By Portia Bennett
The turmoil and excitement generated by Bobbie’s win in the Masters has died down somewhat; however, the game of golf will never be the same. One result of the magic cheating scandal was that all professional sporting events in the western world would be closely monitored for magical influence. The word went out in the world of magic that anyone found influencing a sporting event would immediately and irrevocably (subject to review) lose their magic powers. The warning also carried over to the gambling community, which included the many lotteries around the world. It took a while for the word to reach some of the more remote areas of Africa and Asia. Eventually there were two banishments, both for influencing gaming. After that, for at least a century, the problem seemed to be under control.
Bobbie enjoyed her break from golf tremendously. Both she and Cindy found it difficult to describe the deep joy they felt about their impending motherhood. Bobbie and Andy were much in demand on the sports and regular talk shows, but Bobbie did manage to caddy for Andy for two months before it became too tiring. During that time, Andy won his first two events on the PGA. That opened the door to all the ‘Major’ tournaments on the tour.
The very precocious Randi Lewis, at only a little over 20 has completed her bachelors and masters in chemistry and will soon be starting doctoral work in chemistry at MIT. She is being groomed by The Wizard to run a satellite SRU shop. It will be only a part time, weekend job; however, this is setting the stage for other witches and young wizards to be able to practice their growing magical powers. Randi and Myrna Moscowitz will be doing major genetic and bio-chemical research. Avery Moscowitz has become l’enfant fantastique in physics for his research in controlled fusion. Now the adventure begins. Randi and Silky are alone in the SRU shop.
If you haven’t read the previous stories about Cindy, Bobbie, and the rest and how they arrived where they are now, you should probably read them. Start with 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 — Parts 1 & 2, & Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling.
I have researched the Spell’s—R-Us Universe diligently and cannot find anything that violates it, other than that The Wizard is a bit kinder and gentler than sometimes reported. Don’t get me wrong. Given an opening, The Wizard could resort to some of his more ironic and nasty transformations. I’m sure that could happen at any time.
Holly did an outstanding job of fixing my punctuation errors and occasional wanderings into gibberish. She does a great job figuring out what I really meant to say.
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.
Chapter 1 - Love Happens
Randi looked up as the bell tinkled. The young man who entered was looking here and there, obviously not too sure of himself.
'Why do I always have to get these lost puppies when His Wisdom decides to take a coffee break?' she thought. She looked at him a bit more closely. He was reasonably attractive, twenty-five, twenty-six years old. He was about six-two, six-three, light brown hair, slender, but well muscled and he had made a reasonable attempt to be dressed nicely. The shop always amplified her mind reading ability, and she could see he was a good person. Then she saw who he was shopping for. She did a quick data base search and learned everything she wanted to know about Betty Brown in about two seconds. If she didn't do something, he was going to make a serious mistake. Betty was just about to swoop in and take him down.
"So, Frank, you want a potion to make a certain girl see you in a more attractive light?"
"Well, yes. I was thinking about some perfume, something nice. Say, how do you know that, and how do you know my name?"
"For what it's worth, I'm a witch, and I usually know what the customers are looking for."
"Right, and I'm …."
"You're Frank Deere, a doctoral candidate in physics at Princeton. You're interested in an undergraduate student named Betty Brown, and she won't give you the time of day. At least she hasn’t before now.
"Believe me she's not worth the effort. She has the morals of an alley cat in heat, and that's an insult to cats." Silky, Randi’s familiar, jumped on the counter, and gave Randi a dirty look.
"I'm sorry Silky, I just couldn't think of a better metaphor at the moment.
"You'll have to forgive my friend,” Randi said to Frank. “She gets a little sensitive at times."
"I am not sensitive. There is not a cat around, alley cat or otherwise, who has morals as low as that woman's."
Frank looked at Silky with a bit of disbelief because it was obvious she was talking. "So what is this place? I thought it was just a gift shop, but now I'm not too sure. And, how do you know about Betty? I thought maybe a gift of a fine perfume would be just the thing to let her know that I would like to know her better."
Randi stepped around the counter and stood in front of Frank, who was giving her some appreciative glances. She was about five-nine and built like the proverbial brick pagoda. His eyes had settled on her sapphire blue eyes. "I'm Randi Lewis," she said taking his hand in hers. He could feel the warmth flowing from her into him. Her smile was beautiful.
"What does she have that I don't have? Her hair's bleached; mine is natural. She has implants, this is all me. Her eyes are nearly colorless, she wears blue contacts. She seduces men for favors. I have a Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in chemistry, and will start on my doctorate this fall.
"There's a lot more to tell you, but I think we can talk over a nice dinner this evening. I know you're not doing anything." She handed him a card. "Here's my address and phone number. I'll see you at 7:00. We have reservations at the Pepper Mill at 8:15."
Poor Frank was thunderstruck. One minute he was looking for a gift for someone he wasn’t sure liked him, and the next minute he had a date with a gorgeous blonde who could read his mind, and said she’s a witch. He walked back into the mall, more than slightly dazed. He hadn’t even said he would accept; however, he knew he wanted to know more about the outgoing and beautiful blonde with the talking cat. ‘Shit, the cat really did talk!’ Well, the least he could do was tell her … her name was Randi … he would be glad to take her out.
He turned back and pulled the door open. The store was full of customers. ‘Where in the hell did they come from? Wait a minute, this isn’t the right store. This is a Hallmark Store. What the hell is going on?’ He turned, went back into the mall and looked around. The shop he had entered was nowhere to be seen.
Frank looked at the card she had given him. “Christine Miranda ‘Randi’ Lewis, BS, MS, Witch in Training, Specializing in Potions, Transformations, Spatial and Temporal Distortions. Phone: 555-7676. 1727 Beaver Pond Road. Your GPS will get you there, Frank. I’ll see you at 7:00.” The card was done on very nice stock, and the personalized note as well as the rest was done with engraved printing.
“At it again, I see.”
Randi turned to see The Wizard holding a Grande Latte Mocha from Starbucks.
“Well, he’s nice, and he was about to make a horrible mistake. I couldn’t let him do that.”
“So, are you going to mess with his mind?”
“I promised a long time ago that I would never do that to an innocent, you know that.”
“You failed in your promise, Randi. He’s hopelessly in love with you. You cast a spell that can’t be broken.” The Wizard had a twinkle in his eye. “I’m afraid you are stuck with him.
“Thanks for watching the shop for me. I think you are about ready to take over the branch shop. It will be just operating on weekends, and you will be able to continue your studies. You won’t be getting the high activity locations for a while.
“You need to get ready for your date with Frank, but you’ll have to go out the back door. We’re in Cuernavaca.”
“In love with me; so what am I supposed to do?”
“I imagine that’s entirely up to you, but if I know you, you will do the right thing. Now, you have a dinner date to get ready for.”
Randi grabbed her purse, and with Silky resting on her shoulder, headed for the back door. Of course she couldn’t see Silky wink back at The Wizard and Wolf.
“Well, Wolf, that worked rather nicely, if I say so myself. It will take her a while to realize, probably by 10:00 this evening that she’s in love with him as well. She’ll find out soon enough that he is a carrier. That will be just a little added bonus. Can you imagine a bunch of little ‘Randi’s’ running around? That should be fun.”
“Boss, you didn’t mess with her mind, did you?”
“Absolutely not. Besides, I promised not to. If I ever did, and the spell was somehow to be broken, the results could be tragic. We certainly don’t need that with things going as well as they are.
“Now we have to get ready to open; siesta is about over. We have just discovered that there may be an authentic ‘curandero’ living between here and Taxco. The Mexico City Coven thinks they may have located him. Apparently, he is not aware of his power. If they are right, the consequences could be invaluable.
Frank Deere was from the area, and pretty familiar with many of the newer residential areas at the outskirts of the city. It was strange, because when he turned on the GPS it was already programmed, and it was becoming easier and easier to accept this ‘witch’ thing. He followed the familiar highway and secondary roads. There were tones and verbal instructions before each turn. It was the second time that he was alerted to the change in direction that he realized it wasn’t the regular pleasant GPS voice. It was her voice with all the proper inflections.
“Follow the road around the pond, and just after the bridge, take the second driveway to the right. The Cape Cod Blue salt box is the house.”
There was a little guest parking area, and a pleasant, hedge lined brick walk led to the front door. There were half a dozen cars parked closer to the garage. He didn’t know exactly why, but he had stopped on the way and bought half a dozen golden and white roses mixed with gardenias for her. There was a doorbell button and a lovely brass knocker. He could swear the cast image of a face winked at him as he gently rapped on the strike plate.
It was just a few seconds before the door opened. The woman who opened the door had to be Randi’s sister. She was about the same height and had very similar features. Her hair was golden blonde, and she was very pregnant. “Hi, I’m Cindy Brewer, Randi’s big sister. She should be down shortly.” She extended a nicely manicured hand and firmly grasped his as he took hers. She held on for quite a while.
“My goodness, you are good looking. Well come on in. There are a lot of people to meet. Randi’s big brother, Tom is on a pack trip out west. You’ll meet him later, I’m sure.”
They entered the family room, and he found there was a rather large crowd present. “Okay, everyone, this is Frank Deere, and as you know, he is working on his PhD in Physics at Princeton, and has had the misfortune to meet Randi. I think I’ll start over here." Frank had caught a glance of a tall and equally pregnant redhead as he entered the room. Suddenly, he realized who she was. “Frank, this is Bobbie Anderson and her husband Andy. Bobbie and I have been best friends for more than 20 years.”
“Oh, my gosh, I watched you play at Augusta. You were fabulous. You had come so close before, and to win it the way you did was just spectacular.”
“Well, I had a lot of help from this guy,” she said, giving Andy a kiss. “The nice thing is that he will get to play there next year, and I will get to watch. I’m going to be carrying little Cindy around, so I may not be carrying his bags. I was going to start cutting back pretty soon, anyway. Now that I have won majors on both tours, I’m not sure there’s much left to play for, well just one, but I think I want to be carrying Andy’s bag when he wins his first major.”
Bobbie looked down at the bouquet of roses that Frank was holding rather gently. “You do realize that Randi goes absolutely bonkers over roses? Whether you intended to or not, you are going to make quite an impression.
“She said you met her at the shop. That’s probably important. Not many people enter the shop accidently. There’s usually a reason for it to be wherever it shows up.”
“That has to be the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.” Frank found it very easy to talk to the beautiful redhead. “If I told anyone what happened, they’d lock me up. Randi basically told me I was going to take her out to dinner, and I was so taken with her, I didn’t even tell her I would. I left the shop, and when I realized I hadn’t accepted, I returned to tell her that I would be glad to take her out. I went back in … but it wasn’t the shop. It was a Hallmark store.
“Then there was her business card, really nicely printed; except it was personalized for me.”
“She told you she is a witch?”
“Yes she did. She’s either a witch, or a great hypnotist. For some reason I think that the former may be the case. It just makes a lot of sense. I’ve always felt that there was real magic. There are things going on that can’t be explained through ordinary means, and magic seems to be a logical explanation.”
“Well, you’re correct on both counts. Randi’s a rather special witch, and she’s also an accomplished hypnotist. She’s surprised a lot of us.”
“By ‘us,’ I take it there’s more than one witch around here.”
“You have that right. Cindy and I are also witches ….”
“Please don’t tell me you used magic to win all those tournaments.”
“Absolutely none, my grandmother had a lot to do with that, although I respect golf too much to have ever have used magic to affect my game.
“That gorgeous blonde over there is Randi’s mother. You’ll meet her in a moment. Randi’s little sister, Martha, we call her Marti, is another witch. My mother is a witch. See that gorgeous dark haired girl? That’s Cindy’s husband’s sister. She’s a witch, too. Charli’s very special.
“You have to realize something, Frank. The fact that we are able to tell you these things means you are one of us. You have been brought into this group whether you realize it or not. Well, welcome into the family. You are going to have your hands full with Randi, but I don’t mean that in a negative sense. She is a wonderful young woman, impulsive as hell, but wonderful none-the-less. Her IQ is off the scale, and she needs to be challenged. I have a feeling you are the one who is going to challenge her.
“I am going to put this very bluntly. The fact that you are here means that no one, especially Randi, is going to fuck with your mind. Everything is going to be in the open, above board. There are some evil magical people out there; however, they are not part of this group.”
Their conversation was interrupted by something pushing against Frank’s leg. It was the little black cat he had seen that afternoon in the shop. Next to her was a sleek gray cat. “Would you pick us up? We’re afraid to sit on the floor for fear that our tails might get stepped on.” Shortly, Bobbie and Frank were gently carrying two cats. “Thank you, we get a bit nervous with so many people around. I’m Silky, by the way. I think you knew that, but Randi didn’t introduce us properly this afternoon. She can be so embarrassing some times. This is my sister Chloe. We’re associates of Randi and Bobbie. You’ll meet Queen Maddy in a while.
“In case you didn’t notice, Chloe’s expecting.”
“Silky, that’s really personal. I don’t think he cares about that sort of thing,” Chloe responded, while Bobbie s gently stroked her head and ears.
“I guess congratulations are in order,” Frank was getting into the swing of things. “When is the blessed event?”
“I’m due about a week after Bobbie.”
“When’s that?” Frank could see that although Bobbie was definitely in her third trimester, she wasn’t due for quite a while. He knew that cat pregnancies were just a little over two months, and the math didn’t seem to be working out.
“It will be a little over two months. Associate’s pregnancies are much longer. Marissa and Sally’s associates were not born of associates, so their development took a bit longer. Maddy raised them, they were orphans, but they caught up very quickly. Maddy’s a real good teacher.”
Once again, Frank was distracted as Randi gently took his arm. He turned to see who it was, and a rush of adrenaline caused his face to flush. She was positively beautiful, but then, he knew that. He could feel a stirring that was probably a bit inappropriate; however, it was impossible to deny her sexuality.
“I don’t know why I got these flowers for you. It just seemed to be the right thing to do. I was thinking about what you told me this afternoon, and I think you saved me from making a serious mistake. I guess these are a ‘thank you’.”
“I love roses and gardenias. How did you know?” She kissed his cheek before she found a vase and put them on the coffee table. He warmed to the tips of his ears. For the next 20 minutes she dragged him from relative to relative and friend to friend. Of all the people he met, there were only a few who were not magical; however, there was a connection, and it would take a while to learn about all the details.
Frank was not habitually a very gregarious person. He had tended to hide out in the physics labs where he was very comfortable. He had always hoped to meet and fall in love with someone who would reciprocate his love, and there was something about the somewhat artificially attractive Betty Brown that had caught his attention.
Well, all it had taken was about two seconds with the vivacious Randi to eliminate any attraction that Betty may have had for him. He realized almost immediately that she was as genuine as they came. He felt very confident that he was going to learn a lot about her over the next few hours, days, weeks, months, years? ‘Shit, after tonight I might never see her again, but somehow, the thought of that seems ridiculous.’
Finally, it was time to leave for the restaurant, and it seemed they were floating down the walk toward his car. She was holding onto his arm, but really, they were just together. He held the car door as she pivoted into the front seat. ‘My goodness she has beautiful legs.’ But he already knew that.
He eased the car around so that he could head down the driveway. “I have a feeling that I am taking you away from a family gathering. That’s quite a bunch. Was it someone’s birthday or something?”
“No, they were just there to meet you. Oh, they’ll probably have a little party now that we are gone. Mom called everyone over to meet you when she found out we had a date.”
“Why would she do that? Does she have everyone meet all of your dates? Was I undergoing some sort of test?”
