Title: Snowbound Author: MrJenkins Summary: 12/27/10 Driving home through a blizzard, Will finds a stranded car with three small girls. They are snowbound for over two weeks. Keywords: Mgg bg pedo cons rom slow ************************************************* Snowbound By MrJenkins Chapter 1 in which I accquire some kids I drove up the road heading home, around 6:30 and well after dark in early January. The predicted storm had started mid afternoon and was getting serious about it's job. It was snowing heavily and the wind was starting to make some significant drifts, at least a foot of new snow on the road -- the outside thermometer on my SUV showed 15 degrees and I had chained up on all four wheels twenty miles back. With the four wheel drive, high clearance and years of experience, I wasn't having any difficulty, but was glad I hadn't dawdled any longer in town, and that I was less than five miles from home. As I came around a tight corner, I caught a glimpse of a dark shape well off the road. On that road in a storm, there wouldn't be any traffic, so I stopped, backed up till I could shine my headlights onto what I had seen and stopped. It was a smaller hatchback car, well off the road, and obviously stuck. There was only about eight inches of snow on the top, so it had gone in the ditch after the storm started. I turned on the flashers -- most unlikely, but someone might come along, pulled on my parka and gloves and got out. The wind grabbed my door and nearly pulled it out of my hands as I opened it. I got braced and pushed the door closed, then slogged through the snow to the little car. I brushed the snow off the drivers window, stuck my flashlight against the glass and looked in. No one was in the front seat, I nearly turned away, then turned back and repeated the process on the rear door window. I could see a heap of blankets on the seat, that could have concealed a person. I tried the door and it was locked, same thing with the drivers door. I rapped on the glass, and saw movement in the blankets, a girl's head lifted up out of the heap. I rapped on the glass again, and she slowly crawled over and rolled the window down a little. "Where are your folks?", I asked. There was a long pause, "Sandy went to get help", she finally said. "How long ago?" Long pause, "A long time, it was still light out." "Oh shit -- Oh, well, another Darwin award", was my silent thought. "Open the door and let's get you to a warmer spot", was my spoken response. Another long pause, "OK." She started fumbling with the door handle. After what seemed like a very long time, probably 45 seconds to a minute by the clock she managed to get it unlocked. I opened it and reached in for her. As I did I saw another leg that had been uncovered as she came to the door. I verified that the door was unlocked, rolled the window back up and scooped her up, then closed the car door. She had no coat on, I unzipped my parka and folded it around her the best I could. I struggled a bit with my burden, the snow, wind and slope, opened the passenger door on my rig, fortunately on the downwind side and a bit sheltered. I put the girl on the seat, turned the heater up to full blast and went back for another load. I found two more girls in the blankets. The second girl was smaller than the first, and the third, smaller yet. I elected to make two trips, got the second girl in with her sister and went back for the third one. This time I stirred the blankets till I was certain she was the last, then carried her back to my rig, put her in with the first two. I made one more trip to the car and found registration and insurance papers in the glove compartment. No sign of a purse or anything else of use beyond the blankets in the rear seat. The space behind the rear seat was heaped to the roof, nothing obvious that I should take tonight. I clambered back up the slope, went to the drivers door and managed to get in without letting the wind have it. The littlest girl was nearly comatose, the middle one was able to sit up, sort of, and the oldest was aware enough to look at me. "Your mom left before dark?", I asked. She nodded. "Anyone else with you?" She shook her head. "I'm Will, what's your name?" Long pause, "Mandy." "Well, lets go on home and get you guys warmed up." No response from Mandy. I took my coat off and hung it over the door side of the middle sized girl, and moved the littlest one into the middle. All three of them were quite cold to the touch. They were small enough that all three could sit in the passenger seat, and that put them nearer the heater. By now, the outside temp claimed 10 degrees, and the wind was making the vehicle rock a little. I took another minute to note the GPS coordinates and mark the spot, checked, and as expected, got no bars on my cell, then backed up a little to align with the road and started on for home. I took things extra slow, hoping to find their mother on the road, but not unexpectedly, found nothing. I was pushing snow with the bumper as I approached my house, the garage door opened at the button on the remote and lights came on. Good, I still had power. I got the girls inside, Mandy was responsive and somewhat aware, the other two were pretty bad. I stripped them and put them in the bath tub with the drain closed, then started the shower with the water at a temp that felt moderately warm to my upper arm, a little cooler than I would have used for a shower. I positioned Mandy at the end of the tub away from the shower, sitting up, then her sisters in her lap so their heads were raised. I directed the spray against the torsos of the two littles, managed to get Mandy to support their heads and agree to call me if she had any trouble. I turned the main thermostat up to max and quickly started a fire in the wood stove. Then pulled out my cell and headed back to the bathroom dialing as I walked. Mandy was doing OK, water was a little over four inches deep and felt warm to my hand. My neighbor answered the phone. "Hiram, this is Will. I found a car off the road at the sharp turn by Smith Creek. Three very cold kids in the car, their mom left to get help before dark." "Yeah, all of that." "I was hoping you and your boys would go search. I wouldn't take any chances though, after this long the odds are real poor she'll still be alive unless she's already inside someplace." "Three girls, with serious but not desperate hypothermia. I expect they'll be OK, I'll call the sheriff, then the emergency room for advice." "Yes, please do try to call when you get back in. Try email if you can't get me." "Thanks and good luck -- be safe." I spent a couple of minutes on the girls, switching the shower for the tub spout and moved Mandy down so she was laying in the water with her head propped up. I then called 911 to report the accident and lost driver. I told them that three natives with snowmobiles were already out to search. Since it would take at least two hours for more help to arrive if they could get up here at all, it seemed doubtful that the risk to the searchers would be worth it. They then patched me to the emergency room to talk to a Doctor. He thought I should bring them in till I explained that I was 45 miles away, it would be at least a two hour journey in these conditions, and that even with my vehicle and skills, I judged the attempt to be quite hazardous. The odds of getting stuck and stranded very high. He had me take their temperatures, rectal below 83 on the two littles, a little above 87 on Mandy. By now Mandy was starting to track and shiver. The other two were starting to become responsive, all three of them crying as their extremities warmed up and circulation started again. They had been sheltered well enough that there was no frostbite, at least not serious. The Dr. told me to continue with the warm bath, try to keep the water temp around 105 till their rectal temps were above 97. I should get them out of the tub before they reached 99 degrees. Get warm liquids into them as I could and call him back in two hours -- sooner if anything seemed to be going wrong. I thanked him and hung up. I checked with Mandy and adjusted the water level till they were submerged but not quite floating, adjusted the water temp to Dr's orders, then stripped off most of my clothes -- being dressed for outside in this weather, the house was getting quite warm for me. In three brief trips to the kitchen, I fixed a mug of cocoa, getting it to a temp that was a little uncomfortable to hold a finger in, but not painful. I brought it back with a straw and managed to get Mandy and her middle sister to drink some of it. By now Mandy was able to tell me that the other two girls were Janice and Jodie, middle and little. She was dozing as she warmed up, after a bit I got a stack of towels and made headrests for them so they could lay back with their faces above water level. Now that I had the luxury of time to really look at them I found I had one dirty blond, one brunette and one with very light brown hair, all three quite thin, well off towards scrawny. Distinctly different features, one would suspect, at the least, different fathers. I checked with Mandy, they were nine, seven and four. I could see bruises on all three of them. By nine, Janice was talking a bit, and Jodie was becoming responsive. I called the Doctor as instructed, he seemed pleased with their progress. That I should just continue unless they seemed to be having difficulties. I should expect them to be run down for several days and skin on the extremities would probably be sensitive for a while after they warmed up. I should push high calorie food for a few days to rebuild their reserves. Hiram called a little after ten, no luck, which surprised neither of us. One of his boys, John - 14, had spun in bad enough with one of the sleds that they had abandoned it for the night. With the three of them together on separate sleds, this was a serious embarrassment to the kid, a source of amusement for his brother, Alec - 16, and a mild annoyance to his father. I checked temps again, Mandy was up to above 98 so I fished her out, dried her off and clothed her in a pullover sweatshirt of mine. I left her to watch her sisters for a moment and fixed us a can of soup and a plate of cheese to split. She ate her share and was nodding off. I had her hold off for another minute and got a blanket to make her a bed by the wood stove where I could see her while I sat by the tub. By 11:30 the other two came out of the tub, quite wrinkled, but by now fully responsive if you made allowances for sleepy. I had to dry them very gently, their skin was quite tender. I dressed them in a couple of my t-shirts, got some food into them and laid them down with a couple more blankets by Mandy. The wind was howling around the house, I still had phone and power, although I wasn't going to make any bets about how long this would last. I called in to sheriff dispatch to report the status of the girls -- Hiram had called earlier with the results of his search. I assured them that I had fuel, food and shelter for at least three weeks, the reason I was calling in the middle of the night was because of doubt about phone service in the morning, not any current need. Any further action for the girls could wait till the storm blew over in a few days and the roads were cleared. I turned the thermostat back down to normal then hauled the groceries and other stuff from my vehicle into the house and put anything that was urgent away. The frozen stuff hadn't suffered from the wait, temp in the garage was well below freezing, the outside temp showed 5 by now, nearing midnight. A quick look around with a flashlight from the porch showed the drifts to be flourishing, there was a five footer across the drive where we had come in a few short hours ago. When I came into the living room, the girls were sitting up, huddled together. Jodie was crying quietly. "Where's momma?", she asked. "Who are you?" "I'm Will", I answered, squatting down beside her. "Your mom went to get help and we can't find her." "Is she gonna be OK", asked Mandy. I looked at her a moment, then decided to be honest as gently as I could manage. "Probably not, by now either she's inside somewhere and can't call, or dead. Since we have phone and power, the neighbors probably do too. Hiram said his wife called all the neighbors, and none of them had seen her. So, it doesn't look good." Mandy didn't say anything, but tears started running down her cheeks. I held out my arms and she came to me, put her arms around my neck and got tears on my shirt. After a moment, I stood up and moved to a large recliner. At my invitation, the other two girls crawled into my lap and arms. We sat there for a while, then I said, "I need to go to bed, kids. Do you want to sleep out here by the stove or in my guest bed, up there." I pointed up the stairs. "Can we sleep with you?", Janice asked, "It's scary in here with the wind blowing like that." "OK", I said after a moments thought. "My bed's in there", pointing, "Bathroom before bed, it's the door