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Snow Angel

---

Prologue:

Roaring out of Cleveland were a pack of Hells Angels, dominating the interstate with their numbers. Black and chrome motorcycles roared with thundering intensity, their menacing, burly drivers all clad in their leathers and patches. Traffic rightfully kept their distance from the pack of infamous outlaw bikers. Roaring southbound on Ohio's I-77, the concrete jungle of greater Cleveland slowly disappeared. The industrial heartland of Cuyahoga county became open countryside as the Angels all traveled southbound. The hundred strong group was all part of the Akron chapter of the Hells Angels. They had joined up with their Cleveland counterparts to be part of a toy drive for the upcoming holiday season.

At the front was the president and vice-president of the chapter, followed by their assistant and scribes. The other members rode in a tight gaggle. Towards the middle and outboard rode a lean red Doberman, his semi-curly brown hair flowing out from under his helmet and fluttering in the mild November slipstream. Dressed in black leather pants, jacket and vest, he rode atop a black and chrome Fatboy, which had a deep, thunderous roar from its chromed exhaust. Dark goggles concealed his eyes as he followed with the pack.

Forty minutes later, the off ramp for Akron was approaching. Glancing over at his fellow Angels, the Doberman gave a wave to say goodbye, and broke formation. Opening the throttle, he began to pull away as the pack took the off ramp, leaving him to continue his journey home alone. Everyone waved goodbye as they watched their friend continue southbound on I-77. Soon the loud roar of motorcycles faded away, and Ronnie flowed with traffic on his long trip home to Newark, two hours to the southwest.

As he rode, Ronnie watched the scenery around him. Ohio was still an unfamiliar place to him after moving from Chicago six months prior. Ronnie, born a New Yorker, but grew up in Chicago, was now another Ohioan, living in the sleepy town of Newark, deep in Ohio's rust belt, with his young son, Colt. It was a new, second chance at life for the thirty-one year old, who had begun 2022 being at financial rock bottom after many years of tragic setbacks and challenges in his life.

Ronnie liked to think and reflect on the long drives between Akron and Newark. His whole life felt like a series of trials and tribulations. He was born to a Hells Angel family; his late grandfather Larry Samson had helped found the New York chapter of the Hells Angels, and his late father, Dave Samson, was a highly respected member of the club for thirty-five years until his death. When he was twelve, his Mom left them, never to be seen or heard from again, and the Samson family was largely estranged from Ronnie and Dave, afraid that their children would be corrupted and go down "that dark path".

Five years before, Ronnie was at the cusp of success with a band he sang for, ironically named "Hard Times". They were all Angels, from the Chicago chapter, and that was their legitimate gig for the club. They made music that was a daring blend of hard rock, metal, and soul, which got them to the cusp of success. They made two albums when tragedy struck in a fatal plane crash that killed their drummer and their lighting and sound engineers. The legal fallout from the catastrophe ended the band officially. Much like the plane that killed his friend, Ronnie's life for five years literally crashed and burned.

In those five years, he lost everything. The comfy condo he once lived in, the fancy sports car, the nicely padded savings account, all wiped out. But those were material possessions. A year after losing his band, he lost his grandfather to a stroke. Then his girlfriend died, a victim of a heroin overdose. And when things couldn't get any worse? The pandemic took his father's life. By the start of the year, Ronnie was alone, reduced to working as a short order cook at a biker bar, slaving away in an oppressively hot kitchen, toiling for pennies. And just when it couldn't get any worse, his squalor apartment burned down in a freak electrical fire.

Six months later, things were better than ever. Ronnie took a leap of fate in the offer of an Ohio businessman, who offered him a job as his sound engineer. In the pouring rain, on that fateful night, Ronnie and Colt flew home to Ohio, aboard an old propliner, to begin their new lives in Newark. Since then, Ronnie had money again, he had a cozy, happy home in a nice part of town, he had a job he loved, and he and his friends had their band back again under his company label, Viking Records. And most importantly, Ronnie found love again, with his new boyfriend, Talon Bradley. The thought of Talon brought a smile to the Dober's face.

Emerging on the on ramp ahead of him, Ronnie spotted a couple bikers merging onto I-77. Further scrutiny revealed them to be the Oilers, the Akron chapter's bitter rival. The Oilers were an outlaw group out of Youngstown. They were black and white in their colors, with a fierce skull and crossbones insignia on their leathers. There were four of them, all roaring away. Ronnie got into the left lane and went to pass them. They all briefly made eye contact.

The Oilers took one look at Ronnie and all of them backed away; back in July, Ronnie took care of them to save his boyfriend's sister, and half the Oilers ultimately got arrested by the feds for drug charges. Ronnie was the one tough motherfucker they didn't want to mess with. Ronnie just smiled at them and pulled ahead, leaving them in his dust.

Eventually getting off the interstate, Ronnie took the long winding way home on Route 36, which eventually merged in with Route 16 around Coshocton. Now it was a straight shot home to Newark. An hour and a half later, Ronnie returned back to Newark, where the landscape was more familiar to him. It was a far different world than the concrete jungle of Chicago, but sleepy Newark was nice. It was a quiet place where he could raise his son without chaos.

Roaring into the parking lot of Colt's school, which was right across the street from his house at the intersection of Moull and Meadow Drive. Ronnie's arrival on his bike always made heads turn, as the fierce looking biker arrived at Johnny Clem Elementary. He parked in a spot and waited on his bike patiently for little Colt. Ten minutes later, he could faintly hear the bell sound, and within minutes, students came pouring out from the big glass doors. Ronnie watched as Colt emerged from the tsunami of students, his six year old son running and putting his helmet on simultaneously.

"Dad!" Colt yelled with a happy smile on his face. "Hey Dad!"

"Colty!" Ronnie exclaimed as he helped his son up onto the bike. "How was school?"

"Great!" Colt grinned big. "Weekend time!"

"Yeah!" Ronnie exclaimed as he fired the bike back up.

"How was the toy drive?" Colt asked as they rolled out of the parking lot and onto the street.

"We bought ten thousand dollars worth of toys for the Salvation Army!"

"Wow! Cool!" Colt exclaimed.

"'Tis the season!" Ronnie exclaimed as they made a right turn to head on home.

---

Snow Angel

Chicago, the steel and concrete metropolis off the lake, had its first snowfall. An icy breeze whistled between the towering skyscrapers, blowing snow throughout the labyrinth of the Loop. The city that never slept bustled along, with traffic choked streets, and sidewalks packed with mingling people braving the cold and snow.

Peering out through the tinted windows of the recording studio, Ronnie got a high up vantage point over Michigan Avenue, a great view of his former hometown. The red Doberman, looking a bit tired after spending all day recording music at the studio, was taking a short break from being behind the mixing console with his friend, and co-worker, Adam Stein. He took the moment of calm to just admire the scenery and reflect. Sometimes it still felt surreal to him.

"Hey Ronnie! C'mon!" Adam shouted from the mixer console. Ronnie turned around to walk back to help him. Adam, a black and rust Doberman, with long black hair tied into a ponytail, tweaked a few settings, and typed a configuration in on the terminal. Ronnie sat down at the console and regained his bearings at where he left off at. Peering out through the glass into the studio, Ronnie saw his friends and fellow Hells Angels finishing up their break and grabbing their instruments to continue recording.

"Let's get some pickup stuff, and we'll be good to go for the day's session!" Ronnie said into the intercom.

After a five year hiatus of their band, "Hard Times", they were now running on new momentum, obtained from a live album they made when they got the rights to their band back from their former record label. Ronnie's EP, "Full Circle" also contributed to the band's "second wind". They dusted off their old plans for a third album, and decided to go with it now they were under the Viking label. Intermixed with their production was a smaller Christmas album, something they wanted to do for their children, a sarcastically named "obligatory album".

The clock struck two o'clock when they ended the day in the studio. With his backpack bouncing on his back, and wheeling his camera suitcase behind him, Ronnie and his biker friends all left to go grab a late lunch and hang out.

"Ronnie!" came the deep, booming voice of Varg Eikemo, his boss. "Remember to be at the airport at four! We're taking off for home then!"

"Will do!" Ronnie acknowledged.

As they all stepped outside, Ronnie and his friends, Adam Stein, Colt Janssen, Todd Kennedy, Killian and Don Halen, all stopped to gaze up at the new sign on the building, which read "Viking Recording Studio Chicago". The stone façade still faintly bore the name "Carson" in its fancy script logo stained into the stone. The label that gave them success and then took it all away was no more. They had merged in with Viking, originally as a subsidiary, but after a management revolt over some business disagreements, Varg "pulled a Rob Barion" and fired everyone who had ties to Carson Records, and purged the name.

"Good riddance~" Killian shook his head.

"I think it's more fun when we can do it all ourselves anyways!" Todd laughed as they all climbed into Adam's van.

Ronnie rode in the backseat, in the first row with Colt. Behind them sat Todd and Don, while Killian rode in the front seat next to Adam as he drove.

"So how are you liking the Akron chapter?" Colt asked, the burly Arctic wolf with long straight black hair leaning back while reading something on his phone.

"It's great. I love it." Ronnie remarked with a smile. "They treat me like family."

"Well that's good!" Todd said, the gray wolf leaning forward to rest his arms on the seat. "I'd have to kick some ass if they fucked around with ya."

"Nah~" chuckled Ronnie. "I fight my own battles, plus they all really liked my Dad. So Dad saves the day again."

"Everyone loved Dave." Colt chuckled. "You could not, not love Dave!"

"Yeah that was my Dad." Ronnie chuckled. "He was the nicest guy in the world."

"Just don't get on his bad side~" Adam chuckled.

"Oh man that's an understatement." Todd laughed. "I remember that fucking brawl in Cleveland! I was a new shit when that motherfucker broke out."

"Your Dad beat the fuck outta a bunch of Pagans."

"Oh yeah. Crazy to think when everyone knew how polite Dave was." Ronnie laughed. "I miss Dad... I really do."

"We all do." Colt admitted. "We also miss your ass at the club."

"Yeah!" Don exclaimed. "It's just not the same without you, Ronnie."

"Yeah, I must remark that... it's different at Akron because everyone's new. There isn't the chemistry like us."

"We're special." Killian suggested, the white and gray malamute shrugging.

"You're special!" Don pointed with a grin. Killian responded by flipping his youngest brother off, the younger malamute in return flipping him off.

"Fuck you, Killian!"

"Fuck you, lil' Donnie!"

"See what I'm talking about?" Ronnie chuckled.

"Oh yeah... how's your boyyyyyyyyyfriendddddddddd, doing?" Killian teased Ronnie with a grin.

"Talon's doing fine. What a godsend~" Ronnie remarked with a smile. "I really lucked out with him."

"I bet he makes your ass sore, huh?" Killian laughed.

"You'd know firsthand, huh?"

"OOOOOOH!" Don laughed and pointed. Everyone laughed at Killian.

Killian just chuckled, shook his head and ran a paw through his long brown hair.

"Walked right into that one, huh?" Todd chuckled.

"Does anyone at Akron know?" Colt asked.

"Nah~ It's nobody's business there." Ronnie shrugged.

"I guess it's just our business, eh?" Adam glanced back with a smirk. "Does Talon pull your hair?"

"Does your girlfriend pull your hair too? Oh wait..."

"OH, BURN!" Colt grinned big with a laugh.

"Motherfucker, I will climb back there and smack that smirk off your-"

"Adam..." Killian said, pointing to a red light fast approaching.

"WHOA!" The Doberman shouted as he slammed on the brakes. The van came to a screeching halt at the intersection, throwing Todd over the seat and landing on Colt and Ronnie. Don and everyone laughed as Todd fell onto his back in the floor space between the seats.

"Oh god!" Todd shouted. "Gettin' too old for this shit..." the forty-one year old grumbled.

"Better press your life alert!" Don teased with a big grin.

"I'll press your fuckin' life alert... up your fucking ass!" Todd shouted.

"Gotta help your elders, huh?" chuckled Colt as he helped Todd up.

---

Finishing out his day in his old hometown, Ronnie got a chance to hang out and catch up with his biker friends. They made a trip back to the clubhouse, and grabbed some food at Ronnie's old workplace, "The Corral", where Ronnie checked in and saw his old boss, Paul Buford. They all had a few drinks and food to end their time together. Adam drove Ronnie and all of them back to Chicago Midway, where they got exclusive access to the Centoh ramp, where Ronnie's plane awaited them.

On the tarmac sat Barev's immaculate Starliner, a restored 1957 Lockheed L-1649, christened "Altair". The old propliner was curvaceous, with a unmistakable dolphin shaped fuselage, and triple-tails. Long, thin wings gracefully jutted out from the fuselage, holding the massive radial engines that were tightly cowled, and drove the big Curtiss propellers that were tipped in red, white, and blue. The plane wore the dark blue, white, and silver scheme of United Barev Industries, its nose graced by a golden arrow shaped insignia that read "BATS", "Barev's Air Transport Service". The upper fuselage read in italicized type, "UNITED BAREV INDUSTRIES LTD.". The last of the snow was cleared away, as fueling was finished up. Its flight crew walked the plane and checked it for any damage.

Hopping out with his laptop bag and camera suitcase, Ronnie said goodbye to his friends as they all gave him a tight hug.

"Mister Jet-set here~" teased Killian as he hugged his friend. "You have a safe flight back to Ohio!"

"Statistics are in my favor~" Ronnie laughed with a grin. "I'm gonna miss you guys, always~"

"We'll miss you too." Adam said as he hugged Ronnie. "You have a Happy Thanksgiving!"

"You too! And I'll edit some songs and send them to ya!"

"We'll each edit the songs and we'll pick whoever's mix sounds best."

"Deal!"

Getting hugs from all his friends, Ronnie had to say goodbye. He turned to leave for the plane, noticing that Rob Barion had showed up with Varg Eikemo to board with him. Ronnie climbed up the tall steps into the rear hatch, where he was welcomed aboard by their pilot, Ivo Horvat. The Starliner's interior was narrow, but well decorated. It had a executive suite for the cabin, complete with a private office and bedroom for Rob in the tail of the plane. Having never flown before his new career, Ronnie was getting used to this "jet-set" lifestyle working for Varg.

With everyone aboard, Ronnie watched from the window as the big radial engines were turned over, one by one. With a mighty backfire, the huge Cyclone-18's coughed to life, with an eruption of oily smoke and flame from the exhaust. Propellers strained to turn by the starter, before the R-3350's caught. Soon the plane came to life with the deep chug of cylinders, the vibrations rattling the windows a bit.

Ronnie sat back in his seat and felt them begin to move. "Altair" slowly rolled to the runway, turned in a wide arc, and all four engines were commanded maximum power. Flames erupted from the exhaust stubs as the engines roared, driving them down the runway. The graceful wings flexed a bit as they got airborne, the metropolis of Chicago passing beneath them on the climb out. Ronnie soon watched it all disappear into the clouds as turbulence rocked them for a few minutes. Eventually, blue skies could be seen as "Altair" emerged from the cloud deck, heading eastbound for Ohio.

Having settled down at cruising altitude, Ronnie got to get up and explore around. Making his way to the cockpit, he saw Varg having a conversation with Rob, who sat in the captain's seat, piloting his own propliner with his flight crew assisting him. The Dober poked his head into the narrow, cramped cockpit to say hi to Rob.

"How's it going, Rob?" Ronnie asked over the engine noise.

"Same shit! Different day~" Rob said with a sarcastic laugh at the end.

"How'd your meeting with the city government go?"

"Again, same shit, different day." Rob chuckled. "I mean, I guess as good as it would get given the tension between us."

"Heh, I guess I'd get sand in my pussy too if I lost four billion dollars~" Ronnie chuckled as he leaned against the door and crossed his arms.

"Don't write a check you can't cash~" Rob shrugged. "I got what I wanted."

"The Rob approach." Varg told Ronnie with a snort. "Brute strength!"

"Damn right." Rob nodded.

"Just like what you did to the Carson fucks." Ronnie smirked.

"They didn't want to do what I wanted, and they were giving me too many problems, so I let them go." The burly Arctic wolf shrugged.

"Fuck 'em." Ronnie shrugged. "Well I'm gonna go work on some music~"

"Have at it!" Varg exclaimed as he watched Ronnie go back to the cabin.

Going to fetch his laptop bag from a card table by the window, Ronnie sat down for a moment to glance out and watch the big engines work. Peering out the square window, the Dober could feel the energy of the big propellers keeping them aloft. The drone of synchronized propellers was strangely mesmerizing, a deep monotonous rumble. Silver wings glistened in the sunshine, contrasting to the tumultuous looking cloud deck that concealed the ground below. Watching the scenery outside the window always made Ronnie think about his very first plane ride, his flight into the unknown, where he had almost nothing left to lose. The fateful flight to his success in Ohio.

It seemed crazy at how fast time was going for him. Tomorrow was Thanksgiving, and Christmas was looming in a month's time. The holidays were never a time that made Ronnie really excited, until his son was born. Being largely estranged from his family, and then his Mom leaving when he was twelve, soured his opinion about the family-centric holidays. It was always just him and his late father and grandfather, and their fellow Angels. And when he finally did get happy for Thanksgiving and Christmas with his son's arrival, his band's implosion, and financial destruction, once again ruined it for him. But this time, he was feeling happy for the holidays; he wanted to give his son the best Christmas, since he never got to enjoy one in his young life yet.

Taking his laptop with him, Ronnie walked to the tail of the Starliner, where it was quieter. Stepping into Rob's private quarters, Ronnie closed the door behind him and sat his laptop on Rob's desk. He plugged it in, donned his headphones, and got to work checking over the raw music to pass the time on the flight home.

