement seemed to magnify the feeling of her buttery smooth bowels brushing over his cock.

"More," she gasped, and he began to take longer strokes. He was trying to pick up the tempo but her hand on his chest held him back. "Nice and easy but give me all of it." Sunshine Bunny! was now getting to her as his cock slid full length in and out, slow and easy.

Her tiny whimpers filled the air as their gentle fucking continued, in and out, spreading her internal organs to make room for his dick. "Oh GOD!" he cried as he tried to prevent himself from jabbing wildly into her tender ass. "I'm going to cum baby," he gasped. The slow, steady fucking seemed to increase the sensitivity of his cock, it maximized the delicious wet friction between her guts and his cock. He tried to hold back but the sensations were overpowering. He clenched his teeth and battled against the need to fuck as hard and as fast as possible, and he lost that battle.

His hips jerked as he started to cum, pounding his cock into her depths he grunted with each spurt of sperm shot deep into her ass. Lanh felt his cock pulsing in her bowels and squeezed him in rhythm with his orgasm, and she enjoyed watching him convulse with each blast of sperm. He finally collapsed on her, and they kissed sweetly as his cock reluctantly deflated and eased out of her ass.

Later they snuggled in bed, their apologies said, their love reaffirmed. "I had this thought," said Lanh. "What would sixteen-year-old me think if she saw me lying on a strange dinner table, holding my pussy open while a man sucked on my clit and played with a toy in my ass."

"Well? What would she think?" asked Don as Lanh wrapped her hand around his rejuvenating cock.

"I think she would need about four more Marissa's to get over the trauma," smiled Lanh as she ducked her head under the cover to kiss the head of her husband's cock.

"I kinda had the same thought," said Don. "I wondered what the sixteen-year-old me would think if he could see us here in Germany, taking a warm soapy shower together."

"Well?" asked Lanh as she climbed on top of her husband and lined his cock up with her pussy, "What would he think?"

"He would say that dreams do come true."

"Oh You!" she said as she eased down on his cock happy to feel him back where he belongs, in her pussy.

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

Having relaxed and learned that her time in Germany was survivable, Lanh finally got into the lifestyle of the Airman's wife Annie's help and guidance of course. But what really got her started was being able to sign up for classes at the education office. Lanh decided to use her three years there and try to get a two-year degree. It sounds counter intuitive, but there's not a full-time school there, you take what courses are offered and you take what credits you can get. In the end she was able to get an Associates Degree. Getting back into the swing of study really helped, almost as much as Annie's helping her navigate the ins and outs of military life, like how to survive the military health care system, shopping in the base exchange, getting groceries in the commissary, and meeting the other wives.

The hardest part was dealing with the loneliness, at least there was the MARS station so she could call Má, or Tam, or Kim-ly. And on weekends they kept busy, if Don wasn't working there was always some kind of fest at one of the local villages (Lanh became a big fan of wine fests), tours to take, and volksmarches. She wasn't sure what the attraction was to a six-mile hike, but she got a walking stick with a carved gnome face on the handle and soon she started earning small metal badges to put on her stick, one for each volksmarch.

Her first Christmas in Germany was magical, the Christmas fests and parties, the decorations, it was all so different, but because much of American Christmas traditions come from Germany it was also so familiar. The Christmas Bazaar held on base in Hanger #2 was incredible, vendors from all over Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands arrived to show their wares. Some of it was familiar and available at stores in America, but there were things she never saw before, wooden ornaments to hang on the tree, incredible glass ornaments, Christmas cuckoo clocks, wooden nutcrackers, but what really enticed her was the Christmas Pyramids.

The pyramids are carved wooden decorations that made her think of a wedding cake, they're made up of multiple layers, each layer is progressively smaller as they go up, each layer is supported by wooden columns, and each layer had different scenes. The scenes could be little wooden children playing in the snow, a family Christmas, a nativity scene, ice skaters on a pond, or combinations of these scenes. Her favorite pyramids had little carved railings around the scene, so the little carved children didn't fall. But the beautiful part was that they were ringed by candles. The hot air rising off the candles turned a horizontal propeller at the top of the pyramid which caused the scenes in the different layers to rotate. Lanh vowed to save as much money as possible for next year's bazaar.

When she woke up Christmas morning, she received five beautiful hand carved wooden picture frames, all were Christmas themed. What excited her most was the fact that Don bought them, as far as she knew, it was the first time he had ever purchased a Christmas decoration on his own, and he did it for her. One of the frames wasn't wildly Christmassy, it was woodsy mostly pine boughs and pinecones. In it was a photograph from their wedding, it was Don in his tux, Lanh in her western wedding gown, and around them was their entire wedding party and their loves; Sandy and her future husband Ralph, Mai and Duong, Tam and her future husband Jake, Rosa and Bao who will marry even before Tam and Jake, Huy and Ahnjong, Trung and Angela, Craig and Sydney.

