CHRISTMAS
By MERZ
Gratuitous Sex and Violence for the Holiday Season

		
		
	
In the tense, calculating silence we heard a gunshot from down the hall.  I felt as 
if the bullet had struck my own heart and stopped all thought, emotion and 
ability to move.  The effect on Julie was the opposite.  She let go of my hand 
and made a dash toward the door shouting "Betty!" and moving as fast as the 
long pants of her Santa Claus suit allowed.   She looked as if she intended 
crashing through the man at the door to race back down the hall.  Before she got 
to the doorway Eddie darted out a foot and tripped her headlong onto the floor.  
The man in the doorway delivered a wicked kick to her head then two more to 
her ribs.  He and Eddie dragged her by her arms to a straight metal chair next to 
the desk.  With each man holding one of her arms Eddie fished a roll of 
strapping tape out of the desk.  They secured her arms and legs to the chair with 
the speed of experience.

 Through all this I stood motionless.  I was dead and couldn't react.  I had left 
my best friend alone in the dark and she had been trapped by gunmen.  The 
silence in the room hammered on my heart.  "One shot," Victor spoke into the 
silence.  "You must have had somebody hiding out and my crew found them.  
Like I said, nobody's arresting us.  Eddie, you're the famous boxer.  Do you 
mind working over someone who can't fight back?  We need some answers.  If 
they are cops or if the cops are on the way, we need to know now."  Still the 
sleepy voice, empty of interest in any of the events unfolding around him.

"I never minded having an edge, Victor."  Eddie dropped into a boxer's stance 
and did some shadow boxing, throwing fast punches and combinations into the 
air accompanied by little sound effects as he shuffled about in front of Julie.  
Julie strained to free herself, the red jacket growing tight across her incredible 
arms and shoulders, the tape cutting deeply into her wrists.  I just stared, finally 
beginning to look for a way to free my little red lion so she could have her 
revenge - my revenge - on this gang.

Abruptly the boxer spun and shot a hard left into my stomach and a smashing 
right to the middle of my face.  I'd been standing paralyzed since hearing the 
shot from Betty's room, lost in the deepest pit of hopelessness I've ever felt.  
Now the blows threw me sprawling on to my back, sliding three feet across the 
floor from the impact.  For a moment I really was blinded, my eyes first seeing 
an explosion of light followed by dizzying blurs of color and darkness.  At first 
as I lay there I couldn't grasp what had happened, couldn't separate the raging 
pain in my face from the pain tearing my soul.  I passed a hand over my face and 
winced when I felt my nose, my sticky wet nose.  That second jolt of pain at 
least focused my wits and cleared my vision.  I slowly sat up and heard the 
boxer cackling along with his partners.

*    *    *    *	
Earlier:

Julie was doing pushups.  Endless pushups.  I just sat watching, not counting or 
keeping track of the time, just watching her back and shoulders work.  They 
weren't working very hard as she pumped out dozens of up and down cycles.  
To break the monotony for her and ease the hypnotic effect on me she 
sometimes threw in a hundred sit ups or some odd one legged deep knee bends.  
Joey, Ernie and their sister Betty Hunt were about twenty minutes behind 
schedule and Julie was giving her impression of being a nervous newlywed 
waiting on her errant husband.  Still, I knew the calisthenics weren't about 
nerves: Julie was in heat.  My radar for this sort of thing is infallible.  Not only 
that, my presence was fanning her flames just as seeing the most muscular 
woman I have met demonstrating her incredible strength had me on the edge of 
abandon.  If I got my own itch scratched I might spare a moment's sympathy for 
the poor husband who properly should have been the focus of all this libido, but 
at the moment I hadn't budgeted for that sort of holiday generosity. There just 
had to be some way I could take advantage of the situation.  I simply wanted to 
give us both a memorable encounter before familiarity with her married status 
set Julie into some penalty zone my conscience rarely lets me enter.

The Hunt family had gone off for some last minute Christmas shopping while I 
accompanied Julie for the same purpose.  The agreement had been to 
rendezvous here at Joey's medical office where he would suit up as Santa and 
make an evening call on some of his patients in hospital.  Julie would be dressed 
as his helpful elf, an image that I couldn't help but chuckle at.  If Santa needed 
help lifting a car or carrying a gift refrigerator up to a rooftop, she was the elf for 
the job.  Afterward we would all go off for a happy dinner of our own. Betty 
assured me this was all a very good development.  Not only had Joey never 
invited his brother and sister to join him for Christmas, he had never been the 
sort to dress as Santa and visit his shut-ins.  I had been included in the invitation 
as a sort of honorary family member, I suppose.  Julie and I had been punctual 
but now we sat keeping two costumes company in the little reception room.

"You know, you may want to cool down before Joey and the others get back.  
You'll need to change into your little elf outfit and you don't want to seem all 
sweaty during the visits.  Perhaps we should get you undressed and rubbed down 
before they get here."  I wasn't sure how subtle I could or should be with Julie to 
let her know my door was open for the knocking.  So what the hell, I'll just 
invite her to take her clothes off for me in this little room.

"I don't sweat much," she replied without breaking her mechanical rising and 
sinking, but turning her head enough to look me up and down once more.  "I just 
hate this waiting.  And his name is Joseph."  In truth the pushups seemed about 
as taxing for Julie as the average person twiddling her thumbs at a moderate 
pace.

"Then come sit by me.  We can talk about how you two met and pass the time.  
Maybe share secrets and lies about the men in our lives."  I didn't have one and 
hadn't for a while, but my memory is fine and my imagination even better.  A 
little sex talk might help Julie relax her defenses against the assault I hoped to 
mount.  If only I knew how much time I had I could decide if a slow survey of 
her defenses was in order or if I needed to gamble everything on one desperate 
rush.  "What attracted you to Joseph most, and what did he find most attractive 
about you?"

Julie stopped her exercising to sit cross-legged on the floor and shyly answered 
my first query.  "Joseph treats me like a lady.  Nobody had done that before I 
met him."   Suddenly she looked up directly into my eyes as I sat leaning toward 
her.  "You treated me that way, too, when you helped me with my clothes-
buying at your store.  That was nice of you."  Then self-consciously she looked 
down at the arms she had been pumping up to heart aching proportions over the 
past quarter hour.  "I don't look like other women . . . because I was a soldier 
once.  People sometimes look at me funny, but you were really nice.  Like 
Joseph."

