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of adults and should not be viewed by those under the legal age.

   This is a story of casual, unprotected sex, and is a work of fiction. 
In real life, use a condom, damnit!  Unwanted babies, HIV and all sorts of
lesser sexual diseases await the idiot who "dips his wick" or "rides the
rod" without protection.

   --

   My Lover, the Car (mf, Mf, MF, 1st, cons, creampie, inc, mc, oral,
impreg, reluc, safe)

   by Krosis of the Collective (krosisofthecollective@gmail.com)

   --

   Sue gasped.  Arnie's hand was on her breast now, under her t-shirt but
over her bra.  He had parked up his neighbors' long gravel driveway because
he knew they were away for the weekend and the young lovers could find some
privacy there.

   Arnie and Sue had been dating for a couple of months but had only
graduated to heavy petting a couple of weeks ago.  They had really known
each other since they were kids...it was almost a given that they would
start to date when they got old enough, and sure enough, once Arnie got his
driver's license he purchased the old Plymouth Reliant they were making out
in and had started to park wherever they could.

   Arnie pushed Sue's bra up and out of the way and she moaned at the feel
of his warm hands directly on her sensitive breasts.  They weren't very big
but Arnie never complained.

   She wanted more; it was time.  She lay back and wrapped her legs around
him as they ground their crotches together on his bench back seat.

   "Did you bring a condom?" she asked breathlessly.

   He fumbled in a pocket and she heard the telltale crinkle of the
wrapper. They quickly disengaged as he got it ready and she pulled her
jeans off.  Then they were back in position, only without the barrier of
clothing.  She felt his hard cock between her legs and adjusted her hips to
help.

   She felt him reach down to properly angle his dick for entry but neither
of them really knew what they were doing so it was difficult.  They worked
together and eventually everything lined up.  She felt the head of his cock
push into her virginal passage.

   Sue gasped, and then moaned as instinct caused him to push harder. 
Surprisingly, there was no pain.  She had heard that not all first times
hurt, and was quite happy to be one of the exceptions.  Arnie started to
pull and push, and soon he was buried all the way inside her.

   Sue felt so full inside; it was incredible.  She kissed Arnie
passionately as he started to thrust.

   "Oh God, I love you, Sue."

   Her heart gave a leap.  She knew saying the big L the first time while
having sex wasn't smart, but the heart wants what the heart wants.  She
started to respond, "I--"

   Suddenly, it felt like she had been stabbed in the chest with a knife.
She cried out, but had no breath!  "Uh!  Uh!" she gurgled.

   "Are you cumming?" Arnie asked delightedly, continuing his thrusts.

   He stopped as she started to hit him in the arm.  She couldn't breathe!

   'The pain in my chest is killing me!' she realized.

   'Killing me...'

   --

   The silver K-car screeched into the hospital's emergency lane and a team
of technicians rushed out with a gurney.  Arnie exited the car and ran to
the passenger side.

   The car only had two doors so the smallest technician, a woman, got in
to check the young, half-dressed female patient's vitals.  Once she got
into the back seat with her, though, she paused and looked around.  When
she saw the young man through the window she smiled.

   "Arnie?  What's going on?"

   Then a male technician pulled her from the car, calling her an idiot as
another one got in to check Sue's vitals.  Arnie turned to the female EMT.
"Do I know you?" he asked.

   She looked confused.  "What?  Uh, I don't think so.  What just
happened?"

   "Asystole!*" the EMT in the car yelled, and he pushed the unresponsive
young woman out the door to the other technicians.  Together, they got her
onto the gurney and then quickly through the hospital doors.

   * A-sis-toe-lee: The absence of a heartbeat.

   --

   It seemed like hours but it was really less than 45 minutes before a
doctor came out to see Arnie.  He heard, "I'm sorry" and, "undiagnosed
heart condition," but not much else.  Sue was dead.

   --

   Sue was sitting in the front seat of Arnie's Plymouth Reliant.  How had
she gotten there?  she wondered.

