Ju-Ju Box: Chapters 5 & 6

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The final two chapters of an old six chapter voluntary body swapping story of mine. There are two sequels on top of that.

CHAPTER FIVE - Swing Miss
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I got dropped off at the park and Mrs. Tiederov told me to go straight
to the tennis court and to come right home afterwards.

I watched as she drove off down the street and then I turned around
and headed up the gravel path through some trees.

To be honest, I had never been to this park before and I had no
clue where the tennis courts were located. I walked past the entrance
to a large rose garden and followed the path onward down a wide grassy
field and found a playground.

I walked down to the playground and sat on a bench.

"Kristen?" a girl asked from behind me.

I turned and saw a blonde girl walk up to me across the tanbark.
She set her racket down on the bench and put her hands on her hips.

"Hi," I said looking at her, trying to picture where I'd seen her
before. Something about her seemed familiar.

"Well?" she said impatiently. "Don't just sit there - come on!"

She pulled me by the arm.

She took her racket off the bench and looked like she was going
to kill me or something.

"Come on, Kristen," she said escorting me down a side path. "The
courts are this way. Hey - wait a minute. You're wet! What happened?
Did your brother use his water gun on you again?"

"Yeah," I said picking at my wet skirt.

"No wonder," she said with some sympathy in her voice. "I'm sorry,
Kristen. Look, the courts are over this way. A game of tennis will
help you forget all about it. If not you can pretend
your brother is the tennis ball. Come on."

I just then remembered her name. She was one of the two girls that
Kristen had over the other night.

"Heather?" I said as we walked through the shade.

"I'm Tanya," she corrected.

"Oh, yeah," I shrugged. "Sorry."

She stopped and looked at me up and down.

Then she reached for my neck and her hand brushed under my hair.

"Where's your necklace?" she asked.

She was getting the picture now. I just knew it. If she found out
I wasn't really Kristen, this might ruin everything.

"Um, I left it at home," I lied but what else could I say? The real
Kristen had the necklace and she was masquerading around in my place.

"Well as long as you don't ever loose it," she said relieved. "I
mean, if you ever lost it I wouldn't be able to change into snowy
anymore. Well never mind that now. Let's play some tennis."

We walked around a bend and there were several fenced in tennis
courts standing there before us.

"Kristen!" a lady called out to me. "There you are! You're tardy!
Now get your little fanny on this court immediately."

"Mrs. Worthington," Tanya said stepping between the instructor
and I. "Kristen is late because her brother got her wet with a water gun.
Please don't be mad at her."

"You've used this excuse before," Mrs. Worthington said to me. "No
wait - I don't care about excuses anymore. You just get out there
and play tennis."

Since I only played the game once or twice before in my life, I
stood there missing swing after swing.

"Look," the instructor said. "You know how to serve - so serve!"

"But I forgot."

She glared at me and then threw her racket down.

Tanya laughed and then quickly shut up as the instructor walked
over to me and took my arm.

"Like this," she said swinging my arm back and forth.

"Okay," I said. "I think I remember now."

She walked away and I swung at the ball again...and missed.

"Oh God save me," Mrs. Worthington said looking up at the sky. "Tanya,
why don't you serve this time? Kristen, quit playing games with me.
I don't have the patience for this. Just play tennis."

Well, I finally got the swing of it, pardon the pun, but I still
lost every game that morning.

I walked back out to the playground and sat on the bench with my
new friend Tanya.

"Kristen," she said patting me on the back. "You never let me beat
you like that before. If I didn't know better, I'd think you really
did forget how to play tennis. Boy you sure played like a geek today.
Were you just trying to be funny or something?"

"No. Look, this is just not my day," I said standing up. "Come on.
Let's go."

"You're going home?" she asked. "Already? I thought you were going
to take me your Aunt's place again."

"My Aunt's?" I asked and quickly said. "Oh yeah, my Aunt."

I started to walk alongside the playground pathway.

"Aunt Toni," she added standing up to follow me. "Come on. You're
going the wrong way. Let's cut through the rose garden."

"Okay, you're the guide. I'll follow."

I knew my new mother wanted me home right away but I didn't want
to go back just yet. Besides, this would give me an opportunity to
meet the woman behind the necklace.

