Chapter 8

Soon, I had both hands back on Michelle’s supple ass cheeks. As I gave each of them a firm squeeze, I couldn’t help thinking, Damn baby, how did you manage to make your ass so fucking sexy? As if God didn’t bless you enough already with the rest of your body. I’m starting to believe you’re really in it for the long haul. Which means this ass is going to get fucked. By ME!

I announced to the group, “Okay, I’m sure everybody knows the drill by now. I’m going to spank as much or as little as amuses me, but I think I’m going to aim for forty smacks this time.” I felt Michelle’s ass cheeks clench up as I said that, and they stayed that way.

I continued, “Remember, after each smack you need to say the number of the spank, and then, ‘Thank you, Master. May I please have another?’ If you forget, that smack doesn’t count. Sweetheart, don’t worry about trying to synch your efforts with mine or anything. Just do what you want, when you want. And remember, our goal here today isn’t to punish my rebellious cock slaves, but make them cum a lot.”

I paused for dramatic effect, and then added, “Oh yeah. One more thing. Girls, remember that you’re not allowed to cum until I give you permission.”

The two Hellions groaned in frustration, but I knew that they loved it.

Mindy threw her hands in the air in exasperation. “So, I’m supposed to just start whaling on Ruby’s ass? Just like that?! And then you want me to ... play with her ... between slaps?”

“Exactly.” I looked down and smiled, because Cindy was scooting in between my body and the table so she could resume her cocksucking attack. I was so close to the table that much of her body, including all of her legs, would actually be behind me. I let out a sigh of pleasure as she engulfed my cockhead and resumed sliding her lips back and forth over my sweet spot. She also stuck her hands through the gap between my legs and then reached up to clutch at my ass cheeks.

While I was distracted with that, I heard Sue Ellen say to my wife, “Don’t worry. I’ve never done this before either, but I’m sure it’ll be easy. I’ll help you every step of the way.”

“Can you do the spanking part?” Mindy asked.

“Unfortunately, no. Master wouldn’t approve.”

Min frowned, but it looked like she resolved to do her part.

I was going to warn Cindy to merely lick me instead of sucking me, for fear of injury due to the unexpected spanking motions. But she was one step ahead of me. Sensing the spanking was about to begin, she switched to sucking me with her lips over her teeth, as if she was imitating someone toothless. True, it didn’t feel as good that way, but a blowjob is still a blowjob.

The calm was suddenly broken when I suddenly slammed my open palm down onto Michelle’s nearest ass cheek. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Ruby, Sue Ellen, and Mindy flinch.

Only Michelle seemed ready, because she still had her ass cheeks tightly clenched in anticipation. And soon as I was done, she briskly barked, “One! Thank you, Master! May I please have another?”

I was all smiles, because I knew she was loving this (finally!), and that made me feel good. “You may. But first, Mindy let’s see you get started.”

Mindy whined uncharacteristically, “Do I really have to?”

“You do. Look at it this way. Think back to all the years when Ruby practically grew up in this house. Remember how she and Michelle were like two little tornados, making a big mess everywhere they went, never cleaning up after themselves? Remember all the trouble they got into? You could punish Michelle any way you wanted to, but Ruby could always run back to her house. Did you ever want to just give her a really good spanking? Well, now you can!”

Mindy stared down at Ruby’s flawless bubble butt as if with new eyes. “Oh! That’s different. Why didn’t you tell me that before? Can I really just kind of ... whale on her ass and punish her for all she’s done wrong?”

Michelle’s legs were spread about as wide as the table could allow. I reached between her legs and idly slid my index finger up and down her juicy slit. “Of course you can. True, this isn’t a harsh spanking, but these girls like it rough. Don’t hold back! Let’s make their ass cheeks glow! Ready?”

Mindy had yet to really touch Ruby’s face down body at all, but she stared at Ruby’s ass with increased interest. “Really? I can do that?”

“Of course you can. Go wild. Trust me, you cannot spank her too hard. Now, let’s see less talk and more spanking! DO IT!”

With that, she suddenly swung her hand down. There was a loud smacking sound as hand hit flesh.

Fortunately, Ruby was ready. “One! Thank you, my master’s wife! May I please have another?”

I liked how Ruby slightly edited that, since I wasn’t doing the actual spanking to her. To show Mindy that she was on the right track, I immediately followed that with another smack from on high.

