I have taught three math classes and one history class....been called down to the office to handle a 'situation'....met with two distraught parents....and it's not even lunch time and I am determined to reply to this post!!!!!!!!! (Even if it does take me all day.)

Wow! There ya go, Jack. Be honest. After all, an honest, bare-your-soul Jack is

What an absolutely perfect way to describe Sue. She is so giving, not waiting on people to come to her, but reaching out instead. Wonderful imagery (at least to me) of what Christmas is all about!

I was reading along, wondering where Myles is...if he's listening....loving the way Mrs. C was giving Jack wise advice...and then you ended with this line.

I'm echoing Babs.....Should we be worried?

I'm sure Mrs C says that because she can't have a deep soul bearing talk with Myles is Jack is still hovering!!!

Amazing posts Kav!!!

Jen

YUM cookies....



Did she have any Kangaroo shaped ones?



Come on Kav!! I have to ** looks around before hissing quietly** WORK! tomorrow....

(hmm. feels kinda strange to say the W word.... kinda good.... kinda... 'couldn't you wait to start class until next monday so i could sleep in on my birthday?' kinda.... oh well... at least I'll be able to say I was 31 years, 364 days old when I started working there....LOL)

Awesome post, as usual! I don't know how you do it!

Donna

With out quoting Flip completely, can I give her words a huge ditto? She picked all my favorite quotes and was thinking the same things as I was even.

Kav, I am sooooooooooooooooooo loving this.

Just caught up Kav and I hope you are getting better.

This story is just magical and I just want to keep reading but now I'm here I am waiting very patiently for the next post which is very unusual for me!!!!

Sam

*pouts and stamps her foot* I wanted to do the mouth-to-mouth!!!!!

Kav, I have finally caught up and now waiting with bated breath with everyone else for your next post!! Hope you are feeling better, but it doesn't sound to me that you've really had time to just BE sick and get it over with!!!

This whole story is............!!! **sigh** Words can't explain how much enjoyment you are creating here!!!

I LOVE Mrs. C!! Myles is so wonderful here, moving right along away from the abyss, we hope!! Howie is so elfin - so appropriate, I don't know why I never saw it before!! Levi is busy trying to bring the memories back in his oh, so adorable way!! Bobby's memories of Tara are starting to surface, I think, and Tara's thoughts about Bobby are, well the only word that comes to mind is dreamy!! Jack is just too, too...........I LOVE all the different emotions that have surfaced with him in this tale!! And, Sue is still caring about everyone and bringing everything together, and definitely keeping Christmas alive!!

Thanks so much for sharing your incredible talent with us!! This story will be read and reread many, many times!!!

Note to Mentor: Glad to see you!! I've missed you on the board!!!

Joy

Kav... I'll make you a deal.... I'll post the final teaser scene of mine.... if you'll give me more Koala Boy and Cartwheels... erm.. .pigtails....



Whaddaya say?


PSST.... You know that means posting of the big tie up on mine could then start when i have library time.....

Kav, can't wait for more. I sure would like to know how much Myles overheard of that conversation, and what he is thinking dose he remember any more now? What about the others?

Dianna

why is time on the essence...what is happening...is he going to remember tonight...is the team going to remember tonight. oh i can't wait.

Wow. I love this - all open up Jack..

Talk to Sue Jack.....she'll help....


~laura michelle~

Oh MY!!! I just caught up!! Wow Kav! What an amazing story!! I just love the way you are weaving it all together! Then there are the steamy scenes!!! Whew!!! You are truly amazing!!

Just a weather report from down south... Atlanta is sunny & cold. Of course, cold for us means only a high in the upper 50s or low 60s. Ya'll really should come down for a visit!

Kav... we are waiting....

elj

just open up jack to sue about your feeling!!!!!!!

Jack, you have got to open up to Sue sooner or later. I wonder what Mrs. C has in store for Myles...

Here's a snippet...not sure if this is going the way you think it will...though I find your ideas highly entertaining...and mionebristow you're gonna have to wait a bit for Bobby and Tara. I can't seem to type as fast as my imagination concocts!


Outside the Christmas Store, Myles pressed his face against the window and tried the door again. It was no use, it was locked. Which is ridiculous since I just saw Jack go through there not a minute ago, he groused as he pounded on the door. He could hear the faint jingle of sleigh bells as they rattled in response but no one came to let him in. Perhaps it's a special evening reserved for select clientele, Myles mused, though that should include me for I have much more selective tastes than Jack has.

