It almost scared the life out of me.

I couldn't remember what I was doing, but I remember falling.  It took most of forever to hit the ground, and then the lights went out.

When I opened my eyes, I was lying on my back in the snow, and light snow was falling on my face.  Several people were yelling, but I couldn't quite make out what they were saying.

Out of nowhere, the evening sky was blotted out by the biggest man I have ever seen.  In spite of the chill and the snow, he was wearing a t-shirt, and steam was pouring off of his head like he was on fire.

"You okay, dude?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned.  I mutely stared at him long enough for him to add, "Come on man, quit fucking around."

Off to the side, the sharpest female voice I have ever heard yelled, "Anthony Marcus Speckman, we got plans for the night!  If you hurt yourself, I'm gonna break your freaking leg!"

Her proclamation was followed by a bunch of howling and catcalls.  A whole crew of guys yelled their encouragement and jibes at Anthony, whoever he was.  I knew she wasn't talking to me - my name is John.

The big guy looked down at me in growing concern.

"Dude, seriously, are you okay?" he asked.  He reached a giant paw down and took a football out of my hands.  I didn't even know I was holding it.  His face pinched as a thought occurred to him, and he asked, "Dude, what day is it?"

"Thursday?" I ventured.  My voice sounded funny to me.

"It's fucking Saturday, dumbass," he scoffed, but then a giant smile broke across his face.  The giant paw snatched the front of my shirt and he easily pulled me to my feet.  "He's fine, Angie!" he yelled as he continued to grin at me.

My eyes scanned the area.  There were just over a dozen guys, with ages ranging from mid-teens to early forties, all wearing cleated shoes and sweat clothes.  They had obviously been playing a pick-up game of football.  I could feel the heat pouring off my body, so it seemed obvious that I had been playing as well.

That was all well and good, except I didn't remember playing evening football in the snow.  I didn't recognize a single one of the players.  I had never seen that park before in my life, and I didn't recognize the city that spread out around us.  I nearly started to shiver as panic built up inside of me.

There was a small crowd watching the game.  A stunningly beautiful woman wearing knee-high boots and a fur-lined coat broke free of the crowd and walked onto the field.

Her voice was just as sharp as before when she said, "It's getting too dark to play any more tonight.  It's time to call it a night before someone actually gets hurt."

She saw me gawking at her as she walked up to me and she sharply asked, "What?"

I couldn't stop myself from answering, "You're really beautiful!"

A smile broke across her face, changing her austere beauty into radiant perfection.

"Thank you, baby," she preened.  The smile disappeared as quickly as it formed as she frowned at me.  "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.

I knew I couldn't lie to her, but I knew I couldn't tell the truth either.

"I'm not hurt, but I'm not feeling myself," I answered.

It tore at my soul to see her look disappointed at my answer.  She gently shook her head as she stepped close.  She put one hand on my chest as she looked up at me, while the other slid around my back so she could hold herself close to me.

"You promised you guys wouldn't run this late, Anthony.  Please don't ruin my plans for our anniversary."

I shook my head as I tried to figure out how to keep this from going from bad to worse.  I had no idea who this woman was, or what plan she had, but I knew in my heart that I was going to do whatever I could to make her happy.

The big man saved me from having to answer.  He landed a slow punch to my shoulder as he said, "Take him home, Angie.  He got plenty of time to shower and take you out.  I'll see ya Monday, Tony."

I mumbled a good-bye at him as he walked away.  The gorgeous woman continued to watch my eyes with concern.

"Come on," she grumbled, and she turned and walked to the edge of the field.  I followed and watched as she stuffed the football and a sweatshirt into a canvas bag.  When she turned to follow the others out of the park, I gently took the bag from her and slung it over my shoulder.  She gave me a puzzled look, and she continued to give me worried glances as we left the field.

I had no idea where we were going.  We were following everyone else, so when they went out the gate and crossed the street, I moved to follow them.

"Anthony?" the woman asked from the sidewalk behind me.  I turned to look back at her, and she glanced up the sidewalk in the opposite direction of the others.  She looked very concerned as I walked back to her and joined her to walk in that direction.

We walked in silence for three blocks.  At the next corner, she slowed to see which way I would go.  I slowed with her.

"Talk to me, Tony," she said in a worried voice.  She shook her head and said, "Anthony".

