© 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 express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a review or commentary.

This is my second submission for the 2025 Winter Holiday Contest and it's a Christmas gift for the fans of We're a Wonderful Wife. I wanted to explore a few characters that I haven't visited in a while, and what family enjoys the holidays more than our friends in the Great White North? So, join me as we journey back to the fictional little village of Grant Valley, Minnesota, where it's even more true that the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.

(Apologies to Garrison Keilor)

A Christmas Carol Revisited

-or-

Redeeming the Worst Grandmother Ever

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It was the travel nightmare that always haunted Amelia Johnson. Amelia was tough. She was a 60 year old no-nonsense woman who kept the looks and most of her teenage figure. Long silky hair, which she wore down as she did as a teenager, a slim figure she worked hard to maintain, and minimal signs of aging other than the crow's feet and her silver hair. When she smiles, Amelia is beautiful, but over the past 40 years, smiles were rare. Originally from San Francisco, she had been living in Watertown, NY, for decades, always ready for the next lake effect blizzard. She didn't cry or go into hysterics when her only child went blind. She had cried enough tears when her father died in Vietnam. Something like that makes you strong. Some people call it cold. Her husband, Jacob Senior, or Big Jake, sure did. He said he couldn't take the hate. She never hated him... there's no proof he caused Jacob to go blind, so what's to hate?

She couldn't possibly hate anyone; she's a good person; therefore, she is incapable of hate. Doesn't she vote for the minority candidate when she is a member of the correct party? Doesn't she march in all the correct protests? Doesn't she drive an E-car (in the summer)?

She was traveling to visit her son, Doctor Jacob Johnson, a well-known doctor of American Literature teaching at the University of Bemidji. He was named the Best Blind University Educator in the state of Minnesota, and she was going to be there for the award ceremony. She didn't know it was a joke award because Jake was the only blind university educator in Minnesota. It was all done in good spirits, and it gives Jake a chance to stand up front and lampoon his peers. The worst part for Amelia was that she had to put up with his doxy and their half-breed whelps for Christmas, along with Jacob's father, who was also going to want to be part of this.

Amelia sipped her wine and sneered in distaste. "Hail and well met good fellow!" That was Jacob Johnson Senior. Huge, muscular, good-looking and always there with a handshake and a pat on the back. Jake Senior never met a soldier he didn't like. Jacob Senior was an engineer and a defense contractor. They were living here in Watertown, New York, while Jacob Senior was working on integrated circuitry for the army's helicopters, and Amelia was the upstate social critic for The Manhattanite magazine when Little Jake was born. Amelia scoffed when she thought of it. She wouldn't be surprised if he had caused little Jake's blindness with the chemicals he was exposed to and brought home. In fact, that's probably what happened, but the old fool denies it.

She flew from Watertown to Buffalo, then caught a flight to Chicago, then changed flights and flew to Minneapolis, and then took one last puddle jumper to Grand Forks, North Dakota. The plane bounced and shuddered as it flew through the frigid night. She sat next to a young man -- short, slim, dark-haired, with thick glasses. He was nerdy-looking, probably grew up with an X-box controller in his hand. He had a stack of papers on the tray table in front of him, and it looked like he was correcting test results. "You're a teacher?" she asked.

"Hmm? Oh, no. I'm the president of the school board of the Grant Valley Unified School System. It's a small system, two schools, an elementary and a combined middle school and high school."

"And you're correcting papers?"

The fellow smiled and extended his hand to shake. "Don Campbell, and yes. I test my teaching staff at random intervals."

Amelia didn't offer her name. She didn't honor strangers with personal information. "And what happens if they fail?"

"It's not a pass fail test. I go over the tests and see where they need work, and we sit down and talk. Here, look at question number one." He handed the woman an example test, and she read question number one.

"Who wrote Moby Dick? A. Howard Melville. B. Herman Mellville. C. Howard Marvel. D. Herman Melville." She looked at Don and said, "Simple, it's B."

"No, it's D. There's only three Ls in Melville."

"So they can fail for spelling?"

"It's not pass/fail, it's just an evaluation," he repeated. "Look at question number two."

"What is the subtitle of Moby Dick? A. The White Whale. B. The Death of Ahab. C. The Sin of Whaling. D. There is no subtitle." She handed back the test with a smirk. "Simple, it's D."

"No, it's A, The White Whale. Originally it was simply The Whale but was changed later. I left off the original subtitle to avoid confusion."

"Isn't this a trick?"

"If my teacher doesn't know what's clearly printed on the cover of the literature they're teaching, how do I know they understand what's between the covers?"

"We don't judge a book by its cover," said Amelia with a smug smile.

"I'm not paying them to judge the books, that's my job. I'm paying them to teach what is inside and guide the students in formulating their own opinions."

"That's pretty arrogant, who gave you the right to judge the books a teacher teaches?" said Amelia as she sipped her wine.

"The men and women of Grant Valley, the voters. I announced what I planned and I provided the voters with a list of books that I was going to ensure were taught."

"Such as?" Don took out an old pamphlet he used during his election and handed it to Amelia. She glanced at the list. Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Ben Hur, Fahrenheit 451, Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Grapes of Wrath, Call of the Wild... "These are all American," she complained.

"Not all," said Don, and he pointed to the bottom of the list, where The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were listed.

"Tom Sawyer? Huckleberry Finn? They're racist!" Then she said in a conspiratorial whisper, "They use the N word!"

"So, are you saying we should ignore the events of the nineteenth century because we have different sensibilities today? Shouldn't we learn to appreciate current sensibilities by comparing them to the past? Or are you afraid that current sensibilities won't stand up to the comparison?"

She ignored what Don said and complained, "Ben Hur, that's extremely Christian in nature."

"It's also extremely Jewish in nature and Pagan in nature. I notice you didn't mention that." Before she could protest, he said, "Ben Hur was written by a Civil War hero and Governor of the New Mexico territory. His book stayed on the top of the Best Sellers list for fifty six years. It should be celebrated, it's an exciting read and it gives the teacher the opportunity to show some outstanding film clips."

"Animal Farm? 1984?"

"Both are highly prophetic."

"So you made up this test on a whim?" she said, each syllable delivered with disgust.

"No, it's a tool my brother-in-law developed for evaluating college instructors, it happens to work for high school teachers also."

"Who is this all powerful self-appointed magistrate for educators?" demanded Amelia.

"Doctor Jacob Johnson. Nice guy, you should meet him," said Don. He hoped Jake would stuff his cane down this mouthy woman's throat if they ever met, but he had papers to correct and he ignored her for the rest of the flight. For her part, Amelia went completely silent, even though she read Don's old campaign brochure with growing anger. She gave Don a series of hate filled side eyed stares.

"Fascist," she muttered under her breath.

The MRJ90 whistled through the frigid air in its dash from Minneapolis to Grand Forks. Don had work to do and Amelia had wine to drink, so the rest of the flight passed in silence. Finally, the plane began its descent. Amelia finished her wine and secured her tray table, but Don kept working, which annoyed Amelia. She was about to say something when the flight attendant came up and leaned over the seats. "Come on, Doctor Campbell. We're going to land soon."

"Sorry Lisa," said Don. He folded up the tray table, but he continued to work on a test before putting everything in a backpack and shoving it under the seat ahead of him. Amelia was a bit surprised that a flight attendant would know a passenger's name.

"Do you fly often?" she asked Don.

"Maybe once or twice a month."

"And she knows your name?"

"When you're nice to people, they're nice to you."

Amelia rolled her eyes. He had such a juvenile outlook. The wheels touched down, and as soon as they turned off the runway, Amelia jumped up and opened the overhead bin to get her carry-on, but the flight attendant who was so nice to Don was right there. "Remain seated until the plane comes to a stop." The woman had iron in her words, and she slammed the overhead bin closed. Cowed by what she considered an ignorant farmgirl, Amelia sat down muttering about petty tyrants. As soon as the plane came to a stop, everyone rose at the same time, and Amelia missed her chance to be the first off of the plane.

GFK is a regional airport; there were only two jetways on the terminal, and nobody remembers the last time they were both in use at the same time. Jake Johnson sat in the waiting area with his month-old daughter in his arms. His youngest boy, Arlo, was standing in the seat next to him, leaning on his shoulder and was trying to teach the baby how to talk. "Say hello. Say hello grandma!"

Jake chuckled at his son's efforts and wished, not for the first time, that he could see to watch their interactions. "She can't talk yet," said Jake. "She doesn't know how to make words with her lips and tongue."

"She can drink," insisted Arlo.

"Yes, drink and piddle. She has to learn everything else."

"Poop," said Arlo. "She can poop."

"She had to learn that too."

"They're coming in," said his wife, Tam. Tam was a beautiful Vietnamese woman. She was born to Vietnamese parents who had emigrated as children as part of a flight from the Vietnamese communist takeover. She was a no-nonsense woman with a will of iron. She had a doctorate in psychology and taught at the University at Bemidji along with Jake. She took no crap from anyone except their brother-in-law Don, who married her baby sister. In fact, they had agreed to give Don a ride home.

Jake's heart swelled with joy as he heard baby Amelia coo. He didn't hate being blind, because there was nothing he could do about it except survive. He's often told that his half-Asian children were beautiful. He and Tam had three boys, Charles "Chip," Liam, and Arlo, and now Amelia Mai Sandra Johnson, named for the three women in their lives that have made such a difference. Mai Nguyen was Jake's mother-in-law, and Sandra is a friend, Don's stepmother. Sandy is one of those women who have a solution to every crisis and can apply it with a smile. When Tam was shattered and freaking out over being pregnant, Sandy stepped in and gently took control. She and Mai took control and worked with all three girls, especially Tam being over forty and pregnant with her fourth, and their lives became a joy.

The terminal was small; it was a wide-open building with waiting in the center. Baggage pickup was on the wall to their left, and the jetways were in front of them. Since the plane won't board until tomorrow morning for the flight back to Minneapolis, the TSA wasn't set up.

Tam stood next to Jake and watched the people step off the jetway. She spotted a scowling woman in her sixties. "I think I see her," said Tam.

"Grandma?" said Arlo, and he stood straight up on the seat to watch the people getting off the plane. He's never met his grandmother, but he's seen photographs of her. Then he gasped and jumped down and ran as fast as his little legs could carry him, unzipped boots flopping, unzipped parka trailing behind him in the breeze.

Amelia Johnson saw the little Asian boy dashing toward her, a huge smile on his face. The joys of being a grandmother! She opened her arms to him, and he dashed right past her. "Unka DON!" he cried.

"Arlo! My favorite little rancher!" said Don as he scooped up Arlo. "Are you ready to help with the morning milking tomorrow?"

"Yeah! Did you have any baby cows?"

Don laughed and bounced Arlo on an arm. "I was only gone one day, if there were any baby cows Aunty Lanh would have let me know." Don saw the woman glaring at him, and he shrugged. "My wife loves birthing calves."

"And goats!" cried Arlo.

"Well, that was an accident," said Don. "The neighbor's billy goat got loose and found my wife's nanny and we now have a kid."

"Like me!" cried Arlo. "His name is Bucky!"

"Not like you, ya goof," said Don as he tickled Arlo. "Bucky goat smells better."

"Don, stop! You'll make him wet himself again," snapped Tam, who had just walked up. Then she bowed to Amelia. "Mother Johnson, I am honored to meet you."

The scowling woman simply said, "Take me to my son."

Tam looked hurt. She was used to being the eldest sister, a position of respect and responsibility, and she was just treated like a servant. No hello, no glad to meet you, just a command. "Take me to my son."

Don saw the hurt look on Tam's face. He had never seen that before, and he was shocked. She was his big sister-in-law. He turned to her for help and advice over and over, and she was always staid and smart. Even when Tam was desperate, with three boys and a baby on the way and a blind husband, she was at her wit's end, but she didn't look hurt like this.

Don followed Tam and Amelia to where Jake was sitting. Amelia stopped in front of Jake and said, "Hello son."

"Mom, I'd like you to meet..."

"Son, didn't I raise you to stand when talking to someone?"

"Mother, I'm carrying a child, I'm off balance when standing and I'm terrified of dropping her."

"Excuses, excuses. You're just like your father," snarled Amelia.

Tam was in shock at the rude treatment Amelia was giving everyone around her. She was practically frozen in disgust, so Don took little Amelia from Jake, held the infant with one arm and helped Jake up and then handed Jake his cane. "There you go Doctor Johnson."

"Thank you Doctor Campbell." Then Jake looked straight ahead, knowing that he wasn't looking directly at his mother. "Hello mother, you're looking good. Is that a new hair style?"

"You're such a wise ass. Is that how I raised you? Is that how you show respect?"

Without turning to the sound of her voice, he said, "It's so good that you're here to celebrate the holidays with us. And while you're here, we can talk about respect."

Ignoring what he said, Amelia demanded, "Where is this granddaughter you asked me to come see?"

"I think Don has her over there," and Jake pointed in the wrong direction.

"Could I see her?" demanded Amelia.

"Come on then, let's go." and Jake started searching around with his cane, whacked his mother in the shin and she squawked. "Thousand pardons madam, I'm looking for my daughter." And he slowly walked away. That was Jake's way of saying "fuck you bitch," and normally Tam would laugh, but she was so hurt and shocked she was almost in tears.

Meanwhile, Don and Arlo were sitting in the airport seats, and Don was explaining to Arlo all the cool things about babies. "She will be able to swim pretty soon," said Don.

