© 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.

All Aboard Andi's Dream

Chapter 17

Without a Trace

Not long after Frank Rosetti was forced to plead guilty to multiple charges of assault and attempted vehicular homicide, he met Junior. He was locked up in Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, NY and was slowly getting used to life in prison. Then he was beaten severely. Word had spread around Wende correctional facility that Frank was a "Rock Spider," a child molester and he was nearly beaten to death, so he was transferred from Wende Correctional Facility to Upstate.

Upstate is New York's notorious Supermax and Frank was put in solitary to save his life because the prison population found out that Frank whored his wife out to Russian mobsters. They disapproved of that almost as much as the rumors of child molesting. He received one letter in his first month there. It was written in elegant cursive script and it simply said, "I warned you to take me seriously." It was merely signed, "The Judge."

The weather was freezing in the Upstate Correctional Facility the day that Frank Rosetti was transferred there, a cold, wet sloppy snow fell and he never got the chill out of his bones. Located in the northernmost point of New York State, Upstate is where they sent their worst convicts to while away their wasted lives, forgotten by polite society.

On Frank's daily hour of exercise outside, he walked in slow circles around the perimeter of the barren private exercise yard. As he neared the end of his hour, Frank heard a voice call, "Jarecki!" Frank turned by instinct, and there at the end of the yard on the outside of the fence was a young man, maybe in his mid-twenties, with reddish blond hair looking at him through the chain-link fence. When he saw Frank turn toward him, the kid grinned.

"You got the wrong person, you want somebody else, pal," said Frank and with that, Frank turned and walked into the main prison building.

The next day, Frank was notified by a guard, "You have a visitor, Rosetti."

"Is it my lawyer?"

"I don't fucking know; do I look like an answering machine?"

"Tell them I'm busy," said Frank. He was trying to educate himself on prison law so he could mount a good defense and get himself out of prison.

"He said it was about your friend Paul."

"Fuck, who is this guy," said Frank as he pushed himself away from his desk and got up and held his wrists through the opening in his cell door and the guard put handcuffs on him before opening the door and putting on the ankle cuffs.

"Hell, I don't know who he is." The guard held up a clipboard and Frank saw the name. It looked like a stupid name.

"A junior? He's probably stupid," said Frank. "I don't know him either way."

The guard led Frank to the visitation center and through a door where he sat in front of a thick plexiglass window. That kid was waiting for him on the other side of the window. He was in his late 20s with reddish blond hair and his face was covered in freckles. Frank immediately thought that if he were in here, he'd have those freckles fucked off by now. "What?" demanded Frank. "What do you want?"

"I want to visit with your cousin, Paul. He owes me a lot and I am going to recoup some of that."

Frank looked at the kid and said, "Listen, Junior, I hate Paul, but he's not stupid. He's not going to fall for anything, and as for money, he knows how to make it. He gives it away freely but not to the likes of you."

"I hate being called Junior."

"Then we're done here."

Frank started to get up, but the kid said, "Ok, it's not important what you call me, I just need to know more about your cousin."

"Why? What's in it for me?"

"Satisfaction," said Junior. "You'll be happy to know that your dear cousin is in the best of hands and his financial matters will be handled by me and my team. We have an eighteen twelve oh one investment plan that's sure to bring in the money for us."

Frank glared at Junior. He knew exactly what eighteen twelve oh one was. Was this kid that stupid? "What do you want?"

"Paul and I have grown apart. I'd like to, you know, reunite, get close, and with his capital, we can successfully execute this plan."

"And what happens if this investment plan falls apart?"

Junior looked at Frank and grinned, "Paul will assume all responsibility."

A plan was forming in Frank's mind. "What do you want?"

"I wrote you a letter. Just answer it. Tell me the story of you and Paul. That's it. I'll reach out to Paul, and we'll have a long talk and get this plan rolling."

"Guard!" shouted Frank. Junior didn't even look nervous. Was he that stupid? But as the guard came to collect Frank, the convict rose and said, "Keep an eye on your mailbox."

"Thank you, Mister Rosetti."

Frank shuffled after the guard, slowed down by his leg cuffs. As they got to his cell, Frank stopped with his back to the cell door and the guard removed the ankle cuffs. "Step back into your cell." Frank stepped back, and they closed the door. He stuck his hands through the opening and the guard removed his handcuffs. "So, who was that guy?"

"Some investment banker. He heard my cousin had money, and he wants to make a few bucks off my cousin, so he asked me to send him some information to get the ball rolling."

"You going to do it?"

"Fucker never sent me any Christmas Cards, so yeah."

After the guard had left, Paul opened up a law book that needed to be returned to the library, and he found Junior's "Investment Plan" right away, 18 US Code 1201. Kidnapping. The fucker wants to kidnap Paul and take Andi for every dime to get him back. Was the kid ballsy or stupid? The next day, he requested a nexus search on Junior's father's name, and when the results came back, he grinned. The kid was clearly blinded by hate - therefore stupid. Frank would still be free and knocking up cocktail waitresses if he hadn't had his head jammed up his own ass with hate for "his cousin" and he realized it.

Later that day, a letter came from Junior asking for information about Frank's "cousin," stuff like financial assets, estimated worth, employment, and personal value. Frank grinned and considered the question, what would happen to dear cousin Paul if Junior's "Investment Scheme" was discovered and somebody named names after the kickoff? He probably doesn't have a chance in hell of surviving Junior's "Investment Plan."

He replied to Junior with all the information he wanted and more. His fictionalized bio of his "cousin" made Paul look like the richest man in upstate New York. He covered Jarecki motors, but then he invented assets. Paul would be surprised to learn that he was a major stakeholder in Bell Aerospace in Niagara Falls and Bethlehem Steel in Lackawanna. He was sure it would make Junior eager to start the plan.

Frank spent Christmas alone in his cell, waiting for news of Junior's investment plan. The hints he got from Junior made Frank think that the Eighteen Twelve Oh One investment plan would kick off before the new year. It wouldn't be long...

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Boxing day, the day after Christmas, is not celebrated in New York City. After saying goodbye to their friends at Paul and Andi's house after Paul's incredible Christmas Wigilia, Gus and Lucy returned home to make sweet love under their "Chanukkah bush." They decorated their Christmas tree in blue and silver and put the Star of David at the top.

They rose early on Boxing Day and met Lucy's folks for breakfast. After saying their goodbyes, they got her folks on a plane headed to Denver while Gus and Lucy took a fast flight in the other direction, to New York City. It's a quick jump from Buffalo to NYC. To Lucy, it barely seemed worth the effort to raise the landing gear. "Buffalo is about the same distance from New York as it is between London and Berlin, and back then, it took hours to fly that route."

"I hope we don't run into any enemy fighters," said Lucy as their plane descended.

"We don't have anything to worry about... until after we land," said Gus.

They got their baggage and stepped out of La Guardia airport and there was a classic checker cab waiting for them. The driver, a short fellow with a Long Island accent, loaded their bags in the trunk and said, "Are you ready to see the Big Apple?" and they were off. The driver had a litany of information about the neighborhoods they passed through and generally ended with something like, "Albert Spumante, the Abruzzi family bookkeeper, was shot on that corner."

"Everyone gets shot. Does anyone in Brooklyn die a natural death?" asked Lucy.

"Sudden ventilation syndrome and high velocity lead poisoning are natural causes of death in Brooklyn," laughed the cabbie as they drove through Brooklyn.

"You used to live here? This is nice." Lucy Didomissio was being derisive. She was not impressed with the Brooklyn neighborhood they were riding through. Buildings soared six stories above her head, a canyon of brick and glass that stretched on and on. At the street level, there were crowds of people, hipsters mostly, wandering here and there. They reminded her of non-Player Characters in a video game that just wandered across the landscape without aim, simply window dressing on the larger picture.

Gus and Lucy were on a "Heritage Cab Tour" in a classic Checker Cab, showing Lucy some of the highlights of New York City. He wanted to show his bride his old neighborhood before their hotel suite was ready for them.

"Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?" asked Gus, trying not to laugh. He was giving his bride a tour of his old neighborhood and he got the reaction he expected from the Denver native.

"What, da little lady ain't impressed wit da land of da twelve-dollar cuppa coffee?" asked the cabbie that was driving the 1958 Checker Cab. "I tried to get a tall mocha latte, but it cost so much I had to turn a few tricks behind the kiosk. Don't ask me what he wanted for a grande with sprinkles."

"I can't believe the people here!" gasped Lucy.

"Don't even try. They're gittin' too fuckin' lazy to sell fake Rolex watches for a living. And wait a few more days when da New Year's Eve tourists hit da town. Holy shit! What a fucking madhouse! It's going to be so crowded dat da bums and whores will be picking their own pockets."

Despite his swearing, the cabbie had Lucy laughing, but these New Yorkers took swearing to a higher level. The most used word in the New York City vocabulary was "Fuck." She could tell Gus wasn't crazy about his language, either. Although laughing along with Lucy, Gus had clearly grown out of talking like that, but she continued. "I'm not used to being crowded," said Lucy. "I'm more used to the wide-open spaces. In my neighborhood in Denver, we had horses at our house."

"That sounds cool an' shit, but dat's Denver. Dis is da big apple. We let the cops ride the horses for us. Newcomers to New York are always overwhelmed by da greatest city on eart."

"Then why don't they have a football team?" asked Lucy. "The only city in New York with an NFL team is Buffalo."

The cabbie's flustered response couldn't be heard over Gus's roars of laughter. It's obvious that Lucy has become a full-fledged Buffalonian. "She's got a point," said Gus. "The Jets and Giants play in New Jersey. They should change their name to the Jersey Jets and the Jersey Giants."

"Yeah, but everyone dat goes to da game is from New Yawk," said the cabbie.

"And what state gets all that tax money from the tickets and concessions?" asked Lucy. "What state gets to give their people jobs at the stadium?"

"Hey yeah! Yer right, lady! We should git our teams back!"

"If they ever start winning," said Lucy, causing Gus to laugh even harder.

By the time they settled on building a new stadium in Brooklyn for the re-christened Brooklyn Giants, the heritage cab tour of New York City was over, and they stopped at the Moynahan Train Hall, a new addition to Penn Station, it was a new arrival area for Amtrak and Long Island Transit. "Come on, let's take a look at this work of modern architecture before we check in to our hotel," said Gus.

"I feel silly dragging my overnight bag around with me," complained Lucy. Gus had assured her that their main luggage was forwarded to their hotel by the airline.

"Don't worry about it. Our hotel room is our next stop."

They entered a door that said "To All Trains" like a proper train station should advertise, but past that door it was a modern dystopian imitation of a train station. It was a vast open room with escalators poking up through the floor. The edges of the open emptiness were lined with stores and restaurants. It had less in common with a train station and more in common with a suburban shopping mall of the 1980s. In the vast open space, NPCs milled about aimlessly, bums and junkies slept in corners and next to the escalator guard rails, hipsters walked around with "man" buns and enormous paper cups of coffee that cooled off hours ago. "I think I like Grand Central Terminal better," said Lucy as she looked at the ultra-modern glass and steel behemoth. "The art at Grand Central is beautiful, historic, warm... This is cold."

"I didn't know you were an architecture fan," said Gus.

"Not architecture so much as the art and the trains," said Lucy. "I really like trains."

"I'm glad to hear that. Trains are not really a girly thing to like."

Lucy turned around and glared at her new husband. "And what about me screams 'girly?'"

"Well, I..."

"Drag racing? Is that a girly thing? A 1969 Chevy nova that can turn the quarter mile in seven seconds. Is that girly?"

"Well, I..."

"Mountain biking? Snowmobiling? Calf roping?"

"Wait, calf roping? When did that become a thing?"

"Well, I never did calf roping, but I wanted to, but mom and dad had me wearing lawn jockey clothing and riding dressage." She pronounced the word dressage with distaste. "I wanted to try calf roping. I guess I was lucky to be allowed to compete in barrel racing."

"I suppose that barrels are easy to beat..."

"I wanted to be a cowboy and instead I became an equestrian. What's girly about being a cowboy?"

"I get it. You like things that involve speed and power, that really doesn't bring Amtrak to mind," chuckled Gus.

"I love trains. Do you realize how much will power it took to keep me from shoving John and Cholly out of the way so I could play with their Lionel set?"

"I didn't realize," started a befuddled but laughing Gus.

"Blame Howard Driscol and the twins," said Lucy. "Andi's dad and I took them on every train in Colorado. I don't know if he was trying to buy his way into Andi's heart or just sharing something he loved, but the twins loved riding any train they could get on. We rode the Georgetown Loop at least once a month, and in the winter, we'd take the Ski Train to Winter Park. They loved the California Zephyr from Denver to Glenwood Springs, but they adore any 'Chuffy Train.'"

"Chuffy train... that's cute," said Gus.

"Where is this mystery hotel?"

They reached the bottom of the escalator and beneath the vast empty room full of random people; they found an immense basement filled with railroad passenger cars all lined up neatly, awaiting their call to duty. They followed the line of people along track number 14. This part looked and smelled like a train station. It was filled with soot and grease, and the smell of scorched ozone from decades of electric locomotives filled the air. While most of the people were heading toward the head end of the train, Gus led Lucy into a car near the rear of the train. They stepped into the car and Andi saw the aisle was to the right-hand side of the car and knew what Gus had up his sleeve. "This is our hotel, isn't it?"

"Yes, ma'am it is. Your honeymoon suite is on wheels." With a cry of delight, Lucy threw her arms around her new husband and kissed him long and passionately. With a laugh of relief and joy, Gus urged her deeper into the car, where an Amtrak employee waited for them. Andi was right when she told Gus that Lucy would love this surprise.

The car steward opened a door and said, "Mister and Missus Didomissio, welcome aboard the finest rolling hotel in America. This is your room; I will fold down this couch to a full-size bed after dinner. The upper bunk we can use for storage. This is your private bathroom, toilet, sink and shower. If you need anything, information, coffee, ice, let me know. There's a call button right here," and he showed them the control panel. "If you would like to dine in your room, I can bring items from the café car menu, but I highly suggest dining in the dining car. Meals there are included in your fare."

The room was small, almost tiny, but for a suite on a train, it was spacious. A large couch with a high seatback was along the rear wall, a single seat faced the couch, and a fold-up table was between the single seat and the couch. The right-hand wall featured a huge window, and above that, a second window for the upper bunk passenger, if the upper bunk was folded down. The left-hand wall had a tiny toilet and shower, and next to that the door into the passageway.

"Welcome aboard train ninety one, the Silver Meteor," said the Stewart as he prepared to leave. "We will pull out in six minutes."

Lucy lay down on the couch with her head in Gus's lap. "This was a nice surprise. I was expecting a couple of days in Manhattan fighting crowds, eating overpriced food and punching muggers."

"You don't want to see New York City?"

