Chapter 25

Dinner with the Hardesty family was great, as can be expected. Ann's a good cook, one of those who can take a recipe and make it her own. We ate well, although Bill and Theresa were itching to get back outside with the fireworks. And Cindy.

Cindy and Theresa helped Ann clear the tables and secure the kitchen after dinner. Jim and I moved outside and started setting up the bigger fireworks I'd purchased.

"I need a place to site these, Jim," I said.

"Dan, you spent some bucks here," he said, eyeing the collection of pyrotechnics.

"I thought we might want to set the neighborhood back on its heels. Sometimes fun costs money." I unloaded another box full of wires and a box with lights and switches.

"Man, you don't want to drag THAT through the airport, Dan. What is it?" Jim asked.

"My homage to my electrical engineering. It's an electric firing system. Help me string these cables." We strung a pair of wires to each of the fireworks and I taped electric igniters to the fuses. Then I connected the cables to the control box, turned a big key switch to 'test' and tested the circuits. Satisfied, I turned the switch to 'off' and stuck the key in my pocket.

"You've done this before," Jim laughed.

"Uh, yeah ... buncha times. This is my civilian version"

"Ooo-oohhh!," Jim said. "Combat engineer stuff."

"Or whacked out pyrotechnic fool stuff. Or maybe a little of both. You'd've thought we got enough of this way back when..." I said.

"Yeah, but just like flyin', sometimes you get the itch..." Jim answered.

"Yeah, and this is a whole lot more fun when you're not worried about keepin' people on the other side of the ditch. These are a lot prettier than claymores, too."

About that time, Ann walked out with Cindy. "Guys..." and then she saw my toys, "Omigod! Dan! You're nuts!" She laughed.

Cindy laughed too. "I told ya, Mizz Ann. We flew back with that in the cargo compartment."

"Yeah," I said, "Like Jim says, I would have had soooo much fun getting that on a commercial flight ... even without the little explodey things."

"Explodey things?" Ann asked.

"Yeah. Each of these wires goes to an electric igniter, just a little tiny one, but big enough to give TSA apoplexy. When I put the key in and arm it, pushing a button lights off the igniter and that sets off the firework. And I get to sit waaaay back here in a lawn chair and watch the stuff instead of lighting them by hand and running."

Cindy looked at Ann. "See ... don'cha just love it..."

Jim said, "We can go inside or we can stay out here." 'Out here' was noisy as the neighbors were all having their own celebrations. The various bangs and flashes weren't much of an impediment to conversation, though. "I vote for out here."

Ann said, "Cindy, wanna give me a hand bringing our loving husbands some snacks?"

Cindy knew how to handle this one. "Or we could just stand her and let them be satisfied with our presence..."

Ann laughed with Cindy. ""Oh, baby, I've tried. He STILL wants beer and chips!"

"Oooo-kay, then ... let's feed 'em..." Cindy said.

Jim and I waited for our wives to return, then the four of us sat ... Make that three of us. Cindy joined Bill and Teresa in adding to the sights and sounds, shooting rockets into the air.

"I didn't ask," I leaned over to Jim and Ann. "Were you guys planning on hanging around until midnight?"

"Can you stand it? "Ann asked. "That's what we were planning..."

"Okay, then. We're in it until midnight."

We watched and talked, occasionally joined by Cindy, but she was playing, doing things that I honestly think she'd not been able to do in her previous life, watching, talking, excited as other groups of kids from up and down the street made their way around.

Finally she came and sat in the chair next to me. "Okay! I've done that."

"Done what, baby?" I looked at her.

"Lit off just about every firework they had. All we have left to do is our big ones."

Jim said something to her.

"Yessir. You know, Mister Jim, I halfway expected my husband to tow one of those artillery pieces out from somewhere. I mean, he keeps surprising me..." she smiled at me. "Baby?"

"Jim, she doesn't know. And it wouldn't fit in the plane to bring back..."

"Oh, shit, Dan. You have artillery?" Jim was incredulous.

Cindy was staring. "You DO?"

I smiled. "Well, sorta ... One of my jobs, we were messing around in the machine shop of this powerplant, and there was the huge lathe and a big chunk of steel..."

Jim's attention was mine. "And..."

"And we build a bowling ball mortar. Dump in a few ounces of black powder. Drop a bowling ball on top of it, light the fuse, and WHOOM!!!! A bowling ball goes a few hundred yards."

"I cannot believe, Dan. I mean, I've HEARD about those..."

Cindy was resting her chin in her hand, elbow propped on the arm of the chair. "Mister Jim, I told ya. We should've known..."

"Awww," I said, "It's really not that big a deal. I mean, just a toy. After you shoot a dozen bowling balls, it kinda loses its appeal..."

Jim was shaking his head. Ann understood. "Jim, he was SINGLE. He had toys ... You're married. You got me. And Teresa. And Bill."

"And I'd trade all of my toys for Cindy," I said.

