Reading my book I was listening and hear the pre-boarding call which included 1st class boarding. Being a frequent flyer I was always in the first group up. So I got up and went to the gate kiosk and handed the lady my ticket bar code. Arriving in seat 10 D, I wondered how crowded the flight was going to be. I usually got free first class upgrades but not today.

Sitting down in my preferred aisle seat I continued to read my book, waiting for the occupants of 10E & 10F before going to the trouble of buckling up. A stewardess was escorting a young lady down the main aisle. Must be an unaccompanied minor judging from the ticket id pinned to her dress. I was somewhat surprised when the stewardess announced that the girl was to sit in seat 10E. After allowing her to sit I retook my seat.

She introduced herself as Emily and said she was going home after a trip to Houston visiting her friend Sarah. Emily happily talked away right up to take off and told me that her friend Sarah had moved away last summer and that since this was Christmas break Sarah had been in Memphis visiting and she had rode to Houston with Sarah and her parents. She had stayed for 2 weeks and Emily's mother had bought her a 1 way ticket back home for a Christmas present. I was somewhat surprised that no one was sitting in 10F as we took off.

I was very amused by Emily. She was trying her best to be as mature as possible trying to impress me. She was obviously a country girl from her accent and I pretty much bet her mother was a hillbilly of some sort, recently transplanted to the city. During our conversation Emily told me she was 12 years old and that they had just recently moved to Memphis. She said they lived in some small town in Tennessee that I didn't recognize. I gathered it was several hours away. Emily said her dad was killed in a mining accident a few years ago. So my suspicions were confirmed that her mom was definitely from the sticks. Apparently Emily's mom had met a man and remarried and they moved to the big city. Memphis. At least it seemed big to Emily.

During the flight Emily became scared at the turbulence and grabbed my arm and started crying. I calmed her down and told her it happened all the time and that I flew this flight every other week. She said she was going to be in a school play in a few weeks and asked me if I would come. I was sort of taken by her innocence. I agreed that since I would be in Memphis anyway I could come by as the play was in the evening on a weeknight. I gave her my card and she put it in her cute little girl purse. She was trying so hard to act like a grown girl. After we landed she unbuckled her seat belt and was kneeling in her seat looking out the window. She was very happy to be back in Memphis as she said she missed her mom. Turning to me she surprised me by giving me a big hug and a kiss and thanking me for being so kind to her and helping her to not be scared.

Arriving at the gate I was surprised that the stewardess didn't come give Emily any instructions. My new little friend got up with the rest of us and I got her bag down out of the overhead for her. Finally arriving at the front an airline employee took charge of her and she waved good-bye to me.

Snagging my luggage at the belt I made my way to the office via cab as I always did. Making my 09:00 meeting at the office I finished about 11:00 and start making my rounds of my employees at our office in that city. Having employees in 4 different cities I had to go around to all of them at least once a month. I was in my branch shipping clerk's office when my cell phone rang.

"This is Paul."

"Mr. Paul Markham?" the woman's voice on the other end asked.

"Yes it is."

"I'm Cindy Watson with Southern Air. Do you know an Emily Chance?"

Emily? Emily? Oh yeah. That was the little girl I was on the plane with this morning.

"Yes I think so. About 12?"

"Yes, that's her. She had your card in her purse. Her mother was supposed to be at the airport this morning to pick her up and we have not heard from her. We've called the numbers for Mrs. Chance and no answer. Do you happen to know where Mrs. Chance might be?"

"Well actually no. I only know Emily, I've not met her mother."

"Well it has now been 4 hours since she was supposed to be picked up and at this point our airline regulations state we have to turn her over to someone."

Well obviously Cindy was fishing. She wanted me to volunteer to come pick up Emily. This could definitely be a sticky situation.

"Well I'd like to help you but I don't have permission from her mother to pick her up. Have you contacted the police?"