She hesitated …“No, I think I was.”
”ƒ
Chapter 2 — A Quiet Dinner and Some Revelations
The Maitre d’ escorted them to a lovely, out of the way table. A lovely candle was flickering slightly, and it served to accentuate Randi’s lovely features.
The waiter seated them. “Would you like something to drink before you order?”
“Frank, their margaritas are very nice. I would love one.”
“We’ll have two margaritas, up, in a salted ‘Old Fashioned’ glass, no ice, please. Two ounces of tequila, two ounces of Cointreau, one-half ounce of fresh lime juice, one and a half ounces of Rose’s Lime Water: shaken with ice.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I have a feeling you like margaritas, too. That’s quite a recipe.”
“I learned it many years ago, even before I drank one. It’s an old family recipe, and other than being a little sweeter, it is very much like the original margarita. Most margaritas today are pretty watered down, and poor imitations of what the drink was intended to be. One does not gulp these down from a salted beer mug.”
He watched her as she did something with her hand. “I just put a screen of silence around us so we may talk without being overheard. Sometimes, I tend to talk a lot, and it’s just safer this way. There won’t be any secrets between us.
“About Mom inviting everyone over, I haven’t had a very good reputation about dating. I think Mom wants to marry me off, and I have disappointed her with my past boyfriends. I shouldn’t call them that, because none of them were around very long.”
“Did you do something to them?” he asked a bit hesitatingly.
“Not really, I just made them realize I wasn’t the one. They were nice enough, but there wasn’t any future with them. Most of them couldn’t see past my boobs, and getting me between the sheets was their main objective.
“You’re a bit different. I know you find me attractive; however, before I stopped reading your mind, I found you had already gone beyond the sex thing. No one had ever done that before.”
“I remember you said you could read my mind. What am I thinking now?”
“I don’t know. As I said, I shut that off. I’ll take a quick peek if you want me to; however, I will never read your mind unless you ask or call to me.
“Since you asked, you were thinking about asking me to the opera next week, Tosca. I love Puccini. There was also something about taking a backpack trip, but you thought that was being much too forward, and would wait a while before asking.
“Okay, the mind reading is off. The answer is yes, by the way.”
“For the opera?”
“For both: you will find out very soon that I am a bit impulsive. I don’t seem to make many bad decisions. But I make them quickly. My magic talents showed up very early. I did some things when I was six or seven that some adult witches still can’t do. I never did anything very bad, I had thought out everything logically; however, the ease with which I did things surprised everyone. I just did them because I could. As I grew up, I thought things out a bit better, as far as the impact would be on the unsuspecting.”
The waiter showed up with their margaritas. Randi took a sip and raised her eyebrows in approval.
“So tell me about your doctoral project? It sounds very interesting.”
“So, you read that, too?”
“I got that when you first came through the door of the shop. You were thinking about how to focus the magnetic field and lasers so that you could contain the fusion reaction without destroying the vessel, and at the same time, draw off some of the heat to operate the steam turbine.
“You could use about 40 witches; however, they couldn’t concentrate on anything else, and the whole thing shuts down when you have to substitute a witch. They would never go for it. I think you are on the right track though. I think using boron instead of deuterium is definitely the right way to go.”
She looked up to see the waiter approaching. “I think we had better order.”
They eschewed a second margarita in favor of a nice pinot noir.
“I think you need to talk to Avery. He’s doing some interesting things at MIT.”
“Avery? Dr. Mankowitz? That guy is amazing. How do you know him?”
“He and Myrna are part of the group. They couldn’t be there tonight, but you will meet them soon enough. They’ve been part of the family since they were in high school, and are one of our main connections to the scientific world. That’s why I’m going for my PhD in chemistry.
“The world of magic has for centuries divorced itself from the physical sciences. We know now that what magic we do is very strongly connected to chemistry and physics. It’s just that our abilities to change space-time on a small scale allow us to do what physics has revealed concerning how the universe works. I can do a lot to alter space-time; however, my other strength is in potions. We’re trying to quantify what happens in some potions to bring about what they do. Many potions are just links to the world of magic. They are sort of like an order at a fast food restaurant. Ingesting a potion is like putting in an order at the register. The potion taker doesn’t see what happens in the ‘kitchen’, he just gets the results. All sorts of twists in time and space take place to make the results happen.
“Now we find that nanotechnology is a major player. I’m trying to find how the mixing of various organic materials ends up creating nanites that affect the potion taker’s DNA the way they do. There are so many ways that magic happens. Some of it is mind control; but a lot of it is chemistry and physics. Those of us who have the ability, seem to be able to do things on a sub-atomic level to facilitate the changes. There’s so much, and I am going to love telling you about it.”
Frank shook his head like he was trying to clear out the cobwebs. “Why are you telling me all of this? This stuff is certainly not common knowledge. In the wrong hands, I‘m sure this knowledge could be misused.”
“I’m telling you this because I can. You’re the first one from the outside that I’ve ever been able to discuss this with. I never even wanted to talk about this sort of thing with any of the others. The fact that I can talk with you means a lot. The Wizard, he runs that shop by the way, came back right after you left. They already know about you.
“We learned a long time ago to not question what’s going on in the magic world. My big sister and her husband are major players. We just found out what was going on there. ‘They’, and I’m not too sure who ‘they’ are, are trying to save magic in this universe. It has been wiped out in many places: sometimes because of evil, and sometimes because of gene pool dilution. That’s been the problem here.”
She paused for a moment as the revelation hit her. Their attraction for each other might be natural; however, their meeting had to have been arranged. They had been set up. She suddenly smiled.
Her quiet giggle wasn’t missed by Frank.
“What’s so funny?”
“The Wizard told us many years ago that there was no such thing as an accident. All events are just an expression of probabilities coming together. Our meeting today was no accident. They made sure the shop would be in the mall when you got there. They wanted us to meet, and I think I know what the reason is.” She paused briefly. “Were there any alleged witches in your family history?”
“My great grandmother many generations removed was almost burned at the stake for witchcraft. They say she was saved by someone who put out the fire and disappeared with her. She allegedly moved to Albania from France. The story was written inside the cover of an old Bible.”
“I thought so. Let’s finish dinner. I have a feeling that Mom will be waiting up for us when we get back.
“You’re a romantic, aren’t you?”
“Guilty.”
“What do you think about falling in love at first sight?”
“Well, never having been in love before today, I guess I would have to say I believe in it. What about you?”
“Yeah, me too: they can’t do anything about that, by the way. It ruins the magic.
“I guess that means we are stuck with each other. By the way, all of our daughters will be witches. It should be a lot of fun.”
He kissed her before she sat in the car. She was as eager as he was. She thought about the joke about the guy who picks up a woman in a bar. She warns him that she is a witch, and that he needs to behave himself. Sure enough, at midnight, she turns him into a motel. ‘Not tonight, but soon,’ she thought.
Next time: Frank meets The Wizard who verifies Randi’s guess. Against her mother’s advice, Randi tells Frank about her origin. They meet his parents and Randi reminisces about growing up with her best friend Ginny, and the time that Ginny started remembering her past as a department store Santa.
By Portia Bennett
Randi and Frank had a very enjoyable and interesting dinner. They have already acknowledged what The Wizard predicted. They are very much in love with each other. Randi knows that she can’t keep any secrets from Frank. She is going to have to tell him about her origin. Her fears are never realized. Randi meets Frank’s parents and is immediately accepted.
If you haven’t read the previous stories about Cindy, Bobbie, and the rest and how they arrived where they are now, you should probably read them. Start with 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 — Parts 1 & 2 & Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling.
I have researched the Spell’s—R-Us Universe diligently and cannot find anything that violates it, other than that The Wizard is a bit kinder and gentler than sometimes reported. Don’t get me wrong. Given an opening, The Wizard could resort to some of his more ironic and nasty transformations. I’m sure that could happen at any time.
Holly did an outstanding job of fixing my punctuation errors and occasional wanderings into gibberish. She does a great job figuring out what I really meant.
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.
Chapter 3 — Family Secrets
When they embraced again at the front door, the kiss had even more passion in it than the first one. It went on and on. Finally, they pulled apart, and Randi looked up to see his eyes fixed on hers.
“Mom’s in the kitchen with a guest. Would you like some coffee? She made a big pot.”
“Does your mother always wait up for you?”
“No, I can handle myself quite well. We girls have had some interesting encounters over the years and we have given The Wizard a lot to do. I think Mom just wants to talk with us. Ever since she found out about the power she has, she has taken an even greater interest in the welfare of her children. She is still a bit resentful about what happened to Cindy. She understands why it had to be done, but she has never forgiven them for the hurt they did to her. We’ll explain that situation soon enough.
“We’ll go in, in a minute. Do you think you can get rid of that thing by then, or do you want a little help? I’m afraid this is not the place to do it like I should. I can make it just go away if you want.”
“Well since it is partially your fault, I guess it would be alright if you did.”
Two seconds later, the rather prominent lump in his trousers returned to normal.
They saw the light from the kitchen as they entered the foyer and heard the clink of spoons and coffee cups over a muffled conversation. A rattle of toe nails on the hardwood floor preceded a huge canine coming around the corner. He was grinning as dogs do, and his tail was wagging vigorously.
“My goodness, that’s a big dog!”
“Actually, I’m a wolf, but that’s an easy mistake to make. I trust you had an enjoyable evening?”
“Aren’t you the talkative one?” Randi laughed. “Yes, we had a very nice evening. I’m sorry there weren’t any bones for you.”
“Well, the silent treatment hasn’t really worked since I blew my cover that Christmas. So, I just limit my talking to the magical and their friends. Next time, get a couple of porterhouses. I really like those.”
Rounding the corner, they came upon Marissa and The Wizard enjoying a cup of coffee and some pastries. The Wizard stood as they entered.
“Your Wisdom, this is Frank Deere. But, of course you knew that.
“Frank, this is His Wisdom, The Wizard. We think his name is Aloysius Bettencourt, but he’s never confirmed that, so ‘His Wisdom’ will have to do.”
The Wizard extended his hand and he and Frank exchanged firm handshakes.
“I think this is quite an honor for having known this family for only a few hours. That’s certainly an interesting shop you have.”
“I’m glad you got to see it today. I’m afraid I’m not much of a house keeper, but Randi always neatens things up for me when she’s working there. I have trouble getting used to that. I always felt that the dust and cobwebs added to the ambience.
“Okay, about today: as Randi guessed earlier, you were both set up. We never know how these things will work out, or even if they will, but hoped you would meet some day, and the opportunity was there, so we just facilitated things a bit. If things hadn’t worked out, you might have gone your separate ways, probably never to meet again, and never be the wiser. As Randi told you earlier this evening, we cannot ‘mess’ with your minds. Love either happens, or it doesn’t.
“Now about this other thing: I knew your great grandmother many times removed. The story has been embellished a bit over the years, but I did help her escape from the prison. You are the last one in that line to carry the magic trait. If this hadn’t worked out, we might have tried to find another witch or carrier for you to meet. However, our hands are tied as far as magically creating love or forcing marriages. There have been a number of failures over the years, and several magic lines have died out. Real love is one bit of magic we have never really figured out.”
Randi looked at her mother and noticed some tears. “Mom, I think you are going to have to plan another wedding.”
Marissa looked at Frank who gave a little nod.
“We’ve hardly had time to talk about any plans, but I think we both know it’s right. Frank needs to know more about us, though. We might scare him off when he finds out how strange we are.”
The Wizard finished his coffee and said goodbye. He and Wolf left by the back door. Had anyone bothered to watch, they would have seen the pair disappear as they neared the driveway.
“Frank, do you have anything going on tomorrow?”
“If I did, it’s forgotten.”
“I think I would like to take a little drive. I need to show you something.”
The little cemetery was a few miles out of the way. It was well maintained, and the plots were shaded by maples and elms. Randi led Frank up the slight hill to the grave. A beautiful spray of fresh flowers was in an urn at the foot of the grave, and the fragrance of roses and gardenias filled the air.
“My parents paid for the plot and marker. Mom was pregnant with me at the time Randy passed away. He had been in a war overseas, and it had been very difficult for him. He’d seen many deaths, and he’d seen extreme heroism and bravery. When he came home, he was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He became homeless as a matter of choice, and wandered for most of the rest of his life.”
“What war was that? I don’t recall any wars at that time.”
“There weren’t any; at least not in this universe. That’s what that comment means. Randy was born in a different universe, a parallel Earth. Something happened: we think it was a combination of things, including a lightning strike that caused him to fall into this world. Cindy and Bobbie, not yet in their teens, took him under their wing, so to speak. He was a real mess. He wandered all over the place and was very sick. Some bad booze had destroyed his kidneys, and he had an inoperable brain tumor.
“Mom and Dad took him in, and it was only a few weeks before he died in the guest room. Before he died, he said those were the happiest days of his life.”
Frank looked at the marker: Randal Christopher Mantooth. He looked back at Randi and then back to the marker. Christine Miranda (Randi) Lewis: he could see it on her card.
“You … you were Randal Mantooth?” The question was almost a statement.
“No, I am Randal Mantooth, but I am Randi Lewis, too. I am that person. You have to understand that I was always a woman, even then. It was just that I was in the wrong body. I lived with it pretty well, but the PTSD and the brain tumor drove me to near insanity. Cindy and Bobbie saved me. They were only ten or eleven at the time.
“When they knew I was going to die, The Wizard arranged for my spirit to be placed in the embryo Mom was carrying. So in a way, I was a witness to my own funeral. Cindy and Bobbie thought their friend was gone forever. I called them my angels.
“I had to die. The Wizard’s magic couldn’t save me in my body. I hadn’t been here long enough to be assimilated into this universe: my atoms were a mix of two universes. Any attempts to cure me with magic would have literally turned me into hamburger. It would not have been pleasant.
“I started remembering things about the time I was four or five. Only Mom and The Wizard knew up to then what had happened. Needless to say, Cindy and Bobbie were ecstatic when they found out.
Her voice started quavering, “What do you think?” She barely got the last sentence out before she started sobbing.
He held her firmly and protectively, bestowing gentle kisses on her forehead, softly pushing her hair away from her eyes. He gave her his handkerchief, and she blew her nose.
“Frank, I don’t want to lose you. I’ve never been able to get close to anyone outside the family before now. I felt I had to tell you even though Mom didn’t want me to. She said it would be too much too soon, but if I didn’t tell you everything, I’d be scared to death that you’d find something out and not understand what we are about.”
“I think I am a very lucky man to have found you. Look at it from my perspective. I decided to go shopping for something to tell a girl that I might be interested in starting a relationship. I entered a strange little shop and was confronted by the most beautiful woman I have ever met, and she knew all these things about me. She was so warm and friendly. God, Randi, when you took my hand, I was a lost cause. Whether you intended to or not you had me at that moment.
“After telling me everything that is wrong about Betty, and when I thought about it, I knew you were dead on, you told me we had reservations for dinner. You programmed my GPS to make sure I got to your home. I met your family and friends and they are all magical and wonderful too. How could I not accept everything?
“Then wonderful little Silky and Chloe greeted me and demanded my attention. This is fabulous, and I don’t ever want this magic to end. If I had been afraid of what you folks are about, I would have run like hell yesterday afternoon. Lose me? I don’t think so. You would probably have to turn me into a frog to get rid of me.”
He paused for a moment and then somewhat seriously asked, “Can you do that?”