---

Sleepy Newark Ohio passed beneath "Altair" in the landing pattern. In stark contrast to Chicago, little Newark was the sleepy rust belt community, living in the shadow of Columbus. Tree lined neighborhoods passed below as the Starliner banked around for the runway at Newark-Heath Airport, where the old propliner descended in with a nose down altitude. Flaring for touchdown, the Starliner smoothly touched down on the runway and went into reverse thrust to bleed off sleep. Turning for Rob's hangar, the burbling plane taxied in on its inboard radial engines. Ronnie watched the hangar come into view from his seat by the window. He spotted his little blue Civic, sitting beside Rob's Tahoe, in the parking lot.

Grabbing his stuff, Ronnie squeezed through the hatch to step onto the slightly wobbly airstair. The air was cold and dry, the sky overcast in a milk gray color. Climbing down, Ronnie waved and said goodbye to his friends. He walked over and hopped into his Civic to take off for home. It felt reliving to finally get on home, to begin his extended holiday weekend.

Ronnie lived in the north end of Newark, in the sleepy neighborhood of Jefferson Woods. He lived in a brick cape cod that sat at the intersection of Meadow Drive and Moull Street. It's cheerful gardens were now bare for winter, and the huge maple tree in the front yard was naked, a cold breeze whistling through its empty branches. Arriving back home, Ronnie saw his boyfriend's truck parked alongside the house. He opened his garage door and backed the Civic in, parking it beside his beloved Fatboy that sat for winter. Grabbing his stuff and locking his car up, he exited the garage and stepped in through the backdoor, to find Talon entertaining Colt and his daughter Emily. Colt's best friend, a young black wolf named Colby, who lived next door, laughed and joked with them and Talon.

"I'm home!" Ronnie greeted.

"Hey Dad!" came a grinning Colt, who ran over to hug him tightly. "How was back home?"

"Great!" Ronnie smiled. "And what have you been up to, Colty?"

"Me, Emily, and Colby made sugar cookies with Talon today!" the kid grinned. "Have one!"

"Heh, heh, the first batch came out like hockey pucks~" chuckled Talon. He walked over to give his boyfriend a kiss and a smile. "How was your flight?"

"Well this time I didn't thrown to the floor by turbulence!" Ronnie chuckled as he grabbed a cookie and took a bite out of it. "Oh wow, these are nice!"

"Thanks!" Colby exclaimed.

"How are you doing, Emily?" Ronnie asked with a smile.

"Fine!" the young lady Dober smiled in return.

"The birds thawing out nicely for tomorrow~" Talon pointed out. "But we need to pick up some stuffing."

"Oh crap... that's what I forgot!" Ronnie exclaimed. "I gotta get cleaned up, and we'll go to the store~"

"Cy and Ben are heading to the store a bit later with Marty and Jason, so let's just carpool with them~" Talon suggested. "Kill two birds with one stone- shop and hang out with friends~"

"Sounds like a plan!"

"Well I am adept at damage control~" the dog grinned with a snort. "I mean, look at the 'tards I have to hire for landscaping!"

"Ugh, Darryl and Ronnie." Ronnie rolled his eyes.

"Retards One and Two!" Talon grinned.

"Well, let me put stuff away and take a shower, and we'll go."

"Heh, how about I join you there..." smiled Talon.

"Sure~"

---

Running a paw through his messy hair, Ronnie reached down and turned on the hot water for the shower. Engaging the pull handle, the shower head sputtered and soon shot a stream of steaming hot water. The tattooed up Dober stepped into the shower, and immediately breathed a content sigh of relief at the hot water hitting his tired body. He looked over at his boyfriend Talon, in the midst of pulling his boxers off.

Talon was as tattooed as Ronnie; he had a very nice chest tattoo, which linked up with his black and gray sleeves that ran down his arms. The thirty-seven year old was well built, with beefy arms, a chiseled chest, and a hard, flat stomach with a happy trail that ran down to his trimmed auburn pubes, and dangling tan dick that was uncut. His hair was a short crop of auburn hair, with a few patches of gray in places, and a neatly trimmed goatee, also auburn. Talon stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain shut behind him. Ronnie felt Talon press up against his backside and snake his strong arms around him to hold him close. His left paw, with his ringed fingers, caressed his chest all lovingly. The Dober closed his eyes and smiled at feeling Talon's warm embrace. He dunked his head into the hot stream and let his long locks soak.

Talon reached over and grabbed some shampoo and poured some into his paws, which he lathered into Ronnie's long locks. He massaged his boyfriend's scalp and helped rinse all that hair off. Ronnie traded places and did the same for the slightly taller Talon, as he massaged his fingers into Talon's soft auburn hair.

"You make it look easy~" Ronnie chuckled.

"I'm also taller~" the other Dober smirked.

"Weird!"

Sharing a laugh, they both shared a bottle of body wash and they lathered each other up. Ronnie turned around and got his back lathered up and massaged as Talon told him about his day with the kids, and having to deal with the usual barrage of landscaping business issues. Ronnie told him about his day in Chicago, and the progress of his band's latest recordings. They then rinsed each other off.

In the stream of steamy water, the two Dobers shared a kiss. Ronnie put his tattooed arms around his studly Talon and got another warm kiss from him. His paws ran down his backside, groped his buttocks, and moved around to fondle his hardening cock. Talon did the same, his fingers teasing Ronnie's curved barbell piercing that jutted from his cockhead. Ronnie loved his boyfriend; he was the first man he ever felt he could love and be comfortable with, and he was the person who finally healed the hole in his heart that was left after Misty's death. Talon helped Ronnie feel more comfortable with his bisexuality.

Dropping to his knees, Ronnie put Talon's hard eight inches into his muzzle, and he began to suck as he closed his eyes. Talon placed a paw atop his head and groaned contently as his boner was pleasured. Ronnie slurped and sucked every inch, fighting at times the urge to gag as his boner rubbed against the back of his throat. After a minute or so, Talon gently pulled him off his cock, and went to give him another kiss.

"My turn, stud~"

Ronnie turned around and leaned against the cool, damp tile wall. Talon reached an arm out from beyond the curtain to pull back in a small bottle of lube he placed on the vanity. Lubing his cock up, Talon pressed himself up against his boyfriend, his thick cock rubbing under Ronnie's nub. He closed his eyes and groaned a bit as he felt Talon enter him. Talon chuckled and rubbed his back to help Ronnie relax, remarking on how snug Ronnie felt. After a minute, the hung Dober hilted himself in.

"Feels like my ass is getting punched..." Ronnie remarked with a snicker.

"You're getting better at this." Grinned Talon. "Shit's tight!"

"That's 'cause your dick is so huge~"

"Big dick energy!"

Talon thrust slowly, and Ronnie closed his eyes and groaned against the wall. Blue eyes rolled into the back of his head as they slowly closed and he exhaled a pleasureful sigh. Talon kept a paw wrapped around him. His thrusts increased slowly, and Talon let out a deep grunt of contentment as he slowly picked up speed.

"Getting there..."

"Yeah.... Ooohph... fuck..."

Slipping a paw down, Talon began to stroke Ronnie's chubby, which almost instantly grew hard. Ronnie's breathing increased as Talon jerked him off, his fingers teasing his piercing. Ronnie panted as the thrusts grew faster and harder, the wet slapping of hips filling the shower. With a loud grunt, Ronnie came, his load shooting against the wall and all over Talon's fingers. The hung Dober let out a content groan as he came, breeding Ronnie with his pent up load.

"Oh fuckkkkkk...." Talon grunted as he hilted himself in and felt his cock pulse. "Nice~"

Ronnie pushed his wet hair out of his face and took a couple deep breaths as he felt Talon's softening cock slip out of him. "Damn~" was all he could say.

"That big dick energy!" laughed Talon as he rinsed himself off. "And just in time too as the hot water runs out!"

"Yeah!" Ronnie laughed as he quickly cleaned himself, and the wall up.

Talon reached over and shut the water off as Ronnie pulled the curtain back. "Walmart time!"

---

As Colt and Emily ran over to play at Colby's house next door, a red Chevy dually pulled up to the curb. Ronnie and Talon walked across the front yard to climb into the backseat of the crew cab truck, driven by its owner, Ben Reynolds. Sticking his head out the window to say hi, Ben was a twenty year old husky with brown and tan fur, and bright blue eyes. He had a dark scar that ran down the left side of his face and long brown hair that was tied into a braided ponytail. Beside him sat his boyfriend, thirty-four year old Cyrus Filton, a blonde wolf with long fire red hair. Cyrus was a big, beefy wolf, with long red hair tied into a braided, Viking style ponytail, complete with a neatly trimmed chinstrap beard and snakebite piercings on his lower lip. Friendly blue eyes peered out. Ben took off for 21st Street.

"Howdy!" Cyrus greeted his ex Talon and Ronnie.

"'Sup!" Talon grinned.

"Same shit! Different day!"

"Hey, same here!" Talon laughed.

"What's up with you Ronnie?" Cyrus asked. "How was Chicago?"

"Talon summed it up perfectly! Same shit, different day~" laughed the dog. "Making progress on our Christmas and third album."

"Neat!"

"Can't wait to see what sociology experiment gone wrong this Walmart run will be like..." Talon snickered as he watched the scenery from the window.

"Oh god, Walmart." Ronnie laughed.

Talon sarcastically shook his head."I'm tellin' ya, the Newark Walmart is the absolute worst Walmart. It's like the dregs of society go there."

"You shouldn't talk about Utica like that!" Cyrus grinned.

"Ha, yeah, you're right~"

"Not like Hanover is much of an improvement." Ben chuckled as he shook his head. "I grocery shop at Giant Eagle~"

"Same here. I'll pay a bit more to not deal with the sociology experiment." Talon shook his head.

"I've gone to Newark's and Heath's Walmart, and Heath's is such an improvement. There's less... crazy people." Ronnie remarked. "I'm from Chicago, so there's plenty of crazy fucks there, but Newark? It seems like a concentration of crazy."

Talon leaned over with a smirk. "Meth is a hell of a drug~"

"Go to N'erk's Walmart, and it's people in their jammies being loud and obnoxious." Cyrus laughed.

"Fuckin' pajama pants O'Neil here." Talon laughed.

Pulling into Walmart's parking lot, Ben pulled up and parked next to a older white Civic, where Marty and Jason hopped out with Jason's daughter, Megan.

"Hello!" Ben and everyone greeted, as they said hi to Marty Millis and Jason Greene. Everyone also got a hug from Megan, Jason's eight year old daughter. Marty was a fifty-two year old red Dober, a former Hells Angel in his younger years. He wore boots, jeans, and a leather jacket with a winter cap that covered his Mohawk of graying auburn hair. He had a chinstrap of graying hair, like Ronnie and Cyrus. Jason was his forty-two year old boyfriend, a lean looking red Doberman in a jacket vest over a sweatshirt and jeans. The group all walked together to head inside.

"Look how packed this is... This is gonna be a shitshow." Marty said with a cynical laugh. "I hate this Walmart so much."

"It's just for a few things Marty! Relax!" Cyrus assured.

"I swear to god, every time I come here, it feels like someone let their sociology experiment go nuts!"

"Hey! I say that same thing too." Grinned Talon teasingly.

" You watch, something crazy is gonna happen..." Marty rolled his green eyes.

Going inside, the store was packed with shoppers grabbing their last minute items before Thanksgiving. Ronnie and his group picked up some extra goodies that they needed, while pushing through the congestion of people. Ronnie walked with the group and spent the time people watching; a guy pushed by him in cartoon pajama pants, a grizzled looking woman in skimpy clothing, and some overweight hillbillies arguing over the last jar of instant gravy. The dog simply chuckled and shook his head.

"If you think this is packed, just wait until black Friday!" teased Jason.

"Ugh." Marty cringed. "This is bad enough~"

"Hey! Go to five, go to five!" Cyrus pointed. "There's less of a crowd!"

Everyone made their way to one of the checkout lanes.

"They keep saying they're gonna open more lanes than ever before, and here we are with just... five of twenty." Ben rolled his eyes.

"Low prices my ass too!" Cyrus grinned at Ben.

Getting in line, Ronnie was behind Marty as he checked a message on his phone from his friend Colt. Glancing up momentarily, Ronnie saw that Marty was standing behind an old man, slowly putting items from his cart onto the conveyor belt to be scanned by a young looking Rottweiler with curly brown hair. Out of the corner of his eye, as he texted a reply, saw an older woman in denim bibs approaching. He assumed that was the man's wife. As he typed, he heard a loud, explosive fart, which made him look up. The old wolfess ripped a loud fart in front of Marty, without any reaction or realization on her face she started grabbing stuff from the cart. Marty had a look of shock on his face.

"Wow!" Ronnie laughed. He glanced over to see Cyrus immediately stifle a laugh, a paw immediately slapped across his muzzle as he turned as red as his hair from trying not to laugh at his friend. Marty closed his eyes, and a disgruntled look graced his aged face.

Jason leaned in towards Marty. "You have just officially been pooped on~"

"SEE!" Marty shouted. "This is what I'm talkin' about! Something crazy always happens! HEY! You feel better over there, toots?"

The wolfess did not even acknowledge as she talked to her husband.

Ronnie looked at Talon and couldn't help but laugh. "Oh god..." Talon muttered.

"This is what I'm talking about!" Marty exclaimed. "And then you got this red haired beast here, thinking this was the funniest thing in the world!"

Cyrus crouched behind a discount bin, trying so hard to maintain his composure. He had tears in his eyes from trying so hard not to burst out laughing. "Oh god... Marty... That was like a man's fart! That's pretty awesome!"

Marty just rolled his eyes. "Jason! You see what I'm talking about!?"

Cyrus got up and shook his head a bit. "Marty... it's just a fart... it'll be okay~"

Cyrus saw the blank stare on Marty's face and had to immediately stifle another laugh. Marty just shook his head and grumbled something under his breath as he started to put their stuff on the belt.

Ronnie and everyone had a hearty laugh about it. In the six months since he moved to Newark, Ronnie had his new circle of friends in Ben, Cyrus, Marty, and Jason. It was a completely different bunch than his biker pals and bandmates back in Chicago, with the added bonus that they were all "friends with benefits" to him and Talon. His new group of friends helped him adjust to his new life in quiet suburbia.

---

After a long morning preparing all the food, a golden, roasted turkey was placed at the center of the dinner table. Talon carried over a container of steaming hot corn, and placed it beside the gravy boat and some mashed potatoes in a big bowl. Ronnie took a step back, grabbed his phone, and snapped a picture of the finished dinner table. His first true Thanksgiving dinner in a long time.

Talon put an arm around Ronnie and kissed the side of his muzzle. "You've outdone yourself!"

"Heh, thanks~" he smiled in return. "Well, let me get the trash taken out, and we'll dig in~"

Ronnie grabbed two trash bags that sat by the door. Throwing them over his shoulder, he stepped out back to throw them away. Walking to his trash can by the garage, Ronnie heard his neighbor step out as well.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Ron!" waved his neighbor, Kathy Matheson.

"Hey! Thank you, Kathy! Happy Thanksgiving!" Ronnie smiled and waved back. The Mathesons were his friendly neighbors; Greg and Kathy, with their grown daughter Mindy, and grandson Colby. At first wary of him for being a biker, they were now like family after Ronnie stopped Mindy's violent ex from hurting them in an attack over the summer. They talked all the time, and in a way, they were the parents that Ronnie no longer had in his life.

Going back inside, Ronnie washed his paws at the sink, and sat at the table with Talon, Colt, and Emily. After saying a small prayer of appreciation, Ronnie grabbed his knife and fork and began carving the bird up for everyone. Doling out turkey for everyone, Ronnie sat down and enjoyed his Thanksgiving meal with his family. Ronnie laughed and joked with his boyfriend and their kids; it was his first happy Thanksgiving with his son in six years.

After letting their meal digest, Ronnie and Colt traveled with Talon back to Hanover, where they had dinner with the entire Bradley family. The whole Bradley household was packed by extended family as they all shared some drinks and dessert together. The Bradleys liked Ronnie a lot; over the summer, he saved the life of Talon's drug addled sister, Allison. She had been kidnapped by her abusive biker boyfriend, a member of the Oilers outlaw club. Ronnie and his friends from back home chased after them and rescued her she threw herself out of the SUV, just before it went off the road in a tremendous crash. Since then, Allison went through a painful rehab, and was in the process of cleaning herself up with her Dad's help, the mercurial Dale Bradley.

Sitting around the table with his son, Ronnie strangely felt at home with all of them. He wasn't used to such a big crowd, as the Samson family was small, and largely estranged from each other. The holidays never really excited Ronnie, as he never had much of a family to enjoy it with, especially after his mom left when he was twelve. For as long as he could remember after that, it was just him and his Dad. His grandpa Larry would drive up to see them on the weekend after Thanksgiving, and that was it. The same with Christmas too. For the rest of the Samson family, they never came around; he had an Uncle Lester, but he never heard from him, or his cousins. Uncle Lester was uninterested in the biker life his father and brother chose, and didn't want his kids "going down the dark path" to becoming a Hells Angel, or other outlaw biker. Thus, after his grandpa died, and then his father, Ronnie had nobody to celebrate the holidays with, other than his son. And when he lost everything after the plane crash that doomed his band and drove him to financial ruin? It was just another embittering reminder for the holiday season.

It seemed that for a good portion of his life, Ronnie spent stitching his friends and other Angels together into some kind of pseudo-family. They were always there for him, always looking out for him and his son. It was a lonely reminder sometimes. Ronnie watched Dale having a good time with his children, even with his troublesome daughter Allison, who looked happy for once, not under a haze of whatever pill she could get her mitts on. The sight made him think about his estranged family, his absent mom.