I almost laughed.  I almost told her to call me "John". I couldn't imagine where that conversation would lead.

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" she asked.  "You look very lost right now, and that's not you.  And when haven't you made me carry your gear?"

"I think my head is fine," I managed to answer.  She waited for more, so I added, "Something's not right, and I don't know how to try to explain it."

Her look wavered between concern and anger.

"I will not spend my anniversary in an Emergency Room," she grumbled.  "Let's go inside so I can see what you did."

She grabbed my arm and pulled me back across the courtyard behind us to the entry of an apartment building.  She pushed me past a staircase to an elevator.  Her eyes were watching me sharply as she stabbed the button for the sixth floor.  After watching me intently for a moment or two, she sighed loudly and pushed the fourth-floor button.  The only answer I had for her raised eyebrows was a slight shrug.

As she stared at me, she took a long deep breath in through her nose.  Oddly, her eyes lost focus and slowly closed as she leaned closer to me.  As she started to exhale, she quietly said, "Damn you."

Whatever I had done, I needed to find a way to fix it for her.

"What?" I asked gently.

Her eyes opened to look at mine, then drifted down to my chest.

"We should have taken the stairs," she said softly.  I gave her another slight shrug, and she asked, "Why is it that when you come home from the gym, you smell like stinky socks, but after I watch you work up a sweat, you smell like my own personal Adonis?  I would swim in that smell if you'd let me."

I couldn't think of any reason to stop her, so I dropped my shoulder and lifted my chin to offer her my neck.

Her eyes flared in absolute surprise.  "Really?" she gasped.

I couldn't believe the amount of lust I saw in her eyes.  With a half smile, I slid a hand to her shoulder to pull her closer.

She moaned in delirious pleasure as she pressed her face to my neck and inhaled deeply.  A surge of lust shot to my groin as I pulled her closer.  She moaned louder, and then started kissing and biting me.  She pulled me down and suddenly she was kissing my lips.  She moaned yet again as my hard cock pressed against her hip.  Her hand shot down to caress the hardness.

"Oh, Tony, what game are you playing?" she gasped.  She gave her head a quick shake and then corrected herself with a quiet "Anthony."

A bell chimed and the elevator door opened.  I still couldn't answer her.

A smile broke across her face as she pulled me out into the hallway.  She walked backwards as she pulled me down the hallway with her eyes locked on mine.

"Is this your gift to me, Anthony?  Are you going to let me lead?  Do we get to do anything I want?"

I had no idea what she wanted.  That's not true.  I had a really good idea what she wanted.  All I could think was that I wanted her to kiss me like that again.  I was pretty sure she wanted that too.

"Anything you want," I was able to answer.

I knew I had made the right choice when she gasped, "Oh, Anthony!" and then kissed me again.

She broke from the kiss long enough to thrust a key into a lock and open a door.  She pulled me inside and knocked the equipment bag from my hand as she smeared her face against my chest and then licked and bit my neck on the other side.

"Dammit, we're not going to have time for this," she groused.  "Bathroom, shower," she commanded as she struggled to turn my face into another kiss and pull my shirt off at the same time.  There was a hallway across the room, and I assumed the bathroom was that direction.  I let her walk us that way as we continued to kiss.

I knew that things were beyond my control.  I knew that I should have slowed her down and tried to explain.  Her tiny firm breasts pressed into my chest and I knew I wasn't going to stop her.  I wondered when my hands had pulled her top off, but I didn't stop them from working at her jeans while she teased my sweatpants off.

We were both naked by the time she turned us into the bathroom.  She didn't break our kissing as she turned on the water.  When she did break the kiss, it seemed very abrupt.  She took a half step back and gave me a sharp look.

"Anything I want?  You'll go twice?" she asked expectantly.

I needed her lips back on mine, and her body against mine.

"Anything," I confirmed, "Yes."

Her eyes rolled back in orgasmic bliss, and I knew she would be kissing me again.  With a tortured groan of pleasure, she almost collapsed as she dropped to her knees in front of me.  I almost caught her to pull her back to her feet to kiss me again.
That thought was lost when she grabbed my cock and pulled it into her mouth.  We both groaned as she swirled her tongue around it and then she swallowed me deeply.