“Probably, but it’s not allowed. Any corporal transformations involving humans have to be approved. The Wizard does most of those, or at least he is the facilitator. As far as what anyone sees or experiences, he is the one that does them.” She didn’t tell him that her mother was now also allowed to do transformations under special circumstances.
“I do a lot with spatial distortions. You could walk from my bedroom closet to the Schmedlaps house in one step. I did a little trick with a pet door so that there is no space between the two halves. I figured that out when I was about six. I could put a basketball court inside a bedroom. I have to be very careful about that sort of thing, though.”
“Wait a minute. I just realized something. You weren’t born until ….”
“May fifth, 2008: yeah, I’m not 21, but remember, I’ve experienced nearly fifty years. I guess I could have you jailed for serving liquor to a minor, though. I received my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in four years. I tested out for all my lower division courses. I signed up for them all, but I was doing research and taking some of the classes I didn’t have a good background for. I did all the class work, but I just never went to most of them except for the tests.
“I could have done it for most of my upper division courses, too, but they sort of frowned on that. I still spent most of my time with Myrna and Avery.”
“So you graduated from MIT. I was wondering. Four years for two degrees in chemistry at MIT, wow! That’s quite an accomplishment.” Frank was beginning to realize what a treasure he had found. “Wait a minute; you started college when you were 16?”
“I was doing high school at the same time. I kinda finished everything early. You have to realize it wasn’t work. I had a lot of fun, and it kept me out of trouble; well most of the time, anyway. There’s so much to learn.
“Could we just go for a drive for a while?” Frank was holding her hand firmly in his as they leisurely strolled down the gentle slope. They were closer than ever. There was still a month of summer left, at least by the calendar, but a few leaves were already giving up, having released their grips on the trees, and were chasing each other across the path in the breeze. The two lovers didn’t notice them. “How fast do you want this to go? I’ll finish the work on my doctorate later this year. Things are really almost done on that. I know there is a lot of work that I want to continue in the area I’m working on. You’re just starting work on yours. It’s going to be a busy few years.
“I’ve thought about coming to, or working jointly with MIT to continue some post doctoral work. I’ve even sent a letter to Dr. Mankowitz concerning some things we’d seemed to be converging on. I think there is a chance that I can get a professorship there.”
“I think you’re asking, do we want to get married, and if we did, how soon?” Any doubts Randi might have had had disappeared. She was more certain than ever about what she desired.
“I think you’re right; however, I better make it official before your spell wears off, not that I think it ever will.” He stopped at a concrete bench that was in the shade of a large sugar maple. He had her sit, and he sat next to her. Taking her hand in his, he gazed into her misting eyes. “Randi, I can’t imagine my life going on without you in it. I’ve been looking for you for a long time; however, I’ve been looking in the wrong places. We both know this is fast, but I think we know it’s right. Would you please honor me by being my partner for life? Christine Miranda Lewis, Randi, would you grant me the distinct pleasure of being my wife?”
She nodded, “Yes, but why did you take so long to ask?”
”ƒ
Chapter 4 — New Acquaintances
Frank’s parents lived in a nice older neighborhood that was considerably closer to the center of the city than where the Lewis’s lived. The streets were lined with giant American Elms that towered above the 1920’s bungalows (Dutch elm disease never entered the US in this universe). The neighborhood was one of those that had survived city flight and was now very desirable for the upwardly mobile, and it wasn’t unusual for someone to put several hundred thousand dollars into updating one of the bungalows. The neighborhood was so desirable that it wasn’t that unusual to see someone pay close to a million dollars for a property, and then raze it to construct a new larger, more elaborate home in its place.
“I grew up in this neighborhood and it still feels like home, even though I’ve been away for much of the last eight years. Mom and Dad bought here before it became really popular. We were very fortunate. My brother and sister were just starting school when I came along. Mom was teaching school. She still is, and Dad’s a neurosurgeon.”
After leaving the cemetery, they had just driven around for a while. Randi had raised the center arm rest and moved in next to Frank. It was not the most comfortable spot on the front seat, but Randi just wanted to be closer to him. She had spent a sleepless night, tossing and turning, and repeating the previous day’s events over and over in her mind. Falling in love had not been on her punch list, but there it was and she couldn’t deny it.
Now they were driving down a pleasantly shaded lane to meet his family. Randi was very comfortable with how she felt about Frank. She knew her judgment of him was correct; however, she had no idea how his parents and older siblings would react.
They finally turned into a driveway of a pleasant cottage that could have come out of the English countryside, but for its closeness to the other homes on the block. A middle aged couple was working in the garden. Frank’s father was edging the lawn with a string trimmer, and his mother was getting rid of some unsightly branches in the azaleas. She turned as Frank shut off the car.
Realizing who the woman was, Randi had the most pleasant surprise. Up until that moment, she had not wondered who Frank’s parents might be. There she was, hardly changed over the last thirteen years. Frank’s mother had been her second grade teacher. Randi wondered if Mrs. Deere would remember her.
Frank’s mother removed her gloves, sticking them into the pocket of her gardening apron, a smile growing on her face as she appraised Randi. Suddenly, there was recognition.
“Oh, my dear boy, what have you done?” she said enfolding Randi in a firm hug.
She released the hug, but refused to let go of Randi’s hands. “So, my dear, are you just as out of control as you were in second grade?
“Frank, you probably don’t remember my talking about her, but this young lady caused me more tears and smiles than the rest of the students in her class put together.”
By this time Franks father had approached and was giving Randi the once over. “Harold, this is ‘Little’ Randi Lewis; that precocious little imp I used to tell you about.”
Harold extended his hand, “Harold Deere. Now I see why Frank was so eager to leave this morning. It’s hot out here. Let’s go in a get some fresh iced tea. We just made a fresh jug. Besides, my fun meter is just about pegged out for the day. Let me put these tools away and I’ll be right in.”
“So young lady, how did you and Frank meet? He came back from shopping yesterday walking about three feet off the floor. He said he had a date with the most remarkable young woman, but wouldn’t say anything else.”
Randi and Frank’s mother (“Call me Flo.”) were sitting at the little table in the breakfast nook. Frank had gone to take care of something, and Harold was taking a quick shower.
“It was at the shop where I work part time. I help a friend out on weekends. He came in looking for a gift for someone, and we just hit it off. The next thing I knew, we had a dinner date.” Details might come later.
“So, you are in retail? I would have thought you would be in college or working in some laboratory by now. You had such great potential.”
“Oh no, I just do that to help out. I have a Bachelors and Masters in chemistry and have started work on my PhD. I’ve just been resting over the summer.”
“Well that’s more like the Randi I thought you were. So now that you’ve know Frank for all of a day, what do you think of him? He’s a bit of a stuffed shirt at times.”
“Well, ….” Randi wasn’t sure how to put it in words. This was her future mother-in-law; at least she hoped she was. “Erm, Frank and I are in love. We realized that rather early on yesterday. I don’t think there was one thing we didn’t connect on. I know that sounds preposterous, but it’s true.”
Surprisingly, Flo didn’t seem to be the least bit perturbed. “So, did he propose already? Harold proposed to me on our first date. I didn’t accept, but we continued to date, and I never dated anyone else. He was such a … I guess today you would call him a nerd, but such a sweet nerd.”
“So, you didn’t fall in love with him right away?”
“Oh no, he had me, figuratively, on that first date. He was going to medical school, and I waited about a month before I let him seduce me. We both knew for sure by then. Frank’s brother and sister didn’t have very long engagements either; however, Frank never seemed to connect with anyone. Oh, he talked about some undergraduate at Princeton, but I don’t think he had dated her.
“I guess I’m rambling a bit. So, did he propose?”
“Yes, he did, and rather sweetly, I might add.”
“And, you accepted?”
“Definitely: I scolded him for being so slow about it.”
“He’s a good boy. You won’t be sorry.”
“I already know that. You know how quick I am to make decisions, and you also know that even in second grade, I didn’t make many mistakes. I know he’s the right one, and I hope you feel the same about me.
“Oops, here they come.”
“So, I imagine Mom has revealed all my secrets,” Frank said as he pulled up a chair while pouring a glass of tea.”
“I don’t think there are any secrets worth revealing; at least not at this time.” She knew she had probably said too much, but his parents would have to know someday.
They mostly made small talk for the next hour. Frank, too, knew that Randi and her families and friends magical background would have to come out sooner or later.
“You had a friend whom you were very close to, if I remember correctly,” Flo was reminiscing again.
“That would be Ginny Chronister. We don’t see each other that often, but we talk on the internet almost daily. She’s finishing up her teaching credentials in California. She married her high school sweetheart when they were in college, and they have a little boy. They started quickly. She balanced raising a child with getting an education. Her husband has just completed a degree in wine culture. They live in Modesto, and she is happy beyond imagination.”
Flo’s question brought back many happy memories.
Randi, Charli and Ginny had been having a sleep over at the Lewis’s home. Randi had seen to it that Ginny got her ‘sea legs’ when she had returned to school after that fateful Christmas when a dying old man, a store Santa, had become Ginny (Virginia) to replace the original Ginny who had died of the swine flu several weeks before. The Wizard had Ginny’s DNA from a hair he had lifted from her mother’s purse, but he didn’t have some of her early memories. He gathered what he could from her parents and brother, and he also had installed Randi’s memories of her from before she died. He didn’t tell Randi until several years later what he had done. When he did, Randi kissed him. He used to try to avoid those displays, but Cindy had cured him of it many years before. The Wizard had also installed some generic memories, the types he thought little girls should have.
Ginny did have the memories of her previous life; however, they had been hidden away until she was old enough to be able to handle them. There was no reason to destroy the old memories, however she just didn’t need to be bothered with them until she had had the chance to grow up as the girl she had been all along.
Early on, she remembered that Cindy and Bobbie had been Santa’s helpers. The thing was, many of her memories were a bit like a dream. She seemed to be a lot more involved with Santa than just a little girl sitting on Santa’s lap in Toyland. There were a few times it was almost as if she were Santa. Well dreams were always a bit strange, anyway.
Eight years later, Cindy and Bobbie had been married for four years. Cindy was just finishing medical school and Don was in his first year of practicing law. Bobbie was making a name for herself on the LPGA circuit, having already won twenty-five tournaments. Her startling career was really just starting. Her husband, Andy, was playing on the PGA tour. He hadn’t won yet, but he was doing quite well. They picked their tournaments and would sometimes caddy for each other, especially for the important events. Bobbie had already won all five of the ‘Major’ tournaments on the LPGA, and had repeated winning three of them.
The girls had had dinner with the entire Lewis family. Randi’s older brother Tom was taking a break from his work on his Master’s degree. Stan Jr. was going into Jr. High School the next year, and Martha Louise (Marti) had just finished first grade. She was already showing some of the talent that Randi had shown early on.
Cindy and Don had made the trip from Boston. There were a few weeks before Cindy would start her residency, and she and Don had arranged to take some time off. They would be going to their little retreat out west in two days. Cindy had been very persuasive when she had talked to Don’s supervisor at the law firm. It wasn’t normal to give a junior member much time off; however, no one seemed to mind. They really did need some personal time together away from their nest in Boston.
Ginny, Charli and Randi were carrying on like they usually did, when Ginny suddenly got a funny look on her face. She was considerably quieter for the remainder of the dinner.
Ginny had always been boisterous and a bit of a dare taker, probably something picked up through her association with Randi. She was an outgoing, vivacious young lady and some would say she was as cute as a bug. She was just a little over five feet four inches tall, dark haired with brown eyes, slender with a pert bosom, and legs to die for. She loved to wear tight Levis that accentuated her delightful behind.
Charli was also very outgoing and had the good fortune of having Lucy Brewer and Randi as ‘big sisters’. Charli and Lucy went to a different school than Randi and Ginny’s. Randi, a year older than Charli, had been given strict orders not to interfere with Charli’s magic training; however, when the two got together, there was quite a bit of magic interchange. The one rule that Randi never violated was that she never advanced Charli’s training beyond the point that The Wizard, Marissa, and Sally’s training had taken her. Randi was not beyond showing her some shortcuts though. The opinion among Charli’s mentors was that she was going to be a very skilled witch.
After dinner, the three BFF retreated to Randi’s bedroom. They had been going to experiment with makeup, and were just getting out Randi’s stash of makeup when Silky, Petra and Selene trotted into the bedroom from Randi’s closet. “Hi girls, what’s going on?”
“Petra wanted to see Cindy and Don. She missed them the last time they were here. Is Maddy down stairs?”
“She was hiding behind the couch last I looked.”
“Here I am,” said the beautiful, short legged little cat as she came through the door. “Hi, Ginny, hi Charli.”
“Er, hi Maddy.” Ginny turned, a look of disbelief on her face.
“Uh, Randi, since when do cats talk?”
“Oh, they always could talk. Well, at least Maddy, Silky, Petra, Selene, and Chloe can talk. You know Chloe; she’s Bobbie’s cat.”
“Well, yeah, but they never talked before.”
“They did, but they just never talked when you were around. Something happened tonight, and I think I know what it was. You’re starting to remember things, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, it’s strange. I’ve been having some weird dreams. I was looking at Cindy tonight, and suddenly I remembered her and Bobbie working with me. I think I was real sick and there was this guy who looked like Albus Dumbledore.”
“Well actually, they’re just cousins, but there is a resemblance. Yeah, you were real sick. You were dying. Do you remember who you were?”
“I … I think I was an old man. I … I was Santa Claus at Dillard’s. I’d been doing it for years. Cindy and Bobbie started working with me, then one afternoon they took me back to that old man’s office in the back room.”
“We call him His Wisdom to his face. He’s known as The Wizard, and he is a great friend.”
“They told me I was dying, but if I wanted to, they could fix it so that I could be the girl I always knew I was. I think I said yes, and the next thing I knew, Barry and Mommy and Daddy were there and they took me home.
“After Christmas, I went back to school. I was kinda lost and scared, but you took my hand and kept me from getting too lost ….
“That really did happen, didn’t it?”
“It really did, Ginny. It really did. You don’t have to remember if you don’t want to. I know this. You were a great Santa Claus. Everyone loved you. There were several hundred people at your funeral. Cindy still hasn’t figured out how they did that. According to all the records, you passed away in your sleep Christmas Eve and were buried next to your wife.”
“Is that why I hardly remember anything before I was six?”
“You have to realize that ‘they’, but please don’t ask me who ‘they’ are, had to do a lot to make this work. The original Ginny died from Swine flu. There was a really nasty outbreak, and it was really bad for some young people. They fixed it so that as far as the world was concerned, Ginny didn’t die. You just were very sick. You got encephalitis from the flu, but you recovered; however, you had suffered some minor brain damage, and that accounted for your memory loss.”
“How do you know all this?”
“I figured a lot of it out on my own, but they told me everything later on when I asked them to. Ginny, I’m a witch. Charli’s a witch. My sisters are witches. Bobbie is, too. So are my mom and Bobbie’s mom. The cats are our familiars or associates. The reason I can tell you this is because it’s time.
“I want you to meet someone.” Randi led Ginny to her computer.
“Your Wisdom, do you have a moment?”
The screen flickered to life. “Sure Randi, what’s going on? Oh, hi Ginny, how are you and that big brother of yours?”
“Barry’s in college, but he’s home on summer break. Omigosh, it is you! I remember you at the store. I’m remembering all sorts of things all of a sudden.”
“Does that bother you? I can fix it if it does.”
“Can you fix it so that my memories are there if I need them? I don’t want them there just under the surface. I’m a girl, and that’s the most important thing.”