   "What were you saying?" Arnie asked.  He was checking the traffic as he
pulled away from the curb and started driving.

   When had it become light out?  She felt odd.

   "Arnie?"

   "Yeah, Weezie?" He continued driving, his eyes still on the road.

   She laughed.  "Weezie?  What the hell, Arnie?"

   He turned to look at her, shocked.

   When had he grown that scruffy bit of facial hair?  And what was wrong
with her voice?  It was too high pitched.

   Then she looked down at herself and saw...a cheerleader outfit?  Purple
and white, with a golden logo stretched tight over her breasts, and a short
skirt.  How had this happened?  She wouldn't be caught dead in a
cheerleader outfit!

   "What's going on?" Arnie asked, flipping his eyes back-and-forth from
the road to her.

   Sue brought her hands up, palms out.  The fingers were very delicate,
with red nail polish.  Sue was a farm girl, so rarely wore nail polish, and
certainly not this shade!

   She grabbed for the rear-view mirror, startling Arnie and making him
swerve.  Instead of her brown hair and hazel eyes, looking back at her from
the mirror was a girl, blonde haired and blue eyed, about sixteen.  "Oh
boy..." she muttered.

   Arnie had turned the car down a quiet street.  "Weezie!  What are you
doing?!"

   She sat back and looked at him.  "I'm Sue..." she replied.

   "What?!"

   She pointed to the back seat.  "We were just there, making love,
and...and..." She moved her hand to her chest.  No pain.

   Arnie slammed his fist down on the dashboard.  "This isn't fucking
funny, Weezie!  I loved Sue."

   Past tense, she noticed.  She took a breath.  "Calm your shit, goober.
It's me."

   His face went slack.  That was exactly what Sue would say to him when he
got intense.  "...Sue?"

   She nodded.

   "How...?  Why...?" He was looking her up and down, confused.

   She looked back at the back seat again.  "My chest...it hurt so bad. 
Then...oh, suddenly I was feeling fine.  I saw you outside the car, and
then someone grabbed me.  Then I was sitting here."

   Arnie remembered how the female EMT had acted when she had gotten into
the car to help Sue.  "You're...what?  A ghost?  How is this possible?"

   She thought about it a moment.  "Well, in the movies ghosts are spirits
that didn't pass on because of unfinished business.  I think I know what
our unfinished business is..." She unhooked her seatbelt and sidled over to
him along the K-car's bench seat.

   He immediately looked uncomfortable.  "Uh, Weezie, I mean Sue, this
isn't a good idea."

   She caressed his face.  "I know I don't look like...me.  Just close your
eyes.  I want to hold you."

   He did so, and she clambered onto his lap.  He tensed up, but relaxed
when she put her arms around his neck.  "I missed you..." he murmured.

   For Sue it had only been a few minutes, so she hadn't had a chance to
miss Arnie, but she wasn't going to miss this chance.  She nuzzled his
neck. As his breathing got heavier she started to move her hips,
stimulating his cock through his jeans.

   "Stop, please..." he whispered.

   "It's me," she breathed into his ear, "It's just me; your Sue.  Think of
me." And she kissed him.

   He paused only a moment before he returned the kiss, his eyes still
closed.  She reached down to unhook his seatbelt and started to unfasten
his jeans as she rubbed her chest against his.  His cock was hard and as
her fingers touched it he gasped, opened his eyes, and pushed her to the
side.  She fell onto her butt on the seat next to him.

   "Damnit...Sue, Weezie's my cousin.  I can't do this."

   Fuck, Sue thought.  She looked at his hard cock, now freed from the
confines of his undies.

   "At least let me help you with that," she said as she leaned forward and
took his cock into her mouth.

   "Oh shit..." he moaned.  He made a half-hearted attempt to pull her head
from his crotch but she was licking and sucking his stiff member for all
she was worth, and not many men would fight that.  Finally, he leaned his
head back and closed his eyes again.