Lanh noticed that everyone had a lover, everyone except one, her older sister Kim-ly. But she didn't seem to mind her single status in the photo, she was between Lanh and Don her arms around their shoulders with a broad, beautiful smile. Lanh and Don often kidded that she was their spare, if something happened to Don or Lanh, Kim-ly would step in and replace them. She even came to visit them in Germany not long after Lanh's panic attack and was an indispensable part of their life for a month. In the photograph right over Kim-ly's shoulder was a blur, a smudge, possibly a thumbprint, but Lanh claimed that it was her angel and with that beautiful frame it became her favorite photograph ever.

February was awful. It was cold, rainy, foggy, snowy, all jumbled up. Lanh had just got her European driver's license and loved to drive her little "Five on the Tree" Opel. She would drop Don off at work then pick up Annie and head off to Cologne for shopping, but now she was terrified to drive because the roads were often ice covered. The ice was so slick even the sidewalks were barely manageable. She learned a neat trick from their land lady, Frau Groslisch, carry a pair of old woolen socks in your purse, if the sidewalk ahead is too icy, put the wool socks on OVER your shoes and the traction is perfect. But this February was horrible, Don was on a temporary duty assignment (TDY) to Aviano Italy, and she was alone. The squadron left right after the new year and won't be back until the end of March.

She was banging around the empty apartment, mopping the terrazzo floors when Annie stopped by for a visit and some schnapps. Annie unwrapped the bottle of coffee schnapps that she just purchased from Lanh's landlord and poured herself a cup of coffee then fortified it with the schnapps. "You look lonely," she said. Lanh just nodded miserably. "Marissa isn't helping?" Annie pointed to the goldfish bowl where the new Marissa lived, as much as a plastic goldfish can live.

"No, it's not the same," said Lanh forlornly. "It only works if she's real."

Lanh put her mop away and slumped into a chair next to Annie and they talked for a while then Annie said, "Get cleaned up, it's Mongolian bar-be-que night at the club, you're my guest." And that was that. Lanh changed, dragged a comb through her hair and hopped in Annie's Mercedes and they headed to the NCO club. There are rules in the military about fraternizing among the ranks. An NCO cannot befriend a young airman to the point where they're having dinner together, although sports, hunting, and fishing are exceptions to the rule. Chief Brown could not dream of inviting Don to the club for dinner unless it was an official function like the dining out last year. But that rule doesn't apply to wives, even though they act like they have the same rank as their husbands, they don't have any official rank, just a rank structure that's as flexible as Jell-O. As they were dining on their Asian(ish) creations, Annie said to Royce, "Lanh and I were thinking of skiing the Alps this coming weekend."

Chief Brown's mustache danced as he chewed and considered his wife's announcement. He also tried not to laugh at Lanh's look of sheer terror. "Italian alps?" he finally asked.

"Is there any other kind?" Annie smiled and daintily snagged a piece of meat from her bowl with her personal hand-carved ivory chopsticks. Lanh's eyes were big around as half dollar coins by now.

"I assume you'll want to stay at the Hotel Oliva," Royce stroked his chin.

"You know me so well," smiled Annie.

"I'll give John a call, see if he's got a room free."

"We'll need two rooms dear," said Annie as she patted his hand, "I hear she snores."

Royce looked at the terrified, trembling twenty-year-old Lanh and nodded, "Two rooms it is, gotcha."

AVIANO AIR BASE

Aviano, Italy

It was the most amazing road trip that Lanh had ever taken. As they rocketed south on the autobahn in the pre-dawn darkness the scenery changed from rolling hills covered with farms and vineyards, to more forests and small mountains. As the sun rose Lanh found that it was beautiful! As they drove, Annie kept up with a rolling travelogue, and Lanh found out that this was Annie's third long tour in Germany, they spent very little time in the states.

"This is our third tour here, the first was Hahn, which is closed, then Bitburg, now Spangdahlem."

"Wow, you must love Germany," said Lanh as they approached Frankfurt.

"We love to travel, so we decided not to spend our time in the US, we're going to retire there, so we have been to Germany three times, Korea twice, Okinawa, and England."

"Where do you like it the best?" said Lanh as Annie downshifted and blew the doors off of a pokey Opel Record.

"Florida," said Annie. "We're going to retire there. Sun, beach, cold drinks, warm nights, good cigars..." Her eyes grew misty as a Porsche fell victim to Rocket Annie.