Yes!  We were on the same wavelength and she was equating my fascination 
with strong bodies with her husband's interest.   I reached my hand toward her.  
She took it and let me draw her up off the floor and over to the sofa next to me.   
I gave myself three minutes of conversation to get her shirt off, and a couple 
more to convince her she was the one seducing me out of my own clothes.  If 
only Betty and her brothers would stay away another fifteen minutes I could 
have this whole business taken care of and we two girls bound by a vow of 
silence for a muscular indiscretion neither of us was likely to forget.

"I'll bet you're nearly strong enough to bench press me."  A little gross 
understatement might disarm her.

"Easy.  I'd guess you weigh about one-forty.  I used to be able to do twice that 
for reps.  But Joseph says I don't need to be so strong like I was when I was a 
soldier.  I don't lift heavy weights anymore but I lift that much all the time."

"Oh, come now.  Surely you exaggerate.  Show me how you could do that."  
Now I absolutely had to find a way to get my shirt off in front of Julie.  She was 
underestimating my weight by twenty pounds, suggesting she thought me just a 
tall, lean, ordinary woman.  That twenty pounds was all muscle.  Not the bulky 
sort that she had, or that I love to stroke on Betty.  But muscle that took me a 
lifetime to acquire and that I don't like having dismissed casually.  Just wait 
until she got a load of my abs.  "This coffee table looks sturdy enough. How 
about if you lie down and I'll drape myself across you.  I should think one hand 
between my breasts and the other on my thighs should give the balance we need.  
Let's try it.  Perhaps now it would be best to take off the t-shirt since this will be 
more exertion than pushups.  If you're shy I would be willing to take off my top 
too, just to be fair."  I wished I knew how to blush because I would have thrown 
in a girlish reddening at that point.

The unmistakable sound of a gunshot brought my entire project to a halt.  I 
leaped to the door to see what on earth was happening, but Julie beat me to it.  I 
grabbed the knob and jerked but since she already had a hand pressed against it 
the door wouldn't budge.  "That was a shot," she told me unnecessarily.  "We 
have to be careful.  Remember, I was a soldier so you should follow me."

I gave up my futile tugging at the door and stood back.  Julie carefully listened 
at the panel, then turned the knob and opened the door about two inches while 
dropping to her stomach and pressing her eye to the crack.

She looked intently through the narrow opening.  Without stepping onto her 
back there was no way I could put an eye to the opening and I was too slow in 
realizing what a pleasure it would be to shed my shoes and walk barefoot up and 
down her acres of latisimus muscles.

Julie abruptly stood and jerked the door open.  A man I'd never seen before 
hurled inside, followed by Betty Hunt.  "Kathy?  Julie?  Are you here?  
Something bad is happening."

I quickly caught Betty's hand while Julie kept a wary eye on the stranger.  He 
was tall, dark and heavily built.  His arms were hidden in a training jacket but 
seemed thick and meaty.

"We're both here.  What is it?"

"We were coming off the elevator when Joey and Ernie saw a group of men 
dragging a couple into an office down the hall.  I heard struggling and a woman 
called for help.  Ernie and Joey started off in that direction, then came rushing 
back and pulled me to the stairway.  I've never heard Ernie frightened before, 
but he was scared.  He said the men had guns.  He told me to stand behind the 
fire door on the stair landing and he and Joey would lead the men away from 
me.  He said the woman looked to be in a bad way and needed medical attention 
immediately.  Then they both ran off down the stairs.  I stood where he put me, 
then I heard two men come through the door.  One ran down the stairs and this 
one fired a gun.  I think he was shooting at Joey and Ernie.  I grabbed him 
before he could shoot again.  I heard the bottom door open so I'm sure Joey and 
Ernie got away.  I made this one lead me here to Joey's office.  I had my hand 
over his mouth so he couldn't shout to anyone, and I guess the others had gone 
in out of the hallway.  Kathy, I'm frightened.  We have to find out what's going 
on."

I tried to think of a time I'd heard Betty admit fear.  Nope, no time.  But this 
time she was afraid for her two brothers.  The man was working his shoulder as 
if it was sore.  I realized Betty had used a hammerlock to convince him to lead 
her to us. "So, what is the meaning of all this?" I asked him directly, still 
holding Betty's hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Fuck you.  I'm not telling you anything.  She may have got lucky, but the 
luck's run out.  If you and these two muscle bound bitches know what's good 
for you you'll just step aside and let me walk out."  He looked me up and down.  
"And if you really want to get lucky, you'll walk out with me and I'll show you 
what a man can offer that these two dykes will never know about."

A final squeeze of Betty's thick hand and I threw a punch a couple inches below 
his breast bone.  He was solidly built young man, beefy enough to give my fist a 
nice rebound as he doubled over and gasped for air.  He had felt Betty could 
break his arm, he could see Julie's impressive brawn on full display.  Why he 
assumed that just because I dressed with December weather in mind I was the 
weak sister in the room eluded me.

"Please.  You've just been overpowered by a blind woman.  This is neither the 
time nor the place to play Mr. Macho.  Who are you, who are your friends down 
the hall, and who are the people my friend says asked for help?"

"Blind?  So that's why she made me lead the way here.  If I'd of known that I 
would have . . ."

"The second worst thing that could happen to you now is that I let this dear 
helpless lady have another go at you.  The very worst is that you continue to 
show me no respect and make me impatient."

He came up abruptly throwing an arching fist at my head.  Such a surprise.  I 
turned inside it, elbowed him in the same spot I had punched, then grabbed his 
arm to twist it behind him in the same hammerlock Betty must have used on 
him.  I twisted it up as far as I thought I could without dislocating anything and 
drove him down to the floor.  With one hand grinding his face against the oak 
flooring and the other maintaining my hold I repeated my questions.

"I'm telling you nothing," was all he would grunt in reply.

"It's against the rules to torture prisoners," Julie spoke up.  "We need to secure 
him and scout our perimeter."

"But I'm just getting started.  Surely it isn't torture if I stay above his waist."

"We have to follow the rules.  We'll just have to go see for ourselves."

"And how do you propose we secure him?

"Let him up.  I'll show you".

Dubiously I let go of the fellow and stepped back.  As I expected he came up 
quickly, back on the attack.  Just as quickly Julie came in behind him, one thick 
arm wrapping around his neck and the other holding his head steady.  He 
squirmed against her for a few seconds, standing up so her feet dangled inches 
above the floor as he tugged futilely at her thick arm, her triceps completely 
hiding his neck and chin.  Then he just went limp.  Julie eased him to the floor 
and slipped his jacket off to reveal two arms full of crude tattoos a third grade 
art class would have been embarrassed to have drawn.

"I was trained in subduing suspects. He'll be okay in a while.  We need to tie 
him up so he won't cause trouble when he comes around.  Tie him with his belt 
and use his wife beater as a gag."

