© 2024 Duleigh Lawrence-Townshend. All rights reserved. The author asserts the right to be identified as the author of this story for all portions. All characters are original. Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental. This story or any part thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a review or commentary.

Author's note: These stories are written in Literary Past Tense. Literary Past Tense describes how most of us use past tense in our stories. That is, most past-tense stories are written as though the events are happening now. Even though we're using the past tense forms of verbs, within the story itself, events are happening in the present, which explains present tense verbs in some descriptions.

All Aboard Andi's Dream

Chapter 7

Road Trip

It was a tough winter that year. The storms of January and February dumped several feet of snow on the snowbelt of Western New York every time they struck. The only actual break they got was in Mid-February when Paul and Andi spent the evening in Niagara Falls while John and Macy had a romantic tryst at the cabin for Valentine's Day. After that break, the frigid weather returned.

The storm hit during the third week of February, when seven feet of snow fell from Wednesday to Friday. Andi's job started on the following Tuesday, and she was afraid of being housebound by the storm. Every three hours Andi or Paul would man the snow blower and blow the driveway clear with the "Baby Deere," which is what they called the John Deere X540 Lawn Tractor.

Normally the Baby Deere would have a plow attached, but the snow was coming down too fast and too heavy, so Paul broke out the 44 inch snow blower attachment that he bought years ago and only used once. With a little bit of instruction, Andi was clearing the driveway, front walk, and sidewalk in front of the house on Howard Street, and on the north side of the house on Second Avenue.

For the twins, this was real excitement. They couldn't get enough. When Andi pulled on her parka and goggles and headed outside, followed by the roar of the Baby Deere, the Twins followed her progress, running from window to window to watch her blow the driveway and sidewalks clear of snow. "Why don't you guys go out and help her?" asked their governess Yi.

Both twins gave her a disapproving look, eyebrows furrowed, angry pouts on their lips. "Poppa's tractor will eat us!" cried Sandy. Madeline nodded in agreement, then they went right back to watching out the window.

"We can shovel the stairs for your mom and dad," said Yi, who had never seen snow before and now couldn't get enough of the white stuff. "When we're done I'll pull you on your sled."

"K!" and the twins went and grabbed their snow pants, parkas, hats, mittens, scarves, and boots and threw them in a pile in the middle of the kitchen. Then they sorted through the pile and got dressed. Yi helped the twins with their cold weather gear, and it didn't take long. Throwing everything in a pile worked out somehow and soon the only twin skin visible was around their eyes.

"Let's go twin-o!" called Yi, and they stepped outside and Yi had to lift them down the four steps that were covered with snow. The twins had little snow shovels they used to clear a small section of the stairs while the chocolate lab Wonka bounced around and tried to catch the snow that the twins were flailing around while Yi used a full sized shovel and cleared the steps in moments. "Good Job girls, let's go find more snow!"

As Yi led the twins to the front of the house, Andi continued to clear the driveway with the snowblower. It was actually a lot of fun. Paul called it 'shaving the driveway' and Andi saw the similarity to shaving her legs. Just bigger, noisier, and colder. Wearing headsets, she grooved to the song that she loved to listen to while on the Baby Deere:

In John Deere green On a hot summer night

He wrote, "Billy Bob loves Charlene."

In letters three feet high

And the whole town said that he should've used red

But it looked good to Charlene In John Deere green

She couldn't help it. It was a silly song, but it was such a sweet song; it made her happy, and she sang it every time she got on Baby Deere, and the bridge of the song always brought a tear of joy and she hoped it described her and Paul's love:

Now more than once, the town has discovered, Painting over it ain't no use

There ain't no paint in the world that'll cover it. The heart keeps showing through.

As usual, she wasn't paying enough attention to Baby Deere and snow was spilling out of the auger, leaving a line of snow down the cleared section of the driveway. That meant she was going too fast, and the big auger couldn't ingest the snow she was feeding it. As she adjusted her speed, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. "Hi babies!" she called as she saw the twins flailing away with their snow shovels. They paused for a moment and waved to mom and went back to their version of shoveling which spilled snow onto the driveway.

Andi finally finished the driveway and turned to clear the sidewalk that was just outside of the ornate iron fence around the front yard while the twins started shoveling snow off the front porch with Yi. Paul had asked that she didn't blow the snow onto the lawn if she could help it, so she adjusted the chute to throw it toward the street, but she aimed it low so the stream of snow pouring out of the chute splattered against the curb.

They live on a corner lot, so she had a long sidewalk on the north side of the house, and she purred along impatient to see what their backyard looks like in full summer bloom. There was a big white privacy fence around the in-ground swimming pool and above ground hot tub. But behind the garage was a large yard, almost a full lot in itself with trees and grape arbors. Paul has a zero turn John Deere for cutting the yard in town. Baby Deere goes back to the cabin when the weather clears to cut the lawn there.

When she finished the sidewalk, she came back up the middle of Second Avenue and went past Howard Street and went a couple of houses up the street to find Josh and Veronica trying to clear their driveway. Josh was digging with a shovel and Veronica was fighting with her snow blower. "Need a hand?"

Veronica set her machine to idle. "If you don't mind, this storm is crazy! We can't keep up!"

"Tell me about it," said Andi and she lowered the auger and chewed a path through the hill that the village snowplow left, then backed into Veronica's driveway. Veronica's driveway was two cars wide. That meant less lawn to cut but more snow to shovel. Andi backed the Baby Deere to the garage behind the house and engaged the auger. Then she reset her headphones and cranked up the music.

Country roads! Take me home! To the place I belong!

Western New York, snow belt momma, take me home, country road.

<><><><><> ֎ <><><><><>

Yi walked up Howard Street to Main Street. She had a venison roast in the oven, and she wanted a few things for the side, so she loaded the twins onto a plastic sled and pulled them up to Main Street, where Bee Quik IGA stood ready and waiting. The parking lot was an unplowed madhouse, and the crowd inside was snagging bread, milk, and toilet paper like it was the end of the world. Yi shrugged. They had enough fresh milk to last the twins a full week of drinking nothing but milk, and they had enough flour to make bread for months. She needed the things this group wasn't looking at. Like endive lettuce and fresh asparagus

"Do not run off!" demanded Yi, and she hung the twins on the sides of her shopping cart. The twins knew Yi's limits by now and knew exactly how many buttons they can push before getting in trouble, and it wasn't many.

"We need chicken wings," said Sandy.

"You don't like chicken wings," said Yi. She learned quickly that what the twins liked was to get the Franks hot sauce on their hands, then dip their fingers in the bleu cheese dressing and lick it off. (some Frank's hot sauce + melted butter mixed with bleu cheese dressing makes the twins' favorite salad dressing)

"What else do we need for dinner?" asked Yi.

"Ummm... Gummi bears?" suggested Sandy.

"Bacon?" suggested Madeline.

"No Gummi bears, and we have bacon at home. No suggestions?"

The twins saw a display and gasped, their favorite vegetable. "GREEN TREES!" shouted Sandy.

"Green trees with holiday sauce!" gushed Madeline. The twins will eat hollandaise sauce like it was soup if you let them. Yi considered making instant hollandaise because they would eat it so voraciously, and even if they didn't notice, Yi would. Andi and Yi discovered that when one or both of the twins got in a picky mood and not eat anything but a single item, the application of a little hollandaise on anything they turn their noses up at would cure that mood.

Yi inspected the asparagus, then put a cluster held with an elastic in the cart, then she got some "pointy lettuce," and a head of "white trees" (cauliflower) and a few more items, then headed over to the deli. "Half a pound of capicola, half a pound of provolone, and a pound and a half of roast beef sliced as thin as humanly possible and some au jus."

"Havin' beef on weck?" asked Martha, the counter manager, who seemed to know everyone.

"Yeah, tomorrow. This storm is going to last a couple of days so I want quick and ready meals."

"NOOOOODLES," cried the twins as they peered through the deli case at all the salads and hot dishes. A huge tray of mac and cheese called to them, taunting them.

"Where did you two come from?" Martha asked the twins as she handed Yi a sample of the roast beef to share with the twins.

"My mommy," said Sandy without taking her eyes from the mac and cheese.

"We used to live in her tummy," added Madeline, causing Martha, a twin mom herself, to whoop with laughter.

"These are Doc Jarecki's daughters."

"Poppa," agreed Sandi and Madeline, as they tore into the roast beef slices.

"Oh, I heard about you guys!" cooed Martha. "You moved here from Denver. Is it cold there?"

"No," said Sandy.

"It's cold at GG's house," said Madeline.

"We're going to see GG next week!" said Sandy.

"Oh God, I forgot about that," groaned Yi. "Their great grandmother lives in Bismark North Dakota. We have to go to Minot for a ceremony, then down to Bismark, to meet GG, then down to Denver to close out their mom's apartment."

"Strawberry Shortcake," said Sandy, naming her favorite doll she left in Denver.

"What do you like better," asked Martha. "Springville or Denver?"

"Springville!" cheered the twins.

"We have chickens here," said Madeline.

"And a dog," added Sandy.

"Here's your roast beef, your provolone, and your coppa," Martha said as she laid out the packages. "And have fun in the great white north."

Yi wheeled the twins to the bakery to get hard rolls to make kimmelweck before checking out. "Look who's here," the twins said in a sing-song voice. Yi didn't have to look. It was Kenny. Yi really, really liked Kenny Johnson. If she were honest with herself, she would say that she was in love with Kenny. But Kenny was the first man she met in Western New York (other than his grandfather Archie) and it just didn't seem right to settle down with the first guy she meets and not see what else was available.

They had fun at the Jarecki's cabin, and it was really wonderful to snuggle with Kenny overnight under a warm comforter with Pastor John and Pastor Macy just inches away behind a curtain. They giggled all night long and kept John and Macy up, wondering what was going on. He taught her how to cross-country ski and how to snowshoe and they were working on shooting bow and arrow when it came time to return home.

She was terrified of him. No, she was terrified of his eyes. When she looked deep into his eyes, she saw wedding bells. It can't be! She just met him. She's not like Andi and Paul, who accepted their feelings and proposed to each other just hours after meeting each other. Yi saw herself more like Josh and Veronica, who chatted civilly with each other, reigning in their feeling and desires until the time was right. And she wasn't looking for a guy who runs a feed store! She wanted someone more like Doctor Jarecki, a successful businessman with an enormous house and a yacht. Not some working man with yellow fever.

"Hi Yi," came his voice. She turned to Kenny, trying to be cool and civil.

"Hi," she said, and her throat went dry. Don't look in his eyes! But she didn't listen to her own warning. Those wedding bells were there, and they were louder than ever. Before she could stop herself, she whispered, "Yes."

"Huh? I didn't ask you anything," said Kenny.

"You will," she said as their lips met.

<><><><><> ֎ <><><><><>

Seven feet of snow in three days... and it wasn't a record. The record for the area was eight feet in two days. With the snow blown clear from the driveway and the sidewalks, the Jarecki family posed for tons of pictures in front of the snowbanks. "What do you normally do when the weather is like this?" asked Yi at lunch on the third day of the blizzard.

"Go to the cabin," said Paul.

"How?" said Andi.

"That sounds like a challenge. Who's up for a picnic in the cabin tomorrow?"

"ME!" shouted the twins.

"Let me see if I can get a ride..." Paul pulled out his phone and made a quick call. "Hey, you busy today? ... Cool, can you give me a lift to the cabin? Great! See you in a few minutes." Paul rose and pulled on his snowmobile suit and dug up his Easy Rider Captain America helmet. "I'll be back in a few hours," as the sound of a snowmobile pulling in the driveway was heard.

"Hey, that's Kenny," said Andi as she looked out the side window, but Yi didn't turn to look. "Is everything ok?" asked Andi.

"She's mad at Kenny," said Sandy.

"They played kissy kissy in the grocery store yesterday," said Madeline as she picked at her bologna sandwich.

Outside, Paul climbed on the back of Kenny's snowmobile and Kenny turned it around in the wide driveway, then opened the throttle and headed out of town. Snowmobiles were purring all over Springville. The village hadn't plowed the snow in a long time except for the main storm routes, which were US39, US240, and Main Street. And none of them were plowed very well.

They were back in time for dinner. Paul had the Snowcoach trailer attached to the back of the gutsy Yamaha VK 540, and when they pulled their snowmobiles up to a stop, Paul started emptying the firewood out of the Snowcoach and piling it on his home wood pile. When they finished, they came into the house.

"Kenny volunteered to help us dig out the cabin tomorrow, so I invited him to dinner and stay the night, if no one has any objections."

Yi sighed. Her willpower weakened any time Kenny was near. Now he was here, and she's got that enormous bathtub that was built for two... what's a girl to do?

<><><><><> ֎ <><><><><>

"Di Domissio Contracting, this is Lucy, how may I help you?"

"Lucy? I'm used to hearing Carole, is she OK? Did Gus get a new secretary?"

"No, Carole is fine. The schools are closed so she's home with her kids and I'm filling in for her. How can we help you?"

"This is Buddy over at Concord TruValue, is there a chance Gus can hit my parking lot before eight?"

Lucy turned to Gus and said, "Buddy wants to know if you can get his parking lot before eight."

Gus thought for a moment then shouted, "Hey Buddy, I think I can get there at six, is that good?"

"That'll be great," said Buddy. "Thanks Gus."

"Don't thank me now," said Gus. "Let's see if we can get there on time first."

As Lucy entered Concord TruValue on Gus's clipboard list, he took a sip of coffee and wheeled into the local Circle K to fill up his truck. This is the second gasoline stop of the evening so far. As Gus filled the truck, Lucy took his thermos into the station and topped it off with fresh hot coffee. She grabbed a few cheese and sausage snacks and a couple of sandwiches and was back at Gus's truck in a matter of moments. Gus returned from his "pit stop" and checked the gas pump. "Thank you so much for doing this," said Gus as he hung the nozzle back on the gas pump, then turned and gave Lucy a big hug.

"My vacation is almost over, so I might as well do something," she said as she tried to hug him with both hands full. Their lips met and the thrill of kissing a man that is really worthy of her love coursed through her. Gus has been the most respectful, thoughtful, helpful man that she ever met, and she had a giddy feeling rushing through her every time their lips met.

Lucy's vacation was a sabbatical between jobs. She had left her position as surgeon at a local hospital and signed on to work at a new VA clinic that had opened up and continue to perform thoracic surgery at the VA hospital downtown. But right now, she wanted to spend as much time with Gus as she could, even if that meant acting as his co-pilot and his secretary. They climbed into his truck and Gus sipped the coffee Lucy poured and he headed to the next job.

