"Well Cecil, welcome to your Uncle Bob's," Buck told his dog as they pulled up alongside Bob's house. He'd received a call from Bob about a half hour ago that he and Cindy had left already to try to get ahead of the snow, and that Tia was watching Miles and Maizy until he got there. Knowing Tia, however, and how she always treated him when she was upset with him, it was possible she'd left her brother and sister alone so that he'd look bad, and he was hoping that wasn't the case this time.

"I think you'll like Percy," he said to Cecil, opening the door for him, "He's kind of got your personality. Back in February, he and I bonded pretty good, and I.."

Just then, some snowballs hit him from the side. "Hey, what the hell!?" he exclaimed, wiping his face clean.

"Got ya, Uncle Buck!" came Maizy's voice from behind a snow bank to his right. She and Miles stood up and pelted him with a dozen more snowballs.

"Oh, you want to fight rough, huh," Buck said, enthused, "Well, I can play rough too! Long John Russell takes no prisoners!"

He ducked behind a nearby tree. "Come on Cecil, it's battle time!" he shouted to the dog, bending down and making some snowballs of his own. Cecil seemed more preoccupied with the fire hydrant near his master's car at the moment, though. "Cecil!" he called to him. Cecil started relieving himself on the hydrant, so Buck shrugged at started tossing his own salvos at his niece and nephew. "How's that, huh?" he shouted at them gleefully, "You ready to surrender yet?"

"NEVER!!" Miles and Maizy yelled, and together they heaved a massive snowball at least nine feet in diameter at him. This slammed right into Buck's face just as he was peeking around the tree to gauge his next toss at them. He sputtered and spit out snow. "Okay, I guess I kind of did deserve that," he said sheepishly. "How are you guys?"

"Great, UB," Miles told him, climbing out form beyond the snow bank, "You?"

"Oh, let's just say I've been better," Buck said wistfully. "Your sister here?"

"Yeah, but she's going to go out with the hot guy later," Maizy said.

"You two stay here in the yard where I can see you; I've got to have a word with her in private," Buck told them. He had done some thinking overnight, and he wanted to put the whole matter of her and Cutter to rest. He whistled for Cecil, who was still busy with the hydrant and paid no attention to him. Buck sighed; sometimes Cecil was the spitting image of dogs with restraint.

"Tia?" he called once he'd entered the front door. There was no immediate answer, although Buck had assumed that after last night, he'd have to come to her to start the conversation. He glanced inside the den to see her sitting by the window, applying lipstick. She turned and gave him a very sour look at the sound of his footsteps. "Look, I'm sorry about last night," he said. "If you really want to go with him, I won't object anymore, I promise."

Tia didn't smile, but the anger fader from her face. "It's about time you came around," she said.

"Yeah, well, even I can be wrong sometimes," Buck admitted. He flopped down into an armchair. "And while I'm on the subject of relationships, the next time you see Chanice, tell her I appreciate the memories, because it looks like this time we're through."

"What do you mean?" Tia looked puzzled now.

"I'm letting her go," Buck said, almost painfully, "She clearly likes your beau's dad more, and I don't want to stand in the way of her happiness either."

"So you're just letting the love of your life go without a fight!?" Tia now sounded a bit offended.

"Tia, there's a time to love, and a time to let go, and I think it's about time I realized that I've been holding onto Chanice too long,' Buck said, trying hard to fight back the tears.

"Then you don't want to fight for something that's really important to you?" Tia was for some reason very upset, "You know, you're going back to the lazy bum you used to be when you do that!"

Buck's first impulse was to condemn her for being fresh with him, but he stopped and let her words sink in. 'Well, uh, maybe you do have a point there," he conceded. "Okay, uh, maybe then I'll give her another call for forgiveness tonight after I take care of some business for the school."

"But weren't you fired today?" Tia asked, her rage now subsiding.

Buck gulped. "How'd you know that?" he asked, hoping she hadn't leaked it to Bob and Cindy before he could.

