Author: Thinking Horndog
Title: Turkey Day
Part: 1 of 1
Universe: The Swarm Cycle
Summary: A family gets surprise guests during the big holiday feast.

Keywords: ScFi MF oral

Turkey Day

Copyright © 2008 The Thinking Horndog

Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyrighted with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated. Reproduction for profit is
forbidden.  Any distribution must include this note and the author's email
address. Don’t be caught attempting to make a buck off me!

Warnings and disclaimers:

This is adult entertainment!  Be warned!  If you’re not into graphic
depictions of sex, this is the wrong story for you!  If you’re too young to be
legally reading this, move along!

This is a work of fiction.  It is not intended to reflect any particular
person or persons, and the incidents portrayed exist in their current form
solely in the writer’s imagination.  You get the idea.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was Thanksgiving, and I was at the big family get-together.  Not MY
family; mine are a pretty independent bunch and scattered all over the place
and it takes a major effort to gather the majority.  No, the family in
question was my girlfriend, Jean's.  Jean had a mother and two married sisters
-- her dad was long gone -- various brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews,  and a
layer below that.  Most of them lived within a thirty mile radius, so holiday
parties saw a pretty good crowd and the site rotated among the sisters
according to an annual schedule.  Thanksgiving was traditionally the province
of Jean's middle sister May and her husband Ed -- and they were our hosts for
the current shindig.  The big tying on the feedbag piece was over; Ed, Mike
(Jean's oldest sister Marie's husband) and I were kicked back in the living
room watching football.  A couple of the nieces and the vast majority of the
under ten set had just headed out the door, and we were digesting a lot of
turkey and some pretty good wine and trying to find room for dessert and Ed
had just come downstairs from showing off his gun collection when the doorbell
rang.

	Ed went over and opened the door -- and I'll admit it -- I wasn't
alert.  I'd had just a bit more wine than the amount that would keep me
grounded, so I was in that state where I hoped I wasn't making an ass of
myself.  I looked up to see Ed backing up before a couple of BIG motherfuckers
in body armor.  "We haven't been THAT loud..." I grunted.

	"No, sir," one of them replied.  "We're doing low-profile pickups,
sweeping the neighborhood collecting family groups."

	"Oh," I replied.  I needed to get my brain in gear before anything
intelligent was going to surface.  "Who are you looking for?"

	"Well, there's YOU, Mr. Miller," the Confederacy corporal shot back,
"and Edward Ghatti..." He turned his attention to Ed.  "That would be you, I
believe?"

	Ed sucked his teeth and nodded.  "Come on in - you boys eaten?"

	The Lance Corporal who was the second trooper grunted, "No..."

	Ed nodded.  "The women are screwing with the leftovers - why don't you
come in and help yourselves.  I'm thinking this little deal you're working has
probably been pretty quiet thus far..."

	The Corporal sucked in a breath.  "Are we gonna have trouble here?"

	Ed flicked a glance at me, then at Mike - we both shook our heads no.
All three of us were vets - each in a different service.  "May!" Ed yelled,
"Hold up on the packing up - you got more mouths to feed!"

	May was already standing in the kitchen door with her head cocked and
her hands on her hips.  "What's this?"

	"It's a pickup, Ma'am," the Lance replied.

	"Oh!"  May pursed her lips and popped her eyes - and I could see her
trying to work her way through the whole thing.  She was arguably the
brightest of the sisters, but she was a little high-strung and could be a nag.
After a moment of being totally unable to put together the implications, she
fell back upon Ed's original instructions, "Come on in and I'll get you some
plates..."  She headed back into the kitchen and started opening freezer
containers.

	The kitchen was in full view of the living room and vice-versa - but
the dining room was off to the left - which meant that the other women present
really didn't have any idea what was going on until Ed, Mike and I re-entered
the room, followed by the two Marines.  Eyes widened all around the big dining
room table.

	Now, in a dream world, maybe, the table would have been surrounded by
some hot stuff - but the reality was, well, somewhat different.  Take Jean,
for instance.  Jean was my woman because she was sweet and submissive and
tolerant of my ways - and if she wasn't the brightest bulb in the circuit, it
was because I'd learned after a couple of failed marriages that someone had to
be in charge and it was by God going to be ME! - but she weighed more than I
did.  With two exceptions, there wasn't a woman in the room who wasn't at
least plump - and there was one who had glandular problems and was seriously
obese.