through the bedroom. I'll check things one more time, turn out the lights and be there in a moment. They got off my lap, I stood and they headed for the bedroom. When I got there in a couple of minutes, I had three faces peeking out from the top of the covers. I stripped to my shorts and got in. A few moments of wiggly shuffling and I had one of the two larger girls on either side and the little laying on my chest and stomach. She was light enough to not be a problem to breath so I let her be and drifted off to sleep. I woke a while later, noted that it was 3am, I still had power, and if anything the wind was up more yet. Jodie had moved to my side, crowding her sister away from me. I rolled onto my side, put my arm around her and went back to sleep. ************************************************ Chapter two -- the first morning. When I woke again, there was daylight in the windows, grey wan light, but light. The wind still howled, the clock said 8:30, so clouds and snow must still be going well or it would have been brighter. I lay there for a few minutes thinking about the previous night and my bedmates, then bathroom needs drove me out of bed. I tried to get up without waking the girls, didn't succeed. They followed me into the bathroom and watched with interest as I emptied my morning full bladder. I got them some thick socks, they didn't fit well, but they gave some warmth for feet -- some string and rubber bands around the tops held them up for now. I fixed breakfast, as expected the storm was still in full spate, a quick check online showed that it was expected to be day after tomorrow before it let up -- and another was quite possibly right on it's heels. Aside from my unscheduled house guests, this wasn't startling nor distressing -- a storm like this wasn't an every year occurrence, but was hardly unprecedented either -- people who lived around here either learned to cope or moved. The girls were more than a bit sore, I soaked them in a tub of hot water for a little while, then helped them shampoo and wash. Turns out the dirty blond, well dirty was more an active part of the description than I had thought. The light brown was now on the border of blond -- the brunette still was, but removing the grease still improved her immensely. I found a spare toothbrush and coached and helped while they brushed their teeth. From the looks of their teeth and toothbrushing skills, this wasn't usual occurrence. While they were bare, I looked them over carefully. They had bruises on arms, backs and legs -- most of them where winter clothing would hide them. Some scarring was evident as well. I fetched my digital camera and took a set of pictures that showed their condition. They were not classically pretty girls, all three were much thinner than I would have judged optimum. Mandy, nine a couple of months ago, was the brunette. A narrow face, brown eyes a bit close together and a nose that made me suspect that she either had Mohawk or Aztec ancestry someplace. A rather too wide mouth with teeth that could use some serious orthodontal work, finished up with a cleft chin that, along with her nose, would make her a shoo in for the part of a witch in a play. Not seriously ugly, but not the girl you might choose to oogle if you were watching them in a playground either. She was a little over four feet tall and when I weighed her, 48 pounds. Her chest was still completely flat, no beginning breasts yet, her pussy slit came fairly high, her labia were flat against her crotch, no bulge much at all. Her hips only had a slight flare, little wider that her waist. Clean, she had fairly obvious bruises here and there, including a pretty good one on her left cheek. She didn't seem to have much body modesty at all, if she minded me looking at her and touching her to wash and dry, it wasn't obvious. Janice was the near blond, a much rounder face than Mandy, gray/blue eyes, a pug nose. At a long seven she was a little under four feet and the scale claimed 40 pounds. Her hips were wider than Mandy's, a more noticable feminine flair. No boobs at all of course, on her in addition to the bruises on her arms and back, a quite prominent pussy mound seemed discolored. When I tried to examine it, she flinched in pain. With some careful questioning, I found that her mother sold her for gas the previous day, a trucker had taken her to his sleeper for around an hour, giving her mother $200 for the privilege. Mandy finally admitted that Janice had drawn the short straw after she had refused. The bruise on her cheek and a couple of others had come during the wait for the guy to get done with Janice -- that she would have, and had been the one sold on a different day. At that, I checked all three girls, none of them had hymens. Surprisingly, none of them cringed or protested as I laid them on the bed, spread their legs and pussy lips and peered in with a flashlight. I took more pictures, wondering how I might use them without getting charged with child porn. They willingly accepted hugs and short backrubs as I finished each one of them. Jodie, mid four year old, was a definite blond when cleaned up, with classic blue eyes. 28 pounds, a little over 3 three feet tall. A wide face with somewhat bulging eyes, a quite wide nose and mouth, and little chin at all left her with a face that might make one look away to avoid staring. Blond frog was the first impression that came to mind. Only about a quarter inch of her pussy slit showed when she was standing. I dressed them in clean newer t-shirts from my drawer, and the socks from earlier. They sat with me while I combed tangles out of their hair, soon they started drooping, I fixed them a snack and put them back to bed. I examined their clothes, cheap and well worn, but usable for now, then started a load of washing with their clothes, the wad of sodden towels from the bathtub last night and enough of mine to make a full load. I should have started it last night or the very first thing when I got up, I was fully expecting the power and/or phone to go out at any time -- somewhat surprised that they had lasted this long. While I still had phone, I called the emergency room again. The Dr. seemed to feel that the girls were doing as well as could be expected and that food, warmth and rest would soon see them right. I geared up and went outside and made a circle around the house. The wind and drifts made it a bit of a challenge -- I had some quite impressive drifts, but everything seemed to be doing fine for now. My house was pretty high tech, optimized for the climate. A steep enameled steel roof, extreme insulation, and triple glaze windows, towards the small side except one in the living room that gave a view out over the valley (when visibility was above 10 feet that is). Primary heat and air conditioning was a heat pump with condensing propane backup. Water heater, clothes dryer and kitchen range were all propane, along with a pair of RV Honda Generators that ran on propane as well. I had a 500 gallon tank that I kept topped off to at least 3/4 during the winter months. Inside I had four 8D batteries on floating charge with a heavy duty charger built into the generators. All the lights in the house but two were cold cathode fluorescent running on 12 volts along with the furnace fan. The two were 110 incandescent. When the power went off, I would disconnect everything in the house but them from the power line, then turn them on as indicators for power line status. House water was from a well with a pump within the capabilities of the generator, two large bladder pressure tanks would give water for a number of hours between refills if we used care. A wood stove was backup heat in case something went wrong with the main furnace. I had gotten the house as a real bargain -- some furriners (Lowlanders from out of state), eco-nuts with lots of money, had built it. They were smart enough to follow local advice on the design, but weren't psychologically prepared for our winters. They got unlucky and had been snowed in for three weeks their first winter, I purchased the property the week after the roads opened for about 25 cents on the dollar. At that point, I had a large cash down payment available and could raise the rest quickly, they had put all their assets into the house so they had little liquidity, and they wanted out real bad. Inside I checked email, and a couple of blogs I follow, I had a satellite link, I was a database and Unix consultant and a fair percentage of my work was done remotely. I started a record of what I knew about the girls, when they woke I would start working on Mandy to find out more about them -- find relatives since it seemed quite doubtful that their mother had survived the night. That finished, I checked out the generators, started them up and let them run long enough to warm up thoroughly, verified that I knew where the hookups were and that they were ready. Chance were good that when I needed it I would be doing this in the dark. Around 11:30 I woke the girls. We prepared and ate lunch. Their clothes were dry, but they chose to keep my shirts and socks for now. For the time being, indoors with the furnace running, there seemed little point in overruling them. Their clothes were nowhere sufficient for outdoor wear in this kind of weather anyway. Thinking about that, I called some of my neighbors who had kids about that size. In a few minutes I had the promise of loans or gifts of outgrown weather clothes for the girls. If it came necessary to take them out before the roads were plowed I could make a run with the my snowmobile and fetch the clothes. After lunch I made an attempt to find out more about them. The woman, Sandra Heyward, wasn't Mandy's birth mother, hers had died several years ago and she wound up living with the woman who had been a roommate at the time. I got the impression that they had been 'special' friends, but didn't push it. As I suspected, Janis and Jodie didn't share a father -- none of them had any notion of who their fathers might have been nor where they were now. Mandy had no idea who or where her grandparents might be, she didn't even remember what her mothers last name had been. She did know that the younger girl's grandmother had died the year before. No notion if a acknowledged grandfather existed or not. They had been living in a city 250 miles to the east and were in the process of moving to the southwest when Sandra had gotten lost, then stuck, then almost certainly dead. She didn't even have an idea of which city or state she had been born, this was the fourth move of several hundred miles that she could remember along with numerous shorter moves. All three of them seemed to think it noteworthy that I had fed them three times already, bathed them twice, and hadn't hit them once, or even yelled at them yet. As I talked to them, I brushed their hair some more. They were in sad need of haircuts, but that was an issue that could easily wait till the roads were clear. I trimmed a little bit of the worst and left the rest for professionals. During the late afternoon I spent a while outside clearing snow away from the doors. I had one door that opened in and was in a sheltered corner. With that and the windows I should always be able to get out even if some of the doors were drifted shut. A little after four, the power went out. The phone still worked so I reported the outage, as expected, there was no estimate of which day service might be restored. The storm still being in full swing, I went around the house switching over to emergency power as needed and started a fire in the wood stove. I secured the flush handle on the toilet, being well aware that it was very easy to flush by habit. From now until the power was restored, we would only flush after someone had shit, and would try to group the shits as much as was convenient. I could and would start the generator to refill the pressure tanks, but wanted to minimize this as much as I could. The girls were quite impressed at heat by fire, they had never seen a wood stove used before. To me it wasn't a big deal, I lighted a fire fairly often because I enjoyed the heat gradient in the house. I fixed then a late afternoon snack, looking at their ribs I planned to feed them as much as they would eat five or six times a day till they filled out a little. I then put the contents of the refrigerator into ice chests and put the chests in the garage. The deep freeze was already out there, the temp was well below freezing and I would power it anytime the generator was running. The challenge would be to keep the food in the ice chests from freezing, not to keep it cool enough to store. I would have to monitor the inside temps of the ice chests and move them back inside part of the time to warm. I started a pot of stew for supper. I could cook it on the wood stove as an excuse for keeping the fire running. With that thought in mind, I started a soup for tomorrow. I had tried a dutch oven bake a few times, it worked, sort of -- I suspected that my recipes and skills were not optimum