"I happened to be walking by Mr. Vernon's office when you were yelling it out with him," Tia explained. Seeing his horrified expression, she said reassuringly, "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten that somebody who cares about me didn't tell my parents about Bug; I think the least I could do would be to return the favor. And besides, I think Mr. Vernon deserves to be chewed out, and if anyone can do that, it's you."

"Thanks," Buck felt glad that his kindness to her when she'd been in the pits had been returned.

Just then there came a barking from the front door. Percy was standing in front of it, scratching at it. On the other side, Cecil could be heard barking back. "What's going on with you too?" Buck called at them, leaping up again. He looked down at Percy. "Have you been starting trouble with Cecil already?" he asked him. Percy, like Cecil a few minutes ago, ignored him and kept barking. "All right, all right, I'll let you two meet each other," Buck swung the door open. No sooner had he, though, then Cecil burst in and leapt on top of Percy. "Hey, hey, cut that out, you two!" he shouted, trying to pull them apart. Cecil chased Percy into the den, where they collided with the cabinet holding Bob and Cindy's expensive English china, knocking them off the shelves.

"YIPE!" Buck screamed, barreling at the cabinet. Miraculously, he managed to catch all of them before they hit the floor. The dogs now took their fight into the kitchen, where they leaped up on the counter and sent several pots and pans clattering to the floor. Buck tossed the china onto the cabinet--breaking a couple of them in the process--and pulled a Milk bone from his pocket. Here guys," he called to them, "I've got a little snack for you!"

When this didn't break up the fight, he ran into the kitchen and took a bottle of Pabst from his other pocket. "All right, how about some beer?" he offered. Both Cecil and Percy literally leaped at the opportunity for alcohol--knocking Buck to the ground in the process. "Ow! Was that really necessary!?" he barked at them as they fought to lap up the most beer from the bottle. He tried to latch Cecil's leash on, but his dog took off toward the stairs before he could, Percy in hot pursuit. "Can you guys help me get these two separated?" he appealed to Miles and Maizy, who'd come in to see what all the ruckus was about.

"Sure; which way'd they go, UB?" Miles asked. The sound of what was without a doubt Cindy's favorite lamp being smashed in her and Bob's room provided a quick answer to that question. "You two get the screen from the basement; I'll see if I can corner them in a closet or something," he said, hoping the fuss the dogs were making wasn't going to make the neighbors call the cops.

"Now what?" Mayor Oaks said himself. He'd turned down the normally peaceful Chestnut Street, a frequent shortcut on his trip home, only to find it blocked by police cruisers. He put his car in park and climbed out into the now almost blinding snow. "Hey Ernie," he called to the nearest cop, "What's this for?"

"It looks like the South Bend Shovel Slayer's come to our little town," the cop said, looking like he need a vomit bag. The mayor turned pale at this horrid suggestion. "Who was killed?" he asked.

"Dear old Mrs. Blasko," the cop said, miserable, "Half her face was smashed off. He broke in through the back door.. It was all over in a minute."

The mayor felt a horrid feeling in the pit of his stomach--one he hadn't felt in for years. "Well, button down the town and put more cars on the street," he told him.

"Sure sir," the cop said. "Hang around Walnut if you're going home; we're probably going to be here a while."

"Right," it was as Mayor Oaks was leaving that he heard his cell phone ringing in the car. "Yes!?" he said, jumping behind the wheel.

"John, I've been trying to call you for the last half hour!" his wife said, seeming upset.

"Victoria, what's up?" the mayor asked.

"I wanted to tell you that I'm staying in late tonight," she told him.

"Huh?" the mayor was shocked, "You're still at work!?"

"Yes, so what?"

"So that means the boys have been home alone for an hour or so!"

"So, they can handle it; they're tough," she said dismissively.

"But you'd said you'd be off at two!" the mayor protested.

"Well, a good deal came up and I just had to take it," his wife said. "John, I am earning a living here, making us money, and that's just the way it goes."

