Looking back, I would say that I reached an all time emotional low just before Christmas of 2015. I'll try not to drag you too far down towards where I was, but it's important to know where I started from.

A couple years earlier, I had been enjoying life. The kids were growing into adulthood, with one about to get married, and the other about to graduate college. Another promotion at work put me in a good place to handle the financing of both kids' goals. My wife and I had a great, loving relationship.

And then, for no reason at all, the bottom fell out. My wife decided she didn't love me, and she left me. The kids blamed me and sided with their mother. I got a new boss at work, and I wasn't sure how much longer I could take it. I did know I couldn't afford to move on. As Christmas approached, I was teetering near the edge.

Our company has an interesting holiday plan. Because Christmas and New Years fell on Fridays, I only had to take two and a half vacation days to get off from noon on the twenty-third until Monday the fourth. It seemed like a good idea when I filled out the paperwork. I was depressed when I realized I was probably going to be alone for almost two weeks.

The obvious answer, at least for me, was to find a reason to get out of the house. A quick check of social media led me to discover that one of our favorite bands was playing at a bar near my house that very night. The bar was only three blocks away and the weather was forecast to be unseasonably warm. With no need to drive and no commitments, all I had to do was stay sober enough to make it home.

I actually don't drink all that much, but it's the thought that counts. The band draws a pretty good crowd, so there was likely to be some eye candy. Maybe a couple of drinks would help me forget that my life was crashing down around my ears, and I could hit on some good looking woman. Maybe it would lead somewhere. I doubted that would happen, but it's the thought that counts.

I helped myself to a shot of whiskey for the road, and then decided it was lonely, and sent another down to keep it company. I figured, the stuff I have at home is a lot better than the stuff they have at the bar, and I was saving myself money. With only a TV dinner to buffer it, I was already feeling it by the time I walked into the bar. I ordering a cola instead of liquor.

The band was already set up when I got there. My wife and I had been friends with the guys for a bunch of years. They know better than to bring up the 'ex' thing, so they thanked me for coming out, and then they got ready to play. I found a comfortable seat and sat back to enjoy the music.

I nursed my cola for most of the first set. I decided that I wasn't really going to get drunk, and I figured I would have a whiskey and cola with the second set, and then call it a night. It didn’t seem likely that I was going to pick anyone up.

There is always a run at the bar when the band finishes a set, so I decided I would get my drink before that. As I stood up to go to the bar, a woman caught my eye. She didn't just catch my eye. She made eye contact with me, and held it. She blushed when she realized that she was staring, and she had a playful smirk on her lips as she looked away.

She was one of the best looking women in the place. She looked to be in her mid thirties. She had chestnut brown hair and smiling blue eyes, and a figure from heaven. I couldn't begin to imagine what a woman like that would want from a schmuck like me. I had a great one liner to start things off.

What happened next happened so fast that it was probably over even before it started. All I know is I stood up and started to walk toward her. Two really big guys jumped up from a table, facing each other. The guy with his back to me pulled his fist back faster than I have ever seen. I didn't even see his elbow before it errantly slammed into my forehead. The world went black.

There were stars flashing before my eyes when I opened them. It took me way too long to realize it was really just the band's lights flashing on the ceiling. An older and very motherly figure was leaning over me. She looked worried.

"Don't let it go to waste," she muttered. She grabbed my shirt and shook me a bit. "Get up, get up," she demanded.

I almost would have stood up, but as she shook me, the world doubled. It was very hard to see straight.

I heard her sigh loudly, and then she muttered, "Well here's a fitting end to it." She reached out and caressed my forehead. The world righted itself.

"Now hurry," she chided me.

I was able to stand up. For the life of me, I had no idea where I should be hurrying off to. The two fighting guys were long gone, and I didn't know anyone else there. The drummer saved me.

The band had finished playing while I was still lying on the floor. While I was standing up, the bass player raced by to head outside for a smoke. The drummer sauntered over. He was totally checking out the woman that had rescued me.

"Hey John, who's your friend," he asked amicably.

I couldn't answer, so the woman supplied, "Hi, I'm Celeste."

The drummer introduced himself, and then said, "It's good to meet you Daphne. Are you from around here?"

Before I could correct him, Celeste answered, "No, not really."