"Yes I did but they don't have any information on her. I gave them her address and they said they would send a patrol car by the house to see if anyone was home. Could be the phone isn't working, I never got an answering machine or anything."

"I see. Humm..."

"Can you hold for a minute? My other line is ringing."

"Sure."

I was treated to some old Bee Gee's on hold music for a few minutes. I said my good bye to the shipping clerk and exited his office and made my way to the conference room I often used as an office while in our Memphis office.

"Mr. Markham?"

"Yes."

"That was children's service calling me. Apparently they are sending someone over to collect Emily."

"Everything ok? That seems sort of quick."

"I don't know. They seemed rather sure of something but wouldn't say what. Sorry to trouble you."

"No problem. If you need something else call me back."

"Ok. Thank you. Bye."

"Bye."

Well that was sort of odd in my mind. I pondered it over lunch at the local Japanese steak house that was just next door. Decent lunch at a decent price and just on the other side of the parking lot from the office. Walking back across to the office my cell phone rang again.

"Paul."

"Mr. Markham?"

"Yes."

"Hi my name is Loretta Boyd and I'm with children's services. Ms. Watson told me that she spoke with you earlier about Emily Chance."

"Yes."

"Well I'm afraid that there has been a rather bad situation at the Chance residence and I was wondering if I could impose on you to ride with me for the afternoon?"

"Ride with you?" I said, very confused.

"Yes, I'm in a back office right now out of ear shot of Emily but there was a break in and multiple homicides at her house yesterday. No one knew about it until this morning when the airline called the police to look for Emily's parents. The police said that the crime scene is under investigation and that the bodies are going to be in the morgue within the hour. They've asked if I could bring Emily down to identify them."

"Whoa! What the hell? I'm sure you mean well but bringing a 12 year old girl to the morgue to identify what could be her mother?"

"Yes well my supervisor had the same concerns. However from what the police can tell there were two people killed last night at that house. Emily confirmed that she lived with her mother and new father and didn't have any brothers or sisters. Supposedly she has an aunt somewhere back in Kentucky but I didn't press her for many more details. Emily said that she and her mom just moved to Memphis a few months ago.

"Damned. What bad luck."

"Do you think you could accompany us to the morgue?"

"Me?"

"Yes. I know it is sort of unusual but from what I've found out so far from Emily she doesn't have too many friends and her one friend her age lives in Houston, a girl named Sarah McKinney."

"Yeah she told me all about Sarah this morning."

"Well I would certainly appreciate it if you could come. If it really is her mother it is going to be quite traumatic for her and she will need all the emotional support she can get. I hope that by her at least having someone with her that she knows that it will help her. At her age this could be very bad for her."

"So why not just keep her somewhere overnight until you can confirm it."

"Well it isn't so much as confirm for the police as it is for Emily to realize that her mother is dead. It will be very emotional for her but she will need to do it."

"And the police are sure it is Mrs. Chance?"

"Well Mrs. James, that is her new name after she married. Chance was her name from the previous marriage and Emily's real father's name. Emily said her real father was killed a couple of years ago. Victoria, her mom, remarried last year. The police said they found her license and confirmed that it is her. I know it sounds cruel but if you just whisk the child away without them getting to see their dead parent they think that it is all just a trick of some sort by children's services. It is very hard on them but a necessary step for the healing process to begin."

"I don't mind being with her but really I'm sort of surprised. You do know I only just met her on the plane this morning."

"I know but right now you seem to be the only person she knows alive in Memphis. I left some voice mails on the contact number for Sarah's mother a little while ago and I've got a colleague doing some research on the aunt in Kentucky. Can I come by your office and pick you up?"

After giving her the address I hung up and now back in my office packed up my laptop and locked it in a storeroom for which I had a key. This was probably going to shoot the afternoon. Twenty minutes later I was downstairs when an obviously government issue car pulled up and I could see a woman in the driver's seat and a young girl in the passenger seat. I walked out and greeted them and took a seat in the back. Emily was sort of quiet. The case worker hadn't told her yet but the young girl was smart enough to know something unusual was going on.