I paused as I bent to follow instructions.  "If by wife beater you are referring to 
some part of his anatomy, he isn't that flexible.  If you're using an unattractive 
term for his under shirt, I will wash your mouth out with soap if I hear it again."

We bound him up and Julie used her key to let us into Joey's main office.  We 
parked our sleeping guest in a closet with his jacket over his head.

I went back to the reception room where we had left Betty and sat down thigh on 
thigh with her on the sofa.  
"So Betty, this Ernie who went for the police while you stayed in a building he 
knew was filled with crooks: would that be your brother Ernie the weight lifter, 
the one with the shoulders we could both ride around on in comfort?  The Ernie 
who still owes me for a pair of Smith and Wesson handcuffs he broke?  That 
Ernie let you stay here while he ran off looking for help?  Would you kindly let 
him know that if I ever see him again I'm going to kick his ass?"

"Now Kathy, it was the only thing we could have done.  He would be able to 
find the police to tell them, he could describe the men who came in here and 
give an idea of how many there were.  I couldn't do those things.  And besides, 
he's spent his whole life taking orders from his big sister and I told him to go for 
help.  I had to stay because I knew you were in here and might be in trouble."

"Just so Joseph is okay," Julie chimed in, pulling up a chair opposite Betty and 
me on the short sofa.  "Now we have to check out the perimeter."

Betty turned toward Julie.  "I'd like to just wait for the police, but you're right.  
It sounded like those people were in real trouble.  We need to go down there and 
look into it right now. We already have one of them taken care of so our odds 
are better than before."

"You can't go.  That's for sure."  Julie's voice was as flat and unemotional as 
ever.

"But why not?  You might need me."  Betty was as impassioned as Julie was 
cold.

 "Because you're blind.  We'd have to take care of you. We can't afford that if 
there's trouble."

Until Julie had spoken I had been franticly trying to find a way to keep Betty out 
of this mess.  Now I heard my own voice snapping out words that came directly 
from my heart without any rational consideration behind them at all.  "Of course 
she's going with us.  She's already shown that she can take care of herself with 
these creatures.  Don't be stupid."  I saw that Betty felt Julie's words like a slap 
across her face.  My best friend had been hurt with me sitting right there, and I 
hadn't seen it coming.  I had to do something to make amends, even if it got us 
both killed.

Julie rose to her feet.  Her fists were clenched and her big arms bulged with 
power.  From the first time I met her she always struck me as being, well, 
primitive.  Her legs were short in proportion to the rest of her, and her upper 
body was large and incredibly muscular.  When they came to town so Betty's 
brother could begin introducing his fianc‚e to his family, on Betty's 
recommendation he brought her first to my shop so I could dress her to be 
presentable.  Of course I made her look fine.  By doing some mixing and 
matching of outfits I used a sort of optical illusion to disguise where her waist 
was and make it seem inches higher. I had dressed her so well one would need 
to look closely to get a sense of her proportions, and one wouldn't realize how 
powerfully built she was.  But now that she was in her usual jeans and t-shirt I 
couldn't help suspect that she was twice as strong as I am.  And I'm no 
weakling.

I stood up in front of her, almost toe to toe.  I hoped my greater height might 
help even out the intimidation factor but I doubted a few inches would deter a 
sociopath who believed she could break both me and Betty in half.  Not only 
was she enormously strong, in the army Julie had trained in various sorts of 
fighting techniques including some nasty, informal versions.  I always thought I 
knew as much about street fighting as anyone, until I met Julie.  I haven't been 
in a fair fight in years.  When I have needed to fight someone my reasons have 
always been pressing enough that I don't worry about ceremony or 
sportsmanship.  But I didn't dare be the one to initiate this one in front of Betty.  
The only thing in my favor was that most of the people who have confronted 
Julie were men, so they offered easy targets for her to strike or grab.  At least 
my genitalia were a little better protected.  If she hesitated to adjust for that 
difference I might have an instant to go for her eyes, the only soft spot I was 
aware of on the woman.

Betty slowly rose and gently placed a hand on Julie's arm.  "Please, we're all on 
the same side here.  This is too important for us to squabble."

Over the years I'd seen Betty practice grappling and wrestling, as well as 
boxing.  If she had physical contact with an opponent she could often anticipate 
their movements and respond more quickly than if she relied on eyesight.  And 
Betty was strong enough to make a very effective response.  At the touch I 
thought Julie was about to throw a fist, and Betty subtly shifted her weight as if 
she sensed the same thing but kept her hand resting on Julie's arm.  With that 
touch Betty was considerably tipping the odds Julie faced at the same time she 
was beginning to defuse the situation.  In effect she was riding quietly to my 
rescue and that's why I love her.

"We really need to figure out if there is anything we can do, first," I offered into 
the tense silence that followed Betty's words.  "Then we can talk about who 
should do what."

"We have to move.  They sent out a patrol of two men.  The one we have won't 
be coming back and eventually they'll come looking for him.  We need to get 
down to the other end of the hallway, find out how many there are and decide if 
we go in or wait for backup.  That's all there is to it.  It's just a matter of getting 
down to the other end of the hall."  That speech out of the way Julie stood and 
paced a couple of times in front of us, then retreated into the office.

"She isn't exactly a fairy princess, is she?" Betty asked.

"I don't believe that would be among my descriptions, no.  What put it into your 
mind?"

"I always thought Joey would marry a fairy princess.  I was six when he was 
born.  Daddy took our mother to the hospital one night and told us they would 
be bringing home a brand new baby.  But mama died during the delivery.  
Daddy told us that she was so special the angels took her to live with them in 
heaven.  But they sent a baby angel so we wouldn't miss her so much.  I always 
thought of him like that, our sweet little angel and I believed he would find a 
fairy princess to marry and live with, happily ever after."  Betty was getting a 
little teary, as she often did talking about her childhood.  "My one regret in life 
is that he's cut himself off from the rest of us and has been such a loner until this 
sudden romance with Julie."

"And did you think you would find someone like me to live with happily ever 
after?"  My head was spinning from her last comment.  Betty has been blind 
from birth, lost her mother when she was six, raised two brothers with slight 
help from their father (including her teaching them both to box), had to work her 
way through college and law school, and recently had her latest greatest love 
move away to start his own legal education.  And her one regret is that her little 
brother doesn't write more often?

"I didn't find you.  Have you had this experience?  Sometimes I'll be in a quiet 
spot, like in a sculpture garden, or sitting in the sun feeling so happy I even start 
to sing.  And I never sing, not even in the shower.  Then I'll realize someone 
else has been there the whole time and I didn't know it.  They were simply there 
doing whatever it was they were doing without any noise or movement or scent.  
And I figure they had to have been part of why I felt so happy even if I hadn't 
been aware of them.  That's like you.  I figure you must have always been there 
but I just wasn't aware of it for thirty-some years, being happy because of you 
like I have been ever since."