The drummer looked surprised and excitedly said, "Wow! I have an aunt that grew up near there! Most Youppers don't stop down here. This time of year, they're too busy trying to get to Florida."

For those of you who are not from the mid-western states, a Youpper is someone from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I understood the words he was saying, but the conversation didn't make any sense.

I watched Celeste's eyes follow some woman with reddish brown hair as the woman left the bar. Celeste muttered, "That's perfect. What a waste."

The drummer answered, "Only once or twice a year. It's a bit out of the way, but we like the food." He allowed himself to look away from her. "Weren't we here for your birthday last year?" he asked me.

Again, something wasn't quite right, even if I heard him right. "Uh, yeah," I answered.

His eyes flickered back and forth between us. Somehow he decided he was intruding, and he made an excuse to head to the bar. As he turned to go, he gave me a look like I was the luckiest guy in the bar.

The guys in the band are all married, but, as they say, they are not dead. The drummer and the bass player always have hot chicks hitting on them. I don't know how they manage to avoid the temptation. Avoiding it is probably one of the downsides of being a performer. I have no doubt about his ability to spot a looker. I didn't think he would even notice an old lady in a track suit.

I am sure I looked confused as I gave Celeste another once over. My first assessment of her was dead wrong. She was not older or motherly at all. She was about around my age, but probably a little younger. When I had been lying on the floor, her hair had appeared shorter and gray. It was actually past her shoulders, and mostly blonde. I'm sure the color came from a box, but it looked good on her. In fact, she wasn't all that bad looking at all.

She ignored the glance, but acknowledged my confusion. "Are you still dazed? I may not have had enough left."

"I'm having trouble following the conversation," I admitted. She scowled at me.

"That sometimes happens when I stretch it too thin," she explained. "It's hard to get it right when you try to be too many things for too many people. I didn't think that would happen now that it's gone."

If that explained anything, I wasn't following at all.

"What's gone?" was all I could think to ask.

"There's no use in explaining to people who won't remember," she answered. I wondered if she knew she was being obtuse. She saw the look I was giving her, and she gave a dramatic sigh. She started to say something, but the bass player interrupted.

"Hey John, it's good to see you're still alive," he said as he joined us. He totally checked out Celeste. He didn't even try to hide it when he stared at her bust line for far too long. "Are you going to introduce us?" he asked.

I suppose I should have said something, maybe an introduction, or a word or two about how forward he was being. I had been more than a little distracted by Celeste's bust line. I didn't know how I could have missed noticing before. Her bodice was very low cut, leaving her ample cleavage nicely displayed.

Celeste ignored our stares. She stuck her hand out to him and said, "Hi. I'm Celeste. It's nice to meet you."

He jumped back in dismay, as if her hand were a hot poker.

"No, I'm sorry," he proclaimed. "No disrespect intended at all. I hope you like our next set," he said as he scrambled away to get a drink.

I was very confused again. "What the heck," I blurted out.

Celeste turned and looked at me like I was an alien. My brain struggled, and without thinking, I asked, "What did you say to him?"

She gave me a sad smile. "It's not what I said, it's what he heard. Without the magic, I can only guess."

"Magic?" I echoed. As laughable as it sounded, I almost believed her. She repeated her dramatic sigh.

"Look," she said, "you've hit your head pretty hard. Why don't I walk you home, and I'll tell you about it along the way. I'm going to warn you now, though, that tomorrow you'll only remember all of this as a hazy dream, and you probably won't remember at all the day after that."

"You don't have a car?" I asked smartly. The look she gave me made me wonder if we were both hearing the same words.

"No," she answered succinctly.

"But, how did you get here?" I asked. "How did you plan to get home?"

"Let's walk, and I'll explain. Hopefully my friends will help get me home."

I nodded, and she turned and headed toward the door. I couldn't help but notice how shapely her backside was, and how nicely her jeans showed off her hips as she walked. The drummer and the bass player both saluted me with big grins on their faces. I didn't think I was going to get lucky, but they didn't need to know that.

As soon as I stepped outside, Celeste stopped me and inspected my forehead. It didn't hurt, but she still looked concerned. She slipped her arm around my waist as we started walking. I changed my thinking and hoped that I would get lucky.

