© 2022, 2024 Duleigh Lawrence-Townshend. All rights reserved. The author asserts the right to be identified as the author of this story for all portions. This story or any portion 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.

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A KRISSYMAS KAROLE The Original Version

In Prose.

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Being

A Ghost Story of Christmas .

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Prologue: A Christmas Carol has been retold and re-written so much it became a saccharine sweet fairy tale that lost its bite. For my entry in the 2021 Winter Holiday Contest, I wanted to put the bite back into it, to return a Christmas Carol to its roots. I wanted a story to scare the literal hell out of people. Instead, it scared me. As I wrote the backstory of the characters in the novel, We're A Wonderful Wife, I found I couldn't publish the original version of this tale; I had fallen in love with my characters and I couldn't do this to them. I hated what I created, so I re-wrote it days before submitting it to the 2022 Winter Holiday contest while I published the serialized backstory.

Unfortunately, the re-written version lost the bite, the scare, the horror. Now that We're a Wonderful Wife has been published and the characters are safe and happy, it's time to release the original version of my take on A Krissymas Karole. I'm sure you'll agree that this truly belongs in the Erotic Horror category. Without further ado, the original version -

Stave 1

It was a dark, cold, and wet Christmas Eve in Northern Colorado and Karole sat fuming in the back seat of the Uber, an older Toyota that wound its way through the icy, slushy streets of Greeley Colorado. The car was in fairly good shape; it was clean, but it stank of takeout curry and the odor was making Karole gag. She used to love curry, but in college she lived on it, and now, to Karole, there was nothing worse than the aroma of curry. "Hey driver, y'all ever wash this thang out? God dawg, this thang reeks." Whenever she gets agitated, Karole Krigbaum's southern accent comes back with a vengeance.

"I've never had a complaint about an odor before," said the driver, who had introduced himself as Jake when he picked Karole up. He had just finished a large DoorDash order to a Christmas Eve party, and the tip was significant enough to overcome the smell of any food. The scent of the curry, however, was making him hungry.

"It's nauseating," grumbled Karole, as she crossed her arms and stared out of the right-hand window. This is ridiculous, she grumbled to herself. Her pickup truck was making expensive noises, so it was in the shop while she had to Uber to and from work. Her dealership wouldn't provide a rental car or a loaner, so here she was paying Uber to haul her around. "Ah, better git used to this," mumbled Karole. She was one more missed payment away from her truck being repossessed.

The snow was wet and slushy as they threaded their way out of town and out to where she lived. Karole and her fiancé had moved out into the open countryside, where they could raise a family. Things were looking good for Karole, until the day not long after they moved into their new home, when she came home from the doctor's office with exciting news and found him, and all his clothing, and all their money gone. Three months from their wedding, this jerk takes off on her and the new life growing in her womb. He took their paid off car, leaving her with the new pickup and the payment book, so he could enjoy a life with a pimply skank hoe and all the meth he could want. Her perfect life was destroyed by a meth-head. At least he went and got his stupid ass addicted to meth before they got married.

Now, years later, Karole is still picking up the pieces. The failed wedding cost her thousands of dollars in unreturnable deposits, and the money he cleaned out of their joint account shattered her financially. She lost her job just weeks after the birth of her daughter. Her ex told the DEA that his meth lab was in Karole's garage and the investigation killed her license to practice, which destroyed her medical career. She's now paying student loans on an education for Physical Therapy, the job she lost because of her shithead fiancé. Now here it is Christmas eve, working a schlep job at a bill collector's office, and any extra money she had went to her daughter Krissy's few Christmas presents.

Krissy was the center of Karole's universe and, as far as she knows, her only living relative. Karole's mom was long gone. She drowned in a drunken boating accident while Karole was in college. All of Karole's childhood Christmas mornings were spent picking up the beer bottles emptied by Karole's mother and the redneck she was fucking at the time. So as far as Karole was concerned, fuck Christmas.

Here it is, 5:00 PM on Christmas eve, and in Karole's house Christmas will be over in 24 hours. As soon as Krissy goes down for her Christmas day nap, the tree goes down and everything gets put away for next year.

If Krissy wants more Christmas, she will get it over at Mr. Don's house. Don and Lanh are her next-door neighbors, and they are the only thing that besides Krissy that has made this entire shit-show of what is now Karole's life any form of bearable. Don is the only father that Krissy has ever known, and Lanh dotes on Krissy like a second mom. Hell, Lanh was Karole's birth coach, but Lanh was late and Krissy was early, so Lanh's husband Don, who was pacing the waiting room like an expectant grandfather, stepped in for Lanh and filled in as birth coach until Lanh arrived. Both Don and Lanh were there for Krissy's birth.

Don and Lanh opened their home to Karole and Krissy, feeding them when money was scarce, housing them for weeks at a time when the power was shut off in the cold Colorado winter. In return, all they asked for was the opportunity to help even more. Don and Lanh had no children, and Lanh told her she couldn't bear children. When Karole asked, "Why don't you adopt or foster?" Lanh's eyes teared up and after several long moments, she said, "That won't happen," and excused herself from the table and fled in tears.

Although Karole is absolutely in love with Don and Lanh, one small part of their lifestyle drives her nuts. Don and Lanh are Christmas crazy. Their decorations go up on the day after Thanksgiving and don't come down until January fifth, which Don calls "The twelfth day of Christmas." Their house becomes a romance channel Christmas movie set; it is always festooned with lights and garlands and pine boughs and trees, a Christmas railroad threads its way through a Christmas village at the base of their perfectly decorated Christmas tree, their mantle over the fireplace is an explosion of holiday spirit with candles and pine boughs and holly and ornaments and stockings for Mr. Don, Miss Lanh, Marissa (Lanh's goldfish), Maxwell (Don's beta fish), and of course Krissy and Karole. Every doorsill in the house was adorned with holly garland and red ornaments, illuminated with the tiniest white lights that Karole had ever seen. Even the paintings and photographs on the walls were removed and replaced with Christmas themed artwork, the frames of which looked like they were hand carved by a German wood carver that overdosed on peppermint schnapps, eggnog, and holiday cheer.

It was as if Santa Claus had puked on their house, and they liked the effect, so they kept it.

Lanh was a doctor of speech pathology and worked at the Children's Hospital and taught at Northern Colorado University. Don didn't work. He said he was retired, but neither of them look old enough for that. Don would be a great stay-at-home dad, but they don't have kids. Instead, he and Lanh shower Krissy with love and little Krissy just loves her "Mr. Don" and "Miss Lanh".

Karole never pried into the past of Don and Lanh Campbell, but the way Don acts, dresses, and cuts his hair told Karole that he was military. Occasionally he complained about his back and Karole saw him walking with a cane, and on a couple of occasions, on crutches. His wife Lanh was the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants. She was a tiny, highly intelligent, and incredibly beautiful woman with a delightful lilt in her voice that came from learning Vietnamese before she learned English. She once confided in Karole that Don had a terminal case of "Yellow Fever" when she met him, and after being married to her for years and working in her family's restaurant, she was sure he was now completely cured.

Don confided in Karole that he never had yellow fever, he had Lanh fever.

Karole and Lanh became best friends immediately after Karole moved into the house next to Don and Lanh, which shocked Karole. Karole was a self-described "Hot Mess" whose list of lifetime best friends begins with her college roommate and ends with Lanh and has nobody in between. She never was able to make friends easily, being raised by a drunken single mother who terrified anyone that got near their trailer, insuring that Karole grew up depending on herself and no one else.

Lanh and Karole often hung out or went shopping together and they made an interesting looking pair, Lanh was short, and slim with light skin and jet-black hair and coal-black eyes, while Karole was over six feet tall (if asked she'll say she's five foot fourteen inches tall), with large breasts and skin that will go to a deep tan in the summer, light green eyes, and natural platinum-blond hair. They could spend a day shopping together, buy nothing, and come home to a sleeping Krissy whose face was covered in any sort of sweet mess, and Mr. Don cleaning the kitchen from his baking extravaganza with Krissy.

One day, while looking at purses that neither woman had the money or intention to buy, Lanh broached a question that had been sitting on her mind since Karole moved in next door. "Don tell me you hate, but you really hate being call Christmas Karole or just being grinch?" Her light accent was now highly pronounced. Tell came out 'taew,' and call came out 'caw.'

"Your husband is a wise man," snarled Karole. This was early in their relationship, so at this time Karole wasn't aware of the fact that Lanh was fully aware of word tenses, "called" rather than "call" and "told" rather than "tell" and a hundred grammatical errors that a speech therapist would concentrate on, but all of that went out the window when she is feeling emotional pressure. Karole continued, "I despise being called Christmas Karole, especially when singing is involved."

"Oh," but Lanh continued fearlessly, "then I should not ask you about how you and Krissy make a Krissy-mas Karole?"

"No, you should not." But it was so silly that Karole broke up laughing, and when Lanh realized she would not be pummeled by the buxom blond amazon, she began laughing as well. It was probably the only time in recent memory when someone called her "Christmas Karole" that Karole didn't respond with a vehement "Fuck you."

The memory of that long ago shopping trip came up as a buffer to drown out the Uber driver's nonstop prattle about the horses he raises at his ranch. Jake was a skinny old weather-beaten guy who wore an equally weather-beaten cowboy hat as he drove, and Karole could easily picture him working on a horse ranch. The sky darkened and Jake turned on the windshield wipers as an icy rain fell, which dampened Karole's already dark mood. As they pulled up to Don and Lanh's house on Weld County Road 45, Karole saw her pickup truck parked in Don's driveway. "What the f...." started Karole, but as they swung into the driveway, the truck faded from sight. The sight surprised her, but she tried to pass it off by pretending the sight was caused by something she ate at lunch that disagreed with her.

What disturbed her more was that Lanh's SUV was not in the driveway. Lanh's mom Mai was in town and Lanh and her mom went shopping earlier today. They should have been back hours ago, regardless of long lines of last-minute shoppers. Indecisive shoppers are no obstacle to Lanh if they should foolishly choose to stand between her and the bargain she was hunting. Karole was skipping the company Christmas party because she wanted to spend time with Don, Lanh, and her mother. She doesn't consider skipping the party a significant loss because she hates her job and her co-workers... but the free drinks? Who doesn't like free Margaritas at Don Pollo's Tacoria and Margarita Bar? Her pathetic boss, Bradley Davis, was probably drunk already.

Jake put the car in park and turned around to Karole. "I have a message for you which is pert near important, so you need to listen up." Normally Karole would have ignored him, but there was something made of iron in that western twang of his that caused her to stop and listen. "Now," he continued, "You're going to be visited by three spirits, and... no, that's not right." He thought for a moment, "three ghosts... no, that's not it either, it's..." suddenly his face brightened, "two spirits and a ghost, yeah, that's it. So..."

"Wait, what? Two spirits and a ghost? Are you shitting me? Are you sure it wasn't a goat? Sheep Dipper?" Karole grabbed the door handle, but the door was locked, and she couldn't unlock it from the back. Jake clearly engaged the child protection locks. "Let me out!" She yanked the door handle as hard as she could. She knew she couldn't open it, but she hoped to break it and cost this jerk some money.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I promised her that I would deliver this message."

"Her? Who?" By saying "her" this Uber driver just narrowed Karole's search down to half of the population of the world.

"I don't know ma'am, she didn't give me her name, but she was quite upset and hard to understand, she had a funny accent."

Karole went silent. Lanh? Her Vietnamese lilt would blossom into a full-blown accent when she was upset, just as Karole's southern accent would return with a vengeance when she was angry or drunk, and when she was both, she was untranslatable. There was that time that Don cut himself... Karole could barely understand what Lanh was saying. Poor Lanh was so upset, she was terrified of the blood thinners he was taking and worried that he would bleed out. Karole calmed when Jake implied it was Lanh's message. "What did she say?"

"She said that you would be visited by two spirits and a ghost and without their visits, you cannot hope to shun the path we tread. Does that mean anything to you?"

Karole knew immediately what it meant, having been forced numerous times by teachers that thought they were witty in assigning Christmas hating Karole a book report on Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." She read the book many, many times and knew the message quite well. It was a paraphrase of what the ghost of Jacob Marley said to Ebenezer Scrooge, but Marley said, "the path I tread," not "the path we tread." She heard the "chunk" of the rear doors unlocking, but she sat thinking for a moment before she got out. "I'm not sure what she means," Karole finally said as she opened the door. "I'll just swallow this and be tortured by a legion of hobgoblins, all of my own creation," she said, quoting Ebenezer Scrooge. "Hey Jake, your name's not Marley, is it?"

Jake suddenly broke into fits of laughter. "Oh, heck no," laughed the Uber driver. "That's a darn good guess, though. My buddies used to call me 'Marlboro Man', but when I quit smoking, they shortened Marlboro Man to Marley. Why do you ask?"

Karole suddenly felt icy cold. "Merry fucking Christmas," she muttered and got out of the car and stepped toward the house, still surprised that Lanh's car was not in the driveway. Lanh and her visiting mother had planned to do some last-minute Christmas shopping up in Fort Collins in the morning, then they were planning an early barbeque dinner at Nordies with Don, Karole, and Krissy when Karole was done with work.

One more question popped into Karole's mind. "Hey! When did Lanh call you?" she called out, but as she turned, there was no car in the driveway, there was no car in the street and just like that, the freezing rain turned to snow, light and fluffy. She looked around. There was no hint that Jake/Marly and his curry stinking Uber were ever there. "Humbug..." she muttered under her breath and trudged up the driveway.

The snow swirled around her like being in a snow globe. "Don will love this," she thought as she stepped toward the front door. "He'll call this Christmas snow." Smiling for the first time today, she suddenly felt a sudden shock go through her. Not an electric shock, but like someone bumped her back a little bit. It was followed in rapid succession by ten more jolts, and then someone appeared next to her.

"Ok, let's get this started. We need to get this right; this is the last chance we get," said an apparition with a familiar, haunting appearance.

Karole's eyes rolled back in her head as she slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Stave 2

Karole returned to consciousness and slowly sat up. "What happened?" she groaned.

"Same thing as always happens," muttered a voice behind her. Karole heard the distinct sound of chewing and the popping of gum.

"Same thing as what always happens?" demanded Karole, without turning around. She patted the back of her head and checked her hand for evidence of blood.

"You turn, see me, scream, and faint. Every time, like clockwork. I can't believe I became such a wimp."

Karole turned and saw a young woman dressed like a country western version of Cindy Lauper. She was wearing a Garth Brooks concert t-shirt, over that a man's plaid work shirt tied off below her boobs, blue jeans, cowboy boots, a sweater tied around her waist, and enough cheap necklaces for a full Mardi Gras parade. And that hair, Ugh! A fluffy she-mullet with the last four inches of her platinum blond tresses dyed neon purple. She was leaning against the house playing with a familiar-looking phone. "That's my phone," Karole grunted as she tried to get her feet under her, but the walk was slippery with the suddenly new fallen snow.

"Correction, it's OUR phone. They don't have cool stuff like this in my time yet." The young woman finally looked down at Karole, and Karole froze; that voice, the hair, the attitude, it's Karole 12 years ago. The young Karole looked at her and grinned as if waiting for something. She finally hefted her large firm boobs and asked, "Do these things ever stop growing?"

Karole's head spun. She was a "late bloomer" as her mother called her. When she hit the age of 16, none of the promised secondary sex characteristics had appeared, but within a year they struck with a vengeance. She was buying a new bra every month and her so-called friends in high school accused her of "stuffing" until they saw the changes that occurred to her body in the gym locker room, then they accused her of "silicone poisoning." She would be in college when her body finally settled down, but not after growing several inches in height and settling on a 34 DD bra.

This child that stood before her had all the ear marks of an 18-year-old Karole, right down to the shoulder length platinum blond hair with the final four inches died neon purple. "Who the hell are you?" Karole groaned as she tried to stand again, but her feet kept slipping on the slushy snow.

"Honey chil', ah am you," grinned the girl. "You 'n me, we all are one, did'n that peckerwood Marley tell you ah'd be coming?"

Karole shook her head in disbelief and the younger version of her threw a fit. She stomped her foot and looked to the heavens and shouted, "You had one job! ONE!" Karole swore she heard the roll of distant thunder when the young woman shouted. She then looked down at an astonished Karole and extended a hand to help Karole up. "Oh hell, come on Gawd dog it, let's git this over, and you gotta git it right this time, 'cause we don't have enough time left for no more chances, now git yo ass up!"

Karole took the girl's hand, and she eased herself up to her feet, and when she did, she felt light as a puff of wind, as substantial as a dust mote drifting through a warm sunbeam in a summer living room. Karole released the girl's hand and looked down and saw that her body was still kneeling on the icy sidewalk. "What is this? I must have hit my head; I must be hallucinating..." she panicked.

"Well, if that's the deal, then you need to call 911," said the girl who held out the phone to Karole. Karole tried to take the phone, but it slipped right through her fingers and landed on the sidewalk in front of the stricken Karole on the ground. She stooped to pick it up, but her hand went right through it and right through the sidewalk as well.

"What the fuck?" Karole cried.

The girl grabbed Karole's shoulders and hauled her up to a standing position, "Look, here's the deal, in about one-minute real time, you're going to meet a ghost that's going to scare the living shit out of you, it's my job to get you ready for that. Because if you blow it again..."

The girl raised a fist in a threat, and that's when Karole realized she could see through the spirit's fist, and when she raised her hand to block the blow, she discovered she could see through her own hands as well. While Karole was pondering this, the girl continued. "Look, I am you. I just graduated high school, and I lost my virginity to Micky Fields under the grandstands at the Callahan racetrack. It truly sucked and so far, it's been the best sex I've ever had. Please tell me it gets better."

"It... it kinda does," sputtered Karole, who was still marveling over her see-through hands.

"Here's the deal. I'm going to show you some things. Pay attention, if we do it right, you're going to save a very important life."

"Who, Tiny Tim?"

Past Karole suddenly grew dark and angry. "You can't possibly believe how important this life is," she growled slowly. Karole swore she could hear thunder in the distance as the Past Karole raged.

"Ok, I'm sorry. Who are we going to save? What do I have to do?"

"Take my hand and follow me," said an angry Past Karole. Karole took Past Karole's hand and followed her through Don's front door, but instead of the Campbell's entry way, they entered a hospital room. There on the bed lay a woman who was clearly in the last few minutes of her life. In the room was a doctor and two nurses, and the woman's family. An older couple, who were probably her parents, a man in his late twenties, and a young boy about seven.

"It's ok mommy," whispered the little boy who was trying to be brave, "I can take care of daddy."

"I know you can, dear," gasped the dying woman. Her once youthful, beautiful face was a rictus of agony.

The doctor wordlessly gestured to the nurses and the three medical professionals left the room, so the family could be alone with the woman and say their goodbyes. They had no way of knowing that "I know you can, dear" would be her last words.

Karole and Past Karole watched as the family spent their last few minutes with the dying woman. Finally,

Karole whispered softly, "What are we doing here?"