	Going clockwise from the top right corner of the table, there was
Jean, a big brunette pushing forty, then May's girlfriend Tracy's daughter
Anita, who was in her mid-twenties, and while she had that ducky look with the
rack and the ass exacerbated by a pantsuit and jacket, she was one of the top
choices in the room.  Next was Tracy herself, late forties, narrow, with that
high-strung, nervous look to her and some early wrinkles, probably brought on
by smoking.  Next was Allison, Ed's daughter from a previous marriage - olive-
skinned and kind of tall and beautiful above the waist, but she had a
humongous ass - all out of proportion to her build.  Next was the matriarch of
the family, Alice - who was pushing seventy, and while I'd been told she was
once big, she was shrinking the way older women do.  Beyond her was Katherine,
Mike and Marie's second daughter.  The older girl, Eileen, had gotten the
looks and the fashion sense - and a husband - even though she was a bit plus-
size; Kate got dick.  She inherited a glandular problem from Mike and the
genetic mix with her mother didn't help; basically, she was a collection of
jiggly rolls.  She wouldn't have been pretty anyway, but it was just one more
strike against her.  Was she nice?  Well, as nice as anybody who had been
screwed over her entire life could be, anyway.  She would move Heaven and
Earth for you, but that didn't mean her outlook on life wasn't somewhat
soured.  Next, was her mother, Marie, Jean's oldest sister, a nice woman, but
big - the type that had a huge rack and a huge ass and walked bent over to
balance them.

	So we had eight women - and eight slots, since I had a CAP score of
eight point five and Ed had a six point six.  But Alice wasn't going
anywhere...

	In fact, that was the first announcement, and she made it.  "I'm not
going.  It's a waste of time for me."

	The Marines merely nodded.  Alice flat wasn't eligible under the
current rules.

	There were two people in the room who knew my CAP score besides the
Marines - myself, and Jean.  She just looked at me; she'd resigned herself to
the idea that I would be picked up - and she wouldn't be going.  For her, it
was a given.  What she didn't understand was that it was one of the things I
loved about her.  Her sisters didn't know it, but behind closed doors, Jean
and I had an 'alternate' relationship.  We'd met online, both of us looking to
fulfill certain fantasies. I wasn't particularly hard, but I WAS in charge,
and I would spank her or otherwise punish her as necessary to keep her from
getting too feisty (and she challenged me regularly, purely to ensure that she
got attention) and for fun.  She hadn't been terribly trusting because her ex
had slept around on her, and she had low self-esteem; a few trips to the local
swing club had gone some distance to fix the first problem by showing her that
love and sex were two different things, but the second remained.

	What this made her was a jewel beyond price - not that she knew that.
I had no earthly idea why she put up with my tired ass, but as long as she
did, I was golden...  I went over to stand behind her, rubbing her shoulders.
She pulled my head down and whispered, "Are they taking you somewhere?"

	"For what?"

	"You know, concubines."

	"Doesn't look like it.  I think we're gonna keep it in the family," I
replied.

	"That's not real fair to you," Jean opined, her voice low enough to
keep things private.

	"I'm good with it," I replied softly.  "Your family is good people."

	"You were never taking me."

	"I was ALWAYS taking you!"

	Jean burst into tears and hid her face in my midsection.

	That triggered Marie.  "What's wrong?" she asked, concerned.
Obviously, she hadn't put two and two together.  No one else in the room had,
either, for that matter, except Alice - everyone else was pooh-poohing the
idea that they were involved in a pickup.  Pickups happened at malls and
restaurants and were meat market affairs...

	"Things have just gotten complicated," I explained.  "But she's happy,
I hope..."  Jean nodded without removing her face from my shirt.

	Marie shrugged.  "I don't get it."

	I sighed.  "I'm thinking that all will become clear, in time."  I
turned to the Marines.  "Do we have time for dessert?"

	The Lance Corporal - Sparks, per his nametag - nodded.  "Things are
real quiet.  We're in no hurry.  None of the teams has hit anything too
serious to deal with.  Some households are being consolidated..."  He eyed me
and I knew the question he wasn't asking.

	I sidestepped it.  "So, how about dessert?" I asked.  "I'd like some
coffee..."