“Okay, it’s done. If you need the knowledge from that other life, it will be there for you, and of course if you and Randi or the rest of this group want to talk about it with you, you will be able to.
“Randi, don’t overdo the makeup. You and Ginny are very beautiful without a lot of help. That goes for you, too, Charli. I didn’t see you there. Just be natural. That will always be the best way for you. Ginny, if you ever have any questions about anything, just ask for me at your computer. I’ve fixed it so you may reach me. Don’t forget this: Bobbie’s grandmother lives in Visalia, California. She will be there for you, too.” With that, the screen went dark.
Ginny never talked about it again, but Randi knew she never forgot what happened. Randi was Ginny’s Maid of Honor, and Bobbie and Cindy were bridesmaids. Ginny’s family wondered why the older women were asked to take part, but Ginny explained that they had always been close to her, and always would be. That was the end of the discussion. No one questioned her about the old man who sat at the rear of the sanctuary with his rather large dog. The old man and the bride hugged for a long time at the reception, and the dog had a very large piece of wedding cake.
Every year, Ginny was a volunteer ‘elf’ for the local department store Santa.
Next time: Randi and Frank spend a fabulous weekend in New York City. They become closer and closer. Frank has a very special surprise for Randi. Danger and evil are lurking just around the corner — literally.
By Portia Bennett
Off to New York City and a very romantic weekend. Enough said there. This section is a definite ‘R’, but it’s not prurient. These two young adults just happen to be very physically attracted to each other, and they are very much in love. Frank coaxes Randi into Tiffany’s after the opera. I wonder why he did that? If all works out, theirs is going to be a very short engagement. That does beg the question, though. Somebody is watching them.
Does anyone want to venture a guess of the name of the hotel where they are staying? It’s very nice.
If you haven’t read the previous stories about Cindy, Bobbie, and the rest and how they arrived where they are now, you should probably read them. Start with 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 — Parts 1 & 2 & Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling.
I have researched the Spell’s—R-Us Universe diligently and cannot find anything that violates it, other than that The Wizard is a bit kinder and gentler than sometimes reported. Don’t get me wrong. Given an opening, The Wizard could resort to some of his more ironic and nasty transformations. I’m sure that could happen at any time.
Holly did an outstanding job of fixing my punctuation errors and occasional wanderings into gibberish. She does a great job figuring out what I really meant.
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.
Chapter 5 — A weekend in New York
“Mom, Frank asked me to go to the opera with him this weekend. He has two tickets for the Saturday matinee performance of Tosca at the MET.”
“That’s nice. Are you going down on Friday?”
“Yes, we’re going to leave around noon.”
“I take it you will be using precautions.”
“Mother! You and Cindy taught me what to do a long time ago. I’m safe, but as soon as we are married, my system is being turned on. We’ve talked about it, and we know we want to start a family soon. I think we can work things out with MIT. They’ll just have to accept the fact that I am going to have children.”
“Well, I am trying to be realistic about this. You are a grown woman; you are in love with a very handsome young man, and I don’t think you have any intention of remaining celibate. I guess it’s just my motherly concern popping up. I remember when Cindy and Don went off for that weekend after Christmas. They were only seventeen, but so much older in so many ways. I guess you are, too.
“If I had gone to New York with your father to see an opera before we were married, I’m sure we would have slept together. Come to think of it, that’s exactly what we did.” Marissa got a bit of a dreamy look. “That was a wonderful weekend.”
The hotel was just east of 5th Avenue, and Randi could see the trees in Central Park as she stood beneath the awning as the porter retrieved their bags. He followed them into the pleasant lobby of the small but very fashionable hotel.
“Good afternoon, Sir, may I help you?” The gentleman behind the desk had a delightfully affected accent.
“Yes, I am Frank Deere, and I believe you have a reservation for us.”
“Yes, here it is,” he proclaimed after searching the computer for a minute. His nice name tag proclaimed he was the hotel manager. “I see there has been a change. Unfortunately there was an incident with the plumbing, and the adjoining room is no longer available. We’ve given you an upgrade at no additional cost to one of our suites. I think you will find it quite acceptable.”
They were escorted by the manager to the tenth floor. The luggage would follow. He opened the door to a sumptuous living room. They could see a wet bar, not a mini bar, a huge HD television in the sitting area, and another across from a small dining table. A huge bouquet of flowers towered over a plate of fruit and cheese, and a sweating, chilled bucket that contained what had to be a bottle of champagne.
By this time, their bags had arrived and the manager led them into an equally large bedroom that had another huge television. After explaining the operation of the televisions and closet safe, the manager and bellhop departed.
“I think we should have some champagne,” Randi proclaimed as she lifted the chilled bottle from the nuggets of ice and handed it to Frank. He deftly eased the cork from the bottle with the appropriate report. She held the two flutes for him as he filled them with the effervescent liquid. That was just about how she felt — effervescent.
The drive had been very pleasant although the traffic had picked up considerably as they neared Queens. Their conversation had gone all over the spectra, though Frank never brought up Randi’s transformation. He had thought about it during the week, and he realized that it just made Randi that much more special. He was not yet aware of the other transformations that had occurred. His GPS, its voice had returned to the original voice, had unerringly brought him to the hotel.
The view from their balcony gave them a slice of Central Park, Madison and 5th Avenue to the west, and Park Avenue to the east. The street in front of the hotel was lined with dark green chestnut trees. The weather was relatively cool for a summer afternoon, as they sat in the opening of the French doors listening to the sounds of the city. The bottle of champagne did not last very long.
Randi stood and motioned for Frank to follow her. “Come on.” She led him to the bedroom where she pulled him down for a passionate kiss. There didn’t seem to be any particular order of events over the next few minutes. There were many kisses, and articles of clothing seemed to just fall where they may. They found their way to the luxurious bath. Frank turned on the water as Randi excused herself to use the WC. She returned and noticed that Frank was still quite rampant. She sensed his discomfort. Smiling, she gently touched him. A look of relief spread across his face as his tumescence subsided and he retreated to the WC to take care of things.
When he re-entered the shower, she handed him a bar of the luxurious hotel soap and then led his hands over her smooth body. She did the same to him. Over the next few minutes they mapped each other. She was soft as only a woman can be, but underneath the softness was a firm, well muscled body. Randi was no lightweight and she was proud of it. She loved sports, and her brother-in-law had taught her to be a better than average soccer player. Frank, too, was athletic. He was a low handicap golfer, and an excellent baseball player. He had gravitated to racquet-ball as a graduate student, and was seldom beaten. Randi’s early assessment of his body had been right on. He still retained his washboard abdomen and well defined musculature.
Randi’s explorations had quickly revived him, and as far as arousal was concerned, she was right with him. After drying off, he led her to the bed, and he was in charge. Randi was in a bit of a rush, but he would have nothing of it. He was slow and deliberate, gently kissing her as he caressed her sides and breasts. He lightly stroked her thighs, working his way toward her beautiful flower. His fingers gently slid around but never entered her, gently teasing the juncture of her thighs and lower abdomen. He played homage to her breasts, gently teasing the diamond hard points with his tongue.
When he entered her, she came almost instantly. Her head twisted back and forth as she started gasping. She suddenly broke out in perspiration that covered her entire body, only seconds later to be covered in goose bumps. She fiercely pulled Frank to her, but as she gradually relaxed, he started caressing the deepest parts of her body, slowly drawing out, then thrusting gently back into her depths. Soon she was reciprocating his motion. This time they came together.
“I take it you don’t mind that we don’t have adjoining rooms,” he said as her fingers gently explored him and teased his nipples.
“No, this arrangement is quite acceptable. What makes you think I would have slept in that other room, anyway?
“I guess I had a little flash of uncertainty. I know how I feel about you, and I’m pretty sure how you feel about me. I just didn’t want to look like I was assuming too much too soon.”
“The rooms were adjoining. That certainly didn’t require much assumption.”
“That just happened. I asked for two rooms close together.”
“Wait right here, big boy. I need to show you something.”
He watched her as she slide out of bed, and with grace of a lioness, went to the living room and the large vase of flowers. She pulled out a small card he hadn’t paid any attention to before. Her beauty captured, no demanded his attention. There was nothing self-conscious about her as she returned to the bed, but for some reason, he realized that her openness was for him and him alone. She handed the card to him.
It was signed “Stan” and “Marissa”
She snuggled up to him. The feeling of her body pressed against his caused shivers up and down his spine.
“Mom was a late comer as a witch, but she has caught up quite well. She is very, very good, and the neat thing is, she loves being a witch. She’s the Vice President of the New England Coven. I’m sure she made the hotel think that there was a problem with the room, and then encouraged them to upgrade your reservation. When we check out, I’m sure we will find that she has already paid the bill. The hotel won’t lose anything. I’m sure the other rooms are already filled. With the reputation this hotel has, they probably had a waiting list.”
“What did I do to deserve you?” Frank gave her a kiss that was rather vigorously returned.
“Deserving has nothing to do with it. We are just right for each other. It took me a couple of hours to be sure of that, but I knew it about half way through that margarita.
“I think you know that I wasn’t a virgin: I was a bit adventuresome for a while many years ago, but my relationships were rather meaningless. I never, and I mean never, had what happened to me that I just had happen with you. You made love to me. No one else ever will.”
Frank kissed her forehead, and then kissed her lips. “You may read my mind if you wish, but what we just experienced has to be the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me. I don’t know how to describe it. I am happier now than I have ever been.
“Let’s get married soon. I received a rather long email from Dr. Mankowitz this morning. He is offering me a position contingent on my degree and he wants to work with me on the controlled fusion project. He knows about us, and said Cindy recommended me. I think that was tongue in cheek. I think he was saying that he knows I know about all of you.
“I can move back up there, you can work on your doctorate, I can work on the project with Avery, and we can make a lot of babies, if you want to.”
“I think I would like that very much.
“It’s still early, let’s go find a nice restaurant and have dinner before we come back here and pick up where we left off.”
There was still some light from the late dusk as they walked to Fifth Avenue, then across the front of The Plaza Hotel to the west. The lights of the city were beginning to dominate; however, they didn’t really notice. Their inattentiveness to their surroundings would work to their detriment. They were being watched.
A nice Greek Restaurant on Seventh Avenue caught their attention, and it proved to be worthy. The food was fabulous, and the wine list was extensive. The baklava had been made in the restaurant’s kitchen, and was particularly nice.
After dinner, they wandered their way back to the hotel. They spent the better part of an hour and a half making love to each other before falling asleep in each other’s arms.
A shadowy figure stood across 64th Street from the hotel looking up at the tenth floor balcony and the open French doors. Had anyone noticed her, they would have seen a very attractive blonde. Her figure was very shapely, and strangely, there was nothing artificial about it. Her most unusual features were her colorless eyes; however, they were hidden by bright blue contacts. There was one other thing that was a bit unusual about her. In spite of it being summer, her light jacket had a fur collar, something that was a bit out of place for the season.
“I don’t know who you are, bitch, but you had better enjoy him while you can. He is mine, and I have worked too hard to get to this point. Enjoy him now, because after this weekend you will never see him again.”
“So, what are you going to do, Betty?” asked her collar that was actually a ferret.
“Leave that to me, Marvin. When I want your help, you will know it. Right now, we have a lot to do.”
Randi woke up, and feeling a slight chill, pulled a light blanket over her lightly snoring lover and herself. He must have been dreaming, because he was erect. She lightly kissed him. ‘I have a feeling that will be waiting for me in the morning.’
Feeling a chill again, she got out of bed to close the doors to the balcony. She could hear the rapid click of a woman’s high heeled shoes on the walk below and she saw the figure of a woman turning the corner at Park Avenue. Unfortunately, her sense of happiness, well being, and the lingering glow of their love making had dulled her senses a bit. Perhaps it was due to the fact that she was so comfortable that her warning system wasn’t in tune. What she didn’t realize, was that had there been anyone else on the street below, they would have neither heard nor seen the attractive blonde as she walked away.
”ƒ
Chapter 6 — A Confirmation
Randi was not disappointed, nor was Frank. She teased him for a while before he opened his eyes. When she knew he was fully awake, she grasped him as she straddled him, gently sinking down and capturing him completely. She was very ready, and he followed her only seconds after she shivered and semi-collapsed on his chest.
Once again, they memorized each other’s bodies in the warm shower.
The hotel had a very nice, but expensive brunch; however, the price didn’t really matter that much. After eating, they returned to their room to dress for the opera. They could have walked to Lincoln Center; however it was getting warm. Frank called the front desk and there was a cab waiting for them when they left the lobby.
They both knew the story of Tosca, and just enjoyed the tragic story. Cavaradossi, the ill fated hero was wonderful. The evil Baron Scarpia was deliciously evil, and Tosca was fabulously over the top. It was a great way to spend three hours being entertained by some fabulous music.
The afternoon was still young when they came out into the Lincoln Center Plaza. It had clouded up a bit, and that cut down a bit on the heat. The crowd was dispersing; many of the opera goers were piling into the seemingly endless supply of taxis. Holding hands, Frank and Randi wove their way through the crawling traffic on 9th Avenue, then across Broadway at 63rd St. to Central Park. They followed the paths through the park, finally coming out on 59th St. just west of the Plaza Hotel.
Randi was letting Frank lead the way. She had been to New York City many times, but each time was an adventure in itself. They turned south on Fifth Avenue.
“Oh, look, there’s Tiffany’s. Can’t you just see Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard? I liked the movie ending much better than the book’s.”
They stopped in front of the rather stark exterior. Randi was looking at probably several hundred thousand dollars worth of jewelry in the window. “I’ve never gone inside,” she said a bit wistfully. “I was always a bit in awe.”
“I can’t imagine that in all those times you’ve been to New York that you never went inside Tiffany’s. Well, I think it’s high time that you did.”
He pulled her to the door. As they entered, a gentleman in uniform pulled the inner door open for them.
“Welcome to Tiffany’s. Is there something you would like to see?”
“I think we are just here for the ambience, if you don’t mind. I would just love to look around,” Randi said, somewhat embarrassed by the opulence.
“That’s quite alright,” the greeter said. “Please enjoy yourself, and enjoy your visit to New York.”
“I guess we must have tourist written all over our faces,” Randi whispered. “My goodness, look at these necklaces.”
“Would you like to see something?” a well dressed sales associate asked as she approached from behind the display. Her name was Anita Clemens.
“We’re just looking at your beautiful treasures. Frank dragged me in here. We’ve been walking around after the opera.”
“Oh, you saw Tosca. My husband and I saw it last week. We thought it was wonderful. Marconi is a fabulous Scarpia. You love to hate him.
“Try this necklace. Don’t worry; just try it on. The sapphires and diamonds compliment your eyes.” She reached around Randi’s neck and fastened the clasp. “You are so beautiful; you bring the best out of the jewelry.”
“Thank you, but I think $750,000 is a bit more than I deserve or can afford.”
“Not afford, maybe; don’t deserve, I don’t think so.” Frank hugged her and kissed the nape of her neck. Anita replaced the necklace in the case. She gave Frank a wry smile.
They continued to make small talk as they wandered from display to display. “I have something here that you might like.” Anita slid a tray of rings from under the heavy glass. She selected a very pretty ring with a large blue stone, diamond baguettes on either side, plus a border of small diamonds. She held it up. “Look how it compliments your eyes. That deep blue is you.”
She handed the ring to Frank. “I think you should put it on the lady. It would only be right that you do so.”
He took the ring from Anita, then gently took Randi’s left hand, sliding the ring onto her ring finger. “See. It’s perfect,” Anita stated rather strongly.
