© 2025 Duleigh Lawrence-Townshend. All rights reserved. The author asserts the right to be identified as the author of this story for all portions. All characters are original. Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental. This story or any part thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a review or commentary.

This story was written for Literotica's 2025 Valentine's Day Contest. All characters are fictional and do not represent anyone living or dead.

The One That Got Away

A Belated Romance

Chapter 1 - The Alberta Clipper

Uff da! KZZJ, the voice of the Center of America, just announced that an Alberta Clipper was barreling down on Pierce County, North Dakota, right where Leif Rassmussen was and there wasn't anything Leif could do about it except hurry. An Alberta Clipper is not an Arctic Express, which you hear about endlessly on TV and radio. An Arctic Express is when the jet stream dips down into the continental United States and the temperature drops twenty or thirty degrees. An Alberta Clipper is when Skadi, the Norwegian goddess of winter, attempts to kill you and your family just for the joy of the hunt.

Picture an Arctic Express as your front door being left open on a cold day. Compared to that, an Alberta Clipper is getting all your windows blown out in a subzero blast of wind. The Alberta Clipper is a system of extreme low pressure that comes roaring out of the Canadian Rockies, driving a warm high front ahead of it and that's probably the worst part. The warm front fools people into wearing light clothes, then when all hell breaks loose, people are caught unprepared for the frozen hell that slams down on them. In a moment, the wind whips across the prairies driving loose snow with it, temperatures plunge into the life-threatening depths. When the front between the warm moist high-pressure system and extremely cold low pressure system passes through, you will believe that Hell has the capacity to freeze over.

"I should'a known," grumbled Leif. When he stepped out of Leever's Plen-T-Good grocery in Rugby North Dakota an hour or so ago, it was practically shirt sleeve weather. He put the can goods and the root veggies in the back of his old '95 Ranger and drove three blocks to the VFW for a cold brew with the boys. Soon they were in deep philosophical discussion on how the Vikings were going to blow their chance for the super bowl next year. This year was a spectacular meltdown at the season's 3/4 mark and Leif won $10 in the legion's betting pool for what week the Vikings would be mathematically eliminated from playing in the super bowl (he put $1 on week 14) when the news came over the radio. "Turn that up, eh? A soul can barely hear."

"This is KZZJ color weather radar action center with the following update. A life threatening Alberta Clipper is moving across Saskatchewan and heading southeast at thirty miles per hour. By two PM, the storm should reach Portal, North Dakota. The front is generating temperatures of thirty-five below zero with winds of sixty-five miles per hour."

Portal is on the Canadian border. If it's going to hit the Canadian border at two, it should be after four when it gets here, thought Leif. He looked at his watch. It was three fifteen. By his calculations, he has enough time to get home. He failed to notice that the weather warning was pre-recorded, and things probably changed since it was recorded. "Hey Torvald, do you have any cinder blocks that I can borrow?"

"Nope," said the bartender. "Ain't got a one left."

"How about sandbags?"

"Can you get them back by spring for flood season?"

"If I don't go through the ice at the Balta Dam, ice fishing, yeah. No problem, eh?"

"Deal." Torvald led Leif to the outside storage room, where four sandbags were stacked up. Their job was to block the door from flood waters in the spring floods, but there was nothing in the area that would flood. There were no creeks, streams, rivers, or ponds to over spill their banks. Leif wasn't sure what the need for the sandbags was, but better safe than sorry. He carried them out to his truck two by two and placed them over the rear axle. The Ranger was a great truck, but it was very light in the backend.

A blizzard in North Dakota is not like your eastern, tame blizzards. In Buffalo, they get maybe seven feet of light fluffy snow that interrupts life for a few days, then you shovel out and it melts away. In North Dakota, a blizzard is the finger of the angry goddess Skadi, second wife of Odin, the goddess of the winter and of bow hunting. She reaches out with her bow and picks off lives one by one. Everyone in North Dakota knows someone who died in a winter storm. Leif's neighbors, Emil and Lena Gunvaldsen, both died a few years ago in a horrible blizzard. And it happened not fifteen feet from their front door.

Leif dug his hunting jacket with parka hood out of the toolbox in the back of the truck and pulled out the hunting socks and put them on over his work socks, then laced his boots up. He then put the hunting jacket on over his denim jacket. The idea is to dress in layers and if you don't dress in layers, you're not a fool, you're suicidal. He then moved his groceries into the area behind the seat of his super cab. If the temperature drops as low as the radio mentioned, the food will freeze, even the canned food.

He looked at the area behind the seat and the groceries were stacked in the place where Singer, his American Foxhound, used to curl up and sleep. They're such beautiful dogs. With brown, black and white 'piebald' coloring of a beagle and the same playful nature, they are a long-legged lapdog that loves nothing better than a day in the fields scaring up game. And after a long hunt, Singer loved to stretch out in front of the fire in the wood stove.

And that's where Leif found Singer on that black, frigid morning, laying in front of the wood stove. The fire had gone out in the stove and in Singer. He sighed. It's not fair that we should live into our eighties and the ones that love us the most only last ten or twelve years. "God, how I miss Singer," he said aloud for the thousandth time as he slammed the door and started the truck.

He eased out the clutch and headed over to Lunde's Service Station. There he topped off the tank on the Ranger and filled the two metal military surplus five-gallon cans with kerosene and tied them down in the back. That kerosene heater back home was the best investment he ever made. "How's business?" he asked Elmer Lunde as he went inside and got a scalding hot cup of coffee from the ancient coin-op coffee machine.

"Meh, so-so. I thought folks would be nervous about US 2 closing down, but nobody seems to notice the clouds."

Leif looked in the direction Elmer was pointing, off to the northwest. At first, Leif thought that someone had built a large warehouse on the northwest end of town, but he soon realized what he was looking at wasn't steel or concrete. It was a wall of black clouds bearing down on them. "I need to skedaddle Elmer. What do I owe ya for ten gallons of kerosene?"

"Let's call it forty even. Good enough?"

Kerosene was going for $4.23 a gallon, so Leif got a deal. He dug out a pair of well-worn twenties and set them on the counter. "That'll do, Elmer. I'll see ya when I dig out."

"Good luck, old timer," called Elmer as Leif headed out and got in his truck.

That was a joke, but it still hurt. Elmer is nearly eighty years old, and he called Leif "old timer." Leif was still used to being called "the new guy," and he's lived here over twenty years. After things went tits-up and he got away from It All, he ended up here in the dead center of North Dakota. Away from It All? It All won't even accept calls from a 701 area code. He's away from everything that hurts, everything that sucked the life out of his life. The only thing he needs is Singer, and she's gone. "Best damn foxhound in the west," muttered Leif as he ground the gears a bit then jammed it into first and headed out.

Leif didn't live here in Rugby. With a population of 2,509 souls, it was too big, too metropolitan. He found a city that suited him perfectly. Balta, North Dakota which had a population of 65. When he gets home, the population will be 66. Leif loves Balta, it's home, it's quiet and the best pheasant hunting in the state is just 30 yards out of his back door. Balta has a bar named The Grain Bin with $1.50 a pint tap beer and a fairly good pool table. The Catholic church next door still says the 10:30 mass in Latin and he's got a steady job as mechanic and equipment operator out at Lars Hirschel's 2,000 acre spread. Balta is just 3 miles from Lars's 3,900 square foot farmhouse. It's a commute that Leif will make across the fields on his Can-Am UTV.

Balta was about 20 miles south of Rugby on Highway 3S, then a right turn onto 52nd Street NE for a few miles and you're there. Sixteen square blocks of peace and quiet. Leif's house was in the north-east corner, surrounded by dogwood and elm trees and was as private as you can get. It was like living in a forest. He could work in his garden naked if he wanted and nobody would notice or care.

Right now, the problem was the storm closure gates. He had to cross US 2, a divided four-lane highway that ran east to west. It's one of the major roads in North Dakota and it will close in a storm. Along US 2 were storm closure gates that were activated when a winter blast like an Alberta Clipper comes through and makes driving a life-threatening experience. As Leif pulled up to the intersection, he saw that the amber lamps on top of a sign that said "If lights are flashing do not proceed" were dark.

It took forever for the traffic light to change and as he waited, the snow started to fall. Wet, sloppy, it was snow that was driven by the wind into areas of warm temperatures where it partially melted as it fell. Finally, the light changed and as he crossed; he noticed the lights started flashing on those signs.

Made it! A minor victory, but still a victory. He was now on his own heading south on Highway 3, a two lane paved road without a hint of curve or hill. It's 50 miles of billiard table flat, and straight as an arrow south to Harvey, ND. He's not going that far, he's only going halfway. As he got her into fifth gear, the snow really started coming down. Big wet splatters of snow and his wipers were barely able to keep up.

Leif was five miles south when it hit, and it hit hard. He was slammed with heavy wet snow that froze solid as the arctic blast hit and the truck was rocked with the onslaught. The wind howled, and he safely brought it to a stop, feeling for the edge of the road with his tires. He was completely blind and in the short period that the Alberta clipper hit, the snow that stuck to all his windows was frozen solid. He tried to roll down a window, but the ice had frozen solid and he was afraid he was going to break the window crank, so he stopped trying.

The wind gusts slammed his little truck, and he felt it rocking. The outside thermometer slowly plunged downward. The temp was 34° (1° C) when he left Elmer Lunde's filling station, now it was 20° (-6.66° C) and headed south. For what seemed like an hour, his truck shook and leaned as the wind slammed it, then he noticed his compass had moved. Back before the clipper hit, he was headed south. Now the compass said that he was heading west. Another glance at the thermometer showed 11° (-11° C) and it felt that cold inside too.

Leif's chief concern was keeping the engine running. Being hit by someone else would be a mite inconvenient, even unpleasant, but freezing to death was permanent and not something he wished to experience. Did he put the cardboard in? A trick in North Dakota is to put a piece of cardboard in front of your radiator, that will keep the engine nice and warm when temperatures drop. He looked behind him and there it was, the cardboard that should be in front of the radiator, keeping him warm and alive. Another glance at the thermometer. -8° (-22° C). That was quick, but Leif was sure this wasn't over.

When the shrieking and howling of the wind subsided somewhat, the truck was still running, but it sputtered in the cold, unhappy to be running. The thermometer settled on -21° (-29° C) and the compass settled on northwest. The wind turned his little truck like a dart and spun the heavy end into the wind. Leif attempted to open the door, but it was frozen shut. He slammed his shoulder against the door several times, then, with a cracking noise that sounded like stepping on a bundle of dried twigs, he broke the ice seal that kept him in and opened the protesting door. Shoving the door open against the blast of wind, he stepped outside into a changed, alien landscape.

When he left Rugby, the snow they had was mostly blown away and everything was brown. The wheat stubble in the fields had captured some snow, so the fields were gold poking up through some white, the roads were black and the ditches white. Now everything was white, the fields, the road, the fence posts, the barbed wire, the road signs... even his black Ford Ranger was now solid white. The wet snow driven by the Alberta Clipper stuck to everything and froze in place.

Leif fought the wind and opened his engine hood and wrestled the cardboard into place in front of the radiator. The cardboard sat behind the grill and allowed air around to cool the radiator. And it had a small hole in the middle cut out to provide cooling, which at -20° that's all you really need. Now came the hard part. He got his brass edged window scraper and began scraping port holes to peer through in the ice that covered the whole truck. He started with the side windows because he was going to need them for navigation, and by the time he started scraping the windshield, the defroster had loosened up the ice and he was able to clear the entire windshield. Then he scraped the headlights. He doubted that would help him see, but his headlights would be seen by an on-coming vehicle.

The storm was by no means over, but the initial onslaught had been tempered. The cruel, frigid wind ripped at Leif with life-threatening anger. The windchill had to be below -80° (-60° C) and over the howling of the wind, Leif heard the admonishments from the radio in the truck. "... exposed skin... frostbite in minutes... hypothermia... core body temperature... shivering, confusion, exhaustion, and slurred speech..." yadda yadda yadda, he's heard it all a thousand times before.

What he worried about was the road. He could only see fifty yards up the road, but what he saw concerned him. The road was covered with that wet, slushy snow that melted on contact with the road. Now the wind was blowing abrasive snow across that moisture, flash freezing it and polishing it to a slick and shiny luster. The chances of getting blown off that ice rink were increasing as the storm increased its ferocity.

The first blast was just an opening salvo, a warning to everyone to hunker down indoors. The real fun was about to begin. As he got back in the truck, the wind picked up again. At least this time the snow was a proper snow, a tiny painful ice pellet that could cut into your exposed flesh as the wind drove it into you, but it didn't stick to anything. He put the truck in gear and began the long, painful process of driving in a North Dakota blizzard.

To be a blizzard, a snowstorm must have sustained winds or frequent gusts that are greater than or equal to 35 mph (56 km/h) with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to a quarter mile (400 m) or less and must last for a prolonged period of time, typically three hours or more. In the northern prairies, there is a phenomenon called a 'ground blizzard.' This is when the wind blows the loose fallen snow so much that you can't see. However, if you were on the second floor of a building or driving an eighteen wheeler, you would see a sunny day with a cloud of white from the ground to the altitude of eight feet. If you were driving a semi, you would see the occasional roof of a lifted pickup truck sticking up through that cloud of snow.

Leif put his truck in gear and turned his nose to the south. He couldn't see the road for over ten yards ahead of him, but he could see the edge of the ditch on either side of the road through his side windows, so he drove, watching the ditches and glancing forward into the swirling snow occasionally. He turned on his headlights, driving lights, and floodlights fore and aft. The flood lights were invaluable when trying to repair a tractor or combine harvester that broke down during a night harvest. They could illuminate the work area out in an open field like a well-appointed workshop. Hopefully, he will be seen by an on-coming vehicle.

The yards crept by as he ventured south, and "snow snakes" began forming across the highway. Snow snakes are small snow drifts that stretch across the road. They're only a couple of inches wide and an inch or two high. At Leif's current speed of 15 mph, they were no problem. At 65 the thumping as you drove along and killed snow snakes could drive you batty.

Then, as he peered into the whiteness ahead, he swore he saw a dim glow of red that disappeared into the white gloom. There it was again... now there were two. It was a set of emergency flashers on a car. Was it stopped or was it moving slowly, picking its way through the storm like he was? He cursed the stupidity of anyone trying to drive in this weather (not him, of course, he's a professional at this) and he slowed down.

As Leif approached, he could tell it was stopped. It was a sedan, an old Honda or Toyota with a New Jersey license plate, and through the snow he saw the hood was up.

Shit.

A car with the hood up is a cry for help on the roads of North Dakota. It's not illegal to drive past the car, but it's not something a man should do. Bruce Haagen admitted to driving past a car with a hood up. The car contained a young mother and two children and by the time the police got to her, one child had died. No one spoke to Bruce since. He withdrew and began drinking, then one cold winter he disappeared. That spring, his frozen body was found in a field not far from his home. In small town North Dakota, ostracism is nearly a death sentence.

Leif pulled up behind the car and stopped. There was no acknowledgement of his arrival. He beeped the horn and still nothing. Cursing, he pulled on his old knit scarf and wrapped it around his face and tied it in the back so only his eyes were visible. Then steeling himself, he climbed out and stepped into the white hell that his prairie had become.