Now I was getting a little damp and I gave her strong hand a squeeze.   
Technically we don't live with each other but we have been friends so long that 
not sharing the same roof seems a minor point.  As do the lovers we have each 
had over that time.

"Does Julie smile?" she asked when I couldn't say anything for a moment.

"When Joey - or Joseph or whatever I'm supposed to call him now - brought 
her to my shop she smiled a couple of times with him.  I haven't seen her do that 
when he wasn't around."

"He taught her.  I know he did, just like he taught me.  She hasn't had much 
chance to practice, but I know he's teaching her.  Inside he'll always be my baby 
brother Joey, even if I can teach myself to call him Joseph when I'm with them.  
I can't go with you two.  You know that."

"Of course you can. You're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself.  Don't 
pay any attention to Julie.  She just doesn't know you.  We'll bring her around."  
I tried to make my protest sound convincing so I might convince myself. 

"When Julie started to stand, why did you let her get all the way up instead of 
kicking her or hitting her with something when you stood a chance?  You're fast 
enough you could have taken out a knee or used that trick you broke that actor's 
leg with last year.  I've felt her and talked with her. I expect she could be pretty 
dangerous. You held back because you were thinking about me, weren't you?  
This is too dangerous for you to think about anything but your own safety.  
Kathy, I don't want Julie to go alone, so it has to be just you two.  If I'm there 
you'll worry about something happening to me and you can't afford that. I'll be 
fine.  Besides," she said with a little sniff and a smile, "I'll bet you didn't bring 
her a present."

I sniffed and told Betty I would take good care of myself and Julie.  She smiled 
at me and sniffed again.  Then her expression changed and she sniffed once 
more.  Suddenly she plunged her nose into my lap and inhaled noisily.  "You 
utter slut," she laughed when she sat up.  You've been trying to get into Julie's 
panties.  But my nose tells me you haven't made it yet.  My god, I leave you 
guarding a stick of dynamite and come back to find you trying to use it as a 
dildo!  Julie is apt to pinch your head off if you make one wrong move.  And if 
Joey gets hurt because of anything you pull with Julie I'll pinch your head off.  
You know we're both strong enough to do it."

"I did so bring a gift," I offered in my defense.  It was a tiny spandex dress that I 
was certain would light up Joseph and bring great pleasure to Julie by reflection.  
The dress and appropriately minimal underwear fit into a Valentine's Day box 
that once held chocolates.  The effect on a Christmas romantic mood would 
likely be similar and much more carnal than is usually associated with this 
holiday. The thin straps of the dress would accentuate the massive trapezius 
looming over her shoulders and the bulky arms beneath them.  The skirt that 
stopped at mid-thigh would do the same for her fullback legs.  Really, I'm pretty 
good about not going after married people but imagining Julie in that dress had 
caused me to modify my standards, at least temporarily.  Primitive occasionally 
stands high on my menu.  

We had just embraced when Betty asked, "Does this building have one of those 
ledge things around it, outside the windows?"

"I believe so, it's an old building and that's the way they used to make this sort 
of thing back then.  I really didn't notice.  Why?"

Betty stood up and turned toward the inner door.  "Because I just heard a 
window open and I'll bet Julie is trying to get out on the ledge to go around the 
outside, to get at those guys."  We hurried through the office in time to see Julie 
leaning way out though a window she had forced open.

"No you don't.  You and I are doing this together, and we aren't going to kill 
ourselves falling off a ledge before we even get near the trouble."  I grabbed her 
around the waist and got a familiar electric thrill just holding such a strong body.  
Julie hesitated a moment, then let me draw her back inside as Betty came up to 
join us.

"They might not be expecting anyone to come from this direction.  Sometimes 
soldiers attack from the side or from behind their enemies, not just from the 
front."

I took a cue from Betty and kept my arm around Julie's bulky shoulders, hoping 
the contact might disarm her a bit.  If my being taller couldn't intimidate her 
maybe it would persuade her to look at me in a respectful, maternal light.  "They 
are expecting trouble from every direction.  That approach would only work if 
they were distracted and made to look the other way.  We don't have a 
diversion.  Our hope is to get to them before they realize we represent anything 
like an attack."  That was when I got my first clue about how we might proceed 
from our relatively safe little nook into the free-fire zone down the hall.

"Betty, may I borrow your stick?  And those dark glasses you never like to 
wear?  And Julie should wear the Santa suit, to provide a little bit of 
camouflage."  I traced a nail down the thick vein pulsing on top of Julie's right 
biceps then tried to get my mind back on the business at hand.  "With a bit of 
padding she'll look like a harmless little Saint Nick."  The pants would bag 
down horribly on her short legs while the jacket would be snug, across her 
shoulders but manageable.  Unfortunately it would also make it appear Julie's 
arms hung nearly to the ground as she would show a certain length of wrist 
below the cuff.  Well, no time to be a style critic.  We were each dressing to 
look less capable than we were.  Julie would look like a stocky red fire plug no 
matter what we did, but we could at least make her look a little less dangerous.  I 
took pity on her and left the white beard on the hanger.

I got Julie done up in her red outfit over her clothes, then mussed her hair.  She 
wore a Dutch-boy haircut that looked too much like a military helmet framing 
her heavy features.  Like everything about her it looked businesslike.  I wanted a 
more disheveled, thrown together look.  Studying her, I dug out my reading 
glasses and perched them a little askew on her nose.  Better and better.  "Your 
part will be a mentally slow person.  Just walk along side me and hold my hand.  
I'll be your blind mother accompanying you here to see your doctors, who have 
all gone home already.  Don't pay attention to anything, just keep scanning 
everything as if it were all new and wondrous, the guns no more than the light 
fixtures.  Got it?"

Bless her, she dropped instantly into a slack-jawed pose, her usual stiff posture 
drooping into a hunched lump.  I don't know how intelligent she may be, but I 
would swear I saw forty points fall off her IQ in the blink of an eye.  We shifted 
furniture to barricade a corner where I suggested Betty await our return.  Then 
we drew the blinds in the office and broke the lights in the little room so Betty 
would have as much darkness to protect her as possible.  After exchanging hugs 
all around we stepped into the corridor, closing the door with a click behind us.