Finally as the sun began to set in the western sky, Ronnie and Talon went to go have a "Friendsgiving" at Cy's place, out in the Hanover countryside. While Colt and Emily got to play together at Dale's home, Ronnie and Talon had the evening to themselves with their friends.

A babbling creek in Cy's woodland provided a calm ambience with the crackling of a large bonfire. The lights of Cy's home shone in the distance, across from the small pond as everyone sat around the glowing fire. Its heat drove the cold wind away as Ronnie and Talon spent time with Cyrus and Ben, and Marty and Jason. They all sat in a set of giant bean bags, enjoying the warmth of the fire and each other.

"So did everyone have a nice Thanksgiving?" Talon asked the group.

"Yeah!" Cy exclaimed.

"No family brawls this time?" Talon grinned.

"Ha, no." the wolf chuckled. "No more brawls."

"Good~" Talon laughed. He gently nudged Ronnie. "This motherfucker here would have his whole family beat each other up all the time over stupid shit."

"Hey don't blame me, blame the fucking glue sniffing degenerates, Ronnie and Darryl!" Cy pointed out.

"Yeah don't remind me because I have to hold their dumbass paws all the time." The Dober rolled his eyes. "Retard One and Two didn't get their names for nothing!"

"Ugh, Darryl." Ben shook his head with a laugh. "At least I had Thanksgiving with Mom."

"Yeah, that made me happy." Cy smiled.

"It was nice to have Thanksgiving with my parents and Jason's parents too." Marty added with a smile, as Jason put his arms around him. "Peace at last."

"Exactly." Ben nodded.

"Everyone has their families. Heh, I don't anymore, sadly." Ronnie admitted to his friends. "It's weird... it usually never bothers me because... this is just how my life has been for so long. Little family involvement. But... to see everyone with their families... it just... struck a chord with me, that my family isn't around, and those that were around... they're gone now."

Talon started to frown, as did everyone else.

"Aww, Ronnie, it's okay~" Marty assured.

"It's just... no big deal... it's just an observation." The dog shrugged. "I should be used to it by now."

"So you have nobody?" Jason asked curiously.

"I mean, basically!" Ronnie chuckled sardonically. "My grandpa and great-uncles are gone now. Great uncles didn't get along with my grandpa Larry because they didn't approve of him being a Hells Angel, so that estranged him from them, and their children. My Uncle Lester didn't get along with my Dad for the same reason. So while Dad and myself became Hells Angels, Les went and become some generic office worker for General Dynamics, and also involved in the church- mamby pamby shit, ha."

"Wow." Jason nodded.

"As for my Mom? Well... I'll never know why she left. Dad never talked about it. It hurt him too much." Ronnie frowned.

"That's awful." Marty shook his head. "To just get up and walk out of your child's life..."

"That's what Mom did. I came home from school one day in October, and she had come home early from work, and that surprised me. I come inside and she's looking like she's getting ready to leave. She tells me she has to go to the store, and that she loves me and gives me this big hug. I watched her from the window get into the car and drive down the street, and we never saw her again. That was her way of telling me goodbye."

Cyrus shook his head in disappointment.

"It shouldn't bother me... it was nineteen years ago. I've been on my own with just Dad for so long... but once in a while... it stings."

"Well that's understandable." Talon nodded. He put an arm around Ronnie and smiled at him.

"This is the first Thanksgiving where I felt happy for once. I could finally provide a nice meal for my son, when all the holidays before, we barely had enough to get by. It always made me feel bad. Colt would tell me about how his friends had these nice Thanksgiving meals, family, and then all this stuff Santa got them for Christmas, and I couldn't afford anything for him... It made me feel like a piece of shit. So all my friends and the other bikers would buy stuff for Colt, but it still made me feel bad that I couldn't make him happy for the holidays."

"You were there for him and that's what counts." Marty added. "Your son will understand."

"I hope so~ I want to give him the best Christmas ever this time around, since he never got to enjoy it. I mean, he was born, and within a year, my band imploded, and then within two years, Misty died, and then my Dad... so on and so on."

"That kind of felt like my life for a while too..." Ben shook his head. "Bad shit keeps happening, it's unrelenting. Ugh... shudder..."

"I think we've all been through bad times." Cy shrugged. "I mean, the whole eight years I lived in Dayton when I was estranged from my family after coming out..."

"Well half your problem is living in Dayton..." Jason chuckled.

"Yes!" Cyrus pointed with a grin. "Very true!"

"Know what I gotta say to shitty family?"

Ben lifted his leg and let a wet fart rip.

"YEAHHHHH! TURKEY FARTS!" Cyrus laughed.

"OH GOD, here we go..." Marty shook his head.

"Hell yeah bro, blow that shit up~" Talon grinned. Ronnie glanced over at Talon and laughed.

"Wait till the turkey farts kick in... you wanna talk about wetness and the stink?"

"CYRUS! STOP TALKING ABOUT FARTS!" Marty exclaimed.

"Can I think about them!?"

"NO!"

"Can I dream about them?"

"NO!"

"What if we have a deep, philosophical discussion about the fart?" Cyrus grinned as Marty threw an empty beer can at him.

"HEY! Marty! Stop throwing stuff at me!"

"STOP TALKING ABOUT FUCKING FARTS!"

Ronnie closed his eyes and laughed with a snort with everyone.

---

Stepping out of the bathroom, Ronnie yawned and scratched his tattooed chest as he went to say goodnight to his son in his bedroom. In the spare room, Talon tucked his daughter in and wished her a goodnight, as he returned to Ronnie's bedroom with him.

Ronnie climbed into bed as Talon turned the lights off and joined him under the blankets. The soft light of the moon filtered in through the window, casting horizontal lines on the wall from the blinds.

"Well did you have a nice thanksgiving there, stud?" Talon asked as he pulled Ronnie close to him and draped an arm around him to caress his chest.

"Yeah, I would say so." Ronnie smiled.

"You doin' okay though?"

"What do you mean?"

"You seemed a bit sad talking about your family earlier at Cy's."

"Oh, just me blowing off some steam."

"I'll blow something on you~"

"I bet you would, motherfucker!" Ronnie laughed at a grinning Talon. "But it's just... it was on my mind."

"I don't know how someone could do that to their child."

"Mom did~" Ronnie shrugged. "It was just on my mind..."

"If you ever want to talk about it, don't hesitate, Ronnie." Talon assured him.

Ronnie rolled to lay on his back and look up at the ceiling, his face filled with thought.

"Sometimes I wonder about Mom... and wonder if she's okay. But then I question myself why when she didn't give a shit about me for nineteen years."

"That's because she's your mom, even if she did something shitty."

"Last I heard she was living in New Jersey, since that's where she came from. Sometimes I think about what I'd say if I ever saw her again. I don't think I'd be angry, just... sad."

"Understandable."

"Talon, you're lucky you got such a nice family. I wish mine wasn't so divided... over... stupid shit."

"It does seem silly when you tell me about the whole division because of the biker thing."

"Grandpa was shook up from being a helicopter pilot in Korea. He said he saw some really sick shit. Airlifting out guys who had limbs blown off, mutilated. He told me the disappointment that when he landed aboard the ship, his patient had died. And it always bothered him about whether if he could have gone faster, had that man's life been saved. After he came home from the war, he always said he felt like he was a changed man, and could never settle back into normal life. The Hells Angels gave him meaning, something to live for. And thus he helped found the New York chapter in the fifties."

"Neat background~"

"My Dad was the same way. Always felt lost, felt like he didn't fit in anywhere, until he became an Angel. But Uncle Les... he just wanted to be a candy-ass mamby-pamby. Always thinking me, Dad, and Grandpa were up to criminal shit. I think the worst thing Dad and Grandpa did was beat the shit out of some guys who deserved it... but nothing of the bad shit like drugs and crap other Angels do... Hell, I hate that shit too."

"Sometimes it happens like that. I dated a guy years ago who's family was just a hot mess like that. Never made sense to me."

"Nothing stranger than people~"

"Heh, yeah, I agree."

Talon and Ronnie leaned in for a kiss. They smiled at each other and gave each other a longer, deeper kiss.

"I love you just the way you are, Ronnie~"

"Well thanks, stud, I love you too."

"Stud material here~" Talon grinned as he rubbed his nose against Ronnie's. Ronnie just smiled at him.

"My ass is still sore from yesterday~"

"It's that big dick energy, bro!"

"More like rearranging the contents of my ass." Ronnie laughed as he rolled over to get into a comfortable position. "Good night, stud~"

"Night~"

---

Leaving Target with a basket full of Christmas decorations, Ronnie and Colt eagerly made their way back to Ronnie's truck, which sat in the back of the parking lot. Their shadows were cast long in the late afternoon sun, a chilly breeze whistling through the naked trees. Sitting between two SUV's was Ronnie's rather large Silverado, an older red one-ton, with a big crew cab, and long bed. Placing their decorations in the backseat, Colt climbed in and buckled himself into the passenger seat as Ronnie put his cart away. He ran back, hopped in, and they took off, listening to the big Duramax burble under the hood. It was time for them to get a live Christmas tree, their first one ever.

Looping around the dilapidated mall's outerbelt, Ronnie made his way to a small Christmas tree stand, set up in the parking lot between McDonald's and the Ace Hardware. There were hundreds of trees available, in several species, and several heights, all separated in different racks that were made out of wood. String lights dangled from propped up boards nailed to the racking.

Colt ran ahead to eagerly look at the trees, while Ronnie walked in a slower pace, gazing at the selection and taking in all the smells of fresh cut pine. Ronnie looked at Colt being all excited at looking for a tree. It brought a smile to his face. Ronnie could recall his excitement as a kid, when he'd help his Dad set up their artificial tree in the living room and decorate it. Christmas was a special time as a kid, but that specialness left after his mom's departure when he was twelve. Then holidays felt kind of bitter for him and his Dad. Now Ronnie wanted to shake those holiday blues.

"Hey Dad! Look at this one!" Colt exclaimed. The kid tried to pick the tree up, but his little arms just strained as he tried to grab it. Ronnie laughed and helped Colt pick the tree up to examine it more closely.

Ronnie glanced at the tag, which was a cloth strip tied to a branch that read "Noble Fir $100". It was slightly taller than Ronnie, a bit wide at the base, with dark green needles branching out. It had a pleasing shape to it.

"What do you think?" smiled Colt. "I like it!"

"Hey, I like it too~" Ronnie agreed. "Wanna get this one?"

"Yeah!"

"Alright!"

Ronnie picked the tree up and carried it with him to the register. A yellow Labrador happily rang him up, and even gave him a tree stand, a typical red and green colored one in a box. Ronnie paid him with his debit card, which was rang out on an iPad. The tree was then wrapped up in some snug netting, and the base was chopped off with a chainsaw. "Have a good evening guys!" the Labrador waved as Ronnie placed the tree in the bed of his truck.

---

"Do you think there's room for the bow?"

Colt and Ronnie stood before their Christmas tree, the very top pressed up against the ceiling. Their perfect Noble Fir ended up being as tall as the ceiling. "Of course!" Ronnie exclaimed with a laugh. "I'll just put it on the second tallest section!"

"It's tall!" Colt giggled. "And I got sap on me!"

"Yeah! Same here." Laughed his Dad.

Ronnie and Colt worked together to string lights onto their tree. A mixture of clear and multi-lights made the dark green branches glow with some color. Ronnie tossed on some tinsel, which sparkled and glistened. Colt opened up the packages for the ornaments and began putting a hook on them to decorate it. While Colt sorted through ornaments and hung them up, Ronnie took a step back and grabbed his big bulky Betacam to record it to tape, for a music video he was planning.

On Ronnie's shoulder sat his ancient Betacam, an Ikegami HL-791, an anachronistic analog tube camera, from well before his time. Through the viewfinder, he got a tight view of Colt hanging ornaments up. Colt looked eager and excited as he hung all the shiny glass bulbs up, which glistened and faintly comet-tailed in the camera's Plumbicons. Grabbing the tripod by his desk, he bolted the camera down and got some tight shots of the ornaments and lights. After months of practicing, he was feeling more and more confident about shooting video himself, especially with such an old piece of analog technology.

"Hey Dad!" came Colt's voice. Zooming out quickly, Ronnie panned down to see Colt looking concerned. A small stocking ornament was stuck to his forehead. "Dad! This one's missing a stocking!"

"Ha~" Ronnie laughed behind the camera. "Check your forehead lil' man!"

Colt felt his forehead and peeled the stocking off. "Oh!"

"Now that's gonna make it in~" Ronnie laughed.

"I'm sticky!" Colt giggled.

Ronnie sat his camera back on his computer desk and walked over to help finish up putting ornaments up.

"So, Colty, what do you want for Christmas?" Ronnie asked.

"Hmm!" The young Dober responded. "I don't know yet!"

"Why don't you write down what you want, and I'll see what gets under the tree!" Ronnie smiled. "I want to give you the best Christmas ever, since the past five years have been... rough."

"Okay!" Colt grinned. "I can do that!"

Ronnie smiled and patted Colt's head. "Great... oh... oh boy..."

Ronnie found his paw stuck to Colt's soft brown hair.

"Uh oh." His kid responded. "You're stuck!"

"How in the world did you get this sticky!"

"I stuck my head in the tree to smell it!" Colt grinned.

"Oh boy... let's get you cleaned up lil' man!"

"Okay!"

---

Snow flurries and a blast of Arctic air introduced December. A light dusting of snow covered downtown Newark as city workers hung up Christmas decorations on Main Street. Across the street from the public library was Barev's headquarters, housed in the former Newark High School building. The old three story brick building sat square in the middle of a neatly landscaped lot, which had an old brick farmhouse serve as Rob and Maverick Tokarev's office space, and an attached gymnasium, which was now a studio for the broadcast division.

The studio was essentially the size of a basketball court, brightly lit by a lighting gantry of glaring spotlights that shone snow white. The upper track, which once housed extra seating, was now a ring where extra lighting and cameras could be mounted for oblique angles. The studio resonated with the sound of equipment being moved and installed for the day's video shoot.

Standing on the upper track, Ronnie helped aim a colored spotlight down at the set, which shone a red circle on the backdrop, which was a wall made with foam spikes. They were radar absorbing spikes that Barev used for their klystron test chamber, and the blue-gray spikes made for an interesting background for the music video shoot. The Doberman walked over and adjusted a green spotlight, a set of red and green spotlights providing a splash of color with a set of tightly focused red circles on the spikes.

Ronnie peered over the railing and yelled down at Rob, who was working on one of his old tube studio cameras. "How's that look?"

Rob glanced up at him, looked over at the spots on the backdrop, and gave him a thumbs up. Ronnie nodded in acknowledgment and turned to head to the stairwell to head back downstairs. He walked over to see what Rob was up to.

Rob stood at his giant studio camera, an ancient Marconi Mk. VII-B. The wolf-hybrid worked with a plastic screwdriver, making a slight adjustment to one of the scanning circuits that controlled the beam sweep for the tubes. Ronnie curiously watched Rob make an adjustment, while watching the result on a TV that sat on a rolling cart. Today's music video intended to have a sixties look, would be shot on a camera from the 1960's. The giant British Marconi was a big boxy gray camera, with a huge square body, and a large lens on it. It was a hot running 4-tube design, a reflection of the limitations of technology at the time, and the transition in the networks from monochrome to color television. Of the three Marconi's Rob had on the pedestals, this one was a veteran camera from his school's television network, WNCS-TV. It was proudly marked in its seventies era logo, which read in red Helvetica, "WNCS-TV NEWARK SCHOOLS".

"That looks like an electronic nightmare inside." Ronnie chuckled as he saw Rob make a few more adjustments.

"Everything is manual." Rob remarked in a calm voice. "And this camera was modified in the seventies to take ACT tubes, and I can't fuckin' stand them. They add another frustrating level of setting the beam current up right, or you'll burn out the gun."

Rob finished up an adjustment and slammed the lid shut on the camera body. "There we go."

"May I?" Ronnie asked as he took the controls to see what it was like. Rob gave him a nod of acceptance.

Ronnie panned the heavy camera around, watching on the monitor as he got a nice shot of the studio. Compared to the usual studio's fleet of RCA TK-47's, which used the same 30mm Plumbicon tubes, the Marconi had a slightly dimmer, softer picture, with a warm pastel color look. Panning past the spotlights, the camera had a weird comet-tail effect; long fuchsia colored tails with an inner tail that was a dark green color. They didn't leave a temporary trail like the TK-47's, but instead just blobbed about with the highlight. The camera lacked the dynamic range of later tube cameras, and the whites looked chalky and blown out in places, and the blacks an inky dark color, devoid of detail. It was definitely a reminder of sixties technology.

"They'll look great for what you guys are doing." Rob pointed out.

"They look great because you set them up!" Ronnie complimented.

"All in a day's work~" Rob shrugged.

Ronnie glanced up at the clock. "They should be arriving soon. I'll go pick them up."

"Alrighty. We'll be finishing up here."

Grabbing the keys to the company SUV, Ronnie took off in Barev's white Suburban, for the airport. Making his way to Heath, Ronnie arrived to watch Barev's DC-6 come in for an uneventful landing at the airport. Ronnie pulled in onto the tarmac to watch "Attica", a 1953 DC-6B taxi in on its inboard engines. It was another of Rob's restored wonders.