The wind was whipping out of the west, so he was shielded from the blast by the body of his truck. He walked forward; the snow stinging his eyes. When he stepped into that open area between vehicles, an angry gust of wind blew him out onto the road. His feet were planted, but the wind blew him across the polished ice like one of those green plastic soldiers and he found himself standing in the middle of the highway. Somehow, Leif skated his way into the lee of the stalled Toyota. Never once did Leif question what he was doing. He was doing what a man needs to do.

He got to the driver's side door and cracked it open. In there, a woman sat behind the steering wheel, staring at the unmoving speedometer. A bundled towel lay on her lap and for a moment he was terrified that it was a baby, but a slender hair covered tail poked out from one end. Thank god, it was a small dog and not a child. "Let's go Lady, I'll take you somewhere warm."

She slowly turned toward him and opened her eyes. Those pale green eyes trapped him. He had only seen aquamarine eyes like that once before, and as they did once before, they captured something that he thought had died and was pickled in alcohol and left to rot... his heart. "Take me home," she said in a soft, dry voice.

"Oh sure. You say that now!" his mind shrieked, but he couldn't speak... his life doesn't work like this! His life is one of quiet solitude, occasionally interrupted by a drunken howl at the gods of despair that made him their patron saint. A living figure to walk the earth, fix the tractors, birth the calves, harvest the wheat, and sit alone in The Grain Bin drinking Milwaukee's Best, because it's Milwaukee's cheapest. Cheer thee lads! Look ye upon Leif and despair not! For thou couldst mire not as low!

And now... he swallowed, his throat dry and sticky. "Just do the work, Leif!" his conscience shouted. "Do the work!"

Leif took off his mad bomber hat and put it on her auburn locks, brought the side flaps down and snapped them under her chin. Then he took off his scarf and wrapped it around her head, hiding her face. Only those piercing aquamarine eyes were visible over the ancient scarf. Then he scooped her out of the car and lifted her and her bundle. She was only wearing a light jacket, so he had to be quick.

She didn't weigh much at all; it was like lifting a newborn calf which after decades on the farm are easier to lift than sacks of... "Pay attention!" his conscience shouted. "You'll slip and drop her!" He thought of his next steps... He's got to carry her to the passenger side of the truck through that blast of wind, and he hasn't tried to open the passenger door on his truck yet! He sat her back down in the car and said, "You stay. I'll bring the truck up."

She didn't reply. Those aquamarine eyes looked lost and confused. He knew he had to hurry. Leif took his big mittens known as choppers and put them on her dainty hands, then dashed back to the truck. The wind blast between the vehicles almost knocked him over, but he got into the driver's side and eased the truck forward until the doors were even. Then he leaned over and tried to open the passenger door. It was froze solid. He banged and shoved it as best he could from the driver's side, but it wouldn't budge. He got up on his knees atop the center council and drove his shoulder into the window on that door and, with more cracking and crunching of ice than was necessary, the door creaked open. Leif got out and came around the front and lifted the freezing little woman and her precious bundle into his truck.

"Any luggage?" he asked, but she only answered with a lost, sad stare. "Ok, I'll get it for you." He closed the door and searched her car. He grabbed her purse and a small overnight bag from the passenger seat, then he popped the trunk and there were two small suitcases that he grabbed. And a nice-looking toolbox... shouldn't leave that for thieves, he thought. All of that went into the bed of the "style side" pickup.

He then closed the hood of the Toyota and climbed into the Ranger and looked over at his passenger. She was shivering violently. He dug around in the area behind the seat and found a clear plastic pouch. Leif opened it and took out a survival blanket. The blanket was a large sheet of reflective mylar that will reflect 90% of body heat. They really get quite warm. He wrapped it around the shuddering woman, knowing that he can save her, but the dog in her lap? He didn't want to bury another dog. He's got to save that dog. He reached over and put the seat belt on his passenger, sealing the survival blanket around her.

Lief eased the clutch out and felt all four wheels spin. He shoved the clutch down and tried it again, without the gas pedal this time. The wheels spun, but he let them spin with the engine at idle and eventually the truck started moving. He could feel when the wheels found traction on the polished ice and they were able to gain speed.

Shifting was a nightmare. The minute he unloaded the clutch, no matter how gently, the wheels lost traction and the truck pointed into the wind like a thrown dart. He'd slam in the clutch and the wheels caught and he was able to steer out of the slide, then go back down a gear and try again. He mumbled the winter mantra he always mumbled in times like this: "Tire chains. Next year tire chains for sure."

He glanced over at his passenger. She was the same age as him, and she carried the scars of a hard life on her face, but the laugh lines hadn't faded. He didn't dare say that name. It's been too long, and he may be wrong. That thought cheered him up. She's probably a stranger, which means no embarrassing baggage between them, and when the storm is over, this complete stranger can leave and he can go back to the solitary life.

"Ok, we're goin' to my house. It's a bit tight, but it's warm, ok with you?" Still no answer. "I think when we get there I'll light a fire and make us a nice hotdish... how about eye-talian hotdish?" He was sure he saw a wiggle under the mylar, down on her lap where her bundled puppy? dog? lay hopefully warming up. Was that the dog or her hand that moved?

Miles of frozen, windy, snow-blind hell followed. As long as the wheels were spinning at the same speed as they were moving on the slick stretch of black ice, they were ok, but when he broke traction, it was a nightmare. They slid, they spun; they almost went into the ditch a half dozen times. It was a constant fight to stay on the road and out of the ditch. The wind hit and slapped them over and over. His jaw ached from clenching so tight, and all he could think about was that long refreshing swig of Fireball he was going to reward himself with when he finally got the truck home and plugged in for the night. He eventually got up to twenty miles per hour and held it there. Slowly, the miles ticked away, and it was like driving inside a ping-pong ball. Everything was white except for the next 50 yards of pavement.

Finally, he saw a darkness looming in the distance. That was Pedersen's shelterbelt, a line of trees at the edge of a field to break up the wind stream and keep the topsoil from blowing off. The shelterbelt was several rows deep, choke cherry and lilac bushes on the outer rows, acute willow and Manitoba maple on the inner rows, and majestic blue spruces on the center rows. He got a nice ten-point buck out of that shelterbelt a few months ago. He's cut, wrapped, and waiting in the chest freezer. Venison chili tomorrow if they live!

The shelter belt also acts as a snow fence. It disrupts the flow of the wind stream, which causes the snow to accumulate on the downwind side of the tree line. The problem here is that a snow drift accumulates across the highway.

The white wall came at them at 20 miles per hour and in the years that Leif had been tracking up and down this road, he's never seen Pedersen's snowdrift built up this tall. He didn't have much time; it was coming at them relatively fast. He reached over to protect her when they hit like a parent would do for a child. Then he cursed himself for not putting on his own seat belt. The truck hit the snow drift, his head hit the steering wheel and things got blurry...

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Chapter 2 - Such Sweet Sorrow

Leif Rassmussen was born and raised in Ellendale, North Dakota. Ellendale was a tiny city on the south-eastern edge of the state and was famous for two things, and both of them were NFL football players. Pete Retzlaff, who was a wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1956 to 1966 and was put in the Eagles hall of fame. The other was Phil Hansen, and he was a defensive end for the Buffalo Bills from 1991 to 2001 and he was put into the Buffalo Bill's wall of fame. Leif Rassmussen loved football and was sure he was going to follow Pete Retzlaff and Phil Hansen to fame and fortune in the NFL.

Leif and his two sisters Freida and Jannicke grew up on an eleven hundred acre farm and they all learned to love the soil as much as football. They grew up listening to Minnesota Vikings and Denver Broncos games as they did their chores on the farm. When cold weather set in and everything moved indoors, Leif and his older sister Freida played catch in the old equipment shed. Freida had a hell of an arm and probably could have quarterbacked any eleven man football team. Her problem was that when she was hit, she would hit back. She was the terror power center of the championship Ellendale girls' basketball team.

Leif made the high school squad easily. He played both wide receiver and free safety on the Ellendale team. In his freshman year, he was selected as a member of the starting lineup of the North Dakota All State High School Football Team. This was an unheard of honor for a freshman. He made the All-State team in his sophomore year and his junior year as well. In his senior year, his star shined brightly and was elected to both the All-State team offense as a wide receiver, and defensive team as a safety. The first time in state history and still unmatched to this day.

As a student, Leif Rasmussen was smart. Not just book smart, because anyone can memorize what a book says and retain that long enough to guess correctly on a test. No, Leif understood the subject matter. He loved chemistry and was always looking for a way to improve crop yield on the farm, and proper application of chemicals was one method. He also loved machines. If the school had a heavy diesel shop, he would never have tried out for football. Tearing down an engine was far more exciting for him.

As for girls, he had a few friends, but it quickly got around the school. If you didn't want to spend an afternoon in the cab of a tractor or playing catch, avoid Leif. Yes, being All-State champion was a huge attraction for girls, but Ellendale is a small town and word got around, Leif was a nerd. It didn't bother him, but he almost ended up taking his younger sister Jannicke to his high school prom, but by then her baby bump was showing and she couldn't find a dress that fit right. (Hey, it gets cold in North Dakota. Shit happens)

Leif ended up taking Natalia Beridze to his prom. She was sister of the quarterback of their biggest rivals, Ashley High School and they had become friends at the games and often sat together watching Freida Rasmussen slaughter the Ashley High School girls' basketball team on the court. They were pals, buddies, and harmless because everybody knew Natalia was a lesbian. That would normally make the other students think Leif was gay, but he played football, so this was a head scratcher for them.

Natalia was beautiful, a daughter of Russian immigrants. She was tall with long, flowing black hair that cascaded down to the rounding of her delightful ass. At the prom, she wore a burgundy and gold dress that was backless and the backless part ended just as the cleavage of her cute, round ass began. Her delicious curves made every red-blooded male in the room wish he were a girl so he would have a shot at her.

As they danced at the prom, Leif took some liberties because they both knew it would go nowhere, and Natalia had an agenda she didn't share with Leif. When they fast danced, Natalia would writhe like a snake in heat, her eyes always locked onto Leif and she openly eyed his aching 'package' with hunger. When they slow danced, Leif would always touch her bare skin and she would press her warm, firm body against his. As they neared the end of a very romantic dance, she reached behind her and grabbed his hand, and moved it down to her ass. Never one to pass up on a good deal, Leif squeezed her ass and pulled her against his hard cock.

"Kiss me!" Natalia demanded.

"I thought you didn't like guys," said Leif.

"I don't, but Jasmin Baumgartner is watching."

"You want to use me to make her jealous?" asked Leif.

"No, I want to use you to tell her to fuck off," said Natalia with an evil grin.

"Pucker up," said Leif with a wicked grin of his own, and there, in the middle of the school gym, they kissed. It was the kiss that Leif had been waiting for eighteen years to kiss. They pulled each other close and their tongues entwined. Their kiss grew hotter, more passionate, and the world stopped to watch the handsome couple... were they in love? Was Natalia switching sides? Little moans of ecstasy escaped from each of the teens as they kissed, and a squawk of horror from Jasmin echoed through the school gym. The mission was successful.

As they broke the kiss, they stared at each other in shock. Nothing like that had ever happened to either of them. It went so far beyond a friendly smooch. This was passion, hot and heavy, and Leif was more confused than ever and Natalia looked just as confused. As their rushing hearts slowed down, Leif whispered in her ear, "Did that convince you to give guys a try?"

"No. Maybe you, but no one else..." She led him out of the emptying gym into the warm North Dakota evening. It was late, near eleven thirty, and they were invited to a kegger at the Wilmhelmsen farm. There they stood by the fire and sipped beer and were ignored by everyone, which pleased them both. Then Leif felt Natalia's delicate hand squeeze his aching cock. Leif looked across the fire and over by the keg, Jasmin Baumgartner, Natalia's former lover, saw Natalia's hand caress the enemy and she stormed off into the night. Mission accomplished.

"I want to say thank you," said Natalia. Her slight Russian accent made her words sound mysterious and erotic.

"Oh, you don't have to," but she dragged him out into the brush. They walked through the Wilhelmsen shelterbelt until they were away from the light of the fire. Natalia ducked under the sheltering branches of a huge blue spruce, and it was like a teepee under there. A huge open area protected by the needles out at the end of the branches. Leif and his sisters used to play under the spruce trees in the winter, the trees created shelters just for them to play in.

Natalia cleared her throat, and Leif turned to face her. There, in the near pitch black shelter of the tree, she shrugged off her dress and stood naked before Leif. It's not like he's never seen a naked woman before. His younger sister Jannicke spent most of her time naked, dashing to and from the bathroom. But seeing your sister with her hair in a towel and a phone to her ear is far different from a sex goddess slowly kneeling in front of you.

She unbuckled his belt and said, "You did me a huge favor and you played along so sweetly..." she pulled down his pants and underwear and she gently ran her delicate hands over his aching balls. "Whoa!" she said softly, but he didn't know if it was a compliment or a taunt. It was the first time (in memory) that someone other than a doctor touched him down there and this time it was not an annoyance. There was no need to turn his head and cough. "You could hurt someone with this thing, Captain Ahab!" she chuckled.

He groaned as Natalia's warm, soft hand wrapped around his cock. With one hand cupping his balls, she began stroking his cock. He watched in awe as her tongue slipped out and licked an enormous drop of precum from his cock and her eyebrow wagged at him and she smiled. Her perfect breasts bobbled in time with her stroking hand and she felt his balls tighten up. "Won't be long now," she said with an evil smile. He felt her hand leave his balls and start exploring his buttocks, and then a finger explored his crack. As her finger pressed against his sphincter, she crouched with her mouth open and her long, snake like tongue tickling the sensitive underside of his cockhead. She stroked him faster and faster, her finger pressed against his sphincter and gained entrance. The sight of those perfect milky white breasts bobbling... the barrage of stimulation was too much for Leif. He came explosively, shooting spurt after spurt of his virgin semen into her mouth. His grunts of pleasure rang through the tree line as Natalia swallowed every drop and he had to clutch the tree branches to hold himself up.

"Thar she blows, captain," she said as she gave his cock one last lick. She rose and smiled and began pulling on her dress. "You know what they say," she whispered. "A swallow will beat the stork every time," and gave him a kiss. He could taste his semen on her tongue.

It took forever for Leif to pull himself together, and when he did, Natalia was dressed and she was buckling his belt. "My god, that was powerful," gasped Leif.

"You're going to make some girl very happy with that harpoon, Captain Ahab."

"Stop," said Leif, blushing.

"I did that because you were a good sport and helped, so I owed you," said Natalia with a gentle kiss on his lips. "Just imagine what it would be like if I liked you," she said with a sly wink.

"If you ever need a favor, call on me," said Leif, his head still spinning from the powerful stimulations of the night.

She thought for a moment and said, "Actually, I have a cousin. She starts at NDSU in the fall. Could you keep an eye on her for me? She's totally innocent, like you."

"Innocent? Me?"

"My dear Leif... you have so much to learn! Now, pay attention. My cousin's name is Alice Lund. Keep her out of trouble, please?"

"For you? Anything."

"Good, now let's go back to the kegger. We'll have a few beers and you will carry me home," said Natalia with a wicked grin.

"They'll know what we were doing out here," said Leif.

"A nerd football player and an angry lesbian? They'll know what we did, but they'll never, ever believe it." And Natalia was right. It ended up being the best party Leif had ever been to.