"But we'd agreed you'd be home by....!!" Mayor Oaks was interrupted as his wife hung up. He hung up the receiver hard. This wasn't the first time Victoria had reneged on her word to him before. He'd really hoped she'd have been more straightforward for Christmas, but apparently he'd just been thinking wishfully.

He flew home as fast as he could safely in the winter conditions. His main priority was now to see that his sons were all right. Visibility was quite bad, and he eventually ran into a telephone pole about four blocks from his house. Unhurt, he climbed out and ran the rest of the way home.

"Boys!?" he asked out loud as he barged in the door. He was relieved to see them sitting on the sofa in the living room, looking rather miserable. "Tell me you two are all right?" he asked them, concerned. They nodded slowly.

"Where's Mom?" Tyler asked, looking very worried.

"She called me and said she had to work," his father said, dismal.

"But she promised she'd be home for our big Christmas dinner!"

"I know, pal, I can't control her decisions in life," Mayor Oaks said, hugging him close. "Were you two okay here by yourself?"

"Of course we're fine Dad, we could get along just good with or without her," Zachary said rather curtly.

"He's just upset that he got another detention!" Tyler retorted.

The mayor groaned. "Zachary, what did you do this time?" he asked wearily.

When Zachary failed to answer, Tyler answered for him. "He beat up a girl that tried to stop him from taking another kid's money," he explained.

"It wasn't your business, squirt!" Zachary yelled at his brother.

"Zachary, how many times have I told you that it is not right to hit other people?" his father said in frustration, with no anger in his voice.

"Well she was asking for it, Dad!" Zachary protested. "She should know not to stick her nose into what isn't her business!"

Before anybody could respond to this, the phone rang. Zachary trotted into the kitchen and picked it up. "What do you want!?" he demanded. He turned to his father. "It's for you, Dad."

"Thank you," Mayor Oaks took the receiver from him. "Hello?"

"Hi, uh, Mr. Oaks, I'm Buck Russell, I'm the guidance counselor at Shermer High. I was wondering if I could come over and discuss matters about your daughter."

"What about Chandra?"

"Oh, this is nothing serious, Mr. Oaks, I just want to....Cecil, keep it down in there!"

Mayor Oaks became aware of the acute barking in the background. "Is everything okay there, Mr. Russell?" he asked.

"Oh sure, nothing major, Mr. Oaks. How about I come over your place in a half hour or so?"

"Well, I guess it would be okay, but do you really want to walk over in this mess? They're calling it the blizzard of the century now on the latest news reports."

"Uh, yeah, I can handle it. Lord knows I've been through worse."

"Okay then, if you want to, but be forewarned, the South Bend Shovel Slayer's on the loose."

"No he's not, Dad," Zachary quipped as his father hung up, "It's Old Man Marley, everyone in town knows that, and the cops got him last night!"

"No it's not him, Zachary, the police couldn't prove it was him, so they had to let him go," his father said.

"Great, now I can't go out to the East End tomorrow," Zachary grumbled, skulking into the kitchen. Tyler looked quizzically at his father. "Well if it's not Old Man Marley, Dad, who is it?"

"Your guess would be as good as mine, son," his father said. "Say, some of your ideas came in handy; I decided to restart the story, and I think it's going quite well so far.

"Good," Tyler smiled. "I started writing too, a Back to the Future story." "Oh? What are you doing there?" Mayor Oaks asked, amused.

"Well, Doc's old rival from college, who's now one of those corrupt businessmen, steals the plans for the time machine, and he goes to change the future for his own benefit, and Marty and Doc have to go stop him. They have to fight all these futuristic robots and stuff, and Doc has a light saber duel with the guy at the end.

"A light saber duel?"

"Well you have to admit, Dad, they're probably going to become real in a hundred years or so, once they figure out the technology to make them.

"Well, that's interesting Tyler," the mayor said, "Tell me more about it."

"Well, in addition to that, Biff starts making a pass to.......