"Let me know if you get dizzy," she instructed. "I'm only close like this so I can catch you before you fall."

I had no doubt that what she said was true. I also felt how nicely we fit together. She was just a couple of inches shorter than me, and I could feel the strength in her curves. A fantasy of her using that strength to push me onto a bed and then ride me almost caused me to swoon. She steadied me and we headed up the street.

"Do you remember that first time you noticed your wife?" she asked.

I didn't answer. First off, it was presumptuous of her to assume that I had a wife. Secondly, I didn't want to talk about my wife. And for thirds, it was painful to think about what she asked.

The first time I met my wife, I had just started high school and she was just a kid. I barely noticed her. Later, she started hanging out with my younger brother and his friends, so she was always around. I didn't care. One day, long after I had left for college, my brother asked me to stop by the high school to help him set up some stuff for the theater. I'm pretty sure we did whatever it was that he wanted.

She was on stage, applying makeup to one of the actresses. There were a dozen shades of face paint on her hands and on her smock. I always wondered if she knew how beautiful she was with her hair curling off her face and her intense blue eyes. Right then and there, I knew that I wanted that woman to be a part of my life forever. She caught me looking, and suddenly, she wanted that as well.

It still hurt me to know that her idea of forever was a lot shorter than mine. I didn't want to talk about it at all. Celeste seemed to know that all of that would flash through my mind.

"People everywhere want that moment to happen for them, but in truth, it rarely happens," she stated. "Real life fairy tales just don't happen, or it's so rare that it's fair to say it doesn't happen. That's where we come in. My friends and I give people like you a little boost so you can feel the magic. You don't have any of your own, so we give you some of ours."

When we turned the corner for the last block up to my house, we turned into the wind. We both sort of laughed as her long hair blew into my face and blinded me while her skirt swirled around my legs and almost tripped me. We switched sides and kept walking. She was short enough that she could tuck her head in against my shoulder and let my body block the wind for her.

"It was one of the happiest days in my long life when I was asked to take up this task," she said with a smile. "I have always loved watching the magic do its work."

That may have been true, but I watched the smile fade from her face.

We walked in silence up to my house. We stopped on the sidewalk and she turned me to face her.

"We never knew what happened to Catherina," she said sadly. "She came to us and told us that her magic was fading. We couldn't see anything different about her. But one day, she went out, and she never returned. I don't think any of us believed she was really gone."

She stood and stared at me for a long moment. In the soft light of the street lamps and the moon, she didn't look a day over thirty. I don't know what I was thinking when I gently reached out and ran my fingers through her long windblown hair. Her beautiful auburn locks looked coarse and scratchy, but if felt as smooth as silk. I used my fingers to comb it out all the way to the middle of her back. She smiled at the overly familiar gesture.

"It was a year ago that I noticed I was losing the magic," she admitted. "I told the others, but they may not have believed me. I have tried to use it as sparingly as I can, but I couldn't stop. People need us. People like you. You needed me. And now it's gone."

It's hard to describe the emotion that was welling up inside me. She was so beautiful, and it hurt to see how sad she was. I would almost have said that I was mourning for her loss, mourning for her friends, mourning for the world. It was an immense feeling, and it nearly overwhelmed me. I had no idea what I could do for her, or her friends, or the world.

So I kissed her.

As I recall, I only intended to brush my lips on hers. I only intended to let her lips feel the warmth of mine. I wanted her to know that I understood what a loss that big was, and I was willing to stand by her side if she needed help.

She gasped in surprise, but her hands caught the front of my shirt, and she didn't let go. Her tongue slipped out to taste my lips, and I so had to taste hers. Her arms slipped up around my neck, and the kiss deepened. I lifted her body against mine, and we both moaned in need. Suddenly her chin dropped, and she turned away. Neither of us let go.

"Why did you do that?" she murmured.

"I don't know," I answered. "You needed me," I said unconvincingly. "I'm going to do it again," I warned her.

"It's too cold," she argued.

I realize that it was late December, and unseasonably warm for southern Wisconsin wasn't all that warm. I felt like I was burning up, and with good reason. Her body felt like it was as hot as my own. I started to wonder if I wasn't hearing different words than she was saying.

I heard myself say, "Come inside."

"Just for one more kiss," I heard her answer.