We walked through a maze of roses.

"Kristen," Tanya said plucking some petals from a flower in her
hand.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think about those boys wanting to swap places with us?"

I looked over at her wondering if she only knew the truth about
me right now.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

She dropped her rose and plucked another from the side of the path.

"I mean, are you sure we ought to let them? After all, they're boys."

"So?"

"So they might wreck our bodies. You know? They might stuff too
many pizzas into our bodies while we're gone or something. They might
throw out all our makeup or something."

"I don't know," I said shrugging. The path led us to a small
white picket fence. "Why? Do you want to back off of this idea?"

We walked out onto a wooded path.

"Well, what if they won't change back with us?" she asked worried.

"Come on, Tanya. If you don't want to do this then just say so.
It's up to you," I said looking around at all the trees. "Say, are
we going near the swamp or something?"

"We're going to your Aunt's house, remember?"

"Oh," I said. "Well, you just lead on then."

She stopped and looked at me kind of funny.

"What?" I asked.

"You lead the way," she said gesturing to the path ahead of us.

"Why?"

"Well, first of all, Kristen Tiederov never played tennis that bad
before. Second - you are missing your necklace and Kristen never goes
anywhere without it. Third - you're not walking toe to toe like you
normally do."

"So?"

"So you walk like a guy," she said mocking my walk in a circle about
me.

"So?"

"You are not Kristen," she concluded with arms crossed.

"I'm practicing for when I swap places with Andy," I lied.

She thought about it for a minute and then said,"Then why play tennis
so bad?"

"I'm practicing for when I swap places with Andy."

"You're putting me on. Who are you?"

"I'm Kristen Tiederov," I said. "And who might you be?"

"Shut up!"

"Nice to meet you, Miss Shutup."

"No, cut it out."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Cutitout."

"Be quiet!"

"Will you make up your mind?"

"You're definitely Andy," she said and I smiled.

"Oops," I said covering my mouth with my hands.

"Ahah! Got you."

"Can't catch me!" I said running away down the path.

"Come back with my friends body!" she yelled chasing after.

I ran off the trail and into the forest. Tanya was catching up to
me and waving her racket at me.

I turned my head back and stuck my tongue out at her.

"Girl, girl, girl, girl, girl!" I said to her running under an overhanging
branch and through some bushes. My taunts only made her run faster.

I tripped over a rock and dropped my racket.

My body hit the ground and I slipped forward down a muddy hill.

I bumped hard into something and stared upwards at an old man.

He was wearing blue jeans, a black shirt, some sort of swamp boots,
and an old black hat.

"The witches niece!" he exclaimed picking me up and putting me over
his shoulders. "What a fine little piece of luck. I've been looking
for a break like this."

"Put me down!" I screamed, kicking my little legs up and down in
the air.

"I will do whatever you want just as soon as you tell me where the
ju-ju box is," he said carrying me along the edges of the swamp.

"I don't have it," I cried. "Please put me down."

"You'll tell me or I'll let the demon eat your flesh."

"I don't know where it is," I lied.

"And you also don't know who I am, do you?"

"No."

"You're the niece of a witch but I'm more powerful than she is.
She stole my ju-ju box and I want it back - NOW!"

He put me down in a little boat and got in, then pushed off from the
shore with his oars.

"If you're so powerful how come you let her steal it then?" I asked.

"Shut up, you, or I'll belt you one!"

He rowed through the swamp for at least a half hour, then tied up
the boat to a makeshift pier beside an old cabin.

He picked me up and carried me over his shoulders again.

I was taken inside the cabin and dropped down onto a couch.

A little fire burned in the hearth and across the room on another
couch lay a woman bound and gagged.

"I brought your niece," he said to the woman. "Now tell me where
the ju-ju box is or I'll feed her to the demon."

He removed her gag.

"Never!" she screamed.

He replaced her gag.

"She doesn't have the necklace," I said.

The woman's eyes got wide and then rolled upwards as if I'd said
something dumb.

"So you've transmuted it into a necklace to hide it from me have
you?" the old man asked the woman. "Well your stupid niece was helpful
after all. That's the least I can say about you."

He pulled off her gag and walked over to me to see if I was wearing
a necklace.

"Where is it?" he asked grabbing my neck.