Past Karole said in a plain voice, "You don't have to whisper; they can't hear you."

"Ok," said Karole, still whispering, "what are we doing here?"

"I can't tell you. It's one of those things you need to figure out for yourself."

Karole rolled her eyes in disgust. Was she such an asshole at 18? If she were honest with herself the answer would be yes, but years of taunting and being called the "Carpenters Dream" (flat as a board and never been nailed) then suddenly being called "more boobs than brains" in high school was partially to blame, and having the type of mother who celebrated Karole's high school graduation by drinking herself unconscious at Karole's graduation ceremony had a lot to do with it as well. And if she was honest, she hasn't changed much in the past 6 years. "What does this have to do with me?" she asked in her angry mom voice.

"It DOESN'T. It has nothing to do with YOU," shrieked Past Karole. "Not everything is about YOU. There happens to be a FEW OTHER PEOPLE ON THIS PLANET." Past Karole crossed her arms and stared at the dying woman, ignoring Karole's pleas and demands for an explanation. Finally, the woman passed on. The heart monitor began screaming its plaintive wail that all cardiac activity has stopped. Her family grieved their loss and hated themselves for feeling relief that the woman's suffering was over. Tears flowed in the room and one tear trickled down Past Karole's cheek.

"There you go," Past Karole finally said. "Lesson over, moving right along..."

"You're crying?" asked Karol. "I thought you said it meant nothing to us."

"YOU watch this play out a dozen times. Maybe you'll learn some empathy. Maybe you'll shed a tear for someone other than yourself. I CAN FUCKING ARRANGE IT!"

"I just wanted to know," whined Karole, her voice trailing off.

"Oh, and by the way. Merry Fucking Christmas," sneered Past Karole. "That kid's Christmas present was to watch his mother die slowly in agony. You know, there just might be something worse in this world than someone calling you Christmas Karole. Just sayin'... bitch."

Past Karole led Karole through the weeping family that was gathered around the hospital bed, and through the hospital room door that didn't lead into the hospital corridor, but instead led into a high school gymnasium. The gym was decorated for a holiday dance, red and green crape paper streamers lined the walls, Christmas trees with gayly wrapped boxes sat in each corner, a DJ dressed as Santa Claus spun actual records, while faculty and parents stood at the ready to quash any and all unauthorized necking, canoodling, or touching. In the corner, a group of boys, probably high school seniors, were taunting a younger boy.

"Check this out," Past Karole told Karole, "it's a great trick. These boys are friends with the DJ, so they know when a fast song will lead into a slow dance. They're going to trick that nerdy underclassman to ask a nerdy wallflower to a fast dance, but instead it will be a slow romantic dance, and everyone can all make fun of the dorks. Check this out."

"Why would they do that?"

"To embarrass the crap out of two unpopular nerds! You need to see this."

Karole, who was the butt of frequent merciless jokes during her entire high school experience, didn't want to watch. The thought of bullies humiliating younger and weaker kids made her stomach turn. "No, I don't want to..."

"Just Watch." Past Karole's forceful voice no longer needed to be accompanied by a distant roll of thunder. Out of fear, Karole watched.

"Go on man, it's going to be hilarious," Bully #1 egged on the Butt of the Joke. The Butt of the Joke was short, skinny, wore outdated, worn-out clothes and cheap eyeglasses. He could have been good-looking if it wasn't for an embarrassing acne eruption.

Bully #2 gave the Butt of the Joke a knowing elbow, "yeah, she's going to be all spastic with her arms and hair flying around."

Bully #3 put a fatherly hand on the Butt of the Joke's shoulder. "Come on dude, what do you have to lose? Besides, there may be a spot opening up for a sophomore on the swim team. Jamie Davidson's family is moving at the end of the quarter. We'll need a middle-distance swimmer."

The Butt of the Joke loves swimming, and he had heard about Jamie's family moving, but he knew he'd never make the swim team. "You think it will happen?" he asked, meaning the girl, not the swim team.

"He doesn't care about the swim team," whispered Past Karole conspiratorially. "He just wants to dance with a girl. He's tired of being lonely."

"Why doesn't he just ask her himself?"

"You've never been so depressed that you're terrified to talk to anyone other than that stupid ol' one eye cat?" demanded Past Karole. Karole winced. Mr. Peepers was her only friend during high school. "He's been in love with this girl for a year and she doesn't know he exists! He's a true candidate to be a stalker," Past Karole said with a grin.

"Dude! It's in the bag! All you got to do is ask Miss Prim and Proper out on the dance floor. These guys say that the next song is going to be a real rocker."

The Butt of the Joke muttered "But I can't dance."

"Dudes aren't expected to know how to dance. Girls practice all the time. My dolly tells me that this bitch can't even tie her shoes without falling over," grinned Bully #2. "Now go!" and Bullies #1 and #2 gave the Butt of the Joke a shove.

As the Butt of the Joke walked slowly across the dance floor, Karole's stomach tied up in knots. "I can't watch this," she moaned. Her stomach was really starting to hurt for those poor kids.

"Watch," hissed Past Karole, "believe me, it's a riot."

The Butt of the Joke walked up to a group of girls who parted like the Red Sea before Moses, revealing Miss Prim and Proper, a tiny, skinny Asian girl with waist length black hair, thick square glasses, and a mouthful of braces. "Care to... I mean would you... uhh... like..." the Butt of the Joke was dying; he hasn't spoken to a girl since the fourth grade.

"Dance? She'd love to!" called out one of the girls standing with Miss Prim and Proper. Obviously, the girls were in on the joke too. They pushed the girl out onto the dance floor, where she stood staring at the lanky young boy.

"Oh God," groaned Karole, "those poor kids!" but Past Karole just grinned.

The song was ending and the gyrations of the other dancers slowed as the song faded. "I really don't dance," said the Butt of the Joke.

"I don't either," said Miss Prim and Proper so quietly that he could barely hear her.

"It'll be fun," assured the Butt of the Joke, then suddenly his heart sank. Elton John began singing and everyone in the gym could name that tune by the opening three notes. Karole whimpered and stifled a moan of sadness for the two embarrassed nerds.

It's a little bit funny

This feeling inside

I'm not one of those who can easily hide

I don't have much money, but boy, if I did

I'd buy a big house where we both could live

"Your Song by Elton John! oh God" groaned the Butt of the Joke inwardly, one of the sappiest, most romantic slow dances on earth! Normally, all the dating couples would step out on the dance floor, but the Butt of the Joke and Miss Prim and Proper were all alone out there, and a spotlight just illuminated them.

"Oh no," gasped Karole, "the whole damn school was in on it! Those bastards! Cocksuckers!" She was actually crying for those kids. It reminded her of a Steven King novel. She expected someone to grow ten feet tall and tear apart everyone involved or some other Steven King madness. She looked over at Past Karole, but Past Karole just watched those kids, just 2 years younger than her, and she smiled a wistful smile.

"I could watch this part over and over for the rest of my life," she whispered to no one in particular.

Both the Butt of the Joke and Miss Prim and Proper decided "what the hell" when they realized they were both the Butt of the Joke. After a moment of fumbling, they figured out how to place their hands. Don even held her right hand with his left hand because he saw it in a movie. The last female whose hand he touched died before his eyes nine years ago. With more confusion than they could have believed possible, they started rocking in time to the music. "Hi, I'm Don," finally said the Butt of the Joke.

"I'm Lanh," muttered Miss Prim and Proper.

Don had seen her name in the town paper when she and her family moved to town. "I know, Lanh Nu-guy-en?" Don suddenly blushed crimson red. Here he was dancing with a girl, the Entire School was watching them, and he slaughtered her name. He was so embarrassed; he nearly ran from the gym. God! She's so cute! He's been stalking her with his eyeballs since their freshman year.

Lanh gently giggled. "It's pronounced N'win."

"How do you get N'win out of Nguyen?"

Lanh looked up at Don and shrugged. "Don't know!" and she giggled again, but it wasn't a nervous giggle, it was more of a giggle of relief. He was a real person!

"I like the way you laugh," smiled Don, terrified that if he said the wrong thing, she'd run from him, and he'd be alone... again.

"I like the way you blush," smiled Lanh, "it's cute," which made Don blush even more. Suddenly Lanh gasped, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to embarrass you."

"No, it's ok, it's just... I've never..." Don sputtered trying to explain the ocean of feelings that were exploding in his head, how do you tell someone that you fell in love on first sight over a year ago? And as their embarrassment faded and their friendship blossomed, they stopped their Frankenstein like rocking and began swaying to the music. They didn't become Fred and Ginger, but they became comfortable with each other. Little by little, their bodies grew closer together. "Awwww," sighed Karole, as the young couple grew closer together, and their eyes remained locked. The world around them disappeared, and Elton continued singing.

I hope you don't mind

I hope you don't mind

That I put down in the words

How wonderful life is while you're in the world

"It's their very first dance together," said Past Karole as she led Karole toward the big double door exit "on the moment they met. They'll never need another dancing partner as long as they both live. Kinda sweet, isn't it?" They turned back to look and the couple who continued to hold on to each other even though the song ended, simply enjoying the closeness and the depths of each other's eyes. "They're going to dance more, then sit down and spend the night talking," said Past Karole before the door closed.

Past Karole led Karole out into the High School hallway, which now was a museum quality display of photographs of Don and Lanh as they became the absolute best of friends. Here was a picture of Lanh standing on the edge of the pool coaching Don as he swam, and there was a picture of them working on his father's farm. She is driving the tractor as he stands next to her, leaning on the fender. The grin of accomplishment of driving that machine on that tiny girl's face was priceless, as was the look of pride on Don's.

Past Karole pointed out a series of pictures of the teenage couple ice fishing, a grinning Lanh and Don holding up a stringer of perch. Their glowing faces were framed by the fake fur of their parka hoods.

More pictures followed, family gatherings, sometimes with Lanh's huge Vietnamese family, and sometimes with Don's smaller Norwegian and Irish family. Parties, parades, the ice cream social in the park, the fireman's picnic, the Memorial Day ceremony at the cemetery, gazing up at the Fourth of July fireworks. Don and Lanh in small town America, holding hands and loving life for the first time in their lives. Karole's favorite was a picture of Don and Lanh laying side by side on a blanket, their eyes locked to each other's, soaked to the skin after an impromptu dip in the pond on a hot summer afternoon. Karole longed for the days she could be silly like that again.

"Here's an interesting picture, it shows Lanh's desire for a life together," said Past Karole as she pointed to a picture of Don and Lanh standing in front of his father's barn, Lanh is wearing a battered straw cowboy style hat and a stem of hay sticking out of her mouth.

"What is that foreshadowing?"

Past Karole touched the edge of the picture frame and the picture became a doorway that they stepped through into a farmyard on a warm late spring day in Minnesota. The sweet smell of hay and the pungent aroma of cow manure, the smells of money to thousands of farmers, hung heavily in the air. Don and Lanh were nowhere to be seen, but Past Karole seemed to know where she was going, so she led the way to the barn where the voices of the youngsters could be heard. Inside the cool darkness of the barn, Karole marveled at the collection of antique tools, and over there was the gray and red tractor she saw in the photos. And up there in the hayloft were Don and Lanh, sitting on bales of hay, putting their schoolbooks away. Karole looked at Past Karole and raised an eyebrow with a grin.

"No, they were not fucking, or necking, or even holding hands. They were studying, getting ready for upcoming exams. Lanh is a straight A+ student, and with her help, Don's grades have shot up into the A's for the first time since his mom died. This was the end of their sophomore year and the sixth month of their friendship. At this point in time, they were close buddies. Shhh! Listen," Past Karole gestured toward the teens that were now climbing down the ladder from the hayloft. Don was plotting out his plan for his future.

"After I enlist, I'm just going to stay in the military long enough to learn a trade and get the GI Bill so my college is paid for, then I'll come back here," said Don as the two exited the big side door.

"Then what?" asked Lanh. She looked up and saw Don's dad, Ralph, walking toward them. He pulled a camera out of his pocket to take a picture of the kids. Ralph takes lots of pictures, then gets double prints and gives the second set to Lanh's parents, Duong and Mai.

"I'll run the farm; with the skills I learned to work on military equipment, I'll work on the machines here, and with my college education, I'll do accounting, y' know, taxes and stuff, and manage the farm's finances."

Lanh grabbed the straw hat off of Don's head, put it on her own, and put the stem of hay she was holding in her mouth and said, "Sounds like a plan."

Just then Ralph Campbell's camera flashed, and the moment was etched in time, the two teenagers staring at each other with soft intensity. "When she put on his hat and started chewing on the hay from his farm, she was telegraphing her desire to share that dream with him," said Past Karole as they walked around the frozen teens whose entire world was no larger than this farm, the Nguyen restaurant in town, and their school.

"Did he pick up on that?" asked Karole.

"Only subconsciously, but then she always understood their feelings for each other long before he did." Karole walked around Don and Lanh, studying their eyes. His blue eyes locked to her dark brown, almost black eyes. Both teens were so comfortable in their relationship, so at ease in each other's company.

"Wow," Karole whispered. She knew Lanh was dearly in love with her husband. She did not know how far back her love for him went.

Past Karole led Karole over to the farmhouse where Don grew up and inside it wasn't a farmhouse. It was a continuation of the Museum of Don and Lanh. As Karole and Past Karole moved through the display, Karole saw the couple age. Don lost his acne and his gawkiness and shot up into manhood. Lanh lost her braces and grew her gentle curves, yet remained tiny. Here was a picture of the two of them wearing their school letters: Don for swimming, Lanh for debate. There is a picture of them at the senior prom. Don wore a simple black tuxedo that made him look like a dashing young James Bond. She wore an Áo Dài, a traditional Vietnamese outfit that looks like a dress. It's actually a high collar, long sleeve silk tunic that hangs down past the knees and split on the sides up to the waist and is worn with silk trousers that will look like a full-length skirt. Lanh's white Áo Dài was worn over turquoise silk trousers that made her look simply beautiful.

There were so many Christmas pictures! Christmas parties, wrapping gifts, unwrapping gifts, posing for pictures in front of the tree, Lanh posing in front of a small fish tank that was decorated for Christmas, Don and Lanh napping cuddled together on the couch on Christmas Day. Christmas seemed to be the dominant theme in most of the photographs, and many of them were animated, like mini movies. "What is the Christmas fetish with these two?" Karole finally asked.

"That's actually Lanh's fault," explained Past Karole. "when her family found out that Don's mother died on Christmas, they decided to show Don that Christmas wasn't a time of pain and sorrow. Lanh became the lady of the Campbell house and reintroduced Christmas to Don and his dad." She pointed out a picture of Don and Lanh at the local VFW volunteering at the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program. Don got a lot of ribbing from those old veterans for saying that he wanted to enlist in the Air Force, yet in the end, the wizened old marines patted him on the back for his decision to man up and serve.

Past Karole led Karole through a door that led them into the living room of the farmhouse of Ralph and his son Don Campbell. Lanh had just finished setting up decorations on the mantel piece and was standing on a stool putting up a gay sprig of mistletoe in a doorway between the dining room and the living room when her parents and Don walked in the front door. Don had been tasked with picking them up for a Christmas Eve dinner at the Campbell farm and Lanh finished decorating the house while they were out. "Let me help you," said Don as he hurried over to Lanh, whose stool was wobbling. But when he got near, the stool slipped and she fell backwards... right into Don's arms.

"My hero!" she sighed with a grin, wrapping her arms around his neck, ignoring the cackling admonishments in rapid fire Vietnamese from her shocked parents.

He didn't know why he said it. It was the corniest thing that any male has ever said, especially when he and his very best friend had been practicing their faux-fall for hours to shock their complacent parents. "I'll always be here for you."

It wasn't the line they practiced; it wasn't close, but it is what came from his heart. In return, Lanh whispered, "I'll always be here for you, too." He slowly lowered her feet to the ground. Their eyes remained locked, their arms remained around each other, and then unconsciously their lips met. It was a little peck like they've done dozens of times before, but then their lips met again and parted. Their tongues gently explored each other and suddenly, like a silent explosion, their friendship blossomed into a passionate, all-consuming love. They broke for a breath and she gasped, "Tighter, hold me tighter. I won't break."

Again, another kiss, more hungry and more loving than the first, and Don did indeed hold his tiny love as tight to him as he could. And then everything stopped. "Awww, why did you stop it there?" asked Karole, as she considered the two youngsters, frozen in their first kiss of passion, from all angles. She especially loved the expressions on the three parents' faces. Each smile said, "I knew it all along."

"Because their parents will stop it pretty soon," said Past Karole, "but this is the very point in time where The Big L becomes part of their relationship. Up until now, it was all buddy-buddy fun. They had confessed their love for each other a year prior, but here is where they both realize that this thing between them really is a forever thing. Now is when they realize that their future is together."

"So sweet..." cooed Karole, as she walked around the frozen teenagers. Lanh was Karole's best friend, not because she was Karole's only friend. She was the best friend Karole ever had, and watching her love for Don blossom like this drew her even closer to Lanh, if that was possible.

"Let's fast forward a year," smiled Past Karole, and with a mind-boggling display of flashing colors and flickering of images, the young lovers ended up under the mistletoe once again. This time Don was wearing a red coat and a Santa hat, and from her pointy green hat and her fake elf ears to her curly toed shoes, Lanh was dressed as the most adorable Christmas elf you ever saw. This time, all of Lanh's family was there; mom, dad, Grandma Tri from Minneapolis, three older brothers and two older sisters.

"This is their senior year," said Past Karole. "They have just a few short months of school left and then Don ships off to basic training in Lackland Air Force Base. He signed up for a six-year hitch, that would give him a stripe right out of basic, another stripe in 6 months, so he'll have stripes on his blues to wear at his wedding before shipping off to wherever his first duty assignment takes them."

"He's really getting into this Christmas thing," said Karole, who stood with Past Karole behind the audience of the Nguyen family, Ralph Campbell, and Sandi Petersen, Ralph's friend from church.

"This is going to be the best Christmas yet!" said Past Karole.

They had just won a bet with Lanh's brothers and sisters, and Lanh collected their winnings as Don waited under the mistletoe. She walked back to Don, fanning herself with the money, her face aglow with pride and the joy of pulling one over on her brothers and sisters. "What do you think honey?" and then so quietly only Don could hear, "a start on our house?"

Then, just as quietly, Don replied, "I'm going to ask him."

"When? Tonight?"

"Now."

Lanh squealed and jumped up, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist and planted rapid fire kisses on his face and whispered in his ear, "And my angels are watching!"

"Oh GOD! I love this part!" shouted Past Karole, then covered her mouth with a glance upward. Karole looked, and now Don and Lanh were standing in front of her father.

"Sir," started Don, his voice started out a little nervous, but it suddenly became assured, "Lan and I want to marry. We love each other dearly, and I will spend the rest of my life sheltering her, protecting her, and loving her. I want to be the father to our children that you are to Lanh, and my dad is to me. All we ask is your blessing."

