Introduction: Randi Lewis, Cynthia (Cindy) Lewis's younger sister has shown amazing talents very early in her second childhood. Not only are her magic powers showing up, she also has the ability on a small scale to manipulate space and time. Charli Brewer, her now sister-in-law, is also a talented young witch. She has the ability to converse with most mammals and birds. We're not sure at this time if she's able to converse with reptiles. Charli is turning 11, and Randi will be twelve very shortly. Both girls are physically mature for their age. Randi's intellect is off the scale and, as she mentions in this tale, had memorized Grey's Anatomy the year before. Is there such a thing as too much knowledge? As the story develops, the girls become acquainted with a shy Jewish boy, Efram Silverman, who has just come to their school. They also become better acquainted with a notorious bully, Brian Stewart. What could go wrong, or better yet, what could go right?

This is a continuation of the Cynthia Chronicles series. Other stories in the series are An Incremental Journey, Cynthia and the Reluctant Girlfriend, Cynthia and the Dumpster Diver, Cynthia and the Moment of Truth, Cynthia and the High School Years - Part I, Cynthia and the High School Years - Part II, Charli and the Girl Cave, Adam and the Three Wishes, Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling; and Randi and the College Professor,. The time frame of this story follows immediately after Adam and the Three Wishes.

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Unfortunately, I have to rely on my own editing. Let me know if you find any goofs.

This work is copyrighted by the author and any publication or distribution without the written consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.

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Cynthia and the Solicitous Sisters-in-law
 

Part 1

Chapter 1

"Here comes one. How fast is he going?"

"Actually, it's a she, and she's doing seventy-six point five-two-four miles per hour.

"Shit, she's texting. I don't want to mess with her car. She might lose control. I'll just shut off her phone, first." Randi paused for a moment before she gave a little smile. "That was easy enough. Okay, now do it the way I taught you. Have you found the car's computer?"

"Yeah, that was easy."

"Okay, cut out the power going to two of the ignition wires."

"Got it," Charli answered.

"Good, she's pulling into the service station. Let's talk to her." Randi turned towards small copse of trees behind them.

'Come on, guys,' she projected towards the trees. She didn't have to, really. It was just one of those unconscious things one did when talking to someone. You always faced them.

'Coming, we were just having a meeting with some of the strays up there. We wanted to see if any of them were interested in coming over to our side. I think we might have some possibles. Silky was showing them how beneficial knowing some magic was. We killed their fleas, ticks and worms.'

Sleek, black little Silky bounded out of the grove of trees. She was accompanied by the much, much larger Willie. He was a strongly marked tabby with white boots, and he was so big that Silky could actually walk under his belly, barely touching his fur with the ridge of her back. Where Silky barely weighed seven and a half pounds, Willie weighed close to eighteen pounds, and it was all muscle.

The two tweeners made their way from the hill overlooking the four lane undivided highway to the service station and convenience store. Randi carried Silky, but Willie trotted down the hill next to Charli. Silky was a sleek, well muscled little cat; however, Willie was a giant in the house cat world. He was a hunter and killer of small animals, in particular, rabbits. However, among his friends and fellow familiars, he was just a big pussy cat.

The car Charli had disabled had made it to the large parking lot, and the occupants were outside peering into the space under the hood, probably not able to name anything they were looking at. Perhaps they expected a screen to pop up and say something like "Push reset button."

"What seems to be the trouble girls?" Randi asked as they approached.

"Nothing that you would know anything about; say, aren't you out past your bedtime?"

"No, were doing a school project," Charli offered.

"You were going a bit fast up there, weren't you," she added.

"What business is it of yours? Besides, I wasn't speeding."

"I think that's a forty-five zone, and you were doing seventy-six point five-two-four miles per hour."

"Bull shit!"

"You were texting, too. In fact, all of you were texting. Maybe that's why you didn't know how fast you were going," Randi admonished.

"Your car's fixed now, but you will never be able to speed again unless it's a real emergency. Also, you will never be able to text if you're driving. Texting while driving is so stupid and unnecessary. That goes for the rest of you, too; no texting and no speeding.