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In North Dakota State University, he declared agricultural and biosystems engineering his major and became fascinated with the subject. The class, Machine Systems Engineering, was all about designing and maintaining the mechanical equipment and power units such as tractors, combination harvesters, and other equipment needed on the large modern farm. He loved every moment of it. As for football, on the NDSU Bisons, Leif was the only player that never needed reminding to keep his grades up.

Being on the football team, he started school weeks earlier than the other students for practice and position tryouts. When he met the quarterback, Eric Bakken, he knew there was going to be trouble. His dad was a senator and therefore he got the position of quarterback, whether or not he earned it. State money was on the line. The guy had a good arm, but his grip of the ball was weak, so most passes wobbled like a wounded duck, and his aim and sense of timing were all wrong. "I'm expecting you two to work together," the coach told Leif and Eric. "Eric, Leif is your number one receiver, just get it in his zip code and you have a completion. Leif, you made All State five times in four years. I need you to season your quarterback."

Leif was surprised, but Eric was open to working together, and in practice, they were unbeatable. Maybe the kid had enough brains to hold up that ego. Unfortunately, that lasted until the moment that Eric heard the cheers of the crowd. Those cheers drove any thought of teamwork with anyone else on the team out of his head.

On the very first official day of school, Leif met Alice Lund right where Natalia asked him to meet her. Alice was a tiny redhead with wavy hair, a darling tight figure, and aquamarine eyes that pierced into Leif's soul. She, like Leif, was a nerd, and she had huge thick glasses and preferred to study instead of playing grabass. Unlike most other men on campus, Leif ignored the glasses and armloads of books and the slight Norwegian accent and he saw her smile. He bathed in the glory of those aquamarine eyes, and he ached to count every freckle that decorated her tiny nose. "Your cousin Natalia asked me to keep an eye out for you and give you a hand wherever you need it."

"How do you know Natalia?" asked Alice.

"She went to my prom with me."

"Bullshit! Natalia doesn't like guys, especially not football players."

"No really, it's true. She even gave me a kiss."

"Now I know you're lying," said Alice huffily.

"No, really, she did. In the middle of the dance floor." When Alice turned on her heel, Leif called, "Wait! We did it to make Jasmine Baumgartner jealous."

Alice turned back and said, "What do you know about Jasmine?"

"She was in all my classes. She's a nasty dyke bitch that hates men and gropes other girls in the locker room. I don't know what was going on with her and Natalia, but Natalia went to my prom with me just to piss off Jasmine."

Alice thought for a moment, then said, "Where is Hastings Hall?" The NDSU campus is huge and confusing, so she let Leif guide her to Hastings Hall where the literature class was held. "You know I'm going to call her and ask about you."

"Do it," said Leif with a grin. "It should make an interesting conversation."

The next day they met for lunch and Alice leaned forward and said, "Show me your harpoon, Captain Ahab." Leif looked like he was shot through with 220 volts of high grade, coal fired electricity and blushed furiously, which caused Alice to laugh with a bright silvery laugh.

"What did she tell you?" gasped Leif.

"Nothing. She told me to say that to you and watch your reaction. It's some kind of high school joke."

"I'm going to get her back. I don't know how, but I'll get her back..." Leif didn't show Alice his harpoon that day or the next, but from that moment on they were together always. She was his private cheerleading squad, and he was her personal tutor, helping her through the difficult areas in computer technology that she needed for her major in Business Education.

In their sophomore year they made love in a happy, fumbling, loving evening, each terrified that the other would find out how inexperienced they were, but in the end they survived to try again and again and again. At the end of their sophomore year, they professed their love for each other, and he gave her a promise ring and promised he would always be true to her.

Leif and Alice, Alice and Leif, they were rarely seen apart, always with each other. He spent the summer on her father's farm in Cavalier, up in the north-east corner of the state. There he learned more about tractor and combine operation and repair than NDSU could ever teach.

As their senior year began and the possibility of being drafted by an NFL team seemed real, Leif took Alice to the La Ronda de Tierra, one of their favorite restaurants in town. The world was Leif's oyster, and Alice was the pearl of great value in that oyster. He was hoping to replace that chintzy promise ring with a genuine diamond come Christmas, bowl game schedule or not. They surveyed the menu they had memorized and Alice seemed distracted. Their drinks came and Alice said, "we need to talk."

Being young and ignorant in the ways of women, Leif did not know that life as he knew it had just come to an end. He innocently said, "Sure, what about?"

"I have to go."

"I'll wait," he said with a glance at the corner where the restrooms were situated.

"No, I mean leave."

"Why? Is everything ok?" asked Leif, now worried that there was a problem with her dad. Alice's father, Gerd Lund, wasn't feeling well lately, and they were worried about his heart.

"No, it's me... it's not you," said Alice softly.

Still not getting it, not understanding that 'it's me not you' really means 'it's you.' Leif said, "It's ok, I can take you back to campus, I'm not very hungry anyhow."

"NO!" she almost shouted.

"Please, tell me what's wrong?"

Alice cupped his chin with her tiny hand and said, "your eyes... when I look into your eyes, all I see are wedding bells."

"Wait," said Leif, now realizing his entire world was in jeopardy. "I don't understand. You hate me because of a metaphor?"

"It's not a metaphor," she wept, "it's a figure of speech, and I don't hate you, I just can't..."

He wasn't getting it at all. "Please," he begged. "We have our whole life ahead of us... we can..."

"You're so sweet," she said. "Don't ever lose that." Then she ran out of the restaurant and out of his life. Not understanding, he threw a ten on the table and dashed after her, but she was gone.

From that moment on her friends refused to talk to him about it and wouldn't tell him where she went. He went up to her parent's farm, but they couldn't understand what she did either.

He still doesn't remember much of his senior year. He was benched for sloppy play and lost his chance for a shot at the NFL draft. The only thing that felt good was basic mechanics. He found relief in the physical exertion of working with huge machinery. The bigger, the better. And old, rusty machines were the best. You could hit them with a hammer all day long and nobody complained. As he swung his hammer, he wished it was his own head that he was hitting.

On graduation day, he walked straight to the recruiter's office and disappeared into the globe spanning confusion that was the United States Navy. Maybe if he swapped his football jersey for a Navy uniform, she'll come back. He sent letters to her folks and asked if they forward his letters to her, but he heard nothing back.

Four years later, he traded his uniform for a trucker's hat and a flannel shirt and returned to North Dakota. Leif somehow ended up in Balta when he answered an ad for a mechanic. There his life was spent working on Lars Hirschel's farm, and it was satisfying work. They were pleasant people, and there he could raise dogs. He poured all of his love into his dogs, especially Singer, a descendent of George Washington's American Foxhounds. He found peace in his tiny house and enjoyed life pheasant hunting, deer hunting, raising fox hounds, and not answering the phone.

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Chapter 3 - His Own Worst Critic

Leif opened his eyes and found they were sitting sideways in the middle of Highway 3S, the wind rocking the little truck and the engine stalled. His forehead ached from where he slammed the steering wheel and it was hard to focus his eyes. They were just a couple of miles from home, but it might as well be a hundred miles. They could still very easily die in this weather right here. He looked over at the woman sitting next to him, his hat ear flaps still pulled down and buckled under her chin. One of his choppers came off her left hand, and he took her hand to put it back on. Then he saw the ring on her finger... cheap, chintzy, something a hungry college sophomore could afford. The ring he gave her, the ring she wore when she ran away from him...

He shoved his door open and fell out of the truck. His head slammed into the pavement and now the back of his head hurt to match his forehead. He was in pain fore and aft, and he felt nauseous. SHE was in his truck. How dare she? How could she? He pulled himself unsteadily to his feet, his head felt like it was going to explode from the pain and Leif began to yell. "YOU BITCH! YOU CUNT! Why did you do this to me?" All the pain and anguish and sorrow of the past 30 years roared out of him... every vile insult and demeaning slur that he saved for this moment came out of the depths of his soul and bellowed out as he fought the wind to stand up and scream. And when he was done his stomach twisted with self-loathing and he realized that this was a good enough reason as any to leave him... any man stupid enough to spend his last moments shouting at a near corpse in a life-threatening snowstorm probably wouldn't have made a good husband or father. Suddenly that beer he had at the legion came up and he fell over to his hands and knees and vomited his stomach contents onto the frozen road.

The sad part was that this wasn't the first time he's done that, but it was the first time he did it sober.

The tears of anger and sorrow for everything he lost froze on his cheeks and his eyes were hard to open. And the shivering started. "Get up Leif," he scolded himself. He looked down at his prone body on the road from some point above. "You did it all to yourself, then you spent your life blaming her for what you did and the choices you made."

"I just wanted her," he groaned.

"And now you got her, you dumbass Norwegian Bachelor Farmer!" he scolded. "Are you going to drive her away from you again so you can spend the next thirty years alone? Destroy what little is left of your life for your fucking PRIDE?"

"At least my pride is something she left me," groaned the supine Leif.

"And maybe this is why she left you... that goddamn pride! That fucking ego of yours! Every Saturday... every dropped pass brought hours of childish complaints and accusations... nothing was ever your fault, and if the team lost, they did it on purpose to keep YOU out of the NFL. And she had to hear it all... every word of it. And when you won, it was worse! Do you think she enjoyed being your sexual tackling dummy?"

"Wait... what?"

"Remember that Valentine's day when you took your sister's advice and buried her in flowers and silly sentiment? You took her to the Hilton in The Cities for dinner and dancing and you danced all night?"

"Yeah? So what?"

"Remember that night in your room, those weird noises she made, the scratches she made on your back?"

"Yeah?"

"That was her first and only orgasm with you. And instead of building on that, you made fun of it."

"How did I..." started Leif, but when he pried open his frozen eyelids with his fingers, whoever he was talking to had disappeared in the swirling rush of arctic air and snow. Leif rocked up to his knees and knelt in the lee of his truck, and the throbbing of his head took over. He worked his way to his feet, and a blast of wind almost knocked him over backwards. He's such a hardheaded Norwegian Bachelor Farmer. "Garrison Keillor was right," he moaned. "You get old and then you realize that there are no answers... just stories."

Leif looked over at the snow drift and was impressed by the hole he made in it with that little truck. Then he looked at the front end of the truck. It was packed with snow and a look underneath showed that the magnetic heater got knocked off the transmission and was dragging by its power cord. He reached under, stuck it back on the transmission, then popped the hood, expecting to see the engine compartment packed with snow. He was surprised to see it was fine. The cardboard in front of the radiator helped protect the 3.0 liter V6.

He got back in and looked at Alice. Alice Lund, the only woman he ever loved. Now what? He turned the key, and the engine fired up and they were moving again. He was soon on 52nd Street NE, a gravel road which offered something that Highway 3S no longer had - traction. He drove into town and the little truck bullied its way into the driveway.

Leif sat in the driveway for a long time, staring at the dashboard. His head throbbed and the little truck rocked with each gust of wind, even though it was protected by the house and the trees that surrounded his lot. He knew what he had to do; it was just doing it that hurt. He kicked open his door against the wind and climbed out of the truck. He lifted Alice and her package wrapped in a towel and carried her gently into the house, like a child... a child they never had. He laid her on his bed in the bedroom and began pulling her jacket off. His bedroom actually used to be the front porch of the house. A previous owner walled in the front porch and made it a bedroom of sorts, increasing the square footage of the house to 600 square feet.

With her sneakers and jacket off, he covered her with quilts, then checked her package wrapped in a towel. It was a foxhound puppy, and the poor thing was shivering and not responding. He slid it under the covers with Alice, then went outside to shovel. Hard work. That's the only cure for mental anguish. Work it off.

He was just finished with the driveway when he noticed the small yard light, which is always on, was turned off. It's only job was to let Leif know if the power went off, which it does quite often in these storms. Groaning, he went inside. He's got work to do in there now...

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Chapter 4 - A Warm Puppy and Hotdish

Alice woke up and found herself in a large soft bed with several big, heavy, handmade quilts keeping her far too warm. The bed smelled of a man. There was no scent of a woman in the house. Nothing soft and lavender to tickle her nose. The only perfumes she could smell were the scent of a cedar closet and the soft intrigue of sandalwood and pine. There was something else... a perfume she never expected, but Leif had introduced to her. They were at a kegger on Lost Long Lake in Minnesota and Leif had cut some birch. He worked shirtless as he cut the firewood with a small bowsaw and she remembered how hot that made her... her man working hard to warm her. And how sweet that wood smelled on the fire!

And she smells it now, and she could picture Leif working...

She was still fully dressed, so whoever put her in bed didn't take advantage of her. She sat up and her purse was on the nightstand, a dim battery powered candle giving her faint, flickering illumination. She looked around the room and felt that she was in an antique store. So many odd, ancient things were hanging from the farthest wall and the wall to her right. The wall to her left was covered entirely with heavy and dark flowered curtains. There was a large wooden wardrobe on the far end of the wall to her left. The wall to her right was covered with framed tractor ads, photographs of dogs... dogs... Sweetie! Where did Sweetie go? She patted the bed and Sweetie was gone. Alice found her glasses on the nightstand, then looked around the bedroom.

There was no door, but on the far end of the wall to her right there was a curtain that matched the curtains on the wall to the left, which oddly matched the wallpaper. She moved the curtain aside on the wall to the left and saw there was a window and she looked outside at a white nightmare. It was night, but in that odd glow you get from the moon on a snowy night, she could see the snow piling up around trees. There were a lot of trees... too many for North Dakota. She could feel the cold radiate from the window, scientifically she knew that cold didn't radiate, heat did. It just felt that way. The heavy curtains were insulation, to keep the room warm.

The other curtain was a doorway into the house. Quietly, Alice stepped through the door and found herself in a tiny living room. The furniture in the living room was a love seat and recliner against the wall opposite her. In front of the loveseat was a coffee table, and there was a stack of mail on the table and a cell phone, which was shut off. To her left, there was a wood stove with a stack of firewood next to it. Birch firewood. A fire crackled and danced in the stove and an enormous covered cast-iron pot sat on top of the wood stove. All the windows were covered with heavy curtains to keep the heat in. She peeked out the window next to the stove and saw a black Ford Ranger in a well shoveled driveway that was filling in with blown snow.

The wood stove was the only source of light in the living room, however, there was light down a short hallway to what she guessed was a kitchen. Where the hell was she? And where was Sweetie?

She heard a radio playing in the kitchen; the announcer talking about the arctic vortex that claimed two lives in Rugby. There was the sound of water in a sink, like somebody was washing something, then a splash and a familiar laugh. What was going on? She slowly approached the source of the sound. Even though there was a wood-burning stove, the house was cold. Cold and tiny. She stepped on something frigid with her stocking covered foot and almost screamed. She looked down and there was a tiny snowdrift forming by the door. She had forgotten that North Dakota snow will find the smallest flaws in any weather strip and the house will be invaded by snow snakes.

Just then there was a puppy bark, and a splash, followed by that familiar laugh. "Such a good puppy, stop... stop! Let me dry you off..." followed by a splash and a laugh. "What am I going to do with you?" but now he sounded sad. Heartbroken. "Let's dry you off." She peeked around the corner into the kitchen and by the light of an oil lamp on the kitchen table, there was a fellow at the sink trying to dry off Sweetie, but she slipped out of his hands and dove into the sink. He scooped her up and started drying her again, but this time he drained the sink so when she jumped in, her warm bath was gone. He scrubbed out the sink with Sweetie's help (she tried to take the sponge from his hand) then got another towel and dried off Sweetie.

