"Oleg," Mom yelled from the kitchen. "Is that Annika?"
"Hi, Mom." Annika called. "Come meet my friend."
"Of course, dear. Any friend of yours is -" Four steps into the entryway, Mom looked up and stopped cold. "Sweet Jesus in Heaven."
"Pas de Deux" started on the CD player. Mom and Dad executed their own slow motion dance of disbelief and awe towards Nona, as if it was a ballet on the stage.
Annika smiled, big and proud. "Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad."
I also got a start on a new story called "Giant Panda and the Golden Ring of Fate". It will be this week's Thing, since I also have several critiques to do this week. I'm trying to just have fun with it, and succeeding now and then. It's a pretty silly/crazy story.
Giant Panda raised his strong furry arms, flexed his thick, padded paws and felt his knuckles crack. Someone was going to get an ass-kicking in the Ring tonight, and it wasn't going to be him.