Duong Nguyen's features went stone cold. He noticed his baby's tiny hand in the hand of this youth, this usurper! ALL of his children have foresworn marriage until their chosen degrees and accreditations were complete, and tiny Lanh hasn't even finished high school. How dare he! "You know her older sisters haven't married yet," growled Duong.

Lanh squeezed Don's hand tightly. This was a trap that she had warned him about. "I wasn't aware that there was a Vietnamese tradition of allowing your daughters to wed by age." Don's voice was steady but inside, his guts were in a turmoil. If Lanh wasn't holding his hand so tight, he would have run off by now.

Duong glared at Don. Don was right, of course, but he couldn't let this cur win. "I know you are both eighteen, but that's too young. There's no way I can give you my permission to..."

"Sir, with all due respect, and I really do respect you... I didn't ask for your permission; I asked for your blessing... sir."

The Nguyen siblings gasped. The balls on this kid! No one ever spoke to their dad like that! And they have never seen their father go so silent for so long. He was clearly getting ready to explode. Everyone in the room froze in terror at what would happen next. Poor Don and Lanh!

Duong's gaze fell on his youngest, smallest daughter. His special little blessing. He remembered the joyful day after her premature birth; she gained two pounds, and they were finally able to bring the tiny four pound Lanh home. How often did he spend the night cradling the tiny infant in his arms? Sometimes that was the only way tiny Lanh would sleep - in her daddy's arms. "What do you want, little one?" he asked, his throat dry in terror that this dreadful day finally arrived.

Lanh's eyes filled with tears, "I want to stop saying goodbye every night, daddy. I want my best friend next to me for the rest of my life. I love him daddy... we want babies daddy..."

How Duong's face didn't crack is a miracle. Lanh's sisters were sniffing back silent tears, watching their baby sister professing her love for this young man. If only they could have such courage when their time comes!

Finally, Duong spoke. "Your mother," he said, pointing at Lanh, "your father," he said, pointing at Don, "And I have spoken long about this. We saw this day coming and we think you are crazy. You're too young to start with! And being young, you are prone to do stupid things," he ended sadly. He paused for a long time, glaring at the young couple. Slowly he took a deep breath, then suddenly, with a bark, he exclaimed, "You want to get married when he is done with training? That's stupid! And why? Because you want your wedding pictures with Don in his dress blues?" Lanh nodded; her eyes filled with tears of terror. Then at Don he yelled, "and what if I tell you that you don't have my permission to marry my daughter?"

Terrified but still firm, Don replied, "Then we won't get married, but we will live together in sin and raise our family without you until we do get your permission."

Turning to his wife and Ralph, he said, "See? Stupid! There's no way they can afford to live together on an airman's salary!" Then he turned to Don. "If you're not married you will not get housing, you will not be given a food allowance and have to eat in the chow hall! She will not get medical! It will be tough. There's no way you could raise our grandchildren without those benefits, and you cannot get those benefits until you marry. Did you think of that?"

Don stood firm. Their hands were clasped so tight that his and Lanh's knuckles were white. "Yes sir, we did. That's why I asked for your blessing, not permission."

Duong scowled even deeper. He pulled out a pocket calendar and rifling through it. He looked up at Don and said, "And I suppose if I refuse to give you my blessing, you would run off and get married in spite of my wishes."

"No sir, not to spite you, but yes, we would get married."

"Without my blessing?!?"

"Well sir, we both love you dearly, but... sir... you're not the pope."

The best laughter is stifled laughter. Hidden snerks of suppressed laughter could be heard around the room from Lanh's siblings, Tam, Huy, Trung, Bao, and Kim-ly. When Mai whispered the translation to Grandma Tri, the sweet old woman exploded in laughter. Trying his hardest not to laugh, Duong rumbled, "youth is wasted on the young..." he grumbled some more then stared straight into Don's eye. "This is the way it's going to be, young man. If you insist on marrying my youngest daughter, the wedding will be on June seventeenth."

Lanh and Don stared at her father in shock. A collective gasp rose from Lanh's sisters Tam and Kim-ly, Lan's brothers Trung, and Bao stared wide eyed in shock. Ralph was having trouble keeping a straight face, as was Lanh's mother, Mai. June 17th was only three days after their June 14th graduation. It was months sooner than they had dreamed of getting married and weeks before his enlistment date in July.

Duong's voice softened slightly. "Son, and I am going to be proud to call you my son. You have made your father and me proud. I am NOT going to send off my baby daughter without a proper wedding and honeymoon. ... but there's one thing you must do, FIRST!"

"Here? In front of everybody?" Don's voice cracked and his question came out as a squeak. He had planned to ask Lanh later, after her folks went home. He was going to ask her in the warmth of the fireplace by the light of the Christmas tree and the candles. She looks so beautiful in the candlelight.

"Don, you had the guts to dress down Mr. Nguyen in front of his entire family," said Ralph. "You could at least honor his one request." Which brought out chuckles from the family.

"Ask her!" Grandma Tri practically shouted, "before I ask you!" causing all to convulse in laughter. Grandma Tri understands and speaks English, she just doesn't do it very often.

Don pulled a small jewelry box from his pocket and, as he sank to his knee, Lanh's mouth opened in surprised delight. Then everything stopped.

"Why did you stop it here?" whined Karole.

Past Karole considered the newly engaged couple from all angles. She walked slowly around them, locked in their passionate kiss, her spectral body passing through the table and Lanh's relatives. "Remember this moment," she whispered, "remember their love, their passion..."

"Why? What happens? Do they fall out of love?"

Past Karole looked at Karole, and her shoulders slumped in exasperation. "You talk to Lanh every day! Does she sound like someone who hates her husband? Whether you know it or not, you are her second-best friend, right after..." and she gestured to the frozen 18-year-old Don. "She would confide in you even before she'd talk to her sister if there was anything wrong with their relationship." Past Karole sighed, "Just remember this moment." She looked at the teens and stifled a sob, then stepped through the kitchen door outside.

Minnesota basked under a warm, sunny spring day. The sun was hot, yet the breeze was cool and refreshing. The Campbell family farm had become a wedding destination. White silk bunting draped from the blossoming apple trees and the barn doors. Rustic backdrops for the photographer were set out around the barn yard, the old gray and red tractor was washed and covered with tissue paper flowers. Empty soup cans were tied to strings behind it. Next to it the big old green John Deere sat, decades of dirt and grease scrubbed away and replaced by tissue paper flowers and soup cans. Across the front of both tractors, was mounted a sign that reads Just Married.

In the apple orchard was a white gazebo. On there stood Don in a black tuxedo and Lanh in her pure white áo dài. Lanh wanted to wear white to advertise that she made it all the way to the wedding altar a virgin. They came close, damn close, several times, but they made it and tonight is their night. Over the silk áo dài Lanh wore a white silk vest embroidered with dragons and flowers, all in gold. The vest served one function only, to preserve modesty. Beneath the áo dài she was completely naked, and without that vest the light silk áo dài would become as revealing as a screen door; a surprise that she knew Don would appreciate. Don's three groomsmen wore similar black tuxedos, the three bridesmaids, Tam, Kim-ly and Rosa, wore pink áo dài's.

Just as Don and Lanh's lips met, sealing their marriage, the photographer's camera flashed, and the scene became a painting on the wall of an art museum. Karole and Past Karole considered the painting as Karole said, "Recognize the best man?"

Yeah. ah recognize that guy! The best man, he's..." Karole gasped, "He's the bully that promised Don a spot on the swim team."

Past Karole smiled, "Yes he did, that's Craig Lewicki, and he came through with his promise. He honestly thought that they were doing Don a favor by setting him up with a shy girl. He didn't realize it was a prank. They became friends on the swim team, and Don ended up getting a couple of medals."

Past Karole led Karole through the painting, and they were back at the wedding. Don and Lanh were posing for pictures in front of the tractors, and the crowd craned to get their own pictures. Now Lanh was dressed in a beautiful white wedding dress. "Costume change?" chuckled Karole.

"Oh yeah, she posed for pictures in the white áo dài, now the same pictures in a white wedding gown, and later she will dance in the traditional red áo dài with her father."

"Poor Don," Karole smiled. "So many pictures! He looks terrified by the size of the crowd!"

"Everyone in both families has fallen in love with the Miracle Baby," said Past Karole. "They all wanted photos, so Don and Lanh..."

"Miracle baby? What's that all about?" asked Karole, and she tried desperately to grab a drink at the open bar.

"Lanh was tiny when she was born 15 weeks premature," said Past Karole, "that's why she's so small. She ended up a year behind at school. As for Don, he lost a year when his mom died and he never tried to catch up. He didn't take school seriously until he met Lanh. She wasn't really crazy about living, suddenly became the only Asian in a rural school and she felt like a circus sideshow freak. She was a leading candidate for teenage suicide until she met Don."

"Ah never knew," gasped Karole.

"Here's the best part," grinned Past Karole, "watch this."

Don and Lanh were posing for pictures on the John Deere, an antique that Don and Ralph put hundreds of hours into rebuilding. Lanh was in the driver's seat, Don was next to her, his feet on the sideboard, his butt leaning on the big green fender. On queue they would smile or kiss for the photographer and myriad of friends and relatives. Finally, Lanh gave Don a smile and her finger lingered on a push button on the dashboard. Her expression said, "Dare we...?" Don grinned, reach forward and turned the key to the ON position. Lanh returned the grin, shoved down on the clutch and pressed the button, and that big green tractor roared to life. "It's in second gear," he said into her ear over the noise of the motor.

"Just what I wanted," she said with a determined smile and she eased out on the clutch.

Suddenly Karole and Past Karole were in a grove of pine trees. There was a big comfy tent pitched there in a clearing surrounded by trees, a heavy wooden picnic table and a nice firepit stocked up with firewood, just ready for some campers with marshmallows. Through a break in the trees, Karole could see the good-sized lake that everyone called 'the pond' and she could see the tractor approaching, carrying the runaway couple. "This is their happy place," said Past Karole, indicating the campsite. "Regardless of weather or season, they love to come back here and relax, and they always will. But this visit is the start of a whole new world for them."

Karole could smell the pine trees and the lake not far away, and soon the tractor putt-putt-putted up to the campsite stopped and shut down. The laughing couple, their marriage barely two hours old, dashed into the clearing, a smiling Lanh leading the way as she tugged her husband along behind her. "Are you sure you don't want to wait for tonight?" To Karole's ears, Don sounded like he was teasing Lanh. "We'll have a nice soft bed and a..."

"No! I've waited over two years for this, now GIMME!" showing surprising strength, she spun him around and pushed him up against the picnic table and began unbuttoning his tuxedo jacket.

"That's an interesting disguise you've selected, Dragon Lady," said Don, raising a teasing eyebrow at Lanh.

For her part, Lanh began unbuckling his belt. Once she got that unbuckled and his pants unbuttoned, she yanked his pants and underwear down in one rapid yank. "All the better to eat you with, Agent double oh seven and five-eighths!"

"What?" Karole whooped with laughter. She knew about Dragon Lady. She's heard Don call Lanh that quite a few times, especially when they were getting romantic. But she never heard Lanh utter a word about Agent Double Oh Seven and Five Eighths. Don's erect cock sprang out and slapped up against his stomach, and Karole's eyes popped open wide as she nodded in approval. "Good code name. I can see where it came from."

"These two are technically still virgins," said Past Karole, "But that doesn't mean they're completely innocent." As she said that, Karole watched in surprise as Lanh opened her mouth and swallowed three quarters of Don's length. "They've been exploring each other's bodies for quite some time, and they're ready to rock now."

Lanh eased his cock out of her mouth and gently kissed his balls. "Oh baby, you're so swollen... does it hurt?"

"Just a little bit," he lied as he urged her to her feet and gave her a kiss. He's in agony, "Did the doctor... you know... help you?"

"She went to the gynecologist yesterday," whispered Past Karole. "They had talked about getting her hymen snipped so this wouldn't hurt."

"No, that's your job," she said with a smile and Don hoisted her up on to the picnic table. She sat on the edge of the table with a big smile that simply glowed with her joy that she was wed to the man she truly loved. Don lifted the voluminous skirt to the white wedding dress and found, to his delight, that she wasn't wearing panties. "God, I can't wait!" she groaned.

"I want a kiss first," he said, but as she reached for him, he dropped to a knee and leaned forward. She smelled delightful. He detected a perfume, probably applied back at the house, but also the mown hay whisper of her natural perfume. He leaned forward and kissed her long and deep, his tongue slithering into her pussy as deep as he could extend it, then gentle kisses on her clit. He began suckling and flickering his tongue on her throbbing, hyper excited nubbin in a way he knew she loved.

"Stop it," she gasped, "I want you in me." But she was paralyzed with pleasure, a slave to the desires that Don was building in her cunt. He knew he would not last long, and he wanted Lanh to enjoy this too.

Karole watched Don's tongue reach out to Lanh's nether lips and wished it was herself laying on that table. Her tour of their history gave her an appreciation of their love and their desire for each other. Now she could see Lanh's impatience. That poor horny girl wanted a dick inside of her, not a nervous tongue, no matter how skilled.

Karole remembered her first time. There was some love, but it was all one sided. She had the quarterback of the high school football team ready to service her and she didn't mind being another notch in his belt. It was rushed on a hot, sweaty south Georgia night under the bleachers at a small dirt track just across the state line in Florida. He was in her and poking, then he was done before she realized what had happened. She knew Don wasn't going to treat Lanh that way, but she stood ready to strangle him, just in case.

Before she knew what was happening, Lanh was cumming. Those so familiar waves of pleasure that Don was so good at producing in her began washing over her body and damn this dress! Why do they make the bodice of wedding gowns as thick as flack vests? She tried to squeeze her own breasts, but it was like squeezing a quilt! Through passion lidded eyes, she saw Don standing over her; he was fumbling between her wide open legs... she felt something big pressing at the entrance to her pussy... she felt him penetrate her.

"I'm trying not to hurt you," he said meekly.

"I know baby," she whispered, then to the shock of herself and Don (and both Karoles) Lanh wrapped her legs around Don's waist and with a quick jerk of her legs she yanked Don balls deep inside of her.

"You go girl!" shouted Past Karole, who turned to a stunned Karole and saw the look of shock on her face. "What! That looked like fun."

Lanh felt a sharp pain and the ache of muscles unaccustomed to being stretched out, but it wasn't the horror story that Kim-ly told her to expect. In fact, after a few moments, the sharp pain faded. She looked up and saw a look of wonderment on Don's face, then looked down to see her tiny vagina stretched tightly around the root of Don's thick cock. "Are you ok?" he asked, his face a mask of genuine concern and worry.

"Yeah," she gasped, still processing everything-she was married! And now a man was inside of her body! And in a few moments, she may become pregnant! And unknown to Lanh, these thoughts and doubts and questions were echoing in the mind of her confused friend in the future, Karole.

"I can stop," said Don and he sadly pulled out. "We can try later..."

Karole felt Lanh's resolve stiffen. "No," insisted Lanh. "I won't break." With the cutest girly smile she could produce, Lanh looked up at Don and pulled him back in with her legs that were still wrapped around his waist. "Fuck me..." And as he slid back in her head leaned back and she groaned "Oh God!"

Given free rein to fuck, Don did just that. He tried to hold back, but that proved to be impossible. The delicious friction of her warm, moist inner walls sliding across the hypersensitive skin of his cock was overpowering, and soon he had no control over his body. His hips took over and began pounding into his tiny love, his cock fucking and churning her depths, his aching balls slapping against her upturned ass.

Suddenly, his orgasm hit him with the subtlety and power of a line drive swing to the back of the head.

"I'm CUMMMMIIIINNNNGGG!" He groaned as spurt after spurt of semen rocketed from his cock, filling her depths. And here the scene froze, Don's pants around his ankles, Lanh's wedding dress bunched up around her waist, their bodies joined in the timeless dance of love, passion, and sheer rut, he in the throes of passion, her with a smile of accomplishment on her lips.

"For her sake ah hope he learns a little staying power," said Karole as she found herself removed from the scene and viewing it as a painting on a museum wall.

"Oh, he does," grinned Past Karole. "As you saw, so much could have turned against them, but Lanh fought off the self-doubt and they began a lifelong passion that never fades."

"Can ah get a copy of this?" Karole asked, pointing to the painting of their first fuck.

More pictures as they wandered through the museum, Don's graduation from Basic Training. Their first assignment was in Germany, three years in the country that originated many of America's Christmas traditions. A picture of Lanh sitting on a couch sadly staring off into the middle distance with an expression of utter sorrow said it all. "She was so depressed," said Past Karole, "She was separated from her family for the first time in her life, and she spent weeks sitting on the couch staring at the walls. She refused to do anything and rebuffed every one of Don's attempts to make her happy. In the end, Don wanted to send her home just, so she'd be happy, but they didn't have the money for a ticket, and Don's alternate plan was just wrong."

The next picture showed Lanh and an older Asian woman dressed up in fine dresses. They clearly were at a fancy bar or restaurant. The men all around them were in their dress blues and looked sharp. The older Asian woman was obviously unhappy with Lanh and was glaring at the young Air Force wife with genuine anger, while Lanh looked both afraid and sorrowful. "This is Lanh's mentor Annie, she's Vietnamese too and became an emotional replacement for Tam. Annie's husband is Don's maintenance chief. Here she is, layin' a little tough love on Lanh. It was a real wake-up call." Past Karole grinned at Lanh's discomfort.

The next picture was interesting... Lanh was on all fours facing the camera while Don knelt behind her.

Lanh's expression was one of concern. Then the picture came to life. Karole could see Don's grip on Lanh's hips tighten and his own hips moved forward; as he did that, Lanh's beautiful Asian eyes opened wide, her mouth gaped wide open. As Don's hips pressed tightly against Lanh's ass, Lanh's eyes rolled back in her head and she groaned, Karole realized that Don's cock was embedded deep inside her little friend. "As soon as Annie got Lanh to pull her head out of her ass," Past Karole grinned, "Don replaced it with his dick."

Don eased back out of his little wife, then he paused. Karole couldn't tell, but she was sure that only the head of his cock remained trapped in Lanh's tight little bung hole. Again, Don pushed forward, shoving his hot, throbbing spike into her, slowly... inch by inch... skewering his little wife's ass, all the way to the hilt. Lanh groaned as her husband eased himself into her intestines. "Oh, Gawd!" gasped Karole. "Is he killin' her?"

"No, but she is confused over the sensations she's feeling," Past Karole said as she crossed her arms and watched as Don eased his cock back and prepared for another plunge into his beloved. "He's not going to last long. Got any advice for her? Tell her now; whisper into her ear, and she'll hear you."