Lucy shrugged. "I was there a few years ago." She counted off her accomplishments on her fingers. "I went to the top of the Empire State Building, I ate at McDonalds in Times Square, I rode the subway, I rode the Staten Island Ferry, I saw the MOMA, I watched somebody film a scene for some TV show. I think it was Bluebloods. What else is there to do?"

"We could see a Broadway play..."

"We saw The Outsiders at Shea's Buffalo, orchestra seats, sixth row center and the original Broadway cast and the tickets each cost $400 less than what the Bernard Jacobs Theater on Broadway charges. What would that extra eight hundred dollars have gotten us on Broadway?"

Gus shrugged. "Snob appeal?"

"The Empire State is just fine north of Pennsylvania, but I still prefer Empire, Colorado," said Lucy.

"I've only been to Denver a couple of times. Where is Empire Colorado?" asked Gus.

"It's a small mountain community not far from Georgetown and was named for New York State. It's just beautiful there, lots of camping and hiking. I know of an area with an old ore mine, so there were lots of level paths to walk on. The level paths turned out to be the remains of ore cart tracks. I took the twins on their first hike there." She took out her phone and found a picture of the blond cuties in a forest. They were two-years-old and were still new to walking and they were looking up at the trees in wonder.

Just then, the train gave a slight lurch and began rolling. Outside the window, they could see the station platforms sliding away behind them and they entered a dark tunnel of concrete and steel with an occasional signal light slipping past. They could feel the train lurch from side to side as they switched from track to track to line up with the main, and soon they were crossing under the Hudson River in the North River tunnel.

"Andi said you'd like a nice, relaxing ride on the train," said Gus as they snuggled together on the couch in the dark tunnel.

"She's right, I like this. I always wanted to travel across the country in a sleeper."

"Next year let's do Colorado and you can show me your mountains."

"Mmmm," moaned Lucy. "A ride in the observation car from Denver to Glenwood Springs. Now that's my idea of fun."

They emerged in the snow-covered hills of New Jersey. As they snuggled and watched the world slide by, a knock came at their door. It was the conductor checking tickets. He punched their tickets without saying a word, but he was followed by the car steward, who asked, "Would you like reservations to dine in the dining car or will you be dining in the café?"

"Dining car please," said Gus.

"About what time, sir?"

"Six thirty? Seven?"

The car steward looked at his schedule and said, "We will have the perfect table for you at seven. If you're not in your room, I'll page you."

"Thank you," said Gus and he and Lucy sat down to read some of the wedding cards they received. Gus insisted they didn't want money, but sure enough, an occasional $50 or $100 bill would flutter out of a card.

"What are we going to do with this?" asked Lucy, as she looked at their mound of cash.

Gus shrugged. "We can put it away and use it to celebrate our first anniversary next year."

"Or we can donate it to a charity," said Lucy.

"You mean like Tunnels2Towers or the Wounded Warrior Project?" asked Gus. He knew that since she started working for the VA, veteran's issues became highly important to Lucy.

"I was thinking of something more local, like Mending Hearts," said Lucy.

"If you'd like, that's wonderful," said Gus.

"Do you still go to meetings?" asked Lucy.

"Yes, how would it look if the founder of the club didn't show up?"

Mending Hearts was not a charity, but it did the work of a charity. Mending Hearts was a club for widows. Not long after John joined the Springville Congregational church, Gus's wife died. A year later, Paul came home and joined. He had suffered years of heartbreak and loss after the death of Melony, and he didn't want to see Gus make the mistakes that he made when he lost Melony. Paul had gathered up a few of the widows at church and they gathered around Gus to support him.

It was John who called it "Mending Hearts" and he gave them a mission to help the sad and lonely of Springville. Many of the broken hearts they helped mend were older, but then there was Sally Anne Briceman who lost her husband of two years in an auto accident. At Mending Hearts, she became friends with Derryl McMurphy, whose wife died of cancer. They became friends and eventually married and were expecting their first child.

As they enjoyed the rhythm of the train, Gus asked, "Hungry?" it was just past noon.

"Starving!" said Lucy. "All I've had is airline kibble and inferior quality airline champagne. The best snacks are still on Lufthansa."

"Are we becoming an airline snob?"

"No, I've been an airline snob for years," said Lucy, as she gave Gus a kiss.

"Come on," he said. "Let's see what this beast has to offer." They got up and ventured forward. The car that they were in had the aisle on the left side of the car. Occasionally, you'd see an open door where one or two people were arranging their baggage in their compartment.

"The ride is smooth for Amtrak," said Lucy.

"This is the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak's bread and butter," said Gus. "Twenty-two hundred trains a day polish these rails. Completely electrified, the Northeast Corridor runs from Boston in the north to Washington, DC, with stops in Providence, New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore."

"You sound like you swallowed an Amtrak pamphlet," chuckled Lucy.

Gus grinned, then speaking like an announcer from an old News Reel, he said, "The Northeast Corridor is home to the spanking new twenty-five-year-old Acela, America's 'Premier' High-Speed Rail. In Japan and France, where their idea of high-speed rail is crawling along at two hundred and fifty miles per hour, the Acela blazes through the Northeast at a blistering sixty-six to an eye-watering EIGHTY miles per hour! Meanwhile, out west where the huge cross country trains like the Empire Builder and the Southwest Chief limp along west of Chicago, they can only crawl along at seventy-nine miles per hour. Well worth the billions of dollars mister American taxpayer!"

"Will you stop!" laughed Lucy as she tried to hush Gus. Then she said, "Why don't we have high-speed trains like the rest of the world?"

"Well, the 'rest of the world' is actually only a few places like Japan and France where their governments invest in high-speed rail. Keep in mind, if we had a high-speed rail system like them, only high-speed trains could ride on those tracks, nothing else could. There would be no road crossings, only bridges. You'd spend billions on a piece of track only a dozen trains a day could ride on. Then again, if the US government gave money to the railroads for passenger rail like they dumped on airlines for airports, and air traffic control, we'd have high-speed rail crisscrossing the country."

They entered the next car, and it too was a sleeper, but this car had the aisle down the middle. There were roomettes on either side of the aisle, tiny rooms for two riders with an upper and lower bunk at night. If Lucy thought their room was small, these roomettes made her feel claustrophobic.

Finally, they reached the dining car and were seated for lunch. The car wasn't busy; the train had just got underway and most of the riders had yet to board at stations further down the line. "Welcome to the dining car. Have you ever eaten in an Amtrak dining car?" asked the waitress.

"I've never had the chance," said Lucy.

"Here is our menu, meals are complimentary with sleeping car service."

Lucy scanned the menu and frowned. "Not much of a choice... vegan chili? What is that?"

"Chili without meat," said Gus.

Lucy looked at him in shock. She was born and raised in the southwest and what he said was sacrilege. "Chili with no meat? Then it's not chili."

"Well, it's got the..."

"Look, it was bad enough when you northerners took the chuck roast out of our chili and replaced it with ground beef, then you began to add beans... then you take the meat out? What the hell is that? Then you sit down and eat it by the bowlful... it's... it's sacrilegious!"

"How else do you eat chili?" asked Gus. He was amused because he had never seen Lucy this worked up over something that wasn't related to medicine, the VA, the twins, or her Chevy Nova.

"It's a gravy," she said. "You wouldn't sit at Paul's table on Thanksgiving and eat a bowl of turkey gravy, would you?"

"To be honest, with his gravy, I'd use a straw. What do you put your chili gravy on?"

"You can put it on everything. Hotdogs, hamburgers, chili relleno, whatever you want. My favorite is rice or tater tots. I've had it on wheat Chex cereal too."

"That sounds awesome."

"Think of it as a southwest version of spaghetti sauce, and we take it just as seriously."

"OK," laughed Gus. "I get it now. You should have started with the marinara analogy."

In the end, they settled on the Monte Christo sandwich. As they waited for their lunch, they held hands across the table and talked while New Jersey rolled past. As their lunch arrived, Lucy dropped the bombshell. "When will you retire?"

"Retire? I've never considered that option."

"You owe it to yourself," said Lucy. "It's time to have fun."

"I am having fun," insisted Gus. "I pick and choose the jobs I want based on if I want to do them. And John is coming along incredibly well. He's going to be an amazing carpenter if he retires from the pulpit."

"If they keep collecting children, he's going to need the extra income," said Lucy.

Gus studied his sandwich. The Monte Cristo was so unique compared to other sandwiches, it started life as a simple grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Then they added turkey, change the cheese to cheddar, someone added mayo and mustard, then it was dipped in egg batter and cooked on the griddle until golden brown. Who first dusted it with confectioner's sugar? And who served it with a dipping sauce of raspberry jam for the first time? Pure genius. It was Walt Disney that brought this Americanization of the French traditional croque-monsieur sandwich to the American public.

"With all the terror and headaches that they've gone through with little Katarina and Cholly, I've never seen Pastor John so happy," said Gus.

"He is an odd one," said Lucy. "He seems happiest on bad days when he's limping." John still carried a lot of metal in his hips and legs from being hit by Frank Rosetti.

"No, he feels that his job is to protect and save his flock, and the sheep that needs him the most is his brother, Paul. When Paul's wife Melony died, John wasn't there to help Paul, and he blamed himself for Paul's downfall."

"Downfall?"

"Paul took Melony's passing personally and blamed the Air Force for her death. His career was ruined, but he hung on by the skin of his teeth. Their father got Paul home with an honorable discharge, but John was the one who took over the role of father, nurturing Paul and helping him heal."

"I heard about John and Paul's reunion. What gave John the idea that letting Paul beat him up would bring them together?"

"You don't understand brothers. We fight, we squabble, we don't hold grudges, we hold a fist. We fight it out until the problem is solved and for John, it worked. He was always the little brother, too small for Paul to fight before he left for school, so they got a lot of ancient laundry cleaned when they finally got to fight for the first time in almost thirty years. Many lasting childhood friendships started with a tussle in the school yard. It's a weird guy thing. If you stand up to a bully and he beats you up, he will respect you for standing up to him. In John and Paul's case, it worked, so I'm not going to argue with the method or the outcome." Gus sighed and said, "I've seen a lot of pastors come and go, but John... he's one in a million. When my Tina passed, John was brand new to the church. I felt so guilty presenting my problems to the brand-new pastor just out of seminary, but he said, 'Gus, can you do me a favor?' and he asked me to join him in cutting down a tree and cutting it to firewood."

"And it worked?" asked Lucy. She was amazed that something like that worked.

"Sawdust therapy. It's a guy thing," said Gus. "We cut down that tree, limbed it, bucked it... that means to cut the trunk into pieces that are about 18 inches long, then split it and stacked it up. I remember looking at that stack of firewood and thinking, 'I did that. With all my pain and sorrow, I did that. I must still be alive.' The physical act of swinging a sledgehammer and hitting that wedge to split the log became cathartic. I put all my hate and anger into each swing and in the end, I was done."

"You were done?" asked Lucy.

"I was exhausted, completely out of energy, but I was completely out of hate and anger, too. I used it all up to split that wood."

"And John figured that out?"

"I think it was Macy. She's been my guardian angel. She's a wise psychologist and she should go into private practice. She even found an apprentice for me to teach when I was at my loneliest."

"Her own husband?"

"You betcha! He was bored. Most of his congregation was in good shape, so once the new church was up, there wasn't much to do other than preach. Once you're done writing Sunday's sermon, which he mostly makes up on the fly, what else is there to do? He turned out to be an excellent carpenter, and I was thinking of leaving my crumbling empire to him."

"What about your kids?"

"The girls don't care about it, they'd just sell it and split the money between them. Don't worry, if anything happens, the house and property are yours. The business, I would like to see that go to John."

"What about your son?" asked Lucy.

"I don't have one."

"New wife, new life," said Lucy with a grin. Gus looked completely shocked and to that she said, "Come on, eat up, we have some talking to do." Their conversation was an eye opener to her. She's never dealt with men other than competitors in marathons and triathlons. He was an example of the idea that women deal with their issues by talking, men deal with them by not talking but by doing.

This was going to take further study.

They finished their lunches and grabbed a couple of sodas and glasses of ice and headed back to their compartment. Back there, Gus set up a small chess set and said, "Come on, I'm going to teach you a little something about chess."

"YOU'RE going to teach ME something about chess? I was high school champion," said Lucy in a haughty tone. "I was top in my sorority. What could you possibly teach me about chess?"

"How to lose." He continued to set up the pieces.

"Oh, that's very funny," said Lucy. She sat on the couch opposite him as he prepared the board.

Gus took a pawn from each side and hid one in each hand, then held his fists out to Lucy. Just as she was about to pat one of his fists, he said, "The name of the game is Strip Chess."

"Really."

"Rules are simple, same as traditional chess, but when you lose a piece, you lose a piece of clothing."

"I take it the first person naked loses?" asked Lucy.

"Possibly, if you want to remain in the game, you simply pay a 2-minute penalty and resume the game."

"Now you're talking!" Lucy was quite good at chess, and from what Andi Jarecki said, so was Gus. He and John would spend an evening in his workshop puffing on pipes, listening to a ham radio, and playing chess. She didn't realize how much of a challenge playing chess with a penalty of clothing would be. She sacrificed a pawn and lost a shoe, but she was able to get one of Gus's rooks, and one of his shoes.

Lucy knew she was in trouble when she advanced a pawn two spaces on its first move (a legal move) landing her pawn next to one of Gus's pawns. A safe spot to sit in because a pawn can only attack diagonally. But Gus surprised her by moving his pawn diagonally to the spot she jumped over and took her pawn. "What was that?" she demanded.

"I captured your pawn en passant," said Gus without looking up from the board.

"En passant?"

"You owe me an article of clothing, dear."

Lucy grabbed her phone and googled 'en passant' and gasped. It was a legal move as long as it was done immediately after her pawn moved its initial two squares. "I am impressed, Mister Didomissio. I had forgotten all about that rule. For that I award you the Golden Slipper," and she took off her remaining running shoe and handed it to Gus with a bow.

"I am honored, m'lady," said Gus and he took her shoe and set it on the floor next to its partner.

Now that Lucy realized she was playing against a player of her level or higher, she settled down and concentrated on the game. Penalties were paid as pieces were lost, and she didn't realize when she was down to her camisole top and tiny panties, while Gus was in a t-shirt and boxers.

She took one of Gus's pawns and he handed her his t-shirt, which she accepted without looking up from the board. Then, in rapid succession, Gus took two of her pawns and a knight. She paid her penalties and continued to study the board until Gus said, "Umm... Mrs. Didomissio? You owe me for that knight."

"Huh? Oh..." then she realized she was naked. That's when the devious nature of this game was introduced to her. She was completely naked, and they were nowhere near an endgame.

"Do you cede the match? Or will you pay the penalty, m'lady?"

She was suddenly yanked from a medieval battlefield into a small compartment, and she was completely naked in front of a large window as the train slid out of Pennsylvania and entered Delaware. "What's the penalty?"