It was dark, which was good. In snow country, low clouds would reflect the village's light back down, illuminating the area. However, with high clouds or no clouds, it was much darker out. It was also much colder. Low clouds trap the heat, high clouds let the heat rise. Low clouds also mean snow, and they've been getting a lot of snow this week. "Ok, the Bee Quik is usually pretty quick, then we'll get Archie's feed store." Archie has been retired for years, but everyone still calls it Archie's Feed Store.

As they pulled into the Bee Quik parking lot, Lucy asked, "Were you ever in the military?"

"Sure was," said Gus as he lined up his big F-550 truck. "Navy, Aviation Boatswain's Mate, Animal By Habit. I wasn't a hero like Doc or his buddy Josh, I did four years on the USS Forest Fire, did my job, and came home." He fiddled with the controller a little bit, then pushed the handle forward and his big Western V plow dropped to the pavement.

"I didn't understand a word of that," said Lucy.

Gus put the heavy truck into low range and hit the gas. "I was an aircraft handler on an aircraft carrier. I moved planes around, took them down to the hangar, brought them up on deck, chained them down, unchained them, stuff like that." He had the V plow straight with the two-foot wings spread straight out, giving him a twelve foot wide plow. He angled it a bit, so the snow rolled off to the right as he pushed the snow into a huge pile at the far end of the parking lot.

"What is with the forest fire?"

"That was the nick name of my ship the USS Forrestal. It had several bad fires, its first one was while it was being built at the Brooklyn shipyards then a really bad one in Vietnam, so folks eventually called it the Forest Fire and the name stuck."

Lucy chuckled as Gus told her about his career in the navy and how he could feel that big ship rolling even in the calmest of seas. "I was a born land lubber; I never should have gone to sea."

"Did you see any foreign ports?"

"Oh yeah, Rota Spain, Sigonella Sicily, Naples, Crete... there was a lot of fun but in the end it wasn't for me. Airplanes smell funny. I prefer the smell of sawdust and wood."

All night long they plowed parking lots and driveways in Springville. The big Ford scraped the lots right down to the pavement even after cars had been in and out all day. They talked about their past. Gus was passionate to hear about Lucy's races, all of them, on foot, swimming, and biking, and Lucy wanted to hear about Gus's daughters. Finally, Lucy said, "Paul told me you like to race, too."

"Yeah, it's nothing heroic like you out there riding your bike across the entire country, my races are much shorter."

"How much shorter?"

"They go a..." he looked embarrassed to say it. He finally let out, "quarter mile."

"You drag race?" Her eyes got huge. "What class?"

He started another plowing pass. "Super Stock." He looked over at Lucy, who was almost drooling. "You like cars?"

"Oh God yes! My dad and my brothers raced. I worked on dad's pit crew, he had a powder blue 1940 Willys gasser, my brother had a 1964 Mustang."

Gus finished that pass and turned around to make a pass in the opposite direction. Here at the Bee Quik, he could push snow in both directions and get out of there quickly. "My super stock is a 67 Camaro SS, I have a 1962 Ford Econoline pickup for show, and my street cruiser is a 69 Olds 442 and I'm working on rebuilding a 1962 Ford Falcon Ranchero. Paul and I occasionally cruise main street in our cruisers."

"Can I drive the Ranchero?" she asked, hoping to hide the excitement in her voice.

"If you help me get her on the road."

"When can we start?"

They talked about cars and biking. As much as Lucy was excited about Gus's cars, Gus was excited about helping Lucy with her bike races. The Olympics trials are only two years away and he's been egging her on to try out for the team.

"I can't put time like that into the team again," said Lucy.

"Then try out, beat everyone, then announce to the press, 'I want to concentrate on working at the VA, we owe it to our veterans.' The VA will make you employee of the year."

Lucy laughed at his comical suggestion at first, then she sighed. It would send a powerful message, but she wasn't sure if she still had it in her to beat those kids. "Let's see what spring brings when I break out the bikes."

Archie's feed store lot was quick, just a strip that took two passes and a driveway around back to the storage building. As they left, Gus hit the button for the salt spreader that was sitting in the dump bed of his big ford. "Springville Feed, plow and salt..." muttered Lucy as she wrote that down on the clipboard.

"No. This is pro bono, like the Humane Society thrift store."

"It's a business," insisted Lucy.

"It's a friend. If I didn't drop my plow on occasion, Kenny would be out here shoveling by hand. Thanks to Wehrle Holloway bumping up their rent constantly they can't afford a plow on occasion. The farmers count on this business, so if there's no cars stalled in the parking lot, I'll move his snow and if he says anything I'll say I took a short cut through his parking lot."

Tears filled Lucy's eyes as Gus talked about treating his friends and fellow Springville businessmen right. Why couldn't she have met him years ago?

<><><><><> ֎ <><><><><>

Kenny followed Paul's lead as they headed to the cabin. They took Zoar Valley Road out of Springville, then cut over US 219, which was empty due to the storm, then followed the road past some incredibly old farms. The farmhouses looked like they were built well before 1850, and the barns looked older.

Paul's sled, the Yamaha VK 540, was a workhorse. It was built for working in the backwoods in northern Ontario. It even has reverse gear, so you can back the sled up to whatever you plan to haul. Kenny had a workhorse also, his Ski-Doo Skandic had a super wide track meaning that he had incredible traction and pulling power. He and Yi purred along behind Paul and Andi, traveling in trail until Paul pulled to a stop. He got off of his sled and went to his trailer and checked on the twins. They had stuffed lobsters and were having a lobster fight. "Are we there?" asked Sandy.

"Nope, I just need to pull this lever, so you don't get there first." And Paul pulled a lever that set a drag brake. Back on the sled, Paul started ahead, and the treelined road started going downhill. They turned a corner, and it started going downhill steeply. "This is why I set the drag brake on the girl's trailer," said Paul to Andi. "I was worried that the snow coach would push us down the hill, and we'd jack knife." Pulling the trailer with the brake set, they headed down an incredibly steep hill. The twins were hanging in their seat straps, pretending to be falling out as they went down the steep hill. The rock wall of the valley was on their right, and on their left was a sheer drop with occasional metal traffic guide rails.

"This is a road?" shrieked Andi. "It's a cliff!"

"Yeah, when you drive a car up the hill it feels like you're going to flip over backwards," said Paul. Andi couldn't see his grin, but she knew it was there.

"I never saw anything like this in Colorado!"

"This is a back road," said Paul. "Tertiary roads are engineered differently."

As they came down the steep road, Kenny pointed out the stream at the bottom of the steep road to Yi. "That's Cattaraugus Creek, that's where the trout are waiting for us."

Yi immediately forgot about her fear as she looked at the creek as it curved its way down the length of the deep valley. "Is this the Sore Valley?" she shouted.

"Yeah, close enough," said Kenny. "I grew up swimming and fishing in that creek. On those hot and muggy nights when we couldn't sleep, mom and dad brought me and my sisters down here and we'd just sit in the creek and cool off. Three naked little kids with mom and dad." He clearly missed those days.

Yi's bright beautiful eyes tried to follow the track of the creek as it wove its way under the snow, only to be exposed occasionally when it tumbled over ice-covered rocks. Yes, that's a trout haven, thought Yi. Dreams of trout almondine filled her head. From creek to pan to plate... only things that are easier to complete that journey are eggs. "The chickens!" she cried.

"What?"

"The girl's chickens! They're probably all dead," Yi gasped. "We haven't been to the cabin in days."

"They're ok," said Kenny. "We checked them yesterday, I made sure Doc had plenty of automatic feeders. They only need heat and water. There may be some extra eggs, you never know."

They reached the bottom of Zoar Valley, and the valley sides rose above them. Snowmobile tracks showed where the road was and showed how the people who lived in Zoar Valley were getting about. They stopped so Paul could release the trailer's drag brake, then moving again, they crossed a bridge over Cattaraugus Creek and turned on to Trevett road. "We're almost there," said Paul. "Wait until late September, this valley is a riot of colors!" Andi couldn't wait. Autumn in Colorado is brightly colored, but it's all yellow and green. She always was jealous of Vermont with their brightly colored maples.

"Let's take the hill!" shouted Kenny as he goosed the throttle.

"We just took a hill," said Yi as they turned on to Trevett Road and charged at the valley wall. It appeared like there was a seam in the valley wall and Trevett Road went straight into it, then started climbing. The road wove side to side as it clawed its way out of the depths of Zoar Valley. The climb was just as steep as Zoar Valley road and Andi and Yi felt like they were going to fall off the sleds so they clung to Paul and Kenny tightly.

Soon the climb eased, and they passed two large houses, one on the left, one on the right, and they waved to the folks that were shoveling their driveways. Trevett Road was only visible by the mailboxes poking out of the snow and the piles of snow from previous plowing. Then the road made a wide sweeping turn to the left.

"PIG FARM!" shouted the twins in unison and yes, they were passing Brad and Dianna Clemmon's hog farm. They turned up Brad's driveway, then cut out across the fields and were soon at their cabin. They parked behind the cabin, and everyone went straight to the big barn.

"We have to give the chickens a new bed," said Sandy with an air of knowledge and she pulled handfuls of straw from the small bale of straw that was in the henhouse. The ammonia stench of chicken shit was overpowering, and Yi gagged as she hit the exhaust fan to clear the air. They checked every coop and found dozens of eggs buried in the straw and chicken shit. As they cleaned up the henhouse, below them, engines roared to life. Kenny was first out of the barn with the snowblower, and he started clearing around the barn where the attachments for the tractors were sitting, next was Paul on the old Ford 8N tractor and he quickly coupled to the drag plow, followed by Andi on the Kubota with the plow already coupled to the front lift arms.

Andi never considered the turns her life has taken. Six months ago, she was a successful but overworked doctor at Colorado University, living alone with her babies. To her, a farm was a distant concept that provided her with food and a tractor was a toy that she would give a co-worker's son. Now she's on a tractor, and along with her husband, she was plowing out a buried driveway while her girls were showing their governess how to care for chickens. All Andi considered was that she's never been happier.

<><><><><> ֎ <><><><><>

Andi spent much of her time during her second and third months of marriage preparing for her new job with the VA. The VA was a sprawling governmental monolith with sprawling governmental regulations and requirements, and she had to learn how to deal with medical issues 'The VA Way.'

Now it was her first day, and she stood in the parking lot with Paul and Lucy, looking at her new clinic. "Relax," said Paul, as he massaged her shoulders from behind. "You know how to treat you patients. Concentrate on that, let the VA worry about VA rules."

"Are you sure?"

"Honey, it's your clinic. What are they going to do, penalize you for saving a war hero's life? Not even the VA is that pathetic."

Paul kissed Andi goodbye, then she and Lucy entered her clinic. She said hello to several patients, then she and Lucy got in line at the front desk. It was a storefront operation built in a closed clothing store in a nearly empty strip mall. Some of the walk-ins were not there for pulmonary issues, they were there because the nearest outpatient VA clinic was 30 miles away. Most of the people in the waiting room were men, but there was a female veteran among them, waiting for her turn. Lucy turned to Andi and said, "We got this, boss."

"Right now, I'd rather be in the Your Host diner with Paul." Paul had been in and out of this clinic for months as it was being built, so he was known by the staff and Andi wanted to do this on her own. There were three people in line waiting to sign in, and the waiting room was filled with men waiting. There were no amenities of any kind.

Andi finally reached the woman at the check-in desk and asked, "is the line always this long?"

The woman at the desk didn't even look up and said, "It's still early, give it time."

"Buzz me in please," said Andi.

"Where ya headed honey?"

"Doctor Robert's office."

"She ain't in till later."

"She's here now," said Andi, her 'mom voice' creeping into the conversation.

The woman at the computer looked up and said, "Let's see your ID." After reviewing Andi's and Lucy's identification, she buzzed them in, and Andi found herself in a long hall with doors on either side. To her right was a large physical therapy gym with treadmills, exercise bikes, and exercise beds for the patient to lie on and perform exercises. Next was a pulmonology lab where test were administered. "I want to check this out boss," and Lucy ducked into the lab.

Andi kept exploring. There were several examination rooms that had a rear door. In an empty examination room, Andi peeked through the rear door to find that it opened to an open area where there were desks and cubicles for the office staff and the nursing staff.

At the end of the hall, there was an exit and also a hall to the right. She turned right, and the hall had offices on her left and it ended and a hall that went back to the waiting room. She noticed a technician following a patient who was walking toward her. The patient had an oxygen tank hanging on a strap from his shoulder and was using a nasal canula. When he got to Andi's end of the hall, he turned around and went back to the other end of the hall and turned around. "Six minute walk?" Andi asked the technician, but she just glared at Andi.

"Don't interrupt," said the technician as she followed the patient. Andi had gotten the technician's name from her badge, Agnes Trenton. Agnes' attitude with her patient was brusk. She was harsh and ungracious when she spoke to him, and nasty to people who stepped out into the hall and almost bumped into her.

Andi watched as they came all the way back up the hall and when they got near her, she said, "Ms. Trenton. When you are done with your patient, please come see me in my office. Office one twelve." She didn't answer Andi. Agnes turned around and headed back up the hallway.

"Fat chance," muttered Agnes.

"I was not kidding Miss Trenton," said Andi, who was walking immediately behind Agnes, still investigating her clinic.

Andi then stepped into the administration area between the examination rooms and asked for everyone's attention quickly. "Hi, I'm Doctor Adrianna Roberts. I'm new to Western New York and my daughters and I are excited to be here. I want us to work together to show the VA what a caring clinic is all about. As a gold star daughter and the wife of a veteran, I want you to know that if you are not here one hundred and fifty percent for those men and women out there in the waiting room, then this clinic is not the place for you. I'll write glowing reviews for you and help you with your future placement, but from this moment forward, this clinic is dedicated to being the best at serving our veterans."

Andi saw Lucy peeking in a door and grinning as Andi briefed her troops. "If you have any complaints, you know my email address. If you have suggestions on how to serve our men and women my door is wide open. Thank you," and she left. She wanted to speak with Ms. Trenton.