"I know. Mom has pictures of me, and Chip and Liam swimming as babies."

"Watch," said Don, and with a finger he gently stroked Amelia's left cheek. "Baby's cheeks are very sensitive." Amelia turned to the left, the cheek that Don was stroking. "Amelia can't see very well so that's how she finds mommy's nipple."

"Ahem." Don looked up and saw Amelia Johnson, who was looking down on him, clearing her throat, but Arlo had questions that took priority.

"What's wrong? Is she going to be blind like papa?" Arlo looked like he was going to cry.

Don ran his fingers through Arlo's thick head of ebony-black hair. "No, she's just fine. She's like her cousins Sue Lin and Donovan. She's perfect, as perfect as a baby can be. It just takes time for their eyes to start to work. At first everything is blurry, then everything is black and white, then she'll see all the colors by the time she's learning to walk."

"When will she walk?"

"Next Christmas, I promise."

"May I hold my granddaughter?" asked Amelia.

"If Tam says you can, then yes."

"That's my granddaughter," demanded Amelia.

"And she's my niece, but I require permission from her mother to hold her. It's called respect, right Arlo?"

"Right!"

Tam finally arrived, leading Jake. "Please sit down and you can hold her," said Tam. Amelia sat down, and Don gave Little Amelia to Tam, who then put her daughter in Grandma Amelia's arms. "Go get Amelia's bags please," said Tam softly.

Don nodded and took Amelia's luggage tickets and went over to the luggage area. There was no carousel, just an angled steel shelf where bags would be tossed through a hole in the wall covered with a flap. The banging of the baggage handlers called all fliers to come get their luggage. Don found Amelia's bags by the amazing description she gave... "Kind of gray. There's two bags... or three." This woman took day drinking to new heights. "You pull this one, Arlo." And Don gave Arlo a small, carry-on size bag to pull.

It was biting cold outside, and Don zipped up Arlo and led him across the street to his mom's van parked in the handicapped spot. Don popped the rear hatch and put Amelia's bags inside, then dropped his backpack in there and pulled out his cell phone and called Tam. "Hey darlin' Arlo and I have the bags and the keys. I'll crank it up and warm it up and come get you when you step outside."

Don's call penetrated the awkward silence inside as Big Amelia held her namesake. The infant was Asian... not just Asian, Vietnamese... the same people that killed her father. "Ok, I'll give you a call when we head to the door," said Tam, who was quivering in anger. Then she said to Jake and Amelia, "Don is warming up the van, let's give him a few minutes and then we'll head outside."

"Isn't that wasteful to warm up a car engine?" demanded Amelia.

"A frozen engine worked hard burns much more fuel than a gently warmed engine," said Jake, who was getting sick of his mother's snide remarks.

"Oh? We're a mechanic now?" demanded Amelia.

"I read, mother. It's not hard. And unlike you, I don't need a light on."

"Excuse me for trying to save the planet!"

"Let's put Amelia away and head home," said Tam as she wondered how many years she'd get for stabbing her mother-in-law. She took Amelia to the women's room, folded down the changing table, and changed Little Amelia's diaper. The little stinker didn't want to be exposed in an airport bathroom, and she kicked and cooed like a child months older than she was.

Another woman peered over Tam's shoulder and looked at Amelia. "She's beautiful!" the woman gushed. "She's going to breaks some hearts, that's for sure."

"She's mommy's surprise dividend."

"Really? Your thirties isn't late for a baby."

"I left the thirties behind ages ago."

The woman chuckled in surprise. "She's definitely your girl; she's got mommy's looks. I wish I looked as good as you do when I hit Thirty-Five."

"Thank you..." sighed Tam as she strapped Amelia down in her carrier. "You don't know how much I needed to hear that."

"Oh? You look like you got it rocking. I take it you're a professional."

Tam nodded. "Psychologist. I'm in private practice and I teach at University at Bemidji."

"Family wearing you down?"

"Yes!" Tam gushed. "I have three boys who are perfect in every way, which means crazy. My husband is blind, which is a trial but some days it's like being a newlywed all over again."

"So, it's something else?"

Just then, Big Amelia burst into the restroom. "Oh, thank goodness," she said in mock concern. "You were taking so long we were worried you fell in."

"Mother-in-law," said Tam softly.

"Gotcha," said the other woman.

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Fortified with steaming hot cups of hot cocoa, or apple cider from a local coffee kiosk, they crossed the Red River of the North then set out across the prairie. They passed through Crookston, and the little town was decorated to the nines for Christmas. Every store on US 2 had a window display; all the buildings were decorated with lights, and garlands and strings of lights were strung across the street. Then back out on the prairie. It was a dark, moonless night with clouds and some snow. Far out in the distance, they could see the odd house or farm outbuilding decorated with lights. Occasionally a farmer would set up a landing strip for Santa Claus with lights, but Arlo missed them all. He was asleep in his car-seat long before they hit Crookston.

Don was driving, so they would stop and drop him off first, and Tam would take over. As usual, Jake volunteered to drive. He did it as a joke, but his mother had a fit. "You can't drive! Don couldn't possibly give you detailed enough directions." Normally their response would be to stop and change seats and let Jake drive a little bit in an empty parking lot, but Jake just told Don not to worry about it. "Next time."

They talked about Don's trip to St. Paul. Most communities were excited about Don's proposal for teacher evaluations, but the union had, as Don said, a four-alarm shitfit. "Duh, you can't evaluate teachers! I just said, 'Hold my beer.'"

"They're right," said Big Amelia. "It's against union agreement."

"In New York, not in Grant Valley Minnesota."

"Don, don't cloud the details with facts," said Jake softly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear what you said," called out Amelia.

"Trust me mother dearest, if I wanted you to hear it, you would have heard it."

They rode along in silence, afraid to set off "Hurricane Amelia" until they hit Fosson, the town where the "prairies meet the pines." Suddenly the wide-open expanses of open land were gone, and they were surrounded by pine trees and other trees of all sorts. This was the part they dreaded. Jake turned in his seat and said, "Mom, you have two options, where would you like to stay? We have..."

"I don't understand, you asked if I would like to stay in your spare room and I answered yes."

"Mom, we asked you back at the start of November when Amelia was born, we asked if you wanted to sleep in a house full of screaming boys or somewhere else, and you waited nearly two months to answer." Jake was having a hard time controlling his anger.

"I told you that I wanted to stay in your guest room," she said. Don looked back at Tam in the mirror. She was cringing. Don has never seen his wife's oldest sister Tam cringe before. She was the original Vietnamese Tough Chick. Tam was beautiful, and when she smiled her beauty radiated, but Amelia was draining Tam.

"In that case," said Jake, "you will be sharing the bed with dad."

"No, that is unacceptable!" Hurricane Amelia made landfall.

"This is your fault," said Jake. "You dragged your feet expecting us to kowtow to your every fucking whim..."

"Jacob! Language."

"Yes, mother, I am a professor of literature, and I swear when I'm angry. I paid extra for those lessons..."

Don grabbed Jake's wrist, which was his way of telling Jake to shut up. "Missus Johnson. If you would like, I have a huge farmhouse with five bedrooms upstairs, but Kim-ly, Lanh, the kids and I will be in an addition off the kitchen. You can stay upstairs in the main bedroom, and you're welcome to join us for breakfast if you would like, and then when I go into town for work I can drop you off at Tam and Jake's house."

"That would be acceptable."

"Your welcome."

They pulled up at Don's farm, where Don and Amelia got out. The farmhouse was an immense structure built in the days when farm families were huge. There was a steel garage and a huge wooden barn, and behind them was a pen with over a dozen cows.

On the broad front porch, two women wrapped in blankets stood waiting for Don. From the shape of the blankets, it was obvious that they were both holding babies under the blankets with them. At the door, a toddler peered out through the storm door window. The porch was decorated with Christmas lights. "Those poor kids," sighed Tam as she got in the driver's seat.

"Who, the babies?" said Jake as they eased out of the driveway and Amelia disappeared into Don's house.

"All of them."

Meanwhile, Don had carried Amelia's bags upstairs while she inspected the house. Don had introduced her to the two doxies that stood there with their half-breed whelps. He was married to one of them, but she forgot which one; they all look the same.

She looked around the sumptuous living room, which was covered in Christmas decorations. The enormous Christmas tree was a bit scraggly, not as full and thick as store-bought or artificial trees, but it was lovingly covered with old-fashioned tinsel, which glittered in the slightest of breezes. The angel at the top of the tree had purple tips to her blond hair. "Is there a reason for that?" asked Amelia.

"That's my friend Karole. She's my Christmas Karole," said the shorter of the two women. She was obviously insane. A Lionel train ran around under the tree, and there was a Christmas Village inside the loop of track. The half-breed toddler squatted next to the track and watched the train.

"You should keep a better eye on him, make sure he doesn't touch the rails and get electrocuted," offered Amelia.

"Come on Danh," said the taller of the two Vietnamese women. "It's getting too stuffy in here for you," and she led the little boy away.

Amelia continued to look through the house. She found a parlor where a small spinet piano sat. There were guitars and other instruments. Amelia sat down at the piano and searched for middle C, then hit the note. "Do you play?" asked the small Asian.

"Not really."

"Then we should leave it for those who do," and the small Vietnamese woman closed the keyboard cover.

How dare she? How rude can someone get? Fuming, Amelia got up and looked around the room. There were lots of pictures of farm life on the walls, from horse and buggy days to modern John Deere days. There was a picture of three Asian women in pointy, cone-shaped hats. They were on a tractor and trailer, bailing hay. "They have servants here?" asked Amelia politely.

The little Asian woman pointed to the three women. "That's me driving, and that's my sisters Tam and Kim-ly stacking hay on the trailer."

Amelia searched for something to say. "What's with the pointy hats?"

"They're called nón lá, they keep the sun off your head and shade your eyes, they're far superior to ball caps or trucker caps.

Another wall was covered with pictures of Don and a small Asian girl ice skating. The photo was a nerd fest; both Don and the little girl had huge thick glasses. "Who is the child?"

"Me!"

"Oh! So Don likes them young..." said Amelia. It was an astute observation.

"I'm two months older than Don." Lanh usually told someone at this point that she was born prematurely, barely weighing two pounds, but she didn't want to hear what snotty remark this woman would come up with.

"Military, it figures. A letter from the president?" asked Amelia.

"That's a letter of appreciation of when I received my PhD while studying on active duty," said Don as he entered the room. He took Lanh in his arms and found her trembling. He would find out later whether she was trembling in anger or fear. "It's snowing tonight, why don't you and Kim-ly get a fire going and put on some popcorn and we'll watch the snow fall."

"Kay!" and she hustled off.

"Missus Johnson..."

"Please, my name is Amelia," interrupted Amelia.

"Missus Johnson, two things. We're going to relax with a warm fire and popcorn if you'd like to join us."

"That sounds so provincial, maybe next time. I had a long flight," said Amelia with an all-suffering tone. "What is the second point."

"Provincial... as in yokel? Hayseed? Rube?" asked Don angrily. Before she could formulate a reply, he said, "In this house respect is earned, not demanded. We give respect and in turn it's received in the spirit given. If you want to pick an argument, by all means do so, it clears the air. But all arguments are held outside, without jackets."

"Outside without jackets?" gasped Amelia.

"Yes, you'll get to the point quickly and resolve the dispute, or die. It's a Campbell family tradition. Come on, I'll show you to your room." He led her up the steep, creaking stairs to the main bedroom at the top.

"Do you have any wine?" she asked as they made the climb.

"Only with dinner."

"Uncivilized," she muttered under her breath.

"This is a real working farm; we turn in early and get to work early. Breakfast is at six. If you miss it, we'll try to save you something. The entire family gathers here after Church on Christmas morning. You're welcome to join but if you show disrespect to any member of my family you will spend Christmas Morning at the bus stop."

Amelia didn't have an answer for that demand, and the short man left. She nosed around the large bedroom. The closet was filled with summer clothing for the Asian girls. In the bathroom under the sink, she found a stack of three-ounce paper cups. Taking one back to the bedroom, she pulled a small plastic bottle of wine out of her luggage. She sat on the bed drinking cheap wine out of a paper cup while watching one of those Real Housewives shows on the streaming box connected to the TV. She never thought about the image this presented.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

Amelia sauntered into the kitchen, and it was empty except for an Asian woman who had a laptop open and papers scattered around. She was working intently on something. Across from her was an Asian man doing the same. Occasionally, they'd say something to each other in single-syllable code that they both seemed to understand.

"Uh, hello?"

"Breakfast was over two hours ago," said Kim-ly without looking up.

"I think there's biscuits and jam, and coffee," said the Asian man, who didn't look up.

"What is all this? Where is Don and the other girl?"

Kim-ly sighed. "DOCTOR Campbell, my sister, has patients today. DOCTOR Campbell, her husband is working at the family restaurant today."

"A doctor working at a restaurant?"

"Everybody works, everybody eats," said the Asian man. "My shift is this evening."

"This is my twin brother Bao," said Kim-ly. "We have a forensic accounting company and we work where we want."

"Do you have a vehicle I can borrow?" asked Amelia. "I would like to go to my son's house."

"Can you drive stick?" asked Bao.

"Standard? No."

"Then no," said Kim-ly. She looked up at Bao and said, "Veuillez l'emmener chez Tam." (Please take her to Tam's house.)

Amelia raised an eyebrow and said, "Was that Vietnamese?"