So the two of us were to head into the empty corridor looking in my imagination 
like a keeper leading her short red bear.  I stand a head taller than Julie and 
weigh at least thirty pounds less, am half as broad and have legs that seem twice 
as long.  In my imaginings I always appear perfectly normal.  Julie's version of 
the scene likely had her as a lion with courage to spare accompanied by the antic 
scarecrow out of the Wizard of Oz with a sad lack of a brains that was certain to 
bring bad things to everyone involved.  As I thought about it I found no part of 
that picture to disagree with.

Julie and I were both sort of staring around into space as our respective roles 
required.  There was no hope of sneaking down an empty hallway to surprise a 
group of gunmen who were already aware they had been seen so we would call 
attention to ourselves and avoid alarming them.  I called out in a quavering 
voice, " Who's there?  Can anyone hear me?"  My stomach knotted tightly as I 
heard the snap of weapons being cocked above a dull mutter of voices from the 
end of the hall.  Julie never changed her pressure on my hand, seeming oblivious 
that the noises meant we were one step closer to death.  She just stood beside 
me, gazing randomly around at her surroundings and humming some little tune.

After standing still like this for an interminable twenty seconds I began leading 
us forward, swinging the light aluminum cane side to side as I've seen Betty do.  
Because I couldn't see anything of the characters waiting to ambush us I found 
myself listening intently for the next sound from their direction, and realized 
this, too, is how Betty would proceed.  Automatically my head pivoted side to 
side to give my ears the best chance of picking up a sound and of locating the 
source.  I even began sniffing the still air to get any information about the 
situation we were walking into.  The difference between my moving along as if I 
were sightless and the impression Betty gives is that she leads through life with 
her chin, confident that anyone wishing her ill would break their fists on it and 
let her cope with the problem.   I have never had that sort of confidence.  "I can 
hear someone there.  Please, answer me.  Stay close to mommy, Pumpkin."  The 
seconds ticked by like hammer blows inside my temples.  

When we drew abreast of an office about halfway down the corridor the door 
opened suddenly and a hand roughly seized my arm and jerked me inside.  The 
scream that I had been containing since we stepped out of our safe little room 
briefly escaped my mouth.  It probably lent more credibility to our roles of 
helpless females but at the time it shamed me.  I lost my grip of Julie's hand and 
quickly went into an elaborate waving of hands and calling her name.  At the 
same time I was sizing up the men in the room  There were three, two armed of 
whom one kept his hand tight on my arm as he looked quizzically at his 
associates.  They were all among the scruffiest men I had ever seen. Julie was 
doing a fine job of acting the panicky child, struggling helplessly in the arms of 
the husky member of the trio without any obvious weapon. 

"What the hell do we have here?" asked the fellow holding my arm.  "Who are 
you and how did you get in here?"

"Are you the police?" I asked.  "We heard shooting and fighting.  What's 
happening?  Where is Doctor Hunt?  We were to meet him at seven but nobody 
is here.  Julie, stop hollering.  These men want to help us."

"Are we the police?  Yeah, for now we're the police aren't we Stan?"  the one 
holding me chuckled over at the third member who stood aside with his pistol 
pointing at the ceiling.  "Let her go Rodney."

Released, Julie rushed to hug me closely without encumbering my arms.  She 
was earning my private Oscar for acting, resisting whatever impulse she had to 
start kicking butts and knocking heads.

"Frisk them," the third man finally spoke.  "They could be cops or anything."  

"Wait till you check out the arms on the little one," Julie's captor offered as he 
started to strip her red jacket off.  

My own fellow stripped my frock coat down from my shoulders and dropped it 
in a heap on the floor, then gave me a thorough feel beyond what a search for 
weapons required.  "Oh, my word," I gasped in my most horrified voice as he 
assured himself I didn't have a bazooka hidden in my brassiere.  Actually he 
was confirming I didn't have a brassiere.  I made some ineffectual struggling 
motions, being careful not to tense or flex the arm he was still holding.  Julie 
was causing the expected commotion as her powerful arms were exposed.  
Despite being obviously as powerful as a bulldozer she continued her pose as 
frightened and childlike while her captor got his thrill thoroughly probing her 
legs and crotch.

"That's enough.  Now you're just in it for the fun.  You and Stan get on down the 
hall and see if you can find out what happened to Marcus.  I'll take these two 
down to Victor and let him decide what to do with them.  There will be plenty 
left when you two get back."  My guardian seemed to have rank over the other 
two who left with only a bit of grumbling.

"Yes, I'm so proud of my little girl for growing up big and strong.  Show the 
nice man your muscles, dear."  Out of the corner of my eye I was measuring 
distances and angles to the big fellow next to me.  I didn't dare look directly at 
anything, not even to stare at Julie although I desperately wanted to, just as my 
captor was doing.  

Instead I chopped backhanded at his throat.  I lashed out without warning or 
windup and felt the side of my hand land solidly across his larynx.  I followed 
with a knee to his groin with such force he was lifted off the ground and began 
collapsing into my arms.  My next knee smashed into his solar plexus and a third 
connected with his chin.  As he crumpled in my grasp I drove his face into one 
more smashing knee, then let him drop.

Julie looked over at my victim.  "You may have used excessive force.  It's a 
mistake rookies make but there probably won't be a problem with it this time."

"Well, I used all the force I could find at the moment, but I left his head 
attached, lucky for him.  The bastard is getting blood on my beautiful coat.  I 
don't have that talent for putting men to sleep the way you seem to."

We quickly "secured" the man in the same manner as our first conquest.  Julie 
put her Santa top on again and we resumed our slow tapping journey down 
toward the end of the hallway.  The nature of our mission was different.  We had 
started with an idea of exploring some suspicious business.  Now we had armed 
men doing the same thing at our backs and could have no doubt the office ahead 
of us held an unknown number of persons just as brazen about their criminal 
intent.  If I could have seen a way to make Betty safer by going back the way we 
had come I would have turned around in a heartbeat.  But it seemed confronting 
the hazard ahead of us was the quickest way to put an end to this nightmare.

Leading Julie back into the hall I called back to the unconscious, trussed turkey, 
"Yes, thank you.  We'll tell Victor you sent us down to discuss matters with 
him.  No need to apologize for any rudeness, I understand police business can be 
stressful."  Out of the corners of my eyes I saw the two thugs who were working 
their way through the offices we had already passed exchange shrugs and move 
on toward the door labeled Dr. Joseph Hunt, MD.

I led Julie to our objective where I knocked softly, then opened the door.  We 
entered a small windowless room similar to Joseph's reception area with a door 
opening onto a dark room beyond.  On a small desk was a balance scales 
surrounded by bags of white powder.  A man who had been glowering over an 
Hispanic-looking couple spun toward us and gripped the pistol in his belt.  His 
prisoners were a young man and an enormously pregnant young woman, their 
hands fastened behind them, their mouths gagged.