Ground crew secured the plane and an airstair propped up at the rear door. Bundled up against the cold, Ronnie walked across the tarmac while adjusting his beanie. Going up to the base of the airstair, he watched the hatch open to reveal the flight crew. Jordan Hoover, his husband Ivo Horvat descended first, followed by the flight engineer, Ivo's Dad, Vlado. Then stepped out the upper echelon of Rob's Chicago based FotoChem factory, and a few airport managers for Centoh Chicago. They quickly boarded their SUV's and took off to meet with Rob.

Emerging from the hatch was Killian first, followed by Adam, Don, Colt, and Todd. Ronnie had a smile emerge as he happily saw his friends again. Grabbing their stowed gear from the lower cargo hold, it was all loaded into the Suburban with them and they all took off to head back to the studio.

"This is a fifty-fifty shot. It could go great, or go like shit." Adam chuckled from the back seat to Ronnie.

"Hey, this is your idea." Ronnie joked. "I think it's gonna work out."

"Your brother better like this." Colt chimed in. "We're doing it for him~"

"I think he'll like anything better than the current situation he's in~" Adam grimaced. His brother Jeff, and niece Ember were severely injured in a car accident back home, when a dump truck's tire blew off due to shoddy maintenance, and struck their car on the interstate, which resulted in a serious crash. Both were hospitalized. They both liked music from The Byrds, and Adam wanted to sing a couple songs with the band to help cheer them up. It was also a perfect excuse to use his 12-string Rickenbacker some more, and showcase the band's dynamic talent.

Returning back to the studio, the band spent the next hour and a half working on getting their gear set up. Don set his drums up, while Colt, Killian, Todd, and Adam set up their microphones and amps, and fed the cables to the recording room. Everyone went and soon changed into their stage attire- Christmas themed swears as a joke. There was a camera checkout, and a couple of practice runs. Rob was replaced for the recording by Maverick and Marcus, who were aided by Felix Barion, Corey Wilhelm, and Ryan McDowd on the three Marconi cameras. In front of the camera stood the band. Ronnie held a tambourine, Colt clutched his black and silver bass, Killian and Todd with their Fender Stratocasters, Don on his drums, and Adam holding his red and white Rickenbacker.

"Okay, let's do take one. Roll VTR~" Marcus announced into his headset. "Okay! VTR is go!"

"In five... four... three... two... one..." Maverick counted, with a point at the zero. The tally lights on camera one, tight in shot on Adam, glowed red.

"My name is Adam Stein, and I am one of the six man team that is Hard Times. This little video here is dedicated to my older brother Jeff Stein, and my wonderful, perfect lil' niece, Ember Stein, who are recovering from a bad car accident two days ago. They love The Byrds, and who doesn't? So we want to cheer them up with a lil' Byrds magic here. So sing along and enjoy!"

Adam opened up with the introduction to "Mr. Tambourine Man". His jangly 12-string resonated perfectly as Colt soon added the bass, and Ronnie jingled his tambourine. Adam sang this time, backed up by everyone else. Their voices harmoniously blended together.

"Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me

I'm not sleepy yet and there is no place that I'm going to

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me

In the jingle jangle morning I'll come following you."

Adam sang solo as the cameras switched shots of everyone.

"Take me on a trip upon your magic swirling ship

My senses have been stripped

My hands can't feel to grip

My toes too numb to step

Wait only for my boot heels to be wandering

I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade

Into my own parade

Cast your dancing spell my way, I promise to go under it."

Ronnie went with the motions of the song. Everyone looked confident as they played before the cameras in the blinding spotlights. After "Mr. Tambourine Man", Killian sang "Turn, Turn, Turn", and lastly, Ronnie sang their third and final song, "The Times They are a Changin'".

"Come gather 'round people

Wherever you roam

And admit that the waters

Around you have grown

And accept it that soon

You'll be drenched to the bone

If your time to you is worth savin'

And you better start swimmin'

Or you'll sink like a stone

For the times they are a-changin'."

After finishing the last song, there was a "cut" and it was a take. One and done, perfect. Setting their instruments aside, they all piled into the control room to watch the edited, finished copy, right off the two inch videotape. On a large television, they watched the finished product play back on Rob's restored AVR-3, the monster Quadruplex humming away as it spun its large golden reels of "Barev 500". Everyone sat in silence, in awe at how good it sounded, and how classic it looked through the soft pastel colors of the Marconi cameras. Hard Times had pulled it off again. The VTR was rewound, and a digitized copy was made and given to Ronnie on his thumb drive. After tearing down everything and packing their gear away, it was time to go back to Ronnie's place and celebrate.

---

One Week Later

Battling the shopping crowd, Ronnie spent his Wednesday with his boyfriend. Taking the day off from work to go Christmas shopping, Ronnie pushed his shopping cart along, his process slowed by the customers all around him. Setting a pair of action figures into the child's seat, Ronnie scanned one of the toy aisles for what Colt wanted for Christmas.

"Hey look what I got!" Talon exclaimed as he ran up. "The last of what Barbie doll Emily wanted~"

"Lucky day!"

"Heh, yeah." Talon chuckled. "What I call 'single mom, speak to the manager Karen, Barbie doll~ Emily just has to have this one for her collection!"

"It's critical." Ronnie smiled. "Colt wanted some GI Joe figures~"

"Can't go wrong with that!"

"Hypermasculine dudes set to kill each other!"

"'MERICA!" Talon laughed.

"Oh hey! Look at this!" Ronnie pointed. He pushed the cart ahead to an entire section dedicated to K'nex toys. Ronnie's face lit up in excitement as he pointed at a kit. "I remember these as a kid!"

"Oh man, it's been so many years." Chuckled Talon. "When I was a kid, I had a large rollercoaster set."

"Oh yeah? That was the kit that Dad surprised me with when I was seven or something." Recalled Ronnie. "I didn't ask for it, but Dad surprised me with it. He told me years later that he got it because it was on sale!"

Talon grinned. "Pesky sales."

"But I loved it. Me and Dad put it together and we had so much fun. He bought me a bunch of other sets, and I built those until I was like thirteen or something. Oh Mom hated the 'clutter' as she called it."

"Dad liked it until he stepped on a piece and busted his ass." Talon recalled with a laugh. "Fuckers hurt! I stepped on one too!"

"I'm so surprising Colty with one." Grinned Ronnie as he grabbed a large roller coaster kit and placed it in the cart.

"Like your Dad to you, and now you to your son~"

"Damn straight." Ronnie remarked. He paused for a moment. "I finally have the money to do this myself. For Colty's entire life, I looked like the worthless deadbeat dad, not having enough money to even buy a Christmas tree, decorate, nothing. The other Angels would buy Colt toys, and I couldn't. You know how sad that made me feel? My young lil' man, couldn't get anything from his old man?"

"I understand that sentiment. I remember never being able to get anything for Emily when psycho mom was in the picture. If I bought her something, it would just get thrown away because she was spiteful like that. Or probably sold for drug money. But I don't have to worry about that anymore!"

"Heh, yeah."

"Three day drug bender, and then a high speed pursuit, and its bye-bye parental rights!" Talon exclaimed.

"Better off~"

"Yeah. And so are you now."

"I am, yeah. And even better off now that I got a hunk like you in my life!"

"It's that big dick energy!"

Ronnie and Talon shared a laugh as they kept on shopping. Eventually filling the shopping cart up completely, they left the store with half their shopping completed. Throwing everything in the trunk of the Civic, Ronnie and Talon quickly left the congested parking lot and began the drive home.

"At least this time nobody ripped ass on us." Ronnie chuckled with a disdainful shake of his head. "Heath Walmart is nicer."

"That's 'cause all the bumpkins from Utica and Saint Louisville don't go there." Talon teased. "I mean, I can't talk because I'm from Hanover. Like we're a progressive oasis..."

"Yee-haw~" Ronnie joked. "The pace of life here is so much different than back home."

"It's slower here."

"I was born in Queens, and I grew up in Chicago, so to come here to a sleepy lil' community, where the pace is slow, there's not many places to go, or things to do... it's got perks and downsides."

"What do you think so far?" Talon asked curiously.

"I mean, I love that it's quiet... and there's a less of a chance of being randomly shot here, than back home... and everything's close by. But people are nosy... back home... nobody gave a shit."

Talon nodded. "Everyone's nosey. It's the midwest way... be nosey about everyone and gossip."

"and I've seen a bunch of just crazy ass lookin' folks around Newark. Drive up thirteen or twenty-first and you see these lanky guys with backpacks, lookin' all glassy eyed and burned out."

"Meth is a hell of a drug." Smiled Talon. "Allison... I know."

"How is she doing?"

"She's happy, which makes all of us happy. So if we can keep her this way... that'd be good."

Ronnie pulled up to the red light at the intersection of Hebron Road and the terminus of 21st Street. As Ronnie made a remark about saving Allison, he watched as a naked wolf ran past his car, looking psychotic as he jumped over the hood of the parked car beside him, just as several police officers came running past. "RICK! YOUR DAD IS GONNA BE SO PISSED AT YOU!"

Ronnie and Talon just looked at each other in disbelief. Talon just closed his eyes, shook his head, and laughed.

"I need to drink more, shit..." Ronnie joked.

---

Setting another wrapped gift in front of the tree, Ronnie picked up the scrap pieces of wrapping paper and threw them away. Talon sat on the floor, carefully folding some gold wrapping paper up and around a gift for his daughter.

"Oh I'm starting to get excited." Ronnie remarked as he took a moment to sit at his desk and check something on his desktop. He checked the band's YouTube page, and read some of the comments that were coming in for their latest videos. The Byrds cover for Adam's brother and niece was a big hit, as was a music video they had shot for one of their Christmas songs. Talon walked over to watch one with Ronnie.

"Looks like you're making people happy, Ronnie." Talon pointed.

"That's what I love. That's what I love about music. It's a universal drug of happiness. Anyone can be made happy by music... unless you're Rob Barion~"

Talon closed his eyes and snickered a bit.

"Too far." Ronnie laughed. As he checked the band's Facebook page, his work phone rang. It was a network phone, plugged into his desktop, which allowed him to have a work number at home. The notification came up on his desktop, notifying him that it was Varg calling. Ronnie was puzzled as he picked up the phone.

"Ronnie speaking!"

"Ronnie!" Came Varg's deep voice, thick with his Norwegian drawl. "Hope I am not interrupting anything."

"No, no, just finished up wrapping presents, Varg. What's up?"

"I got a gentlemen on the phone who called in for you, and he's saying he's your uncle. Do you know a Lester Samson?"

Ronnie sat up in his chair. "Yeah, I do. That's my Uncle Les."

"He is on the phone right now, on hold. He wants to speak to you."

Ronnie flinched for a second; it had been years, almost decades since he heard the name Lester Samson. He had to be in his early sixties now. Uncle Les was his Dad's older brother, and the most successful of the family. While his grandfather and father went down the path of becoming outlaw bikers, shaped by the feeling of being lost in their lives, Les took the opposite path and became a successful white collar worker, a big wig managing director to Xerox. Les was the antithesis of his brother Dave. While Dave was laid back and calm, Les was uptight and ambitious, with blistering criticism of his father and brother's "lifestyle". For as long as Ronnie could remember, his father was somewhat estranged from his brother, which finally came to a head when his Mom left in 2003, with a final huge fight that ended their relationship as brothers. The last time Ronnie saw Les was Christmas in 2001, when he visited. Twenty-one years.

"Hey Ronnie? You still there?"

"Yeah. Sorry. Had a flashback." Ronnie shuddered a bit. "Yeah, patch him over."

"Will do. Thank you!"

"Thanks."

Ronnie hung up and within a few seconds, the phone rang. The desktop app popped up, showing the incoming call on Line 1, with a New York City area code. Ronnie grabbed the handset and hit the line button.

Ronnie cleared his throat. "Viking Recording Studios, Ron Samson speaking." He spoke with a very formal tone.

"I haven't heard your voice in almost two decades, heh, you sound like your old man now, Ron~" came his uncle's voice. It was a bit gravely from age.

"It's been a long time, Uncle Les."

Talon looked up from wrapping a gift to see Ronnie lean back in his chair, his face looking serious, tense.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything work related, am I?"

"No, no. I took today off for some Christmas shopping, I have a work phone at home and they told me you were calling in, so it's fine."

"Ohh, okay. Well I bet you're probably asking why I've reached out after two decades... I was shown a video of a cover of some of my favorite Byrds songs, and lo-and-behold! My nephew and his friends are singing it. I was blown away. I also like your Christmas tunes you put up on your page too. You always had a knack for singing... ...Plus some life events kind of put some reflection into the distance the family has faced..."

"Yeah."

"Your uncle is still recovering from a pretty bad heart attack I had back in May..." Les revealed. Ronnie sat up a bit in his chair. "Oh no." was his somewhat muted reply.

"Almost bit the dust on that one... Some of your biker pals, some Hells Angels saw me crash my car, and they pulled me out and did CPR on me. One minute I was out minding my business on a nice lil' car ride, and the next thing I know I woke up in the hospital after a triple bypass surgery! Life likes to throw those fast ones."

"Well I'm glad you're feeling better."

"Well... it's a struggle at times. My lung capacity is all screwed up because they rearrange your lungs to get to your heart, hah. But I'm still depressed over your Dad dying and I didn't know about it until two years after the fact. Those Hells Angels came to visit me in the hospital and I had told them about how my father and brother were Angels too, and they told me Dave died. I was so devastated... a petty fight and we ended our relationship all those years ago... and now he's gone forever. I've been really depressed all summer over it. So I wanted to try and get back in touch with you, Ron."

"I wish I had more to say, Uncle Les. I'm at a loss of words to your unfortunate situation."

"I understand. Twenty years and then all of a sudden I return." Les quipped with a cynical chuckle at the end. "How are you doing, Ron?"

"I've been on a wild ride myself over the years. Hell, I should write a novel about it!" Ronnie laughed in return. His laugh was jaded. "But sometimes we have to weather the bad to appreciate the good~"

"I agree fully, Ron. Hey listen, I don't want to keep you forever on the phone, but I'd like to give you my number to stay in touch, if you want."

Ronnie reached over to grab his notepad and a pen. "Sure, sure, yeah, what's your number? I'll write it down."

Talon watched Ronnie scribble the number down and conclude the call on a friendly note. He slowly hung the handset up on the receiver and spun around to look at him with a look of surprise on his face. "Small world." The Doberman remarked.

"What's up?" Talon asked as he gathered up the trimmings off the floor to throw away.

"That was my uncle... unexpectedly. After twenty years..."

"Wow."

"A crazy year and it gets crazier ya know?" Ronnie shrugged with a laugh. He smacked his paws and got up from the chair to stretch his arms. "Uncle Les had a heart attack and only found out this year that Dad passed away."

"Double whammy..." Talon frowned.

"Is it weird that I don't know how to process this?" Ronnie asked, looking puzzled. "I just feel... weirdly numb."

"Well given the family circumstances the past two decades, I understand it completely." Talon nodded.

"I mean, what do you say to someone when they've been out of your life for almost as long as you've been alive? But at the same time... it feels like an opening for maybe getting back in touch with estranged members."

"You never know until you try, Ronnie."

"Yeah." He smiled. "Yeah! I like that~"

Talon grinned. "A dead clock is right twice a day!"

"Oh c'mon, motherfucker, you are not a dead clock!" Ronnie snorted with a grin.

"Yeah you're right... my name isn't Darryl or Uncle Ronnie."

"Thank you for clarifying that."

"I'mma call you Ron then!"

"Oh god." Laughed Ronnie. "Everyone for as long as I can recall has called me Ronnie!"

"Rolls off the tongue." Smiled Talon as he snuck in a kiss too.

"You're such a tease~" Ronnie snickered as he returned the gesture and gave Talon a kiss.

"You really want a tease? You should come and tease me in the bedroom with that hot body of yours."

"You read my mind like a book..."

Talon grabbed Ronnie's paw and led him to his bedroom, and he swung the door shut behind him with his foot.

---

A morning snowstorm blanketed rural Licking County in half a foot of fresh snow. The silent countryside slumbered beneath the powder that continued to flutter from the dark slate skies. Braving the elements, tires crunched through the undisturbed powder on the hilly, rural road out near Hanover. Ronnie and Colt cautiously drove through the swirling flakes of snow, listening to some music and hearing the turbodiesel burble under the hood. In the backseat of the Silverado sat Colt's new sled and snowboard, ready to be tried out on the hill behind Talon's home.

What was normally a twenty minute drive, ended up being almost forty minutes from the slow crawl on the unplowed road. Talon lived just outside of Hanover, in an old farm house just off from the road. It sat between the road and a decent sized pond that was all iced over. A large barn sat behind the old home with its mottled slate roof. Ronnie and Colt pulled into the driveway, where Ronnie spun all four tires to get enough traction to complete the turn. He parked his one ton beside Talon's Ram pickup.

Stepping out, Ronnie adjusted the beanie atop his head. The countryside was silent, just a little flutter of the wind through the big tree in the front yard. It was a huge contrast to the hustle and bustle of Chicago. Grabbing the sled, Ronnie and Colt shuffled through the snow to be welcomed inside by Talon and his daughter.

Out back, they trudged through the snow as it continued to fall. Talon remarked that the pond wasn't ready to ice skate yet on it. It would need another month to really solidify the ice surface. The hill was a short walk away, through a slender tree line of slumbering maples and oaks. Climbing the gently sloping side of the hill, Emily and Colt climbed aboard her large sled, and they both went sliding down the hill first, building up speed and ramping it over a small bump as they laughed and spilled out into the snow.

"Colt always wanted to go sledding, but we never had a nice area to do it back home." Ronnie remarked as Talon checked his snowboard over. "Makes me so happy to see him finally get to enjoy this~"

"Gotta let them enjoy being kids for as long as they can, 'cause you wake up the next moment and you're thirty-seven and having to babysit a bunch of fuckin' idiots in your job!"