They both looked at her as if she were stupid. "That's French," said Bao. "A language that you running dogs forced on us." He looked at Kim-ly and said, "Cô ấy có thể không đến nơi còn sống." (She may not arrive alive.)

"That was Vietnamese," said Kim-ly, and she went back to work, trying to hide the smile.

At Jake and Tam's house, Bao dropped Amelia off. Before he left he said, "Just go in, they're expecting you." Her head was spinning from all the vodka she drank as she waited for Bao to come to a "stopping point." She had a bottle of Scope mouthwash that was actually Smirnoff peppermint flavored vodka dyed blue. She knew how to get liquor into alcohol-free zones.

She entered the house and found Big Jake playing a board game against Jake. The board was odd-looking; it was a chessboard, but the white squares were higher than the dark squares. There was a hole in each square, and the pieces had a peg to fit in the hole. The pieces were squatter and rounder than regular chess pieces. The squat shape and peg prevented the piece from being knocked over. Big Jake was blindfolded, and Little Jake was wearing comic Groucho Marx glasses with the fake nose, mustache and eyebrows. Jake and Big Jake 'saw' the game by feeling the board with their fingertips.

Big Jake moved a piece, and the boys, Chip and Liam, cried, "Check!" Big Jake leaned back smugly, arms crossed.

"Not too big to take a beating from the old man?" laughed Big Jake.

"Get him grandpa!" cried Arlo. He was sitting on the couch next to his mother, holding the baby.

Jake touched all over the chessboard and grinned at his father. "Three moves." He moved a pawn to take his king out of check. "Tear it up, old man."

"How do you tell whose pieces are whose?" asked Amelia.

"Simple," said Jake. "Dad's pieces are white and mine are red." Big Jake nodded in agreement.

He's just like his father! Amelia complained to herself.

"Grandma, daddy's pieces have points on the top," said Liam.

Amelia looked closer, and Liam was right. All of Jake's pieces had tactile points on the top; Big Jake's pieces were smooth at the top.

Big Jake moved, and Jake immediately countered. "CHECK!" cried Jake, Liam and Chip at the same time.

Big Jake checked the board with his fingers and swore. "I didn't see that."

"I should hope not, seeing it would be a forfeit," said Jake, as Big Jake moved his King out of check. "And that's three," said Jake as he moved a pawn into position. "Checkmate."

"What? That's impossible!" He ripped off his blindfold as Liam and Chip cried, "Forfeit!"

"You can't forfeit after a checkmate," said Jake.

"Oh."

Big Jake studied the board. "Well, I'll be a son of a... gun. Good game Jacob!" and he reached across the table, took Jake's hand and shook it.

"Thanks dad, but we're tied one - one. One more game to name the blind champion."

"We have plenty of time. Unlike you, I don't have a job to go back to. Let's make it best three out of five," said Big Jake. He loved nothing better than a game of chess and a conversation. It didn't matter what the conversation was about, politics, fishing, movies, anything, just as long as you could hold your end up in a debate.

Amelia shook her head. How did she get attached to such a big, toxically masculine hound? Big Jake was an outdoorsman, hunter, fisherman, hiker. When Little Jake was small and confused after going blind, Big Jake took him everywhere, showing him the world through smell and touch. They went out and found everything and touched it, smelled it, tasted it. Why was she so angry with him? Because he didn't do the same thing for her?

Amelia handed her coat to Liam, who ran off to put it in a closet. Her son and his doxy had a pleasant house, and now with the addition of a housekeeper and an aide for Jake, life was becoming relaxing. They even had a nurse on call for help with little Amelia. "Where did all these extra helpers come from?" asked Amelia.

"Our family," said Tam. "I just mentioned the issues that I was having with Little Stinker headed our way and they opened up their hearts to us."

"She's making kissy faces at me," complained Arlo.

"She's probably hungry. Go get me a burp rag," said Tam as she took Amelia from Arlo.

"Kay!" and Arlo ran off to the nursery where burp rags were kept. Tam dug around in the baby bag and took out a can of wet wipes and reached under her blouse to wipe off her breast. When Arlo reappeared with a white cloth, he raced up to Tam, handed it to her, then sat down on the couch next to her and started looking at a children's book that his Uncle Don used to read to him. Mr. Caterpillar's First Christmas.

While he was looking at the drawings in the book, Tam unbuttoned her blouse and began nursing Amelia. "Bạn đói phải không? You were hungry, weren't you little girl?" It was so peaceful, so beautiful, being in the arms of her family, providing nourishment for the smallest one of them all. It was a lovely moment, that is until Big Amelia opened her mouth.

"You cover yourself young lady!"

Tam couldn't believe what she heard. One moment she was keeping an eye on Amelia, who gets so eager to nurse she presses her nose into Tam's breast and she can't breathe; the next, Big Amelia is throwing orders around like a petty officer. "Cover up? It's not cold in here. The baby is fine, and it's not like I have a pair of knockers like yours."

"Don't play stupid with me, you know what I'm talking about. You don't just whip your boob out any time you want, especially with boys around."

"I am nursing my child, just like I did with Arlo, Liam, and Charles," said Tam. "Your opinion is outdated, but thank you. I will not be made to feel guilty when breastfeeding my daughter in my own home. I will not cower in shame. Now let me nurse my daughter."

"This is America!" snorted Amelia.

Big Jake knew what was coming next. "Boys, go downstairs and pick up."

"There's nothing to pick up," said Liam. "We haven't made a mess yet."

"Besides," said Chip, the oldest, "this is just getting good."

"Boys GO!" roared Little Jake. He knew what was coming next as well. The boys ran down the stairs but crept back up as Grandma Amelia went on a tirade.

"We have standards here in America," said Amelia. "Your people apparently failed to learn them."

"We have standards of conduct here also," said Tam. "You do not walk into my home and tell me how to raise my children, especially when you failed to do the same with your only child."

"What? I..." sputtered Amelia.

"You chased your husband away and the minute he was gone you sent Jake to private schools so you didn't have to deal with a special needs child. Then you sit at home crying 'Poor pitiful me.' Excellent job Suzy Homemaker." Tam would not back down. She didn't know why this woman was acting crazy, and she had serious doubts about her sobriety.

"How dare you!" growled Amelia. "Your people... you ANIMALS! You killed my father! I will not have some slope-head doxy with her four half-breed whelps tell me how to behave."

Tam got up and walked over to Jake and put the baby in his hands. "Here, take your daughter for a moment... got her? Support her head... perfect. Ok, I'll be right back, dear. I love you." She kissed Jake's cheek and then walked over to Big Amelia. With a lightning-fast swing so quick no one saw it, she slapped Big Amelia so hard the woman nearly fell out of her chair. Then Tam calmly grabbed Amelia by the collar and dragged her out of the house and into the front yard. She pushed Amelia's face down in the snow and snarled in her ear, "I tried, I fucking tried but you pushed... and you pushed... and you pushed. Nag, nag, nag, pick, pick, pick. Nothing is good enough for you. Why a sweet man like Big Jake stayed with you I'll never know."

Amelia tried to talk around a mouthful of snow, but Tam leaned over and whispered in her ear. "It's over. If you ever come near my children, ever again, you foul mouth hate filled old hag, I will kill you." Then Tam left.

Amelia heard the door slam, and she rolled over, her face covered with snow. She was wiping it off when the door opened and her parka fluttered out and landed on her, then the door slammed and she heard the lock close. She rolled over onto her hands and knees and puked.

"You really did it this time, I told you it was a bad idea to drink that nasty cheap flavored vodka this morning," said Wanda.

Amelia looked and saw it was her old editor, Wanda Morris. "Aren't you dead?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong."

"Fuck you," groaned Amelia. She got to her feet and pulled on her parka and started walking down the front walk.

"Walk of shame... it's been a long time since one of us did that, eh?" chuckled Wanda.

"Go the fuck away," mumbled Amelia. Then she heard Tam's front door open and footsteps approaching from behind.

"Shhh! It's Jake. If we're quiet he won't know we're here," whispered Wanda.

"You really fucked yourself up now," said Jake as he came up behind her.

"Like I needed you to tell me that? Did you see what she did to me? Why didn't you help me?"

"I stayed back because you deserved everything she did to you. And I stayed back because she has several black belts. Why would you pull such a stupid fucking stunt?"

"I don't fucking know," groaned Amelia.

"You have to let go of the hate," said Jake. "It's eating you up inside. She told us what she said to you and Tam was right about everything she said. You should have said, 'Thank you Doctor Johnson, I stand corrected,' but you're too proud and obstinate."

"I need coffee," groaned Amelia.

"You need your fucking head examined, but you just pissed off the best shrink in the county. Go up to main street, turn right, go about four blocks, there's a coffee shop. Get some coffee, try to sober yourself up. I'll try to find you a flight back to New York then I'll come get you."

"I have no one to rely on," she mumbled.

"I was always there for you, but you decided you're too good for me and tossed me away like a used tampon."

<><><><><>

Amelia stumbled into what she thought was a coffee shop. She eased into a booth and glared at the tabletop. Wanda was seated across from her. "It's not over yet," said Wanda.

"Oh go away, there's more grave than gravitas in you."

A waitress with a Southern accent as thick as a bowl of grits came to her table. "Whatcha havin' sweety?"

"Chardonnay," said Amelia without looking up.

"We don't start serving grown up drinks 'till five PM, sorry darlin'. Ah kin getcha Cokes or coffee till then."

Amelia looked up and saw a tall, statuesque blond. She had incredibly large, round knockers, a narrow waist, wide hips, and braces on her legs and on her left arm. Her right hand held a cane that she leaned on. "Are you ok?"

"Ah got me a little banged up last Christmas. Ah'm ok."

"Where are you from? That's not a Minnesota accent."

"Folkston Georgia," said the waitress proudly. "Land o' swamp, gaters, and more meth labs per square mile than you can swing a dead rat at." Her name tag said Karole.

"How did you get here from Georgia?"

"Ah graduated from the University of Georgia, go Bull Dawgs! An ah got me a sweet job in Greeley Colorado. Unfortunately, ah had a shitty fiancé an' the day ah was gonna tell him ah was pregnant, he ran off with some skank ho and opened his own meth lab in Melville, Saskatchewan. Ah got myself all busted up and a friend said, 'Come move to Minnesota with us,' an' ah did. Ah met a sweet beau, an' things are lookin' up."

"Won't you get in trouble standing here talking to me?"

"Nah, ah don' think so. Ah'm th' manager."

"Let's go manager!" came a call from the back.

"Y'all jest hush!" Karole shouted back. "They love me here." She tapped the menu in front of Amelia and asked, "see anything you want, hon?"

"This is the worst fuckin' Christmas ever," she said as she looked at the twinkling lights around the window, the glittering garland, the spray snow stencil art on the window. Then Amelia looked with bleary eyes at the menu. This wasn't a coffee shop. This was a Vietnamese restaurant. "NO! NOT MORE OF THEM!" She fought her way out of the booth, shoved Karole aside and went out into the sub-zero weather and began screaming.

"What's goin' on?" asked Don Campbell as he came out of the kitchen in a cook's apron. Karole looked stunned, and the customers were staring at the glass door. They could see a woman kneeling in the snow weeping. "Oh, hi Missus Farstad, Missus Grady," to the long-time customers in a booth next to him.

"Some woman come in..." started Karole.

"She just started screaming," said Missus Farstad.

"I don't think she likes the new menu," said Missus Grady.

"The old menu was just fine as far as I'm concerned," added Missus Farstad.

Don Campbell went outside, and his worst fears were confirmed. It was Amelia Johnson. She was no longer screaming, but she was kneeling on the sidewalk panting. "What am I doing?" she groaned. "I fucked it all up... I wanted to be good..." and the tears started again.

"Let's get you some coffee." He urged her to her feet and into the Your Host diner next to Nguyen's Pho restaurant. He eased her into a booth, and when a waitress asked what was going on, Don handed her a twenty and said, "Coffee and whatever she wants. I'll be back when I can get someone to cover me."

Back in the restaurant, Karole asked, "What was that all about?"

"I'm not sure, that was Tam's mother-in-law. She's a bit of a bitch but something snapped."

The other manager, Bao's wife Rosa, came up and said, "Tam just called looking for her. It appears she had a stash of peppermint vodka and downed some on an empty stomach."

"That will do it to anyone... I need to get her home."

Chau, the cashier, piped up, "I can do it Uncle Don. I can take her to your house." She was Don's oldest niece, and she was as cute as her mom, Rosa, the original Mexican tough chick.

"Ah'll cover cashier while you're out honeychil'," said Karole.

"Oh Kay!" Chau's eyes were enormous with delight as Don tossed her the keys to his precious "Three on the Tree GMC."

"Not a scratch!" demanded Don as Chau dashed out of the restaurant still wearing her apron.

It didn't take Rosa long to find Amelia worrying a cup of coffee. Rosa slid into the booth and said, "Ready to go?"

"Who are you?" asked Amelia.

"Uncle Don asked me to drive you home." The sixteen-year-old said in a stage whisper, "The coffee is better at home."

"I heard that," called the waitress from three booths away.