"Is anyone here?" I called out.  "We were sent to speak with Victor."  From the 
opposite end of the corridor I heard a door slam loudly.  The bound couple were 
making muffled noises and squirming while the fellow with the gun just stared.  
"I hear someone there.  Please.  We must speak with Victor."

A man who could have been the twin of the one Betty had captured stepped in 
from the other room and a third person peered around the doorframe.  Now we 
heard a noisy commotion from the far end of the hallway with indistinct 
shouting and banging of doors.  We had been too slow.  They had found Betty.

"Who are you and who's that down the hall?  We haven't seen any cops show 
up but if you two think you'll cause any trouble, we have hostages and now we 
have you.  Nobody's arresting us.  Get over here.  Eddie, stay on your toes."  
The third man, the one who hadn't stepped into the room was doing the talking 
in a soft, disinterested voice.  I guessed this would be Victor.  We walked 
toward him as the first one we had seen circled behind us, cutting us off from 
our exit.  The one called Eddie paced up and down between us and the bound 
couple.

Victor stepped into the room and surveyed our respective costumes.  He 
telegraphed his test of my blindness by pulling back a hand I anticipated he 
would swing toward my eyes.  Some instinct told me to move forward rather 
than try to hold my head motionless.  I realized later I wouldn't have been able 
to control a natural flinch.   Instead I traded a light slap in the face for a 
moment's more grace while victor considered if we were enemies requiring 
action or would let down his guard so we could take action of our own.   I 
desperately wanted a opening to unleash Julie on the trio so we could get back to 
check on Betty.

*    *    *    *	




I sat for a few minutes after Kathy and Julie left, just listening to the sounds 
from around the building.  I knew I wouldn't be alone long.  Kathy said I would 
be safe in the dark, but I really don't know what that means.  After dark sighted 
people get around all right, mostly.  A few times I've heard people say it's dark 
so they can't see and they bump into things or trip themselves.  I don't exactly 
know what dark means, what the difference is.  It doesn't matter.  Somebody 
would be coming and I was pretty sure it wouldn't be Kathy and Julie.  I would 
take care of myself as I have been doing my whole life.  Maybe they wouldn't 
be able to use their eyes in this little room, but they should be able to tell where I 
am, just like I'd know where they are.  I slipped off my shoes so I wouldn't 
make as much sound when I walked.  My stockings on the polished floor were 
slippery so I took them off as well.  The ruffles at the collar of my blouse 
bothered me so I removed it, too.  And I waited, listening to the sounds from 
around the building.  I felt over to where the light switch was and measured 
things from there.  I carefully found the bits of broken glass from the lights 
Kathy broke and I used my stockings to push them into two piles, one in the 
middle of the room and one a few feet from the light switch.  Finally I heard 
steps approaching down the hallway.

Two people in hard shoes.  One had longer legs than the other.  When they 
reached a board under the carpet that squeaked I knew one weighed a little more 
than Kathy and the other weighed about the same as Julie, say two hundred 
pounds.  I stood by the door, waiting. I heard the knob turn and felt the door 
push inward.  One person stepped in and felt for the light switch, while the other 
stayed out in the hall.  I heard the person step further in and flick the switch a 
few times.  I pushed the door shut hard and swung my right fist toward the 
sound of the switch.  The person in the room with me grunted when I connected 
with his back, connected hard and solidly.  With my left hand I grabbed his shirt 
and pushed him against the doorframe while I pounded his back some more, 
concentrating on the area over his kidneys.  This was the taller, heavier one.  I 
hit him again and again while the person outside pushed against the door I had 
my person pressed against.  The door would heave in a couple inches and I 
would hit the person some more and slam my shoulder into his back and the 
door would close again. After possibly a dozen punches into his back and 
kidneys I stepped back and jerked him away from the wall by his collar while 
pressing a foot against one of his knees.  As he toppled backward I grabbed his 
head with both hands to drive it with all my weight against the hard floor.  The 
sound it made when it slammed and bounced told me he was not a problem now.  

I heard the door open quickly and I moved in a low crouch back behind it, 
feeling it with one hand as it swept inward.  Kathy said I would be safe in the 
dark of the room, but the person in the hallway could see that his friend was 
lying on the floor.  I wonder about darkness.

The person in the hallway called a name to the one lying on the floor, then 
finally stepped into the room.  I pushed the door shut again and moved in my 
low crouch in front of it, hoping I would find the other person before he found 
me.   I expected he would try to get to the door again but he moved to the side 
instead.  Perhaps he couldn't see where I was after all, but he knew there was 
someone nearby who had put down his friend.  He was being careful.  The 
unconscious man was lying on top of one of my little piles of glass, but I heard 
the footstep on the other pile.  Still crouching low I instantly leaped to that spot 
and threw a hard uppercut, certain I would find something to hit.  My fist landed 
in a classic low blow, but we had no refs to see it.  I stepped left around the 
person's right side in case he was able to hit back and was about to throw 
another searching uppercut when I heard the incredible explosion of a gun going 
off inches from me.  I put out my left hand and felt a sleeve that I grabbed and 
threw the punch as hard as I could about where I guessed his head would be.  
Maybe I broke my hand then, but I felt part of his face on my knuckles.  I 
gripped his arm as he tried to turn toward me with his gun and I struck again, 
this time into his body at the same time I jerked him toward me.  He stumbled 
and I grabbed the arm with both hands and twisted with all my strength.  
Through the ringing in my ears from the gun blast I heard him yelling and I 
heard the gun hit the floor. He followed the direction I was twisting his arm as I 
was pulling him off his feet.  He landed on his knees facing away from me and I 
slammed my own knee against the back of his head.  I straightened his arm and 
slammed my knee against his elbow and heard the sound of it giving way at the 
same time I heard him screaming in pain.  I drove him flat onto the floor and 
dropped my weight on one knee against his elbow again and then once more.  
As he lay sobbing on the floor I felt with one hand until I found his gun.  I felt 
the other man, still lying as I had left him but breathing.  He didn't have a gun I 
could find.  I could have shot them both, and I told the conscious man so.  I 
whispered that I was stepping outside and that he had to stay exactly where he 
was and be very quiet.  If he moved I would know it and I would kill him.  I 
would kill him slowly and with my bare hands.  The darkness was his only 
friend now, I said.  I think he believed me because he was lying very still and 
weeping quietly when I stepped out the back door of the little room into Joey's 
office and closed the door.  In front of the big desk was a visitor's chair that I 
quietly propped against the door.