"Awwwww," Ann said.

"Nuh-uhhhhh!" Cindy said. "I LIKE your toys. I get to play with 'em. Unless you're gonna buy me a red Extra..."

Jim's ears perked up. "Extra? Like aerobatic..."

Cindy grinned. "Oh, Dan didn't tell you?!?"

"I didn't get around to that part, cutie..."

"So YOU tell me, Miss Cindy. I'm all ears."

And Cindy related that story.

"Now I'm jealous," Jim said. "I always wanted to play with one of those."

Cindy fueled the fire, talking about controls and visualizing maneuvers and then cooled things down. "But Mister Jim, YOU got to play with a fighter jet!"

Jim smiled. "Yes, Miss Cindy. But that was then. This is now..."

Ann reached over and touched Jim's arm and smiled sweetly. He patted her back and feigned a pout. "Cindy got to have fun in a little red airplane an' I didn't!"

"We'll do something fun later, Jimmy," she said, and then turned bright red. Stammering, she said, "I, uh, meant the fireworks."

Cindy giggled. "Oops! Sorry!"

Ann looked flustered. "Mercy! That came out wrong. She playfully slapped at Jim. "See! See what you caused!"

He kissed her hand. "I'm sorry, my love!"

Playful banter, chips and dip, another beer, and it was pushing midnight. By this time of the evening, word had gotten around, too, as in "Hey, they got some BIG fireworks at the Hardesty's" and we had over a dozen more visitors, adults and kids.

"It's show time," I said. I reached in my pocket and retrieved the arming key for the firing box, then bent over and inserted into the keyhole.

Jim asked, "Wanna countdown?"

"Yeah," I said. "I have ten shots. Nine little, and a big one. Let's start at thirty seconds to midnight."

"Okay, you have fifteen seconds to go."

"Everybody stand clear, folks!" I hollered. The crowd was waiting. I held my hand out. "Cindy, love..."

She smiled, face glowing. "Whatever you're doing at midnight on New Year's Eve..."

"Thirty-five ... four ... three ... two... " Dan counted.

I hit the first switch. BOOM! A star shell. When it exploded in the sky, I shot the second ... Heard oooohs and ahhhhs. Third ... Fourth ... sequencing. Cindy was holding my arm with both hands.

Somebody in the crowd started "TEN ... NINE"

Hit my fourth to last... "EIGHT ... SEVEN ... SIX..." third to last. BOOM! "FIVE ... FOUR ... THREE..." second to last. BOOM! "TWO ... ONE..." Simultaneously with shouts of "Happy New Year!!!" I fired the biggest shell and scooped Cindy against me, kissing her in the varicolored glow of the chrysanthemum shell high in the sky.

Our lips parted and I noted that Ann and Jim kissed just a little longer. I shook Jim's hand and hugged Ann and Cindy got hugs from both of them, then the kids.

"Jim, Ann, I hope this New Year brings us as much good as the old one did. I put my arm round my little red-headed cutie. "I started it out right."

"Yeah, buddy," Jim said. "If we can just live up to what our wives deserve..."

We picked up the debris from our little display, accept a few thank yous from the neighbors who'd come over for our finale, and rolled up the cords for my magic box. Finally we said bye to Jim and Ann and headed home.

"Did you have fun, little one," I asked.

"I sure did, baby," she said. "I know I sort of ignored you for a while there, but I never got to do that..."

"Do what?" I asked.

"You know, just run up and down the road with kids, and doing fireworks and stuff."

I glanced at her. Every now and then my amazing wife was replaced by a fourteen year old girl.

"No, it's not like that, my love. You give me, us ... we have a whole different level of excitement. But it was fun for a little while ... and then I realized, whatever those kids were playin' at doin', we, you and me, we're doing it for real. Like playin' Flight Simulator on the computer or preflighting Sissy." 'Sissy' was Cindy's name for our airplane. Like in "Dan, Cessna? That's close to Sissy. And I think she needs a name."

"Thank you for telling me that, sweetheart. Sometimes I wonder if I'm robbing you of your childhood."

"Dan, I'm fourteen! My childhood was over, what little of it I got to enjoy with Mom. I was gonna be a young lady, and Mom wasn't much help for that at all. You know we've talked about this."

We had. "I know, cutie, but still..."

"And exactly what was happening to YOU at midnight? I MADE my choice." She had that 'and you KNOW I'm right' expression.

I gave up. "Oh, I was kissing the most amazing woman on the planet..."

"There!" she huffed. "I will NEVER leave you, Dan."

"'Kay, princess," I said.

She folded her arms across her chest, feigning upset. "Like I'm gonna dump everything WE are to go pop firecrackers twice a year..."

"You made Jim jealous with that Extra business," I said.

"I didn't mean to make him jealous. I just wanted him to know how excited I was that I got to do that." She smiled at me again, finally. "Like you said, he flew Harriers."