Andi finally got to see her office. It was clearly apparent that Paul decorated it for her. There were photos of their wedding, especially the picture of her, Macy, the twins and Wonka taken the moment that Andi realized she had a sister, and they could go sledding. There was a picture of Paul at the helm of Miss Arcadia, Judge Atherton's thirty-six foot sloop and photos of Andi at the helm of Andi's Dream, and the big photo of the whole team when Yi and the Judge caught that beautiful sail fish. Prominent were photos of the twins collecting seashells and catching mullets on the stern of Andi's Dream.

Ms. Trenton finally arrived, and she appeared reluctant to speak to Andi, and Andi had to ask some very direct questions. "Is that how six minute walks are normally conducted?"

"Yes, that's how I was trained to conduct them," Ms. Trenton said evasively.

Andi got very serious. "We have men and women coming back from the desert with serious respiratory issues. Until the equipment I ordered from the Mayo clinic arrives, our best tool in diagnosing the condition and progress of our patients is with the six-minute walk."

"I am well aware of that," said Ms. Trenton.

"Then why were you using a twenty dollar finger clip pulse-ox to check his O2 saturation? Where is the Wellue O2ring?" the O2 ring is a ring the patient wears that saves his oxygen data for the duration of the test and the technician can download the data. It's not the best solution, but until the new equipment comes in, it's better than the cheap pulse-ox.

"It wasn't charged..."

"And why was the patient carrying his oxygen on his shoulder? Carrying anything will skew test results for someone with respiratory conditions." Ms. Trenton looked at Andi in silence, then Andi said, "I asked you a question."

Finally, Ms. Trenton said, "the large oxygen tanks on wheels are locked up."

"Before I go I will make sure you have access to the large tanks. Unfortunately, the damage has been done..."

"What damage?" demanded Ms. Trenton.

"Forcing the patient to carry the oxygen tank, using the incorrect Pulse/Ox meter, failure to accurately measure the distance the patient traveled in six minutes, all of the tests you administered are invalid. We have no clear starting point for measuring their progress, so we have to start over again. I want a MOP, a Method of Procedure written up describing how the six minute walk will be conducted for every patient, how you're going to measure his oxygen saturation and how you're going to accurately measure the distance the patient walked. Also, I want a circular track, I don't want them walking up and down a hallway."

Ms. Trenton looked shocked. She couldn't believe what was piled on her. "I don't know..." she sputtered.

"I have a change of command ceremony to attend in North Dakota in two days then I have to go to Denver and close out my apartment before I'm here full time. I'm expecting to be dazzled when I get back.

"Yes, ma'am."

Ms. Trenton left the office and Lucy stepped in. "What did you do to her? She looks like she just saw bigfoot, or a ghost, or something like that."

"I told her that her six minute walks suck, and I wanted them fixed by the time I got back."

"How do you suck at six minute walks?"

"The patient was carrying his oxygen on a shoulder sling," said Andi.

"That'll do it." Lucy began poking through the papers on Andi's desk.

"I have to get these all taken care of before I leave today," groaned Andi. Just then, a knock came at the door. "Come in."

A large woman with graying hair came in and said, "What's wrong with the six minute walks?"

"That depends. Who are you?" asked Andi.

"I'm Estelle Gibbons, I'm in charge of the lab, what is wrong with the six minute walk tests?"

"Besides everything?" asked Andi. She wasn't falling in love with Estelle Gibbons, either.

"I have veteran Kyle's six minute results right here, look at them yourself."

"I don't need to. Just tell me a couple of things, at the four minute mark what was veteran Kyle's blood oxygen saturation?"

Estelle looked at her document. "Ninety One Percent."

"And how was that data obtained? Did he stop, show her the oxygen level and start again?"

"Yeah,"

Andi leaned back in her chair. "So, every minute he gets a break to recover. How far had he gone by minute four?"

"About five hundred meters."

"And how is that measured?" said Andi.

"The hall is fifteen meters long, simple math, you count the number of lengths he walked, multiply by fifteen."

"No, I want no math, simple or otherwise. I want raw data that we can analyze and quantify. Until we get the new equipment, this is our number one diagnostic tool."

"What about RHC?" asked Estelle. "Do you intend to start requesting RHCs?" The RHC is the Right Heart Catheter, a probe is run to the heart and data is collected from the heart itself. In the hands of a good thoracic surgeon or cardiologist, the RHC collects tons of great data, and is the number one method of determining pulmonary hypertension, a condition that is becoming a 'veteran killer.'

"Lucy, can you do a few RHC's for us?" asked Andi.

"Two or three a day," said Lucy, without looking up from the magazine she was reading.

Andi thought of her patient, Don Campbell. His body was so broken up from a jet blast incident, and then she had to tell him he had Pulmonary Hypertension. He was so strong about it, but his poor wife Lanh, she looked like she couldn't take it anymore and then Andi went on vacation and never went back. She feels so guilty about that. "Estelle, this is something that is near and dear to my heart," said Andi. "I want this clinic to rival private clinics, I would love it if the Mayo Clinic called and asked us how WE did it, and not the other way around."

Estelle chuckled. "You think I call the Mayo Clinic for their secrets?"

Andi and Lucy looked at her in shock. "You don't?" asked Andi. "We're all medical professionals. We don't keep secrets." She looked at her phone, then wrote out a phone number and handed it to Estelle. "Ask for Darlene and mention my name, she runs their Pulmonology Testing Lab."

Estelle was in shock; her boss just gave her permission to call another hospital and follow their lead. She walked out, looking at the phone number, wondering if she really should call it.

After Estelle left, Andi got back to the pile of paperwork on her desk. "We're not getting out of here tomorrow..."

<><><><><> ֎ <><><><><>

After a plane change in Minneapolis, the family landed in Minot, North Dakota. The temperature was a 'brisk' -11° (-24°C) yet the sun was blazing in the sky. The airport was small, only two gates, and the jetway was frigid. "Come on you two, only two more days and we go see GG," said Andi, hoping to coax the chilly twins off the jetway. They got inside the airport and there was a large crowd waiting to get on their airplane and Sandy became a helper.

"Don't go outside!" she called. "It's too cold!"

"Come on you," said Yi as she urged the twins to keep up. They found their baggage quickly because there's only one plane at the airport and it's not far at all from the baggage claim. As soon as she got outside, Yi gasped, "Oh my God! How do people survive up here?"

"You get used to it, eh?" said a fellow that was standing near the Asian beauty. Yi had never been this far north in her life, and she was not enjoying the experience.

"We're right next to Canada!" she gasped.

"Yi, darling, when we had dinner at Mama Giardini's you were north of Fort Erie Canada," said Paul. His statement didn't help Yi feel any warmer, and it caused the twins to chant "Grandma G! Grandma G!"

As Paul stacked up their luggage, a large Ford Transport from the local rental agency pulled up to the terminal. The driver hopped out and came up to Paul and said, "Are you Doctor Jarecki?"

"Yes sir."

"Ok. This van is for you," said the fellow. They spoke for a few moments, then Paul started loading the bags in the back of the van and Yi and Andi started mounting the twins' car seats in the rear bench seat that folds down to a bed. The family piled into the comfortable van and as soon as the twins were strapped into their car seats, they were on their way. Yi sat in the second row seat, and she could turn the captain's chair around and face the twins, which unnerved them.

"Fancy van!" cried Madeline.

"It is fancy," said Andi, as she reviewed all the options.

"We have video back here," said Yi.

"I'm hungry!" demanded Sandy, and they really were hungry this time. They spent the whole day on airplanes with just a quick breakfast long ago.

"I know where to go," said Paul and as they pulled out of the airport, he played tour guide. "Minot was built in a valley created by the Souris river. It's a railroad town and you can see these tracks, that was the Great Northern railroad, it's now the BNSF. That set of tracks there, that was the Soo Line railroad, it's now the Canadian Pacific."

"I wanna ride the train!" Madeline suddenly demanded. "GG says they have food cars!"

"Food! Food! Food!" the girls chanted, but Yi glared at them, which brought silence.

"I'm trying to make a phone call," Yi said, which earned her a pair of stuck out tongues. Yi's call went to Kenny's voice mail. "Hey babe, we landed on time and it's frigid here, eleven below. Call me when you get a chance, love ya, bye." Then she looked at the girls... did she just say what she thought she said? They were still sticking their tongues out at her, and they weren't making retching noises, so she guessed she didn't.

"This truck rides so rough!" complained Andi, who heard what Yi said and hurried to change the conversation.

"The springs and shock absorbers are frozen," said Paul. Andi gave him a look like she didn't believe him and he said, "Believe me, up here it's a special treat to pull into a heated building and let your car thaw out for a couple of hours."

"This is hell," gasped Yi as her side window frosted over. The multiple heaters in the luxury van were barely keeping up with demand.

"No, Bismark is hell, we're 120 miles deep inside," said Paul, reciting an old Minot AFB Airman's complaint.

Andi slugged Paul in the arm, then looked for his reaction before she demanded. "How long were you stationed here?"

"Two years, then I went somewhere warm, Tule Greenland." Which earned him another punch in the arm. "Ow, ok, I went to Randolph AFB in Texas to learn flight surgering."

"Surgering?" asked Yi, who was sad that she missed hearing Kenny's voice.

"It's a thing," said Paul. They pulled into a large truck stop and, after unbuckling the girls, they hurried into the restaurant portion of the truck stop.

"My god it's cold out there," said Andi.

"It's a bit chilly," said the hostess. "You betcha."

"We just few in from Buffalo," said Yi as the hostess led them to a table.

"Ja, den you'll know what da cold is all about, eh?" said the hostess as she placed menus on the table.

"No, it gets nothing like this," said Andi.

"Just be glad we didn't get here on a cold day," said Paul.

"Ain't dat right," said the hostess, and she fist bumped with Paul.

As they sat down and the waitress brought water, Paul said, "it gets damn cold here, and folks take pride in surviving and thriving in that weather. Everyone has a -45° day or night story and how they survived. The summers here are short and beautiful, and the autumns are crisp, and the hunting and fishing is incredible."

"What do they fish for," asked Yi, whose ears perked up.

"Walleye," said the waitress. "Greatest walleye fishing on earth is just an hour away on Lake Sakakawea."

The moment the waitress said that, Yi reacted like the waitress said that she saw the promised land. Yi could almost hear the angels singing when the waitress said 'Lake Sakakawea.' "Lake Sakakawea is here?" said Yi almost reverently.

"Just an hour south honey."

"We're going to drive past it when we drive to Bismark," said Paul.

Yi pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed Kenny again. He didn't answer and Yi left another voice mail, "Kenny! Get your tackle box! Lake Sakakawea is right here!"

"Yi likes fishing," said Sandy.

"I can see that," said the waitress as she gave the twins' crayons to color their place mats.

"She caught a sailor fish named Mister Unicorn," said Madeline, as she set to the task of coloring.

"Sailor fish?"

Andi took out her phone and showed the waitress the photo of the girls holding their sail fish on the stern of Andi's Dream. Soon they had ordered and were served their meals. Andi had never eaten such a hamburger! Locally raised grass fed beef, thick and juicy. For the twins, the French fries were the highlight, large crinkle cut fries that were "double dipped" which made their outside crisp and their inside fluffy. Yi had a chef salad that was huge. She had to box up most of it for later. Paul had a huge bacon double cheeseburger with onion rings that he shared with Madeline. Sandy sniffed one and decided no, but Madeline loved her onion ring.

"I haven't had that burger in ages," he sighed. He looked over at the girls in their two highchairs. Each had a French fry clutched in their fists and their mouths were full of the treat. "Is that good?" both nodded enthusiastically. "Good, we'll stop here before we head to Grandma's house."

"We wanna eat here all the time!" said Sandy. Madeline agreed, but her mouth was full of thick, melty grilled cheese.

After their meal, they headed over to the hotel. And the setting sun confused Yi. "What time is it?"

"Quarter after five," said Andi.

"Sunset comes early in these parts," said Paul.

That night, they had a pool party at their hotel. Paul ordered several pizzas from a local pizza restaurant, and they gave out pizza to anyone that wanted it down at pool side. Soon the pool was filled with families, to Yi's amazement. "You're new here?" asked a woman who was reclining at the poolside.

"I'm from Florida," said Yi as she watched at least a dozen kids splashing and having a grand time. "I recently moved to Buffalo to ride herd on the twins," she said, pointing to Sandy and Madeline, who were splashing in the shallow end of the hotel's indoor pool.

"Every now and then you get tired of being cold, so we get a suite and throw a party," said the woman.

"In the middle of the week?" asked Yi.

"Parent/teacher conferences all week," said the woman's husband.

"We're here for a change of command ceremony on base," said Yi.

Sandy peered over the edge of the pool and said, "Yi wants to go fishing."

"Wally fish," said Madeline, as she appeared next to Sandy.

"Your fan club?" said the woman, now laughing.

"My clones," said Yi. "We were talking about walleye fishing on Sakakawea."

"You're in Buffalo, have you tried Lake Erie?" asked the fellow. "I heard that was good for walleye too."

"Haven't tried that lake yet. My friend said he's going to teach me fly fishing this summer, I can't wait for that."

The kids played and had a grand time and Yi found the people were truly friendly, and Andi just laid on her lounge grinning and wiping the girls' faces when they got wet. It's been so long since she heard the North Dakota accent, that Norwegian influenced lilt that meant her grandma was nearby. Even though she was born and raised in Denver, North Dakota will always be 'home.'

It was well past nine thirty, an hour past the girl's bedtime when the pool party broke up and Paul asked the hotel staff if they wanted the last two pizzas, which they accepted with profound thanks and Andi and Paul carried a protesting Sandy and Madeline back to their suite. "I'm not tired! I don't wanna go to bed!" they protested.

"The pool is closed, party girl, and you've been up since six this morning," said Paul.

"You need a bath, you're all chlorine stinky," said Andi.

"How about a shower?" said Paul.

"YEAH!" cried the girls, their shouts echoed down the hallway.

"Noooo," insisted Andi. "You've never seen them shower."

"Pleeeeese?" begged Sandy.

"We won't take our stuffies in the shower!" promised Madeline.

"Stuffies in the shower?" Paul asked as he unlocked the door.

"Oh yes, we had a tea party in the shower one day," said Andi. Stuffie is what the girls called their plush stuffed toys. Andi was especially worried about their stuffed sailfish, but so far the fish remained dry.

"I don't think we can get in much trouble in Minot North Dakota," said Paul and he set Madeline down and went into the bathroom and started the shower. Soon both of the twins were dancing in the shower and the glass door kept the over-spray to a minimum, and shortly they were dried off and wrapped in towels and sitting with Paul and Andi on the couch, watching TV. They lasted less than 10 minutes. "This one's asleep," whispered Paul as Madeline fell asleep.