   Sue took this moment to sneakily pull down her panties and slide them
off one of her legs.  When she felt that Arnie was getting close she pulled
her mouth off of him and again clambered onto his lap.

   "Shit!  Sue, no..." Arnie was fighting her now, grabbing at her arms as
she rubbed her unprotected slit along his shaft.  As it reached the head of
his cock, a drop of his precum slipped between her vaginal lips.  She felt
the head just starting to penetrate...

   "STOP!" Arnie moved his hands to her hips, pulled up, and then he threw
her to the side like a sack of potatoes.

   "FUUUCCKK!" Arnie hollered as he started to cum.  His unsecured cock
flopped back and semen splattered the front of his black t-shirt.

   "Aw..." she groaned.  That was supposed to be for her!

   "Jesus..." Arnie muttered as he tucked his cock back into his pants and
reached across her to the glove compartment for some tissues.

   "I'm sorry, Arnie," she said as he did his best to wipe the mess up. 
Finally, he just took his cum-stained t-shirt off, turned it inside out,
and then put it back on.  Then he turned back to her.

   "What is wrong with you, Sue?  As far as I know, Weezie's a virgin, and
I don't know if it's a safe time of the month for her.  Even what we just
did could get her pregnant!"

   She thought about it.  What HAD gotten into her?  She was so horny, just
like the night she had died.  Oh God, she thought, what if she was always
going to be like this, a lascivious ghost, desperately trying to get laid?

   Arnie put the car back into drive.  "Get her underwear back on...she's
going to be late for practice."

   Sue did so and remained quiet for the rest of the drive, which was only
a few blocks.  When they got to the school she said, "Goodbye, Arnie," and
then stepped out of the car.

   --

   Then she was getting back into the car, still dressed in the cheerleader
outfit, only it was getting dark out and she was sweating, her muscles
aching.  Arnie was looking at her expectantly.

   "Yes, it's me again," she told him, "your friendly neighborhood slut
spirit."

   Arnie looked relieved.  "I wasn't sure if it would happen again.  This
is weird...I've driven lots of people places over the last few months.  Why
did this only happen with Weezie?"

   Sue was shocked.  "It's been MONTHS?"

   "Yeah, about...ten or so."

   She thought about it for a moment.  "How many of those passengers were
women?"

   Arnie put the car into drive.  Sure enough, he had been driving his guy
friends around and this was the first time a female had been in his car
since the EMT trying to save Sue's life almost a year previous.  It seemed
that she could only possess women, and that stopped once she started to get
out of the car.

   Sue kept as far from Arnie as she could on the bench seat.  She could
feel her pussy getting wet again and didn't trust herself.  She had almost
taken this girl's virginity away from her, and at the time hadn't even
cared!

   Finally they returned to where they had started the trip and she
unhooked her seatbelt.

   "I'll see about enticing someone else in here who's less...incesty,
okay?" He smiled that gorgeous smile she loved so much.

   She rushed toward him and planted a big tongue-y kiss on his lips.

   He grabbed her arms and pushed her back.  "Sue!  Her parents'll see!"

   She pulled away, glancing at the house they were parked in front of. 
She didn't see anyone looking out, luckily.  "Sorry," she said.  "Love
you." And then she opened the door and stepped out, not waiting to hear
Arnie's response.

   --

   She was again sitting in the passenger seat, and it was still dark.  No,
a different night, she realized, and a different body...her head was higher
up in the car than when she had been in Weezie's body.

   She turned to see Arnie looking at her, again expectantly.  "Um..." he
said.

   She smiled at him.  "Yep, it's me.  Whoa, that's a deep voice!" Then she
tasted her own breath.  "Ugh!  This woman must smoke a pack a day!" She
grabbed the rear-view mirror to see.  Looking back was a brown-haired older
woman, maybe 30, but...

   "The years haven't been kind to this lady, huh?" she asked.  She felt
weirder than when she had been Weezie, her connection to this body muted
somehow.