for the purpose. I checked, the temperature had come up a bit, and the wind had eased up, but now the snow was falling heavily -- it was hard to tell but I would estimate a total of well over three feet so far. I hunted up a copy of 'Winnie the Pooh' from a time when my sister's kids had stayed for a week then sat in the recliner and at my invitation, the three girls joined me. They had not yet met the denizens of the hundred acre wood, a snuggly hour passed quickly. ************************************************* Chapter 3 -- the evening of the first day. Around seven I fired up the generator and refilled the water tanks. While it was up I fired up the computer and satellite to check the weather. Not surprisingly, the current storm had slowed down it's movement and the one following was building up. Another two feet or more of snow was predicted for the area. A little after eight we had stew and apples. I put the remainder out in the garage to build on tomorrow along with the soup, filled the stove and banked the fire then set my alarm for 1AM for a house check, and we went to bed. With no electric blanket tonight I put three additional blankets on the bed. The alarm woke me, a bit sweaty, I had underestimated the heat generated by three kids. I got up and checked the condition of the house and surroundings, Mandy came out as I finished. I was just wearing my underwear shorts, letting myself cool down a bit before going back to bed. "Hi kid", I held out an arm in invitation, she crawled into my lap. "Why are you up instead of in bed?" "I woke up and you were gone. I came to see what you were doing." "Checking the house. In this kind of weather there are a few things that could go wrong that I might need to deal with immediately." A long pause. "Is Sandy dead?" I hesitated, "Quite probably. We can't be certain till she shows up somewhere or someone finds her body. That may not be until spring or may never happen." Another long pause, "What'cha gonna do with us?" "I assume you mean after the storm is over and the roads clear?" She nodded. "I hadn't really given that much thought. What do you want to do?" "Can we stay with you?" That one I had considered. The chances of a single older guy getting approval looked slim. On the other hand, these kids had no other relatives so far as I knew. I had contacts with people who knew people who could furnish documents for non standard purposes. So far just speculation, till Mandy brought it up I wasn't at all sure they would want to. I thought for a couple of minutes before answering her, "You *may* stay, although there will be conditions. I'm not sure if you *can* stay, the social workers may take you away. I have a couple of ideas, but it may not work out." "What kind of conditions?", she asked, "You want to fuck us? Jodie's too little yet, but she sucks real good." I paused, trying to figure out how to deal with this. It wasn't unexpected, they had been whored out for the last two years if not longer, probably most of their lives that they could remember. It wasn't at all surprising that Mandy was making an offer of the only currency that she was aware she had. On the other hand, her question had made me very aware that I was holding a sexually active nine year old girl wearing only one of my t-shirts, cupping her bare bottom with one hand and I was wearing a pair of cotton briefs. The thought started my cock hardening against Mandy's leg. Since that thought was all too obvious to her, I spoke the other thought out loud. "One of the conditions I spoke of is that you never use your pussies to pay me for anything. I don't want whores living with me." "But we are whores.", she wailed. "Sandy called us that all the time. You hate us then." she pulled away from me. I pulled her back into my lap and turned her so I could look her straight in the eyes. "You *Were* whores. If you stay with me, you are forbidden to be whores. And I don't hate you for what you were forced to do, I hate Sandy for being your pimp and forcing you to be whores. I don't want whores, You can be daughters if you want to be. I may accept you as lovers. In other words, you never need to do any sex stuff with me to get me to let you stay." "You want to fuck me", she broke in, grasping my cock through my shorts and giving it a couple of strokes. "I do", I admitted, taking her hand off my cock and putting it back in her lap. "With that sticking up it would be silly to try to tell you that I don't. On the other hand, it really does disgust me to think of you using your pussy to pay me to feed you, clothe you and give you a bed." She looked at me in (fear?) that she had made a mistake. "You think I'm disgusting." She started crying. I hugged her, and gave her a kiss on the forehead, "No Mandy, that came out wrong. You don't disgust me. It's the thought of you using your bodies, your pussies, to pay for stuff that's disgusting. Worse that the person who was supposed to be taking care of you was selling you, at a guess, to buy booze and drugs." Mandy nodded, her face pressed to my chest. I thought for a moment. "Would you accept this -- You can stay as my daughters if I can figure out a way to do it. If I decide that you are trying to use your pussies or mouths to pay for staying with me, or to pay for anything else, I will spank you and force you to sleep in those beds up there." I pointed to the guest rooms they had turned down last night. If you want to do something like that to pay me, rub my back and brush my hair." I spent a minute or so rubbing her back up under her shirt in demonstration, using just the tips of a few fingers, touching lightly and moving slowly. "I love that and can accept that as a payment. I won't promise to use a real big stick to keep you out of my bed -- unless you seem to be trying to use sex to pay me. Then the stick will get much bigger and I will swing it much harder." "K", against my chest. "Spose we should go back to bed then? It's nearly two" "K." She slid off my lap, pulling the shirt up and flashing her pussy. I let it go, but suspected it wasn't completely accidental. I removed one of the extra blankets and we got back in bed. She lay by my back and the last thing I remembered was the feel of small fingers gently moving around on my back. *********************************************** Chapter 4 -- the second morning I woke again around seven. I was comfortable, neither hot nor chilly. I checked the outside of the outside girls, they felt warm enough. The room was chilled but not frigid. In a few minutes I got up and lit a fire for the morning, then used the bathroom. With the power out, I planned to bathe every two or three days. I doubted that the girls would find this objectionable, unless bathing that often was a problem. I was pretty sure that daily bathing hadn't been a part of their normal routine. I got the soup and stew out of the garage and put them back on the stove. I added meat and water to the stew, when the girls got up I would start them on learning to cook by having them prepare potatoes and onions for the stew, that and a sack of frozen mixed vegetables would make a quite edible mix. The fixer contact I had thought of last night lived a timezone east so I called. I had dealt with him in the past and I had a useful working relationship with him, both as a customer and a supplier of services. A bit of a delicate feeling out and he seemed willing to help. I told him the relevant parts of the story and gave him the info from the car registration and insurance. I told him of my idea to get documents that said that Sandra had planned to leave the girls with me with a power of attorney or guardianship. He asked about their nominal parent. I told him that at this point, the only plausible scenario that left her alive would be that she caught a ride out of the valley, then didn't call in the wreck when they got to a town. That would leave her open to charges of abandonment and attempted murder on top of pimping them out as whores. The alternate route out the valley was such that finding her in a vehicle when the roads were cleared wasn't impossible. Dead of course. He suggested I call back late that afternoon. I explained the circumstances, and the possibility that the call back might be delayed. I got an email address as a second method of communication, and gave him mine. A while after eight, the girls appeared. I brushed hair and fixed breakfast. Apparently Mandy had talked with the other two, at least one of them would rub my back every time I stopped anyplace for long, and my hair got very well brushed. I thanked them and returned the favor when the opportunity presented itself. We did dishes, by hand of course, and other housework for a couple of hours. I dressed and went to check the outside. Everything was nominal, some light damage, nothing unexpected. The wind was back up and visibility was only a few feet. Not a problem since I knew my yard intimately, but I certainly wouldn't have wanted to try to go far. A GPS on the snowmobile would probably have gotten me to the neighbors, but I would have had to be desperate to try it. When I came back in, the girls were quite impressed by the snow crusted on my clothes. I figured that since I was going to attempt to keep them, I just as well get started on schooling. First off was to get some idea of the education status of Mandy and Janice. I fired up the generator for a while, flushed the toilet and refilled the water tanks and got online. The weather seemed to be following the expected pattern, it looked as if it might be four more days before the storm broke more than briefly, then at least an additional three before the roads to this valley would be cleared. I found some tests, both IQ and placement that looked as if they might be useful, I had to pay for some of them, but not an important amount. I downloaded and printed them, checked email and replied as necessary. One of them was from the fixer, he had found a supplier that he recommended. Price would be $7500 for papers and lawyer work, but he expected quality work, the supplier worked in this state and knew the ropes. I called the girls over and explained what I was attempting. "I have a contact that says he can supply papers that say that Sandy was planning to leave you with me. They will say that she was a distant cousin who managed to track me down, and planned to dump you on me. If I pay for them, we will have a power of attorney and a signed agreement transferring guardianship to me. You would become my foster daughters, perhaps adopted daughters. Do you want me to do this?" "You'd be our daddy?", asked Janice. "If it works", I agreed. "It may not." "You said 'conditions' last night", said Mandy, a bit suspiciously. "What conditions?" "Like I said last night, no pussy payment. You never, ever try to pay me for being your daddy with your pussies." "Does that mean that you won't ever fuck us?", asked Mandy. "Some of the nice guys make it feel real good." "Maybe. If you convince me that you want to, and never make me think you are doing it because you think you have to. You might be able to fool me occasionally, but if you are lying to me, I will figure it out pretty soon. And about that kind of lying, I will be angry with you. "K, what else?" "Don't lie to me. You are permitted to tell me that you don't want to answer, but don't lie. Don't steal from me, or anyone else. Don't break or otherwise ruin my stuff on purpose. Go to school and try hard.", I replied. "We ain't no good in school. Sandy moved us around a lot", she protested. "I don't expect you to know much at the start, I expect you to make a real effort to learn to do a little better each week. I don't expect you to be perfect, I just expect you to try, really try, most of the time." Mandy thought for a few minutes, "Sounds like the best deal we're likely to get. OK." She held out her hand. I took it but didn't shake it yet. "Alright then, each of you -- No pussy pay, you never, ever do sex stuff with me because you think I want you to, but you don't want to. -- clear Mandy?", I looked her straight in the eye. "Yessir", she looked straight back at me. "Clear Janice?", transferring my attention to her. "Yessir", copying her older sister. Then to Jodie, "Promise never to do sex stuff because they", indicating the other two girls, "tell you to, or because you think you need to for me to like you. Only do it if *you* want to. OK?" "I promise", she said to me. Then back to Mandy. "Don't lie to me. You may tell me you won't answer. In return I will pledge not to lie to you. I may tell you I won't answer, I will be wrong sometimes, but I won't lie. Is that clear and do you agree?" "Yessir", from Mandy. "Yessir", from Janice "Yessir", from Jodie. To Mandy once more, "Don't steal from me or anyone else, in other words, don't take stuff you know you shouldn't. Clear, and do you agree?" "Yessir", from Mandy. "Yessir", from Janice "Yessir", from Jodie. "Don't break my stuff on purpose, or anyone else's stuff for that matter. Clear?" "Yessir", from Mandy. "Yessir", from