"So is this one," said Andi. They carried the twins into the bedroom and dressed them for bed without waking them, and tucked them in. A few minutes later, Yi entered wearing a large cowboy hat and counting a stack of five-dollar bills.

"Nice hat!" said Paul. "Where did you get it?"

"The bar next door has a mechanical bull," said Yi as she counted her winnings.

"I didn't know you were a bull rider."

"Just the mechanical ones," she said, as she put her winnings in her purse.

"Our girl has some skills!"

<><><><><>

The twins woke up hungry for French fries and wanted to go back to the truck stop, which seemed like a good idea.

The twins split a blueberry pancake and bacon, Andi had French toast and Yi tried the ham and cheese omelet which Sandy and Madeline informed the waitress was really called a hamlet. Paul had the Haystack, a huge mound of hash browns (Yi took many) with two eggs on top, four large breakfast sausages (Andi took two), sourdough toast, and some of the best truck stop coffee on earth.

"That was incredible!" said Yi.

Sandy and Madeline had snagged a taste of her omelet and said, "Poppa's hamlets are better."

"Let's go girls, let's get poppa pretty," said Andi as they trooped out to the fancy van in the subzero weather and headed back to the hotel to get changed for the event. Back at their suite, they got the twins dressed in matching blue dresses and did their bright blond hair up in ringlet curls. Then Andi and Yi dressed in fashionable dresses and Paul pulled on his USAF uniform. Andi was immediately overwhelmed with emotion; she remembered her mother saying how proud her father looked in his uniform and the horror she and her mother went through when they found out that he was never coming home. Andi traced her fingers over each ribbon and badge.

"You don't ever have to put this on for real, do you?" she said as she fought with the feelings welling up inside of her.

"No, they supposedly can recall me but that's not going to happen..."

Andi's head spun when he said that. Memories of her father's funeral service welled up and suddenly she felt her French toast coming back up and she sprinted for the bathroom. "Honey? Are you ok?" said Paul as Andi vomited up her breakfast. When she was done, Paul scooped her up and carried her to the bed and began checking her over.

"I'm ok!" she demanded as he pulled his stethoscope and blood pressure cuff out of his backpack.

"Physician, chill thyself," said Paul, misquoting Luke to get Andi's attention, and he checked her blood pressure and stuck a thermometer in her mouth.

"Is mommy ok?" demanded Sandy.

"Yes, mommy's fine," said Andi.

"I'm making sure she's ok, blood pressure is one ten over seventy, temperature is ninety seven degrees, pulse is sixty four..."

"Sounds ok," said Madeline, who was standing on the bed next to Andi. She didn't understand a word poppa said, but he sounded confident, and that was good enough for her.

"You are not going to do this every time I sneeze, are you?" demanded Andi.

"No of course not..."

"Good."

"Because if you sneezed while I checked your blood pressure it would throw off the reading..."

"I'm fine!" Andi almost shrieked, then she settled down. "Thank you for worrying about me but I'm not fragile. I'll tell you when there's something wrong."

"You and I both know that physicians are best at denial," said Paul. "We need to watch out for each other... Thanks to you I have an appointment at the VA to get my lungs checked out."

Andi never forgot seeing Paul in that video, gasping for air and almost drowning after they rescued the Garcia family. "I'm fine... it's the uniform, I remembered my father in his and I remembered the day he wasn't coming back..."

Madeline hugged her mother and said, "We have poppa now." Sandy climbed up on Andi's lap and patted her wrist.

Andi hugged her girls and said, "Yes, we have poppa now. I miss my poppa, that's why I call your poppa daddy."

"Are you sure you're ok?" asked Paul as he hugged his three girls. "You can stay here if you're not feeling well and I'll go alone."

Yi watched from across the room, and she immediately knew that Kenny would care for her just like that. In fact, he probably already does.

"I. Am. Fine." Said Andi as if she was tired of being asked that question. "I really will tell you when I don't feel well, I really will, now let's get going, I want to talk to Julie about you."

"It's Jacqui. Her name is Jaquette Marie-Claude Davis."

The twins screwed up their faces. "Jacket? They named her after a coat?"

"No, that's a French name, but to you she is Colonel Davis."

"We need to get going people," said Yi, who was a better timekeeper than most people.

"Yi is right," said Paul. "Let's go people, coats, gloves, purses, let's go." He pulled on an Air Force blue winter overcoat that was no longer issued and guided the family out of the motel and out to the fancy van that was already running. The fancy van had a remote starter and block heater, so when they came out, the fancy van was toasty warm inside. Paul unplugged the block heater and coiled up the extension cord and put it in the back while Yi and Andi got the twins secured. Then, when everyone was in place, he pulled out and headed north on US 83.

They passed the airport on the north end of town and a small complex that was called the Minot Aero Center. "That's a tiny civil aerodrome," said Yi.

"That used to be the main airport," said Paul. "Could you imagine getting off the airplane and walking cross the open ramp when the weather was twenty below zero?"

"I wouldn't get off the plane," Andi said.

Soon they were out in the open countryside. Wide open fields were divided by rows of trees that the twins called 'skinny forests.' "Those are called Shelterbelts, they protect the crops from the wind," said Paul. The trip seemed to last forever, but it was only 12 miles.

Soon, Minot Air Force Base appeared on their left and they pulled up to the security office outside of the main gate to get Yi a pass. Paul took Yi into the security office and only took a few moments to get the pass, then they climbed back in the fancy van and pulled up to the main gate. After checking IDs, the gate guard waved them on base and they drove in, passing rows of duplex apartments.

"That's where we would live if we were assigned here," said Paul.

"No, that's where you would live, I'd still be in Florida," said Yi.

Paul took them past the flight line where several B-52s were parked, then headed to the recreation center. "This is where the ceremony will be, and there will probably be a reception at the officer's club." They entered the recreation center and Paul hung up their coats on the open coat racks, then, following the signs, they entered a large gymnasium. An airman came up to the family and said, "Doctor Jarecki?"

"Yes," said Paul.

"Please follow me," and he led them to the VIP area where there was seating available.

"Thank you airman," said Paul as they were given seats in the front row. He turned to the twins and said, "Ok, shh, like we're in church, ok?" Luckily, the change of command for the 91st Missile Wing was simple and fast. An officer read the orders that assigned Colonel Jacquette Davis to command the 91st Missile Wing on this date. Jacquette Davis was a tall, muscular black woman, and she towered over most of the men on stage.

The first sergeant took the wing's guidon, a flag on a wooden pole with many streamers attached representing the many awards the wing had won. The sergeant handed it to the old commander, who handed it to Jacquette. When he handed the guidon to Jacquette, the two officers paused for the base photographer to get a photograph of the occasion, then Jacquette handed the guidon to the first sergeant and command had passed. There was a ceremonial inspection of the troops. She walked down two rows of troops that were standing at attention, then walked over to the VIP seating and grinned down at Paul. "Gimme some sugar doctor," she said with a huge grin.

Paul rose and took her hand and said, "You did it Jacqui, you really did it!" He was so happy for her he almost cried. The young heartbroken lieutenant he met so long ago was now a full bird colonel and getting polished for her general's star. The two old friends gleefully broke protocol and hugged. "Go take your accolades, ma'am."

"I sure will!" she said, then she walked back to the stage and composed herself. She gave the usual change of command speech, her praise for the members of the wing and her plans for the future, then she turned to Paul and said, "Many of you are going to have some dark days ahead of you. It's no fun, believe me, I was there. I had a friend who had some very dark days in his career also, and we found each other, and we learned how to talk and play a wicked game of racket ball. And we convinced each other to keep going, to keep on doing what needs to be done and to seek help when needed. We gave each other some good advice. When I was flying tankers, I was sure all that was in my future was a 737 with a big heart painted on the tail, and my friend's aspirations weren't even that high. But we hung on, didn't we doc?"

"We did," said Paul.

"And we did ok, didn't we? Here I am up here commander of the greatest wing in the Air Force and there's Doc, with a beautiful wife, two beautiful daughters, a medical practice, a law practice, ten Ford dealerships, an executive chef and a yacht." She paused for a moment, then said, "You win this round, doc, but I ain't done trying!" After the laughter, she continued her speech, asking her troops to look after each other. All Paul could have gotten from that was that there was a suicide problem on base.

Later there was a reception at the officer's club, and Paul took Andi, Yi, and the twins to meet Jacquette. "Damn!" cried Jacki as she hugged Paul, "that uniform looks so good with a goatee!" then her brow furrowed in mock anger as she tugged on his beard, "don't be giving my troops any ideas."

"The DOD directive that allows retirees to wear their uniforms says nothing about AFR 35-10," said Paul as they hugged again. AFR 35-10 was the Air Force Regulation that covered dress and appearance. It was superseded by Air Force Suggestion 36-2903 in 1995 when chief of staff Merrill McPeak destroyed the United States Air Force.

"AFR 35-10 is as dead and gone as your career doc, now, introduce me! I want to meet everyone," cried Jacqui.

"This is my darling bride Andi, I found her in a snow drift, and she allowed me to keep her. Andi, this is my friend Jacqui Davis and what she said was true. Sugar coated but true."

The woman shook hands. "Oh my god you're beautiful!" gushed Jacqui, "and a doctor too?"

"Pulmonologist. I am opening a VA clinic specializing in respiratory issues."

"God bless you! So many troops are coming back from the desert with breathing issues. And who is this?"

"These are my love bugs, this is Sandy..."

"Bug bug."

"And Madeline..."

"Bug bug. Poppa found me in the snow too."

"Momma was mad at him," said Sandy, "but he gave us a ride with his tractor in the snow."

"Now we got chickens!"

"And a dog."

"Thank you girls," said Paul before the twins got wound up. "And this is Yi-jin Carlson, an accomplished chef and the twins governess."

"I heard you were on Chopped! I may have seen you," said Jacquie.

"I got chopped when I failed to put broccoli Rabe in my dessert," said Yi as they shook hands.

"How long are you staying in Minot?"

"We're heading out tomorrow morning," said Paul. "We have Andi's grandma to meet down in Bismark before we head down to Denver and clear out her apartment."

"Thank you so much for coming, it means so much to me," gushed Jacqui.

They didn't stay very long. Everyone wanted Jacqui's time and Paul knew no one else in the room. Jacqui introduced Paul, Andi, and Yi to her commander, and then the commander of the 8th Air Force, along with a senator. The commander of the 8th Air Force was shocked that Paul was a doctor, lawyer, and businessman. "How did you do that?"

"I was alone with time on my hands, and my brother and I inherited several car dealerships from my dad. My brother is a pastor and won't be involved in the dealership operations, but it is his legacy too, and we were getting screwed on taxes by New York State. So I studied, passed the bar, and got our money back. Jacqui forgot to mention that I also raise chickens."

"So how do people address you? Doctor? Counselor?"

"I have nearly five hundred employees now, and I believe that I have met every one, and I've told them all to call me Paul."

After talking a little while with the senator, who sounded like he was going to hit Paul up for money, they said their goodbyes and headed out.

"What do you think?" said Paul. Yi was driving and Paul was sitting in a captain's chair in the second row of the van's seating.

"Boring!" chimed the twins from the back.

"It was very meaningful," said Yi. "I like how the Air Force keeps the ceremony and symbolism short and to the point."

"Jacqui was nice, where did you meet her?" asked Andi.

"At the bar at the O club. Melony had died and Jacquie's husband left her, so we were crying in our beers when we met. We kind of propped each other up for a long time."

"She was hot for you," said Yi.

"No she wasn't. I'm like her brother."

"Then she's hot for a little family action," said Andi.

"Agreed," said Yi. "I know hot when I see it."

"You two are crazy," said Paul.

As they headed south on US 83, Paul said, "Look at the sun!"

They looked toward the setting sun and saw a bright white halo around it and at the three and nine o'clock positions there was a ball of bright white light. It looked like there were three setting suns. "That's called a Sundog," said Andi. "It's from the sunshine coming through the ice crystals hanging in the air."

He directed them to the Hacienda, a fantastic restaurant in a tiny town outside of Minot. The Hacienda was famous for its steaks, which all came from locally raised beef, vegetables were locally grown and the prices were incredible. "I really miss this place," said Paul. "Especially the French Baked Potato."

Yi, who had just come back from a tour of the kitchen, said, "they put the whole potato in the deep frier!"

"It comes out perfectly," said Paul as their meals came. The twins had corn dogs, mostly because to a five-year-old, the best food comes on a stick. Andi had the six-ounce sirloin, Yi had the broiled walleye, and Paul had the bone-in ribeye, and each bite was exquisite. It was a wonderful way to say goodbye to Minot because Paul was sure he'd never come back. But then, that's what he said last time he ate at the Hacienda.

<><><><><> ֎ <><><><><>

Driving to Bismark the next morning, just after sunrise, they passed a small collection of buildings next to the only hill that Yi has seen since she got to Minot. Several signs advertised houses for sale (cheap) and the sign said that the name of the town was "Radar Base." "They named a town Radar Base?" Yi asked.

"No, they closed a radar base and made it a town," said Paul. "Minot Air Force Station was a big radar site, that was built before the bomber base. There were huge, round radar domes on top of the hill, but they were torn out in the 80s. The houses for sale are the old base housing."

They drove past the hill and saw the housing, which looked like any other base Yi had been on when her dad was still on active duty. "Who would want to live here? It's out in the middle of nowhere," gasped Yi.

"You ain't seen nothing yet," said Andi, and they continued south. They passed the small town of Max and Yi had a good laugh at the name of the city (all incorporated settlements in North Dakota are cities) and there was a giant can of beer on a tiny frozen lake in front of the little city. The beer can was easily six feet tall. "I see the beer ad, where's the bar?" she asked.

"That's a betting pool," said Paul. "They place bets on the date that the ice will melt and the beer can breaks through the ice."

"That's a funny name for a town."

"Meh, Maxbass is funnier," said Andi, who was driving.

"NO! There's a Maxbass? Is there a lot of bass fishing?"

"It was named after Max Bass, an officer for the Great Northern Railroad that brought many immigrants into the state in the early 1900s," said Paul.

"What about Max?" asked Yi.

"That was named after Max Freitag who claimed to own the post office," said Paul.

"You're kidding me."

"What's your favorite town girls?" asked Andi. "The one GG showed you last time we were here?"

"Carpio!" shouted the twins.

"Oh god, I forgot about that one," laughed Paul.