Her head bobbed quickly up and down, and I couldn't stop from slipping both hands into her hair and grasping her tightly.  Her eyes flashed a warning at me, but the look turned to surprised pleasure as I used my grip to force my way deeper.  She let me force my way in deep for a few strokes, and then I let her push back to breathe.

"Oh, Tony," she moaned, and again quickly added, "Anthony!"

I didn't care what she called me.  I wanted to see that look in her eyes again.  I tightened my grip.  She lunged forward and pulled my cock in even deeper than before.  Her eyes were full of pleasure as they demanded more.

I gave her several deep thrusts, let her breathe, and then took several more.  Her eyes demanded even more still, but before I could ask what she wanted, my borrowed body let me down by suddenly surging to fill her mouth.

Her eyes rolled back in her head again, and she gurgled and swallowed and moaned in absolute pleasure.  Seeing her pleasure, I couldn't stop from thrusting harder to ride out the orgasm.  She continued to moan in pleasure as she swallowed every drop.

As my orgasm ended, she let my cock pop out of her mouth, and she smiled up at me.  I quickly pulled her to her feet and into my arms.  On one hand, I didn't want to taste what she had just swallowed.  On the other hand, she had swallowed, and I was eager to feel her lips on mine again.  I pulled her close to kiss her again.

She resisted for a moment.

"Anthony, say the words, please," she begged.

I tried not to stare at her for too long.  "Words?" I worried.

"Tell me you want me," she begged.  "Tell me you'll always want me!"

Those were words I could say.  "Yes, I want you," I started to answer.

"No, say my name," she interrupted.

Luckily, it didn't take me long to remember.

"Angie, I want you," I started again.

"No!" she interrupted sharply.  "My proper name."

I swallowed.  Her lips were so close, so warm, and one mistake here would take them from me forever.  I was fairly certain this was just some intensely surreal fantasy, but I didn't want it to end.  I didn't want to think about my real life.  There was too much sadness in my real life.  In this moment, she was real and I was here and I needed her lips, her warmth, her lust.  It was all too good to be true, and I knew I was about to lose it.

"I understand why you won't say you love me," she nearly cried, "but why is it so hard to call me Angela?"

Her forehead hit my shoulder and tears poured down my chest.  I knew we were done, and I had failed her.

"Angela, I'm sorry," I said softly into her ear.

A bolt of lightning shot through her and her head popped up.  "What?" she cried.

Her eyes were boring into my soul, and I could feel the precipice of doom open up in front of me.  I knew that I had doubly failed.  I knew that she would hate me for the rest of forever.  My jaw worked as I tried to repeat the words, but the hardness in her eyes trapped the words in my throat.

"Say it again," she commanded quietly.

My eyes fell from hers, which was a mistake.  I could only stare at her beautiful body as I took a deep breath.  I managed to pull my eyes away from gawking at the hard nipples on her tiny breasts, and I finally managed to speak.

"I'm sorry, Angela," I repeated, barely louder than a whisper.

She lifted my chin to stare into my eyes.

"You promised to give me anything I want," she firmly reminded me.  I nodded.  Her eyes tightened.  "Then tell me, who are you? And how did you get in my husband's body?"

I tried to look away, but she wouldn't let me.  I sighed, and then tried to confess.

"You wouldn't believe me, and I don't know," I answered.

Her hard look drifted towards becoming a glare.  Suddenly, she noticed the steam pouring out of the shower.  Inexplicably, her look softened and she pulled me in under the streaming water.  She made me turn once to rinse off, and then she started rubbing soap over my body.

"I've known Tony all of my life," she informed me, and then she quickly corrected herself, adding, "Anthony."  

After a short pause, she said, "There are three things that Anthony would never do.  One, promise to give me control, two, say he's sorry, and three, say that he loves me.  I will personally kill you if you ever do the third.  I don't know what happened at the park, but you are not Anthony.  Who are you?"

I tried to think of a logical way to tell her what I could remember.  Her hands continued to lather up my body, and I couldn't help but notice that she was enjoying touching it.  She was caressing as much as she was cleaning, and from her body language and her words, it almost seemed like she might listen if I told the truth.

"My name is John," I said, although I had no idea yet where to go from there.  She tensed up for a moment, but then seemed to force herself to relax.  A rush of words tumbled out of my mouth, and I couldn't stop myself.