Janice "Yessir", from Jodie. "Make an honest effort to learn in school. Clear?" "Yessir", from Mandy. "Yessir", from Janice "Yessir", from Jodie. I wasn't real confident that Jodie really understood what she was agreeing to, but for this purpose, Mandy was the important one. The other two would follow her lead. "You really want to be my kids then? You're sure?" "Yes daddy!", from Mandy. "Yes daddy!", from Janice. "Yes daddy!", from Jodie. I held out my arms and they all three dove into them. "I can't promise, but I will do my best." I cuddled with them for a few more minutes then placed the call. I made a counter offer. I would pay $9000 on a contingent basis -- no payment if I didn't get to keep the girls. He hemmed and hawed a bit, then got the subcontractor on conference, we agreed on a $2k non refundable down payment with a $6.5k contingency and I made a paypall transfer. Another meal and I sat the three girls down with the tests. Mandy was quite concerned that she wouldn't do well and I would be mad about it. I finally convinced her that these tests were just to find out how much they knew. That there was no pass or fail. "Mandy", I finally told her, "Do you know what 'One' means and 'Two' means?" "Uh huh", she nodded. "What's one plus two?" "Three" "What's sin(x)dx integrated over the interval 0 to pi/3?" "What??" "Integration is fairly high level math, single digit addition is very low level math. I just learned that your math skills are somewhere in between. Not at all unexpected. Now we need to narrow the gap a bit. The tests will help me judge what you know in more detail so I can start teaching you from there. Not too easy, not too hard. I don't expect you a whole lot, I just need to know how much math you do know." I could see her get it and she turned back to the tests with a more positive attitude. All three of them tested fairly bright on the IQ tests and abysmal on the placement tests -- well Mandy and Janice placed very low, it didn't really apply to Jodie. Armed with that information I went back on line and found some home school materials that seemed appropriate that could be purchased on line and downloaded. I set them to work on their studies, made a check on the storm and house, then fixed dinner. ********************************************** Chapter 5 -- the second evening The storm was now predicted to last four more days. That would leave us with at least a week till we could get out. Phone still worked, not quite as surprising as I had been thinking, most of it was underground. A few calls to my neighbors found them in good condition, they too were prepared for this kind of conditions. The girls did another 30 minute session on studies. I praised them for their diligence. This seemed to confuse Mandy and Janice. A bit of discussion and I found that they didn't remember any other time that they had been praised for anything. They were further confused by my hugs and tears, my attempt at explanation didn't lessen the confusion. We retired to my chair for another few chapters of Pooh. Mandy inquired where the TV was, further confusion ensued, she and Janice seemed unable to grasp that I had no TV nor did I want one. Around 8:30 I gave them a snack and put them to bed. As a further oddity, I tucked them in and kissed them goodnight, telling them that I was going to read for a while and would be in later. Around 10:30 I made a check on the house and went to bed. I got in between Janice and Jodie. Janice woke up a bit and rubbed my back. She went back to sleep before I did. ********************************************** Chapter 6 -- the third morning A check of the house showed everything nominal as had the midnight check. I fired up the generator and we had a shower. The girls insisted on taking one with me so I could wash them, I did with only a bit of lingering on their pussies and nipples. They washed me, about the time I came to full erection, I made them stop washing my cock, my back and hair got *very* though washing. We spent a similar amount of time drying each other and brushing hair. By now their hair was tangle free and shone when I finished brushing it dry. Breakfast, then a session of school, chores, snack and another school session took up the morning. Mandy and Janice could work somewhat independently, most of what Jodie was doing required interaction with me. After lunch they were drooping a bit, I put them to bed for a nap. Mandy protested, I told her that if she would lay quietly for 10 minutes she could get up again and come out and sit with me. I went on line to a computer outlet, studied possibilities a bit then called a computer guy I dealt with frequently. A bit of discussion and I placed an order for three netbooks and enough other stuff to make a small home network. I drop-shipped them to him for configuration, then he would forward it to be waiting when we managed to get to town. Despite her protests earlier, Mandy was quite absent from my lap as I finished. While they slept, I made a quick tour of the outside -- storm was nominal, nothing unexpected. I read for an hour then Mandy wandered out. I held out an arm, she crawled into my lap. "Good afternoon, Sleeping Beauty", I greeted her. "You must have needed a nap after all." She mumbled something I didn't quite catch. I laughed at her a little. She sat there quietly as I read for another fifteen minutes then I sent her to wake her sisters for a snack, then more lessons. *************************************************** Chapter 7 -- the third evening. By after supper the storm had picked up considerably. The wind was making the house shake enough to feel, and the noise level even with all the insulation was a bit intrusive. I had the girls do another 30 minute session of school then we sat and read for a little while. The wind noise cut that short, so I got out a deck of cards and taught them to play 'Go Fish'. Mandy and Janice caught on fairly quickly, Jodie and I played as a team, her on my lap. Near nine, I put them to bed, by now Mandy and Janice where able to brush their teeth without direct supervision. I tucked them in and kissed them, when I started to leave Janice protested that the wind noises were scary. A bit of discussion and I fetched my book and lay down with them. I was laying on my side with Jodie in front of me and the other two behind me, one of them rubbing my back. I made a note to speak to them a bit further on the subject, that back rubs were a privilege for me, not a right. I lay there reading and felt Jodie wiggling a little in a rhythmic fashion. I raised the covers to look, she had her shirt pulled up and one hand with a finger in her slit. She flinched when I looked and snatched her hand away. I gently put it back and asked, "Does that feel good when you rub yourself?" She started to rub again, slowly and nodded. Watching her, my cock sprang to full attention, tenting my shorts above her leg. I hesitated a moment then gave in to temptation. "May I help?", reaching a hand down to her thigh, and moving it slowly up the inner surface towards her crotch. She nodded, then as my hand bumped against hers, moved her hand to give me access. I moved her up on the pillow so I could reach her face to kiss, then started caressing her pussy slowly and gently, and kissed her on the nose, then the lips. She raised her face up to me and returned the kiss and spread her legs a little as I reached down towards her vagina. I worked the tip of my finger into her opening a little ways then took the moisture up her slit and circled her clit several laps. I repeated the process several times, each time going a bit deeper into her fuck tube. She started thrusting her hips as I caressed and kissed her, I continued for a couple of minutes then rolled out of bed and went into the bathroom. I picked up my electric toothbrush and rinsed the bristles thourghly, then returned. My bed was much higher than normal, high enough to be just below the level of my cock. I laid the toothbrush on the nightstand and turned Jodie so her feet were hanging off the edge of the bed. I bent and kissed her on the lips then down her chest and licked and sucked her nipples for a moment. She flinched at first when I touched them, then arched her back and push her chest towards my mouth. I lingered there for a moment then moved on down her stomach, across her belly button and gave a slurp up her slit. She froze for a moment then started thrusting her pelvis against my mouth as I licked her. I spread her legs wide and inserted the tip of a finger into her vagina. As I licked, her pelvic thrusts worked my finger deeper and deeper into her vagina, shortly my hand bumped against her ass. I continued for a couple of minutes, she seemed to be tiring and wasn't getting off so I took the toothbrush, turned it on, then moved my mouth out of the way and pressed the back of the brush against her clit. She squealed, arched her back so her torso was clear of the bed from her thighs to her shoulders and froze for a moment. I felt her pussy muscles milk my finger for a few seconds then she collapsed. I stood and looked at Mandy and Janice. They were watching and the covers were moving at their crotches, I lifted the covers and saw them playing with themselves. Mandy blushed but didn't miss a stroke, Janice didn't blush. I turned my attention back to Jodie. I pulled her towards me so her hips where at the edge of the bed. I took the head of my cock and rubbed it down her wet pussy slit to her vagina then bent to kiss her. I kissed her for a moment, she returned with enthusiasm, then I stood so I could see her pussy, held her by one leg so I was pushed snugly against her entrance, the head of my cock almost out of sight between her labia, and started stroking my cock for serious. Jodie started thrusting her pelvis against me in time to my strokes, about 15 seconds and I started cumming into her fuck tube. As I stiffened and pressed against her, she too froze for a few seconds, I thought I could feel her cumming again. As we came down, I stood there for a moment longer as my cum oozed out and into her hole, then went back to the bathroom, first for a towel to put under her, then a wash cloth to wipe up the external slime. "I thought you said you wouldn't fuck us", said Mandy as I cleaned up Jodie. "That's not quite what I said", I replied. "I told you that I wouldn't accept sex as pay for letting you stay. If Jodie was playing with herself in order to get me to fuck her so I would want you to stay -- well if she can be that sneaky about manipulating me, I just as well give up now." Mandy giggled at that. "Besides, I was making love to her, not fucking her." Mandy nodded, "She's too little to fuck yet." "That's not the important part. I mostly did it to make her feel good, I waited till the very end to do things that made me cum -- and I could have skipped that part." Mandy nodded, "Will you do that to me, that looked real good?" I kissed her briefly, "Not tonight love." "Why not?" "Three reasons", I answered. "Jodie deserves to have the after sex kisses and cuddles, and I'm an old man for this task. I won't be able to cum again for a few hours. I won't do it *to* you, I would do it *with* you. Tomorrow night you and Janice can play rock, paper, scissors to decide who gets a turn and I will make love with one of you -- if you really want me to." That got me kissed by both the older girls, I turned my attention back to Jodie. I carried her to the bathroom and had her pee, then wiped her up again. We went back to bed, I placed her on the outside, with my back to Janice and Mandy. I kissed Jodie for a little longer then turned her on her stomach and gently rubbed her back while one of the other girls rubbed mine. Jodie dropped of to sleep quickly, I followed, my last memory was of soft fingers moving across my back. ************************************************ Chapter 8 -- the fourth morning. I awoke to wind noise and house shaking. If anything, it seemed worse than when we went to bed last night. Looking out the windows, visibility was feet, and all snow movement was horizontal. A check of the weather forecast suggested winds above 70mph with heavy snow. Temps were up, mid twenties which was normal for heavy snow. A break in the storm looked possible for tomorrow afternoon. A check of the house found no problems. Breakfast, lessons, snack, lessons and lunch went by without incident. After lunch I put the girls down for a nap again and spent a couple of hours on line getting some work done. The weather made my connection a bit slow, I expected that the dish was wobbling enough to matter. It got by though and I got a useful amount done. As before, Mandy came out before the other girls. She stood by me and watched me work, rubbing my shoulders and neck. In a little while she got into my lap. I sent her after the book I was reading and switched the computer to a website that had reading material suitable for her level. I was sitting there with my arm around her and my hand on her thigh. She reached down and moved my hand