"Let me guess," said Yi. "It was named after Guiseppe Carpio who invented the Uff Da Pizza?"

"No," said Andi. "Most towns name their post offices after their town name. Carpio is named after their post office."

"What?" Now Yi was confused.

"They didn't have a post office building," said Paul, "so the Soo line railroad parked a Rail Post Office car there. They had a Car P. O. and that's how they got the name."

"You're such a dak," chuckled Andi, as she held hands with Paul.

"Oh, fer sweet," said Paul, a common expression among girls in North Dakota.

"Yi, look, over there," said Paul, pointing to the right. To the right of them was a huge, long lake.

"Is that Sakakawea?"

"That's just the east end of it. It extends west to the Montana border. There's towns on this lake that exist primarily to support sport fishing."

Andi nodded in agreement. "Van Hook is one," she said.

"I am going to fish that!" said Yi.

"That walleye you had at the Hacienda came from this lake," said Paul.

"I am going to fish this lake empty."

The road became a causeway between two lakes, Lake Sakakawea to their right and Lake Audubon to their left. Lake Audubon was frozen and there were easily two dozen ice fishing huts scattered across the lake, along with several pickup trucks and vans. "They take their ice fishing seriously here too," said Paul.

Yi took several photos and sent them to Kenny, hoping he'd agree to a fishing tour of the area.

<><><><><>

"GG!" shrieked the twins as they dashed up the driveway to hug their Great Grandmother Elinore Olson. Great Grandfather Knute stood on the porch and chuckled at the twin's energy while Paul and Yi stayed back and let Andi and the twins have their time with Andi's grandparents. Sandy and Madeline bounced up and down at Nana's feet, trying to show her their stuffed sailfish while Andi hugged her grandmother.

"Uff da! Come inside, come inside, you'll catch your death," said Nana. "We're having hotdish tonight!"

"YAY!" shouted the twins, and they pushed on Nana, urging her into the house.

"Looks like you're going to have to learn to make hotdish," Paul whispered to Yi.

"What?"

The house was warm and filled with trinkets from years gone by. They sat with GG and Ole and swapped stories all afternoon long. The twins found the toy box that Nana and Ole keep for grandchildren and great grandchildren and were setting up a wooden railroad at Ole's feet while Nana and Andi talked the afternoon away. The sun was setting when Ole rose and said, "Miss Yi, if you will join me, I will teach you how to cook North Dakota cuisine."

She followed Ole into the kitchen and he said, "we will make knoephla soup, hot dish, and salad for dessert."

"Salad for dessert?"

"Ja, you betcha. Andi's favorite salad."

Yi and Ole spent a long time in the kitchen and Paul heard a lot of laughter coming from there as the old Norwegian insurance salesman taught the young Korean chef her way around a NoDak kitchen.

In the living room, Andi told Nana about her new clinic and how she couldn't wait to get it fully functional, and her new home. "You have to come and see it," said Andi. "We have room for you and Grandpa, and mom and Harold, and Yi, and still have room for anyone."

"Your grandpa and I aren't so much for traveling anymore, but your videos are wonderful, we want to see Niagara falls in the spring!" said Nana.

"When we get back we're going to ride the Maid of the Mist and go right up to the base of the falls."

"That sounds like fun deary, for you, not for Knute and I. We get dizzy watching police chases on TV shows." Then the sweet old Norwegian smiled and said, "how's an old woman's advice working out for you?"

Andi knew exactly what Nana meant. When she first met Paul she was terrified about her sudden feelings for him and Nana told her that quick engagements ran in the family and Nana told Andi to stop questioning herself and to hold on to Paul "until the angels sing." Andi leaned over and hugged Nana and said, "all my life I've been questioning my feelings and emotions, and where did it get me? When I put my trust in a good man I've been blessed in so many ways, that I can't count them all. If you didn't encourage me to trust him I probably would have ran away as soon as the storm stopped."

"That's not me, that's you, Little Bit, you finally learned how a caring man treats a woman. But now you need to learn how to care for a man. Your first husband never taught you that outside of the bedroom."

"I'd rather not think about that jerk."

"Dinner time!" called Knute from the kitchen.

"Dinnerrrrrrrrrrrrr" sang Sandy as the twins dashed into the kitchen.

Yi set a soup tureen on the table and started ladling a creamy white soup. "This is a variation on potato soup Knute taught me," said Yi. The soup was the only actual challenge of the dinner preparation, and she was proud of it.

Andi tasted the soup and rolled her eyes in pleasure. "Grandpa's Knoephla," she said. Knoephla is a traditional German potato soup with little noodles (buttons). As they were tasting the soup, Yi placed the main course on the table.

"HOT DISH!" cried the twins. To anyone else, it would be called a casserole, but in North Dakota it's hotdish, regardless of what you put in it. It could be cabbage, potatoes and ground chicken. If it were put in a casserole dish and held together with Cream of Something soup, it was hotdish. Yi's variation used ground venison, ground pork, cream of mushroom soup, and lots of tater tots.

"Yi? You actually cooked a tater tot?" chuckled Paul.

"I did it out of love," said Yi and she thought that the tater tot hotdish would be something that Kenny would love. She then put the salad on the table.

"Sketti salad!" gushed Madeline as she looked into the bowl full of noodles. Salad in North Dakota can be anything, and spaghetti salad was one of the twins' favorites. Spaghetti noodles drenched in Italian salad dressing and "salad sprinkle" along with finely chopped tomato, onion and black olives. After refrigeration, it's a cool refreshing salad to take on picnics.

"I should have stopped in a North Dakota kitchen before going on Chopped," said Yi. "It's good training for that show."

"Most North Dakota cooking is using what's left after being snow stuck for two weeks," said Knute. Yi didn't have to ask him what the expression snow stuck means. She's felt it back in Western New York.

Dinner was a success and Miss Ellinore entertained the twins with stories of their mother when she was five. "One time, after playing in the snow, we came inside and gave your momma a bath. I must have turned my back because when I checked on her, she had every toy in this house in the tub with her."

"I did not!" cried Andi, but she knew it was true.

"Such a tomboy," said Knute. "She climbed every tree and bush in the back yard."

"We didn't have any trees in Colorado!" insisted Andi.

"I got a whole forest to climb!" said Sandy.

"Uh huh!" said Madeline. "And a barn to climb!" She had gotten a peek at the stack of hay bales in the upper loft and wanted to climb them. She didn't know that it was hay that was being stored for the neighbor's cows that give her milk every day.

"Are you ready for dessert?" asked Yi as she got up.

"I am," said Paul. "What's for dessert?"

"Salad," said Yi as she put another dish on the table.

Andi's eyes grew enormous when she saw the treat set before her. "Cookie salad!" The ingredients are simple: a can of fruit salad drained, a can of pineapple chunks drained, half a package of fudge stripe cookies crushed, and all the cool whip you can get in the bowl. Mix, chill, serve, and keep your fingers clear. It's going to go fast.

Conversation went on into the night, laughing and telling stories of Andi's childhood over coffee. Finally, Paul rose and cleared the table. In the kitchen, he loaded the dishwasher and filled the sink with the pans that Yi used and washed them by hand. Soon Knute appeared by Paul's side and began drying the dishes. "What was Andi's dad like?" asked Paul.

"Oh that poor guy," sighed Knute. "He went to the Colorado School of Mines and graduated with a degree in Mine Engineering. But he graduated into a flat economy. No new mines and the ones that were open weren't hiring. It was go to Peru or some damn place like that," said Knute. "He could have made damn good money in South America, but he couldn't take Heather and Andi with him, so he gave it all up to keep his family together."

"What did he do?"

"Anything, any job he could get. Anything to put food on the table. Usually auto mechanic. He responded to every National Guard call up for the money. Occasionally Colorado hired him to close up abandoned mines." Knute turned to Paul and said, "That guy had nothing but hard luck, but he never drank, never took it out on Heather and Andi, and always paid the rent on time. I don't know if they ever knew how sad he was inside." Knute sighed and looked out the kitchen window at his frozen lawn. "I don't know how he did it," Knute whispered. "I felt so sad for him..."

"He's Andi's hero," said Paul.

"And it's going to stay that way," said Knute firmly. His expression let Paul know Ole would not tolerate any insulting of Daniel Robert's memory. "A little girl's dad should be her superstar, and it looks like the twins finally have one in you. You need to keep it that way."

"I'm trying. I'm completely new at this and I hope I get it right," sighed Paul.

"That's all any of us can do."

<><><><><> ֎ <><><><><>

They left Bismark long before sunrise after a breakfast with GG and Grandpa Knute at the local Kroll's Diner. Krolls was shiny aluminum on the outside and inside it was 1950. From the black and white checker tile floors to the candy apple red metal flake vinyl seating to the individual little jute boxes in each booth, it was a blast from the past.

The meals were huge, GG, Knute, and Andi split a Garden Skillet (mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and green peppers, blended with hash browns, topped with American cheese) Yi and the twins split a Rancher's Omelet (Ham, onions, green peppers, topped with American cheese served with hash browns), and Paul had hamburger steak with two eggs, hash browns, biscuits, & gravy and he shared the biscuits & gravy with the twins.

Afterwards, Paul took a moment to be alone with GG and Knute. "Thank you so much for keeping Andi safe for me, she and the twins are the light of my life and all they do is speak of you."

"Thank you for being so kind to Andi" said GG. "Keep in mind, we're still keeping an eye on you."

"Trust but verify," said Knute.

Paul laughed and patted them on the shoulders, "as it should be. If you need anything, please call. I've been blessed with so much and my most precious blessing never would have happened if you hadn't taken a late night call for help."

"Anything?" asked Knute.

"Paw," scolded GG. "Don't start."

"I was going to say that we'd like to spend some time in Arizona next month with your sister," said Knute.

"You tell Andi the details and we'll make it happen."

After the hugs and kisses, and a promise to visit again during the summer, they were on the road.

The trek across North Dakota was long and arduous, but by the time the late sun came up behind them, they had traveled far on I94. The sun rose and painted the scant snow pink with the morning light. There isn't a lot of snow in North Dakota, the wind carries much of it away. Folks will say that they're not sure if it's Montana blowing or Minnesota sucking, but snow doesn't stay long in North Dakota, only the snow trapped by the shelter belts or long grass. Farmers will plant single rows of wheat to trap the snow and its melt will add to the soil moisture.

In Dickenson ND, Paul topped off the fuel tank as Andi and Yi ran in for a potty stop. When Yi and Andi climbed back in with a shopping bag full of Pearson's candy, the twins were still snoozing. "We there yet?" asked Sandy groggily, but she was fast asleep before anyone could answer her. Paul returned from his pit stop and they continued on the flat open prairie, this time headed south.

They could have flown from Bismark to Denver, but Paul and Andi had a stop they wanted to make halfway to Denver. Paul and Yi had never been to Mount Rushmore, and they didn't want to turn away from the chance to see it. But the price was staggering (to Yi), mile after mile after mile of frozen, open prairie. "There's nothing here to see," said Yi. "I never realized that there was so much open land in the world."

"That in itself is an incredible sight," said Paul as he looked from side to side, hoping to find some sign of civilization other than a speed limit sign. Just then a pair of antelope sprang out from behind some brush and charged alongside the road, pacing them for a while before crossing over SD79 behind them.

At one point, there was a large tree far out to the west. Nothing else to see, just grass holding snow in place and a tree. To the east, there was even less to see. Finally Yi said, "Look! A hill!" far off to the west there was a slight rise in the prairie.

"This is where it starts," said Andi.

Slowly, the ground started undulating off to the west of them. Occasionally they had to stop, and Yi taught the twins the art of peeing in the grass before getting underway. Not long later, they passed an intersection with a paved road, the first paved road they've seen since leaving Dickenson. After that, they saw agriculture, plowed fields, fences, and the occasional cluster of farm buildings. They even crossed a river, the Belle Fourche River.

Suddenly after noon there were hills and trees and they pulled into a drive through for lunch in Sturgis SD. "This is a nice little town," said Paul. "What's the attraction to all the bikers?"

"It's the hills that are the attraction," said Andi.

From Sturgis, US 90 took them to Rapid City. "I've been here," said Paul.

"How could you be at Rapid City and not see Rushmore?" asked Andi.

"I was actually at Ellsworth Air Force Base for combat medical skills training. I was more interested in getting back to Luke Air Force Base and Melony."

US16 took them through the Black Hills to Hill city, and the road was beautiful. It wound through the hills and the twins were in awe of the "Christmas trees." Hill city was quiet being the off season, and they wandered through the town and hit several souvenir stores and got some great off season bargains.

They spent the evening at a rented cabin at the Allen Gulch Motel and Cabins at the edge of town. The cabin was tucked away in the trees up against a rocky hill. It had a kitchenette and two bedrooms, plus a futon in the living room. They allowed the twins to climb the hill behind the cabin as much as they wanted and they had a riot digging up dinosaur fossils.

"It's a dinosaur egg!" insisted Madeline.

"It's just a smooth rock," said Andi.

"The lady at the museum said there was lots of dinosaur rocks and eggs," said Sandy and they went off with sticks to help dig up more evidence of dinosaurs.

"This is incredible!" gushed Yi. The scent of pine was overpowering and even though it was around freezing, it was so much warmer than New York or North Dakota it almost felt like T-shirt weather. She and Andi sat in chairs on the cabin porch soaking up the waning sun while the twins sat on the step, reviewing the rocks they found.

"First time in the hills?" said Dale, the owner of the motel as he walked by.

"I've never been outside of Florida except for Seoul to visit grandma and New York City for taping," said Yi. "Now I'm working in Upstate..."

"Western!" snapped Andi.

"Western New York and now all of a sudden I'm here." She took a deep breath of the pines and said, "This is so beautiful!"

Dale chuckled, "What were you taping in New York City, the Miss America Pagent?"

"I was on the food network... Chopped. Came in second."

"Broccoli Rabe in the last round? I thought you looked familiar," said Dale.

"Yi is a fisher-girl," said Madeline, as she inspected a piece of gravel for evidence of dinosaurs.

"There's some tremendous fly fishing around here," said Dale.

"I'm hoping to learn to fly fish this summer," she said. "Then maybe I'll come out and depopulate your streams."

Dale chuckled and said, "You're welcome to try," and he told about all the great fishing in the area. "Heading back to New York?"

"Soon as we clear out my apartment in Denver," said Andi. "I got married over Christmas and I'm moving east. Yi is our governess and chef."