Michelle buckled a little, and then said, “Two! Thank you, Master! May I please have another?”

I nodded to Mindy, and she swung with gusto.

Ruby shouted, “Two! Thank you, my master’s wife! May I please have another?”

I reverted to fondling Michelle’s luscious body for a while as I asked Mindy, “So? What do you think?”

She stared at me with an excited, flushed expression. I could see her bare breasts were starting to heave up and down. “I could ... I think ... I could get into this!”

I chuckled. “Good!” I smacked Michelle again, and Michelle said her required phrase.

Mindy did the same with Ruby, and Ruby responded with her required phrase. But then she paused and asked, “Hubby o’ mine, I find it hard to believe that all the while we’re doing this, you’re getting your cock sucked. That’s especially true since I can only hear Cindy’s vigorous sucking but I can’t see her at all from here. How does it feel? And isn’t it potentially dangerous?”

I replied, “It feels fantastic, of course. I told Cindy to take it easy on me, but it seems her enthusiasm is getting the best of her.”

Chastened, Cindy tried to slow down. I wasn’t sure if that would help me endure much though, because she wasn’t just clutching my ass cheeks with both hands anymore: one of her hands had drifted into my ass crack, and she was fingering my asshole! She wasn’t digging deep enough to massage my prostate, so I figured I could allow that for now.

Cindy’s poking reminded me to give Michelle’s gooey pussy a good fingering while we talked. I mostly just rubbed the outer lips, since I didn’t want to endanger her hymen. As I did that, I told my wife, “As for the danger, to be honest, I didn’t even think about that until after we got started. But I’m being extra careful to keep my lower body still and only move my arms. Besides, Cindy’s got her lips drawn back over her teeth, so if she accidentally bites down in surprise, it’ll be okay. If things get more vigorous, I’ll tell her to switch to licking, but frankly I’m enjoying what she’s doing too much to insist on that just yet.”

To my surprise, as soon as I finished talking, Mindy let loose with another hard smack, putting her ahead of me in the spank count.

For the next few minutes, both Mindy and I spanked our daughters to our heart’s content. There wasn’t much sexual fondling, and Sue Ellen had hardly started to touch either Mindy or Ruby yet. But that was fine by me. I knew it would be good to get everyone warmed up with a good amount of “normal” spanking before things got more intimate.

Occasionally, my wife would shout things at Ruby, like “That’s for the time you broke my favorite lamp and didn’t even say sorry!” Clearly, she had a lot of built-up frustration to let out.

As both Mindy and I neared twenty spanks each, Ruby spoke for the first time, other than the required words after each smack. “Master? Permission to ask a question?”

“Go ahead.”

“When we get to twenty, can you and Mindy change places? Please?”

“Perhaps,” I replied. In fact, I didn’t want that to happen. I had a secret agenda to get Mindy aroused over fondling female bodies, and I knew that would be a lot harder if she was touching Michelle.

But since I’d stated that I was aiming for forty smacks total, it made sense to switch at twenty. So before we went any further with the number count, I said, “By the way, let’s switch gears here for a minute. Mindy, as you can see, our target asses are getting quite red. You might even call the one in front of you a Ruby red ass.”

“Ha ha,” my wife replied, not that amused.

“And since this is a sexy spanking, it’s time to give some comfort. Cupcake, show her what I mean.”

Sue Ellen stepped forward and pressed herself up against Mindy. She had the good excuse of needing to get within close reach of Ruby’s ass, but I suspect she was also following my secret instructions to get as intimate with Mindy as possible. She lightly ran her hands over Ruby’s round ass cheeks.

She told my wife, “Touch her here. Like this. See?”

Mindy asked uncertainly, “But doesn’t that hurt?”

“Yeah, a bit,” Sue Ellen admitted. “But just brush it lightly, like you’re finding that sweet boundary between touching and not touching. And if it hurts, it’s a ‘hurts so good’ kind of feeling. Besides, we’re cock slaves. We love to get spanked. Any kind of spanking! The pain helps remind us that our role is to serve and obey.”

Both Michelle and Ruby responded by moaning with erotic satisfaction, indicating their full agreement.