"Thanks Kristen," the woman said. "Thanks a lot. Now old gray bones
here is gonna have his demon search for a necklace now instead of
a box."

"I won't have to if you just tell me where it's hid," he said to
both of us.

"Will you let us go if we tell you?" I asked hopefully.

"Oh, suuuuuure," he said knocking a clock off the wall angrily. "Now
tell me where the hell the ju-ju box is and I'll make sure you
both die a less painful death than I planned. Where is it?"

"Don't tell him, Kristen," the woman warned. "He's an evil magician,
not fit to possess the artifact."

"I am not evil," he said gagging the woman again with a rag.

He came over to me and sat beside me.

"I'll tell you what," he said clapping his hands. "I'll make a deal
with you. You can have anything you want. Anything at all if you tell
me where the ju-ju box is. I'll even release your Aunt Toni."

"I don't know," I shrugged. "You seem pretty mean. I don't think
I'm going to tell you anything."

"But she stole it from ME! She's the one who is mean. Not I!"

She spit out her gag just then.

"He's lying!" she said. "He gave me it as a gift, just like I gave
it to you."

"Well I want it back bitch!" the old man snapped.

His eyes got bright red and glowed like fire.

"Bellabog!" he called out in a loud voice.

The ground trembled and the fire in the hearth rose.

A tiny green demon stepped out of the hearth and craned its neck
to look up at the man who summoned it.

"What is it sonny?" the demon said in a squeaky old voice.

"The witch has hidden the box in the form of a necklace. Bring me
the necklace!"

"I can't," the demon said.

"What? But I COMMAND you!" the old man ordered.

"I work union hours. You can't make me," the demon huffed.

"I'll pay extra for overtime then," the old man shot back.

"Heubert, tell me, how many souls do you have?" the demon asked.

"Uh...one."

"So how the hell can you pay overtime?"

"Well, then I'll owe you or something," Heubert said scratching
his head. "Just go fetch me that necklace!"

"I'm off in a flash! Off to get me the cash!" the demon said vanishing
in a bright light.

"Good going," Aunt Toni said to me. "Well at least you didn't get
more specific and blurt out something about the medallion being on
the necklace."

"Medallion?!" Heubert exclaimed. "Wonderful! Now you both spilled
the beans and I won't be needing you much longer."

"Good going yourself," I said to Toni.

"Quiet or I'll gag the both of you!" the old man warned. "I have
a better idea. We're going to take a little drive in my car."

"Oh great, now we're going for rides. I prefer the rowboat myself,"
I sassed.

He looked over at Toni with a wicked smile.

"I'm going to take your place, witch," he said. "Just as soon as the
demon brings me back the necklace."

"You wouldn't dare!" she said with horror in her eyes.

He picked me up and carried me outside.

"Do you like chicken?" he asked me while putting me in the trunk
of his car.

"Sort of but I'm not really hungry right now."

"Well you're going to become one as soon as I get that
necklace. How do you like that?"

He didn't give me a chance to reply. Instead he clunked me over
the head with his fist and I blacked out.

CHAPTER SIX - Cooped Up
-------------
I woke up tied to a wooden chair in the middle of a chicken coop.

The place smelled so terrible I thought I was going to get
sick.

Through the chicken wire I saw a small patch of dirt that sloped
down to a small stream. A thick forest spread out on the other side
and vanished up into a mountain.

I glanced down at my lap and saw my tennis skirt was gone. I sat
there in just my panties. The kidnaper hadn't even left me with
my shoes or socks.

"Help!" I cried. "Somebody help me!"

The chickens started squawking loudly all around me.

A minute later a door opened beside me and a short, overweight woman
stood there with a broomstick in her hand.

She rapped me a couple times on the head with the end of the broom
handle.

"Ow!"

"Quiet you! You'll wake the dead with that voice of yours," she
scolded me. "Though it won't do you much good to yell for help.
Nobody lives anywhere near here for a good thirty miles or so."

I looked at her black dress and pointed hat, wondering if she was
the witch she appeared to be.

"Who are you?" I asked. "Where's my aunt?"

"Your aunt is in the stables," the woman said tapping me on the
head with her broom handle. "I am Claudia, Herbert’s mother."