I have handled guns before as evidence in trials.  I was able to open this one and 
take out the bullets and toss them out the window Julie had opened.  I would 
take the gun part way with me and leave it where it would be safe.  The little 
room next door was quiet, and I could not hear the corridor from this larger 
inner room.  Kathy and Julie had had enough head start.  It was time for me to 
go.

*    *    *    *

Men tend to be such children about blood.  They grow up thinking it's all 
supposed to stay inside their bodies so when some gets out they make a crisis of 
it.  If mum can't fix it with sticking plaster and a kiss they start looking for the 
emergency ward.  From the time I was twelve I started losing more between my 
legs than this bastard had got out my nose and I never thought a thing of it since.  
Like the important things in life it was all in the appearance and starting about 
then I learned to put on a good appearance.  My nose was broken and that hurt 
like fury, but pain seems to be more our lot than men's as well.  My beak had 
been broken before and it wasn't so off-center as other times.  Again, it's 
appearance that matters and I'd have it put right straight away after I settled the 
business at hand.  I have a doctor practically in my family now.

The blood from my nose ran down and was dripping off my chin.  I smeared it 
around on my face a little more, knowing a tablespoon worth can make a ghastly 
appearance when spread thin over an area.  The bit that had fallen on my white 
blouse would soon make it look as if I had been gutted like a pig.  I wiped my 
bloody hand on the blouse to increase that effect as well.   Then I stood up.

The cocky bastard was still laughing and pointing out to his cronies the damage 
he had done.  I took a couple steps toward him, trying to look all a-tremble and 
unsteady, holding one arm across my midsection as if I had never done a sit-up 
and couldn't take a punch to the stomach.  With a big smile he reached both 
hands to grab the collar of my blouse, evidently intending to rip it off and 
continue his humiliation.  I clapped both hands over his ears, making a sharp 
slapping sound -- possibly the last he would hear.  I grabbed his ears and 
smashed my forehead into his nose, pleased to hear it crunch and more pleased 
at how flat it got after my second head butt.  He gave a gurgling yelp when I 
kneed him in the groin, a yelp that turned into a shriek when I speared the rigid 
fingers of my right hand directly into his eyes.  Pick on a blind woman?  Now 
you'll know what it's like, tough guy.

I left him in a large pitiable heap as I turned toward Victor.  "Do you begin to 
understand now that this has nothing to do with arresting you?"  

The one by the door made a small sound as he reached to grab me from behind.  
I kicked backward into his kneecap, then spun and booted his head like a rugby 
ball as his leg folded under him.

Victor looked from me to Julie to his two fallen helpers.  For just a moment his 
look of smug indifference broke.  He actually seemed nervous, backing to the 
doorway into the inner office as I glared at him.  Then he remembered his own 
gun and seemed to get a transfusion of nerve.  He aimed the pistol at me.  
"You're right.  There aren't going to be any arrests.  Nice try but I'm still getting 
out of here with my hostages.  As far as the cops are concerned I haven't killed 
anyone and I'll just plug you where you'll only wish you were dead."

"If you shoot you better be sure to kill me.  You guys have a bad habit of 
underestimating what it will take to stop me."  

As he raised the gun I saw a pair of thick arms emerge out of the gloom behind 
him.  One circled his face and the other reached across to grip his shoulder.  
Then they jerked in opposite directions and I heard a noise like a snapping stick 
as he went limp and settled to the floor. 

For the briefest moment a half-dressed Betty stood framed in the doorway.  
Then she stepped back around the corner into the darkness.

"Party's over.  You can come out now," I called to her, then helped Julie tear her 
arms free and get out of her chair.

"We should have apprehended him and turned him over for trial and 
punishment," Julie said, looking down at Victor with the same passion as if 
discussing the price of lettuce.  "He should have been brought to justice."  

"I'm just a lawyer," Betty replied, stepping back into the room.  "I follow what 
the law allows and let other people work out the justice part.  I think it worked 
out for the parties on my side.  And don't you start, Kathy.  The ledge was 
perfectly safe since I did have a diversion to keep them from seeing me out 
there.  And whenever I hear someone doing some balance maneuver people are 
always saying `Don't look down'.  I didn't.  Your nose sounds stuffy.  Are you 
getting a cold?  My feet are freezing so I may be joining you by morning."  

Julie glanced around at the carnage in the room.   "You girls did all the fighting, 
but I was the one who was a soldier.  I just stood and watched.  I should have 
been the one to fight them."  She looked down at her powerful hands, then up at 
each of us in turn.

I restrained myself from crawling all over Betty and instead joined Julie getting 
the man and woman loose.  For once I was glad Betty couldn't see me in my 
current condition.  Instead she perceived past a little gore and torn clothes to 
know I was doing fine, just as I knew she was.  As I congratulated myself on 
self restraint the two Hunt brothers burst into the room.  The 'J' one rushed to 
Julie who swept him into her vast arms and swung him around in a big circle.  
He hardly looked embarrassed at all as his wife displayed her power in front of 
his family.  If he were a couple inches taller and broader like his brother Ernie 
instead of being about my size I might have tried to beat Julie to his side, but he 
isn't quite my type.  I don't mind picking on women my own size but it gets 
awkward somehow with men.  Too much competition about who will play the 
part of hammer and who the anvil, I suppose, whereas sorting that out with 
women is half the fun.

"The police finally got here.  They'll be up in a second, but we couldn't wait.  Is 
everyone all right?  Kathy, we have to get you to a hospital."  Ernie was trying 
to take charge in the midst of the chaotic scene he had stumbled into.

"We're fine, but you and Joseph might check on this couple.  Julie, you and I 
need to do some costume adjustments.  My blouse is a bloody ruin and I can't be 
seen in it.  And I need to wash my face.  I have another dress that was going to 
be your Christmas present.  How about if you help me get cleaned up, lend me 
your elf outfit, and you put on the dress I have in Joseph's office in a box?  We 
can go into his examining room and get changed.  It might take thirty minutes 
tops for us to get ready.  There is some cleaning that needs to get done in your 
offices, Joe, then Julie and I will need time alone there to put ourselves together. 
No, don't bother about my nose.  There will be time tomorrow to get it taken 
care of.  We two have some more urgent business that simply can't wait."  

Betty chimed in, "Ernie, be a dear and keep an eye on things here and show the 
police around when they finally come up.  We can make brief statements now 
but let them know we'll come down to talk with them as much as they like 
tomorrow.  Even if it is Christmas.  I need to get dressed again myself"

Once we were alone in Joey's examining room I held up the tiny dress I had 
brought for Julie.  "Let me dress as the elf and you go visit shut-ins in this.  It's 
guaranteed to pick up their pulses.  I'd borrow it for the evening but with my 
legs in a skirt that short I'd be sure to be arrested.  The other advantage of this 
dress is that it will help you make a quicker getaway when you finish your 
rounds.  You can run in it, Joseph will be reminded that gifts are also meant to 
be received, and it will save you valuable seconds once you reach home.  If he 
lets you get that far before he takes advantage of his bride."  I could picture Julie 
choosing to give an advantage but the idea of anyone taking anything from her 
was preposterous.