Sue Ellen took her hands from Ruby’s ass and then pulled one of Mindy’s hands to Ruby’s nearest butt cheek. “Here. Touch it. Caress it. Love it. Remember that you’ve been hurting her. You’ve been MEAN! It’s time that you make it up to her a little bit. Show her that you care by the way that you fondle her body. Meanwhile, I’m going to move around the corner of the table to get between her legs so I can do some of what Master is doing.”

Mindy looked over at me and was startled to see that while I had one hand lightly caressing Michelle’s ass cheeks in the same way that Sue Ellen had just been caressing Ruby’s, I was using my other hand to rhythmically probe deep into Michelle’s hot cunt.

Mindy had both hands on Ruby’s ass, thanks to Sue Ellen, and she kept them there. But she protested to me, “I hope you don’t expect me to do THAT!”

I replied confidently, “Oh, you will. Maybe not just yet, if you’re not ready, but you will. For now, just show Ruby’s ass cheeks that you’re not mad at them anymore.”

I bent over and kissed my way along the middle of one of Michelle’s ass cheeks to show what I meant. Then, since I was so close, I kissed and licked my way to Michelle’s ass crack.

Michelle purred, and moaned contentedly, “Oh, Daddy...” My darling girl even managed to strain a little bit to lift her ass submissively towards my lips, showing me how much she craved my contact there.

I found it amusing that even as I licked Michelle’s ass crack, Cindy was fingering my asshole (and still blowing me, of course). In celebration of that, I licked the ring around Michelle’s asshole too.

Meanwhile, Sue Ellen had taken her new position standing between Ruby’s legs. There was enough table to support Ruby’s legs almost to her knees, and the rest dangled straight out over the edge. (It was the same with Michelle.) This enabled Sue Ellen to be within easy reach of Ruby’s cunt. She immediately began sliding two fingers up and down it while using her other hand to caress nearby, including along Ruby’s ass crack.

Ruby wiggled around a little bit and moaned erotically. “Mmmm! Yes ... Oh, Daddy!”

Mindy still had her hands on Ruby’s ass cheeks, but she wasn’t moving them much. She asked Ruby, “Why do you say ‘Oh Daddy’ when it’s Sue Ellen and I who are touching you?”

Ruby replied in a blissed out yet lusty voice, “Because it all goes back to Daddy. All pleasure and control flows from him. When you two touch me, I like to think it’s four of Daddy’s hands on me.”

Michelle let out an extra loud moan. It may have been because of the way I was rubbing her G-spot, but I suspect it had more to do with her loving the fantasy idea of no less than four of “Daddy’s hands” on her at the same time.

Cindy seemed to like that a lot too, because I felt her lips tremble as they stayed tightly locked around my thickness. It would have been that she was trying a vibration technique on me, but her extra passionate and prolonged moaning at the same time made it pretty clear that she was having an orgasm. She was still using one hand to poke in and around my asshole, but I’d lost track of her other hand. I figured she was probably fingering her pussy.

I could see that Mindy was incredibly aroused, and that was finally helping her loosen up enough to start fondling Ruby’s ass in the proper erotic way. As she did that, she asked me, “So ... does this mean that the spanking part of this is over?”

“Oh, no!” I replied almost indignantly. “Definitely not.” To show her I meant it, I suddenly raised my hand up and let it fly down.

Michelle’s ass shook a little bit, but she gamely responded, “Eighteen! Thank you, Master, may I please have another?”

Ignoring that, as usual, I continued to explain to my wife, “You have to get in the right mindset. Don’t think of these girls as your daughters. Sure, they are, but that’s not what they primarily are at this very moment. They’re your sexual playthings. Toys for your amusement. Do whatever you want. Spank them. Fondle them. Finger them, though be careful of their virginities, of course. Whatever you do, they’re going to love it. And they’ll end up cumming and cumming!”

I was amused to hear all of my slaves erotically moan in response to that. Cindy was so inspired that she suddenly tried to deep throat me. She didn’t get very far, but the resulting loud gagging noises brought about another round of sexy moans from everyone else.

Mindy was the only one who didn’t moan both times, perhaps because she was focused on her dilemma. She responded indignantly, “I’m definitely NOT going to do any fingering today. Besides, Sue Ellen is taking good care of that already.”

Her words said one thing, but the way she lustily watched Sue Ellen slide her fingers over Ruby’s soaked snatch over and over again said something else. It looked like Sue Ellen was working Ruby’s clit with her thumb at the same time.