"Where is he?"

She hit me again with her broomstick before answering. It was starting
to get annoying. She wasn't hitting me hard enough to do much more
than tick me off.

"He's been sent to his room," she said.

"What? What do you mean?"

"He's being punished."

"You're joking!" I declared. "Why he's not a kid. What do you mean
he's being punished?' "

Again she rapped her broom on the side of my head.

"You do not seem to get the full picture, my dear," the woman said
throwing her voice so it sounded like it came from one of the
chickens. "Herbert is not what he seems. You see, just over a
year ago he was nothing more than a teenage boy. He hated his
father so he snuck in the cellar and stole one of my magic items
and used it to swap places but he didn't stop there. He did some
more swaps and when I figured out what he was up to, he ran away
and your aunt sweet talked him out of the ju-ju box. So you can
see why he wants the box back. As his mother, I demanded he return
to me what he stole."

"So why am I tied up here?" I asked.

She hit me again with the broom,"He wanted to swap you with a chicken
so you wouldn't be able to get the box back or tell someone about
it. Your aunt is in the stables awaiting a similar fate, though I
think Herbert really wanted to trade places with your aunt. As his
mother I won't stand for him doing any such thing."

"So I won't get swapped after all, right?" I asked hopefully.

"You are too much of a threat to have around with the knowledge
of the ju-ju box. For once I agree with my son. You and your aunt
will be swapped with my pets."

"What then? What in the world do you plan on doing with this body
once there's a chicken-brain inside it? What about my aunts body?"

She started to swing the broomstick towards me but stopped
short,"I simply release your bodies into the forest to fend for
themselves and survive if they are able. If anyone does find them
it'll be a miracle and even so, people will think they are insane
or something with their primitive animal minds. So you can see,
dearie, everything is all worked out."

"What if you don't get the ju-ju box back?" I asked looking uneasily
over at the chickens. "Then what?"

"Then you simply stay here and I feed you bird seed for the rest
of your miserable little life," she hit me again with the broom handle
and stormed out of the chicken coop.

I sat there gazing out at the forest and wondered if I would ever
get out of these ropes or if I would ever find my clothes. Most important,
I wondered if I would ever swap back with my old body or not.

Whatever that demon was doing, it sure seemed obvious he wasn't
looking for the ju-ju box anymore.

Three days had passed and I still sat there tied up in the chicken
coop. I was only let out a few times a day to use the bathroom. They
force fed me bird seed, crumbs and water and told me to get used to
it.

I sat there watching the sun go down one night and listened to
the buzzing of mosquitoes coming up from the creek.

Once it was dark I drifted off to sleep.

"Pssst! Wake up," a girl whispered in my ear.

I looked up and saw several little girls standing around me.

They looked no older than six or seven years of age.

One of the girls held up a necklace with a smile on her face.

"It's me, Kristen," she said in a whisper. "I'm here to rescue you."

The other girls untied me and we snuck out of the chicken coop with
some flashlights.

"How did you find me and what about the demon?" I asked.

"Shhh!" a little girl said. "I'll explain it all later."

"Where's my male body?" I asked worriedly.

"Shhh! I said I'd explain later.

We headed for the house and some of the girls ran off towards the
stables to rescue aunt Toni.

We stood before the back door and one of the girls touched the
lock and I heard a click.

"How did you do that?" I asked.

"Would you be quiet?" a girl scolded me.

"I think we'd better leave her out here," someone suggested. "She'll
ruin the plan."

So they handed me a flashlight and told me to stay put while they
crept inside the house.

A few minutes later I heard a bunch of little feet running through
the house and there were screams and giggles.

It sounded like they were in trouble and I was just about to go
inside and investigate when out came Heubert followed by his mother.
Both held a screaming, kicking little girl in their hands.

"We got 'em," Heubert said to me as he walked by.

"That was easy," his mother said. "I'm glad that's over with."

I wasn't exactly sure what was going on but when all the other girls
came giggling out of the house, I knew that some body swapping had
happened.

"Put me down! Put me down!" one of the girls cried in Heubert's
arms. "Switch me back this instant you little brat!"

Yep, sure enough two of the little girls traded bodies with the
kidnapers.

"Where are you taking them?" I asked.