"Oh, we don't play like that, m'lady," said Gus with a sly smile. "We cede the game, or we accept the penalty, then we find out what the penalty is."

"What if I refuse to cede, but I refuse the penalty?"

"Then I suppose the game ends with your involuntarily forfeiting the game... or you could take the default penalty if you don't like surprises." Gus's grin grew even more sly. This is where in their marriage that Lucy learned about that grin. It was the grin of a fox who found a loose board in the hen house.

"And what is the default penalty?"

"Ten spanks the first time, an additional five for each offence."

"A spanking? You're going to spank me? No one, even my father, ever dared spank me."

The grin changed to a smile of remorse. The same remorseful smile that the chickens noticed on the fox's face before everything went dark. He remembered his first wife, Tina, telling him the same thing. "That's my default," said the remorseful fox, who looked a lot like Gus. "You should make up your own default penalty for me. All I can assure you is that the spanking goes much quicker than two minutes."

"Let's get it over with," she sighed, and she draped herself over Gus's lap.

Her cute, athletic butt cheeks called for Gus's attention, and he rubbed them gently with his big hands. "I would like you to count, so I don't get carried away. Ok?"

"If you insist... OW! One!" It wasn't a hard strike, but it was noticeable. Each smack on her ass brought sparkles of pain, and something else that she's never felt before. And there was the loud clap that added to her embarrassment. She was sure that it could be heard in the compartment on either side of them. "Ten!" she finally cried, and she hopped up. Her ass didn't burn as much as it tingled. He didn't hit her hard, but she felt warm back there.

"See? Not so bad. Your move. "

It wasn't bad; it was horrible. Dominated by a man like that? It was humiliating! It went against everything she stood for... All she could concentrate on was the warmth he raised in her ass. Two moves later, she found herself draped across his lap again. "Let's get it over with," said Lucy with a sigh.

"You're not here for the chess, are you?" grinned Gus, and the spanking began. Smack!

"One..."

Smack!

"Two..."

Smack!

"Three..."

Somewhere around eight it stopped being painful and humiliating. Gus was gently holding her in position as he spanked her and somehow she felt safe in his hands. The tingling in her ass radiated through her nether region and added to the warmth she felt down there. Not the warmth from being naked with her man in a rolling train car, but the warmth she gets from his masterful hands.

She's never met a man with hands like Gus. He had big, powerful hands. His hands could build an entire house, carry all the lumber and brick needed, and wield powerful tools that Lucy never realized existed. But his hands were surprisingly delicate. He could rebuild a carburetor and tune it perfectly... he created the most beautiful miniature dioramas in 1/87th scale for Paul's model railroad, and when he gently cradled little Katarina or tiny Danny, their tiny bodies barely filled his hands.

And her slim body fit his hands perfectly and she was almost reluctant to stand after spank #15. She stood and was panting and trembling. She could feel her tiny 'coin-slot' pussy begin to weep. He made her so hot she had to remind herself what they were doing. "Are you ok?" he asked.

"No," she lied, and she sat down to continue the game. She didn't have to ease down on the couch, she wasn't in pain, she was on fire.

The game resumed, and she had to concentrate as hard as she could and she finally took one of his pawns and he relinquished his last piece of clothing, his boxer shorts. For the first time in her life, Lucy found a cock she could look at with hunger, a cock she wanted, and it was a surprise to her it wasn't the cock so much as it was the man that wielded it. For so many years, she spent avoiding men and most women. Was she being saved for Gus? Was she his gift for surviving the crushing agony of his wife Tina's long, drawn-out illness and death? She decided that if she was, she was going to be the best gift she could be.

And she just lost her remaining bishop.

"What's my penalty?" she sighed.

"Come here, sit on my lap and kiss me," said Gus.

"That's it?" asked Lucy.

"That's it," said Gus. "Did you expect having to step out into the corridor and do jumping jacks?"

"Yes," she said as she snuggled into his lap.

Gus gave her a wicked grin. "You told me you liked to watch. Now, if you said you preferred being watched, you'd be out there right now."

Lucy stifled his chuckle with a kiss. It was a sweet, loving kiss. Their lips pressing, their tongues softly dancing together in rhythm with the rocking of the train car. Hunger soon crept into their kiss. Warm naked bodies pressing together, her nipples brushing against his furry chest, her wet pussy pressed against his hot, throbbing cock, arms holding tight, and as the kiss reached its peak, the damn timer Gus set on his phone went off.

"Damn it!"

"This game is tougher than you expected, isn't it?" asked Gus with a grin.

"Play!" groused Lucy.

On the very next move, she lost a pawn, and her penalty was to give her husband a back rub for two minutes. Gus enjoyed the back rub, but Lucy enjoyed it more than he did. When she finished, her hands were shaking, and she was ready for anything that he would suggest next.

Gus lost a pawn next and ended up giving Lucy a back rub as well. That was her downfall. Those big powerful hands caressed her more than kneaded and by the end of two minutes, she was practically weeping with desire. When they returned to the board, she couldn't concentrate and tried to move a rook like a knight. With trembling hands, she captured one of Gus's remaining pawns.

"What is my penalty?" he asked.

She leaned back and draped herself over the couch like she pictured Cleopatra did for Caesar and then later for Mark Anthony and said, "Please me."

"Please you how, m'lady?"

"Show me some imagination," and she cupped her tiny, teacup size breasts and wagged her eyebrows at him.

With a lusty grin, Gus knelt between her legs and began kissing her inner thighs, left then right, left then right. Each kiss was accompanied by a lick with the tip of his tongue. He tugged her ass to the edge of the couch as his kisses grew closer and closer to the center of her warmth. And then he was there! He gave her little tingling clit a kiss, followed by a little lick. The instant rush of pleasure was like a skyrocket had gone off in her crotch. She jerked and gasped as a sudden jolt of pleasure burst over her. Her back arched, and she grasped the sides of his head, but he continued kissing his way up her flat tummy.

"You bastard!" she gasped, but her cursing didn't deter him from his mission. He kissed his way slowly up to her breasts, where he suckled and playfully nipped at her hard nipples. The pleasure he gave her was multiplied because of the past hour of strip chess. She never would have thought in her wildest dreams that playing a game of chess in the nude with the man she loved would by itself be such an erotic rush. Now it felt like there was a live electric wire between her tingling breasts and her throbbing clit.

As Gus made love to Lucy's breasts, his thick, heavy cock tapped against her pussy lips, driving her crazy with pleasure. Her delicate surgeon's hands roamed up and down his back, from his ass to the nape of his neck, and she squeaked in pleasure. "Now!" she gasped, and she grabbed his thick cock and lined it up with her pussy.

"You want to declare this game a draw?" said Gus as he slid the mushroom head up and down her cleft, coating his cock with her flowing juices.

"YES!" she shrieked as his cock plunged into her steaming pussy. Lucy felt stretched, filled, impaled on an unbending spike. Gus had driven into her balls deep, and she savored every inch. She wasn't able to articulate anything other than groans of pleasure and the occasional "Yesssss!"

Gus made love to his wife with all the love he had in his heart for her. It was like his Tina had come back and found a lover for him that could quench his sexual thirst and stir his intellectual appetite. He hooked his arms under her legs and scooped them up in the air until she was bent in half, her pussy exposed and vulnerable. He grinned down at her and drove into her harder and harder.

Lucy did not know how long it went on, but it was incredible. His unflagging cock drove into her over and over, and she began her climb for an orgasm. Lucy was helpless beneath her husband as he pounded into her slim, athletic body, their groins meeting with a clapping rhythm, her feminine grunts with each thrust were music to his ears. As her passion increased, her cries grew louder until she was chanting, "Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me!" in time with his thrusts.

Her orgasm crashed over her, wave after wave of explosive release. She kicked free of Gus's arms at the height of her ecstasy and wrapped her arms and legs around him, shuddering and shaking in ecstasy. She tried to pull Gus into her as deep as possible and as the big one hit; she bit down on his shoulder as the climax of her ecstasy crashed over her.

When she returned to earth, she found he was still moving inside of her gently, and he was smiling at her. "Good?"

"This was worth the price of admission," she groaned in boneless bliss. "You didn't cum yet?"

"No, I was saving it for my favorite thing to do." He wanted to mention it was Tina's favorite thing to do also, but he decided it was not right to mention another woman when you were balls deep in your new bride on your honeymoon.

"What's this favorite thing you have never mentioned before?"

"When you think you're ready, we'll give it a try. I'm positive you'll like it."

That made Lucy a bit suspicious, but his fat cock sliding in and out of her wet gash soon drove away suspicion and she was eager to try this 'favorite thing.' In a few moments she was bent over the folding table, leaning on her arms and elbows, her tight ass high in the air. She was looking out the window at the rolling countryside while Gus slid into her from behind. "This is incredible," she purred. She was getting fucked by the only cock she ever adored in front of an immense window, and nobody could see her. The countryside raced past them as their train raced south and soon they were dashing through Maryland while Gus kept plowing at her pussy.

He fucked her brutally, his cock pounding into her pussy and she was glad they weren't in the missionary position or at this pace he'd be bruising her cervix. Gus fucked her with everything he had and she started that climb to orgasm again. As she began that telltale groaning that Gus loves to hear, they passed a train going in the other direction. At their combined speed of nearly 180 mph, it was a blur as it raced past just a few feet away, and that was enough to set off the speed-freak in Lucy. She shrieked and thrust her ass back at Gus, driving him in deeper and soon they were cumming together, their bodies jerking as their orgasms washed over them. He spurted deep into her pussy, which in turn squeezed his cock in rhythm with Lucy's orgasm.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, their simultaneous orgasms relinquished their holds on Gus and Lucy, and they slumped onto the couch. "I love you, Mister Didomissio," said Lucy as she kissed her husband.

"I love you Missus Didomissio." He pulled a blanket over them, and they snuggled on the couch. With the train rocking them gently, they soon fell asleep.

When Lucy awoke, it was dark in the room. It was quiet, and the train wasn't moving. She saw Gus looking down at her in the gloom with a smile. "What are you looking at?"

"Somebody I love very deeply."

"I'm not much to look at. My complexion is awful, my hair is..." Gus stopped her with a finger to her lips.

"You know what I think of that."

"I'm sorry," said Lucy. She knew he went through all seven layers of hell with Tina's fight against cancer. In the end, Gus learned that the body is transitory, a container for what really makes the person. He's probably the only Christian deacon with a "Fuck Cancer" bumper sticker. "I know the body is merely transitory, but it's the only one I got."

"Then let me enjoy it as much as we can."

She curled an arm around his neck and pulled him close for a kiss. "You goof. Where are we? What's going on?"

"We're in Washington, DC, and we're swapping out locomotives."

"Did ours break?"

"No," he chuckled. "From Boston to Washington, it's all electric. From here on south it's all diesel locomotives. We'll be moving by four pm."

They spent the time until dinner by reviewing photographs of their wedding on Lucy's tablet. "Oh look! Me and the girls," said Lucy. It was a picture of her with Yi, Andi, Macy, and the twins. They were clustered around Lucy, with the twins posing in front of them. The girls were all wearing matching gold dresses, while Lucy stood in the middle wearing her white dress. All of them wore radiant smiles, and the twins were posing proudly like they were the reason why everyone was there.

The picture of the guys looked cheerless. None of them were smiling, including Gus. "Don't you guys smile?" asked Lucy.

"No, because if we were smiling, you'd think we were up to something."

The next picture showed the guys smiling. "You're lucky," said Lucy. "I don't want my week to be spoiled by a Grumpy Gus."

"I don't think you'll have any problem with that," said Gus as he gave his bride a kiss.

They spent a couple of hours going over the cards they received and worked on a list for thank-you notes to be sent out as soon as they got back to Springville. At about six thirty, Gus got up, shaved, and put on his suit. "Are we dressing for dinner?" asked Lucy.

"I don't see why not," said Gus. "Amtrak tries to be as formal as they can with the evening meal. Let's play along. Did you bring a dress?"

"Yeah," said Lucy and she wagged her eyebrows. "Your favorite one." Soon she was wearing her sky blue knit dress that clung to every curve of her body. It showed off her tiny breasts and athletic ass so nicely that Gus passionately loved it.

"Just in case the judge wants to have a formal dinner party on Nisi Arcadia," said Gus as he tied his bow tie perfectly on the first try.

"I was wondering why you brought that thing," said Lucy.

They exited their bedroom and headed forward, the rocking and swaying of the train making the walk forward a little difficult. Finally, at the dining car, they walked up a narrow aisle next to the kitchen until they reached the dining room. "Reservations?" asked an Amtrack employee.

"Didomissio."

He checked his tablet and smiled. "Ah yes, we don't get to do this very often." He led Gus and Lucy to a booth where a young couple had just been seated.

Gus was about to ask what he meant by saying they didn't get to do something very often when they saw the young couple sitting across from them. She was a sweet, cute little Hispanic girl who hung on the arm of her blond seatmate. "Hi, I'm Gus, and this is my wife, Lucy."

The young couple shook hands and said, "I'm Jimmy, and this is my wife, Dayana." He smiled, and they kissed. "We just got married."

"This morning," she said and showed off her rings.

"Really? Today?" asked Lucy. "Congratulations! We were married the day before yesterday, on Christmas Eve." Soon the girls had their phones out and were showing their wedding pictures. "This is my matron of honor, Andi, my best friend in the world and this is her husband Paul, Gus's best man and best friend."

"Oh, that's so sweet. Who are those little darlings?"

"The twins are Andi's daughters; we were working at Denver University hospital when they were born and I was their stepmom for their first few years." Lucy and Dayana discovered they were both in the medical career. Dayana was a physical therapist, and Jimmy was an electrical engineer. "I'm a doctor," said Lucy. "And Gus is a general contractor." As they talked about their weddings, a waiter put a bottle of champagne on the table, along with four glasses.

"For our newlyweds," he said loud enough for the dining car to hear, which started some applause. Gus poured the champagne, and the four toasted to a long life together.

"How did you meet?" asked Jimmy.

Gus said, "One year ago, our friends Andi and Paul got married. I was Paul's best man and Lucy was Andi's maid of honor. We became friends, then became lovers, then became married."

"I think it was the honeymoon," said Andi. "We were invited to go on Andi and Paul's honeymoon cruise, and we spent much of it on an island."

"Island? Like Long Island?" asked Jimmy.

"A private island, a tropical bed and breakfast. That's where we're headed tomorrow for our honeymoon. How did you two meet?" asked Lucy.

"On a train," said Dayana. "We both live on Long Island in North Merrick, and every morning we take the Long Island Transit to Manhattan. We had been taking the same train for years and we had been eyeing each other for months and finally Jimmy came up to talk to me."

"I asked her if she dropped her gloves," said Jimmy.

"I told him 'I don't wear gloves,' and he said, 'I know, I just wanted to break the ice and say hi,'" said Dayana. "We started riding together, then lunch, then a dinner, then a nightclub, it's been a crazy year."