	"Sure..."  May KNEW something was up, but she wasn't seeing the
obvious, either.  The Marines were neither confirming nor denying and Kate was
arguing with her grandmother about how silly she was to think that just
because a couple of Marines showed up at a private home, it meant there was a
pickup going on.  "Grandma, there's just no way," Kate disparaged.  May,
listening, nodded to herself and turned to the coffee pot.

	Tracy hopped up to cut pie and Anita followed.  Allison hit the
refrigerator for ice cream.  I waved Ed over.  "How many?"

	"Two.  You?"

	"Six."

	"There aren't that many," Ed observed, after nodding poker-faced for a
moment, obviously impressed.

	"There are solutions," I replied.

	"I guess," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked
around.

	"Why don't you get yours out of the way," I offered.  I found myself
wondering if he would take May.  Ed was a womanizer; everybody was pretty sure
he was fooling around on May - and that made her disposable.

	"One's down," he shrugged, answering my question.  "Allison..." he
grimaced.

	I got it.  Taking his daughter was incest; the Confederacy might be
cool with that, but Ed wasn't.  "She's covered," I confirmed, "if you - and
she - want it that way."

	Ed nodded.  "Think we're going to get any more announcements?"

	I shrugged.  "We won't know until they figure it out, I guess."

	Ed turned and eyed Anita - but shook his head.  I knew why; Anita
outpaced Allison as the hottest thing in the room - but she had a history.
She was in her mid twenties, and had two little girls - that she didn't have
custody of.  She'd been a nurse - but she'd gotten hooked on prescription
drugs.  That had led to other things...  She was theoretically clean and
trying to turn it around, but a few months before, she'd had a setback.  I'd
met the girls, but not their father; they apparently favored him, being
blonde, blue eyed and rail-thin - but they had the personality of a pair of
ghosts.  I suspected that either Anita or her husband abused them - and nobody
knew which.  Ed didn't want that pair - but he didn't want to be responsible
for leaving them -- and she would get them after a pickup if her sponsor
allowed it, no matter what an Earth-bound court said.

	Ed stared at the group in the kitchen for a bit longer and said,
"Tracy."  That sort of made sense to me - Tracy was May's friend - and
probably Ed's, as well.  They would get along.

	"Come on, Babe, get some ice cream," I told Jean.

	"I can't believe we're just sitting here, having pie..." Jean husked.

	I shrugged.  Marie eyed her sister and said, "Why not?"

	"Sissy," Jean asked, eyeing Marie like she had two heads, "Don't you
realize that this is a pickup?"

	"Oh, it is not!" Marie waved it off, "You sound like Mom!  Just
because..."

	"Actually," Sparks interrupted, "It is."

	"Wh-what?" Marie gasped, "But who?"

	May dropped a cup of coffee at that point.  While the other three
women in the kitchen danced out of the way of the hot brew, May looked at Ed,
white-faced.  "Really?"

	Ed nodded, his lips pursed.  "Really.  Clean that up and get another
cup - I know Ben wants some."

	"Okay."  May went to the sink and got a towel and a sponge; it was
clear that she was handling the issue she could deal with and avoiding the one
she couldn't.

      Tracy poured another cup of coffee and handed it to Ed.  "You're not
serious."

      "They are," Ed replied, pointing to the Marines.

      "So, should we...?" Tracy asked.

      "I think it's handled already," Ed replied.  "Want to go with May and
I?"  He turned and handed me the coffee cup.

      The other Marine, Corporal Johnson, cleared his throat.  "Usually, we
recommend a test drive."

      	"Usually," Ed retorted, eyeing him, "the people you're putting
together don't know one another.  I think I can take my chances, here."

      Tracy stood looking at Ed, obviously trying to decide whether she should
strip down or not, anyway.  She turned to look at May, who was still busy
cleaning.  Squatting, she took over mopping with the towel, "May?"

      "I guess it's okay," May said tonelessly.

      "Daddy?" Allison yelped at Ed.

      "Go with Ben, Honey," Ed directed gently.  Allison eyed me as if she'd
never seen me before, despite the fact that we'd both been appearing at family
functions for years.   Of course, from her perspective, I was STILL a perfect
stranger...

      I beckoned Allison and she shuffled past her father to me, giving him a
look in passing that accused him of disowning her.  "Tell me about you and
sex," I said quietly.  "Do you like it?"

      "Well..." she flicked a glance at Ed, "yes."