Randi looked at the ring, then at Frank. Suddenly he was kneeling at her feet. “Randi, I want to confirm everything I’ve said before. I love you with all my heart and soul. Will you please marry me?”
Randi looked at the ring and the man she loved so deeply. She knew she had been set up. As The Wizard said, there are no accidents. “Frank, we could go to Jersey and get married tonight, but I think Mom would kill me. Yes, I will still marry you. There will never be anyone else for me.
“How did you know? The ring is absolutely beautiful. It’s perfect. I’ve always wanted a sapphire.” She threw her arms around his neck, and delivered a very passionate kiss that was eagerly reciprocated
“Ma’am,” Anita said after a few moments, “the center stone is a blue diamond. You will have to talk to your young man about where it came from, though.”
Randi suddenly realized that the eyes of almost everyone on the sales floor were focused on her and Frank. Someone had taken a picture and promised to email it to her.
Anita turned to another associate, “Ralph, would you take care of Mr. Deere for a moment? I have something to discuss with Ms. Lewis.” She led Randi to a corner away from the activity.
“Randi, I know you turned your sensitivity way down because of Frank, but you need to remain open to certain things. It almost cost your sister her life before she and Bobbie learned how to discriminate.”
“Oh, my, you’re one of us. I should have known. Why didn’t I?”
“Because, I put up a very strong screen; there’s something going on, and we are not sure what it is. Several of us picked something up a couple of days ago. There is a very powerful presence in the area. We are not sure who it is, but we do know that there is a great deal of malevolence surrounding whoever it is.
“I need you to look at something on the terminal. The screen of silence is up.
“Your Wisdom, Randi’s here.”
Randi looked at the small point of sale terminal. Suddenly she was peering into The Wizard’s back room. The Wizard moved to the front of the scene. “That’s a beautiful ring, Randi. The stone first belonged to Frank’s great grandmother many generations back. It has been in the family ever since. It is the responsibility of the mother to protect it, but it may only be given to and worn by a witch. It also may only be given when the love is real. This is very important. Never remove the ring. After your death, it should be passed to one of your daughters, granddaughters, or great granddaughters on down the line. They may pass it through a son to a future wife. There are other things that you will find out, and we can discuss those later.
“As Anita told you, there is a power in New York that we have not encountered before; someone who has managed to stay beyond our range of observation. It may be a coincidence that this person showed up in New York when you did, but it might not. Be very careful. Right now, we are dealing with an unknown factor or factors.”
By this time, Frank had finished with some paperwork, and rejoined Randi. “Good afternoon, Your Wisdom, it’s good to see you again.”
“Frank, Randi will fill you in on some things. Enjoy your weekend. The ring is beautiful.” The screen returned to the Tiffany screen.
“Randi and Frank, it has been a great joy to work with you today.” Anita gave both of them a discrete hug. “Randi, say hello to Esmeralda Mather and Evelyn Alden for me. We’ll see you this fall.”
The next thing Randi knew they were back on Fifth Avenue slowly walking back up the walk towards 64th Street. She kept stealing glances at the beautiful ring. She would eventually discover that the blue diamond measured 2.65 carats. All she knew at the moment was that it was huge, and very, very special.
“The stone has been in the family for years. My great grandmother wore it, and she told Mom her grandmother had also worn it.”
“That means your great grandmother was a witch. According to The Wizard, only a witch may wear the stone.” She stopped and turned to him.
“What sort of magic did you work, anyway? A week ago, we hardly knew each other. Then you con me into going into Tiffany’s and the most beautiful engagement ring in the world is waiting for me.
“Your mother knows, doesn’t she?”
“She does. After I took you home last week, we had a quiet dinner. Dad was off doing something after dinner, and Mom called me into their bedroom.”
“This has been quite a day, hasn’t it? Randi’s very special and I’m glad you found each other. I knew she was special when she was in second grade. I didn’t understand then how special, but I should have.”
Flo went to her dressing table and rummaged around in the center drawer for a few seconds. She retrieved a small leather bag. Loosening the draw strings, she poured the contents into Frank’s hand. The ring and matching earrings were very pretty and definitely out of the ordinary.
“These were your great grandmother’s and her grandmother’s. I’m not sure how old they are. I imagine the stones have been reset in the past. I may not wear them.” She did not say ‘can’t’, she said ‘may’ quite emphatically. “The ring must be resized. Randi is quite a bit larger than Gramma was. You will have to take it to Tiffany’s to get it resized, and that should work out very well with your trip to New York later this week.
“The earrings should make a nice gift at the rehearsal dinner.
“Your great grandmother would have been very happy to know who you are marrying. You do realize Randi is a witch, don’t you?”
“Yes, I found that out rather quickly. Her mother and sisters are witches, too. So are several of their friends and relatives. They are rather free talking about it, at least to me. Apparently, I’ve been accepted into the group, and since we can talk about it, I guess you have, too.
“Mom, I met their cats, and they can talk and do other things. Randi’s cat is named Silky. I don’t think I should tell you who all the friends are, at least not now, but some are quite famous. I have a feeling you and Dad will meet all of them soon enough.
“Mom, I really do love her. She is amazing.”
Later that night, he fired up his lap top to check his email. The top email was from [email protected]. Surprisingly, his spam filter had not filtered it out. Then he realized that wasn’t that unusual at all. The message was simple: “Frank, I will be at the mall in the morning where you saw the shop last time. Be there at 10:00. I can’t stay long. I will make sure that Tiffany’s gets the ring. I know what Randi’s size is. The ring will be safe. Two of their employees are witches. You will meet Anita Clemens when you go in. She will know who you are.
(Signed) The Wizard”
Frank was eating breakfast the next morning. “Frank, if you are going to get to New York and get back before dark, you had better be going soon.”
“I would, but I found a delivery service. I met a wizard the other night, and he is going to take the ring to New York. He can do it faster and more securely than FedEx, and I won’t have to make the trip.”
“So, that’s how the ring got to Tiffany’s.” He hadn’t told her about the earrings. “It was really quite simple. The SRU shop appeared as I was walking up. It was just like when I met you, except you weren’t there. Wolf was lying in front of the counter and he greeted me as I approached. The Wizard yelled from the back room that he would be just a minute. Wolf let me scratch his ears for a while.
“After I went back into the mall, I watched the shop disappear. I didn’t miss it this time. It’s funny how no one seems to know it’s there or notice when it leaves.”
“That is one of the more interesting aspects of the place,” Randi said. “Probably ninety percent or more of the visitors are expected by The Wizard. I should have figured that out right away when you came in. You are not like most of the customers.”
“What do you mean?”
“All sorts of magical things may be purchased in the shop; however, much of what takes place there has to do with physical transformations dealing with changing sex, and sometimes gender. There are also all sorts of potions and spells that are more of what someone would expect in a magic shop. People can get a potion or spell that might alter or improve their appearance.
“There are even love potions available, but they usually come with a price. Although only one person might take the potion, both parties will be affected, sometimes in unexpected ways. There have been dozens of cases where a boy or girl has purchased a love potion to make another love him or her. There are several gay and lesbian couples in the area who used to be men and women. The person who provided the potion got his or her wish; however, they became the person the other person desired. Some of them work the other way, too. A gay man trying to convert a straight man, became a very loving wife. A lesbian trying to seduce a straight woman became a very handsome and devoted husband. There had to be mental changes; however, the potions allowed the individuals to realize that their selfishness was misguided, and they decided that their lives the way they were now were better than their original selfish desire.
“When Cindy was very young, she encountered an internet predator. The Wizard changed him into a baby girl and put her into a family where she was raised in a very loving environment. The girl and her twin sister have just graduated from college. She won’t remember her past life. Some would argue that was murder; however, her spirit was unaltered and she is a very happy, productive young woman. Someday, many years from now, her spirit will be reconciled with her past. She will know what happened, and I imagine will be quite happy with her changed life.”
They soon returned to their room, still with several hours before dinner. They found their way to the bed. Frank spent several minutes teasing his love. He spent considerable time with his lips and tongue paying homage to her nether lips and very sensitive little man in a boat. As her breathing subsided, he gently held her, kissing her on as many places as he could comfortably reach.
“No one ever did that for me,” she said dreamily. “Now I know why Cindy and Donna were so passionate about each other.”
“Donna, who’s Donna?”
“Oops! Oh well, you would have found out soon enough. Don used to be Donna. This is very complicated. Don was Donna in a parallel earth. When this line was rejoined to that one, Donna ceased to exist. Her spirit was taken back eighteen years and she became Don with her parallel family. It was supposed to have been that way in the first place, but someone screwed up.
“Donna and Cindy were deeply in love, and they still are, obviously. It’s just that Donna is now Don. In growing up the second time, Don didn’t know he had been Donna until just before he and Cindy met for the second time.”
“I think we should discuss this later,” Frank interrupted. “If I start thinking about this too much, I might forget what my primary objective is at the moment. Now, where were we?”
“I think you were doing something that no one else had ever done for me,” Randi said dreamily. “Yesss, that’s it. Now, do that other thing you are so good at doing.” She wasn’t disappointed.
”ƒ
Chapter 7 — A Family Gathering
Madison Avenue is lined with little specialty shops and restaurants. They found a very nice French restaurant that was only a few blocks from the hotel where they lingered over dinner for several hours. No one rushed them.
Over dinner they shared a bottle of very fine Bordeaux — that was all. They were intoxicated, but the intoxicant was their love for each other. If there had been any doubts, those doubts had evaporated many hours before like drops of water on a hot sidewalk.
Walking hand in hand, they meandered back to the hotel. Their love making that night was slow, and very pleasurable. The weather had warmed a bit and they slept with the doors to the balcony open, rather than use the air conditioning. Randi woke during the early morning hours. She had been having a strange dream. A woman she didn’t recognize was trying to take her newly acquired ring from her.
“That ring belongs to me. It was supposed to be mine.” She kept grabbing at Randi’s hand, but for some reason was never able to get a good grip. She finally gave up. “I’ll get it soon enough, just like I will get him.”
Waking, Randi looked at the image in her dream. There was something familiar about her. She was attractive, but there was something cold about her, and it was reflected in her almost colorless eyes.
It wasn’t that cold in the room. It was actually comfortable, but Randi closed the balcony doors and pulled a light blanket over her and Frank. She didn’t hear the click of heels as someone left the area in front of the hotel.
Randi insisted on dragging Frank in to say hello to her folks and any others who might be there. As they walked in, she could see Silky waiting for her in the window. They usually travelled together; however, Silky thought it best that she stay home this time. She knew Frank accepted her, but she also knew that some times were best left private, and the previous weekend was one of those. Silky was waiting at the door when the two lovers came in.
Of course Frank was greeted with a big kiss from Marissa, and a hearty handshake from Stan.
Martha raced down the stairs to greet her big sister and Silky retreated to the countertop. Martha was almost 14 and turning into a beautiful young woman like her older sisters. She was a strawberry blonde, and more than once had been mistaken for Bobbie’s sister. There was a striking resemblance.
She grabbed Randi’s hand. “God, that thing is huge! I wanna try it on. Can I?”
“I would let you, but His Wisdom said never to take it off. I guess there’s something about it. It belonged to Frank’s great grandmother. She was a witch, too.”
“Oh goodie,” Martha said as she looked at Frank. “That means you’re magic, too, doesn’t it? Nobody tells me anything.” Pouting, she turned.
“Mom, I am thirteen. I need to know these things,”
“Marti, we’ll talk about it later this evening. There’s just so much going on, we haven’t had time to fill everyone in on everything.”
Turning to Frank and Randi, “Frank, your mom and dad will be here in a little while. Stan was firing up the barbecue just as you got here. I had the nicest talk with Flo yesterday, and we just thought it would be nice if everyone got together. Flo and I hadn’t talked since Randi was terrorizing second grade. I’m surprised she would welcome Randi after everything she did.”
“Mom, I wasn’t that bad.”
“What about Timmy Johnson?”
“Well, he deserved it. He was so mean to Sarah. Sarah is such a sweet person. She couldn’t help having cerebral palsy.”
Frank was a bit curious, “What did you do?”
“Timmy and Sarah were a couple of grades ahead of me. Every time he was mean to anyone, especially Sarah, I relaxed a certain muscle of his. It took him a couple of weeks to figure it out. It really worked. He became quite nice after a while. Timmy was very intelligent. He just hadn’t been brought up to understand what it meant to be disadvantaged.
“Sarah had a brain injury due to a difficult birth. There was nothing hereditary or organic about her problem. She has trouble walking and has some facial paralysis. She also has seizures every once in a while.”
“So, what happened? Timmy sounds like a real jerk.”
“Sarah is expecting her second child in a few months. She has been married for three years. Timmy adores her, and she loves him very much. They are psychologists and counselors working with disadvantaged children.
“I never ‘messed’ with his mind. I guess I could have, but that wouldn’t have been right. I just got his attention. After ninth grade they were inseparable. She was afraid to tell him she was pregnant. She thought he would leave her. When he found out, he secretly told her parents that she was the love of his life, and was going to propose. He convinced her to go with him for the weekend, and proposed to her in a restaurant in front of about twenty people. It was very sweet.
She was six months pregnant when they got married. She wanted to walk down the aisle, but it was getting difficult for her, so Silky and I helped ‘carry’ her while her dad escorted her.”
Frank suddenly started. His phone was vibrating. He frowned as he read the text message. “Damn, I’m going to have to go down to Princeton tomorrow. They’re having some problems in the lab. It sounds like a software problem. Take a couple of weeks off, and everything goes to pot.
“This better not take too much time to straighten out. Randi and I wanted to walk a section of the Appalachian Trail later this week.”
Bob and Hilda Brewer arrived with their daughters Lucy and Charli. Jorge was on an anthropological expedition in the Yucatan, and a baby sitter was taking care of the two newest additions to the family. Frank’s parents arrived right behind them. There were many more congratulatory hugs, handshakes and back slaps.
The girls quickly surrounded Randi. “God, look at this thing,” Charli exclaimed as she held Randi’s hand. “It’s huge.” The ring seemed to feed off the attention it was receiving, something that was not missed by Charli, and it seemed to be developing a light of its own. “Oh my, this ring has a lot of magic.”
Charli looked at Frank, then at his parents. Flo smiled back at her and gave her a knowing nod. “But, you’re not …?”
“No Charli, I’m not a witch. My grandmother was though, and her grandmother was, and I have a feeling that Frank and Randi will have a lot of magical children if they choose to have children,” Flo said as she looked at Randi who was beaming as she snuggled up to Frank. “If I can read Randi correctly, I think I will have several more grandchildren. I just hope they will be easier to control that she was.
“I just realized something. Randi, did you do that thing with the apple?”
“Yes, Ms. Deere, I wuz a bwad widdle girl.”
“You little imp; there was a period of about two weeks when I couldn’t keep anything round on my desk top. You did it to the pencils, too, didn’t you? You were clever though. Whatever it was would fall off only once. I couldn’t figure it out, and I had the custodian check to see if my desk was level.
“You and Ginny were always up to something. I’ll bet you did that thing at the high school with the tires.”
“Guilty. Well, Charli, Lucy and Ginny helped.”
“Exactly what did you do? You never told me about this. Maybe you should explain exactly what happened,” Marissa sounded a bit disturbed.
“That was the year Southside beat us in the Turkey Tussle. We were cruising around after the game, all between boyfriends at the time. I think we all had the same idea at the same time.