With a smile, Gus took out his phone and showed Jimmy and Dayana a picture of Lucy being presented with a trophy in front of her Nova. "Racing?" asked Dayana.

"My lady has racing in her blood," said Gus. "Swimming, running, biking, now drag racing."

"Drag racing!" said Jimmy. "Really?"

"She was Rookie of the Year this past year. She raced on tracks from Buffalo to Cleveland." Gus beamed with admiration at Lucy's accomplishments. "It's those surgeon's reflexes of hers."

"Surgeon? When you said doctor, I thought you meant GP."

"Nope, she's a thoracic surgeon." Gus took out his phone and showed a picture of Lucy next to her Polaris, 850 RMK Khaos. It was a spidery-looking monster that had a hunger to eat any obstacle in front of it. "This is her current speed passion."

The city kids looked closely, and Jimmy said, "It looks like a snowmobile. Is that what it is?"

"It's a snowmobile built for cross-country racing. My Gus is probably the only Brooklynite who loves the outdoors," said Lucy, and she showed Jimmy and Dayana a picture of their huge farmhouse. "This is primarily a showcase for Paul's talents. Every room is styled differently."

"Madre Dios!" gasped Dayana when she saw the kitchen.

"I built that with family in mind. Everyone can help mom cook during the holidays. It's an Italian tradition to gather in the kitchen as meals are being prepared." Their chatter continued until their dinners were brought out. Both guys had the flat iron steak, Dayana had the pan roasted chicken breast with lemon risotto, and Lucy had the Atlantic salmon with ancient grains and lemon caper white wine sauce. Throughout dinner, Gus kept the New Yorkers entertained with Lucy's tour of Brooklyn.

"I take it this isn't your first marriage?" asked Jimmy.

"It's my first... my only," said Lucy.

"I like your optimism," said Dayana.

"It's not optimism. I don't relate well to people that are not my patient. Only my friend Andi and this big galoot have been able to break through the shell I erected around myself."

"It's my second. My wife passed away years ago," said Gus. "I loved Tina and watching cancer kill her almost killed me. If it wasn't for my girls and our pastor, I wouldn't be here. I didn't want to take a chance ongoing through that again, but one long New Year's Eve weekend with Lucy last year and I decided to give life a try again, and here we are," said Gus as he kissed Lucy.

"He's not all that tough, if you want to see him melt, just put a baby in his hand," said Lucy and she showed their friends a picture of Gus holding Danny and Katarina in front of a fire in the parlor at Andi and Paul's house. "This was about a week ago."

"They were a month and a half old here, cousins. You can see Katarina parent's John and Macy, watching me from over by the tree," said Gus. "They were born in a snowstorm about an hour apart."

"Look at that tree! Where were you, at a mall?" gasped Jimmy.

"Our friend Paul likes an enormous Christmas tree in front of the front window," said Gus.

"Poor Paul, he went through so much in the past four months," said Lucy. "I'm glad all of that is over for them. Maybe he can just kick back and be rich and enjoy life."

"That's our goal in life, too," said Dayana.

The two couples talked and laughed and drank wine until they were the last ones in the dining car. Finally, the car steward asked them to vacate. They shook hands and Jimmy asked Gus, "do you have any advice you could give a young couple like us?"

"Two pieces. First, don't ever take yourself more serious than you take your wife, and second, strip chess."

"Strip chess?"

"I don't believe you said that!" cried Lucy, and she slugged Gus in the arm. Then she whispered to Dayana, "he means, have fun. Relax in your loving."

They made their way back to their compartment and found that the couch had been converted to a bed and the upper bunk had been lowered. "We've been married two whole days," sighed Lucy as the Silver Meteor rocked through the night. "One year and two days ago was our first kiss. Who woulda thunk it?"

"Certainly nobody that knew us," said Gus. One year and three days ago, both were confirmed bachelors, happy finally with their solitary existence.

"Ernie knew," said Lucy. "Just before Andi's wedding started, he said to me, 'Gus does nothing but talk about you. Did you cast a spell on him or something?' We almost postponed Andi's wedding. We wanted to talk about what he said."

"Andi's wedding was the first time I ever saw you with your hair down," said Gus. He was sitting on the couch with his eyes covered with a sleep mask as Lucy dressed. She was still completely uncomfortable with dressing while a man watched, so Gus wore a sleep mask, which made her feel comfortable.

"You don't like my hair up?"

"Not really, no. I understand that it's off your shoulders and out of the way, but when you wear it down, it's so passionate looking."

"Passionate?" she asked as she crawled into bed with Gus. She took off his sleep mask and gave him a sweet kiss. Somehow Gus wasn't surprised to see that Lucy was wearing one of his tank-top t-shirts. It was practically a dress on her.

"Yeah, when you wear your hair up, you're all business. When you wear it down, the fun, relaxed Lucy comes out."

"I wear it up when I'm racing," she reminded him.

"And when you race, you're all business," he reminded her. Lucy found the challenge of drag racing to be exactly what she loves, precision and split-second reactions. To do it right the first time and then do it exactly the same way every time. It's like surgery in 7.24 seconds.

"I love to race," said Lucy. "I also love to shoot. I don't wear my hair up when I shoot."

"Yes, you do," said Gus. "And you wear it up when you run, but you don't wear it up when you swim."

"Swimming..." moaned Lucy. "We're going to be swimming in twenty-four hours!" She squealed like a young girl and wrapped herself around Gus's arm. "I can't wait!"

Gus chuckled. His girl loved swimming. On hot days, they would sneak back on Gus's property and he had made a swimming hole for her by damming up a stream and they could play back there all day long if they wanted. It wasn't unusual for her to come back from the VA, hop on her mountain bike and dash back into the woods, and just collapse into the swimming hole.

"When did you decide I was the girl for you?" purred Lucy.

Gus's eyebrows shot up. This was the first time she ever referred to herself as a girl. "That was a year ago. I met this woman that was so beautiful on the inside but was in so much pain about her outside. I asked her to join me in a bit of holiday spirits. It was the first date I had been on since Tina died."

"Aww," Lucy pouted. "That was an excellent date. I had fun." They went to Worzil's Bar and Grille just up the street from Andi and Paul's house and hung out with the proprietors, Ayato and Julissa Tanaka. They played team air hockey in the back room, and they beat the Tanakas. Julissa said, "We never get to play, we just hear it clinking back here."

"What was that you gave me that made me all warm and horny?"

"Besides the roofies?" Gus teased. "We had hot buttered rum when we got there, then before we left we had a Tom and Jerry."

"Tom and Jerry, that was the one with the sweet batter, right?"

"Yep."

"That was good," she sighed. "Totally unhealthy. We need to make that a Christmas tradition."

"It is a Christmas tradition," said Gus. "We just got a bit busy this year."

"Speaking of being busy, is John going to be ok alone in the workshop?"

Gus smiled and kissed Lucy's neck in that spot that makes her forget there's a world outside of their little sphere. "He'll be fine. He's making cabinets, he loves doing that. And he's got that big party at the Statler Waldorf with Josh and Veronica's company. He needs to get out."

It had been a busy, exciting day and the rocking of the train as it traveled through the south soon put the newlyweds to sleep. Twice Lucy woke up, and the train was stopped. She'd look out the window through a gap in the curtain and saw that they were stopped in a remote station. Several people were on the platform smoking, but there was no sign of anything happening. She lay back down and unconsciously snuggled with Gus and the next time she opened her eyes; they were rolling through South Georgia.

"Good morning, love," said Lucy as Gus's hands held her tenderly.

"Buongiorno, luce dei miei occhi." (Good morning, light of my eyes)

"That was sweet," said Lucy, as her hands started roaming over Gus. She speaks Italian. She learned it for a fellowship in Rome that she attended years ago, but she's forgotten much of it. They couldn't keep their hands from each other's body and soon they were making love as the train rocked and rolled south through Georgia. Lucy's legs were wrapped around Gus's waist, and she spurred him on as he delved deep into her slit. They came explosively as the train rushed through the pre-dawn gloom.

After Gus and Lucy cleaned each other with a damp cloth, they went back to snuggling. "What did you say to me when I woke up?" asked Lucy.

"Buongiorno, luce dei miei occhi. It means good morning, light of my eyes. That was how your mother-in-law greeted me on the rare mornings that my brothers and I didn't have her angry enough to spit nails," said Gus.

"Tell me about her," said Lucy. "You met my folks. Tell me about yours."

Gus sighed and pulled Lucy close. She basked in contentment as she rested her still flushed cheek on his brawny shoulder. "My mamma, Cinzia Giardino was..."

"Wait!" gasped Lucy. "You're a Giardino? You're related to Mamma Giardino? THE Mamma Giardino?" gulped Lucy, thinking of their favorite restauranteur in Cheektowaga, NY.

"Possibly. Her recipes are remarkably close to what we had at my grandpa's restaurant in Brooklyn. Back in the twenties, quite a few Giardinos moved to the US, all passing through Ellis Island. Some stayed in New York city some went to Boston and some headed inland to Buffalo, Cleveland, and Chicago. My mamma Cinzia married my dad, Nunzio Didomissio, when she was sixteen and pregnant with my oldest brother, Emilio."

"Did she get grief for being pregnant at sixteen?" asked Lucy.

"Grief for being pregnant? In an Italian community sixty years ago?" Gus laughed at the thought. "If there's any sin involved, you go to confession and twenty Hail Marys later, you're good to go. Then the family celebrates the new arrival."

"But what was she like?"

"You know what Andi looks like in full mamma hen mode, just like that, with more laughing and better cooking." Andi is notorious for her lack of cooking skills. "We had a tiny three-bedroom apartment with nine people, mom's parents Tino and Luna Giardino, her and my dad Nunzio, and us five boys Emilio, Carmelo, Silvio, Carlo, and me."

"Oh my god, she must have gone out of her mind!"

"Mamma and Grandma Luna had their hands full, but all I remember was the laughter and the singing. Us boys, as soon as we could make our way up and down the three flights of stairs, we lived out on the streets. I'd spend the day selling newspapers, playing stick ball, and stealing apples. Mamma took it all as part of the joy of a big family. She always had a bit of encouragement with a kiss or correction with a slap."

"So you were happy?"

"Yeah," said Gus. "Even when Emilio got pegged for grand theft auto for a third time and the judge was able to sentence him as an adult. 'You messed up. Now take your licks like a man,' she told him. The judge gave Emilio the choice of enlisting instead of prison and he joined the marines. Mamma was so proud of him. He'd come home in his dress uniform and she'd just gush. She went to every reenlistment ceremony he had, and when he came home with Tiên Lê, his Vietnamese wife, she was in heaven. Finally, a girl! She insisted Tiên stayed with us whenever Emilio deployed, and it never mattered to mamma that Tiên barely spoke English. They went everywhere together."

"How did she survive Carl's murder conviction?"

Gus frowned. His older brother Carl got into drugs in a big way and killed Bennie Goldsmith and Benny's pregnant wife, Darlene, orphaning the Goldsmith's three children. Carl was sentenced to three life sentences with no chance of parole. "I've never seen mamma so angry. The only time she spoke to him after his sentencing she called him a disgrace, an embarrassment and I still remember her screaming 'tre bambini non hanno genitori per colpa tua!' (Three babies have no parents because of you)"

"Did she ever get over it?"

"Oh yes, when we moved to P-town, she went to confession and told the priest that she raised a monster, and she was giving him back to Satan. I think that was the last time she ever spoke his name. After that day, any time she went back to Brooklyn, she placed three white roses at Bennie and Darlene Goldsmith's grave, and she put a polished pebble on their gravestone."

"What did she think of Tina?" asked Lucy.

"She loved Tina. Every time Tina found out she was pregnant, Nonnina Cinzia and Aunt Tiên would come and help with the girls. She'd say, 'You stay away from my son, the wood butcher. Let mamma take care of you.' Thank god she had passed away before Tina contracted cancer. I don't think she could have handled it."

"I think she would have handled it brilliantly," said Lucy.

"Yeah, she would have, but we put her through enough pain. She didn't need any more."

Lucy lay with her head on Gus's chest. She was listening to his heartbeat; it was strong and healthy. She was sure his ticker had many miles ahead of it. Then she heard his stomach growl. He once told her it was dangerous to let an Italian get that hungry. "Let's get that Amtrak French Toast I've heard so much about."

"Good idea," said Gus. Neither of them wanted to put clothes on, but the car steward was waiting for them so he could make up their room. So as the Silver Meteor pulled out of the station in Jacksonville, Florida, Gus and Lucy reluctantly got up and dressed for breakfast.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

"Welcome back to Florida!" cried Sunny Carlson, as she spotted Gus and Lucy as they walked from their train car to the West Palm Beach station.

"Sunny!" cried Lucy as she hugged the Korean-American first mate of the luxury yacht Andi's Dream. Meanwhile, Gus shook hands with the captain, Stan Carlson.

"How is married life treating you?" asked Stan.

"So far, so good," said Lucy as they headed over to baggage claim to get their bags. "For a wedding present, my darling husband gave me a tour of New York City in a checker cab with a stand-up comedian driving."

"Don't forget the rolling hotel," said Gus as they grabbed their suitcases, and a young man joined them.

"We really missed you guys," said Lucy. "I can't wait to bore you with wedding pictures."

"Yi told us that she wasn't going to show any pictures of her dress until you got down here," said Sunny.

"Then let's get to the boat," said Lucy.

They loaded their bags in a minivan marked for the Palm Beach Yacht Club Marina and headed through West Palm Beach and over the big bridge to Palm Beach and the Yacht Club. "This is a nice place!" gushed Lucy as they drove up to the club's marina. Many of the boats were as big or bigger than Andi's Dream. They stopped at a pier that was home to many large boats. Many of the boats had people aboard, relaxing, reading books and enjoying the sun. Some were in the nude.

"Here we are," said Stan and they climbed out of the van and gathered their bags and headed up the pier until they found the big Australian 72-foot-long yacht tied up and ready. On the stern it said, "Andi's Dream" and underneath that in smaller matching script it said "Jupiter, FL."

It was a beautiful afternoon in Palm Beach. The temperature was in the mid-eighties and a comfortable breeze was coming in off the Atlantic. It was a shocking comparison to Western New York with its cold, slushy weather. Lucy loved Western New York, the crazy people that come from there, and the warm summers. But the winters can be a trial. One year there will be all blizzards and subzero temps, the next year will be raining in the upper thirties. The only good that weather like that is for is huddling around the fire with your family.

"Welcome aboard!" called Stan as Lucy and Gus stepped on board Andi's Dream. They entered via the port side gunnel door on the lower section known as the cockpit. This is where the fishing and swimming happens. Gus saluted the American flag fluttering from the antenna array up on the bridge, and Lucy peered over the stern gunnel and studied the swimming platform.

"I'm going for a midnight swim tonight," said Lucy.