      "Getting any?"

      Allison snorted and waved at herself, "What do YOU think?"

      "Such questions!" Marie erupted to my right.

      "You'll get your turn," I replied.  Marie got bug-eyed and covered her
mouth.

      Johnson was looking to his right, so I glanced over the bar into the
kitchen.  Ed had stepped over there while Allison sidled past him, coming to
me.  Tracy and May were still on the floor even though the cleanup was
probably over; May was looking nervously up at Ed while Tracy dug in his
Dockers; apparently, neither of them felt that they were on stable ground.
Anita stood there, poker-faced, watching as her mother freed Ed's cock and
engulfed it.  May moved up on her right and Tracy surrendered it to her for a
suck while she pulled her blouse over her head; I got the distinct impression
that May was deriving some comfort from it.

      No one seated at the table could see this byplay; the bar masked it.
Allison could see from next to me, and Anita had a front row seat; Anita
glanced up at Johnson, but he was chewing a mouthful of turkey, eyeing the
scene as if he saw such things every day - and he probably did.

      "Anita," I called.  "I need to see your CAP card."

      Anita was the clearest in the room about what was going on, perhaps; she
looked up at me and said, "I'll get my purse," heading out front.

      "Grab everyone's," I suggested.  Anita nodded and shuffled past Mike,
who was leaning on his cane in the doorway, watching Tracy suck and looking
wistful.  I guess a word about Mike is due, here; his glandular problem - the
one he'd bequeathed Kate -- had gotten him a discharge from the Air Force
about a decade back.  He had undergone one of those stomach surgeries where
they put the device in to slow down your intake about a year back and he was
back down to around 350 from probably 450 pounds.  Given that Marie probably
weighed 300 and the probable size of Mike's cock, they probably hadn't had
regular sex in several years.

      That led to some, well, issues.  The women in Jean's family were the
kissy type - you always got a peck on the cheek, coming and going - but Marie
had developed the habit of kissing me on the lips.  I was careful about such
things and Marie never said anything, but there had been a couple of revealing
incidents - including one memorable one when I showed up at the house on an
errand just as she was coming out of the shower and she'd thrown on one of
Mike's dress shirts over a wet body and not bothered to make adjustments
afterward for the bleed-thru that displayed areolas the size of the bottom of
a soda can and nipples the size of the tip of my little finger...  Basically,
I was pretty sure that if we were thrown together for any length of time in
privacy, Marie would have found a way to make an offer - but good sense had
led me to ensure that such an opportunity didn't present itself.

      Of course, the situation had just been turned on it's head...

      About then, Kate erupted in a wail, "I'm not gooooinnnng!"

      I blinked at her.  "No?  Why not?"

      "Because you won't take me!" she howled.  Tears ran everywhere; this was
the ultimate rejection.

      "Why wouldn't I?" I asked.  I squeezed Jean's hand and sidled past
Anita, who stood in the doorway clutching three purses to get around the far
side of the table.  Sliding behind Alice, I stood next to Kate's chair and
rubbed her shoulder while she sobbed broken-heartedly.

      "You've got Aunt Jean and Allison and Anita...  No guy ever..." Kate
bawled.

      I could believe that.  One look at her told you that no one but her
gynecologist had ever seen her pussy.  For one thing, it would have been hard
to get at...  Now, I know what you're thinking - I'm being rude.  But
sometimes you just have to deal with reality as it is.  Besides, I've already
mentioned the fact that Kate was a sweet young woman for someone who Mother
Nature had thrown snake-eyes.

      "Show me your card," I told her.

      "My purse..."

      "Anita probably has it."

      Kate leaned around me and sniffled, "The rounded one..."  Anita handed
it to me and I handed it to Kate.  Anita then handed Allison hers.

      While Kate was digging in it, Anita handed me hers, swallowing
nervously.  "How many slots do you have?"

      "Enough," I replied.

      "Hey!"  Sparks called.  I looked up and he flipped me something.  "Card
reader."  I nodded and dropped it over Anita's card.  Three point three with a
classic addictive personality and only moderate mothering skills, more focused
on adults.  Submissive, too; undoubtedly, if the kids had been abused, she'd
stood by and watched, powerless -- not participated.  I handed it back and
Anita gave me a look like a scared rabbit and tried to go to her knees beside
me - but old Alice's chair didn't leave that kind of room.  I waved Anita up
and her eyes got wet as she assumed that she hadn't made the grade.