Alice watched the man play with Sweetie. He was wearing a pair of sweatpants and was shirtless. He had long unkempt hair and from the side she could see he had a beard. She watched as the man played with Sweetie in the water, then when he took her out and dried her off, she wriggled out of the towel and jumped back into the water several times in a row. It was so silly, "Oh fer cute!" she said under her breath. She didn't know Sweetie would take to water like that, but when she jumped into the empty sink, both the dog and the man looked sad. Their game was over, and they both knew it. "Come on darling, let's go see if mommy is awake," he said to the puppy sadly, not looking forward to relinquishing his new friend.

The sound of a throat being cleared caused Leif to turn around and there she was at the kitchen doorway, just as beautiful as she was as a freshman at North Dakota State University. She had a few more miles on her, but they added to the beauty of the one that got away. That goddamn heartache came roaring back. "Alice," he said, his face desperately trying to hide the cavalcade of emotions that were tearing his soul apart. He couldn't meet those eyes, those hypnotic, aquamarine eyes. Looking down, he cleared his throat and hugged Sweetie and steeled himself to hand the dog back to her. It was the first dog he touched since Singer died.

Alice almost screamed in shock. Of all the people in the world to rescue her, it was him. The man she drove sixteen hundred miles to see... all she remembered was her car stalling in the icy blast and curling up with Sweetie to keep warm. She had tried to call for help, but there was no cell service. "I tried," she remembered saying as she slipped into hypothermia. And now... this can't be Leif. Leif was so muscular! He used to be big and terrifying; this guy was skin and bones. His ribs were poking through. Sweetie is in better shape than him.

"If you come out all this way to hear me apologize," he began sadly. He looked up and met those beautiful eyes. "You'll have to wait a bit longer. Dinner isn't quite ready yet. After you eat, I'll be able to express my regret for my past actions properly." He sadly held Sweetie out to her and the little dog looked as confused as Alice felt. "Your dog ma'am. I'm sorry if I..."

He didn't get a chance to finish. Tiny Alice threw herself at Leif and as they touched they were transported back in time over 30 years, back to their first embrace, a time before they were able to buy a beer legally. She looked up at him with those mysterious eyes, and they were drawn together. Neither consciously tried to kiss the other, but it happened... and it was wonderful. They kissed long and deep, their tongues exploring each other, their lips pressed firmly together. The world spun around them as they kissed. The radio announcer repeated his warnings of life threatening cold if you step outside unprotected, and Sweetie found herself pressed between two warm bodies which was always nice.

Alice fit in Leif's arms exactly like she used to, slim and delicate. It was a wonder that she would care for a big NoDak farmboy like him. His head spun with the wonder of her presence and he was overwhelmed with the desire to build an entire world around this woman, a world for her amusement and delight where they could raise their children... It's a little late for that now.

He stepped back and, holding hands, they looked deep into each other's eyes. "What happened?" asked Alice as she ran her hands up and down his side, feeling the ribs. "Are you ok?"

"Physically? Yeah, just trying to get down to my original weight," he said with a forced smile. "Seven pounds six ounces."

"Leif, please. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm physically fine. I just forget to eat occasionally."

"How occasionally?" demanded Alice.

Leif sat down on a kitchen chair at the tiny kitchen table and pulled Alice onto his lap. Sweetie bounced and jumped until he scooped her up into Alice's lap. This is how it always used to be. Alice loved sitting on Leif's lap, and she didn't protest when he gently pulled her down. "How occasionally?" demanded Alice again.

"Well... I don't like to cook," he said.

"Leif, please, I just found the courage to come pick up whatever there is for me to pick up. What do you mean you forget to eat occasionally?"

"I eat a salad for lunch, maybe a bowl of soup."

"That's not bad. What do you have for dinner?"

"Usually nothing. On Fridays, I have a beer over at The Grain Bin."

"Why? That's not healthy. Why are you starving yourself?"

"I scare people."

"Oh Leif," groaned Alice and she began to cry.

"I'm sorry, I know I would get angry and scare you... I figured if I slim down, Frida might tell me where you were and I could come and apologize." Frida was Leif's sister, and Leif knew that Frida knew where Alice was.

"Did Frida tell you that you scared me?"

"She didn't have to," said Leif. "I realized what I was doing. A bit too late, but I knew."

"Oh Leif," groaned Alice. "No, that's not it." Her eyes flooded with tears. "Oh Leif, what are we going to do?"

"Whatever it is, let's do it right this time." He got up and said, "I have to check the oven and see if your dinner is ready."

On the stove was a pot with a can of wax beans simmering, but he ignored the oven and walked into the living room with Sweetie following happily. While he did that, Alice tried to look around the kitchen. She flipped the light switch, and nothing happened. "Power's out," called Leif from the living room. "It went out after I got you in bed. I have a five-hundred-pound propane tank outside for the stove and furnace downstairs." He pulled on a t-shirt and returned with Sweetie following, hoping for a bite of what was in the big Dutch oven that had been atop the wood stove. "The burners on the stove work, but the oven won't light without power, neither will the furnace," Leif said as he placed the Dutch Oven on a trivet next to the sink. "I was thinking of plumbing in a propane line here and there so I could hook up a catalytic heater here and there, like they do in Korea." He lifted the Dutch Oven's lid and looked inside.

His expression was the first joy Alice saw on Leif's face since their lips met. Whatever he made came out perfectly. He reached inside with an oven mitt and took a foil covered casserole dish out of the Dutch oven and placed it on a hotpad on the table, then took a Tupperware dish out of the dark refrigerator and placed it on a table with a serving spoon. Alice peered in the Tupperware and saw spiral macaroni with chopped tomatoes, green pepper and onion, bathed in Italian dressing... pasta salad! Her second favorite salad! In North Dakota, anything mixed together in a bowl can be called a salad.

She then lifted the foil and inspected the casserole dish. "Hotdish!" cried Alice. Hotdish is a staple food in the North Dakota diet. It's generally anything you can make in a casserole dish, but the favorite of many is Tater Tot Hotdish. A layer of tater tots on a layer of ground beef, smothered in cream of mushroom, or cream of chicken, or cheddar cheese soup. Sprinkle shredded cheese on the top and stick it in the oven and it will be welcome at any North Dakota table or church social. He took biscuits out of the Dutch oven and put them on a plate and set out butter and jelly, then set out the beans, plates, and silverware.

"I thought you said that you don't like to cook," said Alice as she watched him set out a feast.

"I don't like to cook at all. That doesn't mean that I can't cook."

"I'm so hungry," said Alice as she dug into her dinner. It was perfect! Alice once said that if she ever found Tater Tot Hotdish on a restaurant's menu, she would never cook again. Leif watched as Alice tore into her meal by the soft light of the oil lamp. The portable radio played classic country music as she ate and Leif remembered the dances they danced. Waltz, two-step, Texas Swing... it was all so wonderful so long ago.

Alice didn't mention that the biscuits were hard as a rock, she ate them along with everything else. She hadn't eaten since she stopped for gas in The Cities (North Dakota slang for Minneapolis). Her appetite sparked his, and he ate a scoop of hotdish and wax beans. Finished, Alice leaned back and smiled. "You remembered everything," she said.

"Yes I did," Leif said with a smile and produced another dish from the refrigerator. Buttermilk, vanilla pudding, cool whip, pineapple, mandarin oranges, and crushed fudge stripe cookies - Cookie Salad! "How did you know?" she asked as she spooned some of pure paradise onto her plate.

"I make it for Liana Hirschel every payday," said Leif with that boyish smile that she loved.

"Who?"

"She's my boss's wife and runs the books on the farm. I'm hoping she'll slip more into my paycheck if I give her some cookie salad."

When Alice was done eating, Leif cleared the table, and Alice helped him with washing the dishes. "Why were you washing Sweetie?" she asked as she dried a plate.

"She was so cold. She was like you, barely moving. You were coming around, but Sweetie just lay there, barely breathing. So, I made a hot bath for her and soaked her in it, trying to get her core temperature up. I thought I lost her for a while," said Lief. Alice noticed his hands were shaking. "She finally came around and we started playing. That's when I decided to check on you and give you your dog back."

Alice put the last fork in the drawer and said, "Let's sit down and talk." She led him into the living room and he followed with the oil lamp. The pool of light followed them and they found Sweetie curled up in front of the wood stove on an ancient rag rug.

"We need to talk," she said as they settled into the overstuffed loveseat.

"Thirty minutes of honesty?" he asked. That was a game they played as freshmen. Thirty minutes of 100% pure honesty. Back then, the idea was to ask questions about sex. That was how Alice found out about Natalia's one minute handjob. "Not my finest hour," Leif had said, and from that moment Alice made it a goal in life to beat Natalia's time. But that was then, before she left. Now the questions are going to be painful.

Alice looked at her watch. It was eleven PM, which shocked her because she thought it was much earlier. "Thirty minutes... ... ... go," she said.

"Fine, you start."

"Ok," said Alice. "Who do you hate?"

Without pause Leif softly said, "Me. Nobody else." He saw the questioning look in her eyes and said, "I was a mite perturbed at Havryil at the legion hall, but he eventually paid the money he lost at eight ball, so it's just me to hate."

"Your turn," said Alice.

"Why did you come here?" Leif asked.

"So many reasons... I missed being me. You were the only one I could be myself with. You always understood me. Nobody else did. I was so sick of being somebody else. Then Frida told me how worried she was about you and I left Jersey City the next day." Alice shrugged. "That really is the truth. Now, why do you hate yourself?"

"Because I drove you away. I was always complaining about the games, worrying about the draft, and blaming everyone but myself whenever I dropped a pass. I can't blame you for leaving. I was a self-centered, arrogant jackass. It took me years, but I realized you were right to leave. I've been trying to be a better person for you, so I could apologize properly. Alice, I am so very, very sorry. I'm sorry for..." and she stopped him with a finger to his lips.

"Leif, I understood all that. It wasn't you; you were so wonderful to me as soon as the season was over. It was the damn game! You ran your lungs out six days a week and I dreaded it when you did catch the ball because they didn't just tackle you, they piled up on you! They drove you into the bench, they horse collared and facemasked you. But worst of all... I couldn't take your look of defeat every time that idiot quarterback threw an interception and blamed you!"

"You left me because of the game?" asked Leif, in shock.

"No, I understood the game, I didn't like it... but I understood it and how much you loved it, and I loved watching you play," said Alice. "It turned me on. Now it's my turn. Why don't you hate me?"

Leif relaxed a little and pulled her close. He was more confused than ever, but he had Alice and something told him that's all he needed. He knew the answer to her question. "Even at my lowest, saddest, and most suicidal... even so angry I was hallucinating, I always loved you. I just hoped whoever you ended up with loved you half as much as I do right now."

"You bastard!" She wailed and hit him in the chest as she cried and wept, but he held her close and let her vent her anguish. After all, he had his moment out in the storm 8 hours ago. As her tears subsided, he wiped her nose with a tissue and pulled her close and kissed her gently as she calmed. Sweetie had woken up from her nap and hopped up on Alice's lap and soon joined in the kissing with an enthusiastic lick at their lips, which caused them to both laugh.

"Whose turn is it?" asked Leif.

"Yours. Fire away."

"Why did you leave me?"

Alice was silent for a long time as she reviewed the speech she prepared and practiced and found it lacking. Finally, she spoke. "We were heading toward marriage. We never mentioned it, but we were making plans, and every plan, every one of them, involved children. We wanted a dozen. We wanted to fill your parent's huge farmhouse with kids."

Alice withdrew into herself and softly said, "I had found out that I couldn't have babies. That morning, I had a second opinion, and she confirmed it. Ovarian cancer. I couldn't find a way to tell you. I couldn't face shattering everything you were dreaming of, so I ran, and I didn't stop until I got to Jersey City. I prayed you found someone to give you the babies you deserve." She paused and looked into his eyes and prepared for the worst. "I suppose you hate me now, huh?"

Leif pulled Alice close and sighed. It was worse than he thought. He wanted to scream at her, but that would solve nothing. He needed to remain calm and show her that he had grown. "I really suppose I should. You denied me the chance to support you through a very terrible time in your life. I completely missed the chance to re-write our dreams together with you." Leif sighed. "It could have been beautiful. It could have drawn us closer together."

"I know, but by the time I realized that I was in jail."

"What were you in jail for?" asked Leif.

"It's my turn to ask," said Alice.

"You don't play fair."

"No, it's my turn. Your turn is next. Tell me, what do you do for a living?"

Leif shrugged. "I'm head mechanic and equipment operator out at Lars and Liana Hirschel's farm a couple of miles west, I'm the custodian for the church next door, and I work for the city. I don't do much for the city, plow the roads and sometimes give swimming lessons out at the Balta dam. If the wind drops, I'll probably give the roads a once over around sunrise before heading out to the farm." He gave Alice a gentle kiss and said, "how did Alice Lund, my Alice, end up in jail?"

"I stapled my boss's cock."

"What?" laughed Leif. Even Sweetie sat up when Alice said that. This sounded like fun, and she wanted to be part of this.

"I was working for a low-rent busted old modeling agency and the boss, Harvey, decided he was going to stick his dick in my mouth. He got good and stoned and pulled it out and shoved it in my face. I had the stapler in my hand and ran a staple into his cock. I got 18 months for assault but was out in six months for good behavior. I won the civil suit and got enough to live on for a few years... STOP LAUGHING!"

"I can't help it! I'm snow-stayed with a convicted dick stapler!"

"Watch yourself, Ahab, or I'll hang that harpoon on my trophy wall!" They tussled and wrestled and tickled like a couple of kids. It was so good to laugh! But it was late and Leif got up to make ready for bed. He went down in the basement and topped off the fuel in the kerosene heater down there to insure the pipes didn't freeze. Back upstairs, he opened all the under sink cabinets to keep them from freezing and lit the kerosene heater he had upstairs and placed it near the bathroom and kitchen to keep the plumbing from freezing.

While he did that, Alice slipped out of her clothes and pulled on one of his old NDSU T-shirts as a night gown and climbed into the big, soft bed. She was asleep before he joined her.

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Chapter 5 - Life On The Farm

Alice Lund was awakened by the gurgling rumble of a diesel engine outside and the scraping sound of a plow. She realized she was alone. Was it all a dream? Was the bittersweet reunion just a dying dream? She sat up in the bed and Sweetie wasn't there either. A mechanical cough filled the house, then a faint whistle, and she realized the power was back on and the furnace began pumping warm air into the room.

Alice got up and peeked out the curtains and saw the brilliance of a North Dakota sunrise. She guessed the house was facing the east because almost all streets in North Dakota run north-south and east-west. The sun was far to her right, to the extreme southeast. She fumbled for her glasses and her watch; it was eight AM, and the sun was just making its first appearance above the horizon. She noticed across the street was a tall but narrow garage and the garage door was closing. Then from the side of the building a man in a parka, jeans, and mukluks emerged leading Sweetie. They jogged across the street toward her.