"I'm on vacation right now," said Yi as she leaned back and looked up at the trees above her. "That's why the kids are running wild and Paul went into town for Chinese."

<><><><><>

Paul woke to feel a tongue slithering over his balls and a hand holding his hardening cock. The sensations of her licking and sucking his balls while her hand stroked his hard cock were exquisite. Andi switched to running her tongue up and down the underside of his throbbing pole. This was the first chance they had to enjoy each other since that last blizzard started. Now they were in a tiny cabin in the beautiful black hills of South Dakota, trying to be as quiet as possible. The twins were right next door and Yi was just outside their door, sleeping on a futon.

Seeing that Paul was awake, Andi crawled on top of him in the 69 position, then she lowered her sweet pussy onto his lips. With a contented sigh, Paul began flicking his tongue in and out of her pussy and over her clit while his hands explored her incredibly soft skin everywhere he could reach.

Andi began to suckle and swallow his cock, savoring his manly scent and the taste of his precum. She tried to concentrate on giving her husband a mind blowing orgasm, but it was so hard to do with Paul driving her out of her mind with his incredible tongue. He seemed to know just how to send her to heaven. His tongue danced on her clit until she thought she'd go out of her mind with pleasure when he would switch to slithering his tongue in and out of her pussy.

Before long, Paul had turned Andi into a quivering mess. All she could do was stroke his cock and occasionally kiss it as she became helpless to the pleasure that paralyzed her. She tried to remain quiet, but now and then she made a quiet squeak as the excitement slowly got too much to hold back.

When she started shaking, Paul realized she was close to orgasm, and he wanted to join her in the pleasure. He rolled over until he was above her and he turned around. Andi anxiously guided his drooling cock to her weeping pussy, whimpering, "please, please, please." As Paul eased his cock into her pussy, her eyes rolled back in her head and she sighed as he spread her open and plumbed her depths.

Paul fucked his darling wife, but the bed was squeaky, so he held back and fucked her with slow, deep strokes. That drove both of them out of their mind. The slow fucking maximized the sweet wet friction between his cock and her cunt and soon he was shuddering like his tiny wife.

Andi hung on the edge of release for what felt like forever and suddenly the dam broke. Wave after wave of delicious ecstasy crashed over her. With a squeak, she sunk her teeth into his shoulder, trying to keep quiet. At the same time, Paul came with a silent explosion. He felt like he spurted a gallon into his wife as wave after wave of release came over him.

Finally, the lovers curled up in each other's arms, kissing gently and whispering loving endearments to each other. Then, from out in the living room, they heard Yi whisper, "You two wanna keep it down in there?"

"I love South Dakota," sighed Andi, as Paul started laughing.

<><><><><>

The next morning, they said goodbye to Dale and loaded up into the fancy van, the twins proudly carrying a small bag with a dozen "dinosaur bones." Andi drove, and they got breakfast burritos and coffee for a rolling breakfast. "Let's go see some big faces," said Andi. She drove around the Black Hills until she found it. "This is Iron Mountain Road, the most beautiful road in the world."

Andi was right. It was incredible. With snow decorating the forest floor, the road wound through the Black Hills, and the views were incredible. The road wove back and forth, going from one incredible view to another. Several times, the road divided into single lane one-way roads, making the drive even more scenic. Occasionally, it would wind around in a circle as it climbed a steep grade, crossing over itself. "These are pigtail bridges," said Andi.

There were ten tunnels cut through the rock and when you look through the tunnel, Mount Rushmore was framed in the tunnel mouth. "Wow!" gasped Yi, who demanded that Andi stop so she could get out and take a picture. There were picnic areas also, and each one had a spectacular view of the carving on Mount Rushmore.

"Now I can see why there's so many bikers coming to South Dakota," said Paul. "This would be a beautiful ride on a bike."

All too soon, it was over, and the beauty of the forest was replaced with a vast parking area and the welcome center. They got out of the fancy van and for the next hour; they gazed at the massive carving on the mountain and took pictures. Paul was good at asking couples if they wanted him to take pictures of them with their phone, and Yi did that for a couple from Korea. Yi explained the meaning of the carving to them in their native language and they walked away with a deeper knowledge of American history.

"Snowballs!" cried Sandy. "There's snowballs walking around up there!" They looked at where she was pointing and sure enough, large white creatures were walking around the edges of George Washington.

"Those are mountain goats," said Andi. "They were imported from Colorado."

"Ok, gang," said Paul sadly. "Let's get back in the van, we have work to do."

<><><><><> ֎ <><><><><>

"It isn't much, but it kept us alive," said Andi as they stood in a parking lot and looked at the sun scorched brick apartment building. Yi and Paul were struck silent as they looked on the building surrounded by a patch of unkempt weeds and concrete. Several apartments had plywood over the windows. The curtains on Andi's windows were sun bleached and fraying in the center from age.

"It's a coke den," whispered Yi.

"Meth lab," suggested Paul softly.

"What do you think?" asked Andi.

"I think that blizzard that almost killed you, saved your life."

"It's nicer on the inside," said Andi, and she led her family to the main entrance where Madeline and Sandy stood waiting for her. From Paul's perspective, they looked fearful.

"Are you ok?" asked Paul.

"Gotta get in," said Madeline, looking down the hall of apartments.

"Don't stand in the hall," said Sandy. Further down the hall, a door opened, and the twins cowered behind Paul.

"Stupid key," muttered Andi, as she tried to unlock the door. "I gave the good key to Lucy." Finally, the door opened, and she squealed, "MACY!" Inside the door stood her sister-in-law Macy, holding a plastic wiffle ball bat, ready to strike a home run. "Macy! What are you doing here?" as the sisters hugged.

Macy explained, but she was so worked up she explained completely in French. The shapely black French Canadian had heard Andi trying to open the door and was terrified it was a rapist. "Lucy gave us your keys when Paul called back and asked for help."

"It took me a while to get your car started," said Kenny Johnson as he stepped into the apartment carrying shopping bags full of cleaning supplies.

Yi's heart flipped when she saw Kenny and for once she decided not to pretend he wasn't there. She walked up to Kenny and sighed as she wound her fingers in his hair. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" their lips met, and they kissed gently, once, twice, three times before he pulled her tight and kissed her deeply.

Andi turned to Paul and sighed. Then she started crying. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I hate this place so much," she cried. "It's failure, that's all it is." She clung to Paul and wailed as her heart shattered. "Frank took everything, I was so alone, this is all I could afford... the poor girls..." she was crying so hard she could no longer talk or think. The horror of the past five years washed over her, not knowing if she'd have enough money to feed the girls, driving a car with worn tires and liability insurance only, paying the rent, then watching the girls eat, but herself going without until payday.

"It's over now," said Paul as he eased down on to the couch and pulled Andi on to his lap. "It's all over, I'm here for you, anything you want, just name it, it's yours."

"That's why I'm crying," she said between sniffs. "I'm so happy!" and the tears came again. The hell she lived in was over. A man who loves and cares for her now stands next to her and is allowing her to grow. And the twins now have a man in their life who loves them and cares for them. Every thought like that caused Andi to cry even harder.

Paul looked around for help and saw that Yi, Kenny and the twins were gone, and Macy was standing across the room watching them and she was crying too. "Come here," Paul called to his brother's wife, and she sat on the couch next to them. Paul put his arm around Macy and tried to comfort her too, but there was no stopping the tears for a long time.

<><><><><>

Paul tried to convince Andi and Macy to go easy on the cleanup. "I have a crew coming in next week. Concentrate on packing boxes."

"What about the furniture?" asked Macy.

"Name one stick of furniture we could use," challenged Paul. He and Kenny had been busy hauling clothing and dishes to thrift stores and were getting ready to haul furniture.

"Kitchen table, chairs, my desk, my office chair, my computer stand, the girls dressers, toybox,..."

"Kitchen table? We have several nice tables..." insisted Paul.

"I want to put that in the basement in the media room so the girls have a table to do their crafts and painting on. I don't want to ruin our good tables upstairs."

"Good thought," he said. Then Paul sniffed and smelled beef roasting in the oven. It was Andi's best dish. "Are you cooking?"

"Don't look at me, I'm on vacation," said Yi.

"I wanted to make one last dinner here," said Andi. She gave Paul a kiss and said, "I never entertained a man here, I want to do it one time before we go."

Paul chuckled and took Andi in his arms. "I love your meat," he said.

"You say the sweetest things," and they kissed gently.

Across the room, the twins covered their eyes. "See? They're always kissy!" Sandy said to Kenny.

"That's not a bad thing," said Kenny. "See how old I am? My mom and dad are still kissy. When your parents are kissy, there's no problem you can't solve."

"Ewww," said Sandy, and she stomped off to their bedroom.

"She's so weird," said Madeline, as she followed Sandy.

In their old bedroom, the twins were having a touching, meaningful reunion with their toy box. It was not unusual to find them in their large, open top wooden box up to their necks in toys. There were two large cardboard boxes for them to put their favorite toys in. The rest were going to go to the poor babies with no toys. So far, both boxes contained one toy each. The twins also had joyful reunions with their favorite plates, spoons, and sippy cups.

Kenny was gently trying to encourage the twins to add toys to their boxes, but they both scowled at him and sank down deeper in their "toy bath." Behind Kenny, Yi watched with gentle amusement as Kenny tried to get the twins to decide which toys to keep. He finally said, "You're keeping one toy?"

Again, they looked at him and scowled. They conferred between each other in Twinbabble, then Sandy said, "You're silly."

"But you only have one toy in your boxes."

Madeline sighed like a parent with a recalcitrant child. "Those are the ones we're not keeping."

As Sandy played with a well-worn baby rattle, Kenny explained again that the toys that they want to keep go into the cardboard boxes. Sandy stopped rattling and said, "No, that's silly! We can't get all of these toys into those two boxes."

Yi patted Kenny's shoulder and said, "Thank you for trying, but sometimes the direct approach is the best approach."

"Direct approach?"

"Watch," said Yi. She walked up to the toybox and, looking down at the girls, said, "All of the toys are going to the thrift store." When they looked up at her in shock, she said, "If you want to keep some, put them in that box."

"Ok," they groaned, and they slowly got out of their toy box.

"That's it?" asked Kenny.

"No," said Yi as she and Kenny headed to the kitchen. "That's just the first step. When they announce that they're done, the boxes will be full, but the floor will be covered with toys."

She was right. About an hour later, the two cardboard boxes were full of toys and the floor was covered with toys. The two plastic cars that were originally in the cardboard boxes were now the sole occupants of the toybox.

"Let's get to work," said Yi, and sadly, the twins started picking up their mess.

<><><><><>

Paul and Macy pulled up to the apartment complex with the rental truck and a car trailer. They dropped the car trailer in a parking space and soon boxes of clothes, dishes and toys were loaded on the truck and hauled off to a thrift store.

As Kenny and Paul dropped off the boxes at the AMVETS thrift store, the manager said, "Moving?"

"Yeah, my wife is clearing out her apartment and we're headed to Buffalo in a couple of days. We will be hauling her furniture soon."

"Where's your apartment?"

"Sunrise East."

"I can send a truck over to pick up everything you leave behind."

"Does it have to be boxed?" asked Paul.

"Nope, just tell the complex manager that AMVETS will finish the load-out."

"Oui! Merci beaucoup!" cried Macy so loud she scared Paul.

When they got back to the apartment, they noticed that Andi's car was gone. "Where's the Toyota?" asked Paul.

"I sold it," said Andi, and she handed Paul a check that she endorsed.

Paul looked at the check and realized that she could have gotten more. "Is this the first car you sold?"

"Yeah!" she said brightly.

"I thought we were taking it back home."

"No," she said in a scolding tone. "The transmission's shot. When it gets hot it starts grinding. I was getting scared to drive it if I had several stops to make and I had the girls with me."

Paul looked at the check again. She actually got more than it was worth. He grinned and said, "Welcome to the family of Jarecki Motors."

As they hugged and kissed, Kenny said, "If you sold your car, what is the trailer for?"

Andi's mom, Heather, stepped into the apartment and said, "Her dad's Volkswagen."

"You never mentioned a Volkswagen," said Paul.

"It's in Mom's garage."

"It was last driven just before Dan was sent to Iraq," said Heather. "I don't drive a standard and I can't..." She sniffed back a tear and said, "Dan put it up on blocks and let the air out of the tires. We thought that you being a car guy could get it back on the road and Andi could sell it if she wanted to."

Harold appeared behind Heather and gave her a hug and she turned in his arms to him, allowing Harold to comfort her. Andi watched in amazement as that happened. Harold and Heather's relationship was cool and aloof, until Heather finally faced her feelings. The Heather that Harold always knew was beneath all that pain finally emerged. "We're going to take the twins to Georgetown for dinner, and a train ride, would you care to join us?"

"Root beer!" cried Sandy.

"If you're good on the train," said Grandma Heather.

<><><><><>

Georgetown, Colorado, was the richest failed gold mining town in the Rocky Mountains. They honeycombed the nearby mountains looking for gold and instead all they found were gray rocks. The gray rocks made nice gravel and the streets of Georgetown were paved with them. Then the gold boom ended, and some sharp-eyed lad realized that the gravel on the streets was silver ore. In the dead of night, those gray rocks were scraped up, and Georgetown had to find new gravel because the silver rush became a craze. The mountains echoed with the sound of men digging out silver ore by the ton. The Colorado Central railroad started digging a tunnel through Gray's Peak, trying to get to Leadville, but hit a huge lode of silver ore and the tunnel became a mine and building the Colorado Central was forgotten.

In the 1980s, the remains of the Colorado Central railroad in Georgetown was rebuilt and had become a marquee attraction in the Colorado Rockies. The little train started in Silver Plume, just a couple miles west of Georgetown and a thousand feet up. They boarded the train and Paul and Andi found a nice seat in a coach, but the twins began pulling at them. "Come on!" they demanded, and Paul turned to Andi.

"Don't ask me," said Andi. "Grandpa Harold brings them here all the time. They grew up riding the Georgetown Loop Railroad." Paul, Andi, Macy, Yi, and Kenny followed the lead of the twins and they ended up in the last car of the train. It was a gondola, a flatcar with low sides, and they sat on wooden benches in the open. It was cold that high up, but they were warm having dressed for North Dakota.