I knew that Mindy was aroused beyond belief. One could see the fire in her eyes and the way her chest kept on heaving with excitement. I could even smell her arousal despite all the other wet pussies in the room. But it was clear that she was struggling mightily to control herself, and mostly succeeding.

This was starting to bother me. I decided it was time for sterner measures. I told Sue Ellen, “It looks like my wife needs some encouragement. Please take her hand and show her that she won’t get cooties if she touches Ruby’s pussy.”

I watched as Sue Ellen did just that. I was mildly surprised that Mindy put up no resistance, either verbal or physical. Then I remembered that in past incidents she didn’t show much reluctance to woman-on-woman activity as long as there was some fig-leaf of being “forced” to do it. Obviously, she preferred it if she was absolved of all responsibility. I made a mental note to “force” her more often.

Cindy was continuing to wiggle her finger deeper and deeper into my ass, even as she kept up her non-stop oral attack. Eventually, she reached my prostate. I very nearly came then and there, because it resulted in a such a surge of arousal. I had to tell her, “Cin, please, don’t. It feels too good! Don’t make me cum in the middle of all this.”

Luckily, she listened. She went right back to playing with my anus, but she didn’t poke in deep enough to reach my prostate. And, of course, her lips and tongue kept on pleasuring my cock relentlessly. It was a wonder I didn’t cum, even without her deep anal fingering.

Meanwhile, I was continuing to play with Michelle’s incredible body non-stop. I caressed her pussy lips most of the time, occasionally carefully poking in to her hymen, but sometimes I reached further underneath and played with her clit. And even though she was face down, at times I played with her big tits. Usually, she’d sense what I wanted and lift or tilt herself a bit so I could reach more tit-flesh. Since my hands were usually doing different things, I even spent a surprising amount of time simply caressing her back. She has such a flawless, tanned, and fit body that touching her anywhere was a pleasure.

All of my efforts were paying off. She’d been moaning louder and more insistently, but now she finally spoke up to say, “Master, please! I can’t take it anymore! Can I cum? Please?!”

I pretended cluelessness. “Hmmm. What’s that? It sounds like the voice of a cock slave who forgot to ask for permission to speak.” Of course, normally I didn’t have any rule about asking permission to speak, but during a spanking I got more domineering and they got more submissive.

Michelle groaned needfully at the delay. “Daddy? Master! Please? Permission to speak?”

“Granted. What is it you want to ask?” I asked that rather redundant question just to draw things out. I knew she was in sweet agony, fighting hard not to cum without permission.

She gasped, “Please! Master! Please! May I cum? Pretty, pretty please?!”

Her talk about cumming made me consider my own situation. It’s impossible to deny that I’d gotten fairly spoiled about the way my dick was pleasured so constantly. Cindy had been sucking on my shaft without pause, and usually stroking my shaft or fondling my balls with one hand while fingering my asshole with her other one. I was enjoying the endless erotic high she was giving me, but with the others distracting and delighting me, I hadn’t been consciously thinking about what she was doing at all.

Now, I took the time to do just that. I made a mental note of how good Cindy was getting at stimulating my sweet spot. She wasn’t going for a lot of tricks or variety. Instead, she kept on sliding her tightly sealed lips back and forth over my sweet spot while her tongue kept on licking it inside her mouth as well. That, plus her anal fingering, was so extremely effective in making me feel good that I had to wonder why I still hadn’t climaxed yet. In fact, I was surprisingly calm and collected.

The only thing I could conclude was that my body was building up some kind of resistance. Mindy had been secretly improving my stamina a couple of years, if not longer, but it seemed my “training” was far from over. In fact, I noticed some improvement just over the past week or two, ever since my sex live had zoomed into overdrive. The arousal and enjoyment was as great as ever, but through practice and repetition I was getting better and better at delaying orgasm.

The implications were almost too great to contemplate. What if Shelle’s vision of my cock slaves taking turns servicing my cock all day long while I go about my usual business actually comes true?! Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick! Isn’t there something morally wrong about one guy feeling that much pleasure?! For one thing, how selfish is that? Even if they take turns, they could be doing a lot better things with their days.

I was taken out of my contemplative mode when Michelle pleaded, “Master! Why aren’t you answering?”