She ran to the bathroom to do her morning thing, which included using Leif's toothbrush. Well, they had their tongues in each other's mouth last night, why not? As she dressed, she heard his truck slowly cough to life, then she heard Leif kicking the snow off his boots in the tiny entry and Sweetie barged through the dog door. The cold just radiated off of Leif as he pulled Alice to him. The pain and loneliness of the past decades fell off like autumn leaves, and they kissed like newlyweds. "Ready to go?"

"Go? It's twenty below out there!" said Alice.

"It's thirty-five below," said Leif. "Liana invited us to breakfast and she says that she's got some cold weather gear for you."

"What were you doing outside with Sweetie?" Alice asked as she pulled on her jacket. It was far too light for this weather, so Leif wrapped a green woolen blanket over her shoulders and they headed out with Sweetie following along happily.

"Plowing," said Leif. "And Sweetie wanted to go for a ride." He pointed to the garage across the street. "The county parks a motor-grader there and I'm the local operator."

"You can drive that?"

He looked at her like she was crazy as he held the truck door open for her. "It's what I went to college for." He closed the door, unplugged the truck and got in. She saw him wrestling with the frozen extension cord and realized she forgot all about having to plug your car in overnight to keep it from freezing in North Dakota.

"What kind of heater do you have on this?" she asked because he just started it and it was good and warm already.

"I have a 1000 watt block heater, a 500 watt battery blanket, and a magnetic oil pan heater on the transmission," said Leif proudly. "This baby will start in any weather."

Alice realized she knew exactly what he was talking about. Most people wouldn't. Then she groaned. "Oh god, my car..."

"Tell me you're going to stay and I'll take care of it," said Leif as they eased out of the driveway.

"I'll stay if you will have me," she said nervously.

Lief just smiled, took his phone out and hit speed dial.

"Rugby Gas and Oil," came through the truck speakers.

"Elmer, Leif here. I got some work for you when you can get it."

"Lucky me, what do you have now?" came a tired voice.

"Beige Toyota stalled on Highway three a few miles south of Rugby, with New Jersey plates. Can you grab it, thaw it out, and put a block heater in it for me?"

"Is that Alice's car?" asked Elmer.

"You talked to Liana, didn't you?"

"Yooo betcha! I'll go fetch it when the highway opens back up."

"Thanks Elmer. The keys are in the passenger side sun visor." He hung up and looked at Alice. "You are now a celebrity."

"How did some guy in Rugby find out about me?" demanded Alice.

"I asked Liana if she had some boots for you, and she couldn't wait to tell the world you're here." Alice glared at him. "Sorry, I didn't realize that this was a secret."

"No, it's just that... I'm not proud of how I spent my life."

North Dakota is basically a small town spread out over 71,000 square miles. Almost everyone knows everyone else, so secrets don't last long in the Flickertail State. "I'm proud of you for coming back," said Leif quietly. "It took a lot of courage not knowing how I would react." He looked at her and smiled. "How could I not love courage like that?"

Desperate to change the subject, Alice looked out the window. "You plowed all this?" The streets were neatly plowed, and each driveway was not blocked by the pile of snow kicked out by the plow. She remembered that many motor graders have a gate at the end of the plow that the operator uses to keep from building a snowbank across the end of the driveway. "You do good work."

Sixteen square blocks, mostly houses, and a couple of buildings that looked like businesses, were now closed. Leif pointed out scenes of interest. "That's the old Five and Ten. It's closed. That's the old library, it's closed. That's the city hall... I think they play poker there on Friday nights. And that's The Grain Bin, the center of life here." To Alice, it looked like the local pub was still open regularly.

"Does it get busy in there?"

"Oh ja, lots of folks come out to swimming at the dam, pheasant hunting is picking up, plenty of deer hunters and, of course, during harvest, the harvest teams stop by for a burger and a beer three times a day. Charlie comes up with new ideas for the grill and if there's something you want that she doesn't have, you bring it in raw and she'll cook it for you."

They headed out of town on a dirt road that probably isn't on too many maps. It's actually a farm lane between two fields that gets plowed occasionally, like Leif did this morning. They pulled into a large farmstead and Liana Hirschel met them at the door. Sweetie and the Hirschel's old German shepherd Schnitzel sniffed each other and immediately started to play with each other.

"Come in!" cried Liana, a large blond woman with a huge bosom and the look of a bulldog about her face. She had great powerful jaws and an oddly pointed chin. Her eyes were tiny, but they captured everything. "A blanket? That's all you have?"

"I kinda forgot," said Alice. "It doesn't get cold in New Jersey." By cold, Alice meant sub-zero, which is life in North Dakota. In New Jersey, sub-zero would mean the end of the world.

"I have a bunch of stuff left over from the girls," said Liana. "We'll look after breakfast and see if any of it fits you. Maybe by then we'll be properly introduced," she said with a withering, sidelong glance at Leif.

"Alice, this is my loving employer, Lars Hirschel, and his wife Liana, who actually runs this place. Lars, Liana, this is Alice Lund, the one that got away."

"The only one," said Lars. Lars was a short, slender man with a graying stubble that looked like it took a chain saw to trim back. Everything about Lars said "wiry" and Liana was easily six inches taller with fifty pounds on him. He had a long drawn face that looked like it forgot how to smile and a body that bore the brunt of over sixty years of hard farming. Lars and Liana were made for each other.

"Sit, eat! You too Leif!" ordered Liana. Then she turned to Alice and scolded her. "I'm expecting you to feed this scoundrel," she said, pointing at Leif. "He stopped eating about five years ago and we can't get him to finish a solid meal."

"Oh?" said Alice accusingly.

"That fool Arne Baumann over at The Grain Bin made a remark that he was getting fat and no woman would like him and he hasn't eaten since," said Liana as she poured coffee.

"Terrified you'd hate him, he was," said Lars as he shoveled loads of scrambled eggs, hash browns, ham, and sausage on a plate and put it in front of Alice.

She looked at the plate of food; it was far more than she might eat, then she looked at Leif. He had that look on his face, the look that haunted her dreams and kept her away. That look of failure, the look he had when he was berated by their half talented quarterback who tossed a wounded duck into the hands of a wide open defensive safety and blamed Leif. Was he looking so distraught over what Lars had just said? No, Alice immediately discovered that he knew what Liana was going to say next.

"Why did you leave, honey?" she asked Alice sweetly.

"I told you every week for thirty years," said Leif sternly. "I was a bastard and drove her away."

"I'm not saying you're lying; I'm just saying that I would like to hear her side of the story," said Liana in an exacting voice that only someone who controlled the payroll could use.

Alice answered like she was reporting on how her garden was growing. "I had a cancer and couldn't bear children and I just didn't have the courage to tell my fiancé, so I ran. I was a stupid girl and I..."

"Alice stop!" said Leif firmly, and he silenced her with a gentle touch to her lips. Then he glared at Liana. "We sat up till midnight and forgave each other last night. We each cried a bucket of tears because we lost so much when we both failed to communicate. Now, I hope we can learn from our mistakes and settle down and devote our lives to each other and raise our daughter, Sweetie."

Lars gave Liana a grin and said, "I guess he told you for certain."

Liana just returned his grin. "Our little boy finally grew a pair!"

"'bout time's all I can say," responded Lars, to the howling laughter from Alice. The farmer looked up from his plate and gave Alice a wink.

"I want to hear why you did time in jail for using a stapler on your boss," said Liana.

"It's not how I hit him, but where," said Alice with a playful grin. She was home among the farmers of North Dakota and loving it.

Lars looked up in horror. "In his...?"

"In his wedding tackle, yes," said Leif. Wait... did she say fiancé? For the first time in decades, he was feeling at home, too.

"Good girl!" said Liana. "You'll have to tell me how he squealed later."

Several hours later, Leif and Lars were out in the main work shed. They finished doing an oil change on the John Deere 9600 combine harvester, and was almost done with the full clean and lubrication on the John Deere 853A Row Head for the combine when Alice and Liana came in. Alice was wearing a neon pink parka with flowered snow pants and bright yellow "bunny boots." Bunny boots are large, round rubber boots with a lot of insulation and will keep your feet warm in sub-zero temperatures. They're hell to drive with, though.

Schnitzel and Sweetie joined them and their game of doggie tag continued under and around the collection of implements and vehicles it takes to run a 2,000 acre farm. Leif chuckled when he saw Alice. She looked like she was getting ready to head off to school. The years had been kind to the tiny woman, and she was still the cutest woman he had ever seen, and the pain of years of loneliness was worth the wait. He refused to speculate on what might have been. He wasted 30 years doing that, now he only wants to speculate on what is next.

"Sunflowers!" she said brightly.

"Yep," said Lars from under the header. "Sunflowers, milo, soybeans, we can cut them all with this."

"No, sunflowers, like we're going to put them in the southeast quarter. You had soybeans there for three years running. That field should be pumped full of nitrogen," she said as Leif took her in his arms, being careful not to get grease on her nuclear pink parka. One of the Hirschel's daughters wore that to high school fifteen years ago, and it fit Alice perfectly.

"She's been looking at the crop reports and the county agent is asking for sunflowers," said Liana, who was as much farm manager as Lars.

"Better put a coat of paint on the gazebo," said Lars from under the row header.

"Gazebo?" asked Alice.

"The octagonal gazebo out back," said Liana.

"We slap a coat of flat white paint on it and plop it down in the middle of the sunflower field for wedding pictures," said Lars as he wriggled out from under the harvester.

"We don't ask for much," said Liana. "There are farms that make a whole big deal about it, barbeque, and hayrides and all. We keep it subtle and cater to the locals."

"No one is flying to Balta to view our flowers," said Lars as he wiped his hands on a rag and swept up the soybeans and bean waste they freed from the header.

"I don't see why not," said Leif. "These folks show up with their entire wedding party and while the photographer is shooting, the family gets bored and starts tromping down the flowers. Why don't we feed the families while the kids are out getting their pictures took? We throw how many picnics for the church? They're not that hard to set up and we plant a square or two of suns near the house for the kids to play in."

"Can we get our wedding pictures taken in the sunflowers?" asked Alice.

"I haven't asked you to marry me yet," said the man Alice had considered her fiancé since their first kiss.

"You will ask her, won't you?" demanded Liana fiercely. This was not a question; this was closer to a threat and Sweetie barked to emphasize what her new friend's mommy had said.

"Tonight, at dinner," Leif promised himself.

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Chapter 6 - Snow-Stayed Valentine's Day

The wind blew, the snow flew, and the people of north central North Dakota were "Snow Stayed." It's a regional expression, meaning nobody is going anywhere. Businesses and schools close and folks gather around the kerosene heater and wait for the weather to change.

Farms don't have the luxury of closing. Cows don't take a day off, and broken tools won't fix themselves. Leif put in a full day at work while Liana and Alice took Leif's truck back to his house and "Straightened Up." Alice discovered how he survived with only a wardrobe and a small pantry for storage. Next to the bathroom was what she thought was a storage closet, but it turned out to be a steep staircase leading down to a full basement. The basement was large, dry, and clean. There was even a stack of firewood down there in case it was too cold to go outside and gather wood to feed the wood stove. "He was preparing to convert it into a bedroom when he discovered he couldn't get a mattress down the ladder," said Liana.

"There are stairs that go up outside," said Alice.

"They're usually buried under snow. That's the problem with living in a forest; the trees catch all the snow." Leif's property is a double lot that is surrounded by, and full of trees. He once told Liana that he enjoyed burning the leaves in autumn, so he made sure he had plenty of trees to feed his habit. Liana accused him of owning a forest so he could hunt deer in his back yard.

"This is where he usually sleeps when it's cold," said Liana and she slid a curtain aside to reveal a cot and side table in a corner of the basement.

"Oh, God..." It looked so lonely and pitiful that Alice teared up. She felt so sorry for Leif sleeping alone in the basement of a tiny house... and after his dog Singer died, he was doubly alone. "What did I do to us?"

"Now you stop!" demanded Liana. "Maybe you made a hasty decision, but your man waited for you and was prepared to go to the grave waiting for you." But that made Alice cry harder. "Hush now," said Liana. "Leif, and I had plenty of long talks, and he loves you now more than he did back then. I could see it in his eyes all morning at breakfast. He looked like he'd rather be eating you than my cooking."

Alice was shocked to hear that from a woman in her early 70s, but Liana just smiled. "I may be old, but I ain't dead. I still get them looks from Lars."

Down there were all his clothes and cleaning supplies and shelves of canned goods, jars of pickles, quarts of sauerkraut, and all manner of preserves that Liana presented him with over the years, but he could never bring himself to open most of those jars knowing that he wouldn't eat the entire contents. They arranged Alice's belongings and her new wardrobe in a way that made sense to them and would confound Leif for weeks.

"Looks like you're having steak tonight," said Liana as she made an inventory of Leif's refrigerator so she and Alice could go grocery shopping at the big Piggly Wiggly down in Harvey, ND, when the main roads open again. When he got up at 5:00 AM by the sound of the power coming back on, Leif had taken a couple of thick T-Bone steaks out of the freezer to thaw and set out two nice looking potatoes, perfect for baking. He had given Alice and Liana instructions that he had special plans for dinner, so don't touch nothing. He whispered his plans to Liana before she and Alice left, and she approved with a knowing smile.

"Ok darling," said Liana as they tossed most of Leif's blankets and bed linen in the back of his pickup truck to wash in Liana's enormous industrial strength washing machine. "You get ready for tonight and I'll take Leif's truck back to him on the farm."

"Do you do all his laundry for him?"

Liana shrugged. "He was sniffing for a raise but didn't dare ask because the crops were so poor for a few years. I told him I'd do his laundry if he'd say on but he had to bring his own detergent."

"And that kept him?"

"Oh, hell yeah," said Liana. "I got an ASE certified mechanic, trained equipment operator with a CDL license for the price of a load of laundry? Best business deal I ever made."

Just then, Alice looked up at the sky. Just above the distant horizon, the sun glowed with a quarter of the intensity it had during the summer. The cold froze the moisture in the air, filling the air with microscopic ice crystals which limited the amount of sunlight but it also caused a phenomenon called a Sun Dog. A faint circle of light ringed the sun, barely noticeable, but at the three o'clock and nine o'clock positions on the ring, the light glowed with brilliant intensity, as intense as the sun. The sun dog gave the illusion of three suns in the sky and Alice looked at it with amazement. "It's just an ol' sun dog," said Liana.

"I'm home," said Alice. The only place you can see a sun dog was in the far north in the extreme cold. Her heart leaped with joy in her chest and she realized it was all real. "I'm HOME!" she cried in ecstasy.

"That's right, baby girl. All six hundred square feet are home now. Your garage is bigger than your house."

"I've got to call mom!"

"Call mom tomorrow, let's let Cupid rule the night, shall we?" said Liana with a knowing grin. She led Alice back into the house. "Get that shower going. I'm sure you have some shaving and trimming to do, dear." Alice rolled her eyes but started the water and grabbed a towel and her shampoo and pulled the curtain on the bathroom door. The entire house had curtains instead of doors on the interior doorways. It saved room when opening a door.

When Alice climbed into the tiny shower stall, Liana grabbed the steak and potatoes and the bowl of cookie salad from the fridge and called out, "Have a wonderful evening, baby girl!"

"Thank you, Miss Liana!" called Alice from under the steaming spray.