"We'll be offshore tonight and the waters will be warm," said Stan as he picked up their luggage along with another fellow. "We will put this in the master suite," and they disappeared into the dining area that Andi called the mezzanine. Gus attempted to follow them, but Sunny stopped him.

"You need to wait here," she said. When Lucy asked why they had to wait, Sunny said, "ancient tradition of the sea," said the Korean beauty.

Studying Sunny's mysterious smile, Gus could easily see where Sunny's daughter Yi-jin got her beauty from. Shortly, Stan and the other fellow joined them. "Gus, Lucy, this is our chef for the trip, Mark Furrows," said Stan. "He's a Culinary Institute graduate and a classmate of Yi's. He's been an executive chef up and down the treasure coast and Yi convinced him to staff Andi's Dream whenever she's not able to be here."

"Which, lucky for me, is most of the time," said Mark as he shook hands with Lucy. "Are you friends with Yi-jin?"

"Oh yes, she's having a good time tonight," said Lucy. "She's watching the twins, their eight-week-old brother, and their little cousin Cholly."

"So, what is this ancient tradition you mentioned, Sunny?" asked Gus.

Sunny smiled and took the control tablet which is connected to Andi's Dream systems and pressed her finger on the tablet screen. The horns that were mounted high on the roof of the bridge blew twice. "It starts now," she said. Soon, people started arriving from the different yachts docked around Andi's Dream. One of them wore a black shirt with a priest's Roman collar.

As the men and women gathered, the fellow with the collar stood up on the stairs to the mezzanine and said, "Friends, sailors, people from all over, just as casting off signifies the start of a journey, the act of placing a ring on your intended lover's finger signifies the start of a journey that will last the rest of your life. Join me in wishing August and Evangeline Didomissio fair winds and following seas! And if you run aground or otherwise become befuddled, please remember that your fellow sailors are all here for you."

There was a large round of applause, and the well-wishers shook hands with Lucy and Gus. There were stories and laughs and canapés provided by Mark. Lucy and Gus thanked them all, and they had a wonderful time talking about the boats and the seas for an hour, until the horn up above once again blew twice. "All ashore that's going ashore!" called Sunny, and the guests stepped ashore congratulating Lucy and Gus as they left.

"Wow," gasped Gus. "Do you remember any of their names?"

"The lady with the silver hair was named Silvia," said Lucy.

"They all had silver hair."

"No, some were platinum."

"That's an ancient tradition of the sea?" asked Gus.

"Andi got it a year ago... so it's not exactly a new tradition," said Sunny, as Stan eased the 72-foot-long yacht out of the marina.

Then Lucy noticed that the fish cleaning station was covered with bottle after bottle of wine and champagne. "She mentioned this part," said Lucy, as she began inspecting the bottles. "This is good stuff."

While Sunny iced down the champagne and Asti Spumante and Mark stocked the wine fridge, Gus picked up a bottle of Italian wine from the collection. "Lambrusco! My old friend!"

Lucy eyed the collection of wine bottles and said, "This should last us a week over on Nisi Arcadia."

"Leave it for Judge Nicoletta and it will pay your rent," laughed Sunny.

"Do you see Judge Atherton much?" asked Lucy.

"My girl, we are business partners. We're the go-betweens hauling John's customers out to Nicoletta's island for a week on the beach. She's running that place like a combination B 'n B and a Sandals resort, with less clothing."

"Wait, you said John's customers?"

"Paul and Andi are running the tourism business, but it's in John's name. He came up with the idea. It's now his retirement money."

"I didn't know that... I wonder if John knows about it," said Gus softly. "He never mentioned it at work."

"He may be embarrassed. There are unmarried couples in the mix that hire our services," said Lucy.

Gus nodded and said, "That's a possibility."

"Come on, I want to see my daughter!" gushed Sunny. As soon as they were able to take up a position offshore, Lucy linked her tablet to the big 48" TV in the saloon and played several videos she had taken and received of the three, Macy, Andi, and Yi practicing and singing. In the practicing shots, there was a lot of laughter. Quite often, they would sing with children in their arms. "Who is the little boy?" asked Sunny.

"That's Cholly, he's an orphan, his mom died of an overdose, and he only understands French, so John finally has a son."

"I'll bet he fought tooth and nail to get that kid," said Sunny.

"He sure did." The scene changed, and the girls were singing outdoors on a snowy evening. "Here's their public debut. Our friend Josh was their harmony coach, and they formed a barbershop octet and went singing to raise money for children's charity."

"They're good!" gasped Stan.

"She never sang before," said Sunny.

"Here we go," said Lucy as she changed to a new video. "Their big hit." She changed to the church's Christmas program. The children's nativity was merry mayhem as the twins, both dressed as men and wearing beards, hammed it up and Cholly worked his hardest to be an innocent scene stealer. John, still in a lot of pain, remained on the sidelines as Macy ran the production. But there show paused for the "Angel Music" as the kids were calling it.

Andi, Yi and Macy sang the French baroque song they worked so hard on. They were joined by John on the keyboard and Paul on his recorder. They sang "Quand Dieu naquit a Noël" and it was magical. "My God!" gasped Stan.

"I don't believe it!" said a shocked Sunny. "My baby can sing!" She paused to listen, then she asked, "What are they singing?"

"It's in French," said Lucy. "Quand Dieu naquit a Noël is a baroque Christmas carol. It's believed to be the first Christmas carol, and they are singing it in the style of the seventeen hundreds."

"They had been through so much last autumn, teaching themselves to sing that song was their therapy," said Gus. "Through it all, Yi was a rock. With the injuries, with the new babies, Yi was there constantly to help whenever a hand was needed."

Finally, they got to the video of the wedding. "Oh my god, you're so beautiful!" said Sunny to Lucy. "I knew this would happen; didn't I say a year ago that those two are alter bound?"

"We both did," said Stan.

Lucy said, "I was so excited, I didn't understand a word that John said."

"Same here," said Gus. "It was such a wonderful night."

"And I promised Yi that I would do this now. She didn't want to send you pictures the other night because she didn't want to upstage us," said Lucy. Sunny and Stan's phones chirped, and they got a text from Lucy with dozens of photos and a couple of videos attached.

By the time the show was over, the sun was setting, and it was time for dinner. As the sun set, Mark made a masterpiece of a wahoo that Stan caught earlier. When the sun had sunk below the horizon and the sky faded to black, Lucy and Gus got up from their lounge chairs and stepped up to the mezzanine where the table was set with candles (in hurricane lanterns) and Mark's Wahoo feast. He made wahoo sashimi for an appetizer, with wahoo tacos and sesame seared wahoo steak with pineapple chutney for the main course.

"That was incredible!" sighed Gus, and he leaned back in his seat after dinner.

"It truly was," sighed Lucy. "I don't know if I'll be able to float when we go swimming later."

"Yi selected this menu," said Sunny. "She made this last year. You guys had gone back earlier and Andi said you would have loved it."

"It was incredible!" gushed Lucy. She and Gus helped clear the table, and she helped Mark wash dishes because it's what Paul insisted on doing when he was served a sumptuous meal.

"Can I ask a question?"

"Sure."

"It's about Yi."

"I only see her eight or fifteen times a week," said Lucy with a smile. "What's your question?"

"This guy Kenny, is he..." Mark sighed. "Is he good for her?"

"If you're the jealous type, I'm not going to answer that regardless of the answer."

"No, I'm not the jealous type. I'm more like the big brother type, and I need to know if I should go up there and kick some ass."

Lucy sighed and thought of Kenny and Yi. What an unlikely pair they were. Lucy remembered seeing the tiny diamond ring on Yi's finger, a ring that did little to describe the work and sweat that Kenny spent to be able to buy it. She remembered the thrill that Yi radiated when she showed off that ring. Lucy patted Mark's arm and said, "What Yi and Kenny have is real, and she didn't realize it at first, but Kenny is the best thing in the world for her."

"Is that the truth?"

"Kenny is an amazing, hardworking man who will do whatever it takes to support his family. He and Yi love each other completely."

"That's good. I worry about her."

"They're planning to come down in February or March. Andi is setting up a cruise to Nisi Arcadia for her friends in Minnesota."

"I might have to see if Missus Atherton needs help in the kitchen when they're enjoying the beach life."

Lucy glanced at her phone and saw she had missed a message. "Speaking of Andi..." She looked at the phone and her eyes grew wide. Her jaw dropped, and she let out an ear-splitting screech that brought Gus running to the galley.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I got a text message from Andi... look!" she handed Gus her phone.

"I saw this coming," said Gus and he shook his head, then he smiled. "Damn, look at all the ribbons!" Lucy's phone showed a photograph of their friend and neighbor Josh Gravely on one knee in his dress blues, proposing to the beautiful, elegant Veronica vön Koster in her white sequined dress.

"Do you think John will let them get married after the Christmas program next year?" asked Lucy with a huge grin. It was a beautiful evening on the warm ocean, and they would soon be out of cell phone range of the mainland, so she sent off a congratulatory text message to Josh and Veronica.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

Flashing red and blue lights out shone the Christmas lights of Springville, NY, at least on Howard Avenue. Police cars from the Town of Concord PD, Erie County Sheriff's Office, New York State Troopers and two unmarked cars carrying FBI agents were parked in front and next to the big Victorian that housed the Jarecki family. The cars sat in silence, lights spinning, warning all to stay away. Occasional radio transmissions from the radio in one of the cars broke the frigid silence. The dark cloudless night became a frigid hell and the merciless stars bore down on the scene below and footprints left in the snow, telling the tale, froze solid, allowing crime scene investigators to look closely.

On the driveway and inside the big parlor, uniformed officers from several jurisdictions stood by. They knew there was little they could do; it was all up to the detectives now. The police officers stood about in small groups, being quiet, respectful of Andi's sorrow. Occasionally a police radio would squawk, squelch broke with a harsh rasp.

A small van found a parking spot on the crowded street and out stepped a short, dark-haired man and a tall, elegant black woman who was clutching a baby. They walked quickly, being careful of the treacherous ice, and strode past the police. "You can't go in there," said a policeman.

"My son's in there," said John Jarecki and they walked up to the front door where they were stopped by another policeman.

"Who is this?" demanded a policeman. "Do you know this man?"

Andi didn't look up, but when another law enforcement officer said, "That's the victim's brother, let them in," his words started Andi crying again. Macy dashed to Andi and soon Andi's tears were joined by her sister-in-law Macy's tears, and they clung to each other.

Cholly was upstairs with Sandy and Madeline, while Grandma tried to calm them. The little guy must have heard John's voice, and he dashed out of the twin's room and tried to climb down the stairs. That was impossible for Cholly in his current condition. The stairs were too tall and too steep for him; they looked so scary, so he sat at the top holding his arms out to John, crying pitifully. John saw the little man's anguish and dashed up the stairs to rescue his little boy. Cholly didn't know what was wrong. His cousins were sad and crying. That was enough for him, and this mountain of stairs kept him from his daddy.

John scooped up his little boy and held him tight, trying to make sense of the French/English/Babble that he cried. When the little guy calmed down a little bit, he carried Cholly to the twin's bedroom where Andi's mom Heather tried desperately to calm the girls.

"Poppa's gone!" wept Madeline over and over.

"Shhh... we know, but we have a house full of people who are trying to find him," said Uncle John.

"But he's not in the house!" insisted Madeline.

"I know, they're talking to people outside with their radios and cell phones," said John. He almost cursed his fate. He was now head of the family and had to remain strong for everyone's sake when all he wanted to do was cry like everyone around him.

Sandy wasn't articulating anything; she just hugged an ugly "stuffy" to her chest and was rocking back and forth moaning. "What's the matter, baby?" said Grandma Heather as she sat next to Sandy. "Tell me what is making you sad."

"WONKA!" cried Sandy, and she hugged her stuffed alien to her face and continued to weep.

Outside on the driveway, Kenny and Yi worked desperately to staunch the flow of blood from the bullet hole in Wonka's side. *Need more towels* insisted Yi and a tearful Kenny dashed into the house for water and cloth to make bandages while Yi remained with Wonka to comfort the poor animal. She was terrified of losing the poor dog. When they get Paul back, he was going to need Wonka more than he ever needed his support dog. Then Yi remembered something. *Call the vet*

Kenny paused in his search. *It's almost midnight*

*Call him, please! His number is on the fridge*

Yi's thoughts tasted terrified to Kenny, so he looked at the fridge magnets holding up the twins' artwork, and saw a magnet advertising "The Vet Vet, Serving Service Dogs for those that Served." With trembling hands, Kenny finally dialed the number on the third try. "The Vet Vet, Answering Service. Do you have an emergency?"

"My boss's dog has been shot."

"Is this a service dog?" asked the answering service.

*Tell them it's Wonka!* shrieked Yi in his mind.

"Yes, his name is Wonka."

"Wonka? Oh, damn..." Clearly Wonka was known to the Vet Vet. There was a click, and another voice came on the line, "Doctor Perot."

"Wonka, he's been shot!" Kenny was three wrong syllables away from completely losing it. He's been through seven levels of hell in the Army. He's seen men die after being run over by a truck, but he's never seen a friend shot before, and Wonka was a closer friend than most people he's ever known.

"Where is he now?" asked the veterinarian.

"Here, 289 Howard Avenue, he's outside on the driveway, he's lost a lot of blood."

"I'm on my way. I will be there in five minutes."

Kenny stepped into the library, where Andi and Macy sat in the rocking chairs that John made for Andi and Paul. A low fire burned in the fireplace and other than that, all lights were off. Kenny cleared his throat and Andi looked up. Kenny was soaked in blood. His hands, arms, shirt, and jeans were covered with Wonka's blood and she feared the worst. "No!" she gasped. "Please don't tell me..."

"He's still alive... the vet is on his way," said Kenny softly.

Andi couldn't lose someone else, and Wonka was everything to her girls. "How is he?" she finally said.

"He's panting, that means he's in a lot of pain but he's alive, we bandaged him as best we could..." Kenny looked over his shoulder and said, "The vet's here, I'll go talk to him."

"Tell the vet to do whatever it takes, whatever the cost," said Andi in a dead voice. "Wonka has to be here for Paul when he gets back."

"Yes ma'am," said Kenny. He headed back to the kitchen and out the kitchen door where the vet had just arrived and knelt to look at Wonka.

"Andi says to do whatever it takes," said Kenny.

"He's a good dog," said Doctor Perot. "Let's see if he has some fight left."

As the doctor began his examination of Wonka, Detective Charles Klafka was in the dark library talking to Andi. "The chief of the Concord PD has put Detective Gaulin and me on this case full time. We'll be giving you a full briefing in a few minutes and bring you up to speed on our preliminary findings."

As he was speaking, a uniformed cop came up and said, "The Mayor would like to speak with Mrs. Jarecki."

"No," said Andi. She looked up at the cop with hollow eyes and said, "No. Not today. He just wants to bloviate. I can't take it."