I felt both disconnected and elated as she followed me into the house. I don't even remember using the keys. The door opened, we flowed inside, the door closed, and she melted into my arms again. We kissed again.

I couldn't remember the last time I felt so passionate about kissing. Our jackets fell to the floor, and maybe our shirts, too. I couldn't get enough of her as my tongue teased her lips and teeth. She bit my lower lip and teased her tongue back and forth across it. I slid my tongue along her upper lip and reveled in the feel of her small firm breasts against my chest.

My desire for her filled me and threatened to explode. I couldn't decide if her last words had been a promise or a limit, so I decided to let her know that I was about to take a lot more than a kiss from her. I gently pulled my lip from between her teeth, and pulled back to talk.

And then hit the brakes as hard as I could, stomping the pedal to the floor.

"Don't stop," the girl in my arms begged.

Yes, I mean girl. Oh, she was stunningly beautiful, and desirable as all hell, but she looked to be seventeen, maybe eighteen at most. I know I mentioned she was hot as hell. My body screamed at me not to stop.

If the girl in my arms had come to me at a party and said, "Sir, I have a burning desire to have sex with you," I would have made her ask a second time before I ravaged her. I have no idea why I stopped.

"Why did you stop?" she begged. I agonized over the answer.

"You keep changing," I answered lamely.

"It doesn't work that way," she replied. We didn't know at the time, but this was going to be her mantra for a long time. "The magic is gone," she added. Her eyebrows flared as she looked down at her petite body and its tiny breasts with their pebbly hard nipples.

After a moment, she said, "When I had magic, I could use it to blend into the surroundings. No one ever noticed me even once as I brought magic to their lives. I would never have made myself look like this. This must be something you want. I'm not really sure about that, because it doesn't work that way. Humans don't have magic."

I think I intentionally ignored her last statement. "What if you still have magic and this is merely what you were thinking I would want?" I asked.

She scowled at me, and I had a feeling I knew what she was about to say. I would like to take a moment to point out how insanely hard it is to think when a stunningly gorgeous young woman is displaying her breasts for you, no matter how hard she scowls.

"Try something for me," I suggested. She didn't say yes, but she didn’t say no either.

"Close your eyes for a moment."

She did, and I did too.

"Imagine that you are at home, at the end of a long day."

I paused for a moment to let her build the picture in her mind.

"Imagine that you stop before a mirror to fix your hair."

As I paused, I felt her toss her head to flip her hair into place.

"Tell me, are you seeing yourself as you see yourself, or as your friends see you?"

I opened my eyes as she spoke.

"I don't know," she answered. "I guess I was just seeing plain old me."

I gasped, and her eyes flew open.

The woman in my arms was stunning. It was hard to pin down her age, but I would have guessed mid-forties. She had darker blonde hair with a few strands of grey that flowed back and down to her shoulders. Her eyes were somewhere between piercing blue and deep ocean green and they almost seemed to glow. Her face was narrow, but not sharp, with a streamlined nose and full lips.

I couldn't stop my eyes from following the lines from her jaw to her neck to her strong feminine shoulders. I couldn't stop from looking lower still. My eyes volleyed back and forth as I took in her well proportioned breasts. As I stared, her large flat nipples started to crinkle, lifting a perfect bud at the center. I had to swallow to keep from drooling.

She squirmed a bit in my arms, and without letting her go, I forced my eyes back up to hers.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked softly.

"Look how beautiful you are," I proclaimed. "I'm going to kiss you again," I informed her. "Make sure you keep this form for us."

"It really doesn't work that way," she protested, but she lifted her lips to mine.

We kissed until we were breathless. When she couldn't breathe, I would kiss her neck, her ears, her hair. When I couldn't breathe, she would kiss my neck, my shoulders, my collarbone. She moaned her appreciation when my hands found and played with her breasts. She kept her hands on my shoulders until she realized that while I had one hand playing with a breast, my other hand was exploring all of the rest of her. We were almost dancing together as we allowed each other to explore and touch.

Her hands were first to make serious explorations below the belt line. Her hand was following the lines of my ribs, and as it circled to find my hip, she brushed past my cock. I felt her hand hesitate, and then return to trace the outline of my hardness through the fabric of my pants. She gasped and pushed away, but her fingers continued to trace the bulge.