under the shirttail and against her pussy. I warred with my conscience for a moment then decided to see where she wanted to go with it. I gently caressed her as I read, in a few moments she pushed my hand more firmly against her pussy. I complied and started rubbing in a circular motion on the area of her clit with three fingers, holding enough pressure that my fingers didn't slip on her skin. Her breathing deepened and she soon lost interest in what she had been reading. I laid my book aside as well and reached my other hand up under her shirt and caressed her nipples. I fondled her for a moment then pulled my hand out and tipped her face up for a kiss. She kissed me back with quite a lot of enthusiasm, and somewhat less skill. A few minutes longer and she started thrusting her hips against my hand. I continued for a little longer then stood and carried her to the couch. I stood her on her feet for a moment and peeled the t-shirt off, laid it on the couch then laid her on the t-shirt where it would catch drips. I tried my middle finger in the entrance to her vagina -- it was somewhat wet but there was quite a bit of friction as I pressed. I removed it and licked her thouroughly, getting extra spit into her slit as I licked. I moved the focus of my tongue up towards her clit and tried my finger again. With the extra lube it slid in easily and she started pelvic thrusts with more force. Another minute and she arched her back so she was supported by heels and shoulders and let out a long 'OOOoooohhhhh'. She held the bridge for several seconds after she ran out of breath then collapsed. After a moment I stood on somewhat shaky legs, picked her up and went to my recliner. We cuddled and kissed while I caressed her for a couple of minutes. "That was wunnerful. What did you do to me?", she asked after a bit. "I gave you a good cum. That's how good sex should work, although you may not always cum that good", I answered. "But that wasn't sex -- you didn't fuck me", she protested. "Former president Clinton would agree with you. I don't", I replied. "I made love with you. What we did was certainly sex, but did not include fucking this time." She lay there on my lap, snuggling for a couple of minutes, then started stroking my partially erect cock. Which very quickly lost the status of 'partially'. "Can we fuck now, you're hard", she asked hopefully. "Can't", I told her. "I have too many clothes on." It was fortunate that my clothes were fairly new and sturdy. At that, one of the shirt buttons lost the battle. When she got me stripped, I sent her to the bathroom for some Vaseline and towels. I had her put some on the end of my cock and down the shaft, I coated the entrance to her vagina with a generous layer. I lay back in the recliner and picked her up and sat her on the head of my cock. With the vasilene, I slid into her freely. In a moment she was sitting on my pelvis with my pubic hair pressed against her clit. Unfortunatly, I didn't last long enough for her to get off again. The sight of her bald pussy surrounding my cock, the smell of her preteen arousal and the time I had already spent masturbating, licking and finger fucking her set me off in less than a minute. As I started to cum and thrust up into her I told her to rub herself. It took a moment for her to get the idea, then she started frigging herself hard. I think she had a small cum as I relaxed in the chair. We lay there for a few minutes, cuddling and rubbing her back as our breathing slowed. After a bit I sent her to wake her sisters, and I started the generator so we could have a long shower. I fed them and we worked on a lesson session, Mandy claimed a spot on my lap for after sex cuddles, I allowed as how that sounded reasonable. Janice protested a bit, but when I pointed out that she was next in line for this evening decided that was good enough. ************************************************** Chapter 9 The fourth evening Along late in the afternoon I checked the weather again. It still looked like there would be a break in the storm from sometime in the morning till late afternoon. I called Hiram. "Everything's going fine here. The kids are showing no problems from being near froze and no significant storm damage." "The weather forecast seems to show a break in the storm midday tomorrow. I was wondering if I could borrow or rent your boys and their sleds for a while if the weather looks good enough.?" "I see, getting a little restless are they -- well I can hardly see fit to accept money from you and get an errand run besides. I called around a couple of days ago. Martha and Ginger (two of the neighboring moms with small girls) offered some outdoor clothes for the girls till I can get to town. If your boys could pick them up and deliver them, I would be most grateful. I'd rather not have to take them outside, even in my rig, without clothes to get by in the cold and snow." "That would be very nice -- again, caution them that this mission isn't worth any risk -- if the weather and terrain aren't good enough, the clothes can wait till the roads are plowed." "See them tomorrow then, maybe. Have them check in by cell when they start this way please." "Thanks, and goodnight." I turned to the girls, "Looks like we may get you some clothes to wear tomorrow. I asked a few days ago and some of the neighbor ladies offered outgrown clothes from their kids till we can get to town and I buy you some new ones." I called Martha. She asked and I measured the girls, giving her the numbers over the phone. She said she would call around and see what else she could find, then let Hiram's boys know what stops to make. "Then a completely different question Martha -- what do you do for school during these storms?" "Partly vacation, partly home school, and partly work over the Internet with the rest of the class", she answered. "Guess I'll be calling Shirley next then. It looks like I may be a parent again. Some papers in the car seem to show that their mother was going to leave them with me anyway." That statement took another fifteen minutes on the phone to no real purpose except maintaining good relations with my neighbours. In this kind of community, a most worthwhile use of my time. I called the local teacher. Up till now I hadn't really paid much attention to the school and how it worked. I knew that there was a single teacher with 10-15 kids, depending on which year. It was k-12, I learned later that the upper grades were supplimented with on line classes. The community had gatherings several times a year that I attended sometimes. I knew her name was Shirley Jones, a local grandmother with skills and willingness to teach. "Good afternoon Mrs. Jones, this is Will Thompson." "Well, since I was addressing you in your capacity as Principal of Smith Valley Grade School, I thought I should show proper respect for the office. "Well, you just might have a leetle more trouble with that than when I was eight, but perhaps I shouldn't risk it anyway." "Well Shirley, don't know how much you have kept up on local gossip, but I have three girls staying with me. It looks like they may stay longer than just till the roads open up. And one way or another, school work seems like a useful way to spend the time." "Nine, seven and 4-1/2. They've been living rough and the testing I was able to get online suggests that Mandy, the oldest, is low second grade, Julie the middle is mid first grade and Jodie doesn't really count since she wouldn't have been in school anyway." "I was hoping to get guidance for how to get them going. Perhaps have them spend at least some of the school time with you, and continue to home school them as seemed useful." Another 15 minutes on the phone, then we set up a video conference. The available bandwidth would only allow about 5 frames per minute but reasonable audio quality. After the first part of the session, she was working with the girls on computer stuff anyway, so the frame rate didn't matter any more. Shirley spend an hour with the girls. At the end we were scheduled for the two hour morning online school session. She figured it would be a week or so after the weather broke and she could have face to face contact, to really evaluate where they were and what they would need. By then I would have a much better feel for whether they would be permenant residents in my household. We closed down the session, I shut down the system and we prepared a quick supper. As expected, the snow was easing up, winds were dropping and the temperature was falling. The outside temperature was well below zero. I dressed up and checked things outside. Some of the drifts were very impressive -- I made plans to come back out with a camera in the daylight tomorrow. That evening Janice camped on my lap after supper. She unbuttoned my shirt and played with my chest hair and nipples, interspersed with little kisses at irregular intervals. She had apparently talked with Mandy because my hand was soon guided under the hem of her shirt and onto her pussy. When we went to bed, she removed my shorts and her shirt before we got in. After I licked her to an orgasm with a boost from the electric toothbrush we cuddled for a while, then I greased her and she greased me. I feared I might be bigger that she could take without significant pain, so I lay on my back and had her sit on my cock. That way she would have full control of how far and how fast. Her opening was much tighter than Mandy's had been. I had her press down, then raise up till the pressure was off and repeat. It took several repetitions, but she got the head of my cock through her entrance. With the afternoon session with Mandy behind me I lasted much longer for Janice. With the aid of the toothbrush she came twice before I did, then again without the toothbrush when I started squirting cum into her welcoming body. I had Mandy fetch a towel, then scooted over a little onto it with Janice still impaled on my cock. We went to sleep with Janice on top of me and the other two pressed against either side. I woke a while later and rolled onto my side, leaving Janice cradled in the curve of an arm. She didn't really wake, just snuggled against my chest and I went back to sleep. ******************************************************* Chapter 10 -- the sixth morning. When I checked I had an email from the lawyer. A call to him laid out the plans. The publicly acknowledged part of them would follow by email, but some parts were verbal only. We discussed probable timing for when I might be able to get to town again. He promised a FedEx document package would be waiting at the drop service in town. Among other papers I would find an envelope, a bit water stained and wrinkled. Mandy was to take it from the stack and give it to me. That way I could say without lying that Mandy gave it to me after I found them in the car in the ditch. I was to show it to the authorities, but try very hard to retain posession. He would be filing court papers with the story that I had scanned the guardina ship papers and emailed them to him. I got connected to the school session and helped introduce the girls around 9:00. After that I kept an eye on the school connection but let Shirley handle things. By 9:30 we had a bit of sunshine and winds were light. Temps were still well below zero and Hiram's boys were reported to be off to collect clothes for the girls. Apparently boredom was a problem for most of the folk because another of the local teens soon had a web page up giving nearly live coverage of their progress. The two kids had high-end cell phones that could be configured to send in current gps location and the page quickly grew quite a comment session. Admittedly a large fraction of the comments were off topic. I insisted that the girls wear their panties for the visit. I didn't insist that they wear the rest of the clothes I had found them in -- they chose to wear some of my t-shirts, this time Mandy and Janice went through the drawer and chose colors and writing. Around noon I heard the sleds make the turn onto my lane. I went outside in time to see them cresting the last drift. They shut down the sleds, grabbed some quite impressively large stuff bags and waddled into the house. "So these are the beautiful princesses you rescued from great peril", said John as he took of his helmet. "They are. May I present you Mandy, Janice and Jodie.", indicating the three girls in turn. They came to my side and huddled around me in shyly. "Girls, I introduce you to your Valient Knights, deliverers of warm clothing at great personal hardship, Alec and John", indicating the older and younger brother. "Enchanted", said John, bowing, his brother a beat behind him. "Check in with your dad", I told them. "Do you guys want lunch and a rest before you head back? Actually I misspoke. It looks like the weather will hold for a while yet. Hang up your gear, come in and relax for a bit and I'll feed you before you start back. A bit of a rest and food, even if you don't think you need it, will do you good." Alec called, then reported, "Dad