"I have no idea how I got here," I said.  "I somewhat remember falling, but not here, at the park, and I can't remember where.  I didn't even know I was holding a football until that big guy took it away.  I didn't recognize any of those people, and I've never seen that park, and I can't remember where I live but I don't live in a city.  I'm sorry that I don't know you, and I'm sorry that I let things end up here, but this whole thing is crazy and you're so beautiful, and I didn't know what else to do."

A half smile softened her face as she pushed me to turn and rinse off.  She pressed her body into mine as she reached around and turned off the water.

"That's your story?" she almost laughed.  She was almost going to tease me, but her body felt my body respond her the way she was pressed up against me.  Her hand cupped my growing hardness as she asked, "Even though you don't remember me, you'll do anything I ask because I'm beautiful?"

"How can I refuse to please you?" I asked in a playful tone.

Her eyes fractionally hardened.  "How, indeed?" she asked.  Then her smile returned and she pulled me out of the shower.

She seemed to pause to see what I would do.  I had no idea what she wanted, so I grabbed a towel and started drying her skin.  Her eyes closed in pleasure and she let me pamper her body.  After a bit, she gave me a dreamy look as she took the towel from me and dried my skin.  She dropped the towel on the floor and pulled me out the door and down the hallway to a bedroom.

She gave me a piercing look to freeze me in place as she reached for the telephone handset by the bed.  I was a little surprised to see that they had a landline.  I hadn't seen an old-school handset like that in years.  It wasn't even wireless.  She quickly dialed a number.  For some reason, it made me feel nostalgic to hear the tones as she pressed the buttons.

Her conversation was short.  She apologized to the other person and then canceled a reservation.  I could barely hear the other person, but they seemed concerned.  She smiled and promised them that everything was okay, and she promised to explain later.  The other person seemed to accept that answer, and they said their goodbyes.

She gave me a sharp look and a smile.

"I hope you know what you're doing," she proclaimed.  "My sister had to pull some strings to get us those seats, and we're still going to owe her, big time."

"I've told you that I don't know at all what's happening," I reminded her.  "All I can hope to do is please you."

"We'll see about that," she said.  

She slid her body against mine as she almost kissed me.  She used her body to turn mine, and then she pulled me along as she moved backwards onto the bed.  Her eyes demanded that I follow.  They demanded that I catch up with her and give her the kiss that she had denied me.  I eagerly moved to comply.

"Taste me," she murmured just before my lips met hers.

I was prepared to ravenously do more than taste her.  She eagerly met my questing tongue, but her hand caught my hardness and prevented me from plunging inside her.  She held my shaft as we kissed until we were breathless.

Her eyes were closed when I pushed away.  She smiled as she caught my head and she pulled my lips to her neck and shoulder.

"Taste me," she commanded in a soft, breathy tone.

She released my shaft as I slid down and devoured her silky flesh.  She moaned and turned from side to side as she fed me both shoulders.  Her eyes were still closed as she pushed me lower still.

"A quick taste," she teased as she pushed me to her breasts.

Her breasts were quite small, with rock hard nipples.  Her body trembled as I caught each of her nipples with my teeth and teased them.  She tried to push me lower, but I insisted on devouring her ribs and the beautiful curves leading up between her breasts.  She smiled and let me play.  Then she pushed me at my shoulders again.

"Taste me," she moaned as I reached her navel.

I used far more teeth than I had used on her breasts and neck as I nibbled out to each of her hips.  She squirmed as I made a game of trying to tease her skin to nearly tickle her.  When it got to be too much, she pushed at my forehead to lift my teeth from her skin.  Her smile was naughty and demanding as she pushed me lower.

With my eyes locked on hers, I reached out with my tongue, but then pulled it back.

"Say it," I teased.

She flexed her body, lifting her hips and using her heels to pull me in.

"You promised to please me," she reminded me.

I wagged my tongue without making contact.

"Say it," I repeated.

She flexed again.

"That means more than just a token swipe," she persisted.

I raised my eyebrows and waited.

"Taste me," she commanded, and then she squealed in delight as my tongue plunged between her lower lips.