I honestly answered, “Sorry. I was just thinking about how good Cindy’s cocksucking feels.”

With that, Michelle’s entire body stiffened. It seemed that the reminder that I was getting blown was a big turn-on for her. She groaned as if in terrible pain and her ass actually rose a good six inches from the table top. With her body arched up like that, she writhed around and clenched her teeth.

I could tell that she was fighting off the need to cum, but just barely. Any second now she was liable to give in, because a human being can only take so much.

I wanted her to successfully hold out, to reward her for her valiant efforts. However, I realized that I wasn’t helping matters because although I wasn’t thinking about it, I had one hand working on her clit and the other hand working her slit. I quickly pulled both hands away.

That allowed her to ease up enough to at least lower her ass back down to the table. It actually was a testament to just how fit she was that she could hold herself up for as long as she had. She gasped frantically for air while obviously still bracing herself for an orgasmic onslaught.

I couldn’t entirely restrain myself. I ran a hand up her nearest thigh and let my touch linger on her ass. “Poor girl. So close. But you’re holding out. That’s good! But if I were to do most anything at all, such as bending over and blowing air on your asshole...”

I didn’t get to finish my sentence, much less blow on her asshole, because she groaned so loudly that it was nearly a scream. Her entire body twitched and convulsed, yet I could tell she was still successfully holding out.

I had lost track of what was happening with the other three beauties, but Mindy drew my attention by saying, “Dan, dear, please! Shelle is suffering! I can’t stand to watch. Why don’t you let her cum already?”

I looked her way and was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. Things had changed in a short time! Sue Ellen was back by Mindy’s side. She had one arm around Mindy’s back, but that hand was able to reach her far boob and fondle it. Her other hand was caressing Mindy’s taut tummy.

That left no hands for Sue Ellen to do anything to Ruby, but that was fine because Mindy was kneading one of Ruby’s red ass cheeks with one hand and fingering her pussy with the other one! Yes, there was no doubt about it, Mindy was carefully poking two fingers in and out of Ruby’s hot gash like she’d been doing it for years. She was so worked up that when she realized that I was staring at her do it, she blushed. So far, it looked like she was only poking in and out a little bit, but I hoped she remained mindful of Ruby’s hymen.

However, she didn’t even pull out or slow down. She actually stared at her hand in confusion, as if she was wondering why it wasn’t obeying the command to stop coming from her brain.

I decided the best way to handle this was drawing no attention at all to what her hands were doing so as to not spook her. Instead, I tried to keep eye contact with her while answering her question. “Min, if anyone should know about the joys of delayed climax, it should be you.”

She admitted, “True, but within reason.” She asked with genuine uncertainty, “Do I look like that when you fuck me and make me hold out? I sure don’t think so. I mean, if my entire body bent up in the air like an archer pulling on a bow, I would remember that!”

I was considering how to answer that when she added, “And why is it that Michelle is so desperately horny that it seems like she’s gonna die when Ruby clearly is not?”

She looked down at what her hands were doing. “I mean, we’re making some progress here, but...” She gazed up at me again. “Is it that I’m not her actual master? Does that make such a difference? Or is it that I’m not a man?”

Looking closer at Michelle, Mindy realized with a start, “Holy ... She’s actually crying! Tears are rolling down her cheeks!”

I chuckled. “Whoa, woman! Too many questions. It’s none of those things. It’s probably true that she prefers the touch of her master, but it’s mostly that you got started late and you haven’t done that much to Ruby yet. I’ve been fondling Shelle here non-stop, and in her most intimate spots. If you keep up what you’re doing, I can guarantee that in less than five minutes, Ruby will be desperately begging you for permission to cum.”

Surprisingly, Ruby exclaimed, “No I won’t! No offense, Mindy, you’re actually doing a surprisingly good job. But I get permission to cum from my master only! I’m sorry, but he’s the only one who rules and owns my body.” She added with obvious pride, “I’m his big-titted slave! Well, one of them, anyway!”

Nonplussed, I said to my wife, “I stand corrected. Okay, in less than five minutes you’ll get her so worked up that she’ll be begging ME to let her cum.”

My hand was still doing little more than idly running back and forth over Michelle’s ass cheeks. But I’d been keeping a close watch on how she was faring. It appeared that she was slowly coming down from her close call, due to my relative lack of attention to her.