"That's my buddy Christa, don't worry about her. She graduates early next year..." and Chau chattered all about life at the high school full of younger cousins and being a Mexican/Vietnamese in a school full of Norwegian kids. "Aunty Lanh used to be the only minority student in the school; they used to beat up Uncle Don every week for dating her. When my mom started going to school there she started beating up the bullies that were beating up Uncle Don." They got into an ancient GMC pickup truck that was in immaculate condition. "It must have been neat going to school there, watching Uncle Don defending Aunt Lanh..." She sighed dreamily. "It is so romantic!" She shoved in the clutch, ran the column shift through the gears and settled on first, then turned the key. "Uncle Don got this for an eighteenth birthday present and he says it was a rolling wreck. When he got out of the Air Force he rebuilt it one hundred percent."

She chatted about everything as they headed out to the farm, boys at school, Grandma Mai, working at the restaurant, learning to drive a tractor, helping Aunt Lanh birth lambs, kids, and calves... All the while shifting the 'three on the tree' transmission smoothly, much more smoothly than many a seasoned veteran at the standard shift.

"Over there is where Aunty Karole lives," and she pointed to a farmhouse nearby that looked strangely new. There were steel barns behind it. Chau suddenly went silent as they pulled into the farm driveway of Don and Lanh Campbell's farm. "Auntie Amy? Am I a half breed too? Or is that just Chip and Liam and Arlo?"

Shame burned on Amelia's cheeks. It was the first time anyone had ever called her "Aunt Amy" and she suddenly realized that her family was much bigger than she had realized. She finally said, "A very awful person said that. Ignore her. Ignore everything she says." Amelia climbed out of the truck and went into Don's house and looked around. There was an airpot full of hot coffee, so she grabbed a Minnesota Twins cup and drew a cup of Folger's and looked around. Everyone seemed to be gone. She looked through the glass door into what Don called the bridal suite and saw a neat little living room with a small fireplace, three wingback chairs lined up facing the fireplace. A tiny face peered out of the door that led to a bedroom, but he was quickly pulled back.

"Please go away..." said a nervous woman's voice. "I've got a gun... just go upstairs please."

Amelia was tempted to go in there and beg the fearful woman to shoot her. "With my luck I'd live," she said sadly. She headed upstairs and found her bottle of Scope was empty, all that precious vodka gone. Just when she needed it most.

There was a clanking sound, followed by the sound of Wanda Morris swearing. "You really screwed the pooch this time," said the ghost as she entered the bedroom. She was chained to bottle after bottle of wine, fine wines, cheap wines, white wines, red wine... all empty. She cursed as one of the chains caught on the door frame, and she tugged to get it free.

"Wanda," pleaded Amelia.

The ghost shook her head. "That is not who I am, that is who I was." She lifted an arm, lifting a dozen wine bottles that were chained to her. "This is how I got here."

"I'm going crazy, aren't I?" asked Amelia.

"Let's see, your son hates you now. His wife is so angry she wants to kill you. Your grand children now realize why their grandmother never come to visit them, because they're disgusting half breeds. There's a young mother with three babies and a pistol, trembling in fear of you and when her husband comes home, he may come up here and use that pistol on you. You did this all in the space of ten minutes. Congratulations!"

"What can I do? Tell me what!"

"I don't have any words to tell you," said Wanda. She raised her arms, causing the bottles to clank together. "You think this is bad? Wait until you see the chains you've forged for yourself."

"I can't... I have to make it right."

"You have to release that hate that's burning your soul!" roared the ghost of Wanda. "Even the one man who has loved you since the day you met is turning his back toward you."

"Who..." she couldn't think of a man who loved her... save for... "Jacob?"

"He loved you and in a fit of self-pity when your son went blind, you threw him away. He never stopped loving you... until today."

"What about little Jake?"

"His love faded with each rejection of his invitations to you; his wedding, the birth of Charles, the birth of Liam, the birth of Arlo..."

"I was..."

"YOU WERE DRUNK!" roared Wanda. "As Little Jake grew more and more disappointed with you, it was Tam that kept hope that you were redeemable... then you picked a fight with a black belt. Smooth move shithead."

"Help me!" shrieked Amelia.

"You're far beyond anything I can do for you, and if you decide to kack yourself..." Wanda raised her arms, making the bottles clank. "Get the idea? Look... I know some folks who could help... it's really going to suck however."

"I'll do it."

"I mean really suck... remember when HE won the election? Worse."

"I don't care; I can't have my babies hating me."

"Your what?"

"MY BABIES!" screamed Amelia.

"Perfect, let's go."

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

Wanda led Amelia into the second-floor hallway. They slipped quietly past the four bedrooms set up for Don Campbell's nieces and nephews. Occasionally, they'll have an all-kidlet sleepover, nieces and nephews joyfully spending the night at Uncle Don and Aunt Lanh's farm while their parents made love at home. It was something Don's dad started when his family suddenly started growing, and Don and Kim-ly keep the fun rolling. Amelia could hear echoes of the past, quiet conversation and childish laughter. Sometimes she could faintly hear the cries of couples making passionate love. The sounds were trapped in the hand-hewn beams of the big farmhouse, over a century of the Campbell family, and they made themselves audible to Amelia as they crept along in the dark.

"Take my hand," said Wanda, and Amelia took her hand. Her clasp was cold and clammy, like a wine bottle just pulled out of an ice bucket, and it scared Amelia. Wanda passed through the ancient door at the end of the hall. It had a padlock securing the door, so no youngster could get up into the attic. As Wanda passed through the door, she pulled Amelia through the door behind her, and Amelia found herself ascending a steep set of creaky old stairs. It was dark, and the attic smelled of old wood and dust. At first it was cold, but the closer she got to the top of the stairs, the warmer it got and it was soon hot and humid. The top of the attic stairs was hidden behind tropical leaves of all kinds. The temperature had to be over a hundred degrees with a hundred percent humidity. As she pushed aside the leaves, she found herself on some kind of military installation.

It was dark and dirty. Young men in worn green uniforms moved about. It stank of shit and diesel fuel. Helicopters flew in and out, and propeller-driven cargo planes roared down a distant runway. People walked past her not noticing she was there, when a tall, slim, and sharply uniformed sergeant leading a timid blond woman that was as tall as he was, came up to her. The woman who clung to his arm was wearing a modest dress and didn't seem surprised at being there. "Welcome to Bien Hoa Air Base, Republic of Vietnam!" said the sergeant.

"I don't know how I got here..." Amelia muttered.

"Were you drafted?" demanded the soldier.

"No."

"Did you enlist?" he demanded.

"No."

"Are you dead?" he asked.

"No... least I don't think so..."

"Well, unless you're Amelia Schafer I'm not exactly sure how you got here."

"That's me! Schafer was my maiden name."

The sergeant looked at the blond that was clinging to his arm. "What do you think love?"

The pretty blond lady looked at him and said, "Might as well try, dear."

He nodded and turned to Amelia. "I am Master Sergeant Lars Odegaard, this pretty lady here is my wife Hildegard. Tam and the rest of the kids all call us Grandpa Odie and Grandma Hilde."

"Of course, Don Campbell is our true grandson, but we can't resist Lanh, Tam, Kim-ly and their brothers Huy, Trung, and Bao," said the woman. Neither of them smiled, but they seemed to be pleasant.

"They're beautiful, wonderful people," said Odie.

"Why am I here?" asked Amelia.

"We're going to work on that hate filled heart of yours," said Odie. "We're going to start with the cause."

"You called your beautiful grandchildren... half breed whelps? And you called Tam a prostitute?"

Amelia hung her head in shame. "I called her a doxy."

"That is what doxy means," rumbled Odie. "It is disgusting that you would call the mother of your grandchildren - A DOCTOR! - a common whore." He was clearly not happy.

Hilde's eyes flared. "She should have been a virgin when she met your son but... I'll let our daughter tell you that. We're here to talk about your father."

"Lieutenant Shafer... good troop," said Odie. "Smart, fair, a good field officer for a ring knocker. Doesn't like druggies, thinks they're dangerous and shouldn't be allowed in the field with a gun. I like him."

"He's right over there," said Hilde, nodding into the dark. A healthy, lean young lieutenant stepped into the pool of light by the entrance to a wooden building.

"Daddy!" cried Amelia. He was so handsome, so strong. She wanted to run to him, but she was frozen in place.

"Lieutenant!" cried a soldier, and he ran up to the lieutenant. "I can't go on patrol tomorrow."

Lieutenant Schafer looked at the soldier, who was obviously a perennial complainer. "What is it now Davis?"

"I have a bad feeling, Lieutenant. Somebody's going to die."

"It's just a perimeter patrol, we're not going out into the boonies. Out and back, four hours. If you need out that much you need to talk to your platoon sergeant."

"He's a badass sir, he won't listen."

"He will if you have a legitimate complaint. If you want to talk that bad, we'll talk at fourteen hundred tomorrow."

"That's too late sir, someone's going to buy the farm."

"Thank you private Davis. I'll see you at form-up at oh six hundred." With that, Amelia's father turned on his heel and walked into the wooden building. The angry private took something from his belt - a grenade. He pulled the pin and tossed it lazily into the building. There were shouts and scuffling, and an explosion filled the night. Windows were blown out of the building, followed by acrid black smoke.

"DADDY!" shrieked Amelia. She was shaking and nauseous just like the first time she heard he died. "This can't be right... he was killed by..."

"He was killed by one of his own troops. Over eighty sergeants and officers were fragged in Vietnam," said Odie softly.

"Momma said..."

"Honey, your mother said that your father died in Vietnam. Your mind filled in the rest," said Hilde.

"The details were not released until the pull out was complete. The details revealed that his killer was PFC Donald Davis of San Francisco, California," said Odie. "Oddly PFC Davis was not a draftee, he was a volunteer."

"I can find him; I can expose him." Plans to expose the murderer somehow floated in Amelia's mind. In the print! You don't need evidence, just something that sounds factual. She can put an article in the New Yorker!

"You don't have to invent a pack of lies darling, karma already bit him in the ass," said Odie, revealing that he knew Amelia's thoughts. "The platoon sergeant heard Davis bragging about fragging Lieutenant Schafer, so he simply put him on point then volunteered for every patrol that came up. He eventually fell into a tiger trap full of poisoned punji sticks. He was dead before he could be airlifted out." They were standing on a jungle path, and ahead of them was a dozen heavily armed soldiers looking down at a hole in the path. Amelia could hear cries of terror and agony coming from the hole, but nobody was moving to get the private out of the tiger trap.

"These men loved your father," said Hilda. "He was smart and he knew his troops. He kept them alive. He could have ended his career as a general, but Davis took the lieutenant from these men. They have no sympathy for him."

"All this time I thought a Vietnamese killed my dad. I feel so..."

"Stupid?" asked Odie. "If not, you should."

Amelia nodded in agreement. She normally wouldn't like the sergeant; she would see him as a mindless tool of a fascist regime (unless her party was in power), but he was brutally honest, like Big Jake, and that was refreshing.

Just then a sweet-looking Vietnamese woman holding a small infant and leading a toddler stepped out of the bushes and began speaking in rapid-fire Vietnamese. Odie and Hilde bowed deeply to the woman, who returned their bow. "Madam Pham, this is Amelia Schafer. Her son will marry your granddaughter. Amelia this is Tri An Pham, or as Tam will call her Grandma Tri. She's been married about three years, and the child in her arms is Mai My-Duyen, who your Arlo calls Grandma Mai."

"This is a little confusing," said Amelia. "She's my boys great grandmother? She's as little as Don's wife Lanh."

The young woman began talking in the singsong yet guttural language of Vietnamese. She was getting upset about something. Odie turned to Amelia and said, "She can understand you and wasn't complimentary about your size."

Amelia turned to Tri and said, "Hey, I'm big boned!"

Hilde blushed as Odie said, "Tri agrees. But she wants you to see something."

"I don't get it," said Amelia, but they followed Tri into the bush, and they emerged in a village.

"Christmas Eve Nineteen Seventy Nine," said Odie. "The aid that the Americans promised when they withdrew their troops is not coming. The people that used Vietnam as a tool to get re-elected have turned their backs on these people." They could hear singing coming from the ancient French church at one end of the village. It sounded like "Oh Holy Night" in French, signaling that it was midnight; it was now Christmas Day. As the singing reached a crescendo, a dozen armed men entered the village and four of them went straight to the church. The rest started kicking doors down and dragging people out into the street. Gunfire erupted in the church, and the screams of the trapped filled the air. Many of the people dragged out into the street were shot as well.

"What is this?" shrieked a horrified Amelia.

"Socialism at its best. You first get rid of the intellectuals and members of unapproved religions, in this case Catholic and Christians," said Odie.

A survivor of the Church shooting led his wife and children through the bush, and they followed them, with Grandma Tri narrating. That was her back in 79, following her husband. They reached a small harbor village, paid someone an enormous sum of money, and they were loaded on a boat. "Where are they going?" asked Amelia.

Grandma Tri said something in Vietnamese and Odie translated it to "The Philippines."

The passage was rough; high winds blew them off course; waves threatened to swamp the overcrowded boat, and then, to make matters worse, another boat pulled alongside. Amelia watched in shock as men from the new boat climbed onto the refugee boat and assaulted the terrified people. Tri was raped repeatedly, and her husband was thrown overboard and pushed underwater until he drowned. Other refugees were tortured, killed, raped, until the pirates got bored and left. Tri had hidden Mai and her brother under a pile of sails so they were left alone by the pirates.

"This is happening to Vietnamese refugees all over the South China sea," said Odie. "Another boat is carrying a four year old Duong Hieu Nguyen, who will become Tam's father. Don Campbell wrote about this as a term paper and did such a good job it was published before he graduated high school."