In the back of my mind, I wondered what Tony's problem was.  Her flavors were the perfect mix of fresh and sweet and savory.  The flavors seemed to change with each swipe of my tongue as her body produced more and more.  The smile quickly left her face as she was overwhelmed by the pleasures I was giving her.  I could tell that she wanted to close her eyes and fall back onto the bed, but she couldn't look away either.

I made a show of lapping slow and deep up the length of her channel, and then racing up the left and down the right with quick fluttering jabs.  I smiled at her with my eyes as I wiggled my tongue as deep inside her as I could.  I winked at her as I turned and used my teeth to gently nibble my way from side to side.  I let the nibbling continue right up to her clit, and she exploded into her orgasm when I caught her clit with my tongue.

The flavors that poured from inside of her became potent, but not overpowering.  My tongue had to race up and down to capture her flavors and continue to tease her clit.  She spurred me on as her body shook.

Suddenly she gasped loudly, so I slowed down to see what was worrying her.  With an intense look on her face, she partially sat and she pulled me forward.

"Don't even," she demanded as she pulled me forward into an aggressive kiss.  I had no idea what her warning meant.

I met her aggression with strength, but I let her pull my body over hers as she fell back onto the bed.  My cock instinctively reached for her burning wetness, and I struggled to keep from slamming inside of her.  As I fell on top of her, my hardness was trapped against her lips.  She seemed oblivious as she kissed and licked and moaned in pleasure.

Her kisses slowed as she allowed herself to enjoy our kissing.  I luxuriated in her tenderness as we shared our lips.  She seemed to take great pleasure in licking her own flavors from my face.  I tried to feel satisfied with what we were sharing, even though my body was trembling with the need to be inside her.

She noticed my trembling, and she pushed me away so she could see my face.  There was a look of astonished wonder on her face.

"Never in a million years," she said breathily.  A soft smile spread on her lips, and she tasted them.  She took a deep breath, and then softly said, "Fuck me.  Slowly."

She smiled at the way my body trembled as I lifted my hips.  It took two gentle probes to find her sweet spot, and then I slowly pressed forward until I was deep inside her.  Her heat and tightness were nearly enough to make me cum prematurely, but I managed to fight it off.  She recognized the struggle for what it was, and she was pleased when I was able to continue.  We moved together in long, slow strokes, and she kissed me with long slow kisses.

She ran her hands up and down my body.  Her fingers stopped to enjoy the strength of the flexing muscles at my hips, my back, and my shoulders.  Her hands slid down to squeeze my ass and she started to thrust faster.  Her insides began to flutter as her arousal grew.  My borrowed body let me down again, and suddenly I was filling her.

I tried to pull back to apologize, but she sighed her acceptance and pulled me closer for another kiss.  Her body continued to tremble as mine pulsed and slowly finished.  She took a deep breath and started to relax.

I pushed back to look at her, and I was devastated by the look on her face.  She couldn't possibly have been satisfied, but she looked resolved to accept that we were finished.  Maybe Tony would have been finished, but I certainly wasn't going to stop short.  I reached up and gently caressed her cheek.

"We're not finished," I said gently.  Her eyes popped open in surprise.

"It's okay, Tony," she started to say, but I interrupted her.

"Anthony might be good with leaving you short, but I'll have none of that!"

She looked surprised, but a smile spread across her face as I started to kiss and caress her body again.  She seemed delighted that I moved my lips to her breasts.  She eagerly spread her legs when my hand ventured down to caress between them.

"Never quit, like John Elway," she teased.  "Is that who you want to be?"

"I am who I am," I laughed and she pulled my face up to kiss me.  As I returned to her breasts, I said, "If we're going to pretend to be championship quarterbacks, I'd go with Favre or Rogers, although they're all three good."

She looked startled by my words, but our distraction was sidetracked when my fingers pressed into the sloppy wetness between her legs.  She was still quite turned on, and it didn't take me long to give her a nice little orgasm.  She trembled, and then pulled me up to a kiss, and then she started to relax.

"I know Coach Reeves has high hopes, but I don't think Elway will be starting any more games this year," she said.

I paused for a moment as I tried to remember our conversation and then to make her comment make sense.  I sort of shook my head to push that conversation aside.  Her orgasm had been nice, but it wasn't half of what she deserved.  I wasn't going to stop until I had pleased her as well as I possibly could.  I was also hoping that my borrowed body would wake up for another round.