Karole had some advice. In college, she and her roommate became lovers, and they occasionally got into a little anal play. Karole had found a way to enjoy the dildo that Norma occasionally pressed into her ass. She leaned close to the portrait of Lanh getting an anal pounding and whispered into Lanh's ear. She could feel Lanh's hair brush across her lips as she whispered; she could smell the perfume Lanh wore mixed with her own natural perfume. The scent made Karole want to crawl into the picture, shove Don out of the way, and replace his cock with her tongue and fingers.

But Lanh took Karole's advice. She sagged to her elbows and reached back close to the juncture with her husband. Her middle finger and her ring finger sought her clit and gently began rubbing in circles. Soon her eyes closed, a smile graced her lips as she savored the butt fuck she so righteously deserved after treating her husband and herself so wrongly. Soon her natural lubricating fluids began to flow from her empty, lonely pussy, spilling over her fingers and allowing her to rub faster. Now waves of pleasure began radiating from her clit, turning the pain of the butt fucking she was receiving into kinky pleasure.

Karole has never been one to watch porn, but this was different. These were people she had a real emotional connection with, and watching Lanh's expression change from pain to pleasure was so sexy. Karole watched with envy as slowly Lanh began to sigh and gasp as her man's cock conquered her anus and her fingers strummed her tingling clit, turning what was a punishment into a pleasure she would look forward to in the future.

"Fuck me!" gasped Lanh. She savored his strokes. "Oh God... don't ever stop!"

Now his strokes became more forceful. His groin slapped loudly against her ass with each stroke. As he drove his hips forward, he roughly pulled her back against him forcing his rock hard cock to find just a little bit more virgin territory with each plunge into her bowels.

"Harder...I won't break!" she hissed and his pile driving fuck became maniacal. Karole was worried that his fury would cause permanent damage to her small friend, but Lanh turned her head to look at her husband and blew him a kiss.

"I love you, baby, my Dragon Lady," he gasped, shuddering between strokes. He was close, so close!

Suddenly, without warning, she was cumming! Wave after wave of raunchy pleasure crashed over the tiny woman. Her body was shaken by convulsions of decadent bliss throwing their rhythm off. Before either of them realized it, she was lying flat on the bed, still cumming while Don continued to savagely pummel her rear passage. Then with a roar he was cumming too, his cock jerking, spewing weeks, months of pent-up frustrations into her most private passage.

He lay full length on top of her as they both slowly descended from the epitome of bliss, his hard cock still throbbing deeply in her ass, which occasionally gave him an affectionate squeeze. The scene slowly resolved to a painting of Don and Lanh cuddling naked. "Makes you want to jump in there and take it up the ass, doesn't it?" grinned Past Karole. Karole gasped. It did that to her, but it's nothing she would ever reveal to anyone. "You can admit it," Past Karole said, "it's affected me the same way twelve times in a row."

"Ok, yeah. I... wanted to... try," said Karole.

"Try my ass," chided Past Karole, "or should I say, 'our ass.' You wanted to jump in there and get your joints fucked loose and be rewarded with a hot sperm enema."

"OK, YES! I admit it, ok? It's on my bucket list. Now, why did you show me this?"

Past Karole showed Karole more pictures of Don and Lanh living in Europe, Fashing Parades in Koln, wine fests in Wittlich, Oktoberfest in Munich, hockey games in Luxembourg, sidewalk cafés in Amsterdam, Belgium, France, and Italy. "Because this evening is when Lanh learned that she could live away from her immediate family. Her bratty attitude had Don near suicide, and if Annie hadn't intervened, he would have ended up dead just so his life insurance would buy Lanh a ticket home." Past Karole didn't need to look. She knew Karole had an astonished look on her face. "Yes, he loves her that much. But fate interceded, and they fell in love with Europe and traveling in general. Eventually, she became a mentor to young Air Force wives teaching them to enjoy their husband's tour wherever they end up."

Germany is where Don and Lanh got those hand carved Christmas picture frames and where they insured that the houses of all their friends and relatives were adorned with hand carved Black Forest cuckoo clocks. Karole saw Lanh's happy fascination with German culture and architecture, and when Don went on a Temporary Duty assignment to Aviano, Italy, Lanh was lonely and bored, sitting in a foreign country all alone. Annie, the older Vietnamese woman that befriended Lanh, convinced the lonely newlywed Lanh, to take a trip with her. The two women grabbed their passports, packed a bag, and drove to Italy. They got rooms at a quaint little hotel right off the main town square in Aviano. The hotel was a favorite place to dine for American Airmen, so when Don and his sergeant came trooping in after a long day on the flight line, expecting a plate of the best lasagna on earth for dinner, he got a surprise. Don's waitress was a slender Vietnamese woman in a French maid's uniform who said, "Hey GI, you want a good time?" Another honeymoon was started.

His next assignment was at Grand Forks Air Force Base, in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Not the most glamorous assignment ever, but it was only a two-hour drive from home, so they could visit family as often as they wanted. Karole saw pictures of Don and Lanh fishing in the summer, ice skating on the frozen pond in the winter, wearing huge, heavy parkas, and ice skating on the hockey rink at the college. It was like being a teen again! They skated every chance they could, hand in hand, and occasionally they were able to get the DJ to play "their song" but now they could kiss all they wanted when the music played.

The work was hard, the Inspector General was unforgiving, their college courses were tough, and they were freezing there. But the summers were warm and sunny, and they wouldn't trade the experience for the world. What they would have traded was the news that they received from the base hospital. Years of blissful, joyful, unprotected sex produced only one miscarriage in the second month of pregnancy. Test after test followed, and the answer was unanimous: Lanh wasn't capable of bearing a child.

They were told on Christmas eve by a heartless reservist doctor at the Air Force hospital and the couple was shattered; they spent the Christmas weekend on the couch holding each other close and crying. Their weeping was joined by Karole and Past Karole, who stepped into the living room where the couple mourned the babies they would never have. Karole tried to console them and was frustrated when her hands when right through the lovers. She looked over at Past Karole; the purple tipped party girl stood far on the other side of the small base housing living room, a room covered in Christmas decorations, but the lights were never turned on. Past Karole wept, her face buried in her hands, her shoulders shuddering as she cried.

Finally, Past Karole looked up, her face streaked with noncorporeal tears, and hissed "You bitch. You GUTLESS FUCKING BITCH! You made me go through this twelve times... TWELVE FUCKING TIMES! If you blow it this time, I will hunt you down, I will Fuck You Up, I will make you wish you were NEVER FUCKING BORN!!!" She turned and passed through the wall leaving Karole alone with the couple, and she couldn't get out. She couldn't pass through a wall or even a door or window without Past Karole to lead the way.

Eventually, she stopped trying and drifted over to the couch and listened to Don murmur encouragement to Lanh. The room grew dark and cold. The only light was from a streetlight shining through a window. It was a cold and dark Christmas. In the morning Lanh and Don awoke, unwrapped from the quilt they had cocooned in, feeling no better. Eventually, they will decide that if they can't have a baby, they will adopt one, but right now, the pain was just too great.

"Let's go," called Past Karole as she returned and startled Karole out of her heartbreak, watching Don and Lanh cuddle in the morning light on that bleak Christmas morning. "Come on, the worst is yet to come."

Several assignments followed for Don, the hardest of them was Korea, he was on an isolated remote assignment, which means he couldn't bring Lanh with, so she simply flew over halfway through his tour and moved into his dorm room to spend Christmas with him... without telling him.

Being a Noncommissioned Officer allowed him a private room with a cleaning service. He failed to mention the cleaning service to Lanh, so when Don was on the flight line, Lanh arrived unannounced, identified herself to his next-door neighbor, who was able to get Lanh into Don's room. Don had a Korean mink blanket on his bed, an artificial fur that feels like mink pelt. After taking a shower, Lanh lay back on the bed naked and writhed in boneless joy, feeling the faux mink caressing her skin. She fell asleep on the bed, but woke when she heard someone open the door. That's when the cleaning lady, known to the American service men and women as an "Ajumma" (Korean for "Middle-aged lady") walked in and began shrieking at Lanh in Korean, believing Lanh to be a Korean prostitute.

Past Karole ignored Karole's laughter at Lanh's predicament. "Lanh and Don were able to get a follow-on accompanied tour to Korea, then back stateside with an Electronic Combat Squadron. After that, they were hoping for a tour in England or Okinawa." The dorm became another museum, and photographs of Don and Lanh in Korea showed how they fell in love with Asia. Shopping, dining out, and studying late into the night, both had decided to continue on with their education and both were determined to adopt a baby as soon as they returned stateside. There were pictures of the following Christmases for Don and Lanh, mostly back in Minneapolis with all the new nieces and nephews, and of course Lanh's graduation from the University of New Mexico, a newly minted doctor of speech pathology.

Past Karole grabbed a doorknob, "Through this door is nothing but suck," she announced as she turned the knob. "We lost you twice at this point." She paused and looked Karole in the eye, her face a mask of concern that blotted out the fact that she was the spirit of an 18 year old girl. "You need to do this. You are needed here."

Karole took a deep, shaking breath. "Let's do it." How bad could it be?

They stepped through a door and instead of entering a dorm room, Karole stood out in the scalding heat of a near alien landscape. Don was sitting on a bench outside of a building, a military mobile office wearing a desert camouflage uniform, wringing his hat in his hands. "Here we are in the sandbox," Past Karole announced. "It's seven AM local time, and it's already a hundred degrees. Welcome to a slice of hell named Al Kharj Airbase, or as the Americans call it, Al's Garage."

His deployment commander asked for Don to come to the commander's office, but he's been kept waiting in the early morning heat. Karole looked around and she couldn't find Past Karole anywhere. The material girl had abandoned her again. The door opened and the First Sergeant stuck his head out the door. "Sergeant Campbell, the commander will see you now."

Don rose and followed the first sergeant through the empty air-conditioned waiting room where he could have waited instead of roasting in the morning heat, down a narrow hallway to a door with a sign that read "Maj. Dale Hershey, Commander, 4404th Provisional Air Wing, Det. 37." As they drew up to the door, First Sergeant Vanada advised "You need to report."

Report? This was serious. Karole saw the worry on Don's face as he drew himself to attention and knocked once firmly on the office door. After the longest 15 seconds in the history of seconds, the commander said, "Enter."

The First Sergeant opened the door and Don walked up to the commander's desk, stood at attention, and snapped a salute, holding it for the commander to return. "Technical Sergeant Campbell reports." Major Hershey didn't even look up. He was looking through a portfolio, which Don could tell had his name all over each page. One thing military men can do is read upside down, it comes from standing in front of desks waiting for the officer to get around to whatever asschewing he was going to administer. As they wait, the asschewee reads upside down whatever paperwork the officer is mulling over, giving the soldier a few precious forewarning to formulate an excuse.

Major Hershey, normally a very warm guy with his ground troops, was cold as ice. He made Don hold that salute forever, plus a few more seconds before he returned Don's salute, allowing Don to lower his arm. The major went back to looking through the papers, leaving Don to sweat in a freezing office at attention. Finally Major Hershey said, "Stand at ease, sergeant."

When standing at your commander's desk, the command "Stand at ease" does not mean "At Ease" it really means "Parade Rest" which is actually "Attention", just shaped differently. Don stood sharply with his feet shoulder width apart, his hands crossed at the small of his back.

The major finally wrote something on a yellow memo pad, then took that sheet from the pad and folded it in half. "First Sergeant, does Airman Cross have that phone call ready?"

"Yes sir, he does."

"Fine, send the call to my desk." A moment later, Major Hershey's phone rang, and he picked it up.

"Ma'am, this is Major Dale Hershey, commander of Det 37 of the 4404th provisional wing here at Al Kharj Airbase. Please stand by Sergeant Campbell." He held the phone out to Don. "At ease, sergeant, take this. It's your wife."

"What the... Hello? Honey?"

"Don! What is wrong? They drag me to wing commander office to talk to you at midnight! Are you ok?"

She must really be agitated; her accent came on with a vengeance. "I don't know honey I..."

Major Hershey held out that memo to Don. "Read this sergeant, you'll understand."

Don opened the folded paper, the handwritten note simply said, "You have a line number for Master Sergeant." Don held back his first reaction, instead he said, "Oh you sonofabitch... you got me."

"Baby what!" cried Lanh.

"I made master sergeant baby; I'm getting promoted."

Lanh whooped and said, "Oh, I'm so happy for you! And let Highway know that this was the best trick yet!"

Don was shocked at that statement. All pilots have a callsign and in the USAF they are strictly nicknames, never used on the radio like in the movies. Major Hershey, call sign Highway, as in Hershey Highway, sat grinning at his desk. How did Lanh know his call sign? Commanders and supervisors love to play pranks on the upcoming sergeants to announce their promotion. As a military wife with over a decade of experience, Lanh had seen plenty of tricks played on Don and his co-workers. "You were in on this too?"

"Oh yes, we had a long talk this afternoon." Lanh finally dropped the excited accent. "They visited me today and told me what they would do. I'm on the autovon phone in Colonel Gillian's office. He has news for you too, but not as good as mine. Here's Daniel..."

"Daniel?" thought Don in shock. She knows Major Hershey's callsign, now she's on a first name basis with the Wing Commander? What the...

Suddenly an authoritarian voice came on the line, "Sergeant Campbell, this is Colonel Gillian."

Don unconsciously came to attention, "Yes, sir."

"First, congratulations on your promotion. It is well deserved and I can't wait to put you to work. Also... I've been in the Air Force over twenty years and in my entire career I've never, ever had the opportunity to say the following words, so here goes..." He paused for a long time, causing Don to worry again. Finally, he resumed, "I received notice from the base education office that the University of New Mexico at Portales has approved your doctoral thesis. Congratulations Doctor Campbell, you have earned a PhD in education. Major Hershey will hand you a copy of the notice I received."

Don was stunned, he handed in that thesis over six months ago, he expected it to be thrown out and possibly burned because it espoused a need to over emphasize the "three R's" in education as a way to overcome social and economic disparity. Damn! He is now a Doctor of Education! With Lanh finishing her schooling with a doctorate in Speech Pathology, there's no way that they will be denied the opportunity to adopt now! "Thank you, sir. This is exciting news." That was all that could come out. He was so excited he could barely speak.

"No, thank YOU, Doctor Campbell. I want to see you in my office in seventy-two hours. Let's talk bootstrap. Here's the other Doctor Campbell."

Bootstrap? Don's head almost exploded! Bootstrap was a program to elevate enlisted men into the officer ranks.

Lanh came on the phone. She sounded excited and happy. "Honey, we only have a few minutes, but I got the call yesterday from the adoption agency. Everything has been approved! On Christmas eve the agency will come to our house to sign the final papers and Sue Lynn will be our baby!"

Don practically howled with joy, and Karole broke down in tears. She's watched Lanh and Don struggle with their desire to have a baby, and now it is finally going to happen. Her sobs of happiness were so loud she was sure that she could be heard. After protracted goodbyes, Don handed the phone back to Major Hershey, who held the receiver with two fingers and said, "It'll be ok after it dries out." Then to everyone in the office, "Ok, final maintenance roll call in ten minutes, balls deep in 72 hours. Let's get going!"

At the maintenance roll call, all the aircraft maintainers stood in the shade of the camouflage netting mere yards from where their aircraft were parked. Being the last day of flying for this deployment, many of the pilots and electronic warfare officers were in attendance as well. Major Hershey stepped forward and read off the long list of accomplishments of the past 90 days. He then turned the roll call over to Senior Master Sergeant Durkee, who thanked his troops, handed out ceremonial coins authenticating this combat rotation of the USAF "Ravens." He ended his speech with the word "Shirt!"

Master Sergeant Vanada, the deployment first sergeant, stepped forward and thanked the troops for keeping their quarters in good condition, and their outstanding conduct on and off duty.

"Finally," said MSgt Vanada, "Technical Sergeant Campbell, step up here." Reluctantly, Don stepped forward and received his first set of Master Sergeant stripes. However, since the way the USAF promoted, it would be almost a year before he could put them on and say officially, he was a Master Sergeant. Until that time, he was expected to fulfill the duties of a Master Sergeant as training for his advancement in rank. He started to return to the formation, but the first sergeant said, "Hold on sergeant, I ain't done yet."

"Oh crap," thought Don as Msgt. Vanada droned on.

"I want to hold up Master Sergeant selectee Campbell as an example to you all, not ONLY was he able to study to achieve the prestigious rank of Master Sergeant, not ONLY was he able to lead you as maintenance expediter to heights of excellence heretofore unrivaled in the gloried history of this squadron, but he also did this all WITHOUT becoming a pompous ass like me," he paused for raucous laughter.

"IN ADDITION, Master Sergeant selectee Campbell was able to find time to earn the title of Doctor of Education, of which he just found out today..." he paused for wild applause. When the troops settled down, he continued, "but DOCTOR Sergeant Campbell was ALSO able to apply himself in other fields of endeavor, and in that end, he has earned the position of FIRST MAN OFF THE AIRPLANE!"

The men and women surged forward to congratulate Don with cheers, handshakes, slaps on the back, and hugs. Even the officers took part in the congratulations. In the melee, Karole discovered that the first men off the airplane are the guys whose wives were pregnant or gave birth while they were deployed. She passed through the crowd and whispered in Don's ear, "I'm so happy for you and Lanh. I love you both so much."

Don looked in her direction a little confused but continued to thank his men and women until Senior

Master Sergeant Durkee restored order. Once the troops were back in line, he handed the clip board to Don, who thanked the troops then began giving out their assignments for the last day of flying. He ended up by saying "Anyone who was handed a stripe today has EOR!"

EOR stands for End Of Runway, a task that Don truly enjoyed. At each end of the runway is a small parking ramp, where launching aircraft stop for a final safety check and to get their weapons armed. Landing aircraft were inspected for damage and had any returning weapons safed. It was loud, smelly, hot, and exciting. Don loves the chance to give aircrews heading off to war a sharp salute, and to be the first to welcome them home when they land after their mission.

Sgt. Wendy Addams, Senior Airman Cynthia Daniels, A1C Bob Davies, and A1C Jeff Wozniak were on Don's EOR crew and were happy for the reprieve, because back at the squadron area, everyone was cleaning up and getting ready for the flight home. It was a big job to clean up after 90 days of non-stop operations on the EF-111A Raven, the USAF's only combat capable electronic warfare aircraft.

Once the first two aircraft were inspected and their defensive countermeasures were armed, Wendy, Cynthia, Bob, and Jeff lined up alongside Don on the left side of the lead aircraft, gave a sharp salute, and as required, the aircraft pulled forward 100 yards before turning right toward the runway. This move prevented the maintenance crews from being hit by the jet blast of the two massive turbojet engines.

At the edge of the EOR ramp there was a pavilion to shade the EOR troops, and today there were quite a few. Several units were flying over Bagdad today, along with their AC-130s. Don, Wendy, and Cynthia chatted with the troops from other flying units and reps from McDonnell Douglas showed up shortly, followed by four oddly configured F-15's. They looked like they had conformal fuel tanks installed and the weapons pylons they carried looked small and stubby.