      "Crowded over here," Alice observed blandly.  "I think I'll go in the
living room.  Marie, would you bring me some pie?"  I helped her out of her
chair and she headed off to the living room, acting as if nothing at all
untoward was happening.  I noticed that she did NOT look down into the kitchen
as she passed; there were, well, wet slurping noises...  Marie got up and
sidled past Jean, headed for the kitchen.  As she worked her way past Allison,
she got a good look at what was going on in there and gasped, then started
cutting the pie on the bar with shaking hands.  "Did you want a piece, Ben?"
she croaked.

      I ignored the unintentional double entendre, "Please.  The pecan."

      Kate handed me her card with shaking hands.  Four point six.  She was
kind of broken in several places, but self-reliant and responsible.  While I
examined her sub-scores, she rubbed my fly.  "Can I?"

      "Might be a little rude," I opined.  "Ask your aunt - she's head girl."
Jean's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

      "Auntie?" Kate asked.

      "Go ahead," Jean nodded.  I relaxed some - those trips to the swing club
were helping Jean's equilibrium.

      Kate went digging under my zipper.  It wasn't easy; I was in briefs, and
was erect.  After trying to be gentle, she undid my belt and just hauled my
trousers down.  My erection deployed and stated searching for targets; Kate
wrapped her pudgy fingers around it and murmured, "Ooohhhh..."

      I looked up to find Marie holding my pie just out of reach, her eyes
riveted.  She was virtually drooling.  I'm not HUGE, but I'm an inch or so
over average.  Every female in the room was eyeing the thing - and Jean was
grinning proudly, her expression saying, 'That's MY man!'  "Um, Marie," I said
gently.

      "Oh."  She handed me the pie.  I saw her flick a glance at Jean and
realized that I'd been the subject of at least one sisterly discussion.  As I
forked the first bite of pie, still trying to pretend that things weren't TOO
out of hand, Kate turned me toward her and I discovered that she had an
extremely warm, wet mouth.  There were at least three feminine sighs as I
grunted, "Mmph!" around my pie.  "Go take care of your mother," I croaked at
Marie.  She nodded and moved off - and I could read her mind - something on
the order of, 'I don't have a snowball's chance in Hell...'  I waited,
enjoying Kate's enthusiastic if untutored efforts at blowing me, while Marie
got Alice's pie and coffee, averting her eyes from her sister and Tracy taking
turns sucking Ed's cock.  As she hit the door, Ed gave a groan and pinned
somebody to his crotch; I couldn't see behind the bar any more, but there was
some flapping, so whoever it was probably got taken by surprise.  He let her
up and as she started coughing, I said, "Okay, I guess we might as well
dispense with decorum.  Allison, I need to see your card, then rude as it may
seem, I want to see you and Anita, nude."  Allison gingerly handed over her
card while Anita raced to get out of her blouse ahead of the taller, dark-
skinned girl.

      Kate offered with her eyes, but I replied gently, "Let's wait until we
can make some changes.  Don't worry, you've got your seat."  Kate's eyes
glowed - but she wouldn't release my cock.  I did reach down and fondle one of
her titties, feeling it important that she realize that I wasn't letting her
size bother me.

      I turned to look at Mike over my shoulder, "I'm going to need backup."

      Mike waved at himself.  "I, uh, can't..."

      "Not today, maybe, but I'll need someone to strawboss things while I'm
deployed," I told him while I eyeballed Allison's card.  She was Daddy's Girl,
and a little spoiled - largely because guys took one look at that ass and
passed.  She had nice, soft-looking cantaloupe titties, though...  Anita, who
was trying her best to wedge herself between Allison and I, had grapefruit.
"Relax," I told her.  "Now you've got room to kneel..."  Anita was on her
knees in a flash.  I combed Kate's hair with my fingers and directed,
"Share..."  I beckoned Allison, who was plenty tall anough to lean over little
Anita so I could fondle her tits.

      Mike was scratching his head.  "You don't have slots enough for that..."

      "I've got six," I told him.  "That pretty much empties the room.  You
know what that means for Marie, right?"

      "Yeah, I think..."

      "I'm going to get kids on her," I clarified.

      "She'll be happy about THAT!" Mike chuckled, confirming what I'd been
thinking about their sex life.