After some chit chat on the way downtown we arrived at the morgue. Emily saw the sign and visibly stiffened. She grabbed my hand and held it tight. Inside the caseworker went ahead while I waited out in the lobby with Emily. The caseworker came back and showed Emily the driver's license. Emily confirmed that it was her mother's picture. Now the moment of truth and Loretta finally had to break the news to the little girl that her mother was dead. Predictably the poor little thing broke down in tears. Loretta had brought a box of tissues and we sat there for close to an hour with Emily while she cried her little heart out. Then we said that we hated to have to show her but she needed to identify her mother in person for the police records. The technician pulled back a curtain and we could see the body. Draped in a sheet with only her head and shoulders uncovered it was obvious to me that Victoria was a nice enough looking woman in about her late 30's but a skinny white chick and pretty hillbilly looking. Her head was covered in a hospital style cap that covered her forehead. Emily was up against the glass crying and I looked at Loretta and touched my finger to my forehead to indicate that I thought that it was a head shot. Loretta nodded slightly to confirm it and I was appreciative of the morgue technician who had taken the time to cover the dead woman's head with the cap so that her daughter wouldn't have to have the last image of her mother with a bullet hole through the head.

Emily came off of the glass and wrapped herself around me. She was sobbing uncontrollably now and interspersing it with hiccups. Loretta and I led her out to the car. Emily and I sat in the backseat with Emily continuing to cry. Finally she stopped and asked about her step dad and Loretta told her that he was dead too. Loretta asked Emily if she would sign a form indicating that it was in fact her mother. Emily stoically agreed and signed the form. Loretta took it back into the morgue while I waited out in the car with Emily. Loretta called and found out that the house was still a mess so she told me that if I didn't mind that Emily could stay with me for the afternoon. Seeing that transportation was going to be a problem I asked her if she could take me by the rental car place and she did. She said she would go by the house and try to get it picked up as best she could and I told her that if she could get clearance from the police that I could get a cleaning service that I knew about in Memphis to go clean it before we brought Emily to it. We had the discussion quickly while Emily was in the restroom at the burger joint we had stopped at for a soft drink.

After getting the rental car I took Emily to a movie to try and get her mind off of what had happened. Although she laughed a few times at the show I had the feeling that she probably wouldn't remember that much about it. She had stopped crying finally but was obviously sad. I took her out to eat at a nice Italian restaurant and she actually ate pretty well. I got a call from Loretta saying that the police wouldn't be able to clear it for cleaning until tomorrow. Loretta had stopped by and picked up some clothes for Emily and was trying to find a place for the girl to stay for the night in a foster care facility. Emily figured out what we were talking about and asked if she could talk to Loretta.

I listened as she told Loretta that she really wanted to stay with me and didn't want to stay with strangers. Funny, to a twelve year old I was now familiar and less than 24 hours ago didn't even know she had existed. She listened for a while and then reiterated that she didn't want to stay in a foster home. I was surprised at how assertive she became. She didn't yell but she was very firm in her convictions. Finally she handed the phone back to me and Loretta said she would have to call her supervisor.

After eating we went to a local video store and I rented several movies for Emily. My hotel room had a DVD player and then we went to my hotel to wait for Loretta's call as to what we were going to do for the evening. At 8pm she finally called and asked if she could come by my hotel. Around 10pm a knock at my door and Loretta and a woman named Mrs. Dawes came in. Mrs. Dawes was apparently Loretta's boss. While Mrs. Dawes had a conversation with Emily I was dragged out in the hall by Loretta.

"Mr. Markham we appreciate you helping with Emily today but now we need to take her and place her in a foster home."

"Are you going to make sure that she attends her mother's funeral?"