Somehow, Mayor Windecker wormed his way past the cops at the door and stepped into the library and said, "Mrs. Jarecki..."

"Shoot him!" Andi nearly screamed. "He does not have permission to be in this house!"

Detective Gaulin took the mayor by the arm and tried to lead him out of the house. "Come on Mr. Mayor, the lady wants to be left alone."

"Hey!" said Samael Windecker with an inappropriate grin. "I'm here to offer aid and comfort."

"Mister Mayor, don't make us get a restraining order!" said Charlie Klafka.

"Restraining order? Come on! I just want to comfort the widow." When Mayor Windecker said "Widow" Andi wailed in horror and clutched little Danny to her chest. Is this how her mom felt when Andi's dad was killed in Iraq?

"You are not welcome here," said John Gaulin, and he tried to rush the mayor to the door.

"I'm the mayor!" cried Samael Windecker, and he somehow slipped out of Detective Gaulin's grasp and approached the rocking chairs that Macy and Andi were sitting in. "I'm welcome everywhere!"

"Oh, for God's sake! If none of you cops have the balls to shoot him..." and Andi got up, and punched Mayor Windecker in the nose as hard as she could. He fell back in surprise, blood spraying, and she screamed, "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

While Mayor Windecker made a nuisance of himself, Dr. Perot had loaded Wonka up in his van and was getting ready to leave when Kenny noticed a uniformed policeman slip into the kitchen through the rear patio door. It wasn't a town cop or a county sheriff; he was wearing the green uniform of the Springville Park Police. Kenny quietly followed him into the house and up the back stairs. A few moments later, Yi's eyes popped open in surprise when Kenny's thoughts told her *There's a Park Cop in Doctor J's office*

She ran into the library and demanded, "Who is in charge here?"

"Me, why?" said Detective Klafka.

"Why is there a park pig digging around in Doctor Jarecki's office?" demanded Yi.

"Cuff him," said Detective Klafka, and he pointed at the mayor. "Forced entry, trespassing, attempted assault, Jimmy Hoffa, I don't care. I'm done fucking around with him." As Detective Gaulin cuffed the mayor, Detective Klafka followed Yi upstairs.

"You saw that, right? You saw her attack me," demanded Windecker as he was dragged out of the house.

"You mean, did I see a tiny girl holding a baby kick your ass with one punch?" asked Detective Gaulin. "I must have missed it. Tell me how it happened, Mister Mayor."

Yi led Detective Klafka up the grand staircase, then on the second floor straight to the back where the stairs to the attic were located. They crept up the stairs and found Kenny outside of Dr. Jarecki's office. He was hiding next to the open door into Doctor Jarecki's office, recording a park policeman with his phone. The cop was going through Paul's filing cabinet, and he had Paul's laptop under his arm.

"Find anything interesting?" asked Charlie Klafka in a loud voice. Park Patrolman Dennis Emerson looked up and smiled. He slammed the cabinet closed and drew his gun and aimed it at detective Klafka. "Whoa buddy," said Klafka. "Take it easy. Burglary is one thing. Threatening an officer, attempted homicide, that's something else."

Charlie Klafka backed up, both hands in the air, but Dennis advanced on him, grinning the whole time. He never said a word, but he kept his gun aimed at Charlie's head as he advanced. Just as he stepped out of Paul's office, Yi on the right side of the door grabbed his gun arm and pointed to the ceiling while Kenny on the left side of the door stepped up behind the intruder and put him in a choke hold.

"Drop the gun," snarled Kenny. "Drop it!" A choke hold is a very easy hold to apply on a person, and a simple biceps flex will squeeze off the carotid artery, cutting off the source of oxygen to the brain. In a matter of seconds, the victim will start to lose consciousness, and when applied too long, the victim's body will go into convulsions. "Drop it now!" but Kenny was thinking of choking him to convulsions.

*Jeezus Kenny!* thought a terrified Yi.

Slowly, Dennis Emerson released the gun and Yi put it on the ground and slid it toward Detective Klafka. "On your knees," snarled Detective Klafka, "Lace your fingers behind your head!" and Kenny released the park cop, took Paul's laptop and stepped back. As the detective cuffed the park cop, Kenny looked miserable.

"You should take me too," said Kenny.

"Why?" asked Klafka.

"Because I wanted to kill him, and I could have... I wanted to choke the life out of him so bad I terrified my fiancée."

"But you didn't. You controlled a natural impulse that any good man would have when exposed to human debris like this scum. That's the difference between us and these animals," said Charlie Klafka as he roughly yanked Dennis Emerson to his feet. "Who sent you up here? What were you looking for?" He searched through the cop's pockets, and he found several documents stuffed in Emerson's uniform shirt. "Industrial espionage? Is that why you kidnapped Doctor Jarecki?"

"I didn't kidnap anyone," said Dennis Emerson finally.

"Good luck convincing a jury of that," said Charlie Klafka. "There's still a death penalty for kidnapping and murder. A blind man could see how filthy you are." He shoved Emerson toward the stairs, and they headed downstairs.

*I'm so sorry...* Kenny bit his lower lip and said, "I thought I had that part of me controlled." He looked at his hands that were covered with Wonka's blood. "If you want to call it off, I will understand."

"No, Kenny no. I was shocked and scared, but I understand righteous anger." She kissed Kenny tenderly. "Let's go wash up. There's some peroxide down in the kitchen bathroom."

What a night this turned out to be. Yi and Kenny were babysitting the twins and Cholly while Paul, John, Andi, and Macy were at a dinner party with the babies. Andi's parents, Heather and Harold, walked up the street to Worzils for dinner while Yi and Kenny spent the evening with the kids who were still on a Christmas high. They had the kids and the big Newfoundland puppies, Chiot and Jolie, asleep in their sleeping bags under the enormous Christmas tree.

Heather and Harold came home after a leisurely beef on weck sandwich to a quiet house. The kids were asleep under the enormous tree, and Kenny and Yi were sitting on the love seat before a cheery fire in the parlor fireplace. They were kissing and conversing silently while Christmas music played on an acoustic guitar played softly in the background. "I'll put on coffee," whispered Harold. "Who wants espresso?"

"I'll show you how to make a proper cappuccino," said Yi, and she disappeared into the kitchen with Harold. In the kitchen she corrected Harold's attempt to make the espresso 'puck', but as they played with Paul and Andi's huge espresso machine, Yi was sure she saw movement in the back yard through the kitchen window.

Not long later, Paul and Andi came home. They had dropped John and Macy off at home and were going to host Cholly at his first overnight pajama party. "He'll be ok, as long as he has Chiot with him," said Macy and John agreed. John was against allowing that huge puppy into his family, but he caved when he saw how much Macy loved the furry black clown of a dog.

"He is un rappel, a reminder of my first life." Macy divided her life into four parts. Her first life was as a girl living a Cinderella existence in a tiny fishing village on the shores of the St. Lawrence River. She was told that the man she lived with and worked for was her father, but later she discovered he was her uncle. Her second life was that of a young fashion model, traveling the world and making a small fortune. Her third life was that of a theological academic. After being assaulted, she hid in the seminary for years and didn't come out until John led her to her fourth life as a wife, pastor, and now mother.

"He's a reminder of life in a fishing village?" John asked.

"Non, across the grande river, was a fabled, mystical land that called to me, a land that promised freedom."

"America?"

Macy gave that laugh that, for some reason, turns John on like nothing else. Nothing is more sexually appealing than his beautiful black wife naked with a laugh on her lips. "Non, silly. Newfoundland!"

Chiot and Cholly... the little curly headed orphan and the huge, fluffy black Newfoundland puppy bonded instantly as Andi said they would. A boy and his dog... they were in love with each other at first lick. Even Wonka, Paul's long suffering service dog, agreed and was now able to properly nap, because there were two Newfoundland puppies to capture the attention of Cholly and Andi's twin six-year-old girls, Sandy and Madeline.

Paul escorted Andi into the house and carried Danny in his arms. They were greeted with the sight of the three children and two puppies sleeping under the enormous Christmas tree. "What timing," whispered Heather as she took Danny from Paul. "Harold and Yi are making coffee."

"Sounds perfect," said Paul. He gave Andi a kiss, and said, "I'll be right back." He went back outside to put the van in the large 5 car garage.

Andi followed Heather into the kitchen that was lit with candlelight. She loved the holidays in this big, beautiful Victorian palace. She couldn't wait for Paul to get back inside so they could relax in a tub of hot water. Her feet ached from dancing so much, and her husband looked so dashing in his Air Force dress blues. How could she say no?

Then from outside there was a shout, a gunshot, a heart-breaking yelp of pain from Wonka, a revving engine. Car doors slammed and Paul was gone while Wonka lay bleeding in the snow. Andi's life crashed to a halt. When the realization that Paul was abducted became real, a horrible numbness filled Andi's universe. The only joy she got from this horrible evening was the sight of blood spurting from that creepy little bastard's nose.

Kenny and Yi scrubbed the blood off their hands with hydrogen peroxide, then went to check on Andi. They found Andi sitting in her rocking chair, staring at the decaying fire while Macy knelt on the floor behind her, trying to scrub something up from the ancient hardwood floor. "What's this?" asked Yi softly as she crouched down next to Macy.

"Mayor Windecker's blood," said Macy quietly.

*I'll get it* and Kenny turned around and went back to the kitchen and returned with the bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide and they had the stain removed shortly.

<><><><><>

Two blocks south at Worzil's Bar and Grille, Ayato Tanaka was getting ready to close down for the night. It was a quiet night. There were only a couple of the usual suspects at the end of the bar. Then Patrolman Derek Simmons of the Concord PD stepped in. "Hey, can I get a half dozen beef on weck?"

"Sure. Did you forget to pack your lunch?"

"Ha ha, very funny. Nah, there was a call. It's screwing up shift change. Sarge sent me to grab a few sandwiches to tide the boys over."

"How do you want them?" called Julissa from the kitchen. "Wet or dry?"

"Nice and juicy please," said Patrolman Simmons. His request was a signal to Julissa to dip the kimmelweck buns into the beef au jus, the traditional way to serve beef on weck.

"What call is that?" asked Ayato.

"Somebody snagged your neighbor. Hey, sarge asked me, is there any way you can stay open? The boys are going to need a John, and they don't want to bother the widow."

"Widow?" demanded Julissa Tanaka, as she stepped out from the kitchen.

"Well... you know how these things go. It's just a matter of time."

"My neighbor, right up here, the red brick ranch, right?" asked Ayato. The cop would not give him a name, so they had to play guessing games.

"No, the big old Victorian. The doctor, ya know?"

Julissa put a sack of beef on weck sandwiches on the bar, along with a couple of small containers of hot horseradish. "I'm going to go see Andi," said Julissa.

"Don't get in the way," said Ayato.

"Not me," and she gave Ayato a kiss, grabbed her hat and coat, and headed out. She saw the Vet Vet ambulance racing by. That was not a good sign. As she got closer to the house, she saw the mayor being led out in handcuffs. Good. That creepy little clown needs to spend some time at the iron bar Hilton. Then a few minutes later, a park policeman was being led out of the house in handcuffs. Figures.

She elbowed through the cops with a muttered "Just passin' through," and proceeded along the sidewalk until she reached the intersection of Howard and Second Street and turned right. Toward the back of the Jarecki property, the iron fence became chain-link and there was a gate in the fence. There were three cops puzzling over the gate and Julissa came up behind them quietly.

"So he hoists himself up on top of the gate and sits there, and carefully jumps down onto the footprints of the first jamoke," said Cop A.

"That would work if there weren't all this fancy ornamental iron on top of the gate looking to slice you a new asshole," said Cop B.

"Then how do ya get into the yard without opening the gate?" asked Cop C. The snow was a couple of feet deep and there was no evidence in the snow that the gate was swung open in either direction.

"Hey fellas," said Julissa.

"What's up Julie?" said Cop A.

"I just made a bunch of Beef on Weck. The sergeant is handing them out."

"Hey thanks Julie," said Cop C, and the three of them headed to the front of the house.

When they turned the corner, Julissa took a flashlight out of her pocket, then studied the gate. The snow was untouched on either side of the gate, meaning the cop was right; it was never swung open. She grabbed the gate and pulled straight up. It lifted straight up out of its hinges. She stepped into the yard, planting her feet in the previous footprints in the snow, but couldn't lower the gate back onto its hinges without turning around. But if she just turned to her side and kept her feet in the footsteps, she could guide it into place.

She then followed the footprints into the yard, and they led to Paul's grape arbor. Her flashlight showed several sets of footprints. She found the snow was brushed off the white iron furniture under the arbor. Clearly, there were a few folks that smoked because there were several cigarette butts in the snow. They must have sat out here for a long time. She identified a Marlboro butt and a Camel butt and maybe one or two more... why were they lying on the snow and not in an evidence bag?

From the grape arbor, the footprints went up to the back door of the garage, where it looked like they were trying to pick the lock. The doorknob looked cheesy, and they probably wasted a lot of time trying to pick it, but she knows Paul. The actual door lock is on the inside. He would not risk his beloved 1972 Mustang to a fifteen-dollar Home Depot door lock. There was a heavy deadbolt lock that could only be opened from inside the garage.

She followed the steps around to the front of the garage where the shooter shot Wonka and the Jarecki family's life fell apart. With a sigh, Julissa walked up to the back door and entered the house unmolested. She kicked off her shoes, took off her jacket and walked through the kitchen to the library, the room that she guessed Andi would sit in. It was as far away from Paul's Christmas tree as possible.

"How did you get in here, Julie?" came the gruff voice of Detective Charles Klafka.

"Probably the same way that idiot park cop got in. Let me guess, a sack of sandwiches showed up and everyone went and got a sandwich." Julissa grinned. "That angry glare means I'm right. Let me guess, Sam Windecker is getting released right now because nobody thought to tie his antics to the park cop that you hauled out in handcuffs. Where did he get? The basement?"

"Paul's office in the attic."

"Fuck!" she pulled Detective Klafka off to the side, "Damn it Charlie, we're not talking about a used car salesman, Paul Jarecki is registered to run for mayor against the horse's ass that helped a member of his gestapo slip into his opponents house."

Charlie Klafka's jaw clenched in anger. He took his cell phone and made a quick call. He turned away from Julissa and muttered on the phone, then when he finished his call, he turned around and said, "There, I hung my dick out. He's not going anywhere. Now what?"

"Now we act like cops and gather evidence. What did Herman Goering get out of Paul's office?" asked Julissa.

"I don't know, it looks like..." Charlie Klafka pulled out his phone and looked at a picture that he took of a document that he pulled off of Dennis Emerson. "It looks like a list of donors."

Julissa looked at the picture and smiled. "Yes, and no. Yes, I'm sure many people on this list have or will be donating to his campaign, but this is... see the file name in the upper left, MRSCC1201.docx?" Charlie looked at her in confusion. "I know you know this. You're there every week... Membership Roster Springville Congregational Church from December first." When Charlie looked skeptical, Julissa said, "He is head deacon, the chairman of the board. It is his job to know who was a member of the church... oh look! Charles Klafka, 103 North Long Street."