Curiosity wouldn't allow for retreat. He suddenly had a burning desire to finally set foot in the store he had been watching for weeks and renewed his efforts with such force that it was a miracle the plate glass didn't shatter. It certainly shook though no one answered his imperious entreaty. "Open up, FBI!" Silence surrounded him, though he had the impression of a hearty chuckle and the unspoken question. You going to draw your gun next, Myles? Undeterred, he strode round the side of the building and strode off to search for an alternate entrance.

The snow had picked up, the fluffy flakes of only moments ago changing into a driving force on the heels of a wind that definitely felt as if it came from the North. Myles chafed his bare hands, having left his gloves back in the car and he felt the painful nip of the cold air on the tips of his ears. Impossible, he muttered to himself, this kind of drastic weather change doesn't happen in DC. As if in direct dispute, the wind swirled the snow into a blinding whiteout that left him at a standstill, groping for a landmark.

A rising panic filled his breast as he frantically felt only empty air on all sides. Another impossibility for he had started down a stretch of alley hemmed in by two red bricked buildings. Shuffling first right and then left produced nothing but the blank emptiness of frozen air. This is preposterous, Myles fumed, I should be half way to the Hoover Building by now. He tried to look past the driving snow to get his bearings but could only make out a vast expanse of white. Where were the buildings? The city lights? The people bustling about the streets?

It didn't take him long to realize -- unbelievably -- that he was lost in the middle of a dense snowstorm in an alleyway in downtown DC.

Impossible!

*bounces up and down* This is such an amazingly wonderful and magical story! I can't wait to see what Mrs. C and company have in store for Myles in his customized blizzard. And why do I think he may not be in DC anymore?

uh oh spagetti-os!

Kav, this is so way cool! Loved Jack and Mrs. C. Poor Myles Can't wait for more!

I have a good guess of why time is of the essence and it definitely isn't anything scary! Myles on the other hand better start to believe!

Poor Myles, you're going to give him a panic attack !

And Jack ... please, talk to Sue and remember love conquers mountains and snowbanks!

Poor Myles...it seems like he is always on the outside with his face pressed against the window. And he gets the word "impossible" while Jack and Sue get "magic". But somehow I believe, by the end of the story, Myles's impossible will change to magic too! I can't wait!

Twin #1, you've just made me immensely hungry right now.

And Kav, what on earth is happening to Myles? You know, good things don't usually happen in alleys in dowtown DC, so you're going to have to elaborate a wee little bit more to put my overactive imagination to rest, so I can sleep tonight.

Could agree more!

Please post more soon Kav!

BLT

Poor Myles!

Em

What more could I add to this sentiment except I think the entire team will find magic by the end of this story. I know I have and I hope we are no where near the end!

Kim

sorry

Once again

How does Myles always seem to end up in these predicaments?

Go Myles Go!

Poor Myles! But I've got faith. Like Flip, I think his 'impossible' will turn into a beautiful 'magic' too.. And I'll be right here waiting for it to happen.

Hot chocolate, anyone? Reading about a snow storm surely made me cold.

Shards of ice pellets pierced his skin like hundreds of tiny needles and Myles huddled further into his coat as he trudged forward.  This was downtown DC, which ever way he walked he was bound to come across a building of some sort sooner or later.  Or get hit by a car crossing the freeway, he though sardonically.  He had listened to the news and read the newspaper articles regarding the havoc global warming was playing on weather conditions all over the world, but this was more like weather reversal.  If this is what it's like down here, what on earth is happening up in the North Pole?  His steps faltered as an odd idea popped into his mind.  Nah, he shook his head dismissively and picked up his pace.  The sooner he reached indoor heating the sooner his brain could thaw and his sanity would return...he hoped.
 
*    *    *
 
Jack kept a wary eye out on Mrs. C as he drifted through the store looking for that perfect gift for Sue.  The old woman was bent over some sort of sewing as her hands fairly flew over her task.  She certainly keeps herself busy, Jack thought.
 
"Idle hands make the devil's workshop, haven't you ever heard that, Jack?"
 
She was doing it again.  Probing his mind where she had no business being.
 
"Then apply it to the task at hand, dear.  You're not the only other customer that needs tending tonight."
 
Jack looked around the shop with some surprise.  "There's no one else here," he protested.
 
"Yet." Came the muffled response from Mrs. C whose mouth was full of thread and needle.
 
Jack watched in fascination as she patted the rag doll her nimble fingers had just brought to life.  He was sure it had just been scraps of cloth only moments ago.
 