"We have a couple more body switches to do," one of the little girls
said to me taking my hand. "Come on. This'll be fun to watch."

We went over to the chicken coop and I stood outside and watched
through the wire with a few other girls.

"No, no! You can't mean it!" I heard a girl cry out.

"Don't worry, you'll both be fine in a minute," another girl said.

"I don't want to be a chicken!" another girl cried.

There was another struggle and then it was quiet.

"One more switch left," a girl told me with a giggle. "We don't
want chickens in little girl bodies, ya know."

A moment later the door opened and out ran Herbert and his mother.
They both started running around the yard in some sort of panic.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Oh, well, first we switched them with two of the girls here. Then
we switched them with the chickens, and finally we switched their
adult bodies with the girls again. Now the kidnapers are the chickens
and the chickens are the kidnapers."

I turned and saw a couple girls place the chickens back on their
little shelves in their nests.

"So how did you all figure out where I was?" I asked.

"The demon helped us," a girl said happily. "He didn't like the way
his master treated him so he decided to help us instead."

"He teleported us!" another girl added.

"Kristen!" I heard aunt Toni call out from across the yard.

She came up to me and hugged me.

One of the little girls looked over at me and winked.

Aunt Toni held up the necklace and put it on.

"Well, I think from now on I'll take care of the ju-ju box until
you're older," she said.

Several of the little girls got horrified looks on their faces.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I said so," she answered.

"Look, I don't know who all your little friends are but the first
order of business is to get these girls back to their families," Toni
said walking for the car.

"Some of us aren't really girls," one of the girls said. "And we
would appreciate it if you would let us switch back."

Toni turned to look at me. "Kristen, have you been switching people
around with the ju-ju box?"

"I'm Kristen," a little blonde girl said raising her hand. "And
yeah, I've been switching people but only because they wanted to."

"If you're Kristen, then who's THAT?" Toni pointed over at me.

"I'm Andy Smith," I answered blushing.

"Oh, this is horrible," Toni said hitting herself on the forehead.
"There isn't enough power in this to keep switching so many people
around all the time. It wasn't meant to be used for cheap thrills.
Okay, how many of you are really boys?"

Nearly all the girls slowly raised their hands up.

"Are there any others?" Toni asked.

"Yeah, back in town," a girl answered. "There's a few more who got
swapped."

"Oh, plus the demon," another girl added.

"Yeah, I forgot," Kristen said. "Sort of traded the demon with some
lady. It was the only way he'd agree to let us keep the ju-ju box
without killing us for it. Still had some powers left after the
switch so we got some flashlights and she teleported us here to rescue
you."

"Who's idea was all this anyway?" Toni asked.

"Mine," I said. "I asked Kristen if she wouldn't mind trading places.
Then everything got messed up."

"No it's my fault," Kristen said. "I started using the necklace
to switch some of my girlfriends with my cat. That's how it all started."

"Well, all of you better be prepared to stay the way you are because
I'm not sure who of you is even telling me the truth anymore," Toni
said. "Now pile up in the car. I'm taking you all to your homes whether
you're in the right bodies or not. You messed with the ju-ju box and
so, at least for now, I'm going to keep you this way as punishment.
Now get in the car."

We all climbed in the car and Toni dropped us all off at our houses.

___-----___

I stood on the front porch of Kristen Tiederov's house and watched
Toni ring the doorbell.

Mrs. Tiederov opened the door and gasped both in shock and anger.

"Hi 'sis," Toni waved to her sister, Mrs. Tiederov.

"What happened? Where's your clothes young lady?" Kristens mother
asked me.

I stood there with just my panties on.

"I found her stranded just outside of town," Toni said.

"Oh, my!" Kristen's mother said hugging me. "Are you okay darling?"

"Yes," I said getting kissed over and over again on the cheek.

"What can I ever do to repay you for bringing my daughter home safe?"
my mother asked.

"Think nothing of it 'sis," Toni said. "Just promise me you'll keep
a closer eye on her in the future."

"Oh, yes," Mrs. Tiederov agreed nodding. "I won't ever let my princess
out of my site from now on. I promise."

"Won't you come in? It's been ages since I've seen you, Toni," my
mother said.