"Well if there is one. We haven't had any luck this afternoon trying to contact any of the family. From the woman's address book we've called many of the numbers and found out that she didn't have any brothers and just one sister. They were orphans. We're did manage to contact Mr. James' brother and he is coming to Memphis tomorrow. My colleague got the impression they weren't that close. We finally found the sister and she is coming tomorrow also."

After the case workers finally convinced Emily to go with them I managed to get to bed by midnight. The next day was fairly uneventful until I got a call late in the afternoon from a woman identifying herself as Emily's aunt. She asked if I could meet her at her hotel. I agreed and drove over. When I arrived Emily was there and gave me a big hug and wrapped herself around me. The case workers had dropped her off with the aunt earlier.

The aunt was a real piece of work. Skinny as hell and had the speedball junkie look to her. Smoked like a refinery too. It made me sort of sad to think that poor little Emily would have to live with this woman. The woman said she was going over to the house and see if she could find any insurance policies and make arrangements for a funeral. She had talked with the dead man's brother briefly and they were going to meet at the house. She asked me if I could watch Emily for the afternoon and I agreed. She said that the man had arranged for a cleaning crew to come clean up the blood and they were out there now working on the house.

Emily and I went to eat dinner and then back to my room where she watched the rest of the movies I had rented for her the night before. I called and talked to Victoria's sister and she said that it was now ok to bring Emily by. So around 8:30 I scooped up Emily and took her to her home. She was very sad as she walked in. The sister, Susan and the man, Chuck, were in the living room knocking back highballs. Both were smoking. Emily went to her room.

Talking with Susan and Chuck I was informed that they had found some insurance policies and had already contacted the insurance companies. Neither were listed as beneficiaries and only Emily was left. Not a large amount available either, only $50,000. Chuck had been talking to a funeral home and the funeral was set for Saturday. I called my company travel number for after hours and left them a voice mail to change my ticket to return on Sunday. Chuck was still digging through papers while we sat and talked.

Suddenly his face lit up. He announced that he had found the pay off policy on the house mortgage. So the house would be paid up. He and Susan got into an argument. I interjected that they both should be more concerned about Emily than how much they could get out of the deal as she needed to be raised. I then left before they could verbally attack me and went to check on Emily.

She was sitting on her bed crying. I sat down next to her and she put her head on my shoulder and snuggled close and cried more. I held her for a long time and could hear the argument heating up in the other room. At one point I heard Chuck yell that he was only a half brother and they shared the same father but different mothers. The guy was a prick in my book.

Susan and Chuck quieted down after a while. I told Emily I was going back to my hotel and that I would see her tomorrow. She gave me a big hug and a grateful look and kissed me again. She said she would try to sleep but she didn't really know Susan having only seen the woman twice that she could remember and she had never met Chuck before today.

Returning to the den I had a short and to the point conversation with Susan and Chuck. I found out that they were planning a minimal funeral on Sunday since there weren't many people to come. I asked Susan about Emily's school and she told me she didn't think Emily needed to go back as she was going to return to Kentucky next week on the bus and take Emily with her. I got the impression that her and Chuck were just taking a breather and hadn't settled the division of the house proceeds yet. I excused myself.

The following day I went by the house around 9 and Susan answered the door wearing only a t-shirt. No panties. She really did look like hell that early in the morning and seemed to be suffering from a hangover. I asked her if she wanted me to help Emily pack and she just nodded and sauntered off to the master bedroom to go back to bed. Emily was in her room just staring at the wall.

"Hello Emily."

"Oh high Paul!" She jumped up and gave me a big hug and a kiss. "I missed you so much!"

"So did you get any sleep last night?"

"Some. They were arguing until at least midnight, I think I finally did fall asleep."

"So I guess you know by now you're going to Kentucky to live with Susan?"

"Yes .. I really, really wish I could come live with you. You're so much nicer than my aunt Susan. And she smokes! It is so stinky."

"Well she is your aunt. I'm just your friend. I'll tell you what .. I'll send you some stuff to write letters with and you can write to me."