Grandma Tri chattered excitedly as a coast guard cutter came and rescued the survivors of her boat and took them to Subic Bay, a US Navy base. "They will end up in Kansas but eventually move to Minneapolis where a young Mia will meet Duong Nguyen," said Odie. "They will have six children, Tam being the oldest and Lanh being the youngest, and this is where we met them."

Amelia looked around, and they were no longer on a boat full of refugees; they were at Don Campbell's farm. "Of course that's a different story," said Hilde as she, Tri, and Odie faded from sight. "What are you guys? The ghosts of Christmas past?" shouted Amelia, but she was alone.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

Amelia stood on the farmyard looking around. Nothing was moving. There was no sound until she heard a feminine voice say, "You look pretty, how can one so pretty be so evil?" Amelia whirled around and there stood a woman who was tall and slim with an athletic build. Long blond hair flowing down over her shoulders. Her beauty was breathtaking, and Amelia knew she's seen that woman before... there was a picture hanging inside the farmhouse. She was wearing a simple ankle-length dress made of denim and a flannel blouse, but she made that simple dress look elegant. "Follow me."

"You're Don Campbell's mom," said Amelia as she followed the woman into the barn.

"Yes I am. You met my folks Odie and Hilde. My name is Emily and I am here to introduce you to Tam."

"Why doesn't her folks introduce me to Tam?"

Emily gave her a look like one would give a child who wasn't getting the Dr. Seuss book she was trying to read. "Her folks aren't dead, so they can't be here. Besides, if they hear about the way you treated Tam, they may not be communicative." She led Amelia into the barn, which became a small apartment. The apartment was decorated for Christmas; a tree stood before the windows and was covered with construction paper chains and popcorn/cranberry garlands. Twinkling lights covered the tree along with sparkling decorations. A large wooden nativity creche carved from cork was framed in glass and carved wood, stood on top of the bookshelf and was wreathed in silver tinsel garland. It could be any apartment in America, and there were children everywhere. The children that appeared were all Asian, three boys and a girl who were running around in the apartment causing a ruckus.

The door opened, and a young Tam Nguyen entered the room. She was barely eleven years old, and she had to get formula for the baby, her tiny sister Lanh. "Stop it!" she shouted in Vietnamese. The four younger siblings stopped their nonsense and lined up in front of her. Disobeying the elder sister is akin to disobeying a parent and carries very serious consequences when father gets home from work.

"We picked up all our toys," said Bao in Vietnamese. At three years old, he was the youngest boy. His twin sister Kim-ly nodded in agreement.

"Why were you running around like crazy people?" Tam demanded as she walked into the kitchen and prepared a bottle of formula for Lanh.

The spirit of Emily Campbell translated for Amelia as they watched the interplay between Tam and her brothers and sister. "Lanh was over a year old," whispered Emily, "But the poor thing was born so prematurely, her body is a year behind in growth. The little angel suffers from migraines and vision problems. Tam is the oldest daughter, so she is in charge of the children while the parents work. The oldest daughter is a position of responsibility and respect."

When Tam finished mixing a small bottle of formula, adding some medications with a syringe and an eyedropper, she walked into the living room shaking the bottle. She bent over the playpen and moved a blanket aside and froze. "Where is Lanh?" she demanded.

"Hiding!" said Bao brightly.

"We were playing hide and seek," said Kim-ly.

"It was her turn to hide," said Trung, the middle boy.

Tam turned to Huy, the oldest boy, two years younger than her. "How can she be hiding?" she demanded in measured tones.

Huy bowed his head and said, "I apologize, I was studying for the entrance exam. I failed to watch them."

Tam's eyes narrowed to slits. "That exam is months away!" Huy was studying for entrance to a prestigious Catholic school. If he scores high enough (like Tam did) he will get a scholarship and his tuition will be free. "Where is Lanh?" Tam demanded again with a tone of finality in her voice.

"We put our toys away," said Bao, hoping that would help.

"If I have to tear every room apart..." snarled Tam, and she stormed off to the boys' room. She searched quickly, but Lanh was not there. Tam then headed to the girls' room, which was a bedroom for Tam and a nursery for Lanh. The twins, Bao and Kim-ly, always slept together on a futon in the living room.

In the dining room was their toy box, and Tam heard a squeaking from in there. She lifted the lid and there was Lanh. The tiny child was shrieking in terror, no bigger than a three-month-old. She had kicked the blankets off and was kicking in terror. Tam gently lifted her tiny, squalling sister out of the toybox. Lanh's tiny fists waved in the air as she shrieked in horror at being locked up in the dark, alone.

Tam brought the nipple to Lanh's mouth, and she nursed eagerly, little whining noises coming out her nose as she suckled at the bottle. Tam sat down and held Lanh close and calmed the tiny baby that she loved so deeply.

"I didn't realize," whispered Amelia.

"Your daughter-in-law had no childhood to speak of," said the spirit of Emily Campbell. "She had her tiny, sickly sister to care for as both of their parents worked at the family restaurant."

Amelia watched the touching scene as Tam and Lanh communicated silently, one of Lanh's tiny hands on the bottle, the other tangled in Tam's long, silky ebony hair...

Suddenly the scene changed. "What happened?" asked Amelia. The scene had changed to a dark parking lot. A young man was walking arm in arm with Tam. She looked so happy and mature.

"This is Tam in her freshman year of university, and she's on her first date," said Emily. "She's been considered the 'Most Wanted' girl on campus because of her looks and her brains. She's carrying a 4.0 GPA and she still runs home to help with Lanh and sometimes Kim-ly."

"I don't trust the looks of that guy," said Amelia.

"You have a good eye," said Emily. "Unfortunately, Tam is overwhelmed. This fellow is the captain of the hockey team. She really thinks he's in love with her, he has no idea that she's only fifteen."

"What?" Amelia shouted. "You said she's a freshman in college!"

"All of Duong and Mai's children are over achievers and graduate early. The only one that didn't was Lanh, but that was by choice."

"TAM! RUN!" shrieked Amelia as Tam's date dragged her behind a car and began tearing at her clothing. "TAM! KICK HIM!" Amelia sank to her knees and wept. She covered her eyes, but she couldn't block Tam's screams of horror and pain.

"Something inside Tam died this day," said Emily, but Amelia didn't hear it over Tam's cries for help.

"Take it away!" begged Amelia as Tam's cries weakened and became weeping.

"Take it away? After what you did? You verbally assaulted and humiliated Tam in front of the few people she trusts after this event." Emily's voice became audible daggers stabbing at Amelia's heart. "She was nursing her own daughter the way she always wished she could comfort Lanh, and YOU had to interrupt with your sick, twisted insinuations."

"I didn't mean... I was drunk... I... I'm SORRY! I was wrong!"

"No, You were lucky. For the next few years, this became Tam's principal subject of study." The shrieks stopped, and when Amelia opened her eyes, she was in a dojo. Tam stood in the center of the dojo barefoot, in a black blouse, loose black trousers, and a bright red belt. Her hair was bobbed short, barely shoulder length. "She is a master at Vovinam, a Vietnamese martial art," said Emily as four men attacked at once. In less than a minute, Tam had them all defeated. Her moves were fluid and lightning fast, and from the sound of her fist hitting opponent, she didn't pull her punches. She sneered at the men she had defeated, then she turned and left. There would be no more rapes. She has given up on men.

"This is who Kim-ly and Lanh have to turn to if they want advice on boys. Kim-ly unfortunately did not pay attention to Tam and had to learn the hard way. The youngest sister, Lanh, fell in love with my son," said Emily with some pride.

The scene shifted. Tam and Lanh were in a very girly bedroom, all pink and lace. There was a five-gallon fish tank with a single fantail goldfish named Marissa living in there. Lanh was in her teens, but she was still tiny, wearing thick glasses and in braces. Her gentle curves were just starting to emerge, but she wore loose, baggy sweaters to hide them. She had only one boy in mind, and she wasn't ready to share with him yet either.

Tam was nearly in tears. To her it seemed it was just yesterday that Tam was sitting at the dining room table doing algebra homework while two-year-old Lanh sat next to her, in a booster chair, trying to write the alphabet with crayons; now her baby was a teenager in love and Tam had to coach her through her first period.

How is it possible?

"I hate hormones," moaned Lanh.

Tam sat down on the bed next to Lanh, put an arm around the tiny girl and said in a sing-song voice, "Hormones are special chemicals your body makes to help it do certain things - like grow up! Right now, you're loaded with hormones that tell your body that it's time to start changing, but they can make everything seem confusing."

"Well, they're late, and I was doing just fine without hormones," groaned Lanh as she leaned against her sister's side.

"This is what you call fine?"

"Yes, what do YOU call it?"

Lanh didn't want to talk about her first period anymore. "It seems like forever since we said goodbye," said Lanh with a sad pout, her eyes closed. She was talking about Don, her crush.

"It may seem like that, but it's only been..." Tam looked at her watch, "eighteen hours."

"He even likes my glasses," said Lanh with a dreamy smile that scared Tam. Tam remembered when she could smile like that. "He says my eyes are beautiful and these glasses are perfect frames for a masterpiece," sighed Lanh.

"He's right," whispered Tam. She looked at her nerdy little sister, who was entering full bloom. Her perfect eyebrows that need no plucking or tweezing, her long, almost artificial-looking lashes, her almond-shaped eyes, a deep rich brown that nearly looks black, all are so beautiful and can say so much. Lanh learned to talk with her eyes long before she ever spoke. It was time to throw some water onto this fire. "Honey, he's your first boyfriend..."

"But he GETS me," said Lanh. "We can talk! I even told him about Marissa, and he didn't laugh at me."

"Did you show him Marissa?"

"No! Of course not! She's in my bedroom... I can't let a man in here." Marissa is Lanh's closest confidante, even closer than Tam. She's a small fantail goldfish and the sole occupant of a 5-gallon aquarium that Lanh keeps meticulously clean.

Tam tried not to laugh. "Man? He's younger than you are."

"Only two months younger! He got held back when his mom died." Then, surreptitiously, she added, "I think he's running late, like me."

"I think you may be right, but boys go through puberty a bit later than girls."

"Ssshhhh!" Lanh desperately tried to hush her sister. "Kim-ly is probably listening!" Kim-ly, the middle child, loved to listen in on Lanh's conversations with Marissa and tease her little sister mercilessly. In reality, Kim-ly was only a few years older than Lanh, and she was jealous of the time that Lanh spent with Tam.

Tam almost laughed, but she choked back her chuckle. "Did our prince charming sweep you off your feet?"

"I don't know... it's a mutual sweeping I think," smiled Lanh, hugging Tam tighter.

"That's the best kind."

"I can watch this part over and over," sighed Emily. "This is where lives change for so many people."

"How?"

"After the attack, Tam's heart was cold, it was hard. She hated men with a passion. This talk with Lanh about her first love softened Tam's heart and it made this possible..." suddenly they were in a small office. Tam was reviewing term papers and monitoring her watch. She wanted to finish up, get some sleep, and then head up to Grant Valley for the holidays. There was a banging and fumbling at her office door, then a curse.

"The door is open," she said without looking up. The door opened, and Doctor Jake Johnson made his way inside.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked.

"Correcting papers," said Tam. She looked up and there was a nice-looking guy with a white cane that had a red tip. He was wearing dark glasses, a dark suit jacket, matching slacks, a white shirt and a clip-on tie. He had a trimmed beard and a ready smile. "Have you come to help me review these term papers?"

Jake pretended to look around. "I like what you did with the place. Now I know why my key didn't work. I hope I'm in the wrong office, I don't know how I could handle being kicked out and told later in a zoom meeting."

"This is office B-122," said Tam, now amused at this man. Her long talk with Lanh last week about nothing and everything seemed to soften her iron will.

"Ahh, I missed it by an entire corridor. I'm looking for A-122."

Normally, she would have asked him to leave immediately, but this was the first man that wasn't family she had talked to since that horrible night, and his suit was so awful. "Do you mind if I ask - are you Jake or Elwood?"

"Jake... how did you guess my name? Am I wearing my underwear on the outside again?"

"No, it's a comedy routine, Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues, the blues brothers, John Belushi and Dan Akroid. They dress just like you."

He smiled and said, "I dress like this because this is what my aide picked out for me. Easy to put on, easy to wash, and I can mix anything up." He extended his hand to Tam. "Jake Johnson, American Literature."

Tam took his hand and shook it. "Tam Nguyen, psychology and sociology."

"Are you a licensed shrink? I could use one," said Jake.

"Oh?"

"Yes, people tell me I need to start looking at things in shades of gray, but to me everything is in shades of black... and black." He paused while Tam held back the chuckles. "You're laughing aren't ya? I wrote that one myself."

"There's a chair next to you, sit down and I'll make some coffee." She put a pod in the Keurig clone, and they talked.

The scene shifted to an outdoor café. Tam and Jake were sitting having coffee, like the buddies they were. They talked about teaching, about the college administration, and about their plans for the upcoming summer break. That's when Tam's sister Kim-ly arrived for a visit. She was studying at Bemidji and came down to visit Tam. "Kim-ly, this is Doctor Johnson. He teaches American lit. Jake, this is my sister Kim-ly, she's studying forensic accounting, up at the University at Bemidji."

As Kim-ly shook hands with Jake, she said, "Hey buddy, are ya dating anyone?"