“There’s that big tire company across from Southside. They have those giant tires used on big tractors and earthmoving equipment. We parked around the corner, and Charli used an invisibility spell so no one could see us. Ginny and Lucy picked out the tires. We started with the biggest we could find, and Charli and I lifted them over the flagpole. There was an eighty foot pyramid of tires. They were very heavy and it was all Charli and I could do to lift them up there.”
Charli was giggling a bit, as was Lucy; however, they stopped when Hilda frowned at them.
“Now, I remember. There was a lot of conjecture about how they were going to get them off. Some of those tires cost thousands of dollars, and they thought they were going to have to cut them off.
“So what happened to them?”
“Silky and I went down there the next night and put them back. Charli couldn’t come, and of course Lucy and Ginny couldn’t help. It was a lot easier with Silky’s help.”
“You better tell them what it cost you,” Silky interjected.
“Yeah, that was a bit expensive. We had to give Silky, Selene, Petra and Chloe some tuna.”
“Tell them, Randi,” Silky admonished.
“Aren’t you the little blackmailer,” Randi said, scratching Silky’s ears.
“The tuna was 30 pounds of fresh Sashimi Grade Yellow Fin Tuna. That was The Wizard’s suggestion. He knew what we had done right away. That cost Charli and me almost a thousand dollars. He said Ginny and Lucy weren’t to blame; that if it hadn’t been for Charli and me, they would never have thought of it. It also cost us two new I-Phones and a pretty severe chewing out from His Wisdom. It was a valuable lesson.
“He said the toad threat was being transferred to me, and that Cindy and Bobbie had never done anything like that. I knew that he was kidding, but I also knew he was very disappointed in me and Charli. I think we grew up a lot that weekend.”
Almost five years after the event, it was something they could laugh about. However, there was a serious side to it. Magic was something that was not well accepted in modern society, and if the stunt had ever been attributed to magic, there might have been some serious problems.
Marissa snuggled up to Stan later that evening after all the visitors had gone home. “I knew about it, but His Wisdom told me he would handle the discipline. I wanted to, but because they had violated the rules about the use of magic, he felt he needed to handle it. There’s no question they learned a valuable lesson. Hilda was really pissed when she found out. I think she showed remarkable restraint, though.
“Charli’s been a good girl, but she’s a lot like Randi in so many ways. It’s hard to believe it’s been thirteen years since we found her. Now she’s a college student. Bob and Hilda certainly have been fortunate. So have we, for that matter. Maybe we should make another baby.”
Stan rolled over and started caressing and kissing Marissa’s breasts. “Do you think that would be a good idea? I mean, you are fifty-five. People might talk. Think about it. However, I’m not against practicing just in case.”
Things can’t go this well forever, and come to think about it, things are already starting to go wrong. I wonder what happened to Frank’s project. Who is this observer with the ferret? She doesn’t sound very nice. The families are about to be tested and Randi’s heart is almost broken.
By Portia Bennett
Disaster strikes. Somebody has gotten into Franks project. What’s next? Why would anyone want to do something like that?
If you haven’t read the previous stories about Cindy, Bobbie, and the rest and how they arrived where they are now, you should probably read them. Start with 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 — Parts 1 & 2 & Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling.
I have researched the Spell’s—R-Us Universe diligently and cannot find anything that violates it, other than that The Wizard is a bit kinder and gentler than sometimes reported. Don’t get me wrong. Given an opening, The Wizard could resort to some of his more ironic and nasty transformations. I’m sure that could happen at any time.
Holly did an outstanding job of fixing my punctuation errors and occasional wanderings into gibberish. She does a great job figuring out what I really meant.
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.
Chapter 8 — Things Start to Go to Pot
“So, how are things going down there? Still think you’ll be able to get back here by Thursday night?” Randi asked.
“I don’t understand what happened, I mean I understand what happened, but I don’t know how. Whole sections of the programming have been erased. In other areas, stuff has been changed. It’s just a bunch of gobbledygook. We backed everything up; however, something got into the backup, too. It’s like a virus got into our computers and randomly ate or changed the programs.
“I’m a physicist, not a software engineer. Fortunately, I have hard copies of all my notes. The software guys are going to have to rewrite all sorts of stuff. This is a real mess, but I am not going to miss this weekend with you, regardless. Besides, we need to talk to our families about setting a date. Do you still feel the weekend before Thanksgiving is right?”
“The only problem is that it’s not soon enough. Cindy and Bobbie are due towards the end of October. Doing the math, the doctors say around October 30th or 31st. That would give them three weeks to try to fit into their dresses. Ginny said she will be able to take some extra time off from teaching practice and school. I have a feeling that Gramma Naomi worked some magic out there.
“About this weekend, I’ve already purchased the food, and my pack is ready. The weather forecast is for clear and cooler. It should be nice.”
“I love you, Randi. I just wanted to let you know in case you haven’t figured it out.”
“I love you, too, and I have definitely figured it out.”
Randi didn’t hear anything more until Tuesday night. She knew Frank was extremely busy, and didn’t want to take him away from his work. Then a text message on her phone stated things were continuing to work out. She texted him back before sending him a longer email. The computer was just an easier way to send longer messages.
The next morning Randi reviewed some papers on super-sized organic molecules based on the spherical carbon based molecules that had been developed over the last few decades, feeling there was a good chance that they could be used as the basic structure for organic nanobots. She thought there was the possibility of creating what might be termed a super-enzyme that could be programmed to alter small sections of DNA.
Her study was interrupted by the ‘ding’ letting her know that she had an instant message. It was from Cindy. “Call me ASAP.”
“Hi, Cindy, what’s going on?”
“I’m not sure. Remember when I put in the good word to Avery about Frank?”
“Yes, Frank told me he had a very positive letter from Avery. Avery had seriously wanted Frank to talk to him about coming to MIT to work with him on a joint project on controlled fusion. Frank was really encouraged that Avery wanted to work with him.”
“Well, that’s what Avery thought — until this morning. He called Frank this morning to discuss something, and it was like Frank didn’t know what he was talking about. He said he had no intention of moving to Boston, and that his fiancée hated it up there. Besides, he had an offer to go to Caltech that was just about finalized.”
“WHAT! I never said anything like that.”
“I know. Avery asked him why you had changed your mind. Frank said Avery was crazy. He didn’t know any woman from your home town, and he certainly didn’t know anyone named Randi Lewis. His fiancée was Betty Brown, and they had been engaged for more than six months.”
“That’s preposterous. He never even dated her. I found that out thirty seconds after I met him. I read his mind. That was before I promised not to do it again without his permission. He was thinking about asking her out. There was something about Frank right off, and I felt he was a very nice person.
“Silky and I accessed the data base, and discovered Betty Brown uses her body to get what she wants. She has used some of the best plastic surgeons around to enhance her appearance. The worst thing was, she had decided to make a move on Frank after she had been ignoring him.”
“Something’s going on,” said a worried Cindy. “The information in the system now is quite different. Either she is infiltrating the system, or changing reality, or both. I haven’t been able to contact His Wisdom. He said something the other day about some meeting in another universe. I’m sure we can contact him if there is a real emergency. Let’s just see what we can find out before we call him.”
Randi felt a bit of a panic setting in. “I’m going to call his mom. Maybe she knows what’s going on. I’ll keep you posted.”
As Randi dialed the Deere’s house, she had a feeling of impending doom. If things were going as badly as they seemed, they probably weren’t going to get any better.
“Hello.”
“Flo, this is Randi. Have you heard anything from Frank?”
“I’m sorry, who is this?”
“Randi, your future daughter-in-law: Randi Lewis.”
“I’m sorry, but I certainly don’t know any Randi Lewis, and you are certainly not my future daughter-in-law. Sweet Betty Brown is going to be my daughter-in-law.
“What is this: some sort of joke? Randi Lewis? I know that name. You were that horrid little girl in my second grade class. You haven’t changed a bit, have you? I’ll thank you to not call this number again. Your little pranks aren’t very funny.”
Randi just stared at the phone as tears started to form. Silky jumped up to the computer desk, then leaned over and softly rubbed against Randi’s face.
“What are we going to do, Silky?” Randi sniffed as she hugged Silky to her.
“I don’t think there is any question that that woman is behind this. If she has been able to influence his parents, there’s no telling how far and deep she has gone. The last thing we need to do is jump into this thing without knowing how deep the water is.
“We need to find out how much she knows about us. I think it’s time we had a meeting of the families.
Esmeralda Mather led the meeting, “We don’t have any record of Betty Brown until about two years ago. Based on what Randi and Silky have told us, it appears as if she has been able to infiltrate the system and change the data, at least what references her, at will. There’re no indications that she has affected any other data, however.
“Marissa, Cindy and I have done an in-depth search and can find absolutely nothing about this woman having magic abilities. If she doesn’t, someone very close to her is a very strong practitioner of magic. The problem is there is not very much information at all. It appears as if she may have grown up in a parochial girls’ school and had very little contact with the real world until about three years ago. All sorts of things could have gone on in there and we may never have learned about them.
“Then there is this other thing. Anita Clemens advised us of a powerful force that was in New York City the same time Randi and Frank were there. In light of what’s been happening, we don’t think this is a coincidence.
“Randi, you have something to add?”
“Guys, don’t give me a bad time about this, but I wasn’t in the most objective mode while I was down there ….”
“Yeah, you were shagging Frank all weekend,” Martha interjected.
“Marti, this is serious business,” Marissa scolded. “If you can’t act like an adult, you may leave the meeting now.”
“Sorry.” Marti slid down in her chair a bit, but she couldn’t suppress a giggle.
“You were saying, Randi?” Esmeralda tried to get things back on track.
“The first night we were there, I woke up feeling a chill. It wasn’t cold, and we had the doors to the balcony open. As I was closing the doors, I heard a woman in heels walking away. I looked and saw a silhouette rounding the corner. I didn’t think much about it at the time. Then Anita and the Wizard told us that there was an evil force in the area, and they weren’t able to pin it down.
“The next night, I had a strange dream. A woman was trying to take the ring from me. She was grabbing at it, but couldn’t seem to hold it. Then she said it didn’t matter, because she was going to get it soon enough, just like she was going to get him. She said the ring was hers, and she had to have been talking about Frank.
“I felt the same chill again, too.”
“Was the balcony door open?” her mother asked. “Shit, she could have been in the room. Did you see her? What did she look like?”
“She was blonde, rather attractive, but her eyes were colorless. Oh crap, it was Betty Brown. I’m sure it was. The first time Silky and I looked her up, that was her description! There was a picture of her and a summary of her activities at Princeton. I know now I was already attracted to him, and I knew then that Frank could do better. So, I took over.”
“Everyone here knows what happened with Cindy and Don fourteen, fifteen years ago,” Marissa had taken the floor. “This is not the same sort of thing. We are not dealing with multiple universes or parallel Earths; at least I don’t think so. We are dealing with an unknown, but apparently powerful witch. If this was something we couldn’t handle, His Wisdom would be here leading us on. I think he knows exactly what’s happening, but wants us to figure it out.
“I don’t like this one bit because my daughter is involved; however, I need to be objective about it. This could be happening to any of our children. We are looking at some pretty strong mind control, and we need to find out for sure who is doing this, and then we need to fix the problem.
“Since I found out about this organization, I have been impressed with the power and abilities our members have demonstrated. Surely, this group should be able to counteract what one or even a couple of misguided practitioners of magic are doing. We need to have a plan, and then we need to act. Now, here’s what I think ….”
”ƒ
Chapter 9 — Making Corrections
Teaching classes was something that many graduate students had to put up with. Frank knew that teaching, regardless of the level, would not be his main occupation. He wanted to work in research. Once he received his PhD, he still might do some instruction, but research was where it was. Regardless, he was stuck with teaching a freshman level class in physics for non-physical science majors. Some called it ‘no pain’ physics. They called it that because calculus was not required. A good knowledge of algebra, trigonometry and geometry would get one through.
Most majors in the biological sciences required the class. Frank could remember other professors talking about the fresh crop of wide-eyed female students who were experiencing one of the more difficult classes they would have as lower classmen. He remembered several of them talking about ‘getting lucky’ for the favor of a passing ‘C’. Frank didn’t have to worry about that. Betty was everything he could want in a woman.
He could remember seeing her in a class similar to this one. She had caught his attention right away. At first she had ignored him, but something had happened the previous semester. She’d had a band of sycophants, but suddenly she sloughed them off, and she was his. He couldn’t even remember how it had happened, but whatever had, they were soon an item. He couldn’t even remember asking her to be his wife, but he knew he had. He hadn’t given her a ring yet, but she didn’t seem to mind. She said when she found the right one, she would let him know.
He had trouble with that pet of hers. Ferrets were cute in their own way, but they smelled, and this one had a mouth full of teeth that seemed a bit threatening. Cats were much nicer. He wasn’t sure why he thought that, because he never had had a cat for a pet.
Well, it was time to start class. He was aware these students were not concentrating heavily on the hard sciences; however, there were still some things they needed to have a good foundation. It was time to ask a few questions.
“Some psychologists say that students lose twenty to thirty percent of what they learned the previous semester over the summer break. Let’s see if that’s the case. Would anyone care to tell me, in simple terms, what Boyle’s Law is about?”
There was some shuffling of feet, and a few hands went up. About three rows back from the front an Asian woman raised her hand. “Yes, Ms. …?”
“Park, Sylvia Park. Boyle’s law states that at a given temperature, as the pressure on a gas increases, there is a corresponding decrease in volume. In other words the pressure times the volume is a constant.”
“Very good, Ms. Park; now, will someone tell me how Charles Law fits into all of this? “Uh, Ms. Park, you’ve already answered a question. Let’s let someone else answer.”
“Dr. Deere, that was my sister. I’m Rachel Park.”
“Well, this should be fun. So, you are twins?”
“Actually, we are triplets.”
“So where’s your other sister? She could answer the next question.”
“We don’t have another sister, but our brother Melvin would be glad to answer another question.”
There were a number of not too suppressed laughs and giggles from the rather large class.
“While we are having some fun, I better explain that I am not officially piled higher and drier. My degree won’t be officially bestowed for a few weeks. So for the time being, Mr. Deere will do.
“Okay, Rachel, tell us about Charles Law.”
“Charles law states that the pressure of a confined gas increases or decreases directly proportionally to the increase or decrease in temperature.”
“So what you are saying, is that if I have a gas at zero degrees Fahrenheit and raise the temperature to one hundred degrees, that the pressure would be one hundred times greater.
“No sir, you have to base the temperature change from absolute zero. One would use the Kelvin scale for Celsius, or the Rankine scale for Fahrenheit.”
“I think you are in the wrong physics class, Ms. Park.
“Let’s keep this in the family, Mr. Park, what is absolute zero?”
“Sir, Absolute Zero is the theoretical temperature at which all molecular activity ceases. Nothing can get colder.”
“And, what temperature is Absolute Zero?”
“It is approximately minus 273.15 degrees Kelvin or minus 459.67 degrees Rankine.”
“Excellent! So, zero degrees Fahrenheit converts to approximately 255.4 degrees Kelvin, and 100 degrees Fahrenheit converts to 331 degrees Kelvin. Dividing 331 by 255.4 we get approximately 1.3. What that means is if we raised the temperature of a confined gas from zero degrees Fahrenheit to one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, the pressure would increase by a factor of around 1.3.