   Arnie looked sheepish.  "Sorry, I hired her off of the street.  She
looked more attractive before she got up close."

   She looked at him, aghast.  "I'm in a prostitute?  Ew!"

   He spread his hands.  "I didn't want to get arrested for rape.  Weezie
didn't remember either car ride last time, and doesn't want me to drive her
to practice anymore.  I think she thought that maybe I hypnotized her or
something." He looked uncomfortable.

   Sue looked down.  This lady was skinny, but had a nice form-fitting
short dress on with fishnet stockings and pumps.  She figured she could
make this work.  "Okay, stud, let's head somewhere private."

   They found an area in the industrial part of town where the street
lights had burned out and parked there.  Sue almost opened the door in
order to get into the back seat, but then realized that she'd probably lose
control of this body if she did that.  Instead, she clambered awkwardly
over the front seat while Arnie stepped out of the car and joined her in
the more traditional manner.

   As he sat back down she held her arms out to him and he melted into her
for a hug.  "I missed you," he said again.  She said nothing, as for her it
had still only been a few minutes since she had last seen him.

   He moved to kiss her but after a second of that moved back, grimacing.
"Your mouth tastes like an ashtray," he declared.

   "Don't need my mouth, stud, just this pussy," she replied, spreading her
legs and reaching for his belt.

   Arnie looked at her oddly for a moment and then she realized that she
had called him stud twice so far, but she had never called anyone that in
her life.  Was this something the prostitute would say?  She didn't know,
but she expertly opened Arnie's pants.

   She pulled her dress up, revealing her bony hips and lack of panties. 
Arnie was putting a condom onto his cock, which didn't seem to be fully
hard yet.

   Arnie fell between her legs and grabbed for a breast.  That felt nice
for her, and she pulled the sheer dress further up, around her collar bone,
so that he had better access.  Soon her bra was also pulled up and she was
reminded of their aborted first time.

   She felt Arnie's cock poking her in the thigh so she grasped it and
brought it to her shaved pussy.  However, despite her aim he was having
trouble penetrating her.  She wasn't producing enough lubrication, she
realized.

   She had dropped the woman's handbag on the floor.  She grabbed it and
extracted a bottle of lube, some of which she then spurted onto her hand
and transferred some to her pussy and Arnie's condom-covered cock.  Soon he
was inside her and thrusting.

   "Yes, yes..." she moaned, though she wasn't feeling as strongly about
this as she had before.  What was wrong?

   After a few minutes of this she asked Arnie to turn over and she rode
him.  This felt good, too, but she was nowhere near an orgasm when he
groaned and thrust his hips upward.  She sighed as she felt almost nothing
happening down there while he came inside the condom.

   They drove back to where Arnie had picked up the call girl.

   "So...is it done, then?" he asked.  "We finally had sex so now you
can...move on?"

   "I don't know how it works, Arnie.  I guess we'll see." Then she opened
the door.

   She heard Arnie start to say, "I lo--"

   --

   Then she was back in the passenger seat and it was still night, or
another night.  She looked over at Arnie to find him clean-shaven but with
shorter hair.  It made him look older.  No, she realized, he actually was
older...not by much, though.

   "Marco?" he said.

   "Polo," she said back.  "Pretty much everyone's going to say 'Polo'
back, goober."

   "Sue!" he said, relieved.  "I didn't know if you'd still be here."

   Sue felt a little sore between her legs, like...

   "Did you already fuck this chick, Arnie?"

   He looked sheepish again.  "Um, yeah, I didn't want to rape anyone, so
if she already had sex with me it's not rape if we do it again, right?"

   Sue was fuming.  Only a few minutes ago Arnie had had sex with Sue and
now he was fucking some other woman?  Wait...

   "How long has it been?"

   "About two years."

   "TWO YEARS!"

   He held his hands up, as if to ward her off.  "I really thought you had
moved on to..." He pointed upward.  "This car sprung an oil leak so I've
been driving my Dad's old car instead.  He, uh, passed on a few months
ago."