agrees with you. He wasn't quite so polite about it." The girls watched in amazement as they undressed. Even with pretty high tech modern clothes, gear to be out in twenty below weather on snowmobiles for several hours made quite a heap. The guys stripped down to their underwear shirts, jeans and socks. They were quite aware that going out sweaty would be a bad mistake. I started the generator and we put their outside clothing in the dryer. With the outside temps it wasn't wet, but starting out completely dry and warm would be a good thing anyway. I served the boys large bowls of hot stew, the girls and myself somewhat smaller ones. One very good thing about the realtime progress map was that I had put a frozen apple pie in the oven a while ago, When we finished the stew, hot apple pie and ice cream finished off the meal in fine shape. As an excuse to keep the boys for a little longer, I opened the bags and inventoried the clothing. The neighbor ladies had exceeded all hopes, much less expectations. Each girl had two sets of clothing plus something for dress up, and good outdoor gear. A pair of shoes and outdoor boots each. None of it was new, some pretty worn, but it was in much better condition and of higher quality than what they had been wearing when I found them. When the saw the clothes, the t-shirts came off and they started trying the new stuff on. The boys watched the show with amusement and appreciation. I was glad I'd insisted on the panties -- not that I was concerned about the boys getting to ogle nekked girls, but suspected that having to pretend they weren't looking while I was right there would have been more than a bit uncomfortable for them. The shoes and boots, as I found out later, as planned, were a bit large. Extra socks made up the fit. When I looked up, Jodie was in Alec's lap as he assisted her with putting on socks and shoes, adding socks till the fit seemed OK. A few minutes later Janice had claimed John leaving Mandy to make do with me. She said she was old enough to do her socks and shoes her self, but didn't protest when I moved to help. I noted with amusement that the girls didn't vacate their seats nor did the boys push them off as they told the story of the journey. Mandy, of course had taken a seat in my lap. From the sound of things it was a bit more of a challenge than I had anticipated -- it was well that the two brothers had been riding for several years, knew the territory well, and were pretty sensible kids at that. If I had heard the tale first, I might not have asked them to go. Aparently even by local standards, drifts were quite impressive. Their GPS's showed thirty miles for a loop that would have been less than twenty if they had been able to follow the roads. Soon we did evict the girls, then with a delay to help the girls don their new outdoor clothes, we fetched snowmoblile gas from my supplies and filled the sleds. The girls wanted to know why Alec and John put on their outside clothes in my cold garage. I explained that being sweaty was a very bad thing when you were going outside when it was that cold -- that they really didn't want damp clothing next to their skin. Alec checked in with Hiram and they departed -- none too early, I could see dark clouds on the horizon and the temp was rising along with the wind. While the girls were dressed for it we made a circle of the property. It took twenty minutes for a walk that would have been a very leisurely three in the summer. 45 minutes after their departure, the boys were reported home in good condition, an hour and a half after that the storm was again in full glory. I checked with Teacher Shirley, in her opinion the morning session had gone well enough. If the girls were going to stay long term she would want several hours with them for evaluation, but in any case that could wait till we had roads again. ***************************************************** Chapter 11 -- The storm ends The next four days passed without incident. Feeding the girls well, raised their energy levels, by the end of a week in my household they no longer took an afternoon nap and I was starting to need to be creative at finding activities that had some purpose or interest and could be done inside. Ten days after the start of the storm we woke to quiet. The weather forecast predicted cold temperatures, light to moderate winds and no precipitation of significance for the next ten days. I fired up the generator and we had a morning shower. I used the shower hose to squirt water into the vaginae on all three girls, filling them up and letting the water squirt out three times each. Mandy wanted to know what I was doing. "The storm is over for now. In a few days the roads will be open and we'll go into town. When we get there, we will need to talk with the sheriff, and take you to a Doctor. The Dr. will insist on examining your pussies, especially given your history. It would be very unfortunate if any of my cum were found in your pussies. So, from now until we are done needing to talk to Doctors or social workers, we won't fuck any more. Cuddle, kiss, masturbate, lick, suck -- any of that you want to, just no cum in your pussies. Also, starting tonight you will go to bed in those beds.", I pointed upstairs to the guest rooms. "We don't get to sleep with you?", wailed Janice. "That's not quite what I said. Every night you will go up there and lay down in the beds. If you are still awake in 10 minutes, you may sleep wherever you wish. If you are in my bed when I wake up in the morning, I will send you upstairs to lay down in your bed for a moment, then you get up and get ready for the day. We need to move your clothes up there too." "Why?" from Mandy. "So you can tell the social services lady that you have your own room or rooms, with clothes and bathroom", I told her. I saw Mandy 'Get it'. "You are little girls that have been abused, but now you are with someone who doesn't abuse you nor permit you to sell your selves. This is completely true.", Mandy nodded. "The part you need to not say is that you seduced me, and I let you", I continued. "So, you slept in my bed on some of the scariest nights during the storm, but I wouldn't let you touch me nor would I touch you on your pussies." "OK", nodded Mandy. "We can do that." ************************************************ Chapter 12 -- the roads are opened again. We had breakfast, geared up and went outside. Temperature was well below zero, winds very light and a very bright sun low in the sky. I found some quite large drifts that would need dug out but no significant damage that would require immediate attention. The county plows would open the road to the end of my drive and would probably come up the drive to the yard gate. I had a deal with Hiram and sons, I had them on retainer for heavy duty snow removal. They would bring a tractor with loader and rear mounted snow-blower, and clear my driveway and around the buildings for any major storm. A tractor and blower that would cope with the current set of drifts would cost me at least $10k plus I would have to maintain it. As it was I had a moderately large walk behind blower and when one of these big storms hit, I called them. I called to check in, pointing out that I would need to get out as soon as reasonably possible. He promised that he and the boys would be on it as soon as the county road was opened. They would start on their own today so as to be ready for me. Three days later the county road crew made it this far. By the time Alec and John quit for the evening, I could get my SUV out of the garage and onto the road. They were back at my house before dawn the next day per agreement. I had started the generator around 6AM to run the block heater on the tractor so it would start. We headed down the road the five miles to the corner where I found the car. We got there half an hour after dawn. In another twenty minutes we had a trail to the stranded car. I opened the hatchback, then taking pictures of each step we carried the contents to my rig. I made a final search for any interesting stuff while John headed back with the tractor. John would go on to meet his dad at the next clearance job on their list. In addition to paying them for the mornings work beyond the retainer, I relinquished my place in line to the next person. No matter, I could get in and out, anything else could wait a few days. I kept Alec on personal retainer for the rest of the day. We returned to my garage, Jodie attached herself to him. We unloaded the stuff from the car and opened every box and sack. We found a fairly large quantity of clothing in good condition, if somewhat poor quality and bad taste that presumably fit the missing mother, and a much smaller stack of well worn clothes for the three girls. The only items in good condition in the girls pile were a couple of outfits apiece that would fit the description of 'Preteen Hooker'. The only other items of interest to me were birth certificates and social security numbers for the girls. We also found a fair sized bag of what I figured was marijuana, three full fifths of Gin and six cartons of cigarettes. Alec looked at the bag and agreed with my guess. I took off time to call the lawyer and give him the info from the birth certificates and SSNs, also the clothes and drugs. He didn't feel that the information would conflict with what he had done so far and we should continue with the current plan. We re-boxed everything and stacked it out of the way, only keeping out the personal stuff for the girls, a few toys and some mostly unusable clothes. I took Alec home, asking him to not say anything about the drugs till I decided to give them to the sheriff, or just toss them in the wood stove. Both actions seemed to have merit. When we got him home I nearly had to pry Jodie off him to her complaints. Alec showed outward mild amusement, I suspected that inwardly he was complaining as well since he had been awful patient with Jodie all day. Getting home, I decided to call the local sheriff and put the problem of the plastic bag to him as a hypothetical. He suggested that I bring it in with the girls the next day and that he would back me up that I found it in the car. I called Alec and let him know the plan, that secrecy was off and he could tell the tale as he wished. ************************************************ Chapter 13 -- off to town The girls and I headed for town right after breakfast the next day. I had a CD with the pictures of the girls the first day with a separate one of their missing hymens, then a third showing the stuff out of the car. I also had a sack with the clothes they were wearing with I took them from the car. We had an appointment with my doctor for 10:30 and one with the Sheriff for after lunch. The trip was uneventful, it took the expected two hours -- I only had to put chains back on once to get through some new drifts. We hit the UPS/FedEx drop first, then WalMart and got three sets of clothes for each girl and dressed them in their new clothes. We arrived at the doctors office about on time. I had spent a while on the phone when I made the appointment so the office had some of the background on what was to be done. The nurse took us in to do the preliminary workup, then sent us to the lab for blood, urine and stool samples. The tech was good and managed to hit the vein first try on all three girls. I had Mandy go first and got lucky that she just closed her eyes when the tech made the stab instead of crying or trying to pull away. With her as an example the other two did ok. I held Jodie in my lap and both held her arm and covered her eyes when it was time. The tech did a slick job of it, and I think she was still waiting for the bad hurt when he told her that she was all done. From there we went to x-ray. The girls got full body sets, then back to the examining room. Dr. Sam gave them full examinations. I gave her the CD with the body pics from the first morning, then gave her the one with pics of their missing hymens as well. The x-rays showed evidence of broken bones of varying ages. One of Mandy's forearms had a break that clearly hadn't been set properly. Even my unskilled fingers could feel the lump and crookedness to the bone after I was shown the problem. I asked about long term effects and needs. Dr Sam said that it wasn't obvious to her that Mandy would benefit from orthopedic work, but she would advise consulting a specialist. We tabled that one for the present. She stated that the girls showed clear signs of abuse in the past with current condition quite consistent with our story. She agreed with my assessment of their body condition, and approved of my plan and methods of feeding them up somewhat. She reported that the lab showed no signs of STD's in the girls -- something that hadn't occurred to me to worry about till that moment. She agreed to email a prelimiary writeup to the Sheriff that afternoon and be available for a phone consultation with him if needed. We had lunch then went to our appointment with the Sheriff. I turned over the