"I mean overseas, which base did you like the most?" asked Lanh.

"Osan, it's just outside of Seoul." She flashed her high beams at a car nearly a kilometer ahead warning them that she's going to pass, "That's where Royce and I met. My dad was teaching there, and I fell in love with a young airman just out of tech school. He fell in love with an Asian who couldn't speak a word of Korean." She smiled at the memory.

As they entered Italy, Lanh looked at her passport, it was starting to fill up! She now had Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, and now she just added Austria and Italy. She was setting her sights on Switzerland and Spain. She mentioned that to Annie who said, "Check with MWR on base, they constantly have tours to places like that." Lanh looked out at the mountains that they were nearly flying through and decided she would do just that. Next time Don goes TDY to some place awesome, she's going on an MWR tour to someplace better.

It was late afternoon when they checked into their rooms at the Hotel Oliva, a quaint little hotel just off of a small plaza in a cute little town at the foot of the Italian alps. Two of Aviano Italy's claims to fame are its proximity to Pion Cavallo, a mountain famous for skiing, and an American air base that hosts units from all over the USAF to train at the edge of what was once Yugoslavia. Annie apparently knew the owner of the hotel well and they chatted in Italian. Then she stepped into an actual phone booth and made a couple of calls and when she was done they went to their rooms. The rooms were tiny, with tiny bathrooms, undrinkable water, and rock-hard beds. The view outside of her window was the back of another building. "What's the attraction to this place?" Lanh asked.

"You don't come here to stay in the room," said Annie as she helped Lanh get dressed in an outfit she brought for her protégé, "You come here because of what is outside of the room. You sit on the patio and sip cappuccino, or delicious wine for two dollars a bottle... and the ice cream! Hold tight... there! You look marvelous." Lanh looked at herself in the mirror and frowned.

"I look like a slut."

"You're not here to hold hands, come on," and Annie led her downstairs.

Down in the main dining room a large table had been set up for the aircraft maintenance troops of the 23rd fighter squadron. It's been a tough week and they were only midway through their deployment, but it was Friday, which meant two things, a weekend of drinking and touring the local area, and lasagna at the Hotel Oliva. Mama Oliva served the best lasagna in the world, but only on Friday, and it was just the first course. As always, John met his guests at the door and ushered them into the back room where he arranged them, but he asked, "Who is Don Campbell?"

"That's you airman," said Dave Hinsdale with a nudge of an elbow to Don. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do nothin!" laughed a confused Don.

"You sit right-a here," said John as he pulled a chair out for Don. As a friend of Don's tried to sit next to him John said, "Oh no, these seats, they are reserved." So, Don sat with his back to the kitchen door, the seats to his left and his right were empty and to add to his embarrassment John pointed to Don and said, "He is messy eater."

Once the laughter died down, John's daughter Camile came and handed everyone a menu except Don, she explained "We have a special menu for you," which started numerous catcalls. Camile is a beautiful young woman, and desired by every lonely GI in north Italy. She soon brought everyone a glass of "American Wine" which turned out to be Coca Cola, but Don didn't even get a glass of water.

Finally, Camile returned and started taking orders for the second course, their lasagna was always the only choice for first course whenever Mama Oliva made lasagna. When Camile got to Don she said loud enough for everyone to hear "Your server will be with you shortly."

Now thoroughly confused and isolated from his buddies Don could only put up with the catcalls and ribbing from his teammates, but suddenly they went silent. A young airman with one stripe on his first TDY said "Woah!" Then Dave Hinsdale broke out in laughter. Out from the kitchen stepped a beautiful tiny Asian woman carrying a tray in a slinky French Maid costume complete with tiny, frilly mini skirt, high heels and black thigh high stockings. Many of the men and women knew who it was, if they didn't know Lanh as Don's wife, they knew her as Annie's "mini-me" buddy. She set an empty wine glass in front of Don and asked, "Is there anything I can get you?"

The look of shock and delight on Don's face was hilarious and two figures broke out in ghostly laughter at his reaction as they watched the scene play out from a corner of the room. If they could be seen they both appeared to be tall buxom blond women and one has the tips of her hair dyed purple, but today nobody noticed them.

Lanh smiled innocently and waited for his answer, finally he pushed back from the table and pulled her into his lap, "Just you," he said. As his teammates laughed and clapped and as Lanh pretended to try to get away, kicking her feet, waiving her hands but they kissed long and deep, their surprise reunion was a glorious step in their marriage.

"We know what Don's eating tonight!" called out Heidi, one of the weapons troops on the deployment, causing riotous laughter.