"How'd you sew that up so fast?"
 
"Years of experience," Mrs. C frowned at him over half-moon reading glasses.  "Are you always this slow in your decision making?  It's a wonder you ever made a name for yourself at the FBI." She tsked tsked as she picked up more fabric from a red and green basket at her side.
 
Jack opened his mouth to argue but knew it was as pointless as trying to win an argument with his mom when he was teenager.  Even now she was forever telling him "I told you so."  Like this afternoon's email.  I told you that Sue was the woman God made for you, but would you listen to me? No! What does a mother know about her son's heart? Apparently nothing after birthing him, nursing him and suffering the anxieties of the numerous separations of growing up. LOL. Love you darling and am so grateful you've finally found your heart. Now do act on it sooner then later. A grandbaby next year under the Christmas tree would be nice. Jack smiled with the resigned air of a man who would never see completely through the vagaries of women, but was content to enjoy their mystery none the less.
 
Mrs. C's audible sigh verging on a moan broke him from his reverie. "Perhaps I can help you narrow  down the selection process a bit."  She didn't look up from her sewing, but pursed her lips thoughtfully.  "Tell me about this woman of your dreams and I'll see if I can think of anything appropriate we might have in stock."
 
Jack eagerly crossed the room to the cash register where the old lady worked busily.  "She's beautiful, but you know that.  You met her the first time we came in here.  I thought of getting her a treetop angel, hers is getting pretty ratty -- but they just don't do her justice...no offence meant," he added hastily for the old lady seemed to take much of what he said personally.  "They just aren't...don't have...that...certain spark."
 
"Well no, we aren't the Master Craftsman here, of course.  Ours are a poor imitation to His handwork and Sue is one of His finest."
 
"That's what it is.  They don't have any soul!" Jack fairly shouted.  "And Sue -- well, she's so spirited that she her eyes fairly crackle with electricity when I look at her."
 
"I'm not sure those electrical shocks are coming from her soul, dear," Mrs. C remarked dryly.
 
Jack ignored the comment.  "And I want the gift to signify her generous spirit.  She's always giving -- not just to charities, but sharing herself.  She works with the women at her church making blankets for homeless shelters and she reads to Deaf kids at a club she created, and when she sees the potential in someone she won't rest until she's found a way to help them realize it..."  He thought of Troy and Charlie and Carole and Amanda's dad and Myles...
 
*    *    *

It's a dream. A particularly vividly horrifically volatile nightmare brought on by those two sugar coated snowmen cookies Lucy insisted I eat this afternoon at break, Myles finally decided because really, what other reason could there be for his current situation?
 
None.  Other than he had been miraculously transported up to the North Pole. 
 
Ho Ho Ho...was that laughter he heard faintly in the distance?  And bells -- that infernal peeling sound was back inside his head but in unison with many more similar sounds.  He couldn't prevent the scream that rose from the depths of his very frustrated heart.  Miraculously another scream echoed back, not his own.  This one high-pitched, with a definite nasal twang to it. 
 
*    *    *
 
"She sounds like a treasure, your Sue."
 
Jack smiled, mesmerized by the seamless motion of Mrs. C's hands as they worked. "You have no idea.  She's one of a kind.  Not that she's perfect mind you.  There's enough spunk in her to make it interesting.  She can be very determined when she's going after something she wants..."
 
"Stubborn is she?"
 
Jack started.  "Yeah -- you could say that -- not to her face though.  She'll give you that look..."
 
The wind whipped her hair into a golden banner behind her. He'd told her to get back inside three times and she had mutinously stared him down. She was more aggravating than his little sister and all his female cousins combined. He told her one thing, she did another. And now she had the audacity to think she had the answer when he was clearly out of ideas himself. Stubborn. That's what she was. Too stubborn for her own good. And that's when her nickname was born. Stub. Miss Stub... 

Jack came to with a start, his eyes focusing anew on the interior of the shop.  He felt like he'd been transported back in time -- to place he knew so well, though he didn't remember.  And she had been there, as stubbornly tenacious as ever...and a boy...with an Australian accent.  Bobby? And another, sliding out of his grasp in danger of being consumed...
 
*    *    *
 
He didn't know which was more dangerous, being consumed by the swirling blank abyss of white or being swallowed alive by hellish nightmare of Howie Fines' parkaed figure as his saviour.
 