"As a matter of fact, I am not. I supposed I'm between options," said Jake.

"Look, can ya do your country a favor? Miss Priss here is sensitive about her looks. Maybe dating a blind guy will help her pull her head out of her ass."

"KIM-LY!" shrieked a mortified Tam.

"Actually, if you drive, I have tickets to the Doobie Brothers," said Jake. With her jaw slack, Tam looked left and right at Kim-ly and Jake in shock. "I mean, if you don't want to go, I'll understand. It's not a big deal, I go to lots of concerts alone," he said.

Angry, Kim-ly drove her elbow into Tam's ribs. "I'll go!" said Tam.

"See? That wasn't so hard," said Kim-ly, proud of her subterfuge. Tam and Jake joined hands. They did that often, but this time she wasn't guiding him. They were holding hands just for the pleasure of physical contact.

Then, suddenly, the scene changed. It was a year later, and Jake and Tam were standing in front of a justice of the peace getting married. Big Jake was there. Duong and Mai Nguyen were there too. "Where were you?" asked Emily in that sweet way of talking she had. "I'll remind you; you and Wanda Morris were at a vineyard in Vermont."

Amelia squeezed her eyes closed. She had told Jake that she had the flu... it turned out to be the Wine Bottle Flu. She didn't feel any shame when she told Jake that she wasn't coming to his wedding. She didn't go because she hated Tam and her entire nationality. The image of Jake and Tam kissing to seal their wedding froze, and Amelia tried to touch them, but her hand passed through the image. "I'm sorry for being selfish," she whispered. "I was stupid."

The scene changed again. Tam was in labor, and Kim-ly was there with Jake. Kim-ly was describing everything to Jake and placing his hands on Tam's tummy so he could feel the contractions. When Chip was born, the tiny, perfect boy was placed in Jake's trembling hands. Kim-ly and a nurse guided him out to the waiting room where he was proud to show his son to Duong and Mai Nguyen, and Big Jake Johnson. "Where were you?" asked Emily sweetly. "Sandy and Ralph Campbell were there and they're just related by love. Let me remind you, there was a free viewing of the Lifetime Movie Network on your cable system, and you couldn't leave it. Not with a full wine fridge and Wanda Morris at your side."

Then there was Liam's birth. "What was the excuse that time?" asked the spirit of Emily. "Oh yes, that's right, there was an election exposé that you had to write but what was the real reason... I believe it was a case of chardonnay." Amelia felt a twist in her stomach, and she groaned.

And Arlo's birth. The excuses grew lamer and lamer. "My SON was there, and he was severely injured!" shouted Emily. "Where were you?" she screamed. The scene shifted to the living room at Don Campbell's farmhouse. Don was in the recliner that was reserved for his dad, Ralph. He was covered in bandages, braces, and casts, but he snuggled with newborn Arlo for hours.

"What happened to him?"

Emily shuddered thinking about it. "That is not for me to reveal, but you will see it." The scene melted into another scene. Don was in the recliner again, but without the braces and casts. He was wearing a Minnesota Vikings jersey and watching a Vikings game. He had two infants in his arms, a girl and a boy swaddled in pink and blue receiving blankets. At his side was his happy shadow, another boy about two years old, who sat next to him in a tiny wooden chair at a tiny table coloring. "Those are my grandchildren," said the spirit of Emily Campbell with a happy, contented sigh. "I will help Don and Lanh and Kim-ly watch over them forever, but you may never get to meet these children; Don will stand between you and them for as long as it takes to protect them."

"Why?"

"Should we go over the joy you spread for Little Amelia's first Christmas? Do you have any idea the pain that caused? Do you realized the wounds you inflicted with your thoughtless drunken tongue?"

"I'm sorry," cried Amelia.

"You may think you're sorry, but you have no idea what you caused!" said Emily sternly, and she was gone, then Amelia was suddenly plunged into darkness.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

It was dark and musty. Was she back in the attic? She couldn't feel the ground under her feet, but she did not feel like she was floating. Then, there in the distance, a light. Not a bright light, but a candle in the darkness. She felt movement; she was moving toward the light. She heard paddles dipping in the water and realized she was in a boat and was being rowed toward the light.

Shadows began to form as she moved closer to the light. The light would disappear and then reappear as they passed behind a tree. She was terrified that she was headed to some infernal ending, but she realized that the light was a kerosene lantern hanging on the porch of a tiny cabin. She grew closer and saw that it was a little cabin in a swamp. The cabin had a covered porch. There were a pair of oars hanging on the wall, several fishing poles, dip nets, and a small stack of boxes with net covering one or two sides. She recognized them as crab traps.

And there on the porch was an old black woman... she was scrawny and drawn but she had a look of educated humor on her face. She sat on an ancient rocking chair with an afghan on her lap. "Well, well, Missus Writer Woman. Ah shorly never expected to see you here. I thought you were the kind to let things get so bad that you were beyond redemption!" She finished with a laugh.

"You know me?" asked Amelia.

"Of course! You're here aren't ya? What kind of swamp witch would I be if people come up to my cabin unannounced all day."

"You don't look like a ghost," said Amelia. This woman didn't have the look of a ghost, like Sergeant Odie or Emily Campbell. She didn't have an ethereal glitter about her like Emily, Odie, Hilde, and Tri.

"That's 'cause ah ain't no ghost, and iffn I were a ghost, ah'd prefer to be called an umbra." The old woman cackled a bit then said, "Ah'm here to train a ghost. This here is her first haunting an' she wants to get it right cause of Don."

"Don... Campbell?" asked a confused Amelia.

The black woman nodded. "You know why you're here, doncha?"

"I said some horrible things to my grandchildren."

"Nah, they weren't horrible," said the old woman with a smile. Then her face went dark, demonic... "Your words weren't good enough to be horrible. What you said was pure poison. It dug into those chirrin and went straight to their souls! Poison! You spew poison every day, poison so vile and disgusting you become immune to it, and somehow think you can call your grandchildren the same names you'd call the people who disagree with you. And you do it in print so everyone can see your black soul."

Amelia's head was suddenly filled with the names she called other people: rubes, bumpkins, peasants, louts, oafs, dolts, dunces, half-wits, knuckle draggers, hammerheads, and those were the kind words. She used them to describe people who voted for the man on the ballot that Amelia didn't like and most often didn't know, and no other reason.

"Printed in the paper so everyone can see..." said the old woman sadly. "Now gator don't care if you disagree with him, you can make fun o' who he voted for all day long, till he latches on to ya and drags you under. But he didn't do that because you disagreed with him, he did it because he was hungry."

"Who are you and how do you know me?"

"My friends call me Grandma Noah, and ah saw you comin' all the way from Bien Hoa Air Base."

"What do people who aren't your friends call you?"

Grandma Noah shrugged. "Ain't no matter to me. They ain't gonna come out for a visit, they prolly don't know ah'm here."

"What does this have to do with Don?"

"An ol' buddy wants ta see him," said Grandma Moses. Suddenly, Amelia was standing on a large concrete ramp. Airplanes were lined up as men and women dashed around them, giving them one last service check. Then, three of the four began screaming as they pulled forward, and when they were dozens of yards away, they turned right and headed to the runway. She saw Don in a uniform covered with brown blotches; everyone was wearing the blotchy uniform. He swung aboard a delivery van and sat in the driver's seat with a clipboard doing some paperwork. A dozen others were in the shade of a pavilion that was erected at the edge of the ramp next to Don's truck. Beyond the pavilion was a drop-off of about twenty feet and enormous boulders at the bottom.

Suddenly, the remaining aircraft jumped forward, its engines shrieking. It turned right toward the runway immediately instead of pulling forward. With its exhaust aimed directly at all those young people, the pilot opened its throttles to a full roar. Amelia felt the blast of heat; she gasped at the lack of oxygen; her nose and lungs filled with jet exhaust. She watched the other people tumbling, rolling because of the jet blast. Some flew over the drop-off and disappeared below. The truck Don was in got blown off the edge and went over the drop off followed by a pickup truck that landed on him. Followed by a barrel on wheels - a 150-pound potassium fire extinguisher. It went over too and exploded with a huge purple cloud.

She was still screaming when she realized she was back in the swamp, standing on Grandma Noah's porch. A small girl in a blotchy brown desert camouflage uniform was standing next to Grandma Noah's rocking chair. "I was one of the ones that went over the edge," she said. "Don, Wendy Addams, and I were medevacked to Germany. Don and Wendy made it; I hung on far too long... the pain... it was a relief to let go..."

"If anyone tell you the Air Force don't do no fightin' you jes' tell 'em you met Cynthia Davis. She worked for that Don feller."

"I saw his angels," said Cyndi.

"So will this one here," said Grandma Noah, "'cept she won't rightly know she dun met an angel."

"His angels?"

Grandma Noah nodded. "The ones with the purple hair tips? You must have seen one on his tree. Anyhow, let's git this done."

"Yes ma'am," said Cyndi. She reached out and took Amelia's hand. Suddenly they were in a dark, rainy city. "Welcome to Duluth, Chip and a few friends came to see a concert, got good and stoned and forgot where they parked."

"Hey gook! Looking for your rick-shaw?" shouted someone in the shadows.

"Charlie McGook!" laughed another voice.

Chip Johnson looked and saw a band of toughs stepping out of an alley. "Come on, cool it," whispered his buddy Brandon. "They're just a bunch of jerks."

"What's the matter Gooky Monster? Chicken?"

"Leave the tunnel rat alone. Right Đồ con hoang?"

Chip couldn't let that one slide. He was called a bastard, which was not an insult to him; it was clearly an insult directed at his mother. Chip charged at the local jerks, anger flaring, fists flying.

"Chip... stop!" shouted Amelia. "CHIP! STOP!" The fighting was fierce and bloody. Chip's buddies abandoned him, but Chip's ego was badly damaged and wouldn't let him turn away. "CHIIIIIP!" shrieked Amelia. She saw the knife that killed her grandson stab him again and again and again.

"Maybe if you hadn't insulted him so brutally when he was young," said Cynthia. "Egos are fragile things, especially for young men. Poor Chip had so much going for him, but he saw none of it. All he saw was being born to a Vietnamese mother, and a white father. A half breed whelp."

"That's not what I meant!" shrieked Amelia as she knelt over Chip's cooling body.

"Oh? What did you mean?" demanded Cynthia.

"I..." For the first time, Amelia was at a loss for words.

"Well done lil' one," said Grandma Noah. "On the next one try your serious voice."

Amelia opened her eyes, and she was kneeling on Grandma Noah's porch. Instead of kneeling over Chip's lifeless body, she was kneeling over Grandma Noah's hound dog. She was still shaking and sweating over the death of Chip. "No, no more," she said in a shaking voice.

"Grandma Noah says, if you put your nickel in, you gotta hear the complete song," said Cynthia.

Amelia got to her feet and suddenly found herself in a frozen field. The snow was only an inch deep, and the stubble from last year's wheat crop was sticking up through the snow. It was cold; the wind was blowing the snow across the prairie, and the wheat stubble was catching the snow, holding it so the sun would melt it and irrigate the field. There was a long line of policemen and volunteers from the local town. Everyone was about ten feet apart, walking the field from one end to another. Every snowy lump in the field was being investigated. Amelia turned around, and behind them was a police van. A filthy-looking tramp was in handcuffs, standing next to the van with a policeman at his side. The tramp was grinning.

Nearby were Jake and Tam, clinging to each other with a look of terror and disbelief on their faces. How could this happen to them again?

"Lieutenant! Over here!" called someone, and Amelia found herself running, forced to run by morbid curiosity and a power pushing her. Tam's sister Kim-ly was first on the scene, and she shrieked and fainted. Luckily, Don was there to catch her. The next was Tam's brother Trung. He took one look, then turned and ran toward the van shouting, "I'll fucking kill him!" Most of the cops on the search team took off after Trung, but he was an athlete. They'll never catch him.

Amelia looked at the discovery, and her blood ran cold. It was the frozen body of Liam Johnson. His face a frozen rictus of pain and fear, his throat was slit, and his frozen dead eyes glared at Amelia, accusing her. His pants were pulled down to his knees, and there was blood running from his anus. All was frozen to show the world the depravity that this monster used on a poor confused boy.

Amelia's stomach churned. "Liam..." she groaned, "LIAM!!!"

"An insult like slope head half breed normally wouldn't bother these boys," said Cynthia. "But when it comes from a figure of authority, like a grandmother, it tunnels down to their soul and blackens all their self-worth."

"Mm-hmm, you tell her sister," said Grandma Noah. "It didn't take much for ol' Shamus there to convince Liam to get in a car with him. Poor Liam thought who would care about a half breed kid?"

"Please stop," wept Amelia. "I've learned."

"I'm sorry ma'am," said Cynthia. "We're not halfway there."

Amelia found herself following Tam into their house. Tam was bringing Jake home after a long day. Don and Lanh were with them; all four were in a good mood. It was the end of the semester and time for Christmas. When they entered the house, they discovered that the Christmas tree lights were shut off. "Arlo honey? We're home!" called Tam.

Don called down the hallway to the bedroom, "Hey little buddy! I thought we'd set up the new train tonight!" but there was no answer. Lanh smiled. Don and Arlo had a special connection. When Don came home from deployment overseas horribly injured, Arlo was his comfort buddy. Don held Arlo in his only unshattered arm for hours, and 2 month old Arlo seemed to love cuddling with Uncle Don. When Don and Lanh moved to Colorado, poor Arlo was crushed. But since Don moved back, they were inseparable. "Arlo?" called Don as he headed down the hall.