"Hey, hey, hey!" called out John. "Keepa you hands offa the help!"

Playing along, Don released Lanh, and she stood like nothing had happened. She cleared her throat and said, "Will there be anything else. sir?"

"I'd like a coke please," he said playing along.

"You drink too much coke, the sugar is bad for you."

"Could I have a Sprite then?"

"No."

"Wine?"

"No."

"Water?"

"Excellent choice, sir! I'll be right back." Lanh ducked back into the kitchen and a moment later she returned with a glass of water and set it before him. "Will there be anything else?"

"Could I have some ice for my water?" he said holding the glass up.

"Of course!" and she returned to the kitchen and reappeared with a small plate holding two small ice cubes. By now the entire table was snickering. "Will there be anything else, sir?"

"Can I order my entrée?"

"No." and she returned to the kitchen, to the roars of laughter from Don's co-workers.

"She a professional at this, y'know," said Don jerking his thumb toward the kitchen door. "Her dad owns a restaurant; she's been waiting tables since she could crawl."

"Is it like this at your house?" laughed one of the women on the maintenance team.

"No, she normally wears slacks," said Don to the laughter of his teammates. Eventually Camile and John brought out the Lasagna, and Lanh brought out a double helping and sat it in front of Don, then sat down next to him and proceeded to eat along with him. "Everyone, for those of you who haven't figure it out, this is my high school sweetheart, the love of my life, my wife, Lanh."

Master Sergeant Bergman, the lead maintenance NCO of the deployment leaned across the table and offered his hand, "Welcome to Italy Mrs. Campbell, it's refreshing to see you here."

Lanh blushed and smiled as she did when she was a young teenager, shocked and delighted whenever she was welcomed anywhere. "Thank you, sir," she said softly.

"Don't sir me, I work for a living!" said MSgt Bergman, but his gruff tone suddenly scared Lanh.

"He's kidding Lanh," said Heidi, the Party Girl weapons troop.

"Yeah, he hasn't actually worked since they took the propellers off of the airplanes," added Dave Hinsdale to the merriment of the assembled airmen.

"Where's your ride?" asked Don.

Lanh shrugged, "In the kitchen, she's trying to steal some of Momma Oliva's recipes."

"Come on out Annie!" called MSgt Bergman, and sure enough, Annie emerged from the kitchen wearing a chef's coat and carrying a plate of lasagna. She sauntered up to the table and sat down in the open seat next to Don and joined the team. She was of course well known among the married airmen because of her activities with the wives' club, but the younger troops who lived in the dorms and rarely go to squadron functions never get a chance to meet the legendary Annie Brown.

As they ate Lanh told Don how Annie came and invited her to dinner, then on a road trip to Italy to ski the Italian alps. "Do you ski?" asked Don.

Lanh gave him a blank look. "I come from Minnesota, same as you, how many mountains have you found in Minnesota?"

After dinner was done and most of the airmen had wandered off toward base to go bowling with Annie, Lanh led Don by the hand up the marble stairs to her room in the Hotel Oliva. The room was small, yet it contained a good-sized bed (somewhere between a full and a queen) and a small table with two chairs. Don chuckled, there on the table were two bottles of Lanh's favorite wine, Spätlese.

They slowly undressed each other with trembling hands while Lanh told Don about all the sights, and scenes she saw on the trip down from Germany. "That sounds like quite a trip! I don't think the Green Hornet will make it." Green Hornet is what Don and Lanh named their Opal Rekord. When Don got Lanh's costume off he asked, "Would you like some wine?"

"Please, if you don't mind, my good man," she said with a mock posh accent. She dashed into bed and piled up most of the pillows then leaned back against her pillow pile and pulled the blankets up to her waist.

"We're going to have to stash some of this wine before we go home," Don said, "This stuff is pretty expensive back there."

"I've been sending Kim-ly packages that she is storing in the root cellar," said a yawning Lanh.

"You know, I was thinking," started Don as he eased the cork out of a bottle of wine, "When we get back, I'll take a couple of days of leave, and we'll take that MWR tour to Schwäbisch Gmünd. Or maybe Nuremberg, I hear that the walking tour of the old town..." Don turned and saw that Lanh was sound asleep. Luckily, he only poured one glass. He put the cork back in the bottle and joined his darling in bed.

They cuddled in the dark and it was obvious that Lanh's long trip took a lot out of her. Finally she roused a little bit and said blearily, "I'm sorry, I can't stay awake."

"It's ok," said Don. And he kissed the top of her head.

"Am I in trouble?" she asked, "Am I going to get a spanking?"