      "You will, too," I added.  "We'll get you all fixed up like you're
twenty-five again.  The flip side is that the Confederacy doesn't recognize
monogamous marriage - especially between concubines."

      "Yeah."  Mike looked squicked.  "You won't want to, uh..."

      I looked around at the women present.  "I think there's plenty of
talent, don't you?  I'm not gonna close it off, but..."

      "Okay, I can live with that," Mike muttered, visibly relieved.

      That the whole thing came up caused me to wonder a bit, s I said, "Say,
can I see your card?"

      "Sure."  Mike fished it out and passed it to Allison, who passed it to
me.  I scanned it with the reader and confirmed what I already knew; Mike was
somewhat hidebound, if dependable.  Also a follower, and a bit submissive - he
needed rules, and he stuck to them like glue - and homosexual sex WAS an
option.  Well, I would cross that bridge when I came to it.

      Marie came back to the door from the living room and stood beside her
husband.  "So..."  I watched her take in the panorama.  May and Tracy were
finally standing; Tracy was nude from the waist up, except for a locket
suspended between her low-slung, underinflated tits.  Still it wasn't a bad
rack for her age... my opinion - I have no idea what Marie's was.  Then there
was Jean, sitting alone but apparently not worried, and Marie's daughter and
Anita working on my cock while I mauled Allison's tits.

      "So why don't you go on over and get a good look?" Mike chuckled.

      Marie eyed her husband like he'd grown two heads.  "I couldn't.
Besides, he can only take so many..."

      "According to what Ben just told me, 'so many' just about empties the
place," Mike told her.  "You're going - Ben plans to plant kids in you.  Hell,
I'M going!"

      "Omigod!"  Marie waded in, basically pushing Allison back against the
wall and knocking Anita to her hands and knees so she could confront me at a
distance of about three inches; Kate had the good sense to duck away.  "Is
this true?"

      "Well, yes," I nodded.  Then she was all over me - and she didn't stop
at kissing me on the mouth, she went straight to French!

      After a moment's surprise, and another moment just hanging in so as not
to be rude, I backed off.  "Is there anyone here who really doesn't want to go
with me or Ed?"  I looked around and got no demurrals.  "Okay, then, let's be
a little civilized and everybody have some dessert.  There's no telling when
we'll see a spread this nice again!"  Settling into a chair, I waved Jean
over, "Come here, Babe."

      Jean got up and sashayed over.  "What do you want, you wonderful man?"

      I pulled her down for a kiss, then murmured in her ear, "Call Eileen and
have her come back for your mother."  Jean nodded, kissed me, and went to get
her cell phone; Alice would need a ride home.

      Anita was still between my legs, sucking; Kate had climbed back into her
chair.  Allison came back off the wall as Marie moved off to be domestic.
"I'm serious!" I told the group in general, "Let's enjoy the holiday, because
I bet it's going to be a while!  Somebody get the Marines something..."
Looking down between my legs, I asked, "Where are the girls?"

      "DCW has them with this couple..."  Anita looked nervous again at my
apparent knowledge of her failings as a parent.  The Department of Child
Welfare had been parenting for her for a couple of years, I gathered.

      "We'll arrange something," I assured her - and then, because I was
feeling a little bit greedy, "You can finish that now."  Anita resumed
vacuuming my dick.  Eating pie was difficult to concentrate on until after I'd
creamed her tonsils.

      Twenty minutes later, we were lining up for transfer.  Everybody had to
stop and kiss Alice on the way out.  When I got to her, I said, "I apologize
for taking your family away from you."

      Alice held my hand and said, "You didn't, those critters did.  This is
an answer to my prayers.  I can die happy - but I don't plan to for a
while..."  She gave me a peck and we were outta there.

      Despite the abundance of younger stuff, I ended up sexing Marie that
first night in our pod.  I don't know who was more embarrassed, me or Mike,
but she was a good ride and made noises I honestly didn't think a woman could
make - and cried like a baby.  I went to sleep with Jean on one side and Marie
on the other and Mike just beyond Marie - big beds seemed to be standard
equipment in Confederacy pods.

      How we got everyone settled and tuned is probably another tale - it's
working, suffice it to say.  There are five buns in the oven and I've got more
warm mothering than I know what to do with - but I was right, we're not going
to see a holiday like that one for a while...