Liana took her items and climbed into Leif's truck, and drove back to the farm. She was home as Lars and Leif finished the day's work. They spent the afternoon welding the cracks on the harrow and were washing up after a long, hard day of work. "The food is in the cab of the truck, hang on a second..." Liana dug around in a storage closet in her office and found a bouquet of brilliant red silk roses. She then opened a box of greeting cards and fished out a few Valentine's day cards. "Here, pick one."

Leif immediately found the one that he thought conveyed exactly what he wanted it to say. He sat down and wrote as neatly as possible, "...please be my Valentine..." Then he signed it and put it in its envelope and thanked Liana and left, tugging on his parka.

Lars finished washing up and Liana said, "supper's ready. Hurry up and eat. We're going out tonight."

"The radio said that US 2 was still closed in McHenry, Pierce, and Benson counties."

"We're not going anywhere on US 2. We're going three miles to The Grain Bin."

"Why?" asked Lars, as he sat down to pork chops and sauerkraut.

"Because it's Valentine's day!"

"Never made no fuss about it before," groaned Lars.

Leif drove home and went to The Grain Bin first. It was open and Charlie was presiding over a few of the locals who sat at the bar and sipped beer. "Here you go Charlie," said Leif as he laid his treasures on the bar.

Charlie Knopf was a big girl, easily six feet tall and a bit hefty, but nobody could figure out why. She had energy to spare and was constantly on the run. She and her husband Ernst were the heart and soul of Balta. Charlie ran The Grain Bin and was the Balta Postmistress. Ernst was practically the entire city government and Department of Public Works. From driving the school bus to cooking for Charlie at The Grain Bin, he did what she and Leif didn't have time for. He stepped out from the kitchen and opened the paper wrapped beef that Leif brought. "That's some nice steak," said Ernst. "Where'd that come from?"

"That's from the steer that we butchered out at Hirschel's back in October."

"Flowers? A card? Steak? Cookie Salad? Who are you putting the moves on?" demanded Charlie. Then she saw the smile on Leif's normally exhausted face and realization struck. "NO! She's back?" She squealed and leaned across the bar and hugged Leif.

"I will be over in about a half hour with my date," said Leif and with a wink he left. The door hadn't completely closed when Charlie started making calls to spread the news. Leif got his girl back!

Leif stepped into his little house, and Sweetie met him at the door with an excited bounce. He scooped up the young dog and called out, "I'm home!"

"I'm in the bedroom getting dressed."

Leif peeked into the bedroom and found Alice naked from her shower. She was standing with her back to him. He stepped up behind her and cupped her breasts. Still small and firm, each was the size of a baseball topped with an erect nipple. She squealed and bent over and cupped her hands over his. "YOU'RE FREEZING!" she shrieked.

"Then warm me up," He said as he nibbled on her ear. It was so good to have someone waiting at home for him.

"Go shower. Liana says you got something dreamed up for dinner and she laid out this suit for you." She pointed to a charcoal gray suit with a white shirt and a bright red tie.

"Yes, ma'am." But his hands remained cupping her breasts, her nipples protruding from between his fingers, and he occasionally squeezed her nipples.

"You don't seem to be moving," she said.

"You don't seem to be chasing me off," he replied.

She turned in his arms, and they kissed. "Go shower. You smell like rust, dust, and grease."

"Aye, tis a manly smell. The smell of money!" he said in a fake Irish accent as he headed to the shower.

"Manure is the smell of money," said Alice as she went back to brushing her hair.

"Wait until calving season!"

That's right, Lars and Liana have a small dairy herd. Leif helps them with the herd occasionally, but his primary job is heavy equipment. Alice's dad grew sugar beets, wheat, and little else, so the rest of the farming world was alien to her. Lars Hirschel believes that a farm should have critters, so there are cows, sheep, goats, even a few pigs and chickens, and Alice told Liana she'd help with the chickens. How hard can it be to raise chickens?

Leif's shower didn't take long. He shaved and combed back his hair, and Alice realized she was going to have to trim it for him when they get a chance. She's only been here one day, and it seems like it's been a year. Not because of the hectic running around or the emotional tsunami her reappearance caused, but because it's comfortable here. She never felt right in New Jersey, not even at the puppy farm. This is where she belongs.

Leif stepped out of the bathroom, knotting his tie before he pulled on his jacket. "Are you ready?" Alice turned around. She was wearing a dark turquois knit dress that clung to her trim, athletic body. Leif muttered, "Herregud!" (My God! In Norwegian)

"You like it?" Alice asked as she drew her shoulders back, forcing her breasts out. She was gorgeous. If anything, she was more desirable than she was when she was 21. Her breasts were a bit larger, her waist narrower, her hips wider. A delightful, economy size hourglass figure.

"Oooohhh yeah," gasped Leif. "The dress goes with those beautiful eyes of yours! I'm never going to let you get away again," and he took her in his arms and they kissed. "Shall we go?" he finally asked.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going where all the cool kids hang out," he said with a smile. She put Sweetie in her little kennel and threw a blanket over for warmth. The little dog curled up and went to sleep as Leif checked and made sure all the kerosene heaters were off and cold; the wood stove had a load of wood ready for when they returned and the flu was closed to keep downdrafts from chilling the house.

He helped her on with her parka, then slipped on his cowboy boots and parka over his suit coat and they climbed in his truck. "We're not going to Hirschel's?" asked Alice. She thought that's where they were headed because Liana left with the steaks. Leif just shook his head no and headed in the opposite direction.

Lars and Liana arrived at The Grain Bin shortly and it was fairly busy for a pub in a city of (now) 67 people. Especially busy for a pub in a city of (now) 67 people in the middle of a winter storm. The wind was up and the wind chill plummeted, but Leif parked his truck with the nose right up against the building to keep the wind from blowing over that engine and cooling it so severely.

Indoors at The Grain Bin It was what the people of North Dakota call "a Cattle Call." The bar was filled with people from Balta and the nearby area. Most brought their kids, some arrived on snowmobiles. It was time for a party and everybody answered Charlie's call. If you're going to be trapped inside by arctic temperatures and life-threatening wind chills, might as well do it with friends. Folks walked around the bar greeting old friends and new. Leif and Alice were swarmed with neighbors wanting to meet the woman at Leif's side.

"This is Alice Lund. Her dad grows sugar beets up in Cavalier County," was his standard answer. Only one person asked, "How did you two meet?" It was, of course, Charlie, and she said it from behind the bar loud enough for the entire crowd to hear. And the crowd gathered around to hear.

"My cousin hooked us up in college," said Alice. "We dated for three and a half years, and we decided yesterday that we were going to try again."

"Mon-sewer, madam, if you would follow me," said Charlie's husband Ernst, who was probably the worst speaker of French in Pierce County. He led them back to a table where they were slightly private. They were behind a railing and up a step. A fireplace crackled near them and another table near them also had a couple who appeared to be waiting for what was next. Ernst help seat Alice and Leif and said, "The special tonight is the tuna melt with a selection of Frito-Lay sides and a complimentary split of Mountain Dew."

In answer, Leif just glared at his friend Ernst.

"Or, may I suggest the T-Bone steak, with baked potato, chef salad, and a complimentary bottle of a fine Mosel wine?"

"We'll try the steak," said Leif. "Medium-rare for me, medium for my best girl. I'll take the blue cheese on my salad and she will take the French... no, make that Thousand Island dressing."

Alice looked at him in shock and admiration. It's been thirty years since he ordered for her last, and he got it right, right down to the wine. Most people will insist that red wine goes with steak, but Alice will drink any Mosel wine with any meal. "I am impressed, sir."

Just then, a slow, familiar song began to play. It was written about five years after she left, but both knew it. "I've never danced to this," he said.

"Me neither," said Alice. "Whenever they play it at a wedding, I find something else to do."

"Same here... Let's stop hiding." Leif stood and held his hand out to her and she let him lead her to an open area behind the pool table and they danced to the sweet, romantic Brad Paisley song, We Danced. Their bodies came together, and they moved softly in time with the country love song and Alice let him lead her around the dance floor... she had to. Her eyes were filled with tears of joy.

This is where she grew up, on the wide-open prairie, where the clean blue sky goes on forever. She was among the sons and daughters of immigrants from the Nordic lands and Eastern Europe. Immigrants who traded tyranny and exhausted soil for arctic temperatures and an honest chance at freedom. Their many languages eventually formed a collage of sound that became the distinctive North Dakotan accent, and it was so wonderful to hear again.

Leif and Alice continued to dance into the second song, Your Man by Josh Turner and Leif sang the words softly into her ear with his gentle baritone voice.

Ain't nobody, ever love nobody

The way that I love you...

They were such a beautiful couple. Leif was tall and strong with broad shoulders, dark blond hair, and piercing blue eyes. Alice was tiny with flowing auburn hair, glasses that magnified her hypnotic aquamarine eyes, and a delightfully narrow waist that rounded out to a lovely round ass that seemed to invite a squeeze.

They stopped somewhere in the middle of the song. The soft cha-cha beat continued as their lips met and they held each other tight, not caring who watched or what would be said tomorrow. Finally, as the song ended and more contemporary music took over, the couples returned to their tables or bar stools while Leif and Alice returned to their seats and held hands across the table.

"Freida told me you had enlisted," she said softly.

"Yeah, Navy. I did four years in Mayport, Florida working on trucks and cranes."

"Did you ever go to sea?" asked Alice.

"Just once. I did one cruise on the Belleau Wood and went back to shore."

"What kind of ship is that?"

"Right now, it's a reef at the bottom of the ocean. They used it as a target a few years after my ride. It was a 'gator freighter.' An aircraft carrier that hauls marines."

"You didn't like the Navy?" Alice asked as Ernst brought their steaks, grilled to perfection and potatoes baked perfectly, and a salad made from crisp iceberg lettuce. They ate by the light of two long taper candles, and this time, Leif ate with gusto, as did Alice. The steaks were thick, so Sweetie was going to have a doggy bag heading her way.

"Nah. I got some experience and a CDL, but it wasn't me. I stepped aside for someone that wanted to be a sailor. I just wanted to be a farmer." They grew quiet for a while, then he asked, "ever hear from your cousin Natasha?"

"Yeah, we talked not too long ago," said Alice.

"What's she doing now?"

"Natalia is deliriously happy as a kindergarten teacher and wife."

Leif chuckled as he thought of the sexy Natalia teaching kindergarten. "Who did she marry?"

"You know Natalia," said Alice between bites of her potato. "She married a woman."

"Yeah, that's the Natalia I know," said Leif as he cut his steak. "Anyone I know?" He bit into the steak and it was delicious.

"She married Jasmin Baumgartner. Leif? Are you ok? LEIF?" She patted his back until he coughed up the piece of steak he inhaled. "Are you ok? What was that about?"

When his coughing settled, he said, "She went to my prom with me to make Jasmin jealous."

"Guess it worked."

"Guess you're right." He looked into those eyes, not believing they were here, together. The building creaked and groaned as the wind buffeted it, but the party went on. "What did you do when you got out?" he didn't want to say prison, but she knew what he meant.

"There was a program for women who were released to work with dogs, so I took that opportunity. Dogs are easier to understand than people. You can always tell when they're lying."

"Do dogs lie?" asked Leif.

"Oh yes. If they think it will get them a treat, they'll tell you they dug the Panama canal for you."

"That's funny," said Leif with a smile. "So, you worked with dogs?"

"I trained service dogs for disabled veterans, and I worked at Bryce Hill Kennels." Bryce Hill was the leading breeder of American Foxhounds. George Washington started the American Foxhound breed, and Bryce Hill Kennels has worked hard to keep the bloodline viable without over breeding that can lead to a breed's downfall.

"Bryce Hill..." Leif had a wistful look on his face. "That's where Singer came from. My dad found Singer at a kennel in Minnesota and her papers said she was bred and born at Bryce Hill." Singer was a beautiful American foxhound and is rumored to descend from George Washington's dogs. She was named for one of his dogs, and Leif just loved her. Singer went everywhere with him. She wasn't a trained service dog, but she stepped in and did the job for Leif. Anywhere Leif went, if he had a passenger seat in the vehicle, Singer was there. Singer loved harvest time, she would sit in the combine's cab with Leif watching the header of the combine cut wheat or scoop up row crops.

"When Freida told me about Singer, I looked her up and yes, she came from Bryce Hill. When I left, I brought a relative. Sweetie is Singer's great grandniece."

"She is?" Leif looked excited. Now he wanted to run home and play with Sweetie.

"Her kennel name is Sweet Lips Twenty-Seven of Mount Vernon," said Alice. "And she's not mine, she's ours. She's registered in both of our names."

"Sweet Lips?" Leif was pleasantly surprised. Sweet Lips was the name of George Washington's favorite hunting dog. The father of our nation had a wonderful sense of humor and named his dogs all kinds of humorous names: Drunkard, Taster, Tipsy, Singer, Sweet Lips, Scentwell, and Vulcan were just a few of those names. The realization suddenly overwhelmed Leif... he's got Singer back, and he's got Alice back! The realization that his bachelor days were over hit like a ton of lead. "I've got so much work to do..."

"Work? For what?" asked Alice.

"To build a life and a home that will make the both of you proud and want to stay. You and Sweet Lips."

"I am not going anywhere," said Alice. "I think we both have learned our lessons. If anything, I have some ideas that might keep me busy."

"Like what?"

"Would you mind a kennel out back?" Alice asked. As they ate, they talked about Alice's idea for a boarding kennel/dog park. "I want a sled team," she finally said.

Leif found he loved the idea and was getting excited thinking about it. Their big lot was perfect for a boarding kennel. "I like the idea. I would love a sled team, but I don't want to move to a bigger place." Leif pointed out his employers seated at the bar, watching them like parents watching their teen daughter on her first 'play date.' Their attention caused Alice to giggle nervously. She just met them and they reminded her of her own parents so much.

"We're not going to move. There's plenty of room in your lot," said Alice with mounting excitement.

"You're not going to get the big money out of Fargo or Grand Forks to come out to Balta," said Leif.

"They come out to stand in a field of sunflowers and take wedding pictures. They'll come to kennel their dog if we advertise it right," said Alice. Her sly smile told Leif that she had her plans already laid out. Soon their cookie salad dessert came, and Alice swooned. "Cookie salad two nights in a row! Charlie must be a mind reader!"

"Yeah, she read my mind when I gave her a bowl of cookie salad and said, "Make sure you serve this for our dessert."

"Oh stop, there's no need to be jealous... I'm kidding! I figured it out when I saw your bowl behind Charlie's bar." They held hands, and Leif watched her pretty eyes sparkle in the candlelight. "This whole evening is perfect," she said. "Thank you."

Someone put a waltz on the juke box and Leif rose and extended his hand. Alice followed his lead and soon they were dancing to Alan's Jackson's "I'd Love You All Over Again," a song common enough in country bars and at weddings out west, but Alice never heard it before. "I sang this to you every Friday night," said Leif as they swayed to the music. He would sing it as he stumbled home from The Grain Bin after a few beers. Then he sang with Alan Jackson's refrain.

If tomorrow I found one more chance to begin

I'd love you all over again

Alice was in tears by the time the dance was over. She always thought that country love songs were sappy, but now she's living in one and they suddenly became pure, heartfelt portions of real life. Leif led her to their table, and the dishes were cleared off, yet the candles and wine remained. Alice found a bouquet of silk roses at her place and a Valentine's card. "Oh, thank you," she said as she sat down. "I haven't done Valentine's Day since..."