   She moved forward to hug him.  "Oh, Arnie, I'm so sorry."

   "It's okay," he replied, "It was quick; a heart attack like yours."

   Now she really felt sorry for him, and kissed him passionately.  "Okay,
let's do it.  I think I know what went wrong last time." She was feeling
horny, like that first time, and could already feel her borrowed pussy
getting wet.

   They moved to the back seat again and she pulled down her slacks.  Not
jeans?  She considered...Arnie must be moving up in the world.

   He put on a condom, moved between her legs, and unbuttoned her blouse.
She gasped as this body's larger breasts were opened to the cool air. 
Then, as before, her bra was moved up so Arnie had direct access to them.
It was amazing how different larger breasts felt...not as sensitive, but
definitely still pleasurable.

   They needed no lube this time as her more experienced lover thrust into
her wet pussy.  It felt good!  He moved forward and they kissed lovingly,
their tongues intertwining.

   They fucked in the missionary position for several minutes before she
asked if she could ride him.  This felt really good but for some reason she
just wasn't getting there.  As she sank down onto his condom-covered dick
she thought she might know why.

   "I'm going to try something," she said, rising up and pulling on the
condom.  It came off with an elastic "snap".

   "What--?" he started.

   "Shh..." she hissed in his ear as she angled his now bare cock into her
hot, unprotected pussy.  Yes, it felt incredible as it slid into her!

   "Oh, God, Sue..."

   "Mmm..." She started to bounce harder, liking the feel of her larger
breasts bouncing.  That, and the feel of skin on skin deep inside her was
getting her closer to that release she needed.

   Arnie was gasping.  "But...condom..."

   "We'll pull out," she replied.  "Suck on these." And she pushed a
large-breasted nipple into his mouth, which he began suckling on.  She felt
a flutter of pleasure deep inside her, growing.

   She continued riding him, feeling herself getting closer and closer to
something that had been eluding her, something she desperately wanted.  She
was almost there, almost...

   Arnie pulled away from her nipple.  "Get...off..." he grunted.

   She rode him harder, faster.  "Almost there...not yet..." She glommed
her mouth to his.

   "Mmmff!  Nnhh!" he gasped into her mouth as she felt his cock expand and
then start to throb inside her.

   She reared back as she felt Arnie inseminate her borrowed body.  Deep
within her she felt a painful/pleasurable jolt as the head of his cock
bounced off of her cervix and then there was a spreading warmth there. 
"UH! UHH!" she grunted, cumming hard, her stolen body accepting the oldest,
most vital of gifts from her sexual partner.

   "Unhh!  Shit!" Arnie grunted, twisting to the side, far too late.

   Sue fell onto the bench seat with a contented sigh, her legs splayed,
her borrowed vagina a spermy mess.

   Arnie stared between her legs.  "Oh shit!  Oh shit!  What am I gonna
tell Dana?"

   Sue moved her hand down to her slit, feeling the semen.  She had
actually never felt it before, having only dealt with condoms up to this
point.  She found the feel of it interesting as she slipped it between her
thumb and forefinger.  "I guess you'll have to tell her the first condom
broke." Then she thought a moment.  "Or..."

   Arnie looked hopeful.  "Yeah?"

   She lay back and spread her legs wider.  "If you suck it all out you
won't have to explain it."

   He looked sick.  "Suck?  But that's my..."

   She started to sit back up.  "Well, if you think your tongue is better
suited to explaining this..."

   Arnie pushed her back down and moved his face between her legs. 
"I'll...I'll do it."

   Sue gasped as she felt Arnie push his tongue into her borrowed pussy,
licking, sucking.  She closed her eyes and enjoyed her first cunnilingus.

   After a few minutes Arnie moved back.  "Did I get it all?"

   She wrapped her legs around his head and pulled him back in.  "ALMOST!"
she growled.