"Oh, and Misty, you weren't wearing your seat belt. You will always wear your seatbelt from now on.

"That roadhouse you were planning on going to is off limits for all of you until you are twenty-one. Okay, I want all of you to stand quietly there until we let you go. Maria," Randi said to the driver, "you and I need to talk privately. Follow me."

Maria quietly followed Randi to the edge of the parking lot. "Who are you? What have you done to me, us."

"I could be your worst nightmare, but I won't be. Instead, I'll be your friend."

"Who are you? I mean you can't be more than thirteen, and yet I'm doing what you tell me to. This is not right."

"Thanks for the compliment, I'm actually only eleven." Randi, who'd always been beautiful, was well on her way to puberty. She was a bit tall for her age, athletic, and her body was already hinting at the voluptuous woman she would be in just a few years. "Charli and I are actually witches, and we are monitoring the highway along here for folks like you who are flagrantly violating safe driving practices. Well, you're cured of that now; however, there's another problem we need to discuss. You're pregnant."

Marie's eyes widened in disbelief, "How could you possibly know that?"

"That's just one of the talents we have. I'm going to have to be brutally honest with you. Frankie Belanger is a low life meth addict, and he would never be a decent father or husband. The other thing I have to tell you is that the baby can't survive. It is anencephalic. It will not survive birth. You need to see a doctor immediately, and as much as I hate to say it, your only option is an abortion."

"You are what, eleven years old, and you are talking to me like an adult. This is all nonsense."

"I guess in a way I'm thirty-nine years old, but we don't need to discuss that now. You and your friends won't remember any of this anyway. You will tell your mother that you think you are pregnant. The diagnosis will be confirmed by ultra sound in a few weeks. You shouldn't miss any school. As far as Frankie Belanger is concerned, he will probably be arrested later this week or early next week. Don't concern yourself about that.

"Now take your friends home."

Randi and Charli watched the car drive off at a sensible speed. "She'll never be able to speed again, will she?" Charli said with a bit of wonder.

"She will, if conditions warrant it; however, she'll never want to drive like she was driving tonight. I just boosted their judgment abilities a bit. That other thing was unexpected, though. Did you catch it?"

"You mean the pregnancy? Yeah, I got it at the same time you did. That's a shame, but sometimes those things happen. Sometimes I'm glad Bobbie taught us how to do that, but something like that is so sad. The baby never had a chance.

"Oh, hi Wolf," Charli said as she looked down to see Wolf sitting on the pavement next to her.

Randi turned to see The Wizard standing behind them. He was watching the car disappear over a hill in the distance at just forty-four miles per hour.

"So, how did my little vigilantes do? Shall we go back to the shop and go over things?"

"Yes, Your Wisdom," the two girls responded simultaneously.

The two girls, two cats, Wolf, and The Wizard disappeared with a slight 'pop' as the air rushed in to fill the space they had occupied.

They sat around the coffee table in the back of The Wizard's shop. They weren't in any mall at the moment. The shop was just where it was when it wasn't anywhere else. Silky and Willie were enjoying some nice snacks, and Wolf was destroying a large salami. About half way through it, he got up and took the remaining portion to a room that The Wizard had added to the shop several months before.

The Wizard and his two trainees were sipping on some hot chocolate - well, sort of. The Wizard had added a little crá¨me de menthe to his. It helped ease the arthritis he had been developing over the last couple of hundred years or so.

"So, little ones, how did it go?"

"I think we did real well," Randi responded. "We converted an unsafe driver to a safe one, and we also affected the other passengers. I think we did it pretty safely, too. The way she was driving, things could have gone very badly if we hadn't slowed them down."

"Charli, do you have anything to add?"

"Well, Silky and Willie found some feral cats."

"That was their job," The Wizard said with a chuckle. "What about you? What else about this little project tonight?"

"I know," Willie said in his well modulated voice.

"Yes, you do; however, this was their project," The Wizard said, nodding towards the two girls.