Ronnie laughed and smiled at him. "That sounds oddly specific, Talon!"

"Crazy!" the Dober grinned.

"Dad!" Colt yelled. "That was awesome!" The young Dober's face was full of excitement.

"I can see that!" Ronnie exclaimed.

"I wanna try the snowboard, Talon!" Colt asked.

"Sure!" Talon agreed. He sat it down and Colt walked over to shove his feet into the slots on the board. Talon explained how to balance on the snowboard, and showed him how to strike his pose when going down the hill. Colt gave it a bounce to get into position, and with a nudge, began to roll down the hill. He made it about four feet before he lost control and faceplanted into the thick powder. Ronnie and Talon couldn't help but laugh as Colt looked up, his face covered in snow.

"That didn't work!"

"Ha, that's funny." Talon smiled. "Come here, lil' man. Let's try it again!"

Ronnie whipped out his phone and took some pictures and video of Talon helping Colt up and brushing the snow off him. He showed him some more tips on snowboarding, and Colt tried it again. He made it halfway down the hill before losing control and faceplanting again in the snow. Ronnie laughed and ventured down to grab him when he lost his footing and fell, sliding down the hill and coming to grief beside him. Talon tipped his head back and laughed.

"Press your life alert, Ronnie!"

"Not to that point yet!" Ronnie exclaimed. He shook the snow off his face, and brushed his wavy hair out of his face and grabbed Colt.

Talon and Ronnie watched the kids play in the snow while they took turns snowboarding down the hill. It was a fun morning to pass the time as the snow continued to come down. When the cold finally got to be too much, they went back inside to grab lunch and warm up.

Lunch was a plate of chicken fingers and a salad Talon had whipped up. Ronnie sat opposite of Talon at the square table, with their kids all munching away. Ronnie looked content as he listened to Colt tell Talon about how much fun he had trying to snowboard.

"You keep practicing, and you'll be a champ at it!" Talon exclaimed.

"I only fell twenty times!"

"Practice makes perfect, champ."

"Yeah!" Emily giggled. "Me and my best friend once got the sled to go halfway across the pond with a running start!"

"Ha, let's not do that again." Chuckled Talon. "You were going to give Grandpa a heart attack!"

"That sled is not a boat!" Ronnie laughed, just as he heard Talon's phone ring.

"Oh look it's Dad~" Talon chuckled as he sat the phone on the desk and put it on speakerphone. "Hi Dad!"

"TALON YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT THESE TWO FUCKING RETARDS DID PLOWING THE FUCKING PARKING LOT OF THE STORE! YOUR FUCKING RETARDS ONE AND TWO FUCKING COLLAPSED THE OVERHANG AND ABOUT KILLED TWO CUSTOMERS!" came the screaming, booming voice of Dale.

"Oh boy..." Talon groaned.

"I need some help right away! Right now!" Dale yelled.

"Okay Dad! Gimme a moment!"

Ronnie blinked at the eruption of rage on the phone.

"Uh oh!" Emily exclaimed. "Did dummy heads break something again?"

"Yes, lil princess, Dumb and Dumber did something silly again..." Talon sighed. "Sorry Ronnie, but I gotta fix this..."

"We'll tag along~" Ronnie assured.

Getting suited back up, they all left and climbed into Ronnie's Silverado. Talon drove the red 3500HD as he slid out onto the road and took off through the snow to his family business.

"Why do you have these people in your landscaping business if they cause so many problems?" Ronnie asked curiously with a smirk.

"It's being nice to the Filtons, since they don't get along with Cy, Ed, and Dan."

"Why?" Colt asked.

"Well... it's a dumb rivalry thing between Uncle Ronnie and Dan, and Darryl, and his younger brothers." Talon explained. "That family... they would constantly brawl and fight over everything. I witnessed two of them! They'd get together for dinner, try and work out their differences, and the next thing you know, they're all throwing down in the front yard! Everyone! I've never seen anything like it!"

"Wow." Laughed Ronnie.

"Now I'm stuck with 'em!" the Dober exclaimed. "Nobody else would hire them! Who would hire Uncle Ronnie! That dude is the dumbest mofo I've ever seen. He couldn't count to five to save his life! And Darryl's just a disgusting slob- the worst I've seen. He could screw a cup of coffee up."

Ronnie just shook his head. "Adult daycare~"

"See? You get it!"

"Now our date day has to be damage control, again..." Talon rolled his eyes. "Unbelievable."

"Isn't that your job title?" Ronnie teased.

"Apparently!" Talon laughed while shaking his head.

---

By the end of the day, almost nine inches of snow blanketed Newark. The storm had passed to the east, and in the last light of the day, the sky took on an orange tint. Parking his truck in the usual spot, Ronnie shut the engine off and glanced over to find Colt still asleep. The young Doberman wore himself out sledding with Emily. Ronnie unbuckled him and hopped out to walk around and open his door and gently pick him up to carry him inside. As he walked to the front door, Colt came to, his blue eyes opening up and glancing around.

"You wore yourself out lil man!" Ronnie laughed.

"That was a lot of sledding..." Colt muttered as he yawned. "I'm tired!"

"Don't nap too much, or you'll be up all night!" Ronnie chuckled as he opened the front door.

As Colt ran to his bedroom to get changed into his pajamas, Ronnie took his coat off and hung it up on the rack beside the door. Plugging in the Christmas tree, he took a sigh of relief as he sat down at his computer desk, to check for messages. Opening the messenger up, he found several messages from his friends' group chat on Telegram. Scrolling through them, he saw a photo and a message from Todd, showing the cover for their Christmas album. It was a picture taken in Colt's front yard, depicting six snowmen modeled after them, complete with silly wigs and leather vests. The Christmas album was named "A Contractual Obligation of a Christmas Album", a title which made Ronnie burst out laughing.

"I love it!" Ronnie responded excitedly.

As he read a message from Killian, asking how Ronnie felt about the Christmas album profits go all to charity for Christmas, he heard a notification about an incoming e-mail. Opening it up on the second monitor, he saw a new e-mail from a music journalist in New York, who wanted to interview him. He recognized the name as the journalist who interviewed the band back in 2016, when they were at their zenith. Ronnie took a screenshot and pasted it into his Telegram chat. "What do you think? You guys cool with me talking to Bob?"

Colt responded first. "Yeah, that's awesome."

"Go for it!" Don wrote back.

"Yeah!" Killian approved.

Adam gave a thumbs up emoticon, and so did Todd.

"Cool." Ronnie wrote back, just as his telephone rang. He looked at his cellphone and saw it was his Uncle Les calling him. After he had called him out of the blue, they had spoken a few times since then, and Ronnie felt more comfortable chatting with him.

"Uncle Les!" Ronnie greeted.

"Hey Ron, how are you?"

"Tired! Me and Colty spent the day sledding with my boyfriend at his place."

"Oh cool. Hope Colt had a lot of fun."

"Fun is an understatement. He wore himself out." Ronnie chuckled. "What have you been up to?"

"Oh finishing up this nightmare called Christmas shopping." Laughed his uncle. "Hey listen, I got an inquiry, and I'm sorry it's on short notice, give the holidays, but... I was wondering if I could maybe drive up on a weekend after Christmas and see you and your son? I have a Christmas present for you."

"How about I top that with this offer? I just got an interview offer from a music journalist in New York City, so how about if I just come up and visit you on say a weekend? He'd like to get an interview before Christmas for his program."

"Oh! Well I'm retired now, so basically whenever is perfect."

Ronnie jotted that down on his notepad. "Noted! I'm thinking about maybe next weekend? Since that's when Colty starts Christmas break."

"I think that works out perfect. That Friday, I gotta drive to Teterboro to go help your Mom with something."

Ronnie froze. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Mom?"

"Oh I never told you did I?" Les said, his voice sounding momentarily regretful. "I still stay in touch with Rhonda. She lives in Teterboro."

"...Huh, that's what I figured." Ronnie muttered. "Wow... I... sorry... I... I haven't seen or heard from Mom since I was twelve."

"Your Mom's in a hard place right now." Les admitted. "She's taking care of her mother, who has Alzheimer's real bad, and that's what I'm helping her with, helping to take her Mom to the doctor for a minor medical procedure."

"Ah."

"I told her that I got back in touch with you, and she was surprised about that."

"Oh yeah? She ever say anything about me?"

"No, not really."

"I guess what else is there to say?"

"I get it. It's complex unfortunately." Les quipped.

Ronnie glanced at his Telegram window and e-mail window. "Uncle Les, I'll get back with this, and if everything's good, I'll give you a call and we'll definitely have to meet. I have the means to fly into Queens."

"Okay, just let me know."

"Will do, Uncle Les. I gotta hop off here. You take care."

"You too, Ron. Goodbye."

"Bye~"

Ronnie sat back in his chair and looked introspective as he stared off into space for a few minutes. After Mom left in his life, Ronnie always figured that she probably moved back to New Jersey, where her family, the Greeves, were located at. Should he try and see her again? Or has time done enough damage to their relationship that they were nothing more than strangers at this point in their lives. He felt unsure.

"Are you okay, Dad?" Colt asked.

Ronnie blinked and sat up in his chair. "Yeah! Yeah. Just thinking, Colty."

"Oh okay~" his kid smiled. "Making sure!"

"How about next weekend, we usher in your Christmas break by flying out to see my Uncle Les?"

"Oh?"

"A music journalist wants to interview me in New York, and why not do that and then see Uncle Lester! You can meet Grandpa's brother."

"Cool!" Colt grinned. "Let's do it!"

"Heh, okay!" Ronnie smiled as he rolled around to hit the "reply" button on the e-mail.

---

Eastbound, skimming along the cloud deck, flew "The International", Rob Barion's immaculate DC-3. The morning sun made the eighty-three year old propliner glisten in a brilliant orange sheen, its polished propellers sparkling as it flew to New York. Below, the ground was obscured by a dark cloud deck, its clouds looking tumultuous and churning as more snow blanketed the mid-Atlantic. At the helm sat Rob Barion himself with his husband Joey commanding the old Douglas.

The narrow cabin was filled with the muffled roar of dual Twin Wasps burbling. It was a monotonous drone of propellers that was slightly mesmerizing. Long "picture windows" gave an unprecedented view of the morning sky in the executive suite cabin. The DC-3 was separated by two compartments, the usual layout of Barev aircraft, with a lounge area, a small galley and bathroom, and a private quarter in the tail. Ronnie and Colt sat in the tail where it was quieter.

Ronnie felt it was ironic flying in a DC-3, the plane that doomed his fortunes, and killed his friend Eddy Halen. But instead of an old and tired cargo plane, of questionable ownership by a guy who was named "Crazy Lenny", this DC-3 was an immaculately maintained masterpiece, which flew smoothly.

Glancing up, Ronnie spotted Colt glued to the big picture window. The young Dober's face was pressed to the glass, excitedly watching the clouds pass by them somewhere over Pennsylvania. Ronnie smiled at the sight of his son being so excited. Ronnie pushed some wavy locks out of his face and he glanced down at a copy of the portrait of his late father. Ronnie took one look at it and a smile squiggled up on his face as he tried to stifle a laugh.

In his paws he held a photo of his Dad posed against a purple muslin backdrop. He had a happy smile on his face. Dave Samson was an imposing looking Doberman, of black and rust fur, with long black hair that was slightly graying, tied back into a ponytail. His father wore his leather vest over a gray sweater, which added to the comedy; his father hated that portrait that the club made him take many years before. Ronnie could recall the recoil his father had when he framed it. "RONNIE! DON'T YOU FRAME THAT PICTURE!" he could hear his dad yell. But Ronnie loved it, it was basically one of the few things he had left to remember him by. The picture epitomized the life of his Dad, who was this imposing Hells Angel, but a gentleman who would help anyone. He missed him every day since his death from Covid. The copy was intended for his Uncle Les to have.

Feeling a bit of turbulence shake the plane, Ronnie thought about seeing his uncle again, after two decades. There was a feeling of nervous discomfort at what he was going to expect seeing him in person. Afterall there was so much family tension over the years. Ronnie also planned on trying to see his Mom before leaving. That really made him get uncomfortable. What would he say? Uncle Les had said he was going to speak to her about it. But ready or not, he had to stifle those thoughts and think about his important interview with Bob Lampert for his music program he put online.

Arriving at JFK airport by nearly nine in the morning, Ronnie and Colt were dropped off at the main hangar of Joey's Freightmaster hangar. Ronnie and Colt watched as Rob and Joey soon departed for home, the shiny DC-3 disappearing into the clouds as it slowly climbed away.

Grabbing a taxi, they made their way to Brooklyn, where Ronnie had his interview at a large record store. Bob Lampert, a big name on social media for interviewing bands and celebrities, spoke to Ronnie for two hours in his studio at the record store he helped run. Ronnie talked about the plans for their band's comeback, the tragic plane crash, and the "lost years" of his life. It was a fun interview, with plenty of stories and laughs. Finishing up a little past eleven, Ronnie summoned another taxi, and he and Colt began the journey to go see Uncle Les.

As the taxi drove through the streets of Brooklyn and crossed into Queens, Ronnie and Colt both took the time to watch the scenery. Ronnie had no memory of his first years living in Queens. All he knew was that he was born in the East Flushing area, and lived there until he was four years old in 1995 when his father took a job transfer to Chicago. The whole landscape felt similar yet different from back home, and especially felt different than sleepy little Newark. Checking his time on the phone and glancing at the GPS on the taxi, he had another twenty minutes to go.

---

Making a left turn onto 137th Street, the taxi slowed up to a white stucco home, a large house with a flat roof, surrounded by a privacy wall made of white bricks. Coming to a stop, Ronnie paid the driver and thanked him as he got out with Colt. The yellow cab took off as they stood on the sidewalk, gazing at the home in the quiet neighborhood.

Entering through a wrought iron gate, Ronnie walked up and rang the doorbell to the brown double door. He stood for several seconds before hearing the sound of footsteps approaching. The front door swung open to reveal Lester Samson. Since the last time he had seen his uncle, Lester had aged considerably, now at age sixty-four. Les, a red Doberman like Ronnie and Colt, had dark brown hair that was mostly gray and combed back against his head. Deep blue eyes peered out, and he wore a rather casual attire of sweatpants and a t-shirt that was tucked in. While Dave was short, but stocky, a tough looking black and rust Dober, Lester was taller and thin, looking like a prototypical white collar worker.

"Ron, you made it~" Lester greeted. His eyes made contact with Colt, who stood slightly behind Ronnie, looking a bit shy. Lester immediately looked in awe at his great nephew. "My god! Well aren't you just a spittin' lil' image of your old man!"

"Uncle Les, I want you to meet my son, Colt~" Ronnie greeted. He patted Colt on the back and gently gave him an encouraging backrub as Colt shyly approached his great-uncle. Lester knelt down a bit to meet him.

"Hello~" Colt said with a shy smile on his face. "My name is Colt!"

"Colt! I'm your Uncle Lester." Les greeted. "Oh my gosh, you're like a clone of your Dad!"

"Kind of!" Colt laughed as he took his beanie off, revealing his messy mop of light brown hair. "My hair is lighter!"

"It's got that wave in it, just a bit more frosted." Les laughed as he ruffled Colt's hair. "Come on in guys! Come on in!"

Stepping in out of the cold, Ronnie glanced around at the inside of Les' home. It was a cozy, well furnished and open feeling house, with walls adorned with family pictures all over. Ronnie also spotted all the certificates and awards that Les acquired in his four decades working at Xerox.

"Livin' the high life, eh?" Ronnie teased as he sat his laptop bag down.

"Forty-one years at Xerox, and it was time to retire!" Les exclaimed. "So go figure your first year in, I drop from a heart attack. Isn't life grand?"

"Heh, life likes to throw fast ones."

"Agreed." Les nodded. "How was your trip to Queens?"

"Very uneventful. Had a nice flight on a company plane."

"A company plane eh?"

"Yeah. My job has a partnership with another company that helps provide us with air transport." Ronnie exclaimed.

"Getting that jet set lifestyle in!" Les joked with a chuckle.

"Sort of." Ronnie laughed as he reached into his laptop bag to pull his father's photo out. "I thought you might like this photo."

Lester was handed the picture of his late brother, and Les took a moment to stare at it and reflect. For a moment, Les looked really sad and introspective, but like Ronnie, a smile curled up on his face at it. "This photo is the epitome of your father. He could be a rough and tough guy, but deep down, this was him."

"That's what I always said... but Dad hated that picture." Ronnie recalled with a snort. "He'd be like 'RONNIE DON'T YOU DARE SHOW PEOPLE THAT!' and what did I do?"

"Hah." Les chuckled. "I'll have to get a frame for this and put it next to Dad's portrait over there."

Ronnie walked over to gaze at an old photo of his grandma and grandpa. Taken sometime in the late 1960's, the portrait showed Larry and Marge with a very young Lester and Dave. Larry was a tough looking red Doberman in his leathers that were adorned in his red and white patches. Ronnie looked like him, complete with long locks of wavy brown hair. Marge was a black and rust lady Dober, who wore a summer dress in the photo with a headscarf over her black hair. A faded photo from such a long time ago. Now they were all gone, save for Les. There was a photo of Larry when he served in the military, a very formal clean cut Larry in his Navy uniform.

"I look back with regret of not really understanding Dad and my brother." Lester admitted as he gazed at the photos with Ronnie. "I used to wonder why anyone would want that kind of lifestyle, and I should have never thought about it like that."

"Some of us find brotherhood and meaning in unorthodox ways. Not everyone was meant to be a ordinary Joe in a nine to five gig."