Don and Cynthia tried to pump information from the local McDonnell Douglas' representatives on the planes, but they refused to answer. The F-15's had no marking to show their allegiance with any air force or country, they just had a number painted in medium gray on the light gray tails and the EOR troops all agreed that they must be CIA jets.

As usual, the McDonnell Douglas reps were trying to convince Don to come work for them. They guaranteed $100,000 a year tax free if he remained in Saudi Arabia, but Don had other plans, he wanted to go home, hold his wife, welcome their new baby, then spend two years somewhere else, back in Korea at Osan Air Base, or Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, or four years in England or even back to Germany. Wanderlust had taken over their lives and, for the first time, they had time to enjoy life without studying for a degree or promotion.

Don's handheld radio squawked to life, but he couldn't make out what was being said over the shrieking and roaring of the unmarked F-15's that were preparing to launch. He shouted to Bob and Jeff to get their gear ready. The last sorties were on their way. Then he walked over to his dispatch truck. Inside the big boxy delivery van with the door closed, he was able to hear the radio.

Meanwhile, out on the EOR ramp, the lead mystery F-15 had some minor problems and his three element members taxied forward, then turned to the right and moved over to the end of the runway to wait for him. The pilot of the lead aircraft was angry at the SNAFU. When the McDonnell Douglas mechanics had him fixed and he was able to taxi, he decided to get on to the runway fast. He turned right immediately and opened his throttles wide. Turning right aimed the exhaust of the most powerful jet engines ever installed in an American fighter aircraft directly at a dozen maintenance personnel who were standing off of the edge of the ramp and in a shade pavilion.

The jet blast knocked over everyone in the EOR pavilion and rolled the McDonnell Douglas technicians for a hundred feet, killing them. The jet blast hit Don's truck and launched it off the shoulder of the ramp into the air, then it dropped fifteen feet into a ditch filled with sharp boulders. The truck slammed down on those rocks and a second truck landed on top of it, crushing the truck and seriously injuring Don. He was leaning against the driver's side door when the truck hit those rocks on the driver's side. Then the second truck hit and caused more damage. He was still conscious when the 150 lbs. fire extinguisher that was launched by the same jet blast slammed into the wreckage of his truck and exploded.

"DON!" shrieked Karole, and suddenly she was in the truck with him, his form bent and twisted, the steering wheel crushing into his chest, making it nearly impossible to breathe. He didn't have a seat belt on because he wasn't planning to move the truck. He didn't even have the key in the ignition. "DON! I'm here with you! Stay with me! DON!"

He opened his eyes and looked straight at Karole. "Lanh," he gasped. He tried to reach for Karole, but his free arm was smashed. "Tell Lanh I'm ok."

"You will be ok," wept Karole in frustration that she couldn't touch him. "You're going to be ok; you're going to watch my baby for me. Her name is Krissy. You're going to be our birth coach... you're going to love her. Krissy and I, we love you Don... I love you Don!... Don? Stay with me Don, you're going to be ok." She watched in horror as clouds of the purple fire extinguishing compound poured in through the smashed windows and Don labored to breathe. "HELP HIM! SOMEBODY HELP HIM!" she shrieked. He soon lost consciousness from lack of oxygen and Karole wept bitterly, trying to touch him, trying to assure him he wasn't alone.

She stayed with Don as the fire department gently pried him from the wrecked, twisted vehicle. As they carried him up out of the ditch, she saw several huge firefighting vehicles parked on the EOR Ramp, numerous ambulances, and many firemen with the equipment used to cut open the wrecked van. Nearly a dozen people were being bandaged and splinted, heads wrapped in bloody bandages. She saw Wendy and Cynthia being carried on stretchers; they were blown into the ditch onto the rocks and their bodies were broken as well.

"Don't look Don, they'll be ok, let's just worry about you," wept Karole and she implored the rescue team. "Please, please hurry!" And then the ride to the base hospital. The shooting war was over, the need for a surgical ward was gone, so all that remained was an outpatient clinic. She clung to him as best she could as the base doctors stabilized his shattered body, getting him ready for transport.

Karole whispered encouragement in his ear the entire fevered flight from Saudi Arabia to Frankfurt, Germany. She reminded him of all the beautiful moments of his life that she witnessed, and when she talked about his first dance with Lanh, she even sang to him;

I hope you don't mind

I hope you don't mind

That I put down in words

How wonderful life is, that you're in the world

The only person she ever sang to in her life was Krissy, and a horrible thought occurred. What if Krissy's Mr. Don doesn't make it? What if she did something here that changes the course of Don's life? She wanted so much to hold his hand, or at least try, but his shattered arms were wrapped tight to his chest like a mummy, so instead she placed her hand on his cheek, the only place that wasn't covered with bandages or the remains of his desert camouflage uniform and continued to whisper to him; "remember those warm sunny days back at the pond where you and Lanh splashed and played? Remember the day that you both took off your wet shirts, and you held her, and you felt her skin against you for the first time and you..." she choked up, remembering that scene. "I love you both so much," she gasped, hoping against hope he could hear.

It was so hard to go on, but she did, and finally they landed in Frankfurt, Germany, Ramstein Air Base, where he was raced to the hospital and wheeled directly into emergency surgery. She didn't stop whispering and praying, ignoring what the surgeons were doing. When the anesthesiologist assured the surgical team "He's out," Karole didn't stop, she continued to whisper to Don, reminding him of all that had happened in his life since the day he first asked Lanh to dance. Finally, in the recovery room, she felt a hand pull her back from his bandaged body.

It was Past Karole, the party girl. "Where the hell were you?" demanded Karole, her eyes red rimmed with sorrow.

"I was with Lanh," said Past Karole sadly. "She needed us too." Karole turned and saw that Lanh had gently slid into bed with Don and had taken over from Karole, whispering encouragement. "When word got back to home base what happened, the plane with replacement personnel for this deployment was on the runway, ready to take off. Colonel Gillian ordered the aircraft back to base ops and wait. He personally put Lanh on it, then had the aircrew divert from their original flight plan to drop Lanh off at Ramstein Air Base. We just got here."

An orderly tried to get Lanh out of the bed, but she just hissed and said, "I stay with my Donovan!" The orderly put his hand on her shoulder and she just glared at him, "Do not make me hurt you."

An Army nurse, hardly larger than Lanh herself, addressed the orderly in a professional, military manner.

"What da fuck is wrong with you? I asked you a question private!" The orderly, unused to anyone addressing him like that in a hospital setting, could only stutter. "Dat's what I fuckin' thought. Get that poor woman a blanket and a pillow! How often do you check on Sergeant Campbell?"

"E-e-every thirty minutes, ma'am."

"Good, you will check on Mrs. Campbell every fifteen minutes, and if she wants for ANYTHING you get it, or it's coming out of your ass, you got it private?"

"I'm a corporal, ma'am."

"Not with that fucking attitude."

Past Karole led Karole out of the room, and down a long hallway lined with windows. In the first window, they could see a small living room in base housing decorated for Christmas, a telephone ringing constantly unanswered. "That's the adoption agency trying to reach them on Christmas eve, but Lanh and Don are both in Germany. After a week of trying to reach them, the agency gave up. With this black mark on their record, there's no adoption agency that will ever consider them."

Karole covered her mouth with one hand and sank to the floor in horror... Sue Lynn was gone. Their dream of having children was over. Karole finally knew why Lanh wouldn't talk about adopting, and she began weeping for her friends. She's grown to love them so dearly that to see this happen to them is almost too much to bear. All the time, all the lawyers, all the money to adopt their baby Sue Lynn, and now it's all gone. Their hopes and dreams were all shattered by an impatient fighter pilot.

"Come on, up," said Past Karole softly, holding her hand out to Karole. "If we do this right, it will work. Come on."

Reluctantly following Past Karole down the hallway, they stopped to view the Don and Lanh's progress. In each window, Karole could see another part of Don's recovery: the surgeries, the pulmonary therapy, the physical therapy, and the emotional therapy. Eventually they saw Don wearing his brand-new Master Sergeant stripes, Colonel Gillian was able to pull strings to keep Don in the Air Force long enough to put on those stripes, so when he was medically discharged, he was discharged at a Master Sergeant's pay grade at 100% disability. He was now a ward of the VA.

The last window showed Don and Lanh purchasing a house in Greeley where Lanh could teach at Northern Colorado University and practice in the Greeley hospital. It was the house where they lived now and the first house they ever purchased. Karole watched a still wobbly Dan scoop Lanh up off her feet and carry her across the threshold. The smiles on their faces were the same smiles of love that Karole saw time and time again under the mistletoe. Of course, they moved in on Christmas eve, the universe wouldn't have it any other way.

Past Karole led Karole through the door at the end of the hall and they stood on Don and Lanh's front step, Real Karole, still sprawled on the ground, trying to get up but not moving. The snowflakes hung motionless in the gathering dark; the Christmas lights did little to bring joy to the sullen Colorado sky. Karole looked down on Real Karole, her mind still spinning from everything that had happened. "I didn't know... I asked about their past and they just smiled... so much pain! Over and over... I couldn't imagine..." Karole choked back her tears and anger.

Past Karole sighed, "But so much Love! Oh my God the love! Can you imagine loving like that?"

"Oh God, I want to! I want to love like that. I want to be loved like that!" cried Karole, as she looked sadly at the front door. Inside the house, Don was probably reading Krissy a story, or they were playing with the train under the Christmas tree. She remembered watching Don and Lanh set that train up. It was a game they loved to play, a tradition, almost a ceremony, and they did it the same way every year.

But the baby... they came so close to having a baby they could love and raise, just to have it all taken away... And Karole thought of his broken body in a desert ditch and his lungs filling with firefighting chemicals. She was on the edge of tears again when she realized she had fallen in love with her best friend's husband, but also with his wife, her best friend.

Suddenly, another Karole drifted through the front door. She was a few years older, a couple of pounds heavier, she wore those pounds on her hips and her breasts. Her hair was a little shorter, curled but still shoulder length, and she was wearing a glittery sprig of Christmas holly in her hair behind one ear. She was dressed in a fluffy red bathrobe with fluffy white trim at the collar, wrists and bottom, and it had a fluffy black belt tied at the waist. A bathrobe only Mrs. Claus would wear, not Grinchy old Karole, as Krissy and Mr. Don have called her in the past.

She turned to Past Karole and said, "You did pretty good with this one, much better than the past. Do we have a shot?"

"Oh God I hope so," sighed Past Karole.

Stave 3

"Who are you?" asked Karole as she looked from Real Karole, still kneeling on the cement, to Past Karole, and now at the new Karole. "Don't tell me, you're the Ghost of Christmas Present."

The new Karole turned to her with an expression of anger and disgust. She slowly said, "No, I ain't no ghost. A ghost is the dying breaths of a living person. I am a spirit, just as you are now. There's only one ghost tonight, and in thirty seconds' real time, that ghost is going to scare the living shit out of you. I know you; I was you, and you don't believe in hell right now. But after tonight you will. Oh, lordy you will."

This new Karole looked her up and down and with a scowl of hatred said, "In thirty seconds' real time I may never exist, the reason why I carry this extra weight may never exist, and it all depends on what you do tonight." Then her expression suddenly changed to one of southern sweetness. "Honey chil', I like to think of myself as the Christmas Karole of Christmas Yet to Come."

Karole started to worry. She didn't want to know about her future; she avoided astrology and fortune telling, even the daily horoscope was off limits, something about delving into her future terrified her, and now a noncorporeal version of herself was right there preparing the bludgeon her with her future. "I don't want..."

"I don't give a shit what you want," snapped Future Karole. "I only give a shit about what I HAVE, and I

got what I want, and you want it too, and so does that kid over there!" She pointed a finger at Past Karole. "What I WANT is for you not to fuck up our life!" She was practically shrieking at Karole. "This is attempt number twelve, and it's the last chance we have, because when this is done, that ghost will appear. There's not enough time left over for a thirteenth do-over..."

"Do what over?"

"This! This whole thing! Weren't you just paying attention?" Future Karole was exasperated. She held her hands out to Past Karole for help.

"Try the carrot and stick," said Past Karole, "Beat her with the stick, then put a carrot in her mouth."

Future Karole considered her options, then grinned. "I like it."

"Like what?" asked Karole nervously as Future Karole shook her permed hair and glared at her like a lion sizing up a lame antelope.

"Oh baby, this is going to be intense. Follow me, ladies. Let's see what could be happening at our house." She led the spectral parade of Karole and Past Karole across Don and Lanh's front lawn, through Don's rose garden that sets the border between their front yards, to Karole's house. As they walked in silence, the snow melted and the seasons changed from a nasty wet Colorado winter to a parched, hot Colorado summer. There on the porch sat yet another Karole, sitting in an old rocking chair in a tube top and a pair of shorts. In her hand was a can of beer. A cooler sat next to her, and a growing collection of empty beer cans rolled around behind her.

"Oh my God, you let us get fat!" Past Karole swatted Karole and screamed. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Karole, for her part, was shocked. She was always conscious of her figure; she worked out every morning; she loved jogging and hiking and she loved looking good. Even when life sucked, the move to Colorado had its positive side. It truly is a fitness state, with activities of all forms in all locations. Moments after Krissy was born, she was signing up for post-natal yoga classes. Krissy suddenly poked her head out the door. She barely looked a year older. She was skinny, her face was dirty, her hair was in knots. "I wanna go play with Mr. Don, momma."

"You leave Mr. Don alone; he don't feel well. Go back in the house and play," belched Fat Drunk Karole.

"We're the mother of the year," sneered Future Karole.

"Oh my God, I gained thirty pounds in less than a year?" gasped Karole.

"Forty pounds," said Future Karole. "Everything is possible with enough beer."

"Sounds like you got that off a red-neck bumper sticker," growled Karole.

"It's on a t-shirt in your dresser... or, to be more accurate, in the pile of filthy laundry next to your dresser."

"I'm hungry, momma!" wailed Krissy.

"You git yo ass back in that house before ah lock you in your room agin! Now GIT!" bellowed Fat Drunk Karole. With a shriek of terror, Krissy slammed the door closed and ran into her room and began to howl.

Karole's face was slack in horror. Yes, Krissy could be trying at times, but she was just a kid! Now here was Krissy inside her house, hungry, lonely, wailing for Mr. Don, wailing for a cup of water, and that... that thing that she became just sits on the porch drinking beer... "You fucking blob!" shrieked Karole at Fat Drunk Karole, "Go love your daughter! Take her next door, let her see her Mr. Don!"

Karole passed through the wall into her house to find it filthy. Even at her busiest, Karole was a neat housekeeper. This was disgusting, dirty dishes in the sink, and in the dish washer. Laundry and garbage everywhere, this was so horrible! And poor little Krissy's crying broke her own heart. Suddenly Future Karole appeared next to her. "Make it stop," begged Karole. "I'll do whatever you want. Just make it stop."

"All I can say is that when the time comes, you have to obey your heart," said Future Karole. It was obvious that Krissy's plaintive wailing from behind the door was getting to Future Karole also, but she continued, "As for pausing this shit show? Nope. We paid our money; we have to wait for this ride to come to a complete stop. So, keep your hands inside the car and let's go back outside."

Future Karole led Karole outside, and it was late autumn, or maybe winter. It's sometimes hard to tell in Colorado. The leaves were gone from the trees; the lawn was brown and dead, both Karole's and Don's lawns were overgrown, the rose garden was weedy and nasty. Fatter Drunk Karole was even fatter. She was still sitting on the porch, wrapped up in a blanket. A ten-year-old Krissy stepped out on the porch. "The power is out again, ma." Without waiting for a response, Krissy continued walking down the driveway and up the street.

"You get back here!" shrieked Fatter Drunk Karole, but Krissy answered with a raised middle finger and kept walking, but Fatter Drunk Karole wasn't looking. She was looking over at Don and Lanh's house. An ambulance was in the driveway over there, and a gurney was being loaded into the ambulance. Karole noticed it too late to see who was on the gurney, but an Asian woman was talking with the paramedics. She was short but still too tall for Lanh, or her mom, Mai. Was it her sister Tam? Her sister Kim-Ly? Is that Lanh on the gurney? Is it Don? Karole wanted to float over and find out, but she was unable to move. As the ambulance pulled away, Fatter Drunk Karole took a long drink from a bottle of cheap whiskey.

"Oh God," groaned Past Karole, she floated up to Fatter Drunk Karole and crouched nose to nose with the wizened old drunk. "What did you do to us?" but the question was directed at Karole.

A sudden noise next door caused Karole to look over at Don and Lanh's house. The house was in horrible disrepair, but it was spring now and a crew of men arrived and while all the Karoles watched, the team rebuilt the house; they were painting and patching, replacing the roof, they even hauled in new kitchen cabinets. Two dumpsters of moldy old furniture, cabinets, and roofing material were hauled away and soon, as the aspen leaves turned their joyful bright gold, a moving van arrived.

A typical family of pilgrims from the economically devastated failed states of either New York or California arrived to participate in the new Colorado gold rush of high paying, high-tech jobs piled out of an SUV. The couple was tall and slim; he wore a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up and skinny jeans; she wore running shorts, a tank top, and her golden hair was tied in a ponytail and pulled through the hole in the back of her ball cap. Very Colorado. They had two kids, a girl about 5 and a small, tough looking boy about 3, who ran around in excitement getting in the way of the movers who unloaded boxes and furniture.

"She ain't got no butt!" exclaimed Past Karole, her southern accent exploding. "No bootie at all on that thang. She's just tits on a stick!"

"Yep," said Karole and Future Karole, who were concentrating on the kids running around.

"Y'all just jealous," sneered Past Karole, who at her age was proud of her "righteous booty".

"Yep," said Karole and Future Karole.

Eventually, the couple wandered over to introduce themselves. They realized, of course, that Fat Very Drunk Karole was drunk and probably couldn't see them because her eyes were so glazed over, but they tried to converse with her. Fat Very Drunk Karole started on a mumbling discourse about the neighborhood going to hell with punk kids and meth addicts, even though there are only 6 houses on Weld County Road 45. "Who are you again?" she wheezed, squinting at the new neighbors.

"I'm Dale and this is my wife, Leann. We just moved here from Westchester County New York and we..."

"Hmmm? No, Don and Lanh moved here from Grant Valley... but they're gone now... They left... They left me..." Fat Very Drunk Karole cried softly.

Dale leaned forward and said softly, "Is there someone we can call for you?"

"It ain't gonna help," she groaned, "he didna want me anyway..." and with that she got up, wrapped her blanket around her, and walked in the house, closing the door behind her with a muffled "Please leave me alone."

Past Karole grabbed Karole by the shoulders and shook her violently. "OH MY GOD, WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!?"

"I don't know! I DIDN'T DO IT YET!!!"

"Would you two shut up? You're giving me a headache," groaned Future Karole.