A funny thing happened when her comment triggered some memories in my brain.  I wasn't really sure what John Elway was up to lately, and I had no clue if he had a son that was playing football.  It was funny that any modern team would have a coach/player combination like Reeves and Elway.  I made a funny comment to that extent.

Then I had to make a snide comment about the original combination.  I am a much bigger fan of the Green Bay Packers.  I nearly hated the Broncos for beating the Packers in Superbowl XXXII, and for knocking the Packers out of the playoffs for several years in a row after that.  Somehow, my mouth managed to babble on and on about my recollections of football in the Elway era.

Luckily, my hands and lips and body were able to completely ignore that dialog as I teased her body through another series of orgasms.  Each of her orgasms was more intense than the last, and I knew if I kept it up, eventually, she was going to have a big one.

Angela barely said anything through it all.  When she finally did speak, it nearly crashed us back to square one.

I think I was babbling about the '85 Bears and the how they compared to the Bears team that lost Superbowl XLI.  I couldn't remember what the more recent season's win/loss record was, but I remember my Packers beat them.

"I wish I had my phone so I could google it," I said in a self-mocking tone.

She had just finished an orgasm.  She barely found the energy to ask, "Who would you call?  And what's a google?"

"I hate iPhone people," I teased.  "Google is like Siri for poor people."

For a few minutes, I made fun of iPhone versus Android, and then I started a funny monologue about what kind of cell phone John Elway probably had back in the day.  I even went so far as to joke about whether or not the types of cell phones that were popular over the years had any effect on the game of football.

Once again, as my mouth was babbling, the rest of me was intent on pleasing her.  I think the rest of my body decided to kick my mouth in the butt, because Angela seemed to have reached a plateau, and it wasn't at all what I owed her.  She seemed more interested in the words I was saying than the pleasure I was giving.

I realized what I needed to do, but it was something I had been avoiding.  Although I love all the flavors of a woman, and there is no part of her body that I wouldn't tease to please her, I was not thrilled to taste my own flavors inside her.  My brain made the command decision that Angela had had enough orgasms to wash out my flavors, and I shut my mouth up by forcing it down between her legs.

Angela gasped out a quiet 'Oh', and I was pretty sure I had her.  I needed to be positive.  I slipped a couple of fingers inside her, and started teasing towards her g-spot.

It didn't take long to make her cum again, and when she did, it was intensely strong.  She cried out as sweet flavors gushed from inside her to soak my face and fill my mouth.  She tasted so good that when she tried to pull me up to kiss and taste for herself, I almost resisted to stay and make her cum again.

What made me give in and let her pull my face to hers was the fact that my borrowed body had finally woken up, and I was finally hard again.  I plunged into her, and she cried out in joy.  I let her kiss me for a moment or two, but then I pushed back to move up onto my knees.  She seemed annoyed that I had pulled away, but when my cock started raking across her g-spot, she realized what I had in mind.

Her eyes went wide in wonder as her next orgasm quickly built up and exploded.  I was able to thrust into her a couple more times before she pulled me down into a searing kiss.  Heat was gushing from inside her and her upper and lower lips made insistent demands.  I couldn't hold back and I growled as I pumped everything that I had into her.  She cried out again and pulled me down to bury her face against my neck.

"Tony, John, whoever the fuck you are, tell me you love me," she sobbed.

"Angela, darling, I wish you were truly mine," I answered.  "I wish you were mine to love."

Even as I spoke, all of the energy seemed to drain out of me, and I collapsed to hold her close.  My mind drifted as I held her, and I knew something was wrong.  Suddenly, I knew I was going to fail again.

I tried to shake myself awake for her.  The darkness seemed to hold me.

I tried to take a deep breath, to wake up.  My lungs seemed to resist.  There was pain in my back and shoulders.  It started to fade, but I still couldn't breathe.  With a sudden gasp, my lungs opened up, and I drew in a deep shuddering breath.

A strange feeling ran through my body, and I suddenly realized I was laying on my back.  My eyes were open and fluttering, but for a moment they didn't want to see.  My vision cleared, and oddly, I was staring up at street lamps and clouds.

A husky woman's voice said, "Please mister, please, tell me you're a'right."