"Really? That would be so wonderful!" she gave me a hug.

We sat and talked for a little bit about her school and what she was going to do. I had stopped by a box place and picked up some boxes on the way over. We got them out of the rental car and started packing Emily's stuff. Around noon we finished most of it. She didn't have all that much. Susan had finally managed to get up and was smoking a cigarette in the kitchen watching the coffee brew. I asked her if she wanted anything as I was going to take Emily out for lunch for a burger. Susan just wanted us to bring something back. I pointed to the pile of empty boxes she could use to pack stuff in and she said great, something good to drag the stuff down to the resell consignment store in.

Emily was visibly saddened by Susan's last comment as we left. I could tell that it hurt her to know that Susan was just going to sell all of her mother, Victoria's, clothing and possessions. I had managed to grab a small box of stuff and asked Emily if she wanted me to bring it to Houston and I could ship it to her in a few months after things settled down. She agreed but didn't realize that it was almost all photos of her growing up with her mom and some of her dad. A few keepsakes too. I had a sneaking suspicion that Susan was going to be like that and doubted she really cared for Emily at all. She seemed to think the little girl was a burden more than anything.

After lunch I dropped Emily off and told her I would see her tomorrow at the funeral. I had got the info from Chuck when I called him. He seemed rather perturbed I was asking but grudgingly gave me the details. With the afternoon to burn I called Loretta and asked her if we could meet. She was out checking on a family and asked if I minded riding along with her and we could talk.

I met her at a local burger dive and left my rental car and we drove out to the suburbs of Memphis. I conveyed to her what I had found out about the family and told her that I really didn't think that Susan was going to be that good of a parental unit choice for Emily. Loretta agreed but said there wasn't much she could do about it. I got her to agree to contact the Louisville children's service and have them check on Loretta in a month. She was perturbed when I persisted in making her call then and have them open a case file. The family she was trying to check on wasn't home so we drove back into the city and I got my car.

The next day at the funeral Emily was wearing a normal dress, Susan hadn't even taken her to get something special. Emily stuck pretty close to me the whole time. Susan seemed rather bored and didn't seem to care that her sister was in the box. And Chuck obviously didn't have any great love for his half-brother. I spoke with several co-workers of Mr. & Mrs. James and they all greeted Emily warmly. A pastor was there but said he hadn't met the decedents ever before when I talked with him. A couple of Emily's schoolmates were there but I got the impression that she didn't know them all that well. Emily's school teacher was there and her and I had a short but sad conversation about poor Emily's future. I gave her my card and she said she would like to stay in touch with me and try to stay in touch with Emily. I had given Emily $200 cash and told her to keep it hidden from Susan and she agreed. I told her that if she needed to call me she could but that Susan would probably not like it if she did that often. She agreed to write me letters instead.

After saying good-bye to Emily Saturday I really expected that was about the last I would see of her. I brought her box of keepsakes back to Houston with me on Sunday and put them in one of my spare bedrooms. The next week I was in Atlanta for 3 days but when I got home on Friday I had a letter from Emily. She said that aunt Susan had refused to pay for the extra shipping and she had to leave 2 boxes of stuff when they left. She thanked me for taking the one box that I did. She said that Susan made her sleep on the sofa and that Susan stayed drunk and was smoking dope. Susan hadn't even bothered to enroll Emily in school yet.

I wrote Emily back and told her that she could just get on the bus when it came by in the morning and ride it to school and that she could tell them that she needed to enroll and they would take care of it. I mailed her a photocopy of her birth certificate that I had made while I was in Memphis. Susan had taken the original and just wadded it up and stuffed it in a folder.

Saturday I got another letter from Emily saying that Susan left Thursday night and only returned Saturday around noon and was obviously drunk. I wrote her back encouraging her not to get discouraged.

The following week I had a conversation with Loretta the case worker. She seemed rather impervious to Emily's plight. Said that since Susan lived in Louisville there wasn't much she could do now since Susan was the legal guardian now.