"No thanks. I need to get going," Toni said turning to look down
at me. "Now you be a good girl and mind what your mother tells you,
okay?"

She was enjoying this!

She was enjoying watching me be stuck as Kristen and left with
instructions for my new mother to keep a better eye on me.

"You say 'okay' to your aunt Toni," my mother said putting her
hand on my shoulder.

"Okay aunt Toni," I said looking up at the necklace she still wore.

"That's a good girl. Well I must be going now. Tah tah!" she said
turning and walking away out the courtyard and to the running car
in the driveway.

I was brought up to my room and my mother forced me to take a bath.

I ate dinner and then went back to my room.

___-----___

"So now I'm a girl," I said closing my diary.

"Mommy, what ever happened to the ju-ju box," my daughter Heather
asked.

"Yeah, mommy," my son Andrew urged tugging on my dress.

"I never did see Aunt Toni again after that," I said looking out
the window at the full moon and watching the clouds drift past it
in black silhouettes. "There was a horrible flood a few years later
and the swamp seemed to just erase her out of existence.
I went back but never found her cabin and I never did find out what
really happened to her. Every now and then, people driving along
old Hicks Road claim to see an old woman standing along the roadside
at the swamps edge. They say she's as white as a ghost and stands
there holding a silvery box in her hands."

"The ju-ju box, mommy?" Heather asked.

"Yes, princess. The ju-ju box."

The curtains blew gently in the night and off in the distance
could be heard the sounds of wolves singing to the moon.

I picked up my sleepy children and tucked them into bed.

I shut off the lights and closed the door.

I stood there in the hallway listening to the sound of wolves outside.

With a sigh, I turned and walked away.

THE END

After Notes: Or is it the end? What happened to Mike and the other
boys? Where did the ju-ju box really come from? What really happened
to aunt Toni? Did any of the displaced get switched back to normal?
Did the new Kristen ever learn to play a decent game of tennis?

Yes, there is more to this story so be prepared for a
sequel: Ju-Ju Box II

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Comments

Fast turns!

I was expecting a story in which the poor boy learns more about being a girl with a nasty brother. But this turned into a magical story. It is well written but perhaps bit too fast for my taste (all those changes...). The ending is nice even though I would have liked to read more about new Kristen's fate in her family.

I wonder what will be in the sequel?

Hugs,
Sissy Baby Paula and Snowball (my toy puppy)

Hi

Thanks for the comment. Looking back on my old stories, the sequels to this one could have probably been merged into one book and I could have taken out the flash-forward ending in between and just stuck it on the very end because now you know there's a happily ever after type ending, then what's the point of the sequels, you know? At any rate the sequels which are two short stories add another 95K to the tale. As this is one of my older stories, it's got way more transformations in it than what I write currently. Probably because I was on the TSA-Talk mailing list back then and was catering to a larger transformation audience, so I threw in some animal TF's in this too, even though the main theme is TG swap.

Ju Ju Box

Always loved this story as I do most of the stuff you have written. You always had a very differant prose style then other authors I have run into. I was never able to find the sequals to this story so I really look forward to viewing them when you post them.

I really hope you have more new work coming also. I miss your old web site, I even enjoyed looking at the story snippets you had posted there.

Bruce

Cluck Cluck, CleoK!

laika's picture

This story sure took an abrupt turn for the weird! It went from being about as credible as a magic body-swap story can be, to a fast-paced burlesque of pointy-hatted witches & people turnin' into chickens. But hey, it's magic- you get to do that; and it was a lot of laugh out loud fun! My only small qualm is that it didn't address the rather grim and unfunny situation with the horrible brother and mom. Did you say sequals??? I can't wait!
~~~hugs, Laika

sequels

Yes, I originally wrote it as a six chapter story but many readers complained that I didn't finish up the tale, so I added two small sequels. The old file names were crom117.txt (this six chapter tale), and the sequels were crom127.txt, and crom137.txt for any that have backups already.

As for my old site, cromexx central (formerly www.cromexx.com for those who want to look on the internet's wayback machine). I wish I could bring it back but it'll have to wait. I don't have all my story backups handy as most of them are all backed up on old Zip drives about a thousand miles away, so bringing it back isn't going to be easy unless I just start over. I'm also at a job now where I just don't have time for much writing anymore.