"Don't be so smug," growled Charlie.

"What are you going to do, fire me again? Come on, bring your pet monkey." She pulled her boots and coat back on, then led Detectives Klafka and Gaulin out to the back yard and walked back to the gate in the fence. "Your officers were trying to figure out how more than one person got past that gate without opening it." She walked up to the gate and lifted it off its hinges. "Doesn't anyone own a house anymore? This is chain-link fence 101!"

"Julie, they're not detectives. Their job was to make sure nobody else came through that gate."

"I came through it," she said. "Come on." She showed the detectives how several men crept through the back yard to the grape arbor and waited under the arbor for Paul to arrive. "Check out the cigarette butts," she said, pointing them out with her flashlight.

"How do you know it's not from the residents?" asked John Gaulin.

"A cardiologist and a pulmonologist sitting in the back yard on a winter night with a pack of Marlboro Red? Seriously?"

"What about the governess?"

"Yi? A Culinary institute trained chef burn out her taste buds on a Camel? I don't know for sure, but I'm going to bet against that." She led them to the garage and showed them the scratches from somebody trying to pick the lock on the rear door. "They probably wanted to jump him when he put the van in the garage, but this lock and a chocolate lab foiled that." She followed the footprints toward the front of the garage, where the prints got lost in the confusion. "Wonka spots an intruder, jumps. Paul shouts and they grab him and as they're stuffing him in the get-away car, someone shoots the dog. You were so busy concentrating on the get-away vehicle you never looked beyond the driveway."

"SHIT!" swore Charlie Klafka. He's not a bad cop. In fact, he's a damn good cop. Unfortunately, he was overwhelmed by this and was training a brand-new detective. "Gaulin, get these cigarette butts to the lab ASAP and try to get DNA off of them. Then get me a roster of the Springville Park paw patrol. I want a list of every cop that has had academy training."

"Then what?"

"Arrest everyone else for impersonating an officer."

"What have you told Andi yet?" asked Julissa, as they walked back to the house.

"Nothing yet."

"Fine, then I'll tell her."

"Julie, wait!" called Detective Klafka, but Julissa headed straight into the kitchen entrance to the house. They returned to the house and found Andi and Macy in the library, rocking gently. The fire had burned down and was little more than glowing embers. Julissa knelt down in front of Andi and said softly, "Where's John?"

Andi looked around the dark room as if she had just woken up. Macy said, "He's upstairs with the twins."

"I'll get him, and we'll give you a briefing. Why don't we sit at the table?" Julissa went upstairs and found John, Heather, and Harold sitting on folding chairs in the twins' room. John was softly strumming the guitar. In the bed, the twins and Cholly slept along with Chiot and Jolie, who were snuggling together in a furry ball. On the ceiling, the stars and planets slowly circled, projected by a device on a nightstand.

"Come downstairs, we're going to have a briefing," said Julissa softly.

John finished the song he was playing, then slowly headed downstairs, followed by Harold and Heather. They were all soon sitting around the dining room table where the two FBI agents were setting up their equipment. The fireplace in the dining room was rarely used, so Paul had put an electric insert in the fireplace for Christmas. The insert looked and sounded like an actual fire. Andi noticed that Julissa from Worzil's was seated at the table. John and Macy sat on either side of Andi, while Heather stood behind her and placed a hand on Andi's shoulder.

"Here," said Yi as she placed a handful of vitamins in Andi's hand and gave her a glass of water.

"What is it?" muttered Andi.

"Vitamin C, D, A, and Magnesium. They help with stress." There was also an Ambien in there, which should help Andi get some sleep. Andi took the pills and washed them down with water, then looked at Danny. Andi was still clinging to Danny like he was a life raft and she didn't dare take her eyes off of him lest he disappear too. The little guy was awake and looking around. Somehow, Danny knew that something was wrong, and he was huffing, getting ready to cry.

"Ok, we are still piecing the puzzle together," said Detective Klafka. "This is what we have. Somebody wanted Paul, and they weren't interested in anyone else. At some point during the evening, several men entered Jarecki's yard and waited under the grape arbor for Doctors Paul and Adrianna Jarecki to return home. They attempted to break into the garage. We believe they wanted to grab Paul in the garage, but we do not know why. Since they couldn't get into the garage, they came around the outside of the garage and grabbed him in the driveway. When Wonka tried to stop them, they shot the dog and left with Dr. Jarecki."

"What about the mayor? What about the cop in the attic?" asked Macy.

"That is still puzzling me," said Detective Klafka. "Right now, I believe the mayor had nothing to do with the abduction. He's an arrogant, opportunistic little bastard and I believe he was using the confusion to steal campaign information. If I find evidence that shows he acted in consort with the kidnappers, I will personally pull the lever on his gallows."

"What's the big deal?" asked Macy, who ignored politics of any sort.

"This is a special election," said John Gaulin. "When Mayor Hardey had a heart attack and retired, Windecker was chair of the village board and took over for Hardey. This is a special election to replace Mayor Hardey on a permanent basis."

"If no one runs against Windecker, he will be the sole candidate and win by default," said John.

"Paul will win," said Andi sleepily.

"We all hope he'll be back in time for this," said Charlie Klafka.

"I'll do it for him till he gets back," said Andi, and she got up and left the room. Macy followed her sister-in-law up the stairs to her bedroom, where Andi lay down with Danny and fell asleep.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

There was no word. Nothing came for the beleaguered Andi who just sat with her children and fretted. Her house, which she adored, was now a prison that trapped her inside with two FBI agents. She was sentenced to wait for a phone call, or news of Paul, who was on the outside somewhere. She kept thinking that she had to be doing something... there was more to her life than feeding a baby and waiting for him to wake up and feed again, wasn't there?

Yi kept the twins busy, but it was hard to keep them from crying. In the end, Andi and her babies found respite in the living room, the room that was furnished to look exactly like Paul's parent's apartment in Cheektowaga NY. He did that as a joke, to amuse his parents when they moved in with him, and his mother, Katarina, loved it. One evening after working at the dealership, he came home and stepped into the living room and there was mom, on the couch knitting. Next to her in the easy chair was Dad reading the Buffalo Evening News while on the TV was the WKBW Channel 7 News at 5. Paul was suddenly transported back in time to his childhood, he was eleven and this was the scene that greeted him every afternoon at this time.

His parents were so happy with this practical joke. Paul had filled the room with furniture that they gave to John when he and Macy married. He had it refurbished back to new and his parents just adored the room. He even found an aluminum Christmas tree and color changing spotlight for the Christmas season.

Andi sat in the living room, completely numb, staring at the silver Christmas tree as it slowly rotated. Normally, it would sparkle from the sunlight coming through the window, but it was cloudy and dreary. It was one of those winters where it would snow, then partially melt, then freeze solid and everything was covered with ice.

"Take Jolie and Chiot outside," said Andi. "They need to go potty."

"Ok," groaned Sandy and she disappeared with Madeline and silent little Cholly. They came back a few minutes later wearing a jumble of mismatched mittens, hats, and boots. At least Cholly couldn't mix up his winter clothes with somebody else. They took the dogs out to the backyard where, despite their emotional agony, they had fun. Puppies can do that for people.

Andi looked up and saw that it was snowing again. Paul is going to be cold. All he was wearing was his dress blue uniform, and he complained it was cold without a proper overcoat. Paul was going to need a sweater. Andi flipped through a list of patterns and found one she liked and was sure Paul was going to like. A nice warm cardigan. She looked through her huge stock of yarn and found that she didn't have enough gray, which is what a cardigan sweater demands (in her eyes), but she had more than enough of Ford Racing Blue.

Andi picked up her needles and went to work.

In the kitchen, John and Macy were quietly arguing in French. "Should we move in to help Andi?" John asked.

"You want to move in to help yourself," said Macy. "To feel close to Paul."

John glared at Macy. How dare she be right? And she was quick out the gate with the killing shot. "You're right, but they need us."

"They don't need us sleeping in their house and eating their food," said Macy. "Andi has her mom and dad. What more could she want until Paul returns?"

"Her only sister," said John.

Macy shook her head. He returned with a kill shot himself. She wanted to sit on his lap and let him comfort her, but he had so many braces and bolts in his hips and legs that anyone bigger than Cholly would be too much weight and cause him so much pain. "I will go look in on her," she said.

"Wait," he called. "Sunday... I don't know what to do. I don't know if I can get through the sermon."

"We will get through it," whispered Macy.

John mostly 'winged' his sermons. It was how they were taught in seminary. Gather your notes and study the source material, but the sermon itself was just a page of bullet statements to remind you of what to say. John was a natural, and he far surpassed his instructor, Macy, in delivering a sermon. But now his brother's kidnapping was foremost on his mind. His head deacon was kidnapped and his #2 deacon was on his honeymoon. Who could he turn to for help? Macy needs to sit with Andi. It's where she always sat. Andi would be comforted by the feeling of sameness. "I need to think," said John.

"Ok," said Macy, "I'll check on Andi." They kissed and John got his coat on. He always did his best thinking when he went for a walk. Macy walked through the parlor and saw that the twins and Cholly were playing with their puppies, Chiot and Jolie, and they were making excited plans to take Jolie to school for Show and Tell. They were officially studying in the third grade and even then their math skills exceeded those kids, but the third grade didn't have Show and Tell. Their reading was second grade level, so they took reading in a second-grade class which didn't have Show and Tell either. Their penmanship and social skills were still almost nil, so they spent the morning in kindergarten where they dominated Show and Tell. They even brought Cholly in for show and tell one morning. Sandy showed him as an orphan and Madeline showed him as a cousin.

It was only confusing if you didn't know the twins.

Macy laid her beautiful little daughter Katarina next to sweet little Daniel in the swinging cradle that Gus made Andi for Christmas. He also made one for Macy. He had started those projects the day that the girls announced they were expecting... eleven months and a thousand tears ago. Without a word Macy pulled out her knitting, and she sat next to Andi and began to knit something herself. They listened to gentle piano music as they knit, letting the repetition of the needles and yarn transport them somewhere that didn't hurt.

John wandered through the streets of Springville, wondering what happened to the sidewalk plow. The village had a little tracked plow for plowing sidewalks, especially in front of houses where the homeowners were too infirm to shovel their sidewalks. The snow crunched and squeaked under his footsteps as he walked. It was a frigid day. His breath hung in the still air and he knew his glasses will frost over the moment he goes indoors.

John found himself in the Argentine section of the village, where tiny "shotgun" houses were built for the railroad workers who were laid off years ago when the B&O railroad was taken over by the C&O. Springville was no longer an industrial village, so the railroad was not needed as much and the workers were let go. Today, their little homes are now low income housing and one train a day from the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg railroad polishes the rails.

There was a commotion in front of a familiar house. Three men wearing Park Police green uniforms were harassing a homeowner... it was Amelia Hernandez and Dexter Humboldt's house. John walked up to the arguing group and Dexter said, "Pastor John! We've been trying to reach your brother. He's our lawyer."

"What's going on?" asked John.

"They're trying to throw me out!" said Amelia.

"Hey buddy, I'm just trying to serve this notice," said one of the park policemen. "Butt out."

"Officer, I assist their legal counsel. May I look at the notice you're serving?" said John. He clearly did not say he was a legal counsel, but someone with poor listening skills may think he is. The village cop did not have sharp listening skills in the least and handed the paper to John. "Hmmm. This is an eviction notice, but the document was not filled out properly. It doesn't list the property owner, who is Miss Hernandez. Tell me, how can a property owner evict themselves?"

"Look, we're just here to deliver a summons, buddy."

"First, this isn't a summons, that's something completely different. This is an improperly filled out eviction notice and not worth the paper it's printed on. And second, I asked you a question. You could show a little respect and answer it." John's voice was stern. He was scolding these men and Dexter, who has known John since the day he came to Springville, was shocked at his tone. He's never heard John speak like this before.

"She's being evicted for non-payment of village taxes," snarled the cop.

"She's a disabled veteran. The village does not require disabled veterans to pay property taxes. And you don't evict a property owner from their own property," said John.

"You need to step aside, pal," said the larger officer. His nametag said Oglethorpe.

"Oglethorpe? Like the evil hockey player from the movie Slapshot?" Now John was having a hard time not laughing. "Officer, you need to keep in mind that you are a village park policeman. Outside of a village park, your powers are nonexistent. On a scale of Law Enforcement agencies, you fall somewhere between a meter maid and the dog that the dog catcher is trying to catch." John ripped the eviction notice in half.

That's when Oglethorpe punched him in the gut.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

"Officer Prouse, welcome back to the force," said Chief Daniels. He handed Julissa her gold shield and her sidearm.

"It's Tanaka, and I just want to find my neighbor," said Julissa as she clipped her badge to her belt and put her side arm on her right hip. She carried the Glock G17 Gen 5. It wasn't a big gun, but if you were hit, there would be no doubt in your mind that you were hit. "The village has fallen to crap and the only man in town that's doing something about it was kidnapped." Chief Daniels glared at her until she amended her statement. "...has disappeared."

That's the problem with this. They have to handle Paul's disappearance like a missing man because there was no witness and there's been no ransom demand. Stupidity like this gives the kidnappers at least a day's head start. It's now day two and still nothing. "What about Paul's cell phone?"

The room grew oddly quiet. "Well?" Julissa demanded. Sometimes being a detective in a small town is so Andy Griffith.

"We got a signal from it," said Detective John Gaulin. "The phone was found in a truck stop garbage can in York, Pennsylvania."

"York PA? There's no way to get there from here," said Julissa. She was almost right. There was no direct route from Buffalo to York, PA. The kidnappers had to switch routes almost constantly to get there from Buffalo. "If they were sticking to the back roads to avoid us, they blew it. It will only slow them down. Do we have the phone's data?"

"Detective Prouse... Tanaka, I have a different assignment for you."

"I..." Julissa thought and remembered that her temper got her bumped off the squad years ago. "Yes, chief," she said with a sigh.

Just then, a young uniformed officer knocked on the chief's door and stuck his nose in. "Mayor Windecker just ordered the park police to arrest John Jarecki."

"Thank you." The chief turned to Julissa and said, "That's your assignment. I want Mayor Windecker to have the very, very best year of his life and I want you to provide it to him. If someone is near the good mayor and they park outside of the painted lines, I want to see a ticket on that car. I don't care what the stew bum next to him does, mopery, creeping with the intent to crawl, failing to pass go and collect two hundred bucks. I don't care. I want you to nail him. We want Mayor Windecker to have the most crime free year of his life."

Julissa realized he wasn't talking about people around the mayor. He was ordering her to harass the mayor with the law. "Isn't that police harassment?" asked Julissa.

"What's your point?" asked Chief Daniels. "I want that smug little bastard to know that the good times are over. I want him and his petty gestapo to suffer. Are you the one who can make that happen?"