I almost had to laugh. She had been squirming and pressing her hips and stomach against my hardness for ten minutes, but it was as if she had just discovered it when her hand felt it.

There was a curious look on her face as she stroked the outline. It felt like we were delicately balanced, and we were waiting for something to fall. I waited for her to make the next move.

"I want..." she started to say, but then stopped and frowned. I could actually feel how badly she needed me to kiss her again, but I didn't think that was it. I waited.

"You're supposed to ask me, and then I'm supposed to tease you and then leave," she said quietly. She thought for a moment longer. "Without magic, I don't know anymore."

"You know what you want," I teased. "Just ask."

"I know what I want, but I'm afraid," she whispered.

"I think I know what you want," I said softly. "Will you..."

"No!" she interrupted loudly. After a moment, she softly instructed, "Please don't ask, not like that."

Without asking, I kissed her. It was a gentle kiss, just the warmth of my lips on hers. There was so much that I wanted to say with that kiss. Her lips were warm on mine. I knew she heard me.

With a teasing smile, I asked, "Will you stop me if I give as much as I take?"

Her eyes were wide with apprehension as she shook her head from side to side. They got even wider as I lifted her off the ground, but she happily wrapped her legs around my hips. She held me close as I carried her upstairs and to my bedroom.

She didn't stop me. There are no words that can describe how good it was.

I woke up alone, with no idea when she left.

Some people might have been put off by waking alone like that. Not me. I woke up happy, and I stayed happy all through the day. It occurred to me that I hadn't done any Christmas decorating. I spent the day putting up the tree and hanging the decorations. I used wrapping paper to turn my front door into a giant present. I even went outside and put up lights.

I was up on the ladder, just finishing up, when she appeared. I remember that it was odd. Our local police officer slowed as he drove by and rolled down his window to tease me about waiting until the last minute. I laughed with him. Not a minute after he left, she was standing on the sidewalk looking at me. She didn't have a car, and I hadn't seen her walk up.

She must have been embarrassed by what we had done the night before, because she just stood there looking at me.

I gave her a reassuring smile and called out, "Hi Celeste."

Her eyebrows shot up, and she gasped. "You remember?" she asked in astonishment.

I couldn't imagine forgetting her name, not after what we had done. "I was actually paying attention," I teased.

"You remember everything?" she asked incredulously. It was obvious I was going say yes. "It doesn't work that way!"

I had been climbing down the ladder as we talked and I walked over to her. I desperately wanted to scoop her into my arms and kiss her. I caressed her cheek instead.

"Celeste, I don't know anything about your magic," I explained. "But somehow, some time last night, you became a part of my heart. There is nothing that would keep me from remembering you."

"What do you mean?" she asked in a trembling voice.

Looking her in the eye, I said, "We humans, humans like you and I, may not have magic. We have something stronger. We have love."

I kissed her then, with the gentle kiss, the warmth of our lips, the kind that has a lot to say.

I couldn't stop myself from saying, "Celeste, I love you."

Her eyes got teary, and she barely whispered, "It really doesn't work that way."

She kissed me then, with the gentle kiss. I heard her.

As our lips parted, she added, "I love you, too."

I was having a hard time seeing through all the water in my eyes, so I bravely asked, "Will you be stopping me?"

Her eyes were wide with joy as she shook her head no.

She didn't stop me. Not that night, or the next.

---

History tells us how 2016 was a year of great change for mankind. They point to a lot of factors in politics and technology and social engineering that brought about those changes. They never seem to point out that in that year, people started to fall in love again. And people didn't just fall in love. They found love that lasted them a lifetime. They found love that grew big enough to touch their loved ones, their families, and their communities. That is what made the world what it is today.

Celeste discovered a new magic, and she found an ample supply to share. I guess I am not as human as I once was, but I know that our human love fills her with magic. She is nearly as human as I am, and her love for me fills me with life. I may be wrong. She still smiles when she tells me it doesn't work that way. All I know is that I have loved her for these past hundred years, and every day, we find joy together.

2116 is rapidly approaching. I would hope that the readers of this history were some of the ones that found their true love back in those days, but there aren't many of them left. To their children, and their children's children, I would like to say, "You're Welcome."