"We'll see how you make up for it in the morning."

"K," she muttered as she drifted back to sleep, a peaceful smile on her face.

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

Lanh gained a lot of courage that weekend, and much more over the next year mostly because of Annie's friendship and mentoring but going back to school and excelling at every class she took renewed her self-confidence. Lanh actually wept at Chief Brown's retirement ceremony the next summer, and again the going away party the Enlisted Wives Club held for Annie where Annie held Lanh up as her protégé and kid sister. One of the greatest things about being in the military is the friendships that you make, but it's also one of the worst things about the military because you will be telling them goodbye. Every one of them.

There's a lot of pain and sorrow that comes with serving your country. Although Don never mentioned it, he missed his farm and his dad horribly, some days he would come off the flight line ready to chuck it all and walk home. Lanh felt the same way her first day in Germany, the realization that you are thousands of miles away from everything you know, and love, and an ocean separates you. Some young wives don't get over it, Lanh only did because she heard her husband threaten to end it all and she talked to Annie, who helped her through the trauma and for that she will be eternally grateful to her new big sister.

But sometimes saying goodbye can be a joyous opportunity also. It was a cool September evening, a gentle, wet rain was falling on the quiet German town of Dudledorf, and Don and Lanh were walking home from a great dinner at the Torschänke Restaurant and Don was feeling good from some Octoberfest cheer at the Dietrich Gasthaus in their little village of Dudeldorf. They were walking hand in hand, headed back to their apartment to make gentle love and prepare for winter. Don stopped Lanh by the little ancient church next to their apartment building. Organ music filtered by the falling leaves filled the air and a pine tree dressed in white flickering lights to simulate candles stood guard near the ancient edifice.

"Zo Dragon Lady, did you not know zat I haff ze papers?" said Don in a horrible fake German accent.

Lanh chucked; Don wanted to play Secret Agent again, he was up to something, maybe a special Christmas present? An early promotion? "Hand over the papers Agent Double Oh Seven and Five Eighths and I will go easy on you."

"You will never get me to reveal..." Suddenly Lanh was kissing Don fiercely, her tongue stabbing into his mouth, their tongues slithering together, slipping and sliding over each other as their lips warm and moist caressed each other. Ending the kiss was nearly agonizing.

"You have fallen into my trap, Agent Double Oh Seven and Five Eighths. I was wearing my truth serum lipstick, now tell me about the papers," said the pirate, Lanh Nguyen, the Dragon Lady.

She wouldn't need truth serum lipstick, after a kiss like that he'll tell her anything she wants to hear. "I can't hold back," said Don as took her in his arms and kissed her softly then whispered in her ear "Figmo."

"What?" she gasped. FIGMO, the magic word she's been dying to hear for months, FIGMO is an acronym that Air Force personnel most often shout at the top of their lungs. FIGMO stands for Fuck It, Got My Orders. "We're short?" she gasped. Short was another expression meaning that in a short they will be leaving.

"We're sitting on a dime, swinging our legs!" He pulled an envelope out of his jacket and handed it to her. With trembling hands, she opened the envelope and unfolded the document. With glasses speckled with water droplets from the snowfall she scanned the page then gasped... then screamed... then threw herself at Don. The orders said that Don was ordered to report to Grand Forks AFB, they were going home! Three miles from Trung and Angela, two hours from mom and dad, Ralph and Sandy, Marissa and the cows!

Alerted by the scream their landlord, Mr. Grolisch, poked his head out of his window. "Vas ist los?" he asked.

"Guten abend, Herr Grolisch!" called Lanh, "We got our orders! We're going home!"

"Oh ja! Ist goot! But ve shall miss you. Ja, comanzie, ve have schnapps to celebrate."

"None for me!" called Lanh merrily. She had turned to face Herr Grolisch and Don was hugging her from behind.

"Oh ya, some wine then? I haf ein gut Eiswein!" said Herr Grolisch with a waggle of his eyebrows.

"No, sorry Herr Grolisch, none for me for seven more months," said Lanh.

"What!" gasped Don, he whirled Lanh around in his arms... "Are... are we..." He couldn't dare say it.

Lanh grinned and nodded, "In April! We'll have a brand-new Campbell!"

__________________________________________________

I've written a few stories of Airman Don & Lanh's adventures in Europe, two of which have been posted here. Serendipitous Liaison is a story of Don & Lanh in Luxembourg City using their secret agent personas. And My Very Dear Cô Dâu is a letter Don wrote to Lanh as he waited for an apartment. Several more chapters and side stories are planned and to read their entire story (including a side story about Tam and Jake) go to https://tags.literotica.com/waww/