"Don don't," gasped Amelia. She knew what was coming.

"Arlo!?" called Don... "ARLO!" Don's shriek of horror chilled Amelia to the bone. Tam and Lanh raced up the hall to find a weeping Don in what was Chip's room, performing CPR on the lifeless body of Arlo Johnson. A small ziplock bag with a couple of pills lay on the nightstand.

"Come on buddy, we got ya buddy," said Don over and over as he did chest compressions, then on every tenth compression he would stop and give the lifeless boy a breath via CPR, then back to the chest compressions.

"Don, don't!" called a weeping Lanh. "if that's fentanyl you could..."

"I don't care!" roared Don. "Narcan! He needs Narcan!" He continued until the EMTs arrived and pulled him off of Arlo. "DON'T! NO! I have to save Arlo!" he fought with the firemen and in the end only Tam could convince him to give up the fight...

Don Campbell collapsed to his knees and wept as they carried his little buddy's body out of the house. Lanh handed him a letter that Arlo had written. It was addressed to his mom, dad, and Uncle Don. He said he was sorry, but he was lonely and went to be with Chip and Liam.

Amelia stumbled into the living room and found Jake sitting in his chair weeping. "My boys... my boys..." he gasped between huge sobs. Amelia reached out to comfort him when he snapped, "Haven't you done enough here?" Jake was glaring directly at her, his eyes glowing with hatred. "Get the fuck out of here!" He got up and started walking toward her. "YOU DESTROYED MY FAMILY! YOU KILLED MY BOYS WITH THAT MOUTH OF YOURS!" Amelia screamed and dashed out of the house and misjudged the front step and went flying. She landed face first in the snow and wept, loud, gut-wrenching cries of sorrow and terror.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" roared Don, and he flew out of the house and ran to his truck. He opened the door to his truck and pulled out his shotgun and a couple of rounds of 00 buckshot. He jacked a round into the chamber and stood over Amelia, who looked up in abject horror. Tam, Lanh and Jake watched impassively as Don lined up the end of the barrel with her nose.

"Please! I'm sorry... I..." but there was a blinding flash and a thundering roar...

<><><><><>

Grandma Noah sat in her rocking chair, watching the moon rise over the Okefenokee Swamp. This was the best time of the day. The heat from the day was gone, and as the full moon rose, all the animals came to life, singing at the moon. The frogs made their own chorus, with the tiny tree frogs singing an ear-splitting soprano. Insects of all kinds sang, and she even heard coyotes yipping and howling at the silver sphere that ruled the night. Of course, it was hard to hear the coyotes with Amelia lying at her feet weeping. "Send her home Cyndy. You did a wonderful job; you don't need to do the rest."

"But there's so much more to go!" insisted the spirit of Cynthia. "There's Tams suicide..."

"We only haunt until the message is received. We want them to repent, not to end it and join us."

Cynthia nodded and turned to Amelia. "Missus Johnson, it's time to go back," said Cynthia.

"I can't go back, they won't believe... I'm so, so, sorry."

Cynthia looked at Grandma Noah, then back down at Amelia. "Should I?" she asked.

"This is a decision you have to make on your own," said the ancient woman. Grandma Noah was eager to see how Cynthia meted out justice.

Cynthia sighed; even ghosts did that when the need struck. "Missus Amelia Johnson, stand and accept your punishment."

Amelia rose, then fell again to her knees, her hands folded as if in prayer. "Please! I am not the woman I was. Why show me this, if I am past all hope? Please tell me that I may change these visions you have shown me! I will honour my grandchildren in my heart, and love them throughout the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may change these visions!"

As Amelia pleaded her case, Grandma Noah smiled. She liked Cynthia, she will go far.

"Then, If you do not follow these simple rules, nothing will change. We did not show you the full consequences of your words... You are incapable of imagining the horrors still waiting, but we can teach you."

"Teach me!" cried Amelia. She tried to hug Cynthia at the knees, but her hands went through the ghost.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

The family had gathered. It's been nearly twenty-four hours since Amelia had disappeared, and it was almost time to call the cops. Chau insisted that she had dropped Amelia off and watched her walk into the house. "She was talking to someone... Wendy or Wanda or someone like that." The name rang a bell with Big Jake. Wasn't her old drinking buddy named Wanda? Before she started drinking, Amelia was level-headed, sweet, and smart. After she met Wanda, she lived in a world of rumors and innuendo; her inner anger burned anyone that she caught in her sights. Of course, a rag like the Manhattanite loved that kind of thing. It sold papers in a dying market, which made Amelia a cash cow to be used until the market changed.

Lanh was positive Amelia had come into the house and Lanh heard her talking to someone and walking around upstairs, but when Don got home, she was nowhere to be found. They looked for footprints in the snow, but Amelia's distinctive high-heel snow boots and her parka were still in the mudroom. One by one, the family members gathered, and soon the big farmhouse was filled to the brim. Big Jake stood by the side, steaming. He knew the fix, but he didn't dare apply it when he should have, and now it's too late. His wife is running around shooting her mouth off, insulting everyone including her grandchildren, sullying the family name. Her mouth could ruin Jake and Tam's careers, and what about the boys? They claim that they knew she was drunk and her insults meant nothing, but Jake knows when boys are lying.

Meanwhile, the kids were getting antsy. Uncle Don said the train was too noisy, and the adults were talking. Little Arlo crouched behind the Christmas tree; it was so pretty there. The beautiful tree was decked out with the lights and shiny ornaments on one side; on the other side were the front windows. He could see the porch and the enormous maple tree on the front lawn, covered in snow... it was snowing!

The little boy marveled at the snowflakes lazily drifting down from the sky. This wasn't Minnesota snow. Minnesota snow is tiny and wind-driven; this was the fabled Buffalo Snow! His Aunt Kim-ly was in Buffalo for a seminar and was trapped in a Buffalo lake effect snowstorm. She spoke in awe of the snow in Buffalo. This had to be Buffalo Snow! Magic happens in Buffalo Snow! He dashed out from behind the tree and dashed for his mother, who was sitting on an ottoman in front of a chair that his dad was sitting in. "It's snowing!"

"Yes dear, it's Minnesota."

"It's Buffalo Snow! Can we go outside?"

"In a little while. We're going to have a hayride." It was a family tradition to take a hayride through the woods to Grandma Sandy's house and Grandma Mai's house, two small modern homes the family built for the grandparents on the road that marks the back boundary of Don's farm.

"But!"

"Hush dear, grown-ups are talking."

"Oh kayyy," groaned Arlo. He went to his cousins Him-chan and Anh, Uncle Huy's twins. "Wanna go downstairs and play?"

Anh shook her head, and her brother Him-chan said, "we're going on the hayride soon."

To a five-year-old, "soon" takes forever. He found Kim-ly's older boy Danh was just as antsy as he was. The little boys agreed that the best toys were upstairs in the boys' suite. They crept up the stairs and heard a noise in the master bedroom.

"Hi, grandma," said Arlo nervously.

"Arlo!" Amelia gushed. She knelt down and took his hand in hers. "I am so sorry for what I said, it was mean and wrong, wrong, wrong. You are all beautiful just as you are and I love you so much."

Arlo was taken aback by the weepy grown-up's words. All he could say was, "I know that grandma."

"Ok, you tell everyone that I'm going to change and come right down, ok?"

"Ok grandma!" and she gave him a kiss on both cheeks, then little Danh smiled and offered his cheeks for a kiss too.

"Ok, everyone got their kisses? I need to get dressed." She was still wearing that dark-brown pantsuit. One of the first rules from Cynthia was no more dark clothing. Light, cheerful colors to reflect the light, happy Amelia. "Oh, Arlo, what day is this?"

"It's Christmas eve!" he said and dashed off to tell the family.

Christmas Eve! It felt like they were in the jungles of Vietnam and the South China Sea for weeks! Her retrospective of Tam's life felt like it took days, and the deaths of the boys... she still shuddered at the thought. Grandma Noah, Sergeant Odie, Emily and Cynthia got it all done in one day, or does time act differently on the other side? She went to the closet where Cynthia said her outfit to wear when meeting the family would be waiting. She looked; only one thing was hanging in there. She shrugged and sighed. This fit the new image, no question about that.

Arlo still had problems with the stairs. Their house had no stairs because Dad could easily fall, so he came downstairs one step at a time. Danh laid down on his belly and slid down the stairs feet first and shot past Arlo. "What where you doing up there?" asked Tam.

"We wanted to play in our bedroom," said Arlo. A Jack and Jill suite of bedrooms was set up for the boys, and a second suite was set up for the girls. In the end, the kids ended up sleeping wherever they wanted, but it looked nice when company was over. While Lanh and Kim-ly scolded Danh for sliding down the stairs, Arlo couldn't get his mother to believe he got kisses from Grandma.

"It's true! She kissed me and she kissed Danh."

Tam sighed and shook her head. "Arlo, how many times have I told you about your dreams."

"Maaaaa! It's true. She said she had to change before she came downstairs, right Danhy?"

"Uh-huh!" said the toddler. "GRANDMA!" and he pointed at the stairs. The family turned and gasped. It looked like Amelia, but Amelia Johnson, Upstate Society Critic for the Manhattanite, would never wear that! She was wearing a Missus Santa outfit. She was wearing a white frilly blouse with bright red buttons and a lacy collar and cuffs, a bright red overall dress with bright red shoulder straps, bright white buttons and trim on the dress. The dress was highlighted by a wide patent leather belt with a bright gold buckle. Her stockings were red and white candy cane striped, and she wore red slippers with white fur trim. Her hair, which was usually done up in a no-nonsense business style, was brushed out and held in place with hair clips that featured holly leaves and berries. She wore a corsage of glittering emerald green holly and glistening red holly berries and a few light blue glass baubles.

She walked straight to Tam and bowed deeply. "My daughter, I know what I did was unforgivable. I was rude, arrogant, and vile. I was speaking out of stupidity and the pain of a lie that I told myself years ago. If you allow me to remain near I will spend my life making up for my sins, and some day I pray I will earn your forgiveness."

Tam was shocked; she never dreamed her mother-in-law would ask for forgiveness. "Amelia... I don't know what to..."

"No, please daughter, let my actions give truth to my words. I beg you, judge me by my resolve." Then she took Jake's hand. "Not only am I the worst grandmother on earth, but I was also the worst mother. I should have listened to your father but I pushed him away, then I pushed you away. The only thing I didn't push away was wine. I cannot make up for years of neglect, but I promise you and Tam that before the year is out I will stand tall at an AA meeting and announce my resolve."

Jake whispered, "I will be there for you."

"Like I should have been for you," she said and started weeping. Then, one by one, she bowed and apologized to the boys -- Chip, Liam, and Arlo -- and begged them for their help to be the best grandmother ever. The boys didn't know what to say, but Liam gave her a hug and whispered in her ear, "You made my daddy so happy!"

"What brought this on?" asked Don, who had Lanh sitting in his lap and Kim-ly sitting on the arm of his easy chair. The three looked at Amelia with suspicion.

Amelia looked around and saw Karole and Trung in the back of the crowd. "Only she knows what I've been through in the past week."

"Me?" asked Karole. "What makes you thank you know what I'm thanking?"

Slowly, she said the words she was given. "Grandma Noah says she misses the catfish you bring her."

"How would you know that?" said a shocked Karole.

"I spent a week with her in one day... I know that sounds crazy but..."

"No, that's how she works," said Karole. "When ah was a lil' one ah'd spend weeks with her in one day. It made my life a bit nicer."

Amelia said, "she called you her replacement."

"Ah suspect she did."

Then to Don she said, "I saw your mother Emily, she's so proud of you and she loves Lanh and Kim-ly and she promised me she would watch over your children. I also saw Cynthia Davis... she was worried that you blame yourself for what happened in Saudi. She said to tell you that she doesn't hold it against you, and that she liked working at the end of runway, she would have volunteered because it's easier than cleanup... whatever that means."

Don was in shock; he always blamed himself for taking Cyndi and Wendy out to the end of runway, where he and Wendy got injured and Cyndi got killed. Before he could say anything, she turned to the tiny woman on his lap. "I met Tri An Pham..."

"Grandma Tri?"

"She said she's proud of her chuột (mouse)," she turned to Kim-ly and said, "and her con mèo (cat)." Then to Don she said, "I saw her travel to America... it was worse than she let on when you interviewed her for your book."

Then, Amelia straightened up in front of the family that looked at her in shock. This was going to be the hardest part. She turned to Big Jake, who was leaning against a door frame like a gunslinger looking for a target. He was still tall and rugged looking with a square jaw and piercing blue eyes that bored straight to her soul.

"My husband," she said. "I wronged you worst of all. I wanted a partner, but I wasn't there for you. I expected you to read my mind, to know what I wanted when I didn't know what I wanted, and when my fancy new friends decided that wine was better than men, I tossed you aside without a thought."

"Yeah?" said Big Jake in that deep growly voice of his. "You just realize this now?"

"Why didn't you divorce me?" she whimpered, trapped in the gaze of those eyes.

"Because I love ya, Amy," he growled. "And I suppose I will love ya until the day I die. But if you're coming back to me looking for the perfect marriage, I got news for ya Amy, there ain't no perfect marriage. But if we both give it a try we can come up with something that's perfect for us."