"I know, sweetie, but sometimes us older guys would like to have some of the adventures from their younger days. Kinda like me with those fireworks."

"How's that?" she asked.

"When I was in the army, we used to mess around with hundreds of pounds of high explosive. A twenty dollar firework shell is NOTHING. But it's what I have now..."

She was thinking. "And you didn't tell me about that bowling ball thing?"

"Oh. The mortar. Honestly, babe, I haven't played with it in years. It's just stuck in the corner of the garage."

"Do you have any OTHER surprises, my guy?" In the dim cab lighting, I could see the angelic face, bright eyes, and smile."

"I'll have to think, but I'm pretty sure there's nothing significant..."

"You know what?"

"What?" I asked.

"We need to take Mister Jim and Mizz Ann on one of our weekend trips. We could fly somewhere, and rent a car. I'd sit in the back seat with Mizz Ann. I mean, since everybody knows we're married, we could be two couples..."

"That's a thought, you know, princess." I smiled, lightly kicking myself for not seeing the idea myself.

"And we need to find US a concert, too. I love going with you to those things. It feels good getting dressed up and going out among nice people and hearing beautiful music. What'd you say, four or five hundred miles for a weekend trip?

"Five or six hundred, if we're ambitious. Maybe a bit more," I said.

"So that's uh ... Houston. Atlanta. Kansas City. Charlotte. We're bound to find something..."

"Somebody's been thinking about this," I said.

"Yep! According to the manual, we have a thousand mile range, and you usually cruise at a hundred thirty-five knots. That's like a hundred and fifty miles an hour." She smiled.

I should've known better than to imagine otherwise. "Okay. Cindy's done her homework."

"Just thinking. You. Me. Concerts. Something I like." Smile.

"You know, Cindy, I've loved this music all my life. I've had a wife and a couple of girlfriends, and they just tolerated my choice in music. And then there's YOU."

"No, Dan, there's not ME, there's US. And YOU got me started with this music. I remember the first one..."

"First one? Moonlight Sonata."

Squeal! "You remember too..."

"Of course I do, sweetness. You are memorable." I remembered the perfection of her innocently sweet, soft frame pressed against me that night.

We pulled into the RV park at near one in the morning and Cindy hit the shower first, followed by me, followed by bed.

"Leave the little light on," she said.

That meant only one thing at one-thirty in the morning. Cindy wished to play. I wished to play whatever Cindy wished. Sassy red hair bounced above green eyes and spectacular smile. "What you're doing on New Year's Night, you're going to do all year..."

"Who you're doin'..." I said.

Giggle. She rolled atop me and kissed me, filled with glee. "You. Me. US. We're doin' US.!"

"Us is better'n I ever hoped, Cindy." I passed my hands over that outrageous copper hair, kissing her again, then I rolled her onto her back and went from her face downward, kissing, nibbling, savoring every squeal, shudder and giggle as her hands controlled my head and my hands wandered, exploring a body that was absolute delight.

I ended up brushing my lips through the light fuzzing of reddish brown hair on her pubic mound, kissing, studiously avoiding going near a cleft glistening with expectation. She spread her legs and pushed on my head, guiding me, and I teasingly kissed on both sides of her pussy, its lips pink and turgid, parting slightly.

"Ohgod, Dan! Stop teasing me!" Her hands clamped on the back of my head and she curled her torso, planting my face where she wanted it.

Okay. Time to stop teasing my doll. "Mmmmmm," I hummed, savoring the scent, and as my tongue flicked between those lips, the taste and texture.

It was her turn to go "Mmmmmmm." And "Oh, Dan ... that feels so good..." her hips became mobile as my lips and tongue roamed. "Dan! My button!"

I can follow directions. The 'button' in question was pushing its little pink dome among moist folds of delight and I knew that my baby liked to have my lips work on it. I did. I was rewarded by gurgling, breathless hisses and then "Nnnngghhhh! Yesssss!" She was rewarded too, apparently.

Her fingers curled and dragged on my head. That was a sign that my face's presence was required elsewhere. I moved up near her. Her face was relaxed, smiling, post-orgasmic, but not ready to quit yet. Giggle. She slid down me, her lips parted by her pink tongue. Two hands wrapped around my excited shaft. Another giggle. "I like it when you're excited."

"I stay excited around you, red-head," I said.

"But it's REAL excited!" An electric pulse coursed through me when her tongue flicked the head of my dick.

"Ohhhhhh, Cindy..." I moaned. "Mmmmm..."

"I like this," she said. "I like feeling you..." Her head bobbed, pushing soft, moist mouth over my shaft. I felt teeth grip the skin, and I felt the giggle as she played with me like a toy, teasing with teeth, sucking, her tongue mobile in her mouth, working me. "Mmmmm!" giggle. "I tasted that!" Her hand milked me. "Gimme another one." Her right hand kept my dick from going too deep into her mouth and her left curled under my sack, toying, tugging, working my balls, and I was on the way to the precipice.