Randi began going through everything they had done. She couldn't think of anything they had done wrong. She thought back about The Wizard and Wolf watching the car drive over the hill. Then she remembered that Silky and Willie hadn't been watching the car, and they hadn't been watching the girls or The Wizard. They had been sitting there in their Egyptian cat mode with their tails wrapped around their feet, looking at the BP service station where several people were filling their gas tanks. There had been a loud group of presumably college kids was on a beer run, and for some reason their car wouldn't start.

It hit Randi like a rock between the eyes. They had been so intent on the carload of girls that they had totally forgotten about the service station and convenience store.

"We screwed up didn't we?" Randi said quietly. "Everyone at that service station saw what we were doing."

Charli added, "Oh crap."

"Fortunately, you have a good backup team. That's Silky's and Willie's job. They're there to help you. They generated a very good obscuring spell. Although, it was probably a bit late, as the fellow using that payphone watched for quite a while. He'd had ideas about helping the ladies in distress. I took care of that problem.

"Just remember that you can't get tunnel vision when you do these things. You have to look at the big picture, and then erect the proper barriers and shields. No harm done this time, and you handled the young lady's situation very well. She will probably do what you told her to do, and she will be much more careful in the future about choosing a bed partner.

"You didn't catch any wrongly sexed aura, did you?"

"No sir," Randi said, "however, we're not nearly as good as Cindy is in that area."

"Good, I didn't either. You will get a lot better at it as you get older. That talent runs in your family.

"Charli, you're really getting good with those computer things. I wish I understood them like you and Randi do. Now, neither of you should worry about that little bit of oversight this evening. I shouldn't say this, but I will. You are far ahead of other witches of your age that I've known over the years."

Wolf returned to the back room with Padrona at his side. It was almost as if they were joined at the hip.

"Would you like to see the babies?" Padrona asked. "They're asleep now. Their eyes should be opening in a few days, and in another week, I'm going to have more than I can handle. I'm not sure if their father is going to be able to handle them either."

She led them to the private area that belonged to Wolf and Padrona when they were at the shop; however, the room seemed to go where it was needed. Wolf and The Wizard, for the moment, remained in the other room.

"He is so proud of them," Padrona remarked as they looked at the six sleeping bundles. Three of them took after their father, and three definitely took after their mother. "We're going to have fun teaching them everything. We have so much to look forward to."

"Okay, Charli and Randi, you are up well past your bedtime. It's time to go home, and I have to get ready to go on a little trip," The Wizard said in a grandfatherly manner. Two seconds later Randi and Charli found themselves in Randi's bedroom.

"That was fun, Randi. I hope Mom lets us do that again. It's a lot better than doing those imaginary problems in the lesson book. I'll see you at school tomorrow." Charli opened the door to Randi's closet, stepped in before taking the shortcut through the pet door to the room she shared with her older sister.

Lucy looked up as her sister walked out of the closet. "Did you two have fun? I sure wish I could do the things you do."

"We had a lot of fun and learned some important things. His Wisdom helped us a lot." Charli went on to explain how her and Randi's evening had gone.

Chapter 2

"Randi, you shouldn't do those things to Ms. Schilling."
"I'm not hurting anything. I'm just having a little fun with her, and besides, she's a nice lady." Randi was having lunch with Charli and Lucy. Randi's best friend, Ginny had an orthodontist appointment, and wasn't having lunch with them like she usually did.

"Well you shouldn't do it," Charli said. "You know what His Wisdom said about calling attention to us." Charlie turned and started whistling and chirping a little tune. About twenty English sparrows flocked around her feet and she threw some bread crusts to the ground. The girls were having lunch in the outside lunch area. It was a beautiful spring day, and the warmth of the spring sun made school lunch more like a picnic.

"Talk about not calling attention to ourselves, there you go calling the sparrows in again."

"Well, they're hungry, and the nestlings are growing fast. It was a late spring, and the seeds are just coming in. Besides, no one knows I can talk to them."

"I'm not sure about that, Charli," Lucy added. "A couple of the kids are calling you the bird lady."

"Well, I'm not going to let them starve."