Emily sent me 3 more letters the next week. She did manage to get herself to school and there was hell to pay for that. Susan whipped her badly and chipped a tooth from beating the poor little girl. I held my temper. I really wanted to just call the children's services in Louisville and tell them about it but realized if I did then Susan would probably beat the little girl some more and prevent her from mailing me. I had taken to sending Emily S.A.S.E's when I wrote to her so all she had to do was write me a letter and drop it in the mail.

The following week Susan must have got some money from the insurance or from Chuck. Emily said that Susan went on a 3 day bender and didn't show back up. Emily was taking care of herself and going to school.

Then nothing. Not a letter from Emily for nearly a week. I had taken to mailing her every day to try and give her what support I could.

Late on a Wednesday night I got a call from a woman identifying herself as a Linda Hatcher with the Louisville children's services.

"Mr. Markham I have an Emily Chance in protective custody. She is at a foster care facility. We picked her up this afternoon at her house. She had apparently been living there for a week. One of the detectives investigating her aunt Susan after Susan was arrested for drug possession Sunday found the little girl there alone."

"Well God finally intervened. I'm thankful for that."

"What do you mean?"

"Shit this situation with Susan and Emily went way past what I would consider a proper environment. I had several conversations with Loretta Boyd in Memphis about it and she said she could do nothing. I didn't really want to call your department in Louisville and stir up shit since it isn't my shit. However from what Emily has been telling me in her letters Susan was a crack head."

"You knew about this?!?"

"Sure. However before you go on a tear about the fact that I knew about it think about this; If I would have told you and you would have investigated then Susan would have beat the crap out of Emily again and it was better to live by herself as she was than to be in that danger."

Silence on the line. Finally she spoke.

"What do you mean again?"

"Emily didn't tell you I guess. When Susan didn't enroll her in school I told her just to get on any school bus and tell them she wanted to go to school and they would see to it. I gave her a photocopy of her birth certificate and she said she did but that when the school contacted Susan and made her come down and sign papers and threatened her with not enrolling Emily that Susan took her home and beat the shit out of her. After that I knew for sure that Susan was a shit head. At least she grudgingly let Emily attend school."

"I .. I don't know what to say to that Mr. Markham. How did you have a copy of her birth certificate?"

I related the whole Memphis ordeal to the case worker and she must have been taking notes furiously. She didn't ask many questions except to get me to repeat numbers and such. Finally after an hour on the phone with her she asked me if anyone could take Emily. After telling her that there was no more family to tap she asked me if I would want the girl. I told her I would dearly love to take care of Emily as I thought the girl really needed someone that cared for her and was socially stable enough to do it. I did point out to Linda though that since I was single and not related kin that her agency would probably throw up all sorts of road blocks to an adoption. When I mentioned the word adoption it must have been like blood to a shark. Linda's entire demeanor changed and she said that the papers would not be a problem and that she could take care of it. After another hour discussing details I told her I would take the next flight to Louisville and would see her tomorrow.

Linda picked me up at the airport amazingly enough. She had Emily in the car with her too! Emily was so thrilled to see me. Linda could sense the relief in the little girl and knew she had made the right decision to have me adopt her. Emily snuggled up close and started crying telling me about how horrible Susan was. Linda seemed surprised at some of it and realized that she had heard only part of the story. She told me that Susan was arraigned that morning and that she was facing 30 years for a third offence of possession with intent to distribute. Apparently Susan had went out and bought a full kilo of marijuana and had close to 20 ounces of uncut coke on her. It didn't look like anyone would be seeing Miss Susan anytime soon.

Linda drove us to an average restaurant where Emily continued to come out of her shell and began to light up at the thought of coming back to Houston to live with me. She had written a letter to her friend Sarah and had told her what was going on too but hadn't written either Sarah or me since being picked up by Linda. I was told that Linda had some people pack up all of Emily's stuff and it was in storage at the office. We drove by and picked it up, the same boxes that I had packed in originally in Memphis greeted us.