She looked at the shimmering little bit of cloth for a moment, then swept off her 
t-shirt and held out her hand for it.  I thought I had prepared myself for the sight 
of all her power laid nearly bare in front of me inside a tiny room, but I was 
wrong.  I nearly whimpered just at the sight of her triceps hanging below as she 
reached one mighty arm toward me.  I stepped right up toe to toe with her and 
draped the dress across her palm.  At the same time I gripped that great muscular 
appendage and we locked eyes.  She blushed and looked at the floor but didn't 
draw away.

"Sometimes in the army, we'd have maneuvers or a difficult apprehension.  
Afterwards we'd feel so close to our comrades we might do things that wouldn't 
be right otherwise."  Julie was stammering just a bit as she made what was for 
her a long speech.  Finally she forced herself to look up from the floor into my 
face.  "The women more often than the men, I think.  We were like soldiers 
tonight.  Even if you felt that way, we could still be friends after.  I just wanted 
you to know that."

It took me a second to decode this.  We were about to get primitive in a way I 
hadn't expected Julie, with all her rigid military bearing, to have known 
anything about.  Oh, happy surprise.  I stepped an inch closer so we were nearly 
belly to belly as I reached down for the buttons of her pants.  "You won't be 
able to wear a bra with this dress.  You'll have to remove it.  And I brought you 
some different underwear.  There won't be any wrinkles in the dress if you'd 
just like to toss it over on the chair."  I had never thought the woman was dumb.  
By the time I had her jeans half unbuttoned her bra had joined the dress in a 
heap on the chair and her thick fingers were at work on my belt.  Her incredible 
physique radiating heat like an iron stove inches from me was such a distraction 
my undressing work went slower than I wanted, but I was jerking her pants 
down inside ten seconds.  

"You're strong," she whispered as she pulled my blouse down off my arms.  "I 
should have guessed you were strong.  I like that."  She ran her fingers over my 
ridged abdominals.  I didn't even attempt a muscle display with Julie.  She could 
see that I have built myself up more than ninety-nine percent of women, but she 
also knew I was a slim reed next to her.  I took her compliment and just began 
feeling those great arms and licking that broad chest in return.  

Then I had my insight.  "You've always been the strong one making love with 
women, haven't you?  Even with most men including Joseph?  Would you like 
me to be the strong one?"  I bent and scooped her up in my arms, trying not to 
make it look like a strain.  "Lie back and let yourself be a Christmas gift.  Just be 
safe in my arms and let me take care of everything.  If something goes faster or 
harder than you want, say so.  If you want something else or you want me to 
stop, speak and it shall be done."  I carried her to an examining table and laid 
her on the paper covering.  Not romantic but hygienic.  I needed a different 
image than hammer and anvil. "You are my gift tonight, and I am yours.  The 
rustling you hear is the wrapping paper coming off in layers.  Let things unfold 
without your forcing them.  In your mind, picture yourself as the most 
beautifully wrapped present you have ever seen under a tree.  That is what I am 
seeing.  Inside is a gift more wondrous than even the beautiful wrapping can 
suggest.  You are that gift for me tonight."  Mostly I'm an autodidact and have 
been accused of trying to tart things up too much.  Julie's look of utter surrender 
told me this time I wasn't troweling on the language any too thick.

*   *    *    *	

 "Joey, I think you found a real fairy princess to look after you and for you to 
take care of," I announced as we rejoined the group in our new clothes. I linked 
arms with Betty while all the male jaws dropped at Julie's changed appearance.  
" She keeps smiling,"  I whispered in Betty's ear while Julie crossed the room to 
give Joseph another rib cracking hug and deep kiss.

"Thirty minutes in a room with you, with the whole idea being that she'd take 
her clothes off?  I'm surprised I don't hear her yodeling.  Kathy, with all this 
ugliness I really don't feel like going out with the newly weds tonight. Could we 
go to your hotel right now, after you take me to a church?  I need confession for 
what I've already done tonight.  Maybe then you can share your secret and give 
me something for my Christmas Day confession.  Fairy princess indeed!"  I was 
already tingling all over, and now having Betty breathing this into my ear and 
holding me tight against her side was about to send me over the edge.  For some 
reason my mind veered over into a plan to prepare for twelve days of Christmas 
next year.  Great Lords a Leaping!

Julie came over as Betty and I were about to sneak away to thank me once more 
for the dress "and everything".  I took her two hands in mine and said, "I know 
you're sometimes self-conscious about your looks.  Now do you believe me that 
I think you're beautiful?  This one time, let me see you flex your pretty arms, 
right here in public."  She hesitated only a moment before giving me an 
unforgettable display.  "Betty, look how beautiful she is."  As Betty reached 
forward to feel, I guided her hand to trace the enormous grin lighting the strong 
woman's face.  We each gave her a peck on the cheek and made our exit.

"If you ever call me superficial again, I'll give you the same treatment she just 
got.  I think some of Julie's muscles rubbed off on me.  Do you think I'm strong 
enough to bench press you ten times?  Not with all your heavy clothes, of 
course.  And now that you've told me you can get happy enough to sing, you've 
set me a new challenge.  Start warming up the vocal chords, my dear."  
Throughout our encounter Julie had been surprisingly gentle, despite an 
occasional display of incredible power and muscular endurance.  I was warmed 
up and hungry for my first sleep-over with Betty in months.  Gentle love-making 
has its place, but I know ways to safely crash that barrier when I'm with Betty.

  *     *     *    *	

My friends and I sometimes debate the value of men.  Are they worth the bother 
their existence has caused throughout history?   Is there a constructive role they 
play in the grand scheme of the universe?  Did God in Her wisdom have a 
purpose in mind when she created them or are they proof that everything is a 
cosmic accident?  I generally come down on the side that they are worth keeping 
around.  Even aside from whatever sexual rewards one finds from time to time, 
keeping them out of trouble and restraining their hurting other creatures 
improves the herding and nurturing skills of the rest of us, forcing us to evolve 
and adapt to whatever they might be getting up to next.  Just as the shepherds on 
watch that night two millennia ago had a responsibility to preserve the sheep no 
matter how stupid and troublesome they seemed, we have an obligation to keep 
men around.  Although some days I can be argued around to the other 
perspective.