I decided that this would not do. I leaned over and began puffing air directly onto her ass crack.

Her powerful ass muscles immediately clenched up in response and she grunted and groaned needfully.

I didn’t touch her much, but I kept on blowing air on her, directing my breaths slowly but surely towards her sopping wet pussy.

And with my head nearly in her ass, I cooed, “Shelle, my love, if you’re a good slave and you only cum when I give you my permission, you should be rewarded. How would you like that? How would you like a nice reward?”

I started blowing air directly onto her engorged and needy pussy lips. Somehow, her ass clenched up even tighter, because she was struggling hard not to cum again. I whispered to her, knowing she’d be able to hear, “Would you like a big reward? Maybe a big, thick, long, cum-filled reward? A hot -meat lollipop, perhaps?”

She grunted and squealed at that.

Like a lion moving in for a kill, I spoke with my mouth so close to her pussy that I could easily feel the lusty sexual heat radiating from her. My every word was blowing air on her super sensitive, wet nether lips, and driving her wild. “How would you like to do to me what Cindy’s doing right now? Her sliding lips are relentless! Her mouth is so full of cock that she can barely breathe through her nose! Tears of struggle are sliding down her cheeks. Would you like to take over for her?”

Michelle yelled, “YES! Please! So much! Master, please, let me cum! And then ... make me ... make me suck your cock!”

While still breathing hard into her pussy, I slid a finger slowly down her ass crack. Her entire body was shaking. “Do you think you have what it takes, Shelle? Are you a good cock slave?”

“SO GOOD! SO GOOD! Please!”

“What about your sex boycott?”

“FUCK THAT!” she screamed. “God, Daddy, Daddy ... I need ... I need your cock! In my mouth! Oh God! Oh God!” She whimpered helplessly.

My mouth had been so close that I could have easily stuck my tongue out and licked her soaked pussy. But she was trembling so much that I was forced to pull back some. I continued to tease her, “You say that you’re good, but you selfishly insist that you need to cum.”

She whimpered helplessly, “But I have to! Please! I can’t help it! Too ... too hot!”

I sighed theatrically. “Okay. Because I’m a nice master, I’ll let you cum. Starting ... now!”

Those word were barely out of my lips when it was like a switch was flipped in her body. She started screaming, and her writhing turned into a full-on seizure that was almost dangerous to be close to. I had to pull my head further back.

I watched with delight as her body convulsed in curious ways, like she was fighting with some invisible puppet master for control over her limbs.

And, after a while, just when it seemed like she was starting to run out of gas, I took hold of her unhooded clit and gave it a good squeeze.

That triggered yet another wave of flailing arms and legs and desperate screams. Overcome with lust, I thought, If I’ve had ANY doubts before, they’re gone now. Michelle NEEDS to be FUCKED ... HARD! My little girl, the daughter I’ve raised and taught how to ride a bicycle ... she craves and needs lots of cock ... MY cock! She’s not normal. She really is born and bred to be the perfect sex slave! Even her impetuous attitude turns me on!

Through it all, Cindy just kept on keeping on with her fantastic cocksucking. I swear, since I’d taken up my position near Michelle’s ass, Cindy hadn’t pulled her lips off for even a quick breather. But she sensed that with Michelle cumming, I might want to cum too. Her finger that had mostly been playing with the ring of my asshole dug in much deeper until she was massaging my prostrate again. She must have been aware of my earlier order not to do that, but she probably figured it was okay since I was close to cumming anyway. And I thought that she’d been sucking my shaft with tight suction already, but she kicked into some kind of “turbo mode” that made my eyes open wide.

With what seemed like the snap of one’s fingers, I found myself panting hard to get enough oxygen.

I still hadn’t been that close to cumming before her “turbo mode” though, and I figured that if Michelle could hold out to nearly heroic levels, I could hang on longer too. Having Cindy finger my prostate was simply too much though. Too intense! I clenched my teeth and struggled mightily to “endure” a simply unbelievable amount of arousal.

Sure enough, I couldn’t stand it and I blasted a load of hot cum straight down Cindy’s mouth.

I was surprisingly silent, so the others probably didn’t realize I was cumming, unless they happened to look my way and see my head tilted back and my intense facial expression. The only problem was that it was over all too soon.