"They're not going to starve, Charli. They just know a soft touch." Randi said as she turned to see the new kid sitting in a corner of the lunch area. He was in one of Randi and Lucy's sister classes. There were four classes in each grade in their elementary school. Randy was in the sixth grade, and Charli and Lucy were in the fifth grade. The next year was going to be quite a change for Randi as she was moving on to the seventh grade. She was going to be in junior high school. That was a significant step up in the lives of the young girls. It was going to be a whole new world; one with new friends and new experiences. There would be slumber parties in the future; however, they would be taking on a whole new meaning.

The new kid, his name was Efram Silverman, had come to the school in mid-semester. He was a loner, and as near as Randi could tell, didn't have any friends.

"Charli, do you remember what His Wisdom was talking about last night; about sensing certain things?"

"Yes."

"Do you sense anything now?"

"I do, now that you mention it."

"What are you talking about?" Lucy asked.

"Lucy, you know about Charli and me; how we used to be."

"Yeah, of course I do. I think it's kinda neat how you got to be real girls. I couldn't imagine being a yucky boy."

"I think Efram is like we were. What do you think, Charli?"

"I think you may be right. We haven't had much experience with this sort of thing. I mean Cindy and Bobbie are supposed to be real good. I'm mostly good with animals, but The Wizard says you're a lot like Cindy in where your powers are."

"I think I'll talk to Efram," Randi said while getting up from the bench. "If there are any problems, I can make him forget what we're talking about."

Randi made her way over to the lonely little boy. Charli stayed back as she didn't want to intimidate Efram. Besides, she would be able to hear both sides of the conversation even though she was quite far away.

"Hi Efram, I'm Randi Lewis."

"Er, hi," he quietly answered.

"I know we haven't met before, but Lucy, Charli and I were wondering if you'd like to join us for lunch. You just seemed to be very lonely over here by yourself."

"That's okay. I like to be alone."

"I don't think you do. I think you're afraid of something, and I'll bet I know what it is. Efram, you can trust us not to reveal your secret."

"What secret? I don't have any secret."

"They were mean to you at your last school, weren't they? They made fun of you because you'd rather play with the girls. It's not that you're not good at sports; it's just that you don't like playing the way boys play. I can see your gentle side. You don't hide it very well.

"Your problem is this. As much as you would like to associate with us, you don't want to be harassed by the boys. So you just hide in the corner. Well, that's going to have to stop. You can't hide forever. Besides, it's not good for you. There's too nice a person inside you to keep hiding like you do."

"How do you know about me? I mean, we've never talked before. Who told you? Do you know someone from my other school?"

"No, I don't know anyone from Bangor, Maine; although it does sound like a nice place. I think we're having our annual meeting there next fall. Come on and sit with us. We need to talk about some things, and I can guarantee that no one will bother you."

"What about Brian Stewart? He's coming over here right now. He told me that if I associated with any of the girls that he'd beat the crap out of me. He's in my class. They're all afraid of him."

By this time Brian was only a few feet away. "What did I tell you, Jew Boy, about coming around our women? I'll tell you what I told you. I told you that I'd beat the shit out of you if I ever found you around our women."

Brian was a bit big for his age, and Randi knew his reputation for being a bully. She had mostly ignored him in the past; however, she wasn't going to ignore him this time. Brian was just starting to reach for Efram when Randi quietly said "Stop."

"Brian, don't say another word. Just stand there and don't move until I tell you to. It's okay to breathe.

"This bullying has to stop right now. You will not be able to talk to anyone but Charli or me about this until further notice. Right now, I'm just going to get your attention. You really need to go to the bathroom, and you have thirty seconds to get to the boys' bathroom; thirty seconds before you wet yourself."

Brian suddenly had a look of extreme concern on his face. "You may go now, but I want to see you after school." Brian took off on a dead run to the school building.

"What did you just do," Efram asked, obviously impressed by Randi's apparent domination over Brian.

"Efram, you need to understand something about Charli and me. First of all, you won't be able to tell anyone about what went on unless we let you. Charli, Lucy and I need to talk to you about what's bothering you and we don't have time to do it now."

