Chapter 1

Christmas season is a time of joy and it had always been for me. Our street had a Christmas party and then another party at New Years. We had a couple in the summer too. One on the Fourth of July and one to wind the summer down on Labor Day, before the kids went back to school. Mary and I had been married eight years--almost nine, actually. We had two kids, a little girl, named (Edie) Edith who was seven, and a son, Josh. Josh had just turned five and was to start kindergarten when school resumed in the coming new year.

Our house was a small three-bedroom ranch, very much like the others on the street. If I had a little too much to drink sometimes, I just looked for the sign on the mailbox that said, "The Dirkson Borlands" and I knew I was home.

The Christmas party was always on the second Saturday of December. This was held then so that it wouldn't interfere with family doings near the actual holiday. At the end of the street was a big ancient mansion that was the home of Max Stinger. His ancestors had at one time owned acres and acres of land, but over time it had been chopped up into house lots, one of which my home was built on.

Max Stinger was nearing forty-five years of age and was the only surviving member of the once numerous clan that had settled the region two hundred years ago. He opened his house for these get-togethers and that was the only time he mixed with the rest of the street's inhabitants. I think he liked to play "Lord of the Manor" as his ancestors had most likely done in the past. We became friends and for some reason enjoyed each other's company, even though we were from different backgrounds.

Mary, my wife, I would describe as soft and cuddly. She wasn't when we married though, being thin and trim at five-foot-three. But over the years and with birthing our two kids she had broadened in the beam and could never seem to shrink her breasts that had so amply fed our babies. I loved her shape and I loved her and I never doubted her love for me.

Mary had one fault that I often warned her about--she liked to flirt. Her answer was always, "Nobody takes me seriously and it's fun. Besides nobody but you could love this body of mine."

When Mary had been drinking which she sometimes did to excess at these parties, she often went beyond flirting and did a little teasing. At that point I would usually drag her home and make love to her. She was one hot little wife when she was in this condition.

At the last party on Labor Day, teasing some of the neighborhood men, she had actually dropped the top part of her one piece bathing suit. There was no way this was a slip and when I found out about it, I blasted her right in front of the other neighbors. This time I didn't make love to her when we reached home for I was really pissed. We fought about her actions most of the month of September before I relented. Sporadically we became the loving couple again after I promised I wouldn't humiliate her in front of the neighbors. Mary promised to tone down her flirting and watch her teasing.

This was the only fault I had with my wife. That bitter argument was an exception, though sometimes we argued about money. My job was head security officer in a bakery that baked mostly bread. It paid fairly well and Mary supplemented our income some by working part time and odd hours, in the local Dollar Store. Still it seemed as if there was never enough money to go around for all our needs.

My brother and his wife, Paul and Paula Borland, lived in the same town. They discovered early on in their marriage that they couldn't have children, so they lavished affection by the carload on our kids. I guess they were almost as much parents to my kids as Mary and I were. This was great when we had to go somewhere. If we had a meeting or a party to attend, they would beg to baby-sit.

At times you find your job sucks. It only happened once in every four years, but this year it was my turn to work weekends the month of December. If that wasn't bad enough, I was scheduled in for the night shift as well. Mary raised hell about it, but there wasn't anything I could do. Oh I tried, but no one would swap shifts with me for the upcoming party.

I promised to take her to the party, but I couldn't imbibe and I had to leave shortly after ten to be at work at eleven. I told her if she wanted to stay, then she would have to find her own way home. Well, it was only a short distance and it was just neighbors partying, so I thought she was safe enough. I would mention it to Max Stinger and he would make sure he got her loaded into a vehicle with a neighbor that lived near to us.

The kids were over at my brother's for the weekend. Mary had purchased a red velvet dress that she was cute in. It might have been a little too short for my taste, but Mary said nobody was going to be peeking up her dress on Christmas. She claimed she bought it at the used dress shop. I hoped so because we were going to be stretched pretty damn thin after Christmas. I asked her to go light on the Christmas cheer and not do anything like she did at the Labor Day picnic. I got a disgusted look and a halfhearted promise.

It was a joyful crowd at the party and pretty tame compared to what it tended to be sometimes. My neighbors were unwinding and getting ready for the rush to the holiday. We all did a little kissing under the mistletoe just because it was expected. Mary had one drink and was working on the second when it came time for me to go to work. I figured it was safe to leave her as she was still sober, so I said my good-byes and hurried home to change.

I saw Mary's keys on the table so when I left home, I flicked the security switches on and left the house unlocked. On my job I had received a huge discount on some of these security devices so I had installed lights and some other things in my own home. I had installed cameras throughout the house and lights outside. Mary wasn't aware that I had installed a voice activated console that recorded both video and audio that went with the unit. There was one other thing I hadn't bothered to tell her about. I could access what went on at home live from the computer in my office at work. I did this sometimes to make sure Mary got home safe if she was out.