"Apparently." Lester nodded. "Ronnie, I'm sorry I wasn't in touch with you all those years, and I regret not speaking to your dad for almost the same amount of time."

"It's in the past."

"Still..."

"The past five years have taught me to let go of things." Ronnie admitted.

Over some leftover pie and freshly brewed coffee, Ronnie and Les talked at the table about their lives. Les wanted to know about Ronnie's life after so many years apart. Ronnie talked about growing up after Mom left, how Dad worked extra hard to make ends meet, and how other Angels helped them out when times got rough. Les wanted to know about his brother's life, and Ronnie told him about their adventures together to rallies and other events. After high school, Ronnie tried his hand in music, and helped found their band, Hard Times, which impressed Les at how close at success they made it, before the plane crash ended everything. During the nadir, Ronnie told his uncle the immense sadness he faced when everything came crashing down; his fortune was vaporized, the lawsuits, the sense of loss when everyone started dying around him, and then finally, losing his apartment in a fire, and having nothing left when he took the leap of fate to Ohio to start his new job. He hoped that he could move on from everything and resume happiness with his new boyfriend and friends in Ohio.

Lester told Ronnie about his life, and the trials and tribulations. "Complacency can set you up for failure", Les remarked as he poured himself another mug of coffee to go with some pumpkin pie. He worked for forty-one years at Xerox after accepting an internship there in the fall of 1979. He was the model engineer, who worked on developing photocopiers throughout the 1980's, and became a big wig in the executive side of the company before retiring in the spring of 2021. While he made fantastic money and retired with an awesome pension, not all went perfect in his life. His first marriage ended in a bitter divorce in the early 1990's, and much to Ronnie's surprise, Lester's two oldest children, Rudy, and Judy, were both in prison. He remarried in 1995 and had two more children, Reid, and Aiden. Reid now worked at Xerox, and Aiden was finishing up college in North Carolina.

One of Les' biggest regrets was largely shunning his father and brother, a decision that haunted him, especially after his heart attack. He always thought his father and brother were "wrong" in being outlaw bikers, and was largely repulsed by such a lifestyle, a thought he now considered "very arrogant of himself".

"I miss both of them. A lot." Les quipped with a reflective look on his aging face. "When I had my heart attack and was recovering in the ICU, those biker guys who saved me stopped to visit me. And that's how I found out your Dad passed away two years ago. I remember saying that Dad and my brother were Hells Angels, and they all knew who Larry and Dave was. They told me how good of a person Larry was, and how good Dave was. And when I found out Dave was dead for two years, the doctors thought I was having another heart attack... I was really severely depressed for three months, and had to seek counseling because it got so bad. My heart still aches because of not knowing, not speaking to Dave for nineteen years. Because I shoved my head up my ass and thought I was better."

Ronnie nodded as he sipped at his coffee. Colt sat quietly and chewed on his pie, listening in.

"That heart attack really opened my eyes up, Ron. One minute I'm just having a nice lil stroll out in the countryside, and the next minute I was waking up in the ICU under a haze of morphine and god knows what else that was dripping out of those bags! I guess I crashed my car and a bunch of bikers came upon the crash and saw me slumped over."

"We're not all a bunch of hellraisers." Chuckled Ronnie. "Only if you want us to be!"

"Yeah, so I've realized." Chuckled his uncle. He wheezed a bit and coughed. "My damn lung capacity is still all screwed up!" he griped. "I guess one day at a time."

"What about Mom?" Ronnie asked curiously. "Did she ever say why?"

Lester chewed slowly on the last bite of his pie slice. "Frankly from what I've gathered over the years, your Mom just got tired of being the 'biker babe'."

"That's what I figured."

Lester recalled how a few years after she had left Dave and Ronnie, she contacted him out of the blue, seeking help after an apartment fire. Lester always was fond of Rhonda and found her to be a very polite person to chat with. They had a decent acquaintanceship, and Lester and his wife Martha always helped her when needed, especially when her father got sick and passed away, and now with her mother, who has advanced state dementia. Lester never asked about why she left Dave, but he learned slowly over the years how she felt about it. In a way, Lester thought Rhonda leaving Dave was the ironic "grass is always greener on the other side"; she wanted something better than being just Dave's "biker bitch" at rallies and gatherings, but instead of finding the perfect happiness, life sort of beat her up. Her parents getting sick, an apartment fire that destroyed everything, bouts of unemployment. Ronnie listened with an introspective gaze.

"Ironic." Ronnie muttered.

"Yes, indeed."

"Should I visit her?" Ronnie asked him. "Do you think it would do more harm than good?"

"Frankly, I don't think you have anything to lose, honestly." Lester shrugged. "That's your Mom afterall."

"Yeah~"

The front door opened to reveal Lester's wife Martha, a fawn Doberman with short gray hair atop her head. "Les! I'm home!"

"Hey honey! Why don't you meet my nephew!" Les called.

"Oh he made it here!" Martha exclaimed as she carried a bag of groceries to the kitchen real fast. She came running up to meet Ronnie and Colt. "Hi! Hello! Welcome! I'm Martha!"

"So nice to meet you~" Ronnie smiled as he got a hug from her. "Thank you!"

"And you must be lil' Colt!" Martha greeted as she got a hug from the young Dober. "So nice to meet you!"

"Hello!" Colt exclaimed with a grin. "I'm Colt! You can call me Colty!"

"Colty it is!"

---

After deliberating with his uncle, Ronnie decided to go see his Mom in Teterboro. With her address written down on a pad of paper, Ronnie hopped inside his uncle's brand new Toyota and plugged his phone in. He put her address into the GPS and found she was forty-five minutes away. With coordinates set, Ronnie put the silver Camry into gear and took off for the highway alone. Les and Martha would babysit Colt while he was away.

Getting on the highway, Ronnie hit the gas and merged in with the normal New York congestion. For the next thirty-minutes, he drove 75MPH with the flow of traffic to New Jersey. He tried to not think much about what he was going to say, or what he was going to get himself into. He tried to focus on the driving. But as he drove, his mind wandered back to the last memory he had of her.

It was a cold, rainy October day, and Ronnie got off the bus as usual and walked the block and a half home. He was surprised seeing Mom's car in the driveway, as usually she worked second shift at the hospital. He came home to find her still in her blue scrubs, looking a bit frantic at Ronnie's appearance from class. She said something about going to the store; she gave him a hug and told him how much she loved him before leaving. Ronnie thought nothing of it as he watched her back out of the driveway and leave. He could still recall that she never looked back as she left in her brown sedan. She came never came back. It was a bitter memory that used to sting when he was young. Now he didn't feel anything about it.

GPS took Ronnie to an older neighborhood of Teterboro, near the huge Teterboro airport. His Mom lived in an old brownstone on a tree lined street. He pulled into an angled parking space and climbed out, the sound of a jet taking off echoing off the brownstones. Pursing his lips, he looked up at the house that belonged to his Mom. It was now or never. Walking slowly through the crunchy snow, Ronnie made his way up the steps and rang the doorbell. What felt like eternity, Ronnie stood and waited.

The door swung open, almost startling him when he didn't expect it. For the first time since 2003, Ronnie saw his mom, Rhonda Greeves. She was now fifty-nine, and she looked it; a haggard, exasperated face, lined with wrinkles stared at him. Her once nicely permed brown hair was gray and tousled. Green eyes looked weary to the world. She wore slacks and a v-neck t-shirt.

"Yeah how can I help you?" Rhonda asked curtly.

Ronnie just blinked. "Hi Mom."

Rhonda froze and blinked a few times. "No way, no, is that... Ronnie?"

"I've changed a bit in nineteen years~"

"Oh my god..." she muttered. "God damnit, Lester."

Ronnie was taken aback a bit by his mom's bitterness.

"No, look, sorry, I got a lot going on and- HOLD ON MOM!" Rhonda screamed. "Ronnie? What are you doing in New Jersey? Aren't you in Chicago?"

"I came here for an interview in New York, and went to visit Uncle Les with my son."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, son? Interview? Ronnie, what the hell is going on?"

"Mom? It's been nineteen years since I last saw you."

Rhonda let out a sigh and ran a paw through her tousled hair. Ronnie could see why it looked unkempt.

Welcomed inside, Ronnie got out of the cold as Rhonda closed the door behind him. Glancing around, his mom's abode looked very spartan and sad. The walls were eggshell colored and almost completely devoid of any pictures, other than a generic painting over a worn brown couch. Ronnie watched his mom take care of his grandmother. He never knew his mom's parents, as they never liked Dave or "that side". All he knew was that her name was Patricia, and she was now eighty-nine years old.

"Oh Rhonda, I'm always so confused and I don't get it!" Patricia muttered. Her face had a large bandage slapped on her forehead as she slowly shuffled out of her bedroom with Rhonda's help.

"Mom, that's what Alzheimer's is..."

"Oh that's right, god damnit I'm so forgetful!" Patricia exclaimed as she looked at Ronnie. "Who the hell is this guy here, Rhonda?"

"Mom, that's your grandson. Ronald."

"Ronald? I don't know a grandson named Ronald!"

"That's my only son!" Rhonda exclaimed.

"Oh. Well what the hell is he doing here?"

"Mom, let's get the bandage changed, and I'll help you back into your chair so you can watch Judge Judy? Okay?"

"Okay."

Ronnie just mustered a reserved smile at the situation. After a couple minutes, Rhonda returned after helping her Mom back to her bedroom.

"Sorry I gotta take a Tylenol real quick..." Rhonda grumbled. "I got a terrible headache."

Ronnie stepped into the kitchen and watched his mom fumble around with a bottle of Tylenol.

"So as you can see, this is what my life is reduced to!" Rhonda laughed sardonically. She popped two pills and downed it with a beer. She smacked the bottle back down onto her table. "I never envisioned this is how I was going to end middle-age! Being the burned out adult daycare specialist at my job and at home!"

"You're still a nurse?" Ronnie asked.

"Oh hell no, I quit that shit years ago." Rhonda scoffed. "I got tired of constantly having to put a smile on my face and take care of ungrateful families, and hapless people who wander into the ER wondering why there's shit shoved into places where they shouldn't be! Now I work at an office a few blocks away, mail order shit. As you can see, the pay is just fantastic!"

Ronnie just pursed his lips and forced an insincere smile on his face. His Mom was very unpleasant.

"So what are you doing in Teterboro? What the hell are you doing on the east coast?" Rhonda asked as she rubbed her forehead. "You said something about an interview?"

"Yeah." Ronnie nodded.

"Have a seat. Have a seat!" Rhonda pointed. Ronnie obliged and pulled up a chair and sat down opposite of her.

"So me and some friends back in Chicago created a band several years ago... and we're trying to stage a comeback after some really bad events kind of transpired that broke us up."

"You always were good at singing." Rhonda recalled. "I remember your talent show demonstration, singing that Elvis Presley song, with your acoustic guitar. Moody Blue. Everyone ate it up."

"Yeah."

"So a band you say?"

"Me and five other Hells Angels from our chapter made a band called Hard Times. Working class, hard rock stuff. We made two albums and were almost at the cusp of success when a plane crash killed our drummer, and our light and sound engineers. Record label dropped us. I spent five years dealing with endless shit. I was almost homeless this year until I got a lucky break."

"Yeah? What about Dave, your Dad?"

"Dad passed away two years ago from Covid."

Rhonda looked up and her face dropped. "Dave died?"

"Yeah."

Rhonda gasped a bit and got up. She ran her paws through her hair and covered her mouth. Ronnie watched his mom break down into tears and practically fall to the floor. She grabbed her hair and screamed. Ronnie got up and went over to try and help her, but Rhonda shoved him away. She forced herself back up, and wiped her bloodshot eyes.

"It's been nineteen years..." Rhonda muttered as she sniffled a bit. "God damnit..."

"Dad eventually moved on and just carried on with life..." Ronnie quipped. "I see things didn't turn out as nice for you, Mom."

"Yeah? What's that supposed to mean?" Rhonda snapped. "You think I wanted this? You think I wanted my whole life to be just reduced to the burned out caretaker who has needs that never get met!?"

"Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?"

"Yeah!"

"After you just walked out of my life in 2003? Hurt my Dad too?"

"You don't think that I got hurt?"

"Clearly not since you fucking drove away!" Ronnie exclaimed.

"I had reasons!"

"Oh boy here we go..."

"I loved your dad, but that god damn motorcycle gang got to be too much! All the stupid rules and shit he had to follow. You don't think your mom got tired of being the biker bitch at all the events that had to wear the property of Samson vest and be catcalled by a bunch of disgusting degenerates? The fact that I wanted to go do things and travel places with him and Dave was just work, work, work, club, club, club. What about me, Ron? What about my needs?"

"You married him?" Ronnie muttered. "Like you knew what you were getting yourself into!"

"It was one thing when you're twenty-three..."

"Uhh..."

"But how would you feel when people start avoiding you because they're scared of you being married to a biker? A Hells Angel? When your own parents disapprove? Your own siblings avoid you? Your friends and coworkers are scared of you? Do you know how that feels?"

"Yeah obviously, because these same people avoid me!" Ronnie laughed in a jaded way. "Open up a window and let some of the wrong out, Mom!"

Rhonda glared at Ronnie.

"You don't think the past half decade of my life was a bed of roses? I lost everything after that plane crash. I lost my best friends, I lost all my money being sued! I lost my band, my home, and then my grandpa died, and then my girlfriend overdosed and died, and then Dad!? I was flat broke! I worked my ass to the fucking ground to provide for my son!"

Ronnie whipped his phone out and spun it around to show a picture of Colt smiling. Rhonda saw her grandson for the first time ever, and Ronnie could see the surprise in her eyes.

"Stop making this all about you, this woe is me shit. You're not the only one who suffers. I had to suffer for half a decade, and rely on other Angels to help me and my son, but you know what? I didn't take my anger out on people, and I especially didn't take my rage out on my son because my life didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. Shit happens! Stop kicking yourself in the ass, Mom."

Rhonda looked away and ground her teeth in frustration.

Ronnie frowned. "You know how much it hurt me as a twelve year old when you left? This feeling that my Mom didn't love me, and not understanding why? Watching my Dad put a smile on his face, when I knew deep down he was hurting because the woman he loved left him?"

"Does it still hurt you, Ron?"

Ronnie shook his head. "Not anymore."

Rhonda frowned.

"Looks like time didn't heal wounds." Ronnie muttered as he turned to walk towards the exit. Rhonda ran after him.

"Where are you going?"

"Back home apparently." Ronnie shrugged as he opened the door. "I haven't seen my Mom in almost two decades, and I was hoping that maybe I could have my family back... but I see that I'm more of just an annoyance than your son. We're like strangers now."

Rhonda frowned even more.

"You know how to get ahold of me in the future through Les. At least you said goodbye to me in 2003..."

Rhonda watched Ronnie close the door behind him as he left. Rhonda stood with a sad expression on her face as she heard him leave and drive away. She walked towards the door and put her face against it, with frustrated tears in her eyes.

Hopping back onto the highway to return to Queens, Ronnie was silent as he drove in silence. His nerves felt frayed from the explosion of emotions and frustrations displayed. Perhaps it just wasn't meant to be.

---

"So how does a copier work?" Colt asked with a smile.

"Well!" Lester started off. "Let's take that drawing you did and I'll show you!"

Colt ran over and grabbed his drawing off the table and handed it to Lester. It was a pencil doodle of him and his Dad. Lester carried it over to his big Xerox copier by his desk. Lester explained all the components as best he could to Colt in simple terms, and even opened the machine up to show the fuser, the drum, and toner cartridges. He placed the copy on the try and hit the copy button. Colt watched excitedly as the machine spooled up, sucked in his drawing and scanned it. Within seconds, a copy was spat out on the other side, which Colt quickly grabbed and marveled at.

"Wow! It's warm!"

"That's the fuser." Lester laughed. "See? Almost identical!"

"Cool!" grinned the young Dober. "I want you to have this copy!"

"Aww, well thank you!"

Lester accepted the drawing from Colt, just as Ronnie stepped back inside. Lester looked up to see a mentally worn out expression on Ronnie's face.

"How'd it go?" Lester asked his nephew.

"Like riding a bull. Holy crap, I kicked a hornet's nest." Ronnie admitted.

"You two had a big argument didn't you?"

"Yes."

Lester chuckled and shook his head a bit. "Oh Rhonda..."

Ronnie sighed and sat down at the table. Lester pulled up a chair and sat beside him.

"She just went off on me." Ronnie remarked. "Everything there seemed so broken down and sad. She's not the Mom I remembered."

"Things didn't go right for her... She thought things would get better, and ironically, well... not ironically, it went over really bad." Lester explained. "She's frustrated because she works this dead end job at a office that does mail order products, and she gets paid shit wages. It's her own damn fault she got fired at Xerox, and I went to bat for her, to no avail."

Ronnie just shook his head. "And you didn't tell her Dad died?"

"Oh boy..." Lester grimaced. "That came up?"

"Yes."

"I was waiting for the right time... I didn't want to dump more fuel on the bad news fire..." Lester chuckled. "Look, don't take it person, Ron. She's just hurting from her own bad decisions."

"Eh, it is what it is. I have a thick hide." Ronnie shrugged.

"Look, I'll talk to her and say something." Lester promised.

Ronnie checked the time. "Uncle Les, it's been so nice to see you again, but I gotta start looking to plan my way back to Ohio!"

"Alrighty." Nodded his uncle. "Before you go... I must remark that your son is just a little angel! He's such a gentleman and very smart."

Ronnie smiled. "That's my boy! My pride n' joy~ Lil' Colty!"