"What do you mean by 'what's bothering me'?"

"We know that you are a girl inside." The girls could see Efram pale at that pronouncement. "Don't worry, we won't tell anyone who doesn't understand what you're going through. Both Charli and I know exactly what you're going through."

"How can you know that? I've never told anyone."

"Charli and I are witches, and I can read minds."

"There're no such things as witches."

"Charli, call those sparrows over here. I think we need a demonstration. I'll take care of witnesses. We won't forget this time," Randi added.

'Little sparrows, come over here. I have some more bread crumbs for you.' In a matter of seconds, there were dozens of peeping sparrows hopping around them.

'Food, food, food, food,' the ever hungry little birds peeped.

'In just a moment, but first I have something for you to do,' Charli told the eager little birds. She turned to Randi.

"What do you think I should have them do?"

"Have them play dead. That should be good enough for demonstration purposes," Randi replied.

"Good idea."

'Play dead.'

'What is dead? We don't know what that is.'

"Randi, they don't know what dead is. I forgot that they don't understand the concept of death."

"Hmmm, just have them roll over and go to sleep."

Charli gave them the instructions, and the little birds promptly fell over and became motionless.

'Very good, now here're some crumbs.' Charli tore up her remaining sandwich, and Lucy contributed some of hers as well. The sparrows immediately fell on the crumbs, and several brief spats resulted. Two of the little birds tried to carry off the same piece of crust, and made some distance before one gave up its hold.

Efram was amazed as there was no doubt about what had taken place. "Wow, you can actually talk to animals!"

"Charli and I can," Randi replied, "but Charli's a lot better at it than I am. We can talk to all the larger mammals, but Charli can talk to just about all the mammals and birds."

"What about Lucy?"

"Lucy and I are sisters, but we're adopted. We have two brothers, Jorge and Donald. Don's married to Randi's big sister. They're in college in Boston. Anyway, we're all adopted, my brothers, Lucy and I. It seems I got lucky and have magic. Randi's mother and sisters are all witches."

"But, what about Lucy?" Efram asked again.

"I'm not a witch, but that's okay 'cause I get to do a lot of things with these guys. You have to understand that it's all a big secret and you'll never be able to talk about it."

"So, you guys are sisters-in-law. Neat."

"I guess we are. But we like to think we're more like cousins. We're not old enough to be sisters-in-law."

"Effie," Randi asked, "have you told your parents about how you feel; about who you really are?"

"You mean wanting to be a girl?"

"Wanting to be a girl is not enough. You have to be a girl inside there," Randi said pointing to Efram's head.

"I am a girl inside; however, unless I'm a girl on the outside, I'll never be a girl." That was when Efram started to cry. He took a few moments to compose himself.

"My parents won't listen to me. They don't like gay and transgendered people. Every time something comes on the news about a same sex couple, dad goes into a rant. Mom's the same way. They quote Leviticus all the time. It might as well be posted on the refrigerator door. They won't watch any of the news programs or any other programs that have gay people in them. I'm not sure there's anything they like to watch. Rabbi Steinmetz is just as bad.

"Look, Brian is back. He will probably want to beat the shit out of me."

"I don't think so," Charli said while looking at the bemused Brian. "He's trying to figure out why he can't see us. I'll send him to the other side of the playground." Brian turned and walked to a softball game that was in progress.

"Now," Charli said, "I think we need to get down to business. What are we going to do about Effie, here? Should we talk to His Wisdom?"

"Not right now. Besides, he's not around. Let's see what we can do."

"Randi, you know we're not supposed to do anything advanced without His Wisdom's approval."

"I wouldn't think of it. Okay, Effie we're going to try to tackle this problem of yours. I guarantee that Brian won't bother you."

"Randi, how old are you? You talk like my parents."

"We'll explain it all to you some day. Right now, I'm just eleven."

So, what are the girls getting themselves into? The Wizard is apparently out of town, and if we know Randi at all, she doesn't often ask before venturing into untried territories. I think Randi may be thinking about trying something new.