The door opened again, and a much older Krissy stepped out. She had was wearing a large backpack, the sleeve from a poorly packed hoodie hung out of a half-closed zipper on the backpack. "You're still out here drinking? God! That's all you've ever done," groaned 15-year-old Krissy. "My whole fucking life. It's all you've done."

Karole looked around and it was spring, and Fat Drunken Karole was on the porch, in her rocking chair, still drinking. It looked like peach schnapps this time. A full bottle. She just cracked the seal. Seven hundred fifty milliliters of peach flavored rubbing alcohol.

"A'least it ain't fucking drugs," Fat Drunken Karole slurred.

"Go ahead and drink yourself to death. I'm done. I'm over you." Krissy shoved past Fat Drunken Karole, giving the rocking chair an 'accidental' shove with her hips. "I'm not going to watch you kill yourself."

"You get back here!" gurgled Fat Drunken Karole. "y' can't leave, yer too young!"

"Fuck you, ya drunken old hag!" snarled Krissy spitefully. She gave her mother the "single finger salute" with both hands, then turned and walked to the end of the driveway where a battered old pickup truck waited. Seated in the driver's seat was a scrawny, tubercular looking thing that may have once been a male of the species. He had long, tangled, filthy matted black hair, and a cratered, rutted face that hadn't seen the touch of a razor in over a week. A bent cigarette hung from his lips, and faded artless tattoos covered his arms. He was 55 years old, and he came to pick up his 15-year-old "girlfriend".

"Don't you get inta that thare pickup, yoo my daughter!" yelled Fat Drunken Karole, but she made no move to get up.

Krissy slammed her backpack into the bed of the pickup, which was filled with greasy automobile and motorcycle parts, some of which were obtained legally. She got into the reeking, oily cab of the truck and sat next to the equally reeking, oily driver, then slammed the door as hard as she could, but it didn't latch. So, she slammed it three more times. It never latched.

"Baby, remember? Ya gotta tie it off with the seatbelt," slurred the room temperature IQ vehicle operator. "I'm gonna fix it," he said in a cloud of cigarette smoke.

"Just drive," ordered Krissy, who was now officially The Brains of the Outfit.

"Get back here!" bellowed Fat Drunken Karole, but Krissy just leaned out the window with two extended middle fingers. To impress the drunken sot on the porch, the hepatitis carrier at the wheel of the truck put it in four-wheel drive and stomped the gas, producing a four-wheel burn out. On loose gravel.

A real Darryl Junior, that one.

With six out of eight cylinders firing, and a backfire every few seconds, the faded, dented pickup roared away on Weld County Road 45 leaving behind a cloud of dust, unburned gasoline fumes, and a fine spray of bargain basement recycled 10W-40 motor oil.

"My baby," gaped Karole, "that was my baby..." she started trembling, her hands were no longer hers to control, "MY BABY!" she shrieked, "YOU LOST MY..." she turned to launch herself at Fat Drunken Karole but stopped when she saw Fat Drunken Karole drink that bottle of Schnapps. She drank the entire bottle in one long, painful series of gulps.

"Oh my God," gasped Karole, then her eyes grew wide when she saw Fat Drunken Karole raise a pistol to her head.

"Karole! Stop! Don't!" shouted Dale as he sprinted across the lawn. Summoned by the noise, he saw the drama as it played out, and he ran as fast as he could and vaulted over the porch railing. He dove and grabbed her hand that was holding the pistol. He yanked it downward, the gun fired, the bullet roared down the barrel and through the spirit of Future Karole to impact in an open field a quarter mile away.

"I have 911!" cried Leanne as she stepped out of what used to be Lanh's house with a phone to her ear.

"Get an ambulance!" Dale shouted, "and find the Ipecac!"

While Past Karole shouted a litany of obscenities at Fat Drunken Karole, who was now slumped on the patio floor, Karole knelt in the front yard crying and praying over and over "I can't end like this, dear Lord please help me, my baby! I can't end like this..."

Future Karole knelt next to Karole and wrapped her arms around her, rocking with her. Eventually Past Karole joined them and the three Karoles rocked and cried, each one terrified of this fate. The ambulance left, shrieking off into the darkness, while Dale wrapped his arm around Leanne and held her close.

Karole cried and prayed throughout spring and summer and autumn while Future and Past Karoles held her close. Come December the Colorado skies darkened, storms formed over the mountains and rolled out on to the plains. Rain started to fall and temperatures dropped, but Karole remained on the lawn of her house, groaning and rocking. She had no idea how long it lasted. It could have been a matter of minutes or it could have been nine actual months. She had no way of knowing. She was numb, physically, mentally, emotionally.

Slowly, she noticed cars parking on the edge of the road and people walking up to her house behind her. Then two very familiar looking Asian women walked past her. She remembered the look of joy and surprise on their faces so many years ago when their father Duong practically ordered their kid sister to marry the man that she loved.

"Tam! Kim-ly!" gasped Karole. She met them frequently and grew to be friends. They walked past her, climbed the steps, and entered the house. "Tam!" shouted Karole, and she rose to follow. Tam was always so nice to her. She called Karole em gái mới của tôi - "my new sister".

Inside the house, Karole found tables set up throughout the house, all of her dishware, clothes, appliances and bric-à-brac set up for sale. Krissy's toys and clothes were for sale, too. If Karole thought she couldn't sink any lower, she was wrong. She was looking at her own estate sale. A nonstop electric charge of utter despair coursed through her, causing her mind and body to utterly ache. It was like a huge, horrific muscle cramp that affected her entire soul.

Tam and Kim-ly were looking for something important to them, something specific. Kim-ly found one of Karole's prized possessions, a framed photograph of Karole, Krissy, Lanh, and Don, taken at a scenic overlook in Rocky Mountain National Park. It always hung in a place of honor in her bedroom where she could see her dear friends when she went to bed at night and was the first thing she saw in the morning. Now Kim-ly clung to it like it was a life vest, but that wasn't the item they were looking for. Eventually, they found it, a tall metallic vase with a lid. It was the oddest shade of purple she had ever seen.

Tam held the vase to her chest and sighed while looking up. But then she opened the lid and looked inside and grew angry. A sudden and explosive conversation in Vietnamese began between Tam and Kim-ly, and finally Kim-ly demanded of the cashier "This wasn't empty when you got it, where did you empty it?"

"But It was just dirt," the old lady said.

"WHERE?" demanded Tam.

"In the back yard," whimpered the old lady.

"Show us," demanded Tam, and the terrified old lady led them out to the yard and in a corner of the yard there was a pile of ash. Tam and Kim-ly dropped to their knees and carefully collected as much ash as they could, treating it as gently and as carefully as they would if it were nuclear fuel, or maybe a loved one, gently returning it to the vase.

"Oh no," moan Karole, as Lanh's sisters walked past her. It wasn't a vase; it was a funerary urn. It had contained someone's ashes, someone important to Tam and Kim-ly. She felt like she was going to throw up. She didn't hear whose ashes it was, but she heard Tam mention her brother loved the person in this urn most of all. She thought of Lahn's brothers Huy, Trung, and Bao. Such nice guys. She even had a little crush on Trung.

Was that her ashes? One of them loved her?

She lay down on the cold, wet dirt and curled up in a little ball, wishing that the ground would open up and swallow her. She remembered what both Past and Future Karole told her: a ghost was coming to scare the shit out of her. "Good," groaned Karole. "Maybe it will scare me to death, so it will be over."

"Come on," whispered Future Karole, "It's over, no more stick. You've been beaten enough. Let's go get a carrot."

"No," croaked Karole, her spectral voice hoarse from crying, "no more, I can't."

"Yes you can," whispered Future Karole, and she gently touched Karole's temple and softly she was in a warm, dry living room. "I know you," said Future Karole softly, "we want this carrot so badly!"

A fire crackled in a large fireplace. One of the scraggliest looking Christmas trees she had ever seen dominated the front windows. The tree was covered with beautiful ornaments, but also inexpertly made green and red paper chains, strings of popcorn, and little dolls with angels' wings made from paper. There were so many details Karole couldn't see, they were blocked to her, but she didn't notice that fact, because there was Krissy; she was happy and healthy. Krissy was clearly healthy and flitting around the room like a butterfly on speed, explaining how Santa Claus was going to hop out of the fireplace and see the tree she made for him, and the cookies, and the milk...

"Krissy!" Karole gasped, "you're ok!" she covered her mouth and found that she did, indeed, have tears remaining, tears of utter joy. She grabbed Past Karole's arm, "She's ok! That's our baby! She's ok! Oh thank you God, my baby is ok!"

"They both are ok," said Future Karole, but Karole had yet to take in the entire scene. She watched her Krissy run over to the tree and grab two packages with bright red and white wrapping paper. She placed them on the table and read the tag on the top package.

"Froooom Krissy..." she realized her mistake and giggled. "I mean, Toooooo Krissy, Froooom Daddy!" She grabbed the package and ran with it to the tree.

"Daddy? Her father actually spent money on his daughter?" Karole was incredulous. Krissy's biological father was a worthless piece of shit meth head. If he ever got two nickels to rub together, he'd spend one on drugs and the other on hookers, never on his daughter.

"That piece of crap has been on the run from the Canadian mounted police for over a year now. He was selling crack in Toronto when they came after him," said Future Karole. "Krissy has a real daddy now."

"Who?" gasped Karole, but she was interrupted by a Karole she hadn't noticed yet.

"What about the other box?"

Karole realized she had been so fixated on seeing Krissy healthy and happy that she didn't notice the Karole sitting on the couch wearing Karole's favorite old pink bathrobe. She looked tired but happy, incredibly happy. Happy Karole. She had a bundle on her lap, a blanket wadded up, and suddenly it moved. A tiny foot rose from one end of the bundle. Karole screamed in surprise and joy when Krissy said, "It's probably for the BAY-BEE. Everything is for the BAY-BEE!"

Happy Karole said, "That BAY-BEE is your brother, and not everything is for him. Now what does that tag say?"

Krissy sighed as only five-year-old girls can sigh, got up and stomped over to the coffee table as only five-year-old girls can stomp. "It says Tooooo... I don't know that word."

Happy Karole leaned over to look at the tag. "Ummm, don't worry about that word. It's a word that adults use when they want to kiss."

"Eeewww."

"Yeah, don't worry about it, honey. Who is it from?" Happy Karole produced a small bottle of formula and uncovered the sleepy baby's face. She rubbed the nipple of the bottle on the baby's lips, and it suckled for a while.

Karole leaned over and looked closely at the tiny tot. "He's so cute..." she could feel motherly urges welling up, the pain and discomfort of carrying and giving birth to Krissy long gone, especially now that the nightmare she just experienced is over. She tried to tickle the baby's foot because she wanted to get him to open his eyes. She wanted to see their color, but he just smiled around the nipple in his mouth and went to sleep.

"How do you know it's a boy?" whispered Past Karole.

"Mother's intuition," replied Karole.

"And the blue t-shirt is a dead giveaway," added Future Karole.

"Who is it from?" asked Happy Karole.

"Unka Huy!" smiled Krissy.

"Really? With a kissy word on it?" challenged Happy Karole.

"It's from daddy, I was kidding on you."

Karole was still considering what Krissy said. Huy? Lanh's oldest brother? UNCLE Huy? I'm still close to them. Maybe marrying one of Lanh's brothers? The thought made her want to see the baby clearly now, but Krissy started tearing the wrapping paper off of her box and Happy Karole opened her box too.

"Oooo!" said Krissy as she held up her gift for inspection.

"Mommy has one too," said Happy Karole, as she held up the exact red robe with white trim that Future Karole was wearing. Krissy received a smaller version of it. "Maybe your daddy and Uncle Huy must have been talking when he bought these for us."

"They're always talking," said Krissy, trying on her Santa robe.

"Well, they are brothers. Come on, drink up your juice. It's well past bedtime. Santa has no legal obligation to bring presents to little girls that are still awake."

Brothers? I married Trung or Bao? Both were married, Trung to Angela, a North Dakota farm girl, and Bao was married to Lanh's best friend, Rosa. Rosa was now running the restaurant that Lanh's family owned. Karole suddenly worried about becoming a target of Angela's or Rosa's wrath.

"What about little boys?" pouted Krissy.

"He's already asleep, now let's git going!" whispered Happy Karole as she rose, laid the baby on the couch and took off her pink bathrobe, and put on the Santa robe.

"That's where you got that?" asked Karole, and Future Karole just smiled and nodded.

Happy Karole scooped up the baby and hustled Krissy off to her room where, fortified with the small glass of warm milk, she soon dropped off to sleep. Happy Karole then bustled around the house ensuring that lights were off, the fire was safe, and the tree was lit. She then went to the master bedroom and placed the baby in the cradle and tucked him in. To frustrate Karole even more, he was lying on his tummy and she couldn't see his face. "They're both asleep," Happy Karole said.

"Let's get to work," said her husband as he rose off the small love seat in the master bedroom.

Karole studied Happy Karole's husband as he and Happy Karole bustled around the house collecting presents from the various closets and cubby holes where they were stashed over the past few months, then hauling them out to the living room. The only thing that Karole could take away from her observation of him is that she couldn't take anything away from her observation of him. She could see his face, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, but she couldn't register them. She could see his hair clear as a bell, but she couldn't tell what color it was, what length it was, what style it was. All she could take away was that he had hair. It frustrated her, and she realized she couldn't tell if this man was OJ Simpson or Pee Wee Herman.

She turned to Past Karole and asked, "Who is that?"

Past Karole shook her head. "I don't know, I can't tell. Freaky, isn't it?"

"What's going on?"

"You're not supposed to know who that is," said Future Karole. "I could tell you, but you wouldn't be able to understand it."

"Try me," grinned Karole.

"Ok, you get married to ----- ----- on ----- ----- and you get married at ----- -----."

Karole heard the words, acknowledged that they were words, yet did not know what they meant. "What the fuck..."

"Freaky, right?" asked Future Karole with a grin. "If you like that, you're going to LOVE the carrot."

"Oh, God! I've been waiting for this part," said Past Karole. "We've never tried this part before."

Suddenly Karole noticed that as Happy Karole bent over to arrange presents under the tree, her robe rode up, exposing her bare bubble butt and her glistening shaved pussy. "That hussy!" Karole grinned, then gave a snicker as Happy Karole looked over her shoulder at her husband and wiggled her hips at him, then went back to arranging the gifts under the tree. At some point, she had taken off her nightgown and was completely nude under her Santa robe.

For his part, ----- ----- didn't miss the hint. He stealthily crept up behind his wife and slowly slipped his finger into her moist pussy. "Mmmmmm," Happy Karole spread her legs wider, surrendering her pussy to her man. Her eyes closed in bliss and she lowered her cheek to the carpet and let him have his way with her most private parts.

Karole and Past Karole's eyes shot wide open, and they both gasped as they felt exactly what Happy Karole felt, all three of them felt her man's finger slide deep into her pussy and begin to gently search around for sensitive spots to gently massage. Karole's urge to pull away quickly faded as the loving probing increased, and now she felt a tongue flicker over her ass cheeks.

Past Karole was unaccustomed to thoughtful foreplay. Her entire sex life so far is limited to her own fingers, the handle of a hairbrush, and two rushed encounters with a sweaty redneck boy she knew in high school. She stood up, but the sensation continued. Confused, she looked around the room and prepared to run.

"This is the carrot you guys, our lucky husband is going to get the kinkiest Christmas present ever, a ménage à cinq, and he's not even going to know. Everything he does to her, we all enjoy, and anything we do to ourselves and each other, SHE gets to enjoy."

"What the fuck...?!?" gasped Karole as she felt a second finger enter her pussy and massaged her G spot, yet the only pussy getting fingered was attached to Happy Karole underneath the Christmas Tree. She arched her back and dropped to her knees as the sensations radiated from her now wet pussy.

"Girls, we are overdressed for this," grinned Future Karole, and both Karole and Past Karole's spectral clothing disappeared. Future Karole came up behind Past Karole and put her arms around the terrified yet stimulated girl. "Shhhh, it's ok. This is going to be good... it's going to be soooo good."

Past Karole began to whimper and shudder as Happy Karole's husband slowly slid his digits in and out, in and out, inch by slow, delicious inch. "Oh, you wonderful fucker," Happy Karole gasped.

Future Karole reached around from behind Past Karole and fondled Past Karole's large, firm breasts. "God, how I miss being able to defy gravity with these things," said Future Karole. "Were these as sensitive back then?" she asked as she began pinching and rolling Past Karole's nipples between her fingers. The moment she did that, Happy Karole felt the sensation of Past Karole's nipples being pinched. She gasped and sighed, "Oh baby!" and clutched her breasts.

"Maybe breastfeeding made 'em more sensitive," whispered Future Karole into Past Karole's ear. "You're going to love being able to come just from this," she said as Karole joined her and they both began suckling on the overwhelmed teen's breasts.

"Oh my God, what are you doing to me?" groaned an even happier Happy Karole as she collapsed under the Christmas tree.

Future Karole release her mouth from Past Karole's perfect boob and winked at Karole. "Masturbating," she said with a huge grin.

Karole laughed around a mouthful of Past Karole's breast, "Yeah," she thought, "I'm sucking on my own nipple, I'm stroking my own clit," as her fingers found Future Karole's pussy. She nipped Past Karole's left nipple and felt a shock of delicious pain suddenly radiate from her own left nipple. Future Karole must have nipped on Past Karole's right nipple because Karole suddenly felt it in her right nipple.

Suddenly, all four Karoles froze; delicious, wet, warm, snakey thrills started emanating from their assholes. Happy Karole and Future Karole moaned in anticipation while Karole and Past Karole tried to figure out what caused that delicious but weird pleasure, but Happy Karole knew. Her husband's tongue was flickering around her tight pore, then pressing into her ass. "Oh, you marvelous fucker," she gasped as she reached back and held his head in place. "Don't ever stop," she hissed.

But he stopped, which caused Happy Karole (and Future Karole and Past Karole and Karole) to sigh with disappointment. Happy Karole's husband got to his feet and extended a hand and almost reluctantly Happy Karole freed herself from the mountain of plenty under the tree and rose to her feet then, hand in hand with her man, she left the room leaving them in alone. "God, that was weird," stuttered Karole as she untangled herself from Future Karole and Past Karole.

"It's just starting to get weird" grinned Future Karole, and around the three spirits the living room evolved into the bedroom, a nice size room, and like the living room it was adorned with holiday decorations. The bedroom windows were lined with multicolored lights and in each one, an electric candle glowed, sending out an invitation to anyone lost in the cold weather. The large comfy bed with a brass headboard was festooned with holly and evergreen garlands. "Here we go girls," said Future Karole, as she sagged into a love seat that was near the bed. "We have front row seats on the fifty yard line."

Just then Happy Karole and ----- ----- entered the room smiling broadly, the three ghostly Karoles could feel Happy Karole's excitement and the moisture seeping down her inner thighs. She opened her robe as ----- ----- lit candles on either side of the bed then tapped something and the room was filled with soft music. A piano, bass, vibes and drums were led by a clarinet.