"You should be mighty proud."

"I am!"

---

Making an impressive entry at JFK, Ronnie and Colt watched as Rob and Joey returned in "Seoul Train", a rare B-29 Superfortress. Standing on the flight line, they got a front row seat arrival of the old Boeing. "Seoul Train" was a B-29 that was natural metal on top, but sported a black underbelly, and liberal application of dayglo orange on its outer wings and tail, replicating an Arctic photo-reconnaissance RB-29. Four R-3350's burbled and cackled at low power in its wide arcing turn. While modern jets whistled and droned in the background of JFK, Freightmaster's ramp was a time capsule of the old propliners working their trade as box haulers for Joey Paulo's company.

Ground crew approached the B-29 and chocked the wheels once the engines were shut down. Rob and Joey hopped out with their flight engineer, Vlado Horvat, and some commotion went around as Ronnie watched the bomb bay doors open and a spare engine was winched down from the shackles. A fuel truck rolled up to top the bomber's fuel tanks up for the flight back to Newark.

"You know how to arrive in style." Ronnie joked to Rob as he walked by him.

"I try!" Rob sarcastically quipped.

After turning in his flight log and reporting his flight itinerary, and the fueling completed, Ronnie and Colt climbed aboard "Seoul Train" by a small ladder in the nose wheel bay. Colt bravely climbed in first, to be helped in the cockpit by Vlado. Ronnie made his way through the floor hatch, followed by Joey and Rob. Ronnie found the B-29's surprisingly cozy as he gazed around. The roof above him was olive green, with riveting and ribs. The cockpit windows looked like a wraparound greenhouse, giving a really fascinating view. To his right was the flight engineer panel, and behind him, the tunnel to get to the tail, and a hatch to get into the bomb bay.

"This is cool!" Colt exclaimed.

Getting a headset, Ronnie buckled himself into a jump seat behind Rob. Colt got to sit near the flight engineer station, and the young Dober watched excitedly as Vlado went through the engine start checklist. The plane came to life slowly as the engines were fired back up one by one, the thundering start of the R-3350 shaking the plane. Rob and Joey both went through their checklist, calling off all the components with Vlado giving them a go or no-go. Soon they were turning around for the runway.

Watching from his seat, Ronnie was impressed at the view of the runway. Vlado commanded full power to the four engines, and the cockpit was filled by the thundering roar. Lightly loaded, "Seoul Train" quickly left the runway, and the big Boeing gracefully departed JFK and climbed away for its westbound journey. They climbed to nine thousand feet and leveled off, where Rob set the autopilot for their heading. Once they leveled off, Colt could get out of his seat and go venture to the nose to watch the scenery. The young Dober had his face pressed to the glass for most of the flight, watching the scenery in mesmerizing awe. Ronnie chuckled at the sight.

For the rest of the flight home, Ronnie sat and reflected on his day, the interview, being reunited with his uncle, and the unfortunate argument he had with his Mom. The sound of the big radials made him grow sleepy, and after listening to the drone of synchronized propellers, Ronnie fell asleep, his head resting on one of the ribs of the forward fuselage.

In his dream, Ronnie went back in time to his twelve year old self, getting off the school bus and throwing the hood of his windbreaker up over his head as he began the short walk home.

Shoes splashed in puddles as Ronnie walked with his backpack bouncing on his back. The slender Dober had short wavy hair that was tousled beneath his hood that deflected the rain as he walked. As he walked up his street, he noticed that his Mom was home early from work. She usually never got home this early on second shift. Ronnie felt that something was off about that.

Going inside, Ronnie threw his backpack onto the couch and doffed his wet shoes and coat and hung it up to dry on the rack. He heard some commotion from the dining room. Around the corner came his mom, still in her blue scrubs. She looked like she was in a hurry, and when she saw Ronnie, she looked a bit surprised at seeing him.

"Mom? What are you doing home from work so early?"

"Oh, I swapped a shift. It's okay!" Mom responded with a smile. "How was school?"

"Fine." Ronnie shrugged. "Got a B on my science test.

"That's great, Ronnie. Awesome!"

"What are you doing, Mom?"

"Oh, I have to head to the store. I gotta pick something up for dinner."

"Ah."

His Mom pulled him into a tight hug. "Ronnie, I want you to know that I love you."

"I love you too, Mom!"

"I'll see you later."

Ronnie watched her grab her purse and leave with her jacket. He went to the window and watched her get into her car and back it out onto the road. He watched her depart until she disappeared from view. Ronnie turned around, turned on the TV, and sat back to relax.

---

One Week Later

With only a few days left to Christmas, Ronnie wanted to do something and give back to his new hometown. After hearing about a toy shortage at the local foster center for Licking County, Ronnie and Hard Times decided to recruit their fellow red and whites to the cause of giving disadvantaged kids a nice Christmas.

House of New Hope was the county's foster center, located in the sleepy little village of St. Louisville, just north of Newark. It's parking lot was packed by hundreds of motorcycles and other vehicles, as people milled about to donate toys, grab some food, and enjoy the music of Hard Times as they played their Christmas album for those who wanted to listen. Licking County got to experience for the first time, a massive gathering of red and whites, hundreds of them, coming from Akron and Cleveland to help Ronnie and his Chicago friends. Police were situated everywhere, and the FBI stood around watching ominously at all the bikers gathering and having a good time.

In the auditorium, Ronnie and his friends sang their version of "Jingle Bell Rock". Ronnie was the lead for it, and he strutted around the stage entertaining fans as everyone jammed away. Talon, Emily, and Colt stood by watching amusingly, while Rob's broadcast team stood around with their cameras, documenting everything as usual. They sang their whole Christmas album, each one taking turns for each song from "A Contractual Obligation of a Christmas Album".

Looking at the packed auditorium, and the sea of red and whites brought a smile to Ronnie's face. He bought well over two hundred dollars worth of toys for the foster home, and saw a huge swell of donations that filled the collection bins to the brim. It was his way of giving back to the community.

After finishing up their set list, Ronnie and everyone took a break, and mingled with the crowd. They signed some autographs and spoke to some new fans, who all commented on the variety of material online. Ronnie felt appreciated as he spoke to his fans. Ronnie also got an interview with a local rock station, who asked him about his music and his band's ambitions going into the new year. All of them got to be interviewed by the host of the local station.

As Killian and Don continued to speak to the host, Ronnie carried a gift from the home's director back to his truck. As he opened the door to stow it inside, he sensed someone approaching. "Big old red machine!" came a chuckling voice. Ronnie turned around to see an FBI agent approaching him, a gray wolf bundled against the cold, holding his badge up. Ronnie recognized him as Special Agent Gary Dove, from the Cincinnati branch.

"Mister Samson! I hope you don't mind if I chat with you for a moment regarding an issue? Special Agent Gary Dove, Cincinnati branch of the FBI."

"Oh c'mon, is this about the red light down the road? It was yellow when I started through the intersection!"

Dove just brushed it off with a swipe of his paw. "I don't give a shit about that, I just wanna ask you about your truck."

"Okay?"

"Where were you two days ago?" Dove asked as he walked over to examine the front bumper.

"Why?"

"Where were you two days ago?"

"Christmas shopping with my boyfriend. Don't believe me? Why don't you go ask him inside, his name's Talon Bradley."

"You weren't Christmas shopping in Akron were you?"

"No? Just in town." Ronnie responded. "What is the meaning of this?"

"There was an incident in Canton two days ago. An Oiler, which I know is a rival biker gang to the Hells Angels, was found dead on the side of the road in an apparent road rage incident. Witnesses say a red Silverado struck him at high speed in an apparent targeted attack."

"I'm not the only one who owns a red Silverado." Laughed Ronnie. "She's not Christine."

"The dude was struck so hard it almost broke him in half, Ron, they had to scrape him up off the ground."

"Well isn't that what you're supposed to do with shit?" Ronnie chuckled. "Scrape it off the ground?"

Dove ground his teeth a bit. "Don't be a smartass with me... It's a homicide investigation."

"You can look at my bumper all you want. No damage whatsoever. And you can look at the serial numbers and it matches the rest of the truck. And if you want further evidence, you can talk to its original owner, Cyrus Filton of Filton's Finest Landscaping!" Ronnie pointed out. He even reached into his wallet to pull out a Target receipt. "There's my Christmas shopping from two days ago, at the Target in Heath."

Dove glanced at the receipt and then looked up at him. "Thank you for your time, Mister Samson."

"You're welcome~"

Agent Dove walked away, and Ronnie watched him throw his arms up in frustration to his fellow Agents. Ronnie just chuckled and shook his head as he locked his truck back up.

---

Piling up around the glowing Christmas tree, Ronnie and his friends laughed and jokingly shoved each other as they watched Rob mount his TKP-47 onto its tripod boot. Handheld floodlights glowed brilliantly as they prepared for an impromptu announcement for their Christmas album.

"Give the tubes a few seconds to warm up and we'll shoot this." Rob announced.

"One take! One take!" Don exclaimed.

"Who the fuck do you think we are? Actors?" Colt snickered with an eye roll.

"Maybe!" Don grinned.

"HA!" Killian teased. "You ain't foolin' anyone, motherfucker."

"Shut up Kills!" Don laughed.

"It's just a silly video, relax." Ronnie laughed. He crossed his arms and glanced around ad everything going on in his living room. The Doberman looked like he was having a good time. As Rob and Maverick got the camera white balanced, Ronnie and everyone talked over how they were going to shoot the scene.

"Let's do take one." Rob motioned. "Everyone in position."

"Sure!" Don exclaimed.

"Let's do this!" Adam shouted.

"Take one. Action!" Maverick called out.

Ronnie started. "Hi everybody! Hard Times here! Ronnie, Adam, Don, Killian, Colt, and Todd music specialists to rock your holiday season! We helped host a fantastic Christmas toy drive today at the Licking County House of New Hope!"

"And we got extra help from our fellow red and whites to spread Christmas joy to the disadvantaged here in Central Ohio." Colt added. "It's a time of giving, and it's a time of hope and joy, and the disadvantaged, who have nothing and no one to turn to, need that hope."

Todd stepped forward. "Which is why Hard Times is announcing that all proceeds from our Christmas album, releasing today, will go completely to charity!"

"A Contractual Obligation of a Christmas Album is our gift to you!" Don grinned. "So thank you for being our fans."

"And thank you for sticking around during our hiatus." Killian smiled.

"From all of us here, we wish you a Merry Christmas, a happy holidays." Adam waved.

"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!" Ronnie closed out.

"Perfect." Rob called. The red tally light shut off and Rob looked up from the camera with a content expression.

"Nailed it!" Don exclaimed.

"The only thing you nail is your pocket pussy!" Killian teased.

"Motherfucker!" Don laughed as he shoved his brother. Everyone laughed and badgered each other, while Talon crossed his arms and chuckled at the sight.

After grabbing dinner, everyone decide to go snowboarding at Talon's place. In twilight, the air was cold, and the big hill was lit up by a floodlight powered by a humming generator some distance away.

"Lil' Colty! How the guys how it's done!" Ronnie told his son, who got his boots into his snowboard.

"Okay!" the young Dober exclaimed as he jumped forward and went down the hill. Ronnie watched him maintain his balance as he slid down, gaining speed. He tried to stop and ended up wiping out at the bottom. Ronnie laughed and clapped his paws together.

"Good job lil man!" Ronnie exclaimed.

"Hey that's pretty good, Lil' Colt~" chuckled Big Colt, the big Arctic wolf hopping onto his snowboard and sliding down to help him up.

"Now you just watch me tear this hill up~" Ronnie grinned to everyone as he got his boots into position on his board. With a boastful grin, he hopped to start going down the hill, but instead just faceplanted in front of everyone, who burst out laughing.

"Ha, you show that hill who's boss, babe~" Talon teased with a big grin. Ronnie flipped him off in return.

"I bet you guys have a lot of fun, huh?" Killian chuckled to Talon.

"Depends on what your definition of fun is!" Talon grinned. "Both is very accurate."

"Oh boy..." Don chuckled.

"I love Ronnie to death. He's genuine." Talon admitted to Ronnie's friends. "You don't get genuine guys like that anymore."

"No, sadly." Killian shook his head. "Too many fuckin' fakes and phonies."

"We used to tease Ronnie that he'd date some girly twink or something." Don chuckled with a grin. "We're happy that he's found someone after Misty died."

"Nah, he just got himself a big ole' country boy like me." Talon chuckled. "Not all of us gays are into fashion and Broadway, and girly shit. Some of us are big bearish dudes who laugh at our own burps and farts."

Don lifted a leg and ripped a huge fart. "Yeah!" the burly malamute exclaimed.

"Fuck yeah, bro! Blow that shit up!" Talon laughed.

"I like Ronnie's boyfriend, Kills!" Laughed Don.

As Talon chuckled, he heard a loud crash out in front of his house. It immediately got his attention.

"The fuck was that!?" Todd exclaimed.

Everyone ran around front to find a pickup truck smashed into Talon's big maple tree. An old square body Ford F150 sat smashed into the base of the trunk, with steam shooting out of the ruptured radiator.

"What the fuck? Oh wait... NO FUCKING WAY." Talon muttered.

The driver side door swung open and Talon watched as Ronnie Filton came falling out into the snow. The passenger door opened to the crinkle of metal to reveal Darryl.

"Oh boy..." Ronnie muttered.

"Look who fucking decided to show up! Hey look everybody! Here's my two best employees! Fuckin' Retard One and Retard Two!"

"Oh man my truck!" Uncle Ronnie exclaimed. "How could this have happened!?"

"I told you to take the turn slowly! But what did you do!?" Darryl yelled.

"Hey why are you yelling at me!"

"BECAUSE YOU ALMOST KILLED US!" Darryl screamed. "I said take it slow and you just gun it and put us into a spin and now look at this!"

"I thought I had the traction for it!"

"Traction!? You don't even have any tread left on these tires you fuckin' dolt!"

"Look at you! I'm a dolt? What about you?"

Talon stepped in and broke up the screaming match. "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Retards! Easy! Don't burn out that one brain cell between the two of you!"

Ronnie just covered his face and laughed with his friends. "This is what he has to deal with every day."

"Is there like something wrong with them?" Colt Janssen quipped.

"That's an understatement." Ronnie chuckled.

---

By nightfall, everyone returned back to Ronnie's home. Having brought presents, Ronnie and his friends all enjoyed their own Christmas together. They passed gifts out to each other, unwrapped them and joked about them. Little Colt got a bunch of new toys from Ronnie's friends, and he excitedly showed them off to his Dad, who looked happy for them. They all sat around on the floor, surrounded by their gifts, reflecting on the year.

"I appreciate my workplace allowing all of us to see each other more frequently than I imagined." Ronnie remarked. "I thought when I came here, I'd be lucky to see you guys just a few times a year."

"Luck sometimes works out." Killian nodded. "We were all worried about you when we couldn't find you after the fire. You just disappeared."

"That was my leap into fate." Ronnie recalled. "I had nothing left to lose."

"I bet that was scary." Todd remarked as he sipped at some eggnog.

"Yeah, it was. You fly to a completely unfamiliar town and you're literally at the mercy of someone who's just a stranger that offered you a job. But it really paid off. The gambit really paid dividends."

"We were all worried about you." Big Colt said calmly. "You know, when the band collapsed, all of us just moved on with our careers, but you got left in the dust."

"When you're the face of the band, you get all the shit." Ronnie shrugged. "But I survived. Just barely."

"Well it didn't help when our parents sued you..." Killian rolled his eyes. "God that still pisses me off."

Ronnie just shrugged.

"Here are my parents, two super wealthy bureaucrats, and they sue you for all that money." Killian laughed.

"Oh shit, hey did you give them the card, Kills?" Don asked.

"Oh fuck! No I didn't!" the big malamute exclaimed. He reached into his vest and pulled out a gold colored envelope with Ronnie's name on it. "We finally talked some sense into them, and they want you to have this."

"Another lawsuit?" Ronnie teased.

"Ha, no." Killian chuckled.

"We finally convinced Mom and Dad to let go of the grudge they had against you because of Eddy's death."

"Half a fuckin' decade." Ronnie muttered. He gently opened the envelope and pulled out a Christmas card with a family portrait of the whole Halen family. He opened it to suddenly find a check fluttering out, plus a handwritten note from their father, Cornelius "Neil" Halen.

"Dear Ron,

My sons have told me you've had quite a rough

year. The trials and tribulations of life. I want you

to have this as our Christmas present, and apology

to you. I was wrong to treat you so harshly after

Edward's passing in the crash. It wasn't your fault,

and I was wrong to pin the blame on you.

I hope you and Colt have a very Merry Christmas.

The Halens.

Neil, Hillary, Killian, Don."

Ronnie picked the check up, and found it was worth $2000. "Wow." He muttered.

"Dad's olive branch to ya." Don nodded.

"I have to write a card to him and you can give it to him when you get back."

As Ronnie put the check back into the card, he heard his cellphone ring. "Hold on a sec, guys."

Ronnie got up and sat the card on his desk. He picked up the phone to find a New Jersey number calling him. The Doberman had a hunch of who it could be. Excusing himself to the kitchen, Ronnie answered it.

"Hello."

"Ronnie? Hi, it's your Mom." Came the very tired sounding voice of Rhonda. "I'm at the hospital."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm okay. Mom got sick- really bad reaction to a change in her prescription. So I've been here all day. Sorry for calling you this late, if you can't talk, I understand."

"No, it's okay. It's fine."

"Look, I want to say I'm sorry for being so mean to you when you visited. I shouldn't have flipped out at you. And your uncle was kind of upset at me for that."

"It's fine." Ronnie assured. "I'm not upset."