registration and insurance papers for the car along with the plastic bag of probably marijuana. He looked at it, opened the bag, sniffed, and told me that I just as well skip the 'probable' part of the description. I gave him a CD with the pictures of the car and contents. He noted that the only things removed from the stack were the drugs, the kid's papers and personal belongings. We agreed that the rest of the stack could sit in my garage for the short term -- if the sheriff's department decided they wanted it, they would come and get it -- otherwise it probably belonged to the kids anyway. He looked over the guardianship assignment papers without comment, then copied the birth certificates and social security cards. "You say that your lawyer has a preliminary hearing scheduled for next week", he asked. "That's what he told me, I have no reason to doubt it", I replied. Neither one of us qualified the statement with 'Weather permitting', that was assumed. "Now then, we get to the ugly part. Aside from being abandoned in the cold, the girls certainly qualified as battered and starved. As you can see, they are still quite thin. In addition, they were bruised when I got them from the car", I handed him a copy of the DVD with the kid pics on it. "Those were taken the next morning when I gave them a real bath. Even after the hypothermia soak the night before they were in serious need of cleanliness. Also I hadn't really looked at them the previous night. It's not real obvious in those pictures, but, Janice had mild bruising on her genitals, they told me she had been sold to a truck driver earlier in the day for $200 for an hour. Both of the older girls say they have been sold as prostitutes for at least two years, since Mandy's mother died." Silence from across the desk. "Dr. Sam examined them this morning. She has copies of these pictures and you should have a preliminary write up of what she found in your inbox." He checked his email and spent a few minutes skimming through the info from Dr. Sam, then a few more looking at the pictures. He then called in his secretary to take notes and moved us to a comfortable interview room. There was a good couch, in a moment I was sitting with a larger girl against either side and Jodie in my lap. He spent over two hours on a gentle interrogation of the three girls former life. Fortunately he didn't spend a lot of time on their current life. He observed the three of them cuddling up to me and their improvement in condition and didn't go into it much more. By the time he finished he had gotten their stories pretty well covered. Mandy had been sold as far back as she could remember, certainly before she was six. Janice also, and both of the older girls told of Jodie being sold to suck cocks for over two years. "Well", he said. "I'll have to notify social services about this immediately." The Sheriff called me later. "Can you meet with Wilma Anderson from social services tomorrow. She wouldn't do it this afternoon. The best I could do was 10:00 tomorrow." "Oh Joy", was my reply. "I get to try to deal with Wilma." "I did that on purpose", he replied. "I wasn't aware that you hated me that much", I said, only half joking. "Well, yes, she'll be a pain to have to listen to", he answered me. "But she's a 'Lazy Stupid'. From what I gave her, she'll have written the girls off as being already so badly ruined that they can't be salvaged anyway. You have plausible papers for getting custody of them. She'll sign off on them after spending enough time to make sure you know she's important and in charge. So, if you'll suck up to her for a couple of hours, you and the girls should be OK." I thought for a minute. "Painful as it sounds, you probably called it. Given the current road conditions, we'll grab a motel tonight and meet with her in the morning. Thank you." The girls and I went to get haircuts for all four of us, shopping for more clothes, toys and household supplies, then supper and a motel. Mandy and Janice spent the time in front of the TV till I made them shut it off and come to bed. ************************************************** Chapter 13 -- and home again. We got up a bit early, had breakfast and made a run on the local supermarket, skipping only a few things that wouldn't store happily in the rig till afternoon. We met with Ms. Anderson the next morning as scheduled. It was about as -- well, perhaps aggravating would be as good a description as any -- as I had expected. She went on and on about how the girls deserved state protection and how awful their former life had been and how unsuitable it was that I should have custody. I was polite and spoke agreement with much of what she said. As predicted by the Sheriff, after a very unpleasant two hours (Couldn't go beyond that, it would have encroached on her lunch hour), she gave me some papers giving temporary custody pending the court hearing. We grabbed a very quick lunch, a short additional load at the supermarket and scuttled out of town before Ms Anderson thought of something else to drone at us for another two or three hours. The county trucks had been out that morning, we drove home without incident, taking less than an hour. We had power again, I switched the system back to grid power ************************************************* We headed out again after lunch the middle of the next week. I planned to spend the night in a motel, there was a small storm just hitting the area, and it wouldn't take much wind during the night to block the road with drifts. We went shopping for some nice clothes for the girls to wear to court, then met with Alan Karl, the lawyer, for dinner. He had come in the night before as well, after I warned him about possible weather glitches. We and I went over plans for the morrow, then he spent half an hour coaching the girls on how to behave and what to say. He kept it pretty simple, but stressed that good behavior for a couple of hours could well make the difference between winning and losing at the hearing. The court hearing happened as scheduled. There was only six inches of new snow when we got up in a motel in town. We arrived at the court house a little before the scheduled time and were waiting as the clerk set things up. His Honor came in at the appointed hour, The four of us and our lawyer were in place and waiting, Mandy and Janice where sitting on chairs on either side of me as close as they could get and Jodie was on my lap. No one was present for the state. After a few minutes, the judge asked our lawyer if he had the petition ready. Mr. Karl passed him a file folder with the petition for guardianship and the supporting paper work, including a report from their new school teacher on her opinion of their school placement and her evaluation of them from the two weeks that they had been attending her classes and a report from the ER Doc on the evening I found them. He spent most of ten minutes reading through the papers, then looked at me and asked, "Mr. Thompson, why do you wish to assume guardianship of these children? The relationship looks quite tenuous from the documentation. They are at most, second cousins, once removed. And Mandolin does not seem to be a blood relation even to that limited extent." I stood, standing Jodie on the floor in front of me. "Well, Your Honor", I replied. "By the time I got them warmed up and fed, took care of them for ten days, then found that power of attorney in the car, it never occurred to me not to try to keep them. I certainly would prefer to have them stay if you will permit it. I have come to like them, and it seems they like me." About that time, Ms. Anderson came into the court room, went to her table, sat down and started getting papers out of her briefcase. The judge turned his attention to her. "Ms. Anderson, this hearing was scheduled to start over twenty minutes ago.", he said. "Sorry your honor", she said without looking at him, continuing to fiddle with her papers. "With this horrible weather, I was delayed." "Mr. Thompson was able to be here on time, having fed and dressed three small children. He also had to come 45 miles over roads that I know might be called 'interesting' this time of year.", he pointed out to her. "Yes, well I have other duties to attend to as well as these children", she said, still not looking up from her papers. She gathered a couple of piles of them into a stack, got up, walked up to the bench and laid them on the edge with a thump. "MS ANDERSON!", he said sharply, "It is customary in this court for the petitioners to ask permission to approach the bench." I looked at Mr. Karl. He had a very neutral expression on his face, but his eyes were crinkling a bit. Since he had $6500 riding on the outcome of this hearing, I expected that he was inwardly cheering Ms. Anderson on. It seemed to work, because the next words out of her mouth were, "Well!, I supposed you would want the information and recommendations I have worked up for you.", she turned, went back to her table and sat down. "You are very, very, close to spending a week in jail for contempt of court Ms. Anderson. Do you have any reason to offer why I shouldn't do that?" "You can't do that to me, I'm a caseworker for Social Services", she said indignantly. Alan Karl tugged gently on my sleeve to get my attention, then with a nod of his head indicated that I should sit back down. I did while he rose to his feet. Jodie crawled back into my lap and buried her face against my chest. Mandy and Jodie clung to my sleeves. "Your Honor", my lawyer addressed the bench. "Yes Mr. Karl", the judge replied. "While I agree that Ms. Anderson's behavior has not been up to normal standards for a courtroom, I flew into town yesterday for this hearing. If it is delayed, it will cost my client a significant amount of money for me to attend a second hearing. We ask that the hearing continue if at all possible." "I'm just trying to do my job", said Ms. Anderson, turning red and not quite yelling. The judge hit the block on the bench quite sharply with his gavel. "You", he said, pointing at Ms. Anderson, "If you say another word, except as a response to a direct question from me, will spend the next week in the county jail." He looked back at Mr. Karl, standing there calmly. "Please be seated. I need to look through this stuff -- On second thought, court is recessed for around 20 minutes. Bathroom for the kids is down the hall to the left. Water fountain further down that hall. There are some vending machines in the lobby. I'll send the bailiff to get you when I'm ready. You", pointing at Ms. Anderson with the gavel, "remain seated." He rapped the bench with it and picked up the new stack of paperwork. It was well over an inch thick. We went out into the hall. I took the girls to the restroom, telling them to go whether then needed to right this minute or not, it might be a while till the next chance. Alan followed me into the men's room. "That was interesting", I commented. "Yes, His Honor is quite annoyed with her. This will likely be to our advantage", he replied. "What we do want to do is be very careful not to give him any cause to be annoyed with us. He's already worked up a bit, it would be easy to do right now." "Well", I said, "Sheriff Wilson called it. He said she was a 'Lazy Stupid', right on the money." Alan raised a brow? "One way to group military officers, 'Active Smart', 'Lazy Smart', 'Active Stupid', 'Lazy Stupid'.", I replied. "You can do useful things with three of them but the 'Active Stupid' kind, them you just have to get rid of as quickly as possible in whatever fashion you can." "You're right, he answered, "An 'Active Stupid' would have showed up on time with a thick stack of paper that showed that you would be a most improper parent for the girls, all in good order. It would have been more difficult to counter." We went to the lobby to wait. In a bit the bailiff came to call us back into the court. When we were seated, the Judge announced that court was back in session. "What about Sandra Heyward? She is reported to have vanished in the storm." I looked at my lawyer, he indicated that I should answer. "Mandolin", I said, indicating Mandy, "told me that Ms. Heyward left the car before dark to find help. That would have been at least two hours before I found the girls. Given the area, and the fact that I have directly or indirectly talked to all the local residents that it would have been possible for her to reach, I believe that she must be assumed to be dead. The only plausible scenario that I can think of that would have her alive would be that she caught a ride out of the area, then failed to call in when she got to a phone. The county plows didn't find any stranded vehicles along the Vallimont road between the intersection with Highway 27 coming this way and Vallimont on the other end. Since the girls said she didn't have good winter clothes on when she left them, I expect that she is laying along the road under the snow within three miles of where I found the car. She may or may not be found come spring thaw, people