"Since we were juniors?" asked Leif. "I had plans for Valentine's Day in our senior year."

"I'm sorry... I..."

"Stop! We've said our apologies. Now we're here together, that's what counts." He smiled and said, "Read your card out loud. I want to see if I got the sentiment right. I memorized it back then, and I finally got to use it."

She read the printed verse; it was sweet, but then she got to what he wrote.

"Since the first moment I saw you, you have been my only love. You are the center of my universe. My love for you is what keeps me going day after day, and my desire to please you is my reason for being. Please, my darling Alice, please be my Valentine. If you say 'yes', I will be yours forever."

She looked up from the card and he had moved; he was now next to her on a knee, holding open a ring box, and a beautiful white gold engagement ring glistened in the candlelight. "Say yes," he whispered.

"Please say yes, and I will be yours forever."

It seemed like the entire bar went silent and all held their breath as Alice looked at the ring in shock. Thousands of thoughts crowded into her mind... this is all so sudden... it's been decades since they even spoke... but they were both too scared... and now she's a felon... is everything truly forgiven? Why else did she come here? She looked into those blue eyes and that was her downfall... or salvation.

"Yes," she whispered. Then everything flooded into her and it felt like her heart would burst out of her chest. "YES!" and she peppered Leif's face with kisses as the crowd cheered. With a smile that somehow hid the desire to jump up and down and join in the cheer, Leif eased the ring on her finger and kissed her hand as their friends and neighbors applauded and came over to congratulate the couple.

Leif was stunned. The whole town was here, along with all of their kids. He introduced Alice to her new neighbors and as they got to the end of the line where Lars and Liana waited, all the lights went out. A moment later, the emergency flood lights came on. "Ok, folks!" called Charlie in her normally loud voice. "Party's over thanks to Mid-Dakota power! Everyone put your dirty dishes on the bar. Here are some Styrofoam cups if you need a go-cup. Dress warm and be safe out there... you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here!"

"Sounds like she's practiced that speech," said Alice as Leif helped her on with her bright pink parka.

"It happens. You'll be used to it before spring."

Like a clean-up at the church potluck, everyone pitched in and had the bar straightened out. As Charlie locked up the liquor and grabbed the cash box, Leif handed her two crisp fifty-dollar bills. "Thank you darling, it was wonderful."

"No," and she tried to push the money back. "Hell, we made more money tonight than we have since we bought this place."

"Then call it a down payment for our wedding dinner." He turned and left the money on the bar and put his arm around Alice and they headed outside.

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Chapter 7 - Aged to Perfection

The weather was back to the evil windy blast that nearly killed Alice and Sweetie. Now driving the loose snow across the prairie, the storm was almost a complete white out. They got in Leif's truck and he turned on the forward spotlights and crept slowly home through the whirling Arctic blast. A few inches off and he could hit a tree or a neighbor's fence, so he drove carefully. "I forgot to grab the cookie salad bowl!" gasped Alice as he made the turn onto their street.

"Charlie will take care of it," said Leif as he squinted into the swirling snow. The flood lights reflected back into his eyes from the snow, blinding him, but turning the flood lights off revealed even less.

Leif and Alice only live three blocks away, but it was a long, slow journey in the whirling snow. All the streets in Balta were numbered. Avenues ran east-west, streets ran north-south. There's only four streets and avenues, so the only one that really cares anymore is the fire department and google maps. All the street signs are long gone and folks gave their address as, "A block north of the old city hall," or something like that. The post office doesn't even care. Everyone has a post office box over at the Grain Bin where Charlie distributed mail and served lunch.

"Thank you so much, it was so wonderful," sighed Alice as she relaxed, completely trusting Leif to get her home safely. "It was like an episode of a Prairie Home Companion."

"It could be. We have our own Lake Woebegone. I can't wait to take you swimming there this summer."

"Skinny dipping?" she asked with a smile.

"Skinny dipping? My bride wants to go skinny dipping?" He looked over at Alice and said, "I've been looking for an excuse to put in a hot tub."

"Sounds wonderful," said Alice with a shiver.

"You just wait until you can get out and see the back yard, especially after the leaves come out. It's like being in a forest."

"I can't wait."

"Are you sure my house isn't too small?"

"It's just the three of us," said Alice. "It's perfect."

"But the bathroom is so tiny," said Leif.

His fiancée smiled and said, "If we put in that hot tub, I can soak in there and the shower isn't too small." She squeezed his thigh and said, "it will fit two." She saw the look on his face and said, "What? What was that look for?"

"Nothing," said Leif. He knew immediately that was the wrong answer, so he continued. "I'm just happy you're thinking that way."

"What do you mean?"

"I have never taken a shower with someone... other than 30 guys in the locker room."

But Alice smelled a rat. As the truck plowed its way into the snow-packed driveway, she said, "Five minutes of honesty. Want to play?"

"Sure," said Leif. The main reason for the honesty game is that Rule #1 states that you can't hold an honest answer against someone.

"How many lovers have you had since I left?"

He looked her right in the eye and said, "None. Not a one. And no men either. It's just me and my memories, and some hand lotion. Pitiful, right?"

"No. Now ask me the same question," said Alice.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to know, I don't know if I can handle the answer," said Leif.

"What if I said my answer is the same as yours... but with a vibrator instead of hand lotion."

"You're a beautiful, desirable woman." He took her hand in his and sadly said, "You should have had lovers lined up waiting for you to pick them out of a lineup."

"I'm a nerd, and nobody wants a jail bird nerd, especially for the reasons why I did time. The only men that wanted me had a sick stapler fetish... don't laugh at me! They're out there! I simply didn't want anyone. Then I realized it was you I've been wanting the whole time, so I grabbed Sweetie in lieu of severance pay and came here."

Leif kissed her sweetly then looked her in the eye and said, "we are either the most romantic couple, or the most pathetic couple alive... I'm not sure which."

"Carry me inside and we'll figure it out. I'm just wearing pumps."

"Will do, hang on." He got out of the truck and left the headlights on, then plugged the truck's three heaters into an extension cord, shut off the headlights and came around and scooped Alice up from the passenger seat and carried her inside.

She was going to ask him why he plugged it in even when the power was out and she realized that the power will be back on, eventually. Sweetie was whimpering and whining in her cage and by the light of her cell phone, Alice let her out. The puppy ran back and forth, excited to see people, and Leif scooped her up and took her right outside. He came back in moments later with a shivering young foxhound. "Was she good?" asked Alice as she finished lighting the oil lamp.

"She piddled and pooped immediately," said Leif.

Alice gave Sweetie a treat from her doggy bag as Leif lit the wood stove. "Is there hot water when the power is out?" asked Alice.

"Yes, it's a gas water heater, and it doesn't need power. Why?" he stood and smiled down at her.

She grabbed his tie and yanked him down for a kiss. It was a toe curling kiss that left him panting. "Because I intend to get very sweaty and sticky tonight," she hissed as she licked his ear and nibbled on his ear lobe. "I haven't had a man this century, but I've read... I've read a lot."

Leif's hand slid up her back, under her hair, and held her head still. Alice took a shivering breath. Her rough and tumble football player was returning! She readied herself for a manly, powerful kiss. Just as his lips neared hers, he looked up and said, "You rearranged the furniture."

"You dick!" and she yanked his tie again and curled her arm around his neck, drawing him tight. Their kiss was passionate, hot, blazing hot. Fiery enough to temper the chill in the air of the powerless house. When their kiss broke, they were both panting. "Light a few candles and get the wine glasses while I slip into something more comfortable," she crooned.

"Yes, ma'am!" he said as Alice ducked into the bedroom. He saw a glimpse of the bedroom in the light of her cell phone before she closed the curtain and it looked like she and Liana rearranged the bedroom as well. The living room was filled with the soft glow of an oil lamp and four candles mounted on mirrored wall sconces. He found an old vase and put her roses in the vase and set it on the coffee table, then toed off his boots, took off his jacket and loosened his tie.

The sound of the curtain sliding open caused Leif to turn, and there was Alice peeking at him from behind the curtain she held bunched up in front of her. "This is us, forever from now on, right?"

"Forever and ever," he said, and he stepped toward her.

"Then..." she dropped the curtain, "let the games begin." She was wearing his old NDSU football jersey. Dark green with bright yellow number 24 and bright yellow letters spelling out Bisons under the bright yellow collar. Yellow and white stripes adorned both sleeves and on the back yellow letters spelled out Rasmussen above the bright yellow 24. That surprised Leif because they didn't put their names on their jerseys. She had to have this custom made. On Alice, it looked huge. It hung down to her knees, and the collar showed off her soft, silky shoulder. "I still sleep in this every night," she said shyly.

"You put your name on the back," he said.

"It's your name," she started, then another rush of excitement swept through her. "Our name," she said. How many times did she practice her new signature? Mrs. Alice Rasmussen. Then came that horrible day when the doctor told her she couldn't conceive. Somehow she convinced herself that she was no longer a woman and she couldn't do that to Leif.

"Come here Missus Rasmussen," and Leif pulled her to him. But she pushed him back to the love seat, then, as he undid his tie and unbuttoned his shirt she said, "I still dream of this, my man, my Leif, comes home to me from a long day at work and I greet him like this," and she sank to her knees.

"Oh, Alice..." He was going to tell her she doesn't have to do this, but then he thought, "she put me through years of hell. Of course she has to do this. It's the least she can do."

"I'm not a China doll, and I'm not a scared schoolgirl anymore," she said as she unfastened his belt and opened his pants, then pulled them down. She pulled down his shorts and his cock sprang up and she clasped it in her hand. It was bigger than she remembered. Her hand barely wrapped around it and her thumb didn't touch her fingertip. "Hello old friend," she said softly. It was bigger than she recalled and wasn't quite as hard as she remembered, but somehow the scent of her man was still distinctive. It was still Leif Rasmussen. How she missed that smell. It reminded her of happy days on campus, snuggling in his dorm room, working on her dad's farm, swimming at Lost Long Lake. She remembered keeping his jersey as long as possible without washing it because it smelled like him, a combination of hard work and Old Spice.

She tipped his cock up and leaned in and ran a tongue over his swollen balls. "Oh, yessss," he hissed as she sucked one of his testicles into her mouth and ran her tongue over it. She never did that in their college days. She avoided his balls for some reason. The actual reason was that she had been told horror stories of the agony of 'blue balls' by boys in her high school and felt guilty for causing it.

She released his cock and grasped his hips and ran her lips and tongue up and down the sensitive underside of his cock. "That's amazing," he hissed. "So good!"

Encouraged by his words, she took the head of his cock in her mouth and began circling the head with her tongue. Round and round, her tongue went. She clasped her hands behind her back, hoping he would get the hint. Leif looked at this auburn-haired cutie and she knelt with her hands behind her back and his cock in her mouth. Well, she said that she wouldn't break. He placed his hands on the sides of her head and began sawing his cock in and out of her mouth.

Years ago, she disliked giving head, but she was so good at it! So, Leif suffered with a few moments of halfhearted head, occasionally followed by a handjob with a lot of saliva for lubricant. But she got better with practice and by the time she left, she was incredible, and Leif missed the ecstasy she could bring him to. But now she knelt with the head of his cock in her mouth and she looked up at him with those beautiful eyes as he slowly fucked his cock in and out of her mouth.

In and out, it was ecstasy. Her tongue slithered and slinked over the sensitive underside of his cock, and she moaned each time his cock plowed into her mouth and pressed against her throat. She soon grasped his hips and began urging him to fuck her mouth faster and deeper.

He wasn't going to last long; the mind blowing ecstasy was too good. The wet warmth of her mouth, the silken softness of her tongue, the occasional staccato scrape of a tooth, and the tightening of her throat around his cock's head all created a symphony of incredible erotic sensation that was rapidly driving him over the edge. "I'm going to cum," he groaned, but she continued to suckle on his cock, her tongue now slithering on the sensitive underside of his cock with growing intensity. His orgasm hit like a sledgehammer and he came hard. Thanks to his warning, Alice was ready, but it was a huge load. She swallowed every drop he spurted into her mouth and she looked up at him for reassurance.

His mind was completely blown by the power of his orgasm. He threw his head back and growled as waves of perfect relief crashed over him. Slowly, he came back to earth. "That was amazing," said Leif. "Better than I remembered." He sank down to the love seat and pulled Alice up into his lap.

They kissed long and sweetly. He always loved kissing her after a blowjob like that. Her lips were swollen from the exertion and her mouth was warm and inviting. Finally, she leaned back and finished unbuttoning his shirt. "When I decided to come back I began practicing with bananas," said Alice. "They aren't as big as your harpoon, Captain Ahab, but they're good practice."

Leif shook his head. It's been decades since Natalia made that remark about Ahab's harpoon, and it still rises to the occasion. Leif decided to play along with it. "Yarrrr, hie thee hither Mister Starbuck!" He pulled her jersey over her head. "I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing!"

"That was Mister Stubb, not Ahab," said Alice as she covered herself with the shirt she had taken off of Leif.

"Aye Starbuck, that it was, but the lubber be right, a laugh's the wisest, easiest answer to all that is queer." Leif struck! His fingers danced on her ribs, tickling the normally staid Alice. She squealed and laughed like a schoolgirl, twisting and tried to avoid his tickling fingers, but even out of practice he was still able to turn Alice into a giggling wreck. He was able to pull away his shirt and tossed it aside where it landed on a disinterested Sweetie.

Leif grabbed her wrists and held her arms out wide and inspected her body. She too had been starving herself out of loneliness. Her ribs were visible and her hip bones protruded, but her breasts remained as firm and as round as they were decades ago. He saw a scar on her left side and made a mental note to ask her about it. "What's wrong?" she finally asked as she twisted in his grip. The room was still chilly and her nipples stood out hard and erect, her small circular areola puckered in the chill but the wood fire was warming the house nicely.

"Just admiring a masterpiece," he said. His words caused her to blush, and she twisted harder. "God, how I missed these girls," he said, and he pulled her closer. His teeth snapped at her perky tit and she fought back, but years of tough farmwork tightened his muscles and he was in as good a shape as he was when he played ball. She was helpless in his grip and she knew it, and it was exciting.

Alice felt the tingles of anticipation long before his tongue first touched her nipple, and when it did, it was like an electrical short. She felt a shock of erotic sensation run from her right nipple to her left as his tongue tip flickered over her erect nubbin. She whimpered and panted as his tongue lashed at her sensitive tit. He finally caught her nipple between his teeth and lashed it with his tongue.

Her breathing became ragged, and the struggling stopped as she surrendered to the sensations that were coursing through her body. He had her entire tit in his mouth and was suckling it like a starving child. He released her wrists and his hands gripped her ribs, holding her in place. As the sensations built up, she ran her fingers through his hair, holding his mouth in place, holding him close. She wanted to weep for all the lost time, but he struck again.

Leif whirled around, planting Alice on the love seat. He knelt between her legs and pinched her nipples hard, watching the sharp pleasure twist her nearly sorrowful features into an expression of passion. He kissed a path down her stomach while he pinched and twisted her nipples. Back when they were in college, she would have stopped him. Not because she didn't like what he was planning, but because Good Girls Didn't Do That. Everyone knew in high school, Only Sluts And Dykes Did That.