I took another deep breath, and I almost laughed.  A very large black woman was leaning over me with a very worried look on her face.  I don't want to sound racist, but I don't think there are any black people living in my small Wisconsin town.  I had to wonder where the hell I ended up now.  I half expected to find a football in my hands.

"Do I know you?" I had to ask.  My voice sounded normal, if a bit shaky.

"I don' tink so," she answered.  "My boys an' I are just up vis'tin' from Chicago."  

She half pointed off to the side.  My eyes followed and I saw a pair of teenaged boys who looked scared as hell, and then it all came rushing back to me.  I was in the parking lot at the grocery store.  I remembered hearing a shout, and turning to see the bigger of the boys pointing and looking scared.  I remember turning the other way to see the blur of a snowball flying at my face at Mach speeds.  I remember there had been no time to duck.

Right on the heels of that came the rest of it.  The pain of the last two lonely years crushed down on me anew, and I couldn't breathe.  The speed of the events that ended my wife's life pushed me down into the cold snow with the realization that cancer and a quick death could happen to any of us.  The additional loss of the woman I had known only in a flash of imagined time when I hit the ground made it unbearable.

The large woman leaned forward over me.  She saw the pain wash over me, and her eyes expanded with worry.  I struggled to take a deep breath so I could lock the pains away again.

Suddenly, a very sharp voice said, "Maybe you should back off and give him some room to breathe!"

The large woman stepped back.  My eyes tracked over to the new woman, and my heart practically stopped in my chest.  I wasn't able to speak, but I couldn't stop from mouthing the word, "Angela".

The new woman pulled up short as she saw the recognition in my eyes.  She gave me a puzzled look.

"Should I know you?" she asked.  Her chin lifted as she tried to place me.  "Angela is my mother," she added.

It took me a moment to see it.  Her cheeks were wider, and her hair was a shade darker, but she was nearly a twin to the woman I had imagined.  There was no way that the Angela I knew was her mother, because they were both in their mid-thirties.  I remembered how Angela's stark beauty had turned to radiance when she smiled, and I could see the same beauty in this woman.  It made me smile.

"What?" she asked.

I couldn't stop myself from answering, "You're really beautiful!"

A smile broke across her face, and the radiance I was expecting came shining out for about half a second.  Then a surprised look came over her face as she gasped.

"When?" she gasped.  "When did you see her?  Was it just now?"

All I could do was nod.  A thousand questions got jammed up in my head, and I couldn't begin to ask any of them.  The large woman just stared at us, with her head swinging from side to side to see which of us would speak next.  The other woman seemed to have just as many thoughts racing in her mind, and her jaw worked as she tried to speak.

Luckily, we were saved by the arrival of an ambulance.  This caused several disruptions.  First, of course, they wanted to make sure I wasn't hurt.  I was able to get to my feet, if a bit unsteadily, and I tried to convince them I was fine.  After a few minor tests, they conceded that I was probably not going to die.  

Unfortunately, our small town's rescue force is mostly volunteers, and my daughter is one of them.  She accepted the findings of the more experienced technician, but she insisted that I should still go see a real doctor.  She and I bickered like a good father and daughter should, and in the end, I agreed to let her drive me to the ER in my car.

With that mostly settled, our small town police officer wanted statements to see if charges needed to be pressed.  I was able to ask the boys if it had truly been an accident, and they apologized for throwing the snowball.  I accepted, and then convinced the officer that the boys were just having fun, and they weren't paying enough attention to their surroundings.  The mother gave me a hug, and I promised to let her know when the doctor cleared me.

When all of that cleared up and my daughter started insisting that we leave, I was sad to see that the woman who claimed to be Angela's daughter was nowhere to be seen.  I don't know why I expected her to stay, but truth be told, I wished that she had.

At the hospital, my daughter told the doctor about how she had been on a call the month before for an eighty-year-old man for a fall.  They had transported the man, but he had died from a brain hemorrhage hours later.  The doctor promised my daughter that most fifty-year-old men don't have that problem, yet he scheduled a CAT scan.  

An hour later, I drove as we left the hospital.  I made my daughter call the boys’ mother and let her know that I was fine.  I dropped my daughter off at her house, and then went home to my empty house.  Only then did I remember that I had been going to the store to get food because there wasn't anything I wanted to eat in the house.  I skipped dinner, contemplated getting drunk, and then decided to simply go to bed.