The view was simply amazing; the mountains towered over them, and all over the steep faces of the mountains were piles of mine tailings. Paul tried to count them but gave up at fifty on one peak and he didn't count a quarter of them. "For every gigantic pile of mine tailings you see, there's a dozen more back on the other faces of the mountain," said Andi's mom Heather. "The twins grandfather loved it up there," she sighed and grabbed Andi's hand. "Our mountain man."

"Dad would bring the twins here constantly so I could get some rest," said Andi and she started weeping, then she hugged her stepfather Harold and said, "I never said thank you... I'm so sorry..." and she burst into tears which caused Macy who was sitting across from her to burst into tears.

"Hearing you call me dad was thanks enough," said Harold, which made Andi and Macy both cry harder and Harold was soon hugging both women.

"What is with these two?" Kenny whispered to Yi. She whispered in his ear, and he looked shocked. "Does Paul and Pastor John know?" asked Kenny.

"Shit, Andi and Macy themselves don't know," said Yi, which caused Kenny to laugh.

The last person climbed on, a Japanese family who didn't speak English, but the father spoke Korean, so Yi translated for the conductor. Soon the little train was winding down the hill and the conductor began his story. "In 1884 the Georgetown Loop was one of Colorado's first visitor attractions with seven trains a day running out of Denver at the height of its popularity, the Georgetown Loop became Colorado's scenic must-see." He described how the chief engineer, Jacob Blickensderfer, devised a system of curves, three hairpin turns, four bridges and a 30-degree horseshoe curve to allow the little trains to climb the steep mountain from Georgetown to Silver Plume in their drive to get to Leadville Colorado.

As he spoke, Yi translated for the Japanese man, who translated Yi's Korean into Japanese for his family. The twins watched in stunned awe as noises came out of Yi's mouth that they couldn't understand, but one man acted like she was talking. "I think Yi is broken," Sandy told her mother.

"No, she's saying what the guy on the speaker is saying to that man in Korean, and he's telling his wife in his language.

"But we can't understand!" insisted Madeline.

"That's how I feel when you two speak in your own language and I have to tell you to use your words," said Andi.

"That's just weird," said Madeline. And she walked back to Yi, who was continuing to translate.

"Learning has not occurred," said Paul.

"Not even close," said Andi. But Sandy and Madeline showed their parents that language is a barrier that's bridged in multiple ways. The Japanese family's youngest child was probably four and the same size as the twins, and he clearly understood Sandy when she said, "Come on!" The three of them raced to the very back of the car and leaned over the car side, looking at the rails below them.

Paul was just amazed at the majesty of the towering mountains. "Look up there," said Harold. "See that ledge with something standing straight up? That's the Griffin Monument by the 7:30 Mine. Clifford Griffin would stand on that ledge and play the violin every night. It was said that all work would stop when he played. One day he got a letter that told him his wife had died. He went up there, dug a grave, then played his violin for her. When he was done he shot himself in the head and fell back in his grave. His workers found him there the next morning."

"Wow, I'll bet there's a hundred more stories like that," said Paul as he watched the mountains pass by.

"Thousands," said Harold.

They wound down the mountain, weaving back and forth, crossing Clear Creek several times, until they ended up on a spidery bridge one hundred feet above the creek. The Devils Gate Bridge. The train stopped so they could take photos, then proceeded down a wide sweeping loop and ended up passing under the bridge.

At the base of the hill, the locomotive swapped ends and coupled to their car, but the twins screamed, "Come on! It will spit on you!" And they raced to the other end of the train with three laughing Japanese children in tow.

"She's right, it will spray sooty water when it starts up," said Harold, and all the adults moved to the other end of the train with the children. This time it was going uphill, so the steam locomotive barked as it climbed the steep 3.5% grade. The exhaust barks echoed off the mountains, calling back to a different time when the railroad was the top gun, and the steam locomotive was the Maserati of its day. The working locomotive was so loud the conductor couldn't have been heard if he tried to speak, which was why he did all his talking on the downhill portion of the tour.

The scenery was breathtaking and much of what they saw was amazing. At one point, the little train passed through a narrow cut through a section of the mountain and the walls of the cut were held back by hand laid stonework that would look incredible around anyone's fireplace. The stonework was all done by Scottish stonemasons who used no mortar. All too soon, the train pulled into Silver Plume station, and the gang wandered around the Silver Plume roundhouse and looked at the Georgetown Loop Railroad's collection of locomotives and other equipment.

After looking around, they drove down to Georgetown and got root beer floats at an old-fashioned soda fountain with a marble counter and the best vanilla ice cream you ever ate. "Christmas is beautiful here," said Andi as they walked down 6th Avenue, which was the center of Historic Georgetown. "The lights and garlands, Santa puts his reindeer right here, over there they roast chestnuts. There's warming fires here and there. I used to hope and pray it was a specially cold winter so the Denver people would stay down there, and I'd have this whole town to myself."

"It's a pretty town," said Paul. Not as pretty as Springville, but Springville doesn't have mountains like this.

They ended the day with dinner at the Raven Hill Mining Company, a saloon whose owner was an incredible chef. When he found out that Yi was a trained chef, he gave her a tour of his kitchen, then they sat down, and he begged her for her opinion and suggested improvements on his menu. "This is all great stuff you're doing here, and you're doing it right, but it's so hard to make," said Yi.

"I know, but I like to challenge myself," said Chef William.

Yi opened the menu and pointed to everything that was listed. "You have a choice, do you want to make money, or do you want to show off? Most places I've worked feature good meals that are easy and inexpensive to make. Then show case the chef's skills in one special dish, their special of the week." She worked with William on a menu that would save him money, yet still let him show off his skill as a chef.

When they were done, Yi turned to Kenny and said, "I'm sorry about that, but I love cooking and managing a kitchen."

"It's fascinating to see you work," said Kenny. "I'm a microwave popcorn and Pepsi kind of guy, I've learned more about cooking listening to you tonight than I learned in my whole life of helping mom."

"So, you don't mind women that work?" asked Yi.

"No, why would I?" asked Kenny.

"I thought your type didn't like their women working."

"My type? What do you mean my type?"

"You know... rednecks."

Kenny opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. Then he got up and left.

"Yi, what did you do?" asked Andi.

"I didn't do anything! He got mad at me then left."

"That's not exactly the truth," said Macy. "You inferred to Kenny that hard working men were beneath you."

"No, that's not what I said, I said I didn't think that rednecks like him liked their women to work."

"If you wanted to break up with him why didn't you just tell him to go fuck off?" demanded Paul, and he went in search of Kenny.

"What? I didn't do no such thing."

"You called him a redneck," said Andi.

"So?"

"He sat here and told you how proud he was of what you do, and you thanked him by calling him an uneducated slob," said Macy.

"I didn't! Redneck means a hardworking man!"

"In Florida it means that, in New York a redneck is a beer drinking slob that is looked down on by snooty people from the cities," said Andi.

Yi looked around the table and Macy said, "Oui, it has a completely different connotation. Kenny works very hard to insure his family is housed... their business is failing, and Kenny blames himself. His sense of humor is stretched very thin."

"Failing?" gasped Yi.

"You've got to let a man have his pride," said Macy. "Your father is a great sailor, would you let anyone call him Popeye? Kenny isn't a proud person but he's earned the right to be one."

Yi couldn't imagine Kenny's grandfather Archie without his "museum of new antiquities" to care for. "I didn't know."

"He's usually not touchy," said Macy, "but you hurt him."

"What do I do?" her eyes were wide in terror.

"You go tell him you didn't understand and beg him to forgive you," said Andi. "NOW." Yi ran out of the restaurant looking for Kenny. She dashed up Sixth Street, but she didn't see him anywhere. Yi turned around and ran the other way and she saw someone walking down Taos Street, passing under a streetlight. Running up Taos Street, she saw it was Kenny. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry Kenny. I didn't mean what I said. Please, I was teasing, and I used the wrong words and I'm so sorry."

"It don't make no difference, thank you for your affection but we both know I was playing too far out of my league."

"What do you mean?"

Kenny sighed. "You're a very beautiful, accomplished chef that's in demand in multi-million dollar yachts all over the Caribbean. I'm just a grunt with a rowboat that sells bags of pelletized hay." He felt his dinner coming up. "I'll keep my promise to doc Jarecki and finish loading the truck. I'll drive the truck; you drive the van and I won't bother you anymore."

"You're just feeling sorry for yourself."

"I think I'm entitled, by this time come fall, I'll be just what you said, some unemployed drunk living in a ratty old trailer. The feed store is going under and there's nothing I can do to prevent it. The only thing keeping me alive is the fact that I don't have life insurance which would take care of mom and dad. I'm sorry you had to be seen with me."

"What do you mean 'had to be seen with me?'"

"You're so smart and beautiful, a joy to be with and I'm nothing. No skills, no looks, and soon no job and no place to live. I have nothing to offer you other than my heart and my..."

"I'll take it," said Yi.

"Huh?"

"Your heart. I'll take it, and those fly fishing lessons too. You keep telling me how wonderful I am, so let ME decide on what YOU are worth to me. Please?" Yi took Kenny's hands, and he was shaking. "What is wrong?"

"I am so scared for my folks and Grandpa Archie and Grandma Lacy, we're all going to be homeless soon, and all I can think of is you. There's so much to do in the Feed store that I should be back there working, but when Doc asked if I'd come out to help here I came mostly to be with you. I love you so much Yi-jin..." Yi silenced him with a kiss.

"I love you too Kensington, and I don't know how to deal with it either, but I know we can't solve anything by turning our backs on each other."

Paul returned to the Raven Hill Mining Company and Andi asked, "Did they make up?"

"I never found Kenny," said Paul. "I figured he'd head up to I70 and hitch a ride, but I never found him."

Marcy looked out the front window and sighed, "They're sitting on the Library patio talking. They don't do enough of that."

"What do you say, girls, do you want to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa?" asked Grandpa Harold.

"YES!" the twins cried.

"Ok, we'll take these kids with us," said Heather. "You go collect your kids and we'll see you in the morning."

<><><><><> ֎ <><><><><>

That night, Andi and Paul tried to make love as quietly as possible, but Andi couldn't help but squeak and gasp as Paul went down on her, giving her an "Australian Kiss." She came twice and had to gnaw on a pillow to keep from shrieking.

"What's the matter?" asked Kenny.

"Just remembering New Years Eve," said Yi. "It was a difficult night for me."

"Why?" They were sitting on the full size mattress that the twins used to sleep on. As they leaned against the wall and cuddled, they looked around the room. The unwanted toys and clothes that were too small were boxed up, ready for the AMVETS truck.

"John and Macy, Gus and Lucy, Paul and Andi, me and my fingers, need I say more?"

"I've been on campouts that ended up like that," said Kenny. "I usually end up hiking back in the woods. If we were on Josh's property I'd just head up to his cabin. Now that Josh has a girlfriend I have more hikes ahead of me."

"Who?"

"Josh Gravely, he owns the property across Trevette from Doc's property. He's a vet too. I camp and hike on his land a lot."

"I couldn't really go hiking, we were on Andi's boat."

"That would be a problem," said Kenny.

"What did you do for New Years?" asked Yi.

"We had dinner at home, watched TV then went to bed. Grandpa and I watched a John Wayne movie until midnight."

"I used to go out every New Years Eve," said Yi. "It got tiring." She leaned on Kenny and said, "please don't take this wrong, please?" she asked as she snuggled closer to Kenny. "A year ago... hell three months ago I'd never go out with someone like you."

"A redneck?"

"No, a nice guy. I always went for the bad boy, and I always ended up hung over and hating myself. You care about me; you are interested in what I do. I mention to those jerks that I was a chef they expected me to cook for them. You've never even asked for a sandwich."

"Your job is to feed Dr. Jarecki and his family, not me."

"What if I want to feed you?"

"Well, if you go grocery shopping with me. We eat simple and our pantry isn't much to talk about."

"I think that will be fun," said Yi as she wrapped her arms around Kenny's arm. His biceps felt huge, but spending day after day lifting and carrying huge fifty-pound sacks of feed he's achieved the body the guys she used to date paid huge sums of money at a gym trying to simulate.

The squeaking of mattress springs in the next room sped up, then came to a sudden stop. "Newlyweds," said Kenny.

"Can't blame them, they're in love," said Yi. "You should have heard them on the cruise." For some reason, she reached over and brushed her hand up his inner thigh. It wasn't something she planned to do, it just happened. When she got near his crotch, he winced. "You don't like me touching you?"

"Just a bit tender," he said.

"Did you strain yourself or do you have blue balls?"

Kenny was shocked at Yi's unexpected question. "Uh... option B."

"Because of me?" but Kenny was blushing furiously and refused to answer. "Oh, stop. Let Doctor Yi fix it." She wrestled with him. He fought against her, but soon Yi had his jeans and shorts around his knees and his cock was in her hand. Somehow, she ended up leaning against the wall and he ended up leaning against her as she stroked him gently.

She held him tightly around the chest and she licked and nibbled his ear as her hand traveled up and down his cock. Kenny has never had a handjob so exquisite. Yi's touch was perfect. It was gentle and sweet, but insistent, and she urged him to cum with every stroke. "Don't hold back, show me how much you love me." He never had a reach-around before and the pleasure was incredible.

Somehow Yi knew how much Kenny's balls ached because she wriggled out from behind him. Then she propped him up with pillows and went back to her handjob. With her left hand gently cupping his aching nuts, she stroked him gently and sighed. "Your cock is so beautiful," she said, and she leaned over and kissed the head of his cock, licking off the precum. "You taste amazing. We are going to taste so good together!" she said brightly.

For some reason, that set him off. Everything accumulated into a mind blowing orgasm for Kenny. His back arched, and he thrust his hips up as he came. Yi took the head of his cock in her mouth and savored every spurt of cum. His explosion seemed to go on forever and Yi continued to stroke him until the sensations became too much for him. Slowly his cock deflated while the lovers curled up together and kissed softly in the dark, both wondering where this relationship was headed. "I don't think I will need breakfast now," she said as they kissed.

<><><><><> ֎ <><><><><>

Kenny expertly backed the empty auto carrier trailer into Harold and Heather Driscoll's driveway and up to the garage. "I hope you can get it running," said Heather. "That old VW has a lot of memories for me." And she pressed the button and the garage door opened slowly.

"I aired up the tires and took it off blocks the other day," said Harold. "The tires seem to be ok."

"That's not a Volkswagen," said Paul as the morning light fell on Andi's car.

"No sir, it is not," gasped Kenny.

"That's what daddy called it," insisted Andi as she ran her hand across her father's 1969 Series B Porsche 911 S Targa.