"Yo -- Leland -- how on bells did you get up here?"  The mouth moved -- the discordant whine of Fines' unfortunate voice shattered his fragile frozen eardrums -- but it was impossible to tell if it actually was Fines.  The figure was bundled from his head to his toe in a snow laden mantle.  He stood on the back of a dog sled and a pack of wolfish Levi wannabes howled and yipped and caterwauled up such a din that it was nearly impossible to hear over them.  Luckily the high pitch that Howie's vocal chords could achieve pierced through the noise to accost Myles' ears.  "Sheesh, Leland -- are you out of your mind?  Don't you know better than to come out here in the harsh elements of a frozen wasteland with nothing more than your dress coat?  Man -- you don't even have mitts on.  All that Harvard education hasn't gotten you far when it comes to basic survival skills, has it?  Now me?  I may not have your uppity university degree, but I know my way around the snow which is the only thing that counts out here."  Howie snorted his satisfaction and the dogs began to howl again, apparently taking it as their cue to rally behind their leader.
 
"Enough!" Myles roared and the snorting and baying ceased.  "If this is my dream then I get to direct it and it wouldn't be starring you!"
 
The blob of snow that was Howie shuffled indignantly from one foot to the other.  "Same old, same old.  it never quits with you does it, Leland.  Well I have news for you.  There are some that appreciate old Howie and his unique talents.  Some who can't wait for Christmas to roll around so they can see him again.  Some who rank him right up there with flying reindeers and Santa's elves as a meaningful icon of the Christmas Spirit, but excuse me for mushing out here to your aid.  We'll just be getting back, won't we boys?"
 
Stubborn.  Myles shook his head in despair.  His or Howie's it didn't really make any difference, the end result was still the same.  He was getting nowhere.
 
"Howie -- I'm....sorry," He whispered the last word, hoping the wind would carry it away but it whirled instead in a growing spiral so that the sorry echoed and boomed as it sped faster and faster until it disappeared into oblivion in a splash of white snow.  It felt oddly invigorating, Myles thought with surprise.

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh there were so many favorite parts to this post - you have outdone yourself with this story!!

I love the email from Jack's mom - she seems like a delightful woman!

Beautiful!! I've always suspected that Santa worked for Him anyway

Whoo-hoo! Jack's starting to get it, I think - much to Mrs. C's relief, I'm sure!!



Another magnificent post!

YES to Jack and the light bulb in his head


Now poor Myles and Howie time to listen Myles and not just with your ears....

We seem to be getting closer and closer to remembering everything, which makes me sadder and sadder!! I don't want to see anything even faintly resembling an ending of any kind!!!

Jack trying to find a "spirited" gift for Sue!! I'm sure Mrs. C will be able to help him find just the right thing!!!

So, Myles is still fighting his dark abyss, although it has now taken on the look of flying snow!! Knock on a Christmas store door and you are transported to the North Pole!! Who knew?? And, Howie is there to rescue him?? I can see why Myles thought he was dreaming!!!

Kav, I simply love the way you put words together!! The way you describe Myles' whispered word "sorry".........absolutely magic!!!

Joy

I think the hamster in Jack's head is working overtime!

I'm sorry - I know I'm bad - but I can't resist! If Jack would keep Sue with him then he wouldn't have to worry about having idle hands!
 
 
I agree with Babs...Santa is one of His wonderful helpers!
 
 
Nope! I bet they are coming from Jack's un-idle hands!

Love it! Love it! Love it! His rememberer is remembering!

And I'm thinking they might all have to get together again and do some more Myles snatching!

Whoa! Myles is apologizing to Howie?

I started to quote favorites - but there were just too many! Barbara hit most of mine along with Mrs. C asking if he was always this slow in his decision making. I also loved the word "parkaed". I'm always looking for a new word.

Masterful and brilliant. Yep, that about sums it up.

so much to quote from those last posts

i'll just say i love it, it truly is wonderful

cath

flip and barbara manatee i agree. Santa is totally one of God's best friends. Have you read/seen the Chronicles of Narnia, the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe? It just proves it.

Yep, me too *lets one tear slip by*

ah.. what the heck...

Poor Myles!! Brrr

Hanging on for every word!!!!

Sam

what just happened ?????

Blimey Kav!!! Absolutely FAB!!!!

Jen

Awesome, awesome, awesome!!!

Wow Kav....this is a totally amazing story!

I can't wait for more!

BLT

I think so too and I only hope the little creature has enough hot chocolate to ride the craziness out.

Kav! I love this! You have soo go me into the Christmas mood! Only 18 days left you know!