"I kicked myself in the ass for that." Rhonda sighed. "I think this is life punishing me for fucking up all those years ago."

"Sometimes things go wrong, Mom." Ronnie assured her. "But please understand that I was upset too, because it had been nineteen years. You know after Dad died, it was just me and my son. That's it. I just finally got back in touch with Uncle Les, and I'd like to have a relationship with you too, Mom. But it felt so distant and cold."

"There's so much going on. Oh shit...the doctor is coming. Ronnie I'm sorry, I have to let you go."

"Is this your cell number?"

"Yes."

"Let's stay in touch, and when you can, just gimme a call. Okay?"

"Okay Ronnie."

"Mom, try and take care."

"I'll try."

"Have a good night, and good luck. Bye."

Ronnie ended the call and looked down at the floor with an introspective gaze. He ventured back to be with his son and friends as they all asked if everything was okay. Ronnie escaped from the stab of depression with the camaraderie of his friends.

---

Christmas Eve was quiet, as Ronnie spent the evening with his son, building a gingerbread house at the dinner table. They were passing the time before Talon and Emily would come to spent Christmas with them.

"I'm so excited, I'm so excited~" Colt smiled as he put candy buttons on the iced roof of the house. "I can't wait for Christmas!"

"Tomorrow, Colty." Chuckled Ronnie, who was happy to see his son all excited. "Don't rush it! Savor the special feeling of the holidays!"

"I wanna see what toys I'm getting!" grinned the young Dober. "Super excited!"

"I can see that!"

"I got a surprise for you!" Colt exclaimed. "I got a big surprise for you! Mister Matheson helped me with it!"

"Oh really! How nice of him." Ronnie remarked as he put a candy cane for part of the home's display.

"So I saw you speaking to Grandma today?"

"Yeah. Me and my Mom had a chat."

"How did that go, Dad?"

"Not bad. We had a nice conversation about stuff." Ronnie nodded. "Just trying to... bridge the gap after such a long time."

"Well I hope to one day meet Grandma, since I miss Grandpa..." Colty frowned.

"Yeah, I miss him too, Colty."

"I wish he didn't get sick..."

"Yeah, me too."

"Do you think I'll ever meet Grandma, Dad?"

"Oh someday. Grandma has a lot of issues right now in her life..." Ronnie remarked as he put the last bit of icing on his side of the roof. "Maybe when the time is right, we'll go see her again."

"I really liked Uncle Lester. I want to see him again too!" Colt giggled.

"One day." Smiled Ronnie.

Once they finished the gingerbread house, Ronnie took it over and sat it near the Christmas tree. All the wrapped presents sat on display, in colorful wrapping paper. After getting the kitchen cleaned up, Ronnie carried the trash bag out to throw away in the trashcan that sat near his back porch. As he stepped outside, bundled against the snow and cold, he saw his neighbor stepping outside as well.

"Hey Ronnie!" waved Greg.

"Oh hey, Merry Christmas eve!" Ronnie shouted. He stepped down from the porch and crunched through the snow to greet his neighbor. "How are things?"

"It's going." Laughed the older wolf. "I have a lil' something for you and your son if you give me a second!"

"Sure!"

Greg ran inside and soon came out with two envelopes for him, one red, and one green. "Merry Christmas neighbor of mine!"

"Aww, thank you!" Ronnie smiled. "I got something for you and Kathy and Mindy."

"We really appreciate it."

"I really appreciate you guys for babysitting Colt sometimes."

"Oh it's no issue at all. Him and Colby are just like two peas in a pod. Always easily entertained and never a problem."

"Good, good."

Ronnie heard the sound of a vehicle pulling up, and he turned around to see Rob's Tahoe pull up.

"Greg, I hate to run off, but I got company!"

"It's fine! Merry Christmas Ronnie!"

"Merry Christmas Greg!"

Waving goodbye, Ronnie ran over to greet Rob and his friend Maverick. He realized that he forgot about wanting them to come and videotape a Christmas message he had thought of. Ronnie helped carry some of their gear in as they set it up in his living room. Two small spotlights, and the tripod were erected, Rob placing the tripod rather low to the ground, as Ronnie planed on sitting by the tree with all the presents. For the camera, Rob installed his restored Ikegami ITC-735, a Saticon equipped industrial camera, which fed video by a cable into a BVU-150 deck that Mav was loading with a square U-Matic cassette. Rob flipped it on and waited for the tubes to warm up while Ronnie sat in his spot by the tree, rereading his notes. He was soon accompanied by Talon and Emily, who stood behind the camera and watched.

"Pour my heart and soul out~" laughed Ronnie as he tossed his notes aside.

"Can I do the countdown!" Colt asked with a grin. "Can I?"

"Sure~" Rob agreed as he made a final adjustment to the lens. Ronnie could watch on a small LCD monitor Rob's adjustments, as he got a defocused shot of the tree, which gave a colorful bokeh effect to introduce the scene. Ronnie scooted a microphone near him as he cleared his throat and fixed his long locks of hair.

Rob hit the VTR toggle and the tally lights glowed. "Ready whenever you are."

"Sure."

Colt started the countdown. "Okay! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Action Dad!"

"This has been a very wild year for me, capping a half-decade of what I call the 'lost years'." Ronnie remarked, his eyes locked to the lens as he tracked it. "Five years ago, our band was at the cusp of success. We were so close. But tragedy struck and I lost everything and more. For half a decade it felt like I couldn't catch a break. In those five years, I lost my band, my fortune, my grandfather, my girlfriend, and then my father. It was just me and my son, barely making ends meet. There were times I wanted to give up, but I couldn't, not for my little man, who is why I'm still here today. Now after all that, I look around at my new home and I feel ever more appreciative of what I have, thanks to the generosity of strangers who took me in when I had nothing left to lose after a fire claimed my apartment. I made it to Ohio with my son, with nothing but the clothes on our backs, aided by two complete strangers who happened to see me and my friends singing at Lincoln Park back home in Chicago. An act of kindness at a low point in my life, gave me a second chance.

It is why our band had decided to donate all proceeds of our Christmas album to charity. In less than a week, we have raised over a million and a half dollars for charitable groups that Viking Records has kindly donated to. We've sold almost a hundred thousand digital downloads to our fans and new listeners, and we at Hard Times are very appreciative of all of you. To those who've come up to see and asked for autographs and pictures, I am very thankful and happy to your compliments. We owe it to all of you for our comeback. And in the spirit of giving this time of year, when my butt was saved by someone's generosity, I feel it's time to return the favor.

In closing, I wish all of you a very happy holiday- a tremendous Merry Christmas, from the Samson family, to yours. God bless! Merry Christmas~"

Rob ended the shot by zooming back in and unfocusing the shot, which ended with the colorful bokeh of the tree. "And cut." Rob announced.

Talon gave Ronnie an applause with Colt. "Got Shakespeare here giving that monologue!"

"I don't think so, Talon!" laughed Ronnie. He got up and rubbed his knees. "I can't be on my knees like this all the time anymore! Getting old!"

"Heh, you do it for me~" grinned Talon. Ronnie covered his face with a paw and just laughed. "Oh you..." was his reply.

"I'll get this edited tonight and send you the digitized copy." Maverick said as he wrote information down on the label."

"Rob I appreciate it." Ronnie complimented, as Rob tore his camera down and packed it away in his rolling suitcase. "I really appreciate you and Varg for everything that you've done to help me."

"Just part of the job." Rob shrugged in a nonchalant way.

"You really saved me and my son." Ronnie remarked. "Just curious... why?"

"Rob looked up from what he was doing. "It's always safe to do what's right. That's why."

"Ah."

"Before I forget, I got a lil surprise for you tomorrow evening, so don't go anywhere, okay?"

"Sure~" Ronnie nodded, unsure what Rob had in store.

After packing their gear up, Rob and Maverick wished everyone a good night, as they departed. As nighttime fell, Ronnie and Talon spent the evening with their children, watching a Christmas movie together, before they all went to bed, ready to go for the big day tomorrow.

---

Emerging from his slumber, Ronnie's senses returned as he slowly awoke. He wanted to roll over, but felt something heavy on his chest. A groggy eye sprung open to see a big grin on Colt's face, staring right at him. Colt sat on his Dad, a big huge excited grin on his young little face. Both of Ronnie's blue eyes opened to stare at his son.

"Dad... do you know what time it is..."

"Time for your Dad to get five more minutes of snooze time~"

"Oh no... its present time!" Colt exclaimed. "Merry Christmas, Dad!"

"Daddy! Merry Christmas!" Emily yelled as he ran and jumped on a still asleep Talon.

"Oomph!" the big Dober exclaimed. "Emily! What are you doing?"

"Present time! Present time!"

"Yeah!" Colt exclaimed.

"Oh boy..." Talon chuckled. "It's six in the morning~"

"Perfect time to open presents!" Colt exclaimed.

Talon chuckled and let out an "ugh" as he rolled over in bed. "Youth have so much energy, Ronnie~"

"Yeah." He chuckled in return. "I'll put some coffee on."

"Good idea."

After getting some coffee, Ronnie and Talon sat down at the tree while their kids excitedly bounced around in anticipation. One by one, the parents doled out the gifts for their kids, and they furiously tore into the wrapping paper to squeal in joy at what they got. Emily got the dolls that she wanted, and a building block set, while Colt got action figures, some movies, and to his complete surprise, a Knex set. Ronnie told him about how he and his dad would build them together many years before, and it made Colt even more excited at his roller coaster Knex set.

After taking care of their kids, Ronnie and Talon exchanged presents. Talon got Ronnie a new pair of riding boots, and a red flannel jacket, while Ronnie surprised Talon with a new fancy grilling set, and to Talon's complete surprise, a new iPad.

"Oh my god, you didn't have to!" Talon exclaimed. "And what the hell, you got me the mobile POS components to for the landscaping business!"

"Merry Christmas stud~" Ronnie grinned.

"Come here!" Talon motioned as they shared an affectionate kiss. "You handsome stud you! I'm gonna have to do your landscaping as a thank you!"

"Heh, you can trim my bush~" Ronnie slyly grinned, as Talon smirked in return.

"Don't you tempt me!"

"Just saying!"

Ronnie put his arm around Talon and pulled him close. "I love you, that's why~"

Talon blushed a bit. "I love you too, Ronnie."

They shared another kiss, as Emily let out a cute "awwww!" at the sight.

"When I met you I knew you were something special." Talon chuckled with a loving smile on his face. "Mister tough biker with a heart of gold."

"Heh, Mister big ole country boy~"

"That's me!" Talon grinned.

"Thank you Talon!" Colt said happily as he gave Talon a hug.

Emily gave Ronnie a tight hug as well. "Thank you Ronnie!"

"Aww, it's no issue!" Ronnie exclaimed. They sat close together by the tree. "We're a wonderful family now, and I'm so excited to have you in my life."

"Whee!" Emily exclaimed.

"You're a perfect, sweet, lil' angel, and you make your Dad so proud, Colty~" Talon complimented. "You're a son from another parental set!"

"Yeah!" Colt exclaimed with a big grin.

"Why don't we get some breakfast going, and we'll start playing with these toys?" Ronnie suggested.

---

By Christmas night, Ronnie was pretty worn out from the day. As the Christmas tree glowed warmly in the living room, Ronnie laid on the floor, helping Colt put together his Knex roller coaster, just as his father had done when he was Colt's age. Talon played with Emily and her dolls while a Christmas movie played on the TV.

During the day, Ronnie hung out with Talon's family, and spent the afternoon with his friends. He got more presents from Talon's family, who bought him some clothes and gave him gift cards to various restaurants and stores. His friends gave him even more gift cards. Rob gifted Ronnie some more analog gear; a three-quarter inch BVU-150 tape deck, and two cameras, a 1981 HL-79D, and a 1986 ITC-730A industrial broadcast camera, complete with a set of spare pickup tubes, plus some cables, batteries, and microphones for them. Ronnie could further grow his analog collection. But he was still curious to what Rob's "surprise" was. The clock was almost seven o'clock in the evening.

"So you and Grandpa used to build these?" Colt asked.

"Oh yeah. Me and Dad had a blast." Ronnie recalled as he snapped together another piece. "We'd laugh and have a good time. I had a roller coaster like this, a Ferris wheel, and I'd just have a blast putting them together and running them."

"Cool!"

"I think this one's coming along real well!" Ronnie laughed as he looked at the instruction booklet. Soon Talon and Emily came over to help them.

"So what do you think kids? Did ya'll have a nice Christmas?" Talon asked.

"Yeah!" Colt and Emily exclaimed.

"Great." Ronnie smiled. "I'm so happy."

There was a knock at the door that got Talon's attention. "I got it, Ronnie!"

"Okay!"

Talon waltzed over and opened the door. Ronnie glanced up to see Talon look momentarily surprised. "Hey Ronnie! Come here! Your surprise is here?"

"Oh?"

Ronnie got up and walked over to suddenly stare at all his friends from Chicago, their wives and kids, and Uncle Lester and his wife and two kids, all under the bright glare of a floodlight from Rob's video camera capturing everything. Uncle Lester and his wife Martha held some presents for him and Colt.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" everyone grinned.

"Oh my god! This is the surprise" Ronnie shouted.

"Merry Christmas, Ron." Rob said behind the camera.

Ronnie realized that Rob's "surprise" was flying his friends and family in from abroad to spend the evening with him. The Doberman momentarily felt so overwhelmed by their presence.

"Hey Ronnie..."

Ronnie looked straight ahead to see his Mom emerge from the crowd of people. Bundled up against the cold, a tired but happy looking Rhonda stood, a smile forming on her face as she gazed at her son. She held a small gift bag in her grip. Ronnie stepped off from his front door and immediately ran over to hug his Mom. There were no words between them as they hugged each other tightly for the first time in nineteen years. Ronnie felt the world grow muffled and quiet as he held his Mom tightly in those blissful moments.

"Merry Christmas, Ron."

"Merry Christmas, Mom."

"Hey, why don't we all come inside from the cold?" Talon suggested. "There's plenty of room for everyone!"

"We brought our music gear too for an impromptu concert!" Don exclaimed.

"My house is gonna burst at the seams!" Ronnie laughed. "Come on in everyone!"

Ronnie held the door open as he and Talon ushered everyone inside. A look of excitement was on his face as he watched his Mom, and his uncle come onside with all his friends. He remarked about not having any snacks or anything for them, as they all conversed and mingled. Ronnie closed the door behind him, feeling like he got the best Christmas present ever.

The best saved for last.

---

Epilogue:

An impromptu dance party filled the living room as Ronnie and his friends all jammed to some of their music. Rhonda, despite having her mother in the hospital, looked exhausted but happy as she clapped along to Ronnie singing the song that got them almost famous, a cover of Little Caesar's "Hard Times", the song that gave them their name. The mood in the living room was energetic. All the kids danced along as they jammed away.

Ronnie finished the song and struck a pose as he got a standing ovation from his family. He pushed some sweaty locks of hair out of his face and just smiled.

"I remember the first time I heard him sing." Rhonda recalled to everyone. "Ronnie could give angels wings by his voice! That's what his father told everyone. We all knew he could make it big with his voice! Especially when you won the talent show in fifth grade!"

"Me, a microphone, and my acoustic~" Ronnie chuckled to his Mom.

"Oh my god, can you play that song again? What was it... it was a Ritchie Valens song! What was it..."

"Come on, Let's go." Ronnie recalled. "Do you want me to play it, Mom?"

"Sure!"

"Heh, sure." Ronnie agreed. He accepted Killian's guitar as he threw the strap around him. "Jesus Christ, you got a big enough strap?"

"I got a big chest~" Killian chuckled as he patted his chest.

"I can see that!" Ronnie laughed as he tweaked a setting on his amp.

"I like these oldies tunes, Ron!" Greg exclaimed from the couch. "Let's hear what you got!"

"Sure!"

Ronnie checked the sound of the amp, and started playing. Everyone started to dance as Ronnie played his rendition of "Come on, Let's Go."

"Well, come on, let's go, let's go, let's go, little darlin'

And tell me that you're never leaving

Come on, come on, let's go

Again, again and again

Well, now, swing me, swing me all the way down there

Come on, let's go, little darlin'

Let's go, let's go again once more"

As he sang, he saw how happy his Mom looked. It was a respite from all the stress of dealing with his sick grandmother. Their relationship still had issues to resolve, but he was hopeful. She was hopeful for the future. They both agreed that they would still have to iron out some of the pain in their hearts, but they wanted to be in each other's lives again. Ronnie vowed to financially help her as best he could. As his eyes scanned the room, he saw how happy everyone was. His friends danced with his boyfriend and neighbors, and Colt and all his friends danced along to the happy fifties song. Ronnie felt happy at what he was seeing.

At this time last year, it was another bleak Christmas with no money. Never in his wildest imagination that he would, a year later, have his band back, his bank account full of money, a job he truly loved, find love again, be more open about his bisexuality, and now have his family back in his life. This was all because of that fateful leap into the unknown when he had nothing left to lose that night. Like a phoenix, Ronnie rose from the ashes of 2017's plane crash, and the ashes of his burned down apartment. He fulfilled his dream of giving his son the best Christmas ever. By how excited Colt looked, dancing away, he knew he fulfilled it perfectly. It really was a perfect Christmas, beyond expectation.

Ronnie smiled at everyone as he jammed away on Killian's Gibson. He knew his father and grandfather would be proud.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go, little darlin'

They're dancing and we belong here

Come on, come on, let's go

Again, again, and again, and again

Again, again, and again, and again

Again, again, and again, and again

Again, again, and again, and again..."

---

"Merry Christmas."