Oh lord, how she was wrong. She heard the talk of co-workers; she read letters of how women actually wanted their man to go down on them. She heard of the ecstasy. It was very difficult for young Alice Lund to cum. Was this "the cure?"

Good girl status be damned! Alice wanted it all.

"Yessss," she hissed "Do it." She planted her tiny bare feet on the edge of the coffee table and spread her knees wide. She clasped her left hand on his, keeping his hand on her breast, driving her crazy, then she planted her right hand on his head and guided him lower, lower. She would not miss out on an opportunity again.

Leif was now kissing the trimmed patch of hair above her mound and breathing in the scent of her arousal. She pushed him lower, not away. He could tell how uncertain she was feeling. Imagine a couple their age who never tried cunnilingus? Their eyes met and he could see the uncertainty in her eyes. He planted a gentle kiss on her clit then said, "If I do something you don't like, tell me and I'll stop it, ok?"

Alice agreed with a nervous nod of her head and she pulled Leif's hand from her breast and kissed it. At the same time, he began planting gentle kisses on her pussy. "Yes," she whispered to his hand as he felt his tongue dart into her pussy.

Her scent, her taste, it was all so wonderful to Leif. He made love to her pussy with his lips and tongue moving back and forth between her vagina and her clit. Her coos and sighs were music to his ears, and soon he released her breast and brought his right hand down to her pussy. As his tongue flickered over her clit, he eased a finger into her hot, moist depths. It felt so good on his finger; he forgot how smooth and soft her pussy felt. It was all so soft and smooth, her inner thighs, her inner walls, even her pubic hair was smooth and inviting. A second finger joined the first, and he began fucking her pussy faster. She moaned and gasped and never said stop, so he began finger banging her as hard and as fast as he could while his tongue danced on her clit.

Suddenly, both of her hands grasped his head, and she shrieked incoherently at the top of her lungs. Her ass rose up off the love seat and pressed against his mouth harder. Alice was having the most powerful orgasm in her fifty-plus years of life. Shockwaves of erotic bliss crashed through her, jolts of pleasure radiated from her clit and pussy. She was trying to tell Leif that she loved him, but all that came out was cries of delight.

Finally, the pleasure became too much; it was almost painful, and she pushed Leif away. He rose up on his knees and leaned forward to kiss her, and she pulled him close, peppering his face with long overdue kisses. "I love you so much darling," she finally gasped.

"You are my entire world," he replied and as they kissed, he felt his cock pressing against her wet pussy. He began sawing his hips as his cock slid up and down gently against the wet lips of her pussy. "I can't wait," he said, and he reached down to line his cock up with her pussy, but he found she had got there first.

She lined his cock up and said, "Nice and easy... it's been a while."

Leif pushed in a bit, then pulled back a little, then pushed in some more... it was like trying to rock your car out of a snow drift. She moaned as he pushed in deeper with each stroke. Before he knew it, her hands were squeezing his ass cheeks and urging him on. Faster and faster, he slid in and out. "My god, you are so incredible," he groaned.

"More," was all she said before she stuck her tongue down his throat. The sound of their flesh clapping filled the room, soon joined by their panting gasps and cries. Leif fucked her with all his strength and Alice took every solid, brutal stroke, cumming over and over. Soon they were both covered with sweat and Alice was screaming with passion as the love seat slammed into the wall with each of his strokes. She came again, wrapping her legs around him and holding him tight. Her fingernails clawed into his back as she rode out the storm of desire. "YES!" she screamed at the peak of her orgasm, because that's the only word her scrambled mind could settle on.

On and on they fucked into the night, sometimes sweet and gentle, other times savage and demanding. Alice recovered from a mind bending orgasm and found herself kneeling on the floor, face down on the love seat, and her delectable ass was raised and taking Leif's brutal thrusts. He pounded away at her pussy as Alice came a fourth time, too exhausted to scream. He could have plunged into her virgin anus if he wanted, and she wouldn't have done anything to prevent it. With a roar, he finally came, spurting into her, filling her with his cum. It went on and on, his cock twitching and jumping as it pumped his load of semen into the little woman. Alice sighed in contentment as the last of her orgasms released its hold on her and she sagged to the floor where Leif joined her.

The wood stove had the room nice and hot by now. Their sweaty skin glistened in the candlelight as they lay panting in each other's arms. The air down by the floor was quite cool as the arctic blast slammed against the tiny house. The cool air felt good against their flushed, sweaty skin as the lovers lay panting. Alice looked into Leif's blue eyes and said, "we were always good together... but damn!"

They chuckled peacefully and kissed gently. "Let's keep doing that forever," said Leif.

"We better. It took us thirty-five years to get it right," said Alice with a sexy grin. It's been a long, long time since he saw that grin on his loved one's face.

"I'll go start the shower," he said with a smile. She was right about sticky and sweaty.

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Epilogue

Everet Jankowitz pulled off Highway 3s on to 52nd Street and wondered where the hell he was. Prairie stretched out in all directions... well, with no-till farming, you couldn't tell if that was prairie or if that was a crop coming in. It was an early June day and summer like weather was washing over the northern plains with all its beauty. North Dakota winters are hell, but if you survive, the glory of a North Dakota summer is your reward. The plains were a brilliant green; the trees covered with leaves; the ponds were full of perch that begged for a worm and a hook. A warm gentle breeze blew in from the northwest and he was driving with his windows open and a cheerful tune on the radio.

In the back of his truck was a dangerous cargo that the Air Force demanded he eliminate.

52nd Street was a gravel road, and it was fairly well maintained. There was a little wash boarding here and there but on the whole it was smooth with recently cleaned ditches. As he traveled along the road, the stand of trees ahead of him turned out to be a town. He passed a fairly new sign on the side of the road that said, "Welcome To Balta" and it turned out to be a tiny prairie city. Tiny houses with trucks half disassembled in the driveways, but it was otherwise fairly neat. A ride up Main Street showed the old municipal buildings, the pride of the 1910s now shuttered, but sometimes used for other purposes. The large building that boldly proclaimed Balta Public Library 1911 in granite up at the cornice of the façade had a sign that boldly said, "Indoor Farmers Market, Every Friday and Saturday."

A banner hanging over the street read "Balta Dam Days!" to be held on the first weekend of July. Beneath it said, "Five New Picnic Pavilions!" Another sign advertised an ice fishing tournament on Sprouse Lake for this coming winter. Everet was mildly surprised. He is used to seeing signage like this in small North Dakota cities, but they were always faded and advertising something that happened in the past. Advertising future events is a sign of a living city. Then he noticed a sign that said, "We Got Gas!" Actually, there were several of them.

Interested, he followed the signs to a small, ornate gas station, the type of which dotted the nation in the 50s. It had a steeply sloped 'Cape Cod' style roof with a sloped roof canopy extending out over a pair of gas pumps. But instead of antique gas pumps, these were modern pumps with two hoses, one for gasoline, one for diesel. A sign said, "Plastic Only." Everet was shocked to see new pumps. He was used to seeing abandoned gas stations in these small cities.

Everet looked at his notes. The address he was looking for was 101 4th Avenue NW. However, he didn't see a single street sign. He's seen signs for everything else, just nothing to indicate which street was which. He pulled up to a door in the blank wall of a large building. The sign over the door said, "Post Office." The mailman should know, right? He stepped in the door and found himself in a bar.

"Hey stranger!" cried the barmaid cheerfully.

"This is the post office?" Everet asked once he got over his momentary shock.

"We do a bit of everything here," said Charlie and she motioned to the wall at the end of the bar where there were about fifty post office boxes. "What can I do for ya, hon?"

"I'm looking for Rasmussen Kennels. I have something for Alice Rasmussen."

Charlie looked at her watch. "Alice should be done out at the farm. She likes to spend the morning with the chickens and the afternoon with her dogs. Just take any street except for the dam road west until it ends. Turn right and at the end of the avenue is the kennel."

He said his thanks and headed out and sure enough, three blocks later, he pulled up to a tiny house with a small barn for a garage. Behind the barn was a fenced-in yard with ramps, hurdles, and a tunnel for training dogs. About a half dozen dogs raced around the yard, playing happily.

He knocked on the side door of the house, but there was no answer. He looked in the garage and there was a car parked in one stall. The other stall was a workshop with all forms of tools and metal working equipment. The kennel must be attached because he heard puppies mewling in the back. He walked around the barn and heard a noise in the trees. Out past the neat garden was a thick grove of aspen trees and in there, through the trees and the fluttering leaves, he saw Alice Rasmussen.

The small woman was bent over and clutching a tree trunk, and she held on tightly because behind her was a man with his trousers around his ankles. Her dress was tossed up over her back and her ass and legs were bare. The man behind her clutched her hips and was fucking her mercilessly. Over the barking of the dogs, he could hear Alice's cries that were punctuated with "More!" and "Harder!"

Everet stood transfixed as he watched the couple fucking in the warm, late spring air. He knew he should give them their privacy, but they were so beautiful together. He hid behind the barn and, without realizing what happened, his aching cock was in his hand. He stroked his pole in time with their thrusts and he realized she was watching him. He was now part of their coupling; he's never done such a thing before and he knew he should feel ashamed, but it was so beautiful. He could only imagine how wonderful it was to be making love to your wife in the warm spring weather, the sun shining down through the leaves. In his mind, his wife Darlene was kneeling before him, ready to catch his cum on her big, pillowy breasts. He made a promise to himself to take her on a hike in the Denby Experimental Forest this weekend.

He stood transfixed as the twosome pounded into each other, their coupling becoming demanding, their cries could be heard over the dogs playful yelping and Everet could hear their bodies clapping together. His hand stroking his cock faster and faster to keep up with the couple. He never considered himself a voyeur or Peeping Tom, but this... wow! He couldn't tear his eyes away as their lovemaking reached a crescendo. The tiny woman was thrusting her ass back at the grunting man and they shouted out their mutual pleasure as they shuddered in a near simultaneous climax. With a strangled cry, he came with them. His semen flew as his orgasm felt like an electrical charge, and he was sure she was watching him cum. He was part of their lovemaking. Eventually, the couple slowly sagged into the long grass, spent and obviously in love, and Everet pulled his jeans back up fearfully.

Nervously he slipped back to his truck, checked his cargo, then reached in the cab and gave the horn a couple of happy toots that set all the dogs off. Their barking and yelping reached a climax, and a few minutes later, the couple walked up out of the trees, arms around each other, happily chatting. They were almost sixty, which surprised Everet. At a distance, they looked much younger. She had that warm, radiant glow of a well-fucked woman. What he thought was a dress was the white NDSU football jersey which hung down to her knees and cinched at her narrow waist with a belt and a belly pack. The man was wearing the dark green 'home' jersey, and both were wearing #24.

"You must be Captain Jankowitz!" she said cheerfully and shook his hand.

"I'm not in uniform. You can call me Everet," he said.

"Doctor Everet, we're glad to see you," said the tall lanky man with a grin. "I'm Leif and this is my wife Alice and these are our children," he said as he waved to the dogs in the back.

"Your boarding kennel is gaining a reputation," said Everet, the new base veterinarian for Minot Air Force Base about eighty miles northwest of them. "My predecessor told me when it comes to decision time to talk to you."

"Oh no, what happened?"

"One of our security policemen was killed. He was a dog handler and his dog will not take to anyone. The DOD requires..."

"Requires you to destroy a perfectly good dog," snarled Leif. The only thing his four years in the navy did for Leif was instill a deep-seated hate for the clueless, arrogant civilians who thought they knew something about running a military.

"You did the right thing," said Alice. "We'll take it from here." She dropped the tailgate and climbed into the back of his truck to inspect the kennel that was in there. "He's beautiful!" she gasped.

"You'll sign this certificate of destruction?" asked the young captain.

"Don't be silly," said Leif. "I have a document that the Air Force will accept. It's an assumption of liability. It's worked every time in the past, and if your commander doesn't like it, you tell them I stole the dog while you were getting the needle ready."

"You sure?" Everet asked nervously as Alice opened the kennel door. "He's the biggest German shepherd I've ever seen. His name is Leader."

"I think he's something different," said Alice. "We'll pull a DNA check to be sure, but I think we might have a Czechoslovakian Vlcak."

"Vlcak?"

"Wolfdog," said Leif. "She's been dying for one to lead her sled team."

"Sled dog? That's a law enforcement dog. He'll take her arm off!"

Alice looked at the vet like he was crazy. "He's a military dog. He was trained by a military dog school, right?"

"Yes..." then Everet watched in amazement as Alice had Leader sitting obediently, waiting for a treat.

"She knows military dogs," said Leif softly as Alice dug a treat out of her belly pack and fed it to Leader.

"Walkies!" She attached a walking lead to Leader and she and her dog went for a walk.

"They'll be walking for about an hour," said Leif. "That's how she gets to know her dog." They watched Alice disappear around the corner with the large wolf/dog at heel. She was talking to it the whole time.

"My god," gasped Everet. "That dog is vicious! He almost took off another handler's arm!"

"She's trained to deal with this," said Leif. "I've seen her with worse. He's not a vicious dog. He misses his partner. When she's done, he will know that he has a new partner." They watched her come back around the corner with Leader walking comfortably at her side. "We weren't blessed with children, so these pups are our four-legged children. Let's go inside and get that form." He whistled sharply and a pair of beautiful American Foxhounds appeared from behind the barn. "She does the sled dogs. I do the hounds. This is our girl Sweet Lips and her son Leonidas." Then he led Everet into the tiny house, followed by the two foxhounds.

In the living room, Everet saw a photograph on the wall of Leif and Alice taken a long time ago. They were young and smiling, Leif was wearing his NDSU football uniform with shoulder pads and a helmet under his arm. His other arm was around Alice, who was wearing an NDSU sweater and holding a football. "How long have you been married?"

"Next month makes it five years, " said Leif. He pointed to a picture of himself and Alice in a gazebo surrounded by hundreds of acres of sunflowers. He saw the confusion on Everet's face. "She's the one that got away, but we reunited right where you're standing at the height of a storm."

"That must make an incredible story," said Everet, who himself was still in his twenties.

Leif shrugged and said, "there are no answers, only stories." He pulled a pre-signed form they drew up earlier after their first call from Doctor Jankowitz. "Here you go, Rasmussen Kennels LLC assumes possession and all liability of Leader, a potentially dangerous animal. The dog will not be given away or sold for a period of five years and if proves to be a public danger will be destroyed."

The Air Force captain read over the form and as he did, through the window they saw Alice jog by with Leader trotting at her side like a happy puppy. "I can see why Major Rossi mentioned you. What happened to the dog he brought out?"

"Tyson?" asked Leif. He opened a curtain to the bedroom and there was a German Shepherd laying on their bed. "Right where he's not supposed to be," said Leif sternly, and Tyson sheepishly climbed off the bed.

Captain Jankowitz signed the document and Leif got out his notary book and stamp and notarized the form, then made a copy with their printer. As they stepped outside with Sweetie, Leo, and Tyson, Leif turned to Everet and said, "She knows you were watching us earlier."

"I... uh... I'm..." The young captain blushed bright red as the older man laughed at him.

"Oh stop. It turned her on, so you did me a favor. At our age, we just ask that you don't point and laugh."