We dropped it all by at the local shipping company on a ground shipment so it would arrive after I did in Houston. Nearly a grand lighter Linda was impressed that I would so easily take care of matters without fussing with the costs. Emily was beaming, knowing that she was going to be taken care of finally. Back to the office and Linda had me sign papers until I thought my arm was going to fall off. More than I had ever signed closing on a house even.

Finally done she drove us to the hotel by the airport and I got a room for Emily and I. Linda bid us farewell and that was the last we saw of her. In the room Emily got ready for bed while I was on the phone with the airline taking it in the wallet for a change of ticket and a one way ticket with less than 24 hours notice. The hotel didn't have double beds left, only a king size.

Emily finished her shower and came out wearing only a towel.

"Uh Paul?"

"Yeah"

"I think we packed all my sleeping shirts."

"Oh. Well I think I've got one of mine you can wear." I said handing her one of my shirts. She put it on and dropped the towel. It came down to nearly her knees. She giggled and smiled.

"It is wonderful! Thank you."

She came up and gave me a big hug and a kiss. Right on the lips too. Then she kept holding my head and I could feel her little tongue slipping between my lips. Before I realized it I had opened my mouth and returned her kiss. She giggled when we parted.

"Is that the first time you've done that?"

"Yes. Was it ok?"

"Sure. But generally you only do that with your boyfriend."

"But you are my boyfriend!"

That made the pucker factor go up. For sure.

"Emily .. I know I'm not your father and don't want to pretend to be." She cut me off,

"I know you're not. You're my friend. My best friend in the whole wide world. You're my 'boy' friend. I know I shouldn't be doing that and I won't do it in front of anyone. Can we just keep it special between us? Please?"

I was dumbfounded. What the hell? She was so precious. I really did love her. But did I love her in that way?

"Well I guess. But you know we will both get in a lot of trouble if you do that in public don't you?"

"I know. But I saw my mom do it so many times for both my dad and my step dad. And some of her boyfriends."

Emily then went on to tell me that she had been watching her mother through the grill of the air conditioner/heater system. She said that the grill between her mom's bedroom and the hall bathroom were back to back. One day she found the grill loose while cleaning up the bathroom and when she went to put it back it fell down and she saw the light on her mom's bedroom. She then looked through the grill and saw her mom down on her knees sucking on her step-dad's dick.

Emily kissed me again. This time she stared into my eyes afterwards. She was in love with me for some reason. I managed to pull myself away and went to take a shower. I thought long and hard about it. I did love her and care about her but I wasn't real sure I wanted to have her as a lover. Yet to push her away would have been horrible and probably would devastate her.

When I returned to the bedroom she was sitting on the bed watching me. "Paul .. I know I probably shouldn't have spied on my mom but it was just so interesting watching her and my step-dad. They were always giggling and having so much fun together. Mom told me when she explained about how my body was changing about sex and I asked a lot of questions. I never did let on to her that I knew what she and Jack did. She was always amazed at the questions I would ask her about sex and for a while when I was 11 up until I was 12 it was nearly every day. I would watch them at night with the bathroom light off and they mostly had the bedroom light on so it was easy. And since my room was right down the hall I could hear when they got to the bedroom most of the time. I'd sneak down the hall to the bathroom and lay on the floor for hours watching them. Then I'd ask mom about things like the next week or so, never what I had just seen. I even kept a diary of it."

"You did?"

"Yes. It is in the box of stuff you took back to Houston with you. It contains all of my secrets. Did you read it?" she asked hopefully.

"Well no. I just put the box up in the closet to return to you later. I never imagined that you and I would end up together. I wouldn't read it unless you asked me to."

"Well you can read it if you want. It is mostly about my life up until when mom was killed. A lot of stuff about what mom and Jack did."