“Now, I have a little quiz for you. I know you can program your computers and calculators to do the math, but I want you to set up the calculations and do the math, i.e. go through all the motions. It will help shake the cobwebs loose. This is just for me to see where everyone stands. These are the types of problems you would have had in your high school chemistry and science classes.
“You may leave when you have completed the quiz. For Thursday, read chapter one and complete the exercise at the end of the chapter.”
The Park triplets completed the quiz in about half the allotted time. They were sitting far enough apart that there was no way they could have copied each others’ answers. They turned in their answers almost simultaneously. They stood there for a moment while he glanced over the answers. Of course, they were all correct.
“What are you doing in this class,” Frank whispered. “This is obviously not a challenge for you.”
“Rachel answered, “We’re music majors. We’re just taking this as an elective. Someone told us that you were a real cool guy and a great teacher, so why not take a class that stimulates the mind a bit? Besides, we haven’t decided on our minors yet.”
“Who recommended me? I might want to thank them some day.”
“It was Randi Lewis.”
Frank pondered the name for a while. “That’s odd; for a moment I thought I recognized the name. No, I don’t remember any Randi Lewis. If I knew her, I would surely remember.” His eyes lost their focus for a moment and the last sentences were in a monotone.
“She’s put a good block on him, but it’s not that good. I think we can get rid of it. However, there’s no need to do it now. She has made several mistakes. We know he recognized your name, Randi, because he said ‘she’. We never told him you were a woman. Apparently, there are some words and phrases that kick-in some commands.” Charli, Marti, and Tom were briefing the rest about their encounter in the physics class.
“Betty doesn’t know that much about shielding, and Frank was pretty much an open book.
“Sorry, Randi, but I never promised not to read his mind. I stayed out of the personal areas as much as possible. Once we get this mess straightened out, he will be strictly off limits.”
“I understand, Charli. It’s quite alright. I’m sure he’ll forgive you once this is over,” Randi said. “Obviously, the disguises worked quite well. Good work on those, Mom. I think you’re almost as good as His Wisdom.
“So, what else did you find out?”
“Marti and I picked this up right away. Betty has convinced him to move to California. He’ll be gone as early as January. They are very interested in his work out there. We need to act fast. If we don’t hit her with everything the first time, she may gain strength. We need to overwhelm her. Maybe it’s overkill, I don’t mean we are going to kill her, but we are going to have to have some major control here.
“Both Anita and His wisdom think she’s strong, but I have a feeling she’s relatively untested. She makes little mistakes.”
“I would have to agree with Charli on that,” Randi said. “I think she put a sleep spell on Frank and me at the hotel, and then tried to take the ring. I think she knows that it is special, but doesn’t know the whole story.
“There’s this thing about the data base that has me concerned. Why is it so different from what it was when I first looked her up?”
“I’ll venture a guess,” Sally offered. “I think she has just come into her power recently, and she is basically self-taught. She probably has pretty low self-esteem, and used her early powers to procure cosmetic surgery to enhance her appearance. More recently, she has discovered how to make more natural alterations in her appearance. I think the next step will be altering others, both mentally and physically. I don’t think she has a clue as to how strong she really is.
“If she is self taught, she’s probably thinking primarily in the offensive sense. Her defensive skills are probably not very well developed. I have a feeling she may not be aware of how much magic there is out there.”
“Why do you feel she’s self taught?” Tom, Randi’s brother, carried the magic gene, but was not able to perform any magic.
“I think the main reason is that we don’t know anything about her. If she were trained, the system would know about her: her parents, schooling, strengths, etc. She’s unknown to us, and until recently has had little impact. The system has failed to pick much up about her.” Sally was a lot like Marissa, in that she came into her magic talents relatively late in life, but once she had found out about them, had blossomed.
“Did you find out anything else?” Marissa asked.
“Yes,” Charli said rather eagerly, “they’re going to dinner tonight at a restaurant near the medical center. It’s called Chapin, and it’s right across the way from a rather large cemetery. I checked it out on Google Earth a little while ago.”
It was decision time. “Let’s do it tonight,” Randi offered. “We are not going to have many opportunities, and tonight should be as good as any. What do you think, Mom?”
“I think you’re right. Let’s do it.”
Frank escorted Betty into the upscale Mexican restaurant. It was quite nice, in spite of the eeriness created by the large cemetery across the street. Once inside, the eeriness was quickly forgotten. If tonight was like the others, they would have several drinks, perhaps a bottle of wine with the meal. After dinner, they would go to Betty’s place and make wildly passionate love to each other. Frank’s thoughts had a little hiccough. Make love? Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t remember the last time they made love. He was sure they had. After all, they had been engaged for six months, and Betty was an incredibly sexy woman.
Yes, now he could see her sexy body and those incredible breasts that jutted from her chest. They reminded him of Madonna and her metal bra, except these jutted forward without any assistance from a metal bra. They must have made love, and done it many times. He couldn’t be having these thoughts of her unclothed body unless they had.
The waiter escorted them to a nice table to one side of the nicely decorated dining area. Betty refused the waiter’s offer to take her jacket, the one with the fur collar. They ordered margaritas and some guacamole and chips.
Frank realized something was wrong with the margarita. It seemed almost watery. He thought back to the margarita he had had at a restaurant a couple of weeks before. That one had been much better, and they had enjoyed it very much. He wondered why he’d thought about that, and why he hadn’t ordered one like that now. Maybe Betty didn’t like them that way, but he was sure he had shared one made that other way with someone.
“Frank, I can’t wait to get to California. I wish we could do it sooner. Are you sure we can’t leave before Christmas?”
“It’s not possible. I have certain obligations to fulfill, and the department and I have to come to an agreement about some proprietary matters.”
“I wish you could hurry it up. Winters are so cold and miserable around here. I want to look for a home in the Pasadena area: something worthy of a Caltech professor.”
Their discussion was interrupted by the arrival of some students. They hadn’t been watching closely, but the students were being directed to a table close to theirs.
“Oh look, it’s that nice Dr. Deere.”
Frank looked up to see the Park triplets with some friends, sitting a couple of tables away. He didn’t know which of the girls was waving, but he smiled and acknowledged them with a nod.
“So, who are they?” Betty had a bit of an edge to her voice.
“The two oriental girls and the boy are triplets. They are in that freshman physics class I teach. They are pretty sharp. I don’t know who the other two are.”
Betty glanced at the five youths, and realized that two of them were looking rather intently at her. As Dinner continued, the group of five seemed to be carrying on a rather animated conversation; however, each time Betty looked their way, at least two of the students were looking at her. At first, she didn’t think much of it; by the time dessert arrived she was beginning to feel a bit paranoid.
About midway through dessert, she began to feel her paranoia was warranted. She looked up, and all five were looking at her. She didn’t like to practice any of her talent when she was around others; however, her unease was beginning to really get to her. She cast a spell designed to direct attention away from her, but the group continued to look her way. This was not right. They should have forgotten that she and Frank were there.
“Frank, I’m not feeling well. I think I would like to go home.”
“Sure.” He called for the check.
Betty noted that the five were also getting their checks. The two oriental girls were still staring intently at her. She tried once again to cast an obscurity spell, but all it did was cause their waiter to ignore Frank and his attempt to pay his bill. Finally, he had to get up and go to the waiter.
“I’m sorry sir; I thought you had left.”
“No, we’ve been trying to get your attention for the last ten minutes.”
The waiter fumbled around for a few seconds and finally found the check. Frank gave him a credit card and returned to Betty.
“I don’t understand it. The service here is usually very reliable.”
The waiter finally returned with the credit card receipt for Frank’s signature. He dashed off the signature and helped Betty to her feet. As they passed the table with the five college students, the students rose to their feet and followed closely behind.
A number of women were standing near the cars in the parking lot, and Betty suddenly realized that one of them was the woman she had taken Frank from. The woman stepped forward.
“Betty, it’s over. Remove the spells and put things back the way they were.”
“Like hell I will! He’s mine. I saw him first, and you have no business taking him away from me.”
Frank looked at the group starting to surround him. He turned to the five who had followed him and Betty out of the restaurant. They had changed. One of the girls was dark complected and quite beautiful. The other one was a stunning redhead; however, he realized she was quite young. The three boys had also changed considerably. Two were adolescents, and one was a man in his twenties. The latter had blonde hair and reminded him of someone he knew, but he just wasn’t certain who.
“Betty, what’s going on? Do you know these people?”
“Shut up, Frank! I’ll take care of this. Don’t move!” Frank did exactly as he was told.
“Betty, there are too many of us, and we are much more experienced than you are.” Marissa was going to play the ‘mother role’. “Frank is not yours to do anything with. You need to remove the spells you put on him and his family right now. We are far stronger than you. Don’t try to do anything you might regret.”
Betty took in the group that was fast becoming a crowd. She suddenly sensed something that she had never experienced before in her relatively short life. There had been something about the woman she had taken Frank from. She had sensed it that night in the hotel room. She had seen the ring that Frank had given her, and knew she must have it; however, try as she may, she couldn’t remove it in spite of the spell she had put on the two. It was bad enough that the two had been making love, but she knew she could erase his memory of the woman, and she was certain there would be some way to get the ring.
She hadn’t thought much of him when she first saw him. He’d just been another nerdish professor. She was just realizing how strong her power was, having found out that she could get men to do things for her. Sometimes it took just a mental ‘push’; however, there were times she found that a quick fuck plus a ‘push’ would get her what she wanted. It had taken a few years, but several plastic surgeries and much dental work later she had achieved the appearance she wanted. It took more than a little facial reconstructive work. The first class breast enhancement surgery finally got her the body she wanted. She found a not so gay cosmetician, who in exchange for her favors, did some excellent hair styling and coloring for her.
Well, Betty obviously has Frank under her spell. It’s going to be interesting to see what this previously unknown witch can do against the family of witches. How much help, if any, are they going to need from The Wizard? What’s all this ‘messing’ with Franks mind going to do to him?
By Portia Bennett
The big questions now are who is this Betty Brown and where has she come from. She has obviously ‘captured’ Frank Deere. How did she do it, and why? What is motivating her? Betty has been a bit of an enigma up to now; however, as we delve into her past, things may become a bit clearer.
If you haven’t read the previous stories about Cindy, Bobbie, and the rest and how they arrived where they are now, you should probably read them. Start with 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 — Parts 1 & 2 & Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling.
I have researched the Spell’s—R-Us Universe diligently and cannot find anything that violates it, other than that The Wizard is a bit kinder and gentler than sometimes reported. Don’t get me wrong. Given an opening, The Wizard could resort to some of his more ironic and nasty transformations. I’m sure that could happen at any time.
Holly did an outstanding job of fixing my punctuation errors and occasional wanderings into gibberish. She does a great job figuring out what I really meant.
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.
Chapter 10 — Making Betty Brown
Childhood had not been kind to Betty Brown. Her mother, Alice, was a trophy wife; the third marriage for an important banker. As trophy wives go, she was probably ‘past her prime’; however, she’d ‘cleaned up’ pretty well. Some expensive cosmetic surgery, courtesy of a previous husband, helped considerably.
The pregnancy was unplanned, and not the result of the relationship of her mother and her husband. Too much alcohol and other illegal substances made such a fog of her memory, that she wasn’t sure who Betty’s father was. She had a hazy recollection of some very passionate moments with one, or was it two or even three, guests at a party. There might have even been a woman or two involved. Regardless, she was pregnant. There was no question that her husband was not the father. Testicular cancer had removed that possibility several years before. Due to some good drugs and hormone treatment, he was still able to perform, but his ability to father a child was moot.
Fortune did smile on the yet unborn Betty; if only it meant that her mother didn’t terminate her pregnancy. Gaylon Brown was wary of the possibilities if he died prior to his wife. There was a well written prenuptial agreement that specified in the case of infidelity on the part of the wife that the wife would be excluded from any inheritance. That would go to several children from previous marriages.
If there were any children conceived during the marriage, but born after his death, the paternity of the child must be determined. If the child was his offspring, then the child would share in the inheritance. If the child was not his, there would be an allowance of $5,000 a month to take care of the child until the child reached the age of twenty-one. In Betty’s case, it could be proven beyond a shadow of doubt that Gaylon Brown was not the father. He was sterile.
Gaylon Brown was not a young man, and the past cancer, divorce proceedings, and age had taken their toll. He died quietly in his sleep. As the divorce had not been finalized, his widow received an allowance similar to the one Betty had received. The money was not even close to what would be needed to continue her lifestyle.
The need for excitement and money drove Alice Brown to seek out old haunts and friends. Some would say she was very good at what she did, and there were a few old acquaintances who would indulge her with the drugs she was beginning to crave more and more, in return for a quick tryst in a back room or in the back seat of a car.
At three and one-half years, Betty Brown was an orphan. Someone had provided Alice with an exceptionally good grade of heroin, and her death was probably as peaceful as could be expected. The administrator of the Brown estate placed Betty in a children’s home run by a religious order.
There is an old saying: as the twig is bent, so grows the child. This was definitely not the case with Betty. She grew against the wind. Betty was a bright young girl who, as yet unknown to her, had inherited the magic genes from her mother and unknown father. She was an opinionated and willful child, much to the consternation of the sisters of the order. By the time she was five, she had both physical and mental scars from the frequent canings she received that were intent making her see what God’s way truly was. What Betty did learn was that it was a cruel world; one where deceit and wiles were the best ways to get ahead.
On top of all the misfortune and cruelty, several other things worked against Betty. She was not an attractive little girl. She was myopic and had to wear thick lenses. Her teeth were large and crooked in her too small jaw. She also had a serious overbite, and had developed a serious stutter, something that is much more frequent among young boys than young girls. All in all, things did not start out well for the young Betty Brown.
When she was about ten she began to realize that she had some powers, powers that she realized were best kept hidden from the sisters of the order.
“Sister Mary-Joyce, I need to go to the bathroom.”
“You should have done that during the last recess.”
“But, I didn’t need to go then.”
“Silence, you should have planned better.”
“But, I need to go now.”
“I’ll not allow back talk in this class. Stand in the corner and pray to God that you will learn better manners.”
“But, I will wet my pants. I need to go now.”
The sister grabbed Betty by her upper arm and practically threw her into the corner. “You will stay here until you learn to control yourself and respect your elders.”
Betty would carry the physical bruises for more than a week; however, she would also begin to believe in herself. ‘If I wet my pants, I want Sister Mary Joyce to wet hers, too.’ The inevitable happened. As much as Betty tried to hold it in, it became too painful. She finally relaxed and let the urine flow. There was a sense of physical and mental relief. Betty didn’t break down and cry, and it would be many years before she would ever cry again.
Betty’s predicament did not go unnoticed by the other girls in the class. “Sister Mary-Joyce, Betty wet her pants.” Sissy Atwell was not one of Betty’s friends, and she took pleasure in seeing that Betty had humiliated herself in front of her classmates.
Sister Mary-Joyce reached for the hardwood ruler that was always present at her right hand side of the desk. She was going to beat some respect into the ill-mannered little girl. She never got the chance. As she stood, a sensation transmitted itself to her brain. Her bladder was suddenly very full, and without any thought to the contrary, Sister Mary-Joyce released the contents, much to her horror, and much to the delight of many of the little girls she had terrorized over the years.
Sister Mary-Joyce fled the classroom, leaving a wet trail behind her. Betty walked out behind her and returned to the room she shared with three other ‘inmates’. It was the last class of the day.
By that evening, word had traveled through the students about Betty’s accident; however, it dimmed in respect to the talk about Sister Mary-Joyce.