   Soon she was angling her hips up to meet his mouth.  Almost...almost...

   "Uhhh!" she cried out, mashing her pussy against Arnie's mouth.  Deep
inside her, Sue's borrowed cervix spasmed in orgasm and the sperm deep
inside her that Arnie had been unable to extract, that had inundated the
entrance to her cervix, was sucked into her womb.

   "Oh fuck..." Sue moaned as she relaxed her legs, releasing Arnie.

   They clambered back into the front seat and drove back to Dana's house.
Arnie was quiet the whole way.  Finally they arrived.  He still wouldn't
look at her.

   She turned to him.  "I think it worked this time, Arnie.  I love you."

   "Get out." He still wouldn't look at her.

   She got out.

   --

   Then she was clambering into the back seat, but something was wrong! 
Her stomach...

   She sat down, but quickly fell to the side in pain.  Her stomach muscles
cramped up painfully and she screamed.  Her arms moved to cover her
stomach...

   ...and stopped short!  She looked down in horror at the distended tummy
pushing out her nightgown.  She screamed.

   After what seemed like forever, the pain receded and she could breathe
properly again.  The car was moving now, though slowly.  She sat up.  It
was night again.  Arnie was driving.

   "Marco?" she asked shakily.

   He adjusted the rear view mirror to look at her as he drove.  "So you
*are* still here." After a moment he added, "Polo."

   She caressed her stomach and noted the familiar large breasts above it,
though they were even bigger now.  "Dana, right?  You knocked her up?"

   Arnie glanced sharply at her in the mirror.  "YOU knocked her up by
taking the condom off and not pulling off like you said you would.  I had
to fucking marry her or her dad would've blown my head off, Sue!"

   "Shit!  Arnie, I'm so...ooohhhhhh!" Another round of labor pains ripped
through her and she fell to the side again, screaming.

   It was then that the engine cut out.  Arnie coasted the car to the side
of the road.  He turned the key but even though the ignition sound started,
the engine didn't turn over.  Finally, he turned on the hazard lights, got
out, and joined her in the back seat.  He laid her head in his lap and
stroked her hair, looking out the back window.

   "Someone'll come along," he said.

   The labor pains eased a bit.  "You can't leave me back here like this!"
she implored him.

   He looked down at her with a sad look on his face.  "Why not?  You were
responsible for making this baby...how is it fair that Dana has to suffer
for your mistake?"

   Sue had no answer for that.  She winced as she felt another round of
labor pains coming on.

   --

   While they waited Arnie explained that they had accidentally left the
interior light on in their other car so the battery died and when Dana's
water broke they had to use this one, even though it was currently
unlicensed.

   By the time the police cruiser pulled up it was all over.  Sue was
crying but relieved, and the baby girl was healthy and beautiful.  Sue
loved the smell of the child as she held her.

   Then the ambulance arrived and the med techs started to help her get out
of the car.  She held back momentarily, looking for Arnie, who had gotten
out when the police showed up, but couldn't see him.  Finally, she passed
the baby to a technician and then and stepped out of the car.

   --

   "Who are you?"

   Sue was lying in the back seat of the car.  Unlike the other times she
suddenly came to awareness she hadn't just been getting into the vehicle.
She felt strange, even stranger than the other times that she had snapped
back into existence inside the car.

   The voice had come from the front seat.  Sue sat up to see a little ash
blonde girl there, looking at Sue through the rear view mirror.  The car
was parked inside a garage, with tools lining one of the walls, a large
garage door behind, and a smaller door in front that led into an interior
hallway.

   "Who am *I*?" she asked the girl, whose identity she was pretty sure of.
"Don't you know?" Sue figured she had taken over Dana's body again, but
then she looked down at herself.  No, the boobs were too small...

   ...but just right for Sue's body!  In fact, she was wearing the same
clothes she had worn the night she had died, prior to undressing to boff
Arnie.  She was back!

   She leaned forward.  "Can you angle that mirror so that I can see
myself?" she asked the girl.  The child did so, and Sue was looking at her
own teenaged reflection again.