who have vanished in the area under similar circumstances -- we fail to find over 10%. Sheriff Wilson would be a good resource for further expertise on the issue." The Judge looked at me in thought for a few moments. "Call Sheriff Wilson and ask him if he could attend please. By phone will do if he can't get here in a few minutes", he told the court clerk. He addressed me again, "Shirley Jones is the school teacher in your area?" "Yes your Honor." "How are the girls doing in school?" "That's a bit hard to say. What I was able to learn of their background, their schooling was quite sketchy and interrupted. They've only attended this school in the flesh for a few days. They seemed to be doing well, given their background, during the remote schooling during the storm. Ask me and Mrs. Jones again in a couple of months and we'll have a better answer." "Did you have any luck with Sheriff Wilson", he asked the clerk. "He should be here in 15 minutes or so", the clerk replied. "See if you can get Mrs. Jones on the phone please.", the judge instructed him. I gave the clerk her phone number off my cell. He made the call and put it on speaker phone. Shirley answered the phone, she was at school from the timing and background noise. "Good morning Mrs. Jones, this is Judge Walker, sitting in family court in Greenville. I have Mr Anderson here with the three girls he collected up a few weeks ago. I'd appreciate it if you could answer a few questions if you could spare the time. "I have the kids working at the moment, things are fairly quiet. Subject to probable interruptions, I can give you a little while", Shirley responded. "I just read your evaluation that Mr. Anderson's lawyer submitted. Do you have anything to add or expand upon on that issue?" "I don't believe so, considering their background, the girls have been doing quite well. Where I don't have a uniform group of students anyway, the fact that they don't fit into conventional grades very well isn't really an issue. Of course, I've only been working with them for a short time. In a few months I'll have a much better idea of their capabilities. On the other hand, from what I have seen so far, I don't anticipate any real problems. They seem to be reasonably bright kids, and, probably more important than anything, they seem to want to please Mr. Thompson and are willing to work to do it. Fortunately, the goals they perceive that will please him fit well with my goals within the local school setting." "Could I ask you to send me a status report every month for the next six months?", his honor asked her. It need not be lengthy so long as their progress is reasonably within your expectations. I would appreciate it if the final report were a bit more comprehensive." "I can do that, it's about the middle of the month, perhaps if I send you a report by the 20th of each month for the balance of the school year?" That would be excellent. Thank you. Do you have any questions for Mrs. Jones, Mr. Karl?", asked the judge. "No, your honor." "Thank you Mrs. Jones. You have been a real help." The judge hung up and handed the phone back to the clerk. Sheriff Wilson came in the door about then. "Good morning your honor, Colonel Thompson. What can I do for you?" "Colonel?", asked the judge with a raised brow. "US Air Force, Retired", I answered. "Sheriff Wilson was one of my lieutenants while I was a Captain." "I see. So he knows you fairly well." "Since he was a fairly small kid. He was one of the beginning 4H kids I worked with when I was in late high school. Enough that we remembered each other several years later when he was fresh out of ROTC and was inflicted upon me to mentor. We both survived and he became quite useful", I replied. "Well, back to business. Sheriff Wilson, what is your take on the whereabouts of Ms. Heyward?" "Almost certainly dead, somewhere within a four mile radius of her car. I will be surprised if she made it more than two miles. An hour in that kind of storm without proper clothing is a very long time. She could have caught a ride out of the area, but it seems quite unlikely. We will do a search of the area after the snow is mostly gone. My guess is that we will find her body somewhere near the road. If she did catch a ride, and shows up, I will probably charge her with possession of marijuana, willful neglect, attempted murder and prostitution of minor children.", he answered. "What do you think the odds are of finding her alive at some point in the future?" "Anything's possible -- but I wouldn't put my money on it at 100 to 1. Perhaps at 1000 to 1, but not a very large amount." "What is your opinion of Mr. Thompson as a foster parent to these girls? What would your opinion be if it were your children that we were discussing?" Frank rubbed his chin in thought for a few moments. "Well your honor, that's pretty much a hypothetical question. Among other things, my kids have a fairly large supply of close relatives at hand. But to answer the question as you meant it, should they become orphans, and the supply of willing relatives ran dry, I wouldn't particularly cringe because Colonel Thompson became their guardian. He did a pretty good job of raising me." "Do you have any further thoughts on these issues that you would wish to share?" "No, your honor." The judge looked with distaste at Ms. Anderson, still sitting at her table. "Do you have anything constructive to contribute that isn't already covered in this document you submitted to the court Ms. Anderson?", he asked. He must have put the fear of God, or at least the fear of Judge into her because her response was a choked "No, your honor." "In that case, since it appears to have been the wishes of Ms. Heyward and I see no pressing reason to overrule them, I will grant provisional Guardianship of these children to you, Mr. Thompson. Since the Ms. Heyward is missing and presumed dead, but it has been only a short time since she became missing, I will make this a temporary guardianship, to be reviewed in six months. The court clerk will send you a notice in the next few weeks of the court date. Mr. Karl, please prepare the documents to implement this decision and submit them to this court within 10 days." "Certainly your honor, I will be glad to.", replied the lawyer. "Congratulations on your new family", the judge said, making it clear that he was addressing the girls at least as much as he was me. "Court is adjourned.", he rapped his gavel once. ************************************************** After the court hearing I hired Alec for a few days to help with snow removal and repairs of storm damage. He would stay over for a couple of nights, the roads were passable, but the six mile journey wasn't trivial as it would be in the summer. That evening we played a card game for an hour, Jodie had claimed his lap and they played as a team. Afterwords the girls did school work for another hour and Alec read with Jodie still on his lap. We all headed for bed and Jodie followed Alec up the stairs towards the guest rooms. She came back down a few minutes later in tears. "He made me leave when I tried to get into bed.", she told me. "He probably thinks that was the right thing to do. Let's go talk to him." I scooped her up and carried her back up the stairs. I knocked, "May we come in?" "Sure", was the response. Alec was in bed with a book in hand. "You are accused of cruelly evicting Jodie", I told him as I stood Jodie on the floor. At his blank look I added, "I'm quite sure you were doing what you thought was the 'Right Thing'." "Well, Yeah.", was his response. "Well, in this household, there are three rules that apply to this situation. First, no means no, but you may say yes. Second, don't try to convince her do something she doesn't want to. Don't let her talk you into anything that you don't want to do. Third, don't talk to anyone outside of this family about what goes on here." While I was speaking, Jodie walked over to Alec and leaned her head against his upper arm. His arm went around her without any obvious decision to do so. "So, if you really don't want her to sleep with you, we will leave you in peace -- but you may let her." Jodie made to try to get onto the bed. Alec raised the covers a little and scooted over, still without seeming to notice what he was doing. Jodie crawled in and snuggled into the curve of his arm. "If you are trying to keep her out of your bed, you're doing a very poor job of it", I pointed out. Alec shrugged and blushed. "The girls have been used as prostitutes for several years, so there is little that you might want to do with her that I would consider harm. I expect that you care about Jodie and will consider her happiness as more important than your own. This will be somewhat new to her as you will be only the second person to treat her that way in her memory. Your happiness on the other hand is important too. You shouldn't do something for her that makes you unhappy either. Do things *with* her, not *to* her, and don't let her do things *to* you. They have been told that they are not to try to use their bodies as currency, so either do it as fun for both of you or not at all. If you think she is trying to bribe you with sex, stop and come to me to discuss it. One final rule, special case for Jodie. She doesn't have a hymen -- a cherry -- but she is less than five years old. Don't try vaginal or anal intercourse for now. Any thing else she wants to do is up to you. Cuddle, kiss, fondle, suck, lick, fingerfuck -- she may do any of those with you if she wants to. You, on the other hand are under no obligation to do anything that makes you uncomfortable -- including letting her snuggle with you in bed." I paused for a moment to let Alec digest. "So", I asked, gesturing towards Jodie. "Shall I pluck her from her warm spot and take her with me?" More blushes and a head shake. His arm tightened a little around her. "Goodnight then", I closed the door behind me. Jodie and Alec came down the stairs for breakfast next morning, Jodie carried in one arm with her arms wrapped around his neck. He blushed a bit at my grin, put Jodie down at the table and helped finish getting breakfast ready. When we were done with breakfast he picked her up and they went off to get her dressed for the day. Jodie insisted on going out with us. She didn't last long, I tried to get her to go back in when she started to chill -- she insisted on staying with Alec till her hands and feet hurt too much to stand it any longer. It was well below zero outside, so we took a break, took her inside and got her started warming. She complained when I refused to let her come back out with us. She was waiting at the door when we came back inside for lunch, helping Alec with his shoes and only squawking a little when he slid his cold hand under her shirt. That evening Alec didn't even try to leave her downstairs when he went to bed, just scooped her up and headed up stairs. When I delivered Alec home the next evening, we were invited for dinner. After dinner when it was time to depart, I asked Alec's mother for the loan of a wrecking bar. "OK", she replied slowly. "John, go fetch Will a crowbar from the shop please." "No", I stopped him. "It was a joke. On the other hand", gesturing at Jodie and Alec, "I'm going to have to pry her loose somehow, take him back with me, or give her to you." She studied Alec and Jodie for a long moment, "Well, it's tempting, but I should probably turn down the offer for tonight." Then with another look at them, "Better get your girlfriend dressed for outdoors Alec." John started to say something, she quelled him with a look. Alec helped Jodie get her outside clothes on, the other two girls and I got dressed for the journey home, he carried her to my rig, buckled her in and got a goodbye kiss for his efforts. ***************************************************** After that, Alec found an excuse to drop by at least once per week. His parents choose to be amused by Jodie's attachment to him, and cooperated by inviting us to dinner every couple of weeks. Either they followed my instructions of no intercourse, or Jodie was able to take him without significant discomfort -- I never saw evidence of her being sore in the mornings after she slept with Alec. I'm pretty sure that Janice managed to get to John once, but they didn't seem to click as a couple. I was pretty sure that once was it. Mandy claimed me, she was quite willing to share with her sisters, but made it quite clear that she wasn't interested in branching out at all. They did as well as I could hope in school, by spring Mandy and Janice were reading quite well. There was another couple of weeks in April where they girls didn't attend school because of bad roads during breakup. A couple of weeks after breakup finished, Sheriff Wilson came out with search and rescue. They found Sandra Heyward's body, nearly three miles from her car. If her judgement had been as good as her determination -- well, I probably wouldn't have three pre-teen lovers and the girls would still be getting sold several times a week.