"That's... that's..." stuttered Karole, trying to remember the name. It was ancient, familiar and wonderful.

"It's Moonglow," smiled Past Karole. She knew this ancient Benny Goodman song because when she was a freshman she tried to play the clarinet in the band, Moonglow was the only song she could play that didn't attract geese with the honking and squealing that often came out of her "licorice stick."

The three spirits watched Happy Karole literally melt into her husband's arms. "Remember this song," sighed Future Karole, "if you make it, if it happens..." she was desperately trying to avoid mentioning the ghost in Karole's future. This entire scene was a carrot for Karole after all, so she didn't want to scare her, "... they'll play this song at your wedding, this will be your first dance."

Happy Karole and her man swayed to the music and the three Karoles were overcome with the feelings of love and warmth that coursed through Happy Karole. For Karole, it was the very first time she ever felt that happy, that accepted. Her throat tighten and tears of joy filled her eyes as the couple before her continued to dance and caress and kiss. "That's all I ever wanted for Christmas," she whispered.

"What, you asked for him?" asked Past Karole, whose head swam with the warmth and love that literally radiated from the dancing couple. Poor Karole's youth was filled with neglect from her mother and pawing, leering men who wanted to grab her tits (once they developed) All she ever wanted was right in front of her swaying to a song from 1933 and she was starting to realize that.

"No, when I was carrying Krissy and feeling sad and lonely, Lanh's sisters asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I pointed at Don and Lanh playing with his train and I said, "That. I wanted... I want that kind of relationship..."

"That was a good Christmas wish," sighed Future Karole, who sank back into the loveseat. "It came true for me. It will for you too." The spirit of Karole Future began to gently slide her fingertip over her tingling clitoris. "We dance like that," she said, but she couldn't continue her sentence. She was distracted by Karole and Past Karole, who also began touching themselves, drawing gentle circles around their clits.

Their touches were felt by Happy Karole, who shed her robe as she danced with ----- ----- and gently slithered her tongue into his mouth. She was obviously a sexual fireball, nearing meltdown by the time the song ended and she sank to her knees.

As the mystery man eased off his "Santa for a Day" t-shirt, Happy Karole yanked down his sweatpants, causing his erect cock to spring up and nearly hit her in the chin. "Easy big fella," she laughed, and with practiced ease, she swallowed half of his cock. Happy Karole wasn't in the mood to play around, her spirit sisters had spun her up to the point of sexual insanity, she just wanted to fuck, but she knew her man, and he always enjoyed dessert before the main course so she indulged him and slavered his cock with her tongue and let him drive his throbbing pole in and out of her mouth. She clung on to his ass for dear life as he drove in and out of her mouth rapidly, just as he held her head in place. But she trusted him not to get carried away with his wild thrusting and the three spirit Karoles could feel that trust and love.

The reactions of the three Karoles to the oral invasion were varied for each woman. They all felt Happy Karole's desire to let her husband take her. They also felt her excitement and her need to cum, but that cock! They could feel it in their mouths, smell it in their noses, taste the drooling precum, the jaw stretching circumference and the length starting to enter their throats. But they were also free to breathe and speak if they wanted to, and to illustrate that Future Karole turned and gave Karole a kiss that she wished her previous boyfriends could have emulated. It was so mind bending to feel a cock in her mouth yet also feel Future Karole's tongue tangling with her own tongue at the same time.

Future Karole was, of course, used to that cock and enjoyed every familiar inch, every loving thrust, and couldn't wait to get home to enjoy it live and in person. Karole has sucked more cocks than Past Karole, but none as nice as this one. Regardless of size, it was so nice to have a recently washed dick in your mouth compared to her sweaty, greasy experiences. Past Karole, on the other hand, has only had three cocks in her mouth, none of them this big, this overpowering. The boy that took her virginity, Mickey Fields, acted like he had a dick the size of his forearm. In reality, he was barely noticeable in her vagina.

Future Karole finished kissing Karole and moved to Past Karole and found the teen close to panic. She was leaning back in the love seat, her mouth and eyes wide open in a mix of sexual fever and terror. "Poor baby," Future Karole moaned as she moved from Karole to Past Karole. She began to gently kiss the teen, who was surprised that she could enjoy a kiss even though it felt like her jaw was being stretched open to the breaking point.

For her part Happy Karole was overwhelmed by the touching and kissing that was keeping her on the edge of an explosive orgasm, she wanted to swallow ----- -----'s cum then follow that up with a gentle, leisurely fuck with breaks for egg nog and cookies, but no, she couldn't hold back. It was like invisible fingers were stroking her clit and pinching her nipples and it became too much. She pushed back, releasing ----- -----'s cock with a pop which surprised him but literally shocked Past Karole. She had just gotten used to the feel of a man in her mouth and suddenly it was gone. Happy Karole threw herself on the bed and reached out to ----- -----. "Now, baby! I need you in me now!"

"Oh shit," squeaked Past Karole in a tiny voice as she watched the unidentifiable man climb up on the bed, his wet cock bobbing and drooling precum. Happy Karole's legs fell open ready for her man and the three spirit Karoles waited with bated breath as ----- -----'s cock neared Karoles hot, sodden pussy. Future Karole grinned. She remembered this night from the viewpoint of Happy Karole. She remembered being there, waiting for her husband to fuck her into a state of bliss while an unseen audience watched, ready to join in.

All four Karoles felt his cock head press against their pussy lips regardless of the position they were in. He slid his cock over his wife's opening like a fleshy bow being drawn across the perfect violin. Karole rocked back against the loveseat, quivering, ready for what was to come next. Past Karole sat with her eyes wide open in both anticipation and a little fear. "Enough foreplay!" Happy Karole practically shrieked. Her nerves were on edge, her hands shaking, eyes quivering, and her pussy twitched and clenched in anticipation. "Gimme!" she reached between her legs and grabbed that beautiful cock and lined its head up with her pussy.

----- ----- pressed into his wife's pussy, groaning. She felt so hot tonight! He's never seen her so excited, so horny, and he is a master at working her up into a state of sheer rut. It's a Christmas miracle.

"I love you baby," and Karole realized she heard Happy Karole and Future Karole say it at the same time as his cock entered all four pussies. Karole was beside herself with pleasure as he pushed in, but Past Karole! She groaned and her eyes rolled back in her head as she felt her pussy being stretched by the biggest cock so far of her life.

Happy Karole wrapped her legs around her husband and drew him in, sighing in the process. The spirit trio of Karoles all felt a noncorporeal cock slide into their pussies, opening them and stretching them out. Past, Karole arched her back and groaned loudly. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she was opened wider than she could imagine. It hurt, but that didn't last as she became accustomed to the girth of a cock that was across the room from her, but still inside her at the same time.

Karole rolled over and looked at her younger self, getting gloriously fucked with no one touching her. It looked like a weird, sexy pantomime of 50% of a great fuck, but at the same time she was feeling the same thing that Past Karole was feeling. She leaned over and began suckling on Past Karole's closest nipple, and soon her mouth was filled with an odd, sweet flavor. She began pinching and twisting Past Karole's other nipple, which caused the groans and cries from Happy Karole on the bed to grow in volume and intensity. It was then that Karole remembered that Happy Karole was nursing. What she tasted was her own milk!

Sucking her own nipple was a guilty pleasure that Karole loved, but there was something else she wanted to do, and now she had the opportunity. Slowly she kissed her way down Past Karole's torso, holding tight as the younger Karole twisted and writhed from the sensations of the fucking that all three Karoles were experiencing. Nearly blinded by the erotic waves of pleasure radiating from her cunt, Karole finally reached her goal, Past Karole's clit. She spread the girl's swollen labia and began flicking her tongue over the erect nubbin.

The moment she touched Past Karole's clit she felt a tongue on her own clit, and from the shriek on the bed and the "Oh fuck yeah!" from Future Karole's end of the love seat she realized that they all felt the same thing. She suckled the little tingling nubbin and immediately all four Karoles exploded in a four-way orgasm. Four different shrieks and cries of passion filled the room as each Karole felt the sensation of being fucked by a long thick cock and having their clit sucked by an invisible mouth. Wave after wave of fiery release swept over the Karoles.

"What the fuck is this?" gasped Past Karole as she panicked from the overwhelming sensations that coursed through her body and rattled her psyche. She wanted to shove Karole away from her clit, she wanted to escape from the pounding of a spectral cock, but she also wanted to hold them tight. She wanted to escape from these sensations, yet at the same time, she didn't want it to end.

"Poor baby," gasped Future Karole, realizing that this was her... actually their first real cum - Past Karole was having their very first orgasm. 'Talk about setting the bar high,' Future Karole thought. Now she knew why every man in her life didn't measure up. They were competing against the perfect dick and three women at the same time.

On the bed, Happy Karole shrieked and cried like a woman possessed. She wrapped herself around her husband and reveled in the explosions happening throughout her body. Her pussy clenched his cock over and over as she came like never before, while an invisible tongue stroked her clit, throwing gasoline on an out-of-control fire. "Oh God, I love you," sighed Happy Karole as her lips feverishly met those of her husband. Meanwhile, three spectral pussies squeezed an invisible cock and reveled in the tongue that drove their clits wild, and now the kiss that added yet another layer of sensation to this evening's sexual feast.

The kiss drove a hammer through the memories of boyfriends and lovers past. Here was sex on a grand scale, fucking and sucking, a dick to make the jaw ache and the pussy stretch, along with all that comes the love that Happy Karole is feeling for ----- -----, the same romantic passion the specters on the loveseat felt, now amplified by a raucous orgasm.

Karole relaxed her tonguing of Past Karole and they paused to gather their wits as the waves of pleasure subsided. Past Karole's eyes were practically spinning with the realization that what she once thought were orgasms were far outclassed by the earth shattering climax she just survived. Future Karole flickered her tongue over Past Karole's nipple as the girl returned to earth. "What was that?" gasped Past Karole, "I want more!"

"That is our carrot," said Karole between delicate licks of Past Karole's pussy.

"No," said Future Karole, "your carrot is this: what is happening right here is yours, for the rest of your life."

Karole and Past Karole paused for a moment, then, "Oh boo-shit," said Past Karole. "Happy endings ain't for us, we're going to end up like our momma, hoppin' from bed to bed of any man that'll have us, draggin our baby girl along with us... that's how momma taught us to live, so that's how we roll." Karole looked up at Future Karole nervously. Her sad eyes confirmed the fact that she agreed with Past Karole. When Jayce left her just minutes after finding out he was going to be a father, Past Karole's words were cemented in her psyche, no matter how much Don and Lanh and their families tried to convince her otherwise.

Future Karole smiled and placed her hand on the back of Karole's head and gently urged her back to kissing Past Karole's pussy. "You see that man on the bed fucking your future self? In a few short years, Krissy is going to start calling him daddy and she will eventually forget that he adopted her and she'll think of him as her real father. You feel his cock inside of you? That cock gives you the son you saw tonight." Future Karole leaned over and kissed Past Karole, and it felt weird because, ----- ----- was kissing Happy Karole and all four Karoles felt like they had two tongues that were thrust into their mouths. "The shit show our life has become changes tonight," said Future Karole.

Recovered from that mind bending orgasm, Happy Karole started urging her man to resume his thrusting into her cunt. She smiled ruefully. Will he ever believe what really is driving her to such levels of ecstasy tonight? Or should she let him believe tonight he is a super lover, sending her to untold heights of pleasure? There's time to ponder this later, right now the cock that she loves is plunging in her sodden pussy again, his pubic hair is tickling her clit with every thrust, and now she feels those invisible mouths on her nipples and clit and she's soaring again. She suddenly thought of a great Christmas present for him... he's going to love it!

Karole moaned into Past Karole's pussy gently with every thrust of that cock, "Mmmm... mmmm... mmmm! This one is going to be big!" she gasped softly.

Past Karole was now over the shock of her first true orgasm and was looking forward to number two.

She writhed in boneless delight under the ghostly fucking of that wonderful invisible cock, Future Karole's kisses and breast play, and Karole's expert tongue dancing on her pussy and clit. "Where did I learn this?" she gasped as she held Karole's head to her cunt.

"Oh, you wait till college!" chuckled Future Karole, who abandoned Past Karole's breasts and made her way behind Karole, who was kneeling between Past Karole's open legs. "You're going to learn much more than physical therapy!"

A simultaneous gasp arose from three of the Karoles as Future Karole bent and kissed the puckered anus of Karole. Then she slithered her pointed tongue into Karole's tight pore. "What are you doing?" gasped.

Past Karole as she jerked up and looked at Future Karole, who was driving her tongue as deep into Karole's butthole as she could. The thrills the girls received were strange, forbidden, and incredibly exciting.

"Oh my God, what are you doing to me?" cried both Happy Karole and Past Karole at the same time, and their bodies erupted in another tremendous orgasm. Happy Karole planted her feet on the bed and thrust her hips up, striving to get ----- ----- to fuck deeper, her body trembling from the pleasure. Karole squealed her release into Past Karole's pussy as they both trembled and tried to absorb the feeling of Past Karole's tongue teasing and toying with their assholes.

As they came down from their second explosive orgasm, they realized that the cock that was still stretching their pussies was still hard. "Oh God, I don't know if I can take another one of those," groaned Past Karole. "I think he bruised my lung."

That caused Karole and Future Karole to start laughing as they pulled themselves up alongside Past Karole. They felt Happy Karole's exhaustion, her exhilaration, and her sore pussy, but they also felt the dampness from the sweat, the pussy juice, and the milk she expressed. Their ears perked up when they heard her say, "I think I have the perfect Christmas present for you," as she handed ----- ----- a bottle of lube.

"NO!" gasped Karole.

"What," pondered Past Karole. "You don't think..." but Happy Karole got up on her hands and knees, then lowered to her elbows.

"Oh darling," said ----- -----, "You think of everything!"

Karole watched ----- ----- slather lubrication on his cock then worked it into Happy Karole's asshole with his fingers. Happy Karole purred in anticipation as Karole and Past Karole trembled in fear. "He can't...!" gasped Karole.

"He sure can!" grinned Future Karole. "You're going to learn to love this!" She smiled happily while beginning to gently masturbate. "I need to talk him into video recording this," Future Karole grinned as she watched ----- ----- take position behind Happy Karole's happily upturned ass.

"He won't...!" hissed Past Karole as she began masturbating too. The sight was both terrifying and incredibly erotic.

Karole was filled with the feeling of two sets of fingers gently stroking her clit, two hands squeezing her breasts and pinching her nipples, her asshole was still tingling from Future Karole's tongue and ----- -----'s fingers, and she had a red-hot view of her future self, smiling in anticipation of being sodomized in front of her. The entire scene was scary-hot, and she masturbated too as she saw the head of ----- -----'s cock grow close to Happy Karole's happy ass.

Finally, his cock came in contact with not one, but four butts. "Ready?" he asked. He got two yeses and two nos, but he only heard one yes, the only one that counted and he pushed.

Four unlady like groans filled the room as ----- -----'s cock eased into four asses simultaneously. Karole felt herself stretched. She was in terror of the pain she that was always warned about, but she suddenly realized that this wasn't Happy Karole's first attempt at this; she was a veteran when it came to butt fucking, so the pain clearly happened in the past. What she and Past Karole were feeling for their first time was uncomfortable, a little painful, but the kinky eroticism more than made up for that.

Happy Karole was in heaven. She felt three sets of fingers dancing over her clit and plunging into her pussy and three hands groping her breasts, pinching her nipples, all the while her man's iron hard cock tunneled into her back passage. "Oh God, yesssss," she hissed and pushed back. Her last coherent thought was "I'm going to have to change the sheets..." then she felt his pubic hair tickling her butt cheeks, and she was lost to the craziest sex she ever had in her life.

----- ----- grabbed his wife's hips not realizing he was holding four sets of hips and he pushed deep, deeper than he ever reached before. "Oh GOD!" shrieked Future Karole, and she arched her back, her hand a blur as she diddled her clit as rapidly as possible. "I think he found some virgin in me," she gasped.

Past Karole looked like she was in shock as she watched her future self on the bed getting sodomized by a man she couldn't identify but was madly falling in love with. Even though she was still sitting on the love seat, she felt his hands on her hips, she felt herself being pushed forward as the spectral cock in her ass withdrew, then she felt herself being pulled back on that spike of iron hard flesh until his groin met her ass with a slap.

Karole was astounded that she found this entire thing sexy. She heard her past self grunting in time with her happy self on the bed. She heard her future self crying out like this was the greatest thing that has ever happened and she was stuck trying to understand why. Suddenly the woman on the bed, the one whose dreams had all come true, the one person in the room she couldn't identify with, turned her head and looked in her general direction. "Just go with it dear," she said, her eyes looking directly at Karole.

Karole was shocked that her happy self knew she was here. She started to relax and she let the feelings overwhelm her senses. Future Karole and Past Karole's cries drown out ----- ----- when he said, "Say something?"

"Yeah," gasped Happy Karole, "stop holding back, I won't break!" and she took over and began pushing back on ----- -----'s cock. The couple fucked in unity, the man thrusting forward, the woman pushing back, both drench with sweat, her breasts swinging, nipples brushing the sheet, milk dripping from her nipples, juice seeping from her pussy, and their audience watched entranced. Gasps and cries of passion filled the air, the scent of sex overwhelmed all five participants.

With a cry, Past Karole rolled off the love seat and dove between Karole's legs and began kissing and nibbling on her pussy. The explosion that act set off was incredible. Karole and Future Karole shrieked in sheer rut as their explosions washed over them. Past Karole cried out, but her voice was muffled by Karole's pussy. Each spectral woman felt the ghostly cock in their ass twitching as ----- ----- roared and came in his wife's asshole.

All four Karoles shuddered in release then slumped where they were at, ----- ----- lay on Happy Karole's back kissing her neck and whispering endearments as his cock shriveled and slid out of her anus. Finally, as they returned to earth Past Karole crawled back up on the love seat and leaned against Karole. "Did you like that?" Karole asked. "Did you like sucking my pussy?"

"I think I did," gasped the shocked eighteen-year-old.

"How are you going to tell your college roommate that your first taste of pussy was your own?" grinned Karole.

"Shut the fuck up," groaned the purple-haired doppelgänger.

The room was filled with labored breathing as everyone slowly calmed down after a wild and fantastical fuck. Finally, Happy Karole and ----- ----- rolled to their sides and started kissing gently. The feel of his lips was on the lips of all four Karoles. "Would you like some tea?" asked Happy Karole finally.

"Yes," gasped an exhausted Karole, Past Karole, and ----- ----- who added, "and a glass of ice water, please."

After an exchange with her husband, Happy Karole got up and walked over to the love seat where Karole and Past Karole sat slumped, breathing in deep ragged breaths, their spectral bodies tingling, their phantom assholes aching, and their ethereal pussies throbbing from the sexual workout that Happy Karole, Future Karole, and ----- ----- just put them through.