   She sat back, looking at her arms, her hands.  She still felt very
strange, like she wasn't really there.

   The girl was now looking directly at her...no, through her, Sue
realized...and then the child returned to the rear view mirror to look at
her again.  Was that the only way she could see Sue?

   "Nope, I don't know you, lady.  Who are you?" she repeated.

   "Sue..." Sue replied, at a loss.

   "That's MY name," the girl said, "Suzie.  What's yours?"

   Sue laughed.  "He named you after me?  I guess he's not a total loss."

   The girl frowned in the mirror.  "Who are you talking about?  And why
are you in my dad's car?"

   "Your dad is Arnie, right?"

   "Yeah."

   "That's who I'm talking about.  Look, can you go get him, please?  And
your mom, so that I can talk to him?"

   The girl considered for a moment.  "I don't have a mom."

   "Why don't you have a mom?"

   "Daddy says she ran away after I was born."

   Sue looked at the girl's hazel eyes in the mirror.  "I'm sorry, sweetie.
Can you please go get your dad?"

   The little girl stepped out of the car and then seemed to immediately
get back in.  "Daddy almost didn't let me get come back, but once I told
him I was talking to you he said okay."

   Sue looked out the window to see Arnie, older from the last time she saw
him, standing there nervously.  His hair was starting to recede, she noted.

   Little Suzie rolled down the window.  Arnie stuck his head in.  "Marco?"
he asked, looking around.  He obviously couldn't see Sue in the back seat.

   "What, Daddy?  Her name is Sue, like mine." A pause.  "Oh, she says
'Polo'."

   Using a one-way variant of The Telephone Game, Sue was told what
happened: Dana had freaked out after completely forgetting giving birth to
Suzie, and after several months of trying to cope with motherhood, had
simply left one night and never returned.  Arnie had done his best to raise
little Suzie himself.

   "Looks like he did a pretty good job," Sue told her namesake.

   "Yeah!" the little girl beamed at her in the mirror.

   They did some investigation.  Sue couldn't touch anything, not even
Suzie, and Arnie couldn't see Sue, not even in the mirror.  Why could
Suzie? They didn't know.  Suzie could hear Sue just fine, though, even
without holding the mirror.

   --

   "Will you read to me?"

   Suzie was climbing into the back seat, holding a picture storybook named
The Gruffalo.

   Sue considered.  "Sure...just turn on the interior light so I can read
it."

   "'A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood...'"

   --

   "Mom, I got an A on my math test!"

   Sue froze.  Suzie, now 8 years old, hadn't called her that before.

   She thought about it.  She had been there during the girl's conception
and birth, and saw her every day for the last couple of years.  That was
more than her biological mother had done.

   She smiled at her daughter through the mirror.  "That's great, honey! 
Well done."

   --

   The years passed.  Arnie never remarried, preferring to focus his
attention on supporting his daughter and not interfering with her
relationship with Sue.

   "I have a surprise for you."

   Sue looked up at the rear-view mirror from the back seat.  A teenaged
Suzie looked back, holding up a brand new driver's license for her
inspection.

   Then Sue noticed something else: she felt better somehow, stronger.  And
the seats had been reupholstered.

   Suzie put the key into the ignition and turned it.  The motor roared
into life, making Sue gasp.  This car had never sounded that good!

   "Dad had the car overhauled.  Sorry it's been a few weeks since we last
spoke, but we wanted it to be a surprise."

   Sue looked out the window to see Arnie gazing at his daughter with love
and pride.  Sue's heart swelled.  She looked back to her daughter's eyes in
the mirror.

   "Road trip?" Suzie asked, waggling her eyebrows.

   They drove and drove as far as they could.  They lived their lives, and
their lives were good.

   --

   Krosis' home on the web: /~krosis

   Fans or pans?  E-mail Krosis of the Collective
(krosisofthecollective@gmail.com).