"The founder of Porsche designed the first Volkswagen beetle," said Kenny, as he opened the rear hood and looked at the six cylinder flathead. "That's why people nickname these 'Fast Volkswagens.' The hoses and lines need to be replaced."

"Why?" said Andi. "They look good."

"They're dry and old," said Paul. "It's best to replace them and the tires just to be safe."

"YOU'RE dry and old," said Andi as she hip bumped her husband.

"I learned to drive in this car," said Sandy as she climbed into the driver's seat and tried to turn the steering wheel.

"Me too," said Madeline from the passenger's seat and she yanked at the gearshift lever. Every time the twins spent the night with Grandma Heather, they would spend hours in Grandpa Danny's Volkswagen, driving all over their imaginary world.

"What do you say darling," said Paul. "Gus and I can work on it..."

"I'll help," said Kenny.

"We can get it running... or I can drop it off at Mile Strip Road and let the boys do it right. Buff out the paint and everything. What do you say?" When Paul mentioned Mile Strip Road, he meant the Jarecki Motors location on Mile Strip Road in Orchard Park, where Paul sold high end imports and had a team of foreign supercar specialists in the garage.

"That shop is for supercars, isn't it?" said Andi.

"This is a supercar," said Kenny, who was losing the fight not to drool.

"Really?" Andi was shocked, all her life it was just a Volkswagen, but she still remembers rides in the mountains with mom and dad, everyone laughing and having fun... the Beach Boys on the radio and the joy would never end... then an IED in Iraq shattered the lives of all three. "How long will they take?" asked Andi, trying to fight back the tears.

"Let's find out." He called the head mechanic's personal cell phone. "Hey Darwin, this is Paul. We have a 1969 Porsche 911 S Targa that's been in storage for about 20 years. How long will it take to get it road worthy?"

"A 69 Nine Eleven S? Two months... maybe three."

Andi pouted. She clearly didn't want to wait two or three months. "Andi's not very happy with that," said Paul. "It was her father's car."

"Wait a moment... what color is it?" asked Paul's head supercar mechanic.

"Burgundy red."

"Why didn't you say it was burgundy red? I can get it done in three weeks. I'll order the lines and hoses now."

Paul looked at the car again, and it had the factory rims and hubcaps. "Get a set of traditional five spoke wheels also."

"Will do boss, see you in a few days."

With Andi at the wheel, the twins in the back seat waving at grandma, and Macy helping push, the 911 made its way into the sunshine for the first time in twenty years. It wasn't easy getting it on the trailer, but they made it and tied it down. They almost locked it up when Paul noticed the twins peering out from the back seat. "Come on you two," said Paul and he helped the twins down.

"We want to ride back here."

"No matter how much we would enjoy that, no. You ride in the fancy van with us," said Andi.

"We like the fancy van. Can we keep it?" asked Madeline.

Andi and Paul looked at each other and Paul finally said, "You guys made such a big mess in the back the rental company probably doesn't want it back."

"It's what we need," said Andi.

"You and Yi decide what you want in a Transport, and I'll get one on order."

"Yay!" said Andi. She thoroughly enjoyed having a "Fancy Van" and she was getting sure that they need the room for expansion.

Yi stuck her head out the back door of Harold and Heather's house. "Breakfast burritos are ready!"

The twins raced for the house. Yi's breakfast burritos are one of their favorites and they were followed by Paul and Kenny, but Andi and Macy hung behind. "I am not hungry this morning," said Macy.

"I'm not either," said Andi.

"Your loss. Come on girls," said Yi as she guided the twins into the house, leaving Andi and Macy next to Andi's dad's "Volkswagen."

"Are you ok?" asked Andi.

"I missed my period," said Macy. She was caught somewhere between elation and terror. "I get so tired, I'm cramping, and I have to pee all the time."

Andi took Macy's hands in hers and said, "Bell Sour, I think we need to get some pregnancy tests, and if you are, we don't say anything until you talk to John... what's so funny?"

"Mon cher, it is pronounced 'belleh sir.'" Andi had completely flubbed 'sister-in-law' in French.

"Oh. Sorry." Andi felt tears rising that she had no explanation for. As she sobbed softly, Macy hugged her and soon was crying too.

"You think you might be... like me?" asked Macy.

"Pregnant? That's why I'm crying, I'm so happy."

"Moi aussi. (me too) I thought I was in the past, but it was never like this."

"We'll do it right; we'll get the tests and soon as we get home we take the tests then tell John and Paul," said Andi.

"Oui! It will be merveilleuse!" They opened the kitchen door, but the smell of the breakfast burritos made them nauseous, so they retreated to the fancy van and cleaned up the twin's mess in the fancy van. After picking up dozens of crayons, scores of cheesy puffs, and quite a few empty juice boxes, the family was done with breakfast and were saying their goodbyes to Harold and Heather.

"Don't cry mom, you'll get me crying too," said Andi with a sniff.

"But you're finally leaving for real," said Heather. "Just when we finally found a peaceful spot in our lives."

"Mom, I need you to come out for a while this summer. Please?"

"For how long?" asked Heather. Andi whispered in her ear, then said, "I haven't told Paul yet."

Heather gasped, then hugged Andi and said, "I will be there as long as you want."

Harold and Heather waved goodbye to their daughter and granddaughters. "When is she due?" asked Harold.

"How did you know?" asked Heather.

"I'm nearly blind and can't sing, but I'm not deaf yet," he said. "I hope it's a boy, the twins will have fun tormenting him."

<><><><><> ֎ <><><><><>

The trip was three days long, but they had fun. With their cell phones, the two vehicles kept in touch with each other. Paul and Kenny spent most of their time in the rented truck, and in the fancy van Andi, Yi, and Macy swapped out driving responsibilities with every potty break, which was often.

"I should have kept count," said Paul. "I never realized how many potty breaks a woman will take." They were in a rest area in Indiana, and their planned stop for the evening would be in Ohio. They were having a picnic in the rare early spring warmth. Lunch was sandwiches that Paul and Yi made last night, chips, and fruit.

"At least we made it through Chicago without stopping" said Kenny with a sigh.

"Oh stop it you two, nature happens. The twins have a bladder the size of a walnut," Yi scolded.

"I'm talking about Andi and Macy."

The last stop was in Ashtabula, Ohio, which was fairly close to home. They couldn't get a suite that night, but they got a large motel room with two queen-size beds and a hide-a-bed couch. They sat up watching Nickelodeon and eating pizza with the twins, but pizza wasn't appealing to Andi and Macy. Instead, they wolfed down two bags of butter free microwave popcorn and washed it down with ginger ale. After the twins fell asleep on one bed, Kenny and Yi unfolded the couch and lay down together. Andi and Macy lay down on the other bed, leaving Paul with the twins who were bed hogs.

It was a tough day of travel that carried them through the traffic nightmare of Chicago, so everyone was exhausted. Kenny and Yi were soon asleep, followed by Paul. "Mon cher," whispered Macy. "Are you awake?"

"Wide awake," said Andi. "What's up?"

"I want to take the test right now. I am going crazy not knowing."

"Knowing doesn't help anything, not with your first," said Andi, as she brushed a hand gently on Macy's cheek. "It's scary and you don't know what to do and you're so terrified for the baby."

"How did you get through it?"

"Lucy," said Andi. "Frank was such a jerk, I'm sure he was trying to determine if there was money in pregnant porn. And when I found out it was twins I really freaked out, but Lucy was there for me constantly."

"Very scary, no?"

"I had no one. Frank terrified my friends and family and no one would come to help. He threatened to hit my mom once."

"What did you do?" asked Macy.

"What I didn't do was tell Harold. He would have killed Frank." Andi took Macy's hand between her hands and continued. "You have John and I have Paul and we have each other to help. We'll help each other through this," said Andi, as they held hands.

"Oui."

"I just realized, we can go camping any time we want," said Andi. "We'll just pack up the girls and go! Paul and John can catch up with us when they're done with work."

"We always could," said Macy. "Why are you just finding that out now?"

"I don't know. I suddenly want to go camping."

When they woke in the morning, Andi and Macy discovered they had Madeline sleeping between them, but oddly, Sandy wasn't in bed with them. Sandy was sleeping between Kenny and Yi, and Paul was in the shower.

Paul emerged from the shower, and Andi ducked into the shower. Shaking his head, he dressed and stepped out of the bathroom to find Macy waiting impatiently for him. She dashed into the bathroom as soon as he was clear of the doorway. Yi was sitting on the couch and Kenny was slowly waking up, but Sandy and Madeline were still fast asleep. "I'm going to go investigate the breakfast while y'all get dressed," said Paul. As he left, he tapped on the bathroom door and said, "You guys want coffee?"

"Tea!" Andi and Macy called out in unison.

"Hang on," said Kenny. "I'll go with you."

"Can you get me a coffee bae?" asked Yi.

"Can do," and he pulled on his jeans and sneakers and went down to the lobby with Paul.

While the guys were gone, Yi said, "no, I can't do another motel breakfast. I can't take another motel waffle with 5% maple syrup, reheated frozen pancakes, powdered eggs or sausage gravy with no sausage."

"Donuts," said Andi.

"Donuts!" agreed Macy.

When Kenny and Paul got back from the lobby, the girls were cleaned up and ready to go. "They have..."

"There's a Mr. Donut six blocks away," said Andi, as she kissed his cheek and she and Macy took their tea and headed out to the parking lot.

Yi shrugged as she carried a sleepy Madeline and led an equally sleepy Sandy. "Cravings," was her only explanation.

"Wait here, we'll be right back," said Andi, as they headed out of the parking lot. Twenty minutes later, Paul and Kenny were waiting by the rented truck and the fancy van pulled up. Andi handed Paul a sack of donuts and a cup of coffee. Yi slid open the door and handed Kenny the same. "Gotta go. Time's a wasting!"

<><><><><> ֎ <><><><><>

It was late on a dark rainy afternoon when the fancy van pulled into the driveway and Andi and Macy spilled out. They raced into the house only pausing for Macy to give John a kiss, then they dashed upstairs. "Gotta go potty!" they called. Both were carrying a small plastic bag from the King Sooper pharmacy in Denver.

"Ok," said John. "Be that way."

"Give them a break," said Gus. He was sitting at the kitchen table with Lucy. Andi and Macy raced right past them as they dashed upstairs and didn't notice they were there. Andi disappeared into her room. Out of habit, Macy disappeared into Yi's room, and they closed the doors.

"Where's Paul and Kenny?" asked John.

"They're dropping Andi's car off at Paul's shop to get a cleaned up," said Yi. She pulled out her phone and showed a picture of Andi's 911 being pushed on the trailer. "It's been sitting since her dad died."

"Beautiful, but yeah, it will need some work," said Gus.

"Probably rebuild both carbs," said Lucy.

"It's beautiful. I was expecting an old Toyota or something we could use as a field car at the cabin," said John.

"YAAAAAAA!" shouted the twins as they dashed through the house with an overjoyed chocolate lab. "We missed you Wonka!" said Madeline as she hugged the big dog.

"Come on Wonka, let's race!" called Sandy, and they dashed into the library and began running around and around the library until they got on the big wheel bikes they got for Christmas and began riding in circles around the house.

"Halt!" cried Yi. "Not in MY kitchen." The twins came to a screeching stop and Wonka dashed past them and went out the other kitchen door.

"Wonka's going to win!" said Sandy as she crossed her arms and pouted.

"Yeah," agreed Madeline.

"I know you've been cooped up for three days and it's raining out but if you're going to go crazy, go crazy in the library."

"That's too little," complained Madeline.

"Yeah," agreed Sandy. But the girls stood up, turned their tricycles around and headed back to their library through the parlor.

As Gus, John and Lucy discussed Andi's "Volkswagen" the rented truck pulled up out front, towing an empty trailer. Soon Paul and Kenny came walking up the driveway and Sandy shouted up the stairs, "MOM! POPPA'S HOME!"

"Coming!"

Andi and Macy slowly walked down the stairs, whispering to each other. They walked into the kitchen and neither had realized that Gus and Lucy were there. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you when I came in," said Macy.

"I didn't either... I really had to go."

"I know the feeling," said Lucy, but Macy and Andi weren't paying attention. They turned two kitchen chairs around and pushed John into a chair and the moment Paul entered the house, Andi shoved him into the other chair. Then Andi and Macy sat on their husband's lap facing each other. Yi got out her phone and got ready to take a picture and she tried to signal Gus and Lucy to do the same, and Lucy understood. She rose and stood next to Yi, phone at the ready.

As they kissed their husbands, Macy whispered to John, "je vais avoir un bébé."

Andi said it in English when she said, "I'm going to have a baby."

John was thunderstruck. "For real?" Macy nodded and handed him the test. "Dear God, thank you lord!" John cried and held Macy tight as they kissed. Their dream is going to come true! "When is it due?"

"November, gushed Macy, pronouncing it No-vombreh.

"November," said Andi with a kiss. "He's a Valentine's baby." She handed Paul the pregnancy test she took upstairs just minutes before, and Paul whooped with joy.

The two couples were so involved with each other they didn't notice Lucy, Gus, Kenny, and Yi clapping for them and taking their pictures. The twins began hopping up and down, crying, "What's going on?"

"Your mommy and your Aunt Macy are going to have a baby," said Paul.

"The same baby?" asked a confused Madeline.

"No," said Paul as he tried not to laugh. "Your mommy has a baby in her tummy, and Aunt Macy has a different little baby in her tummy."

"Oh!" Said Sandy, "her Christmas baby!"

"I'm hungry," said Madeline.

Paul looked at Andi, who said, "It's going to take a while to settle in. Believe me, they'll be full of questions before the evening is over."

Gus and Lucy congratulated the expectant parents when Paul looked around and said, "Where's Kenny and Yi?"

"They went to get supper," said Sandy.

Madeline nodded in agreement. "Fish place." She meant Worzels, which serves fish on Fridays.

"That sounds good," said John. "Care to go to Worzels?"

"I love Worzels," said Macy as she kissed her husband. They tried so hard for so long to have a baby, and now it looks like it's really going to happen.

The friends pulled on their coats and grabbed umbrellas and walked up the street, laughing and enjoying each other's company. It was one of those days that, despite the icy rain, was ideal. March comes in like a lamb, and leaves like a lion, but this year, the ides were perfect.

<><><><><> ֎ <><><><><>

All Aboard Andi's Dream Chapter 8 is going to be a little different. Hang on for the ride.