Julissa grinned and said, "Just give me a partner who can keep up with me and step back."

"You get a rookie detective, Skip Morris."

Julissa looked at her partner and shook her head sadly. "A black cop named Skip?"

"A German hausfrau named Tanaka?" asked Skip.

"You got balls to say that, kid," said Julissa. "You know you're going to pay for that... and I'm Dutch."

"I dare ya."

Julissa turned to Chief Daniels. "He'll do."

They headed out to their vehicle, a Ford Explorer, and Skip said, "Uh, I drive."

"Look, when I shoot you in the ass you can drive the ambulance, ok?"

"Damn, you are tough," said Skip with a grin. He was worried about getting assigned to a female senior detective. This old bird has balls, and he liked that. "What's your story?"

Julissa shrugged. "Twenty years Air Force Office of Special Investigations. I got sick of it when they put me undercover to investigate an Air Force Major whose records and nuclear stockpile inventory were just too damn good. They were sure he was dirty and covering for a corrupt commander, but they were both clean as a whistle. Someone had it in for them and sicked the OSI on them and the OSI played along. So I put in my walking papers, married the guy I was investigating, and moved to Springville."

"Wait, what did he say when you told him you were investigating him?"

"Shit," said Julissa with a grin. "I was the best. I took down dumb shits that were sending snowplows home and reselling them... fucking snowplows! I got assigned to crawl up Ayato Tanaka's asshole with a magnifying glass and on day three he shook my hand and called me 'Lieutenant Colonel Prouse.' I knew I was never going to get anything from him even if he was dirty so I went ROAD and enjoyed the easy life for two years then retired. We moved to Springville, bought Worzils and I played cop for a few years with the Concord PD until the Meyer Walker case. I pissed the chief off so bad he did me a favor and fired me."

Skip knew what ROAD status was: Retired On Active Duty. It meant she wasn't even pretending to work anymore. But he didn't know the case she mentioned. "What's the Meyer Walker case?"

"Meyer Walker was one of those big time legal types that worked in some skyscraper in Buffalo, but he owned a cabin out in the woods out on Genesee Road. He had a habit of finding young girls or boys. I don't think he even cared what they were, and taking them to his cabin and raping them, then dumping them tied up in some farmer's field where they would be found dead of exposure. I had him, I had him clean to rights and the fucking judge said that there wasn't sufficient evidence to bring him to trial. Not even four days later, a hiker reports hearing screams from Walker's cabin and when we got there, he had three dead teenagers and was busy cutting up number four. I said, 'drop the knife' and he came at me. He made it halfway to me before he died. So, I said 'I told ya so' enough to get my ass shit-canned. I cooled off and played bartender for a few years and was really getting into the good life when some dumbass kidnaped a close friend."

"And you think you're going to kill that perp?"

"NO!" said Julissa. "Of course not... killing the perp is off the table, no matter how much he begs me to end it."

"Damn! They said you were cold."

"Sweetie, you haven't seen me angry yet." Julisa swung into the Village Hall parking lot and saw a Jeep Renegade parked in a handicap spot. She flipped open her notebook and looked up the license plate number and grinned. "When somebody pisses you off, always write down their license plate number," she told Skip. "It saves time." She got out and walked around the car and then picked up her hand held radio. "Dispatch, two seventeen."

"Go ahead two seventeen."

"We have a signal 88 behind the Springville village hall. Plate number is Adam David William two four one two. And please prioritize, this spot is needed for a disabled veteran."

"Roger two one seven, tow truck is on its way."

She got back in and parked in a 'Police Only' parking spot. "Who's the disabled veteran that needs that spot?" Skip asked.

"Me."

"You? You're a disabled veteran?"

Julissa tapped her earlobe. "Tinnitus. Ten percent. Let's go find my pastor." They walked into the Springville Park Police office and said, "I need a prisoner..." she opened her notebook and said, "John Jarecki," mispronouncing his last name horribly. She pronounced it Jar-eki. Most people in town knew that it's not pronounced like it's spelled. It's pronounced "yer-ET-ski."

"Hang on," said the desk sergeant. She stepped through a door behind her, then came back. "What do you need him for?"

"County wants to have a word with him. Something about a missing man report."

"Be right with you..." soon John was led out by the sergeant. He was in handcuffs and it looked like he had a black eye forming.

"Hey toots," said Julissa to the village desk sergeant. "If you want those cuffs, get them now, otherwise they're mine, and it's date night, ya know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," chuckled the desk sergeant. While she was taking the cuffs off of John's wrists, Julissa touched her forefinger to her lips, signaling John to keep quiet. When the desk sergeant was done, Julissa put her cuffs on John loosely and said, "Come on, the chief wants to talk with you."

Julissa and Skip led John out of the Village hall and to their Explorer. "What happened hon?" asked Julissa as she took the cuffs off John.

"They sent a couple of park police over to Amelia Hernandez's house and gave her a fake eviction notice. I tore the eviction notice up and told them that you can't evict the property owner. They didn't like that and used me for a punching bag."

They got him into the back seat of the Explorer and Julissa picked up a chunk of ice from the sidewalk and handed it to John. "Hold that to your eye."

She got in the driver's seat and they waited until the big flatbed truck had the mayor's Jeep Renegade tied down and heading out before they backed out of their spot. Just as they were preparing to pull out, Mayor Windecker stepped out of the building and looked around. He dashed up to Skip's window and tapped on it. "Hey! Did you see my car in that parking space?"

"Car? No sir, I don't remember seeing a car in there at all."

"Somebody stole my car!" shouted Mayor Windecker.

"Can you describe it?" asked Skip.

"It is a 2023 black Jeep Wrangler Willys Sport 2 door."

"And do you have the license plate number, sir?"

"No, I don't remember it."

"Not much that I can do without the license plate number. If you can dig that up and call it in, they'll be able to get a BOLO out on it, but without that number, the call might get ignored."

"God damn it!" shouted the mayor, and he dashed back into the building.

Julissa looked over at Skip and said, "you're going to be all right, kid." Then she looked at John in the rear view. "You ok hon? Are we taking you home?"

"Paul's house," he said sadly. He now had an idea for his sermon. It was appropriate, but he hated himself for it.

John told Julissa and Skip what happened in the past, Dexter finding a village cop leaving his hat and pistol near an opening in their house's skirt, and Julissa frowned. "Sounds like there's something in that house that they want, and they want to get in there and search for it," said Skip.

"Ya think? The question is what," said Julissa.

"Probably that cash box that Paul found under Dexter's bed," said John.

"What?" Julissa stopped the SUV and turned around. "What are you talking about?"

"Paul found a cash box under the floorboards in the house and they've been trying to get to that damn thing ever since we fixed her house up."

"What was in it?" asked Julissa.

"Don't know."

"Where did he put it?"

"Don't know."

"What do you know?"

"I know that I'm going to give a very nasty sermon with a black eye."

They pulled into the Jarecki driveway and there was a van there with the side doors open. Kenny and Yi were carefully getting a bundle wrapped in blankets out and Kenny carried it like it was the most precious thing in the world. An excited Yi danced ahead of him and opened doors for him as he carried his precious cargo in the house, followed by a smiling man.

"Sandy! Madeline! We have a friend for you!" called Yi, and the twins came tearing out of the Library where they were teaching Cholly to ride a big wheel tricycle.

The twins saw the load that Kenny was gently setting on Wonka's bed in front of the fireplace and shrieked. "WONKA!" they cried. "MOMMA! WONKA'S HERE! HIS TAIL WORKS TOO!" The chocolate lab lay on his bed in front of the fire, his tail thumping with every hug and pat he received from the girls, but he did not try to get up.

Andi saw the poor old dog laying in front of the fire and sighed, "Oh Wonka!" and she sank down to her knees and the tears she thought were gone were back. "We were so worried about you."

The veterinarian gave his instructions for Wonka's care to Yi, who was the only one paying attention to him, and he handed Yi the pill bottles for Wonka because Andi was on the floor hugging Wonka and letting him lick her face. "He's still seriously injured. Keep his water intake to a minimum and change the dressing on his stitches. He didn't lose any major organs; the bullet punctured his lungs so don't get him too worked up. Breathing is still an issue with him."

"We will take extraordinary care of him," said Yi.

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The FBI agents that had set up their command post in the formal dining room were respectful of the family's misery. Every morning Andi would wake up from her drugged slumber and stumble down the stairs to ask the agents if they've heard of anything over the night. "No, Missus Jarecki. We have heard nothing." They had coached her on to what to expect when the demands came in. "They'll ask for a round number, one million, ten million, fifty million, a number that ends in zero or five." Andi was in contact with the firm that does Paul's accounting.

"If we liquidate everything, houses, land, boat, and business, we can get five hundred million dollars easily, but that would take a long time. Also, did Paul tell you the public valuation of your assets?"

"One hundred fifty-seven million dollars," said Andi.

"Right. That's what we let the public think you're worth. If someone demands that number, they just looked you up on Wikipedia or Who's Who." The entire conversation made Andi nauseous, so she said goodbye and sat down on the floor next to Wonka and continued to knit.

New Year's Eve was a silent, sad event. Andi remembered fondly the party they had on their yacht the year before. She spent the evening with her parents, going over pictures from the previous year. Then, sadly, she went back to knitting and worked on Paul's new sweater until she fell asleep on the couch. Knitting had become the only respite she gets from the horror her life had become. Andi hasn't been on the yacht since that trip and she's been aching to go again.

On New Year's Day, Yi took the twins to feed the chickens and collect eggs and came back with a large basket full. Julissa and Ayato Tanaka stopped by and Yi made breakfast for everyone, including the two town cops and the two FBI agents that sat waiting in the formal dining room. For many, it was the first Huevos Rancheros they ever had and, according to Heather and Harold, Yi knocked it out of the park. Julissa stayed close to Andi and asked her a few questions about Samael Windecker, but Andi didn't know why he would act so awful to them. "Do you know anything about a cash box that was found at Amelia Hernandez's house the day you guys fixed it up?"

"No, everything they brought back is still in the white whale," said Andi.

Julissa frowned. She's peeked in the white whale. The camper top was locked and through the window it looked like there were a lot of power tools inside of it.

Later that day, a call came. "We have Paul Jarecki and we want one hundred fifty-seven million dollars in gold and bitcoin."

Andi was excited at first, but then she shook her head. The FBI agent at the controls of the recording and tracking devices gave her a questioning look, but she just leaned toward the speaker/mic and said, "I want to talk to Paul first."

"He's asleep."

"I'll wait," said Andi, and a moment later the line went dead. She looked at the FBI agent and said, "he didn't have Paul. He had a Wikipedia page." The agent nodded and went back to typing whatever he was typing into his laptop.

On January second, it took Heather, Howard and Macy's combined efforts for Andi to get dressed and go to church with them. "I don't want to see anyone," groaned Andi.

"But they want to see you. They want to tell you that they support you," said Heather.

"Please come," whispered Macy. "I need your support... John and I have been arguing horribly ever since he was arrested."

"All I can do is hold your hand," said Andi, sniffing back some tears that were threatening to come.

"That's all I want."

Church felt weird and alien to Andi. It had been a week since she was in the church and back then they were a family, filled with holiday spirit and looking forward to the new year. Now she felt like she and her twins had been cast adrift. She wondered if this was how Gus felt when his wife, Tina, died. They made their way through the crowd that reached out and touched her, terrified of what was going through her mind, and self-loathing for not knowing what to say.

They took their seats in the pew that was the third from the front, where Macy and Andi always sat. Their infants cradled in their arms, the twins and Cholly itching for Sunday school to start. They wanted to share the tales of Chiot and Jolie the wonder dogs. Cholly was especially excited because being with the other kids was fun. It was a fun he had never experienced before.

Bud Chance, one of the older deacons, read the announcements, then Dante Reese led the congregation in several hymns. Following that, Hester Willoughby led the children back to the classrooms for Sunday School lessons. That's when John appeared before his congregation, and they all gasped. It was the first time Andi had seen him since Wonka returned home. He had several scratches on his face and a black eye.

It was the first sermon of the year for John, and he tried to set a tone for the year to come. He hoped that wasn't the tone that he wanted the year to take this day, because the tone in his heart was dark. Sadly, neither Gus nor Paul was here to guide him. He started on a light note. "I want to thank you all for letting us hijack our Christmas Eve ceremony again. First our Head Deacon, Paul married the woman of his dreams, Andi, and this year, our assistant head deacon, Gus married the woman of his dreams, Lucy. If this trend keeps up..." He paused, then, spotting Kensington Johnson in the crowd, said, "Kenny, do you and Yi have any plans for next Christmas eve?"

When the laughter died down, John looked angry. "It's said that a Conservative is a Liberal whose only daughter just turned fourteen." There was some laughter, but John didn't deliver that line as a joke. "It is also said that all a good man has to do to let evil prevail is to do nothing. On Wednesday night my brother was kidnapped from his own home and I Did Nothing." There must have been quite a few people who didn't get the word that Paul was kidnapped because there were gasps of shock throughout the church.

"Where was I?" John continued. "I was asleep in my bed, unaware or maybe ignoring that evil stalks the streets of Springville, NY. While the town police, the county sheriffs, and the state troopers tried to find Paul, our village mayor snuck into Paul and Andi's house and acted like a clown. While he did that and distracted the legitimate police, a member of his private gestapo rifled Paul's office and absconded with a list of all your names and addresses, and with Paul's laptop. Thankfully, Kenny Johnson and Yi-jin Carlson stopped him, but this was our mayor!"

He looked around the crowd and had their rapt attention. "This black eye, these scratches are courtesy of Mayor Windecker's Park Police Gestapo. They tried to evict a homeowner from their home without cause other than they wanted to search the house without providing a reason or obtaining a warrant. I informed them that their type of public relations is better suited for Stalinist Russia than modern day Springville, and in return they beat me and threw me in jail charged with inciting a riot."

John had them in the palm of his hand. "I know... I know I should be speaking on Corinthians. I promised last week a study of First Corinthians, but this... With Paul missing, Samael Windecker is running unopposed for mayor of Springville. I'm not accusing him of kidnapping Paul, but he is taking advantage of the situation. I cannot do nothing. He and his cronies must be removed from Springville. Monday is the last day to apply to run in the January 21st Special Election for mayor. Therefore, I wish to announce that..."

"NO!" John was interrupted by a shout from the back. It was Kenny Johnson. "No sir, you cannot run for mayor. By the by-laws of this church, you cannot hold public office of any kind as our pastor."

"I've got to do something!" John sounded desperate. "I can no longer stand by idly. The billboards are up and the signs are printed with the Jarecki name. If I have to, I'll resign as pastor and..."

"NO!" called Andi, and she slowly stood up. She suddenly had a moment of clarity. It was time to fight back. She knew what she had to do. "This is my fight," she shouted. "I will run for mayor."