Happy Karole bent over and reached through Karole and grabbed her Santa robe, and as she put it on she whispered to Karole and Past Karole "Love you guys, thank you!" then wagging her fingers at them she turned and headed toward the kitchen.

Karole and Past Karole looked at each other in shock as the man in the bed said, "What was that, dear?"

"Just talking to myself, dear."

Future Karole drifted off to the kitchen behind Happy Karole and was gone for a while, then returned. "Come on girls, it's showtime."

Stave 4

Karole rose off the loveseat, and leading an exhausted and joyously fucked looking Past Karole by the hand, she drifted naked through the bedroom door and found herself outside on the patio of Don and Lanh's house dressed in the slacks, polo shirt, shoes, and jacket that she was wearing when this entire adventure began. Her earthly body was still on hands and knees getting up after slipping on the wet concrete. The wet, heavy snowflakes were still hanging motionless in the air. The maelstrom of life that Karole had just witnessed lasted just under one minute in the real world, but in Karole's mind, two decades had passed.

The sights and sounds and emotions that she just experienced weighed heavy on her heart, and her head literally spun from what she learned about her friends and herself and the incredible fucking she just received spiritually. "I can't go through that," gasped Karole, "there's no way." The sorrow of Lanh's barren womb, the terror of Don's catastrophic injuries, the horror story of Drunken Karole all echoed and clamored in her head, "Tell me that wasn't real." She clung to Future Karole, now back in her Santa robe, and wept because deep down in her heart she knew it was all real, including the drunken sot that she somehow becomes.

"There's nothing I can do lollypop," said Future Karole, stroking her hair and using the nickname Karole's mom used to use for her. "There are two paths set, the divergence is here, and the path you follow is set by what you do after you meet the Ghost of Christmas Present. One path leads to the stick, one path leads to the carrot."

She whirled on Past Karole, who finally stopped popping her gum. "Tell me what to do, please! I can't..."

"That wasn't given to me. I can't see past this point." She grabbed Karole by the shoulders, "we've been through this twelve times now, eleven times you ended up on that porch drunk with a pistol to your head. We reset and tried again, and again... and again. We tried so many different things. This time, we shared much more of the past and we let you enjoy the carrot as much as we were allowed. It's in your hands now. We've run out of time. There's no more time left to try it again."

She whirled back to Future Karole. "Please, just tell me! Give me a hint! Please." Her spectral legs gave out, and she sank to her knees.

Past and Future Karole followed her down and knelt with her. "You have a good heart," said Future Karole. "You've had a few rough patches, but you now know that there is so much worse in this world than to be called Christmas Karole."

"I know that now. I'm sorry, and if that's what I did to deserve..."

"It's nothing that you did, it's life and how you deal with it, and right now, this will be the worst of it. If you make it through here and do it right, you will save a very, very important life."

"But what do I DO?"

Future Karole said, "Here's what I can tell you; when you come to a decision point, do what you KNOW to be right and not what seems easiest Ok?" She put a finger under Karole's trembling chin and lifted her face to look in her eyes. "And if you can do that, we will be here to help you for the rest of your journey, ok?" Future Karole gave Karole a tender kiss on the lips.

"You will?" Karole trembled all over. The realization sank in that if she made the wrong move one more time, she would be trapped alone in a drunken hell of her own creation. So far, she was zero and eleven.

"Of course we will," said Future Karole.

"I'm starting to like those carrots," smiled Past Karole as the two faded.

Karole rejoined her body without even realizing it. Confused, head aching, Karole struggled to her feet. The snow began drifting downward again. After all this, it was going to be good to see Krissy and Don and Lanh again. She turned to open the front door and there was Lanh, standing in front of the door.

"Lanh! You won't believe this but..." Karole stopped immediately. The Lanh that stood before her was twisted, broken, and trying to writhe in pain. Karole remembered Don's shattered body in a Saudi Arabian ditch, but this was worse; she was translucent. Karole could see the details of the door behind her. With a sudden fury, the horrible realization exploded in Karole's overworked mind; the Ghost of Christmas Present was the ghost of her friend Lanh.

A pool of blood began to spread around Lanh's head like a halo, and Karole realized Lanh wasn't standing in front of the door. She was lying down somewhere. Karole's vision of her had Lanh 'projected' against the door.

Lanh's unfocused eyes suddenly spied Karole. Her agony filled eyes locked on Karole's eyes and recognition spread across her pain filled visage. She slowly reached a broken hand to Karole. "Help him..." she gasped. Her hand lay back on her chest and she wheezed, "Don need you now... love him..." then her eyes lost their focus and her body relaxed and the vision faded.

Karole was able to make it to the edge of the entryway before the vomiting started. Crying, shrieking in horror, puking up the contents of her stomach, Karole tried to make sense of it all, but she couldn't. All she wanted to do was get Krissy and run away. Maybe this whole horrible nightmare will go away.

Somehow, she found the strength to get to her feet, and she staggered to the door. "It's just a dream," she gasped, "You hit your head and had a little hallucination, it's not real..." Letting herself in, she walked into the living room; there was Krissy holding a Christmas themed child's book, but she didn't notice Karole as she entered the room. She was staring at Don.

Don was sitting on the couch with his phone held to his ear, saying "No... no... no..." The phone slipped from his hand and clattered to the wood floor. He crossed his arms over his chest and screamed "NOOOOOOO!" so loudly that Krissy began to cry.

Oh God! It's true! gasped Karole. This wasn't some horrible hallucination brought on by hitting her head. She had seen Lanh's soul departing her body. Her best friend, her only friend in this miserable life, was gone. She was awash in horror and misery; how could this be true? She staggered forward and sat on the couch next to Don and threw her arms around him, not for him, but to comfort herself.

"Please, let me be," he groaned, but she held him gently.

"I need..." she started. Oh God, what she needed was to go home and hide under a blanket. Don's agony, Krissy's crying, the damp chill coming through the open door, a scream welled up in her sour stomach, "Don, hold me," she finally gasped through his cries of agony.

"I don't want you!" he yelled, twisting violently away, "I want my wife!" and he violently shoved Karole away. "I want Lanh!"

"Don, please..."

"GET OUT OF HERE! LEAVE ME ALONE!" he shouted so loudly he scared both Karole and Krissy. "GO! GET OUT!"

Karole was in mortal terror. He had shoved her so hard she nearly fell off the couch. She's never had that happen. Years of living terror just knowing that one of her momma's "suitors" was coming for her in the night returned with a vengeance. She jumped up and grabbed Krissy, terrified that he was going to hurt them. She turned to flee when she noticed an Elton John CD near the stereo and suddenly the words hit her:

How wonderful life is, while you're in the world...

And it all came flooding back, the dance where friendship blossomed, walking down country roads hand in hand, game nights where the Campbells and the Nguyens became one large family, then love blooming, stolen moments in dad's hayloft, the honeymoon by the lake... and then when Karole met them, the long lunches with Lanh, sharing secrets, shopping together, even though her life fell apart she's never felt such love all because of Lanh... and Don... and their family. Then... then... Lanh's last request.

The words Fat Drunken Karole said came rolling back... "He didn't want me..." and she suddenly realized what caused her fatal depression.

Fighting back her own tears, Karole said to Krissy, "Honey, this is going to be hard. Mr. Don is very, very sad, and we have to help him. It's what Miss Lanh wants us to do. Ok?" Tears streaked down the tyke's face, but she bravely nodded. "Ok, you stay right here until Mommy calls you," and with that she set Krissy down at the end of the couch and walked to the stricken man.

She gently sat down next to him and eased an arm around his shoulders. His reaction was immediate and heartbreaking. He jumped back and cocked an arm to strike her, his hand balled into a trembling fist. "I said GO! I don't want you! I don't need..." suddenly his voice cracked "...anyone."

They stared into each other's tear-filled eyes for a long moment, then Karole steeled herself for the punch she knew might come. "I'm not leaving you," she said, her voice shaking in fear and sorrow. She swallowed and said, "I'll always be here for you."

Don melted, the anger in his face turned to such sorrow, his hand relaxed and he slumped over, saying, "Why? Why? Why?" over and over. Karole wrapped her arms around him and they wept together, deep, soul shattering sobs. And as they did, Krissy walked up, holding Don's phone.

"It's Grandma Mai," she said, a name that Lanh insisted that Krissy call her mom, Mai.

Karole freed a hand and took the phone. "Mai? It's Karole, I'm here with Don." Mai's voice was frantic as she described how the drunk Bradley Davis came wheeling out of the parking lot and ran over Lanh as they stepped out of Don Pollo's Margarita Bar.

A few feet away, Future Karole and Past Karole sighed in relief as Krissy crawled up on the couch because "Mr. Don needs hugs."

"Is this it? Will it work out?" asked Past Karole. She was still in shock and awe of the 'carrot.' "We can stay?"

"Yeah, it's going to work," sighed an incredibly relieved Future Karole, "the next year is going to be pretty rough; she's going to need us... but in the end, we're going to be a wonderful wife."

Stave 5

Epilogue

"I'm going to get up and make some tea. Would you like some?" I asked my husband.

"Yes please, that pepperminty Christmassy kind. And a glass of water, please."

I laughed. He earned it! A night of rigorous love making leaves my mouth dry as a bone, too. Holy crap, can that guy fuck when inspired! I don't know what got into him, but I sure know what got into me. "Yes master, your wish is my command."

"Master, I think I like that title," he said, waggling his eyebrows at me.

I patted his wilted cock, then leaned over and gave it a kiss. "You keep that up and I'll wear a see through I Dream of Jeanie outfit and call you master in public."

I sat up at the edge of the bed and pushed myself up to a standing position and stretched, then made my way over to the loveseat on wobbly legs. I grabbed my brand-new Santa robe off the loveseat and pulled it on. Then, almost as an afterthought, I whispered to the loveseat, "Love you guys, thank you!" and waggled my fingers at the love seat before heading to the kitchen.

"What was that, dear?"

"Nothin' just talking to myself, dear."

I walked through the living room to make sure that the fire in the fireplace was burning down and the fire screen was closed. I made sure that the tree had plenty of water as well. That little dog of ours seems to enjoy tree water better than the water we put out for him. I looked again at the "Charlie Browniest" Charlie Brown tree I had ever seen; it was thin and scraggly and had barely enough branches to be considered a tree, and yet it was the most beautiful tree I had ever seen. That husband of mine took Krissy out into the woods, and he let Krissy pick out the tree. They cut it down then dragged it back to the house, then they dined on hotdogs and hot chocolate next to a campfire out on the patio in the snow. They were so happy.

He was there when she was born and I knew he loved her before we got married, but damn! Hotdogs and hot chocolate in the freezing cold? That's a daddy's love. He could barely walk for two days after that, but he never complained. Krissy said she had a lot of fun, and he was so happy to do it. They're even talking about a camping trip with Grandpa Ralph this summer.

In the kitchen I put on some water in the tea kettle and as it heated up, I got a small serving tray and loaded it up with two holly covered teacups with holiday tea bags at the ready, and two huge glasses of ice water, one of which I drank and refilled. What is it about incredible sex that makes you so thirsty? A sudden thought came to me, so I reached in the fridge and pulled out a pealed baby carrot and took a bite. While crunching on it, I smiled and said, "You know I know you're in here."

Slowly Future Me took form, two Christmas Karoles in identical Santa robes. God, how I hated her for what she put me through! I wanted to hug her and punch her at the same time.

"You want to punch me, don't you?" she started.

I was about to ask. "How do you know?" but then I remembered she was me not long ago. Or maybe she was me a long time ago, and I just aged nicely. This whole moving about in time thing still gets me confused. "Where's the youngster?" I asked. I almost hoped to see Past Karole.

"She's in the bedroom recovering. She's never had anything close to the show you guys put on tonight," grinned Future Me.

God! When you two started sucking on her tits, I could feel it! I started expressing milk all over the bed!"

"Your husband loved it," grinned the Future Me.

"Then when the me back then went down on her, I felt it back then, and I felt it again tonight!"

"I felt it too. Who do you think was holding your head in place?" Her grin was absolutely lecherous, and it probably equaled mine. "You want to do it again, don't you?"

"Oh, hell yeah! You busy later?" She just grinned, and I continued, "God, I remembered it all this time, and when it started up again tonight, it was sooo wonderful. Why didn't the past version of me remember it back then?" I sighed, thinking of the little redneck hipster wannabe.

"Actually, we did. We just didn't know where the memory came from. It's why we dumped that loser. What was his name?"

We both rubbed our chins in concentration, then at the same moment said, "Mickey Fields!"

"Worst quarterback in Folkston High history," she said.

"Old three and out Mickey," I said.

"In more ways than one." We laughed and then paused, then future me said "The residual memory of tonight is why we dumped him, we knew that there was better, and the status perk from dating the starting quarterback didn't begin to scratch the itch we put in our psyche tonight."

"Ol' Needle Dick the Bug Fucker, I haven't thought of him in ages," I sighed. "What's he doing now?"

"He's a politician in DC, what else?" as I took another bite of the carrot, she grinned. "You like them carrots, don't 'cha?"

"I love the carrot, but God Dawg I hated that stick. I still have nightmares over that stick."

"Good," she said with a self-satisfied, smug look that I wanted to wipe off her face with a well swung cutting board. "It will keep us out of trouble. You notice that we never have more than one glass of wine anymore, right?"

"Oh hell no, not after watching me chug an entire bottle of schnapps." I almost puked at the memory.

"No more sticks?" I begged.

"Maybe an occasional little one," she smiled.

"At least I saved him," I sighed.

"Hmm? Saved who?"

"Don, it was Don you said I had to save."

"No, we never said Don. I said you have to save a very, very important life, and you did. Believe me, it was all worth it, all twelve tries, but I never said Don. If you had blown it, he still would have outlived you."

"Serious?" I was incredulous. "I saw them take him in an ambulance. It left with the lights off, that means..."

"That means that Don asked them not to use the lights. They were taking him to a VA facility, with no one to help him. He nearly starved to death. After he recovered and had some PT, he went home to Grant Valley and lived with Lanh's brother, Huy Nguyen, and his family. He lost his family's farm, and he died sad and alone, but he lived."

"Damn, I thought Don was dead."

"That's why you were so brutal to yourself. When Lanh died and you went to comfort Don, he yelled at you and threatened to hurt you; eleven times you left. You never spoke to him because you were afraid of him. You were terrified! But you still loved him, and the guilt ate you up. For his part, he couldn't overcome the guilt and shame of threatening you. You both lost two dear friends that day. You lost Don and Lanh, and he lost Lanh and you."

Then it was me I saved."

"Hardly. You ended up a bag lady in Denver. Not a glorious future. It was short, but it was a future. You were found frozen to death in an alley just a few blocks from Coors Field."

"So that was me in the urn. I thought it was me." The memories of Lanh's death and the aftermath still hurt. The dark consequences of one drunk's thoughtlessness that my future self was revealing began to rattle me.

"No, it wasn't you," said Future me.

I thought about it and felt stupid. How could I die then put my own ashes in my own house that I abandoned? Of course, it wasn't me. "Did I save anyone?" Future Me simply nodded. "Who did I save?" I demanded.

Just then Krissy, half asleep, walked into the kitchen, her little bare feet slapping on the tile floor. She put her Paw Puppy cup to the water dispenser on the fridge and half-filled it, then took a sip. "Who are you talking to, mommy?"

"I'm just talking to myself baby, now get back to bed or Santa won't come."

Krissy looked at Future Me and shrugged. "She looks like you," and she wandered back to bed.

We both looked at the doorway she walked through in shock; she could see my spirit? Future Me shrugged and said, "I got nothing."

After a nervous moment, I finally asked, "So, who did I save?"

Future Me simply nodded her head in the direction Krissy took as she headed back to her room.

"Krissy?"

She nodded and gave me a sad smile. "Yeah, about four days after she left with that piece of shit, he sold her to a pimp who had plans to sell her in the slave trade in the Middle East. She never made it there, she was found dead in Denver with a needle in her arm and the greasy piece of shit who sold her was found dead beat to hell, his castrated balls in his mouth, and a bullet in the back of the head. The cops blamed his murder on Krissy if you can believe it and ruled her death a suicide."

"Oh, my gawd!" I gasped, my hands trembling, and the terror I felt on Don and Lanh's stoop invaded my soul. "Did she...?"

My future self looked angry. "When Krissy found out about being sold, she tried to escape, but that greasy piece of shit beat the ever-loving crap out of her, so she took his heroin and died of an overdose. She was a pretty skilled addict at that point, so she knew she was killing herself.

"The pimp demanded the money back, but her asshole boyfriend had used it to buy the heroin that Krissy killed herself with, so the pimp tortured the piece of shit for three days before he died. Pretty gruesome stuff, too. He didn't get the bullet until after he was dead. The bullet was just the pimp's way of saying goodbye."

"Oh my god," all I could do was gasp. The carrot fell from my fingers and bounced on the floor to be snagged up by Krissy's Christmas present, a French bulldog named Barkley. The kitchen was ominously silent except for Barkley's crunching, as the realization hit me like a tsunami. This was all for Krissy! And we almost didn't make it. If I had run off with Krissy like I wanted to and left Don alone, I would have committed all three of us to lives of horrors. Waves of nausea swept over me as I tried to wrap my mind around how close we came to living my worst nightmare.

"Why do you think we did it over and over and over?" Future Me asked. "We had to save our baby! It was her ashes that Lanh's sisters Tam and Kim-ly came for at the estate sale. Don begged Tam to get those ashes, and he kept them for the rest of his life. He and Lanh loved Krissy that much. He kept those ashes close until the day he died."

"Tam and Kim-ly said it was for their brother..." I muttered.

"Don is their brother, when the Nguyen's saw Don and Lanh ice skating together for the first time they melted. Then later that evening, when she kissed him at the dinner table, they all knew it was for real.

They grew to love Don as one of their family even before Don and Lanh realized they loved each other."

An old horrible fear reentered my mind, a fear I thought I had beaten back a year ago. My stomach twisted. "They must really think that I'm an interloper..." I stared down at the floor, dreading what the Nguyen family thought of me.

"Stop that," the future me said. "I know what you're thinking. Lanh chose you to care for Don." The future me pointed to a picture of Lanh on the wall. Not the Lanh I knew, the professional businesswoman/college professor/doctor, the nurse to Don, the aunt to Krissy. It showed the Lanh I wanted to know; the sweet newlywed Lanh in a beautiful Áo dài made of white silk with gold and silver dragons and flowers embroidered on the tunic. Her hair was not in the professional working woman perm but brushed straight, then done in a French braid. She stood there as real as a morning sunrise but as inconsequential as the morning mist. It was her wedding photograph that Don's father, Ralph, my father-in-law, hung there so many years ago.

"Lanh!" I wept. "I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know which way to turn..."

"You're doing fine!" the future me said as we hugged. "The secret is to take it one day at a time. Don't forget, we're here for you. We're going to be a wonderful wife!"