"I understand," she said. She was trembling all over; she knew what was coming next. She was terrified... but at the same time, she couldn't wait. She walked into the dining room and returned with a chair from the table. He eased down on the chair; his eyes and Amelia's locked onto each other. The fiery passion between these two rekindled and burst into flame. Two decades of separation did nothing to quench the flame. With a growl, Big Jake pulled Amelia down across his lap and held her in place as she squirmed and kicked.

"You earned this one my love," said Big Jake as his hand swung down and SMACK! struck her ass.

Tam jumped up; she knew where this was headed. She clapped her hands and called out, "Get your coats, hayride time!"

Big Jake peeked under her skirt and raised an eyebrow and smirked, causing Amelia to wail in outrage and the kids to giggle. Where did she find a pair of "granny panties" that looked so hot? He looked at his daughter-in-law and said, "Tam, honey. I suggest you get the kids out onto that hayride right away."

Tam started shooing the kids who didn't want to give up the entertainment. "Let's go kids! Get your coats and boots on!"

"You want to humiliate me," said Amelia as the kids thundered past.

His hand dropped so fast it whistled, then contacted her round asscheeks with a loud SMACK! Amelia nearly yelped with shock at the sting - it's been so long! "If we want to make this work, there's going to be some rules this time," snarled Big Jake. "First, you're going to retire from that bullshit job. I don't care what you tell them but it's over." SMACK!

"Yes," she said through gritted teeth.

"Yes what?"

"Yes dear!"

SMACK! "Right answer. Do you understand and agree to the fact that I will never let you go again. That we are one and inseparable from this very moment forward?"

"Yes dear!"

SMACK! "Will you put your life in my hands. Let me care for you and treat you with dignity?" Then Big Jake saw Chip, Liam, and Arlo peering around the corner at what was happening.

"Yes dear!"

SMACK! Hopefully, it did the boys some good to see their grandmother getting a sound spanking. "Good answer. Will you sell that damn house in New York and move here with me so we can help our son and watch our grandchildren grow? And you guys, git outta here!"

The boys dashed off as Amelia said, "Yes dear!"

They were alone in the house now, so SMACK! He pulled down her panties, revealing her round ass cheeks that were glowing red. He caressed one of nature's marvels, feeling the smooth skin that was heated with his attention. SMACK! He brought his hand down on bare flesh. This truly wasn't fair. He knew how much she loved this, even though she claimed that she despised being dominated by a man.

"Will you address me as master?" SMACK!

"No," she said through gritted teeth.

"Fair enough." SMACK! "You can call me daddy."

"YES DADDY!" she screamed as his fingers began probing her burning pussy.

Amelia's ass was burning with each resounding spank, but the burning and stinging traveled right to her pussy. Each blistering slap on her ass was enough to make her want to drag him by the cock upstairs and put this fire out like only he could. Years ago, before Little Jake was born, she was being a brat, and Big Jake took her across his knee and gave her the spanking that her father couldn't. The sudden rush of manliness overwhelmed her psyche, and they spent a glorious afternoon fucking in front of their apartment window in full sight of anyone who could look up to the second floor.

SMACK!

"Please stop daddy."

"You know how to make it stop."

She scrambled off his lap and spun around, her trembling fingers tugging at his zipper as he raised his ass and unbuckled his belt. She pulled down his boxers, and his cock sprang free. "Oh dear," she panted. She had forgotten exactly why he was called Big Jake. She gave him that nickname long before Little Jake was born. As his cock swelled to full strength, throbbing in her hands, she licked it from base to head, the salty, manly taste and smell overwhelming her senses. Lips and tongue fluttered up and down the underside of his cock.

He grabbed a handful of her hair and held her head motionless while he lined up the head of that pussy-splitter with her mouth. Their eyes met, and she opened her mouth wide... wider than she had for two decades. With a smirk, he pushed the back of her head, and his cock eased into her mouth. It was like a reunion with an old friend. This huge hunk of meat could wring orgasms out of her like no other cock before or since. Even her Slut Tamer® dildo didn't match this throbbing thing, because they weren't attached to a man who loved her.

Her mouth slid up and down his cock, reacquainting herself with an old friend. Then he released her hair, his old signal for her to do what she wanted. She leapt to her feet, wriggled out of her panties and dashed to the staircase. "Mister Johnson, you better hurry up or I'll put out this fire you started by myself." She smiled a smile that clearly announced that she was ready to get her joints fucked loose, and she dashed up the stairs. Holding his jeans up, Jake scooped up her panties and ran after her.

"Now Jake, I already said I'm sorry," she said, backing into the bedroom. She was staring at his bobbing cock. It looked five times larger than the last time she saw it.

"You shouldn't run, not unless you like getting fucked when you're tired." He pushed the door closed and latched it.

"You're still a wise ass!" she said as she backed away, but her legs bumped into the bed. In a panic, she climbed onto the bed and tried to crawl away, but she yelped as Jake grabbed her hips and pulled her back toward him... toward his pussy tamer. She fought to get away playfully, but Jake eventually pulled back on her hips, and that big throbbing pole slid into her, splitting her open and skewering her on his meat.

As he sank in, it was like their honeymoon all over again. It was too big, too hard, and too good. Her eyes flew open and her jaw dropped in surprise as he pushed deeper and deeper into her. Amelia wasn't a kid by any means, but this took her back to the first time he plunged into her. Yeah, he made all kinds of manly noises like, "I'm going to fuck you stupid" and "I'm going to bust you open so deep you're going to feel your guts getting rearranged." But in the end, he was a sweet and considerate lover, even though it really felt like her guts were being rearranged.

Now, as they were in their early sixties, here they were in a friend's empty house, rutting like teenagers. He fucked and plunged into her pussy while her burning ass was slamming back into his rock hard abdomen. He was no longer pulling her back toward him; she was driving her pussy back, pushing harder trying to get more of him into her.

Her first orgasm hit as they were locked together doggy style, and she collapsed, her head and shoulders on the bed. As waves of blissful relief crashed over her, Jake would wind up and SMACK! And pour a cup full of gasoline onto the fire. She was screaming, babbling incoherently as he fucked her senseless. Finally exhausted, she pulled away and rolled over on her back.

With a smile that Amelia read to mean that he wasn't done, Big Jake stripped off the rest of his clothes, then tugged her dress off and soon she was wearing only a pair of white and red candy cane striped stockings. Her large breasts no longer pointed straight up, but Jake didn't mind. "They're bigger than they once were."

"Your son helped with that," said Amelia, who felt the shame of hypocrisy for what she said to Tam. Amelia Johnson was an advocate for breastfeeding anywhere at any time. "I'm so horrible," and she was crying.

"Shhh, honey. Do you still love me?"

"Yes," she said timidly.

"Then stay with me, we'll work it out together."

"You said that before."

"This time, have the strength to trust me. Stay with me, confide in me, be my friend and we'll be each other's strength" He kissed his way down her body, softer than before but still as sweet, and kissed his way to her pussy. A nest of soft hair met him as he retraced old paths. Then his mouth closed on her pussy and she groaned loudly, "Oh JACOB! Oh fuck that's good... don't stop that... oh Jeezuz!" Big Jake licked and suckled her pussy and clit like a seasoned lesbian (she's tried that too) Her fingers wound in his hair and her back arched as he brought her closer and closer to another mind twisting orgasm.

She was panting and gasping as she drew closer and closer to another explosive cum. "Oh Jeezuz Jacob, tell me you'll do this forever."

"Forever and a day," and he went back to the sweet torture. His tongue danced on her clit as two fingers plunged into her sweet cucci.

The blissful tensions grew in Amelia and soon she was clutching the sheets, her back arched as the pressures built to insane levels, "I'm gonna... gonna..." she cried, then the dam broke and as she came, Jake crawled up between her legs and plunged his cock into her, driving her to incredible heights. "JAAAAKE!" she screeched, her fingers clawed into his back. She exploded in ecstasy as wave after wave of blessed sexual relief crashed over her.

When she came to her senses, she was still getting pounded by that marvelous stallion she had married. Her legs were hooked over his shoulders, and her red and white striped feet were pointing to the ceiling, her knees pressing against her tits. He was growling and slamming hard into her honeypot, their bodies slapping together loudly. "I'm cumming angel!" he growled.

"Cum in me," she gasped, and with a roar, he did. His orgasm seemed to go on forever. It was one of those orgasms that were so good that it was sad when they were over.

They untangled, and Amelia curled up with him and rested her head on his shoulder. "What do you say Amy? Ya think we can make it?"

"I have to," she said, remembering the horror of finding Liam's body frozen and raped, of Don's hysterical weeping when he couldn't save Arlo. "I have to stay dry."

"I can help there," said Big Jake. He reached over and picked up his pants, then searched the pockets and pulled out a coin and handed it to her. "I don't go anywhere without this."

It was a silver coin with a gold border. In the center was an ornate leaf pattern around a large triangle; in the center of the triangle was a large XV in gold. Around the gold border were the words Clean House, Help Others, Trust God. Around the triangle were the words Unity, Service, Recovery. "That's my fifteen year coin. I'm almost up to seventeen but this one looks cooler than the Sixteen chit."

"You're in AA?"

"Sixteen years, seven months and twenty four days."

"I think I need a sponsor..." and the tears came.

<><><><><>

When the family returned from the hayride, they had four extra travelers: Don's dad Ralph, his stepmom Sandy, and Tam's parents Duong and Mai. As they entered, they found Big Jake and Big Amy were missing, but the chair from the dining room was still there. "Where'd they go?" asked Arlo, looking around for Grandma and Grandpa.

"You're such a baby," sneered Chip, who considered himself a man of the world.

Arlo heard a noise upstairs, and he crept up the stairs, still in his coat, searching for the source of the sound. He opened the first door and walked into the master bedroom. There on the bed were Grandma and Grandpa. "Grandpa!" shouted Arlo. "Were you getting kissy?"

Amelia yelped in shock and pulled the cover up to her chin, but Big Jake leaned over and caught Arlo and hoisted him up and tickled him. "That, my little buddy, is our business and nobody else's. Now go hang your coat up!"

The house was crowded, but the kids could go upstairs and play after dinner, leaving the adults to enjoy the evening, the warm fire in the enormous fireplace, and the tree. The Lionel train under the tree was an impressive display that grew in complexity every year since the day that fifteen-year-old Lanh Nguyen begged Don to put it under the tree. Jake couldn't keep his eyes off it. Signals flashed, crossing arms lowered, lights lit, signalmen came out of shanties; it was breathtaking. "Once again Huy and Don selected the best tree in the forest!" said Kim-ly.

"Huy got the best one this year," said Don. "He was quicker than me to pick it out."

Lanh explained to Jake and Amy that somewhere in the woods, Don and Huy have a plot of Christmas trees that they keep trimmed. "That's my retirement if the bottom ever falls out of the legal market," laughed Huy. He was a short, jolly Vietnamese fellow like his dad, Duong. His wife, Ahnjong, was a beautiful Korean who looked sweet as an angel but had a reputation for being vicious in the courtroom, and she came to Don's aid more than once.

"You're expecting a sudden drop in the need for lawyers?"

"Ya never know. Come the revolution I'll be first against the wall."

His mom, Mai, shuddered. "Don't talk like that! I've been there."

"Once again, life proves that I'm the smartest one here," said Duong. "I'm the only one wise enough to marry a Vietnamese."

"Uh, what about me?" asked Don.

"And me?" asked Jake.

"And me?" asked Ahnjong.

"I'm smarter than all y'all," said Trung. "Ah got me a Southern Girl."

"Do you mind me asking, how did three babies pop into being all around the same time?" asked Big Jake.

"Well, Lanh, Kim-ly, and I had been through some tough times, and a friend invited us out on his yacht and..." He shrugged. "What happens in the Bahamas doesn't always stay there."

"What about you?" asked Big Jake. "Were you and our son on the same cruise?"

"No, we were so relieved that Don and Lanh got Kim-ly out of town that..." Tam shrugged and smiled.

"Ya know?"

"Yeah I think we do," said Amy. She was sitting on Big Jake's lap. He hugged her, and she leaned back, and snuggled against him.

"How are you two doing?" asked their son Jake.

"You will be happy to know that your mom and I are getting back together." There was applause throughout the room.

"Will you renew your vows?" asked Lanh.

"I think that will be in order," replied Big Jake. "What do you think old girl?"

"Let's go preacher shopping." They kissed, and there was more applause. "Don't get too happy," said Amy. "Big Jake and I are moving here, and I'll be looking for work. If I don't find any work, I'll be at your house critiquing your housekeeping."

"Who has a job for this woman?" cried her son, causing laughter in the room.

"Rosa and ah always need help at the restaurant," said Karole. "You just come by and I'll fit ya with your very own apron."

"I'm going to need someone at the high school to lecture on Journalism," said Don.

"I think I'm going to like it here," whispered Amelia as she kissed Jake again.

From that Christmas forth, Amelia was a woman transformed. She kept her promise of sobriety, and no cruel word ever passed her lips again. She was better than her word: she became a grandmother beloved, a wife restored, a teacher to many, and a friend to all. And it was said of her, by those who knew her best, that if any woman possessed the grace to turn shadows into light, it was Amelia. And Arlo -- young yet full of joy -- would often say, with a smile that warmed every heart, that she was the greatest grandmother alive (except for Grandma Mai). May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as her family declared, she was forgiven; she was cherished, and she was home.