"Like what sort of stuff did they do?" I asked laying down on the bed beside her.

"Well there was lots of regular sex, nearly nightly. He did her in her vagina about half the time. She sucked him nearly nightly but only until the white stuff comes out maybe once a week. He did her in the butt almost every other night. And she really, really enjoyed it. Then there were times when he was punishing her - but I guess he didn't know she enjoyed that too."

"How so?"

"Cause she would say no but had a smile on her face. And I sometimes saw the liquid running out of her vagina. That is what a woman gets when she gets sexually excited is what mom told me. Only I don't have that yet because I haven't had my first period. When I do though mom said that I can start getting sexually excited and the liquid will drip out."

Well she was only partially misinformed but still a hell of a lot more than any other 12 year old I had ever heard about.

"How did Jack punish her when she was bad? She did do something bad, right?"

"I guess. I never knew exactly what except for a time or two. Most nights he would punish her by sticking the long rubber stick in her butt with the handle. He'd move it around in her butt the same way he did it to me to punish me. But then he'd pull it out and put his penis in there and fuck her in the butt. I could tell she enjoyed it because of the clear liquid dripping out of her vagina. And the noises she would make."

"He punished you?" I was concerned that she had just told me that Jack put something in her butt.

"Sometimes when I was bad. I'd usually get my choice of a spanking or the punishment stick."

"Which did you choose?"

"At first the spanking. One day I decided to try the punishment stick and he came in and made me get down on all fours like I saw mom doing. Then he greased up my poopie hole with the jelly and pushed the punishment stick in. It would hurt something terrible at first until the little knob on the end was in. Then it was just sort of ok going in up about half way. From half way on though it started to hurt, not only from pushing up inside of me but it got bigger around near the handle and I was all stretched out. After having that once I was sure I didn't want it again. But mom got it night after night after night and seemed to enjoy it. So a month or so later I tried it again. It didn't seem quite so bad this time."

"What had you done to deserve that?"

"I think I remember the first time I took the stick I had got caught stealing."

Stealing? So Jack sodomized her for it? Still though she must have thought it cool to ask for it.

"When he spanked you did he use his hand?"

"Not very often. Mostly it was bare butt with a paddle. Same one he used on mom but he didn't hit me as hard with it as he did her. At least I don't think so. Usually she only got the paddle when she had done something bad I think. I remember once he caught her taking her top off at the swimming pool. He paddled her close to a hundred times for that and she was crying. I don't think she was enjoying that one either. He had put the black things on her wrists and tied her to the bed. She squirmed and squirmed but couldn't get away and her butt was really, really red. The next day she wouldn't sit down at all."

"Did he have sex with her after that?"

"Yeah and he did her in the butt without using the punishment stick first either. She screamed when he did it. I guess that was when I realized that after you get used to the punishment stick a penis up the butt isn't so much different."

"Did your mom know he used the punishment stick on you?"

"I don't know. She never mentioned it."

"Did your mom ever use it on you?"

"No, if I got in trouble with mom and Jack wasn't there she would use a hairbrush on my butt most times. Sometimes though I'd get a really hot soapy enema and she would make me hold it and kneel on the tile floor in the bathroom."

"Did you cry?"

"Yes. It hurt!"

"Poor Emily. So I guess you're a better girl now?"

"Yes, when I was little I did stupid stuff. But that is what your parents are for, to teach you stuff. I mean when you're born you don't know anything and they have to teach you. Sometimes you don't want to learn and they have to punish you to make you learn what you are supposed to know."

I lay there and thought about it. Laying on my stomach I was sure I didn't want to get up and let her see I had a boner. The thought of her cute little ass with the rubber stick in it surely got me hard. And the thought of her mom getting fucked in the ass was also a turn on.

"Paul ... Paul will you have sex with me?"

I wasn't terribly surprised when she asked this. I had sort of expected it at this point.

"Yes, I wouldn't want anything but the best for my girl."