Betty found that she was able to will the sisters and administration to ignore her transgressions, if they really were transgressions. She also found that she was able to make her fellow students and tormentors ignore her. The teasing stopped. The jokes about her stuttering lessened, and as a consequence, her stuttering became less and less. She felt a couple of her fellow students had been kinder to her than the others, and she saw to it when she could, that the wrath of the sisters did not descend on them.
As the awareness of her powers increased, she attempted to manipulate the sisters even more. She went as far as turning in a blank paper for a test, while strongly suggesting that she get a perfect score. She did; however, she also realized she needed to learn; that getting the highest grades without gaining knowledge would do her no good. She studied hard and learned a great deal. By the time she was in high school, she was genuinely the best student in her class.
Regardless of the fact she was in an all girl school, there was much discussion about sex and boys. There were some rigidly controlled, tightly chaperoned dances where the girls would meet with boys from a nearby Catholic boys’ school. The sisters patrolled the dance floor, loudly admonishing any couples who might be getting a little too close. Betty didn’t have to worry about it though, as few boys would ever ask her to dance. Things did change in her sophomore year when she discovered she could encourage the boys to ask her to dance.
She couldn’t do anything about sex, though, as she was never in position to be alone with a boy, and her influence didn’t seem to have any permanent affect beyond the dance floor.
By her junior year, she was able to get the orthodontic help she desperately needed. It helped a bit; however, the administrators of her funds would not allow her to get some of the additional cosmetic surgery she needed to correct her receding chin line. That didn’t happen until her college years.
Her powers continued to develop; however, she discovered what she could do only by accident. A mentor who could have helped her in the development of her powers might have been able to do a lot; unfortunately, the world of magic didn’t have a clue that she even existed. She had only herself and her environment as teachers.
It was her sixteenth year when she discovered an advantage she had over men. The bishop was visiting the school as he did every year. In addition to his ecumenical degrees, he had a doctorate in education, and he prided himself for his ability to make sure the young ladies and young men under his care would continue their education in the direction he thought best. He would interview all the children about their career desires, and while doing so, would encourage as many as he could to seek retreat in the church as sisters and priests.
The bishop was not a bad man in any respect of the word. He was not a pedophile. The thought that some members of the church would molest and take advantage of the young children in their parishes was abhorrent to him. His parents had been so strict about sex that he had grown up in fear of any sexual relations. He had sublimated his sex drive through the church, and was basically asexual.
Meanwhile, Betty had discovered that she might be able to read minds. She began to pick up thoughts from her roommates, and from some of the faculty. The thoughts were especially strong if someone had experienced an especially emotional event. Not all of the girls at the school were residents there full time. Some spent the week there, and would go to wherever home was on the weekends and holidays. One of Betty’s roommates fell into that category.
Michelle Wheatley had been home for the weekend, and the emotional blast she was radiating when she returned on Sunday evening almost knocked Betty over. Michelle had had sex, not once, but several times, and it had been fabulous. She would never talk about it, but every time she went home she was getting plenty from a boyfriend.
Betty made up her mind then and there that she was going to experience sex as soon as she could. There were several problems, though. Betty was under eighteen and had no place to go to on holidays and weekends without an escort from the school. There was not a chance she could find a willing partner. The fact that she was not attractive made it that more improbable that she could find someone.
The solution presented itself to her when she had the counseling session with Bishop Davison. He was in his early 50’s and a surprisingly handsome and fit man. He was also very tractable. She basically hypnotized him and took control. She wiped out 40 years of sexual repression with only a few pushes, and in a few minutes was straddling his thighs. She offered her little breasts to him and within a few seconds he was eagerly suckling her engorged nipples. The act was not that pleasant the first time; however, it showed promise for the future. At the subconscious level for him, the act was fabulous. She could sense that immediately.
She blocked his memories of the encounter, but left a suggestion that he needed to see the best student in the school again. Their second and third couplings were much more satisfying. She left him with the thoughts that perhaps having sexual relationships with women was really what God intended a man to do.
Bishop Davison left the church a few months later and married a widow twenty years his junior. She’d had two children and they had three more of their own. He would always say that he had a revelation in a dream about what man’s true purpose was. He could never remember what actually happened.
”ƒ
Chapter 11 — Betty Initiates Her Plan
Betty was accepted as a freshman at Princeton on her own merit; however, she was also able to get a substantial scholarship. As she was not a local resident, she had to live in a dormitory for the first year. She found a nice apartment after her freshman year, and became a New Jersey resident. She also purchased a late model used car. Monetarily, the dealership broke even; however, the salesman had a long-lasting smile.
She wasn’t sure of her major, and would not declare it for two years. Her graduation from high school had coincided with her eighteenth birthday. She was a free, but insecure young woman, and she had three years before her allowance was cut off.
Her liaison with the now defrocked bishop had truly opened her eyes to the pleasures of sex; however, it did nothing to improve her ability to get along with her fellow students. That would improve greatly over the next few years, but in an artificial way. She now had a plan.
Her powers of persuasion were increasing, and by the Christmas break of her freshman year had acquired a first class breast augmentation. The doctor wrote it off as testing a new procedure. The facial reconstruction was much more difficult, and had to wait until the following summer. Once the bruising and swelling went down, no one recognized her. The surgeon had done an outstanding job. She was becoming very attractive physically.
The summer between her sophomore and junior years was a major turning point in her life. Finding the book of spells had been a revelation for her. She had gone to the local flea market, and for some unknown reason was pawing through a stack of books one of the vendors had on display. The book seemed to call to her almost literally. At first, she thought it was a cook book, but it didn’t take much reading to determine there was much more to it than that. In light of what she had discovered about her own powers, she felt that probably some credence could be given to the book’s contents. There were other people, apparently just like herself. It was just that she had never found them; at least, not yet.
Not only was the book about magic, the book itself was magic. She determined that right away. The first few chapters seemed to discuss and reveal spells that she had already been using. The neat thing was that there were lessons on how to create shortcuts. There were also some variations on spells she already knew. Well into the second chapter, things became a bit more complicated. There were levitation spells, and spells on how to alter the perception of things. There was also a section about finding and training a familiar.
One thing that was extremely frustrating was that she could access only about five percent of the book. It was as if the other pages were fused together with static electricity. The pages would slide freely across each other, but she could never separate them. At the end of the each of the first two chapters there were series of exercises. She did the Chapter 1 exercises rather quickly. She had been doing this sort of thing for several years, and each exercise had a little box with a check in it.
In Chapter 2, there were a number of exercises where the little box was not checked off. She was able to get a couple more checked off; however, she could not make any progress beyond that. That was when she decided she had better read the chapter in more detail.
The answer to her difficulties came rather quickly. The last couple of sections of the exercises required a familiar. She had remembered a bit about familiars from some movies she had seen, and books she had read when she was much younger. This book added considerably more to her knowledge. Familiars were usually a small animal that formed an association with its partner. Familiars did not necessarily have to have a magical origin; however, that did make the process quicker. The witch, wizard, sorcerer, or sorceress would form a symbiotic relationship with the familiar, and the familiar would act as an amplifier and focuser for the magic. Once an animal became a familiar, it would usually be able to generate magic on its own.
Familiars became very intelligent and anthropomorphic in a sense. That is, they took on many human characteristics, but did not lose the characteristics of their species. They were usually telepathic and were multilingual. The domestic cat was the most common familiar; although dogs, monkeys, and other small mammals were known to be familiars.
Betty had never had a pet, and she wasn’t really sure what she should get. All the evidence she could gather suggested she was a witch, and she had determined that she was going to take it as far as she could. If that meant she needed a familiar, she was going to find one.
For her, the logical place to find a familiar was a pet store. She probably would have done much better had she gone to the local animal shelter; however, things worked out rather well for her as it was. She entered the pet store and was immediately assaulted by the aroma common to most pet stores: a combination of pet food, dogs, cats, other animals, and animal wastes. Her mind-set had her looking for a puppy or kitten. She never got that far. Near the front of the store was a covered plastic cage about six feet in diameter near the store entrance. Inside the cage were some little critters, the likes of which she had never seen before. Their bodies were about eight inches long, and they had short little fur covered tails. They had rather large eyes, little rounded ears and a pointed snout. Several of them were roughhousing; a couple more were rolled up in tight little balls, napping. As Betty watched, one of the little wrestlers broke away from its mates and came over to the edge of the cage, obviously checking Betty out.
“May I help you?”
Betty turned to see a sales associate approaching.
“Yes, what are these cute little things? They look like weasels.”
“Well, they are related to weasels. They’re ferrets. They used to be used to hunt rabbits. When they’re awake, they’re pretty active, but they do sleep a lot.” Looking down at the wall of the cage, she noted the one that seemed to be checking Betty out. “Would you like to hold one? This one seems to like you.”
“Sure.”
The sales person opened the top and reached in and gently picked up the little ferret. “They’re about four months old. The babies are called kits. An adult male is called a hob, and the female is called a sprite.” She gently passed the little critter to Betty. It immediately started checking Betty out. It sniffed her arms and then quickly climbed up her arm to her shoulder, where it started sniffing her neck and ear.”
“That tickles,” Betty giggled. “What is that smell?”
“They have scent glands. They’re related to skunks, polecats, and otters. When they get excited, they might release a bit of scent. If it’s a problem, a veterinarian can remove the glands. It’s a pretty simple procedure.”
“So what do they eat?”
“They are strictly meat eaters. Cat food and dog food work for most. They also love raw meat like chicken and rabbit.
“They make good pets and will live eight years or more. Say, I think this little boy really does like you.” The little ferret had draped itself across her shoulder, and seemed to be napping. “They can be potty trained, but they’re not like cats; however, they can learn if you make an effort.”
Thirty minutes later, Betty left the pet store with several bags of supplies, a cage, and a half grown ferret. They bonded immediately. Training him to use the box was a non-event. He took to it immediately. She named him Marvin and he was the first real friend she had ever had.
He sat on her shoulder while she worked at the computer, and seemed to read along with her when she was studying the book of spells. The first time he ‘mind spoke’ to her was a shock to both of them. Betty was working on one of those logic puzzles where you had to get the numbers one through nine in the proper array.
‘That doesn’t go there. You’ve already put one of those in the other corner.’
“What? Who said that?”
‘I did, but I didn’t say anything. I can’t talk. That thing, what do you call it, doesn’t belong there.’
“That’s a seven, and I see what you mean.”
‘What am I doing talking to a ferret as if he really were telepathic? This is ridiculous.’
‘Betty, I am speaking to you. I found out I could do it a couple of days ago. I think I am learning to ‘really’ talk, too.’
Marvin’s ability to actually vocalize appeared rather rapidly. Soon, they were practicing the lessons together, and had actually advanced to another chapter in the lesson book.
Betty had never been happy with her breast implants. They looked good, but just didn’t feel right. She was surprised to find some lessons that would allow her to alter her appearance. It was an involved process that required her to remove her implants. She didn’t have the power to remove them through magic, so she returned to the doctor who had originally done the surgery.
“Why in the world would you want to do this? They are perfect.”
“I’ve decided the natural way is the best, so I am going to grow my own.”
Of course the doctor didn’t believe her, but she insisted, and threw in a quickie just to make him more tractable. She had learned some minor healing spells and the effects of the trauma were gone in a few days. The alterations to the bone structure of her face had involved relocating some of her own tissue, so she left that area mostly alone. She made a few adjustments to how she wanted to appear, and implemented the magic. It took several months, and was a bit uncomfortable at times. Her breasts became quite sore for a while, as did her jaw. She also became a natural blonde. Her new growth matched what the hairdresser had done.
She did have one problem. She couldn’t do anything about her eyes. There were spells that might allow her to change their color; however, there were also warnings that that spell should not be practiced without supervision, as blindness might result if the spells were improperly cast. That was the only warning she needed.
She didn’t have to cast any spells to alter her sexual appetite. She was not insatiable. Quite to the contrary, the sex act became quite satisfying physically; however, something was missing. Her partners were physically satisfying, but inadequate as far as satisfying her emotionally.
She decided she needed someone a bit more mature in a relationship, and started looking around. She remembered Professor Deere. She hadn’t thought much about him, as he was considerably older than she, (he was 25), but she remembered more than once that she had caught him looking at her in a way that indicated he found her attractive. She decided he was going to be the one, and set about getting ready to capture him. The trouble was he was no longer around.
It was the second part of the summer session, and she knew that he didn’t teach; however, she had frequently seen him around the area of the Physics and Chemistry Departments. She had encouraged several students from those departments. She found that in general they made better lovers. They seemed to be a bit more appreciative than the jocks, who felt they were doing her a favor.
So, where was Professor Deere? She did a little digging, and found that he had taken a few weeks off and had gone to his home in Connecticut. It didn’t take much to get his address. She had it all figured out. She would ‘just happen’ to run into him. She would strike up a conversation before ‘encouraging’ him to ask her out. It would be easy. He would ‘fall’ in love with her, they would marry, and she would become the wife of a rising young physicist. They would move to California where they would live in luxury. She would manipulate things discretely, and they would never have to worry. She might even decide to have a child some day: then again, maybe not.
Then that bitch showed up and ruined everything. Well, she would take care of her and her friends. That shouldn’t be any problem at all.
She followed the couple to New York. The fact they were making love thirty minutes after they arrived, pissed Betty off. She was going to have to take some serious steps. It might take several days, but she would fix things. There was something odd about the girl. Betty could sense something that almost made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She had no idea what it was; however, she found it impossible to read the girl’s mind. This was the first time she had ever encountered anything like this.
She really got mad after he took the girl to the opera. He had manipulated her into Tiffany’s and then proposed to her and gave her a fabulous ring.
‘I will take that ring from her tonight. I will go to their room and put them under a sleep spell. I will erase her memory of him, and I will do the same thing to her family. I will fix his mind and his family’s minds. They will forget all about her.’
The sleep spell worked, but not very well. It had been easy to get into the hotel and their room. They had obviously been making love and had fallen asleep, naked on the bed. ‘My goodness, he’s good looking! I had no idea he was that well endowed. She certainly is good looking, too. Well, if that’s what he likes, I’ll make some more changes.’
She tried to take the ring off the girl, but she couldn’t seem to grasp it. When the blue stone started glowing, she decided she would just have to wait. There was something very strange about that ring.
‘Why can’t I read her? I’ve never seen this before. I wonder what it means?’
Betty was in for the biggest surprise in her young life.
Now that we have learned a bit about Betty’s background, it has become a bit easier to understand her motivation. Now we are going to have to find out how Betty is to be defeated, if that is actually going to possible. Betty has done a lot of damage. There is something that should be apparent to past readers of this series. Things generally work out for the best.
By Portia Bennett
We have learned quite a bit about Betty and her origin; however, it remains to be seen what she can do in her confrontation against the combined forces of the Lewis’s, Brewers, Schmedlaps, and others. If the good guys win, what is going to happen with Betty. What are the implications of a rogue witch?
If you haven’t read the previous stories about Cindy, Bobbie, and the rest and how they arrived where they are now, you should probably read them. Start with 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 — Parts 1 & 2 & Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling.
I have researched the Spell’s—R-Us Universe diligently and cannot find anything that violates it, other than that The Wizard is a bit kinder and gentler than sometimes reported. Don’t get me wrong. Given an opening, The Wizard could resort to some of his more ironic and nasty transformations. I’m sure that could happen at any time.
Holly did an outstanding job of fixing my punctuation errors and occasional wanderings into gibberish. She does a great job figuring out what I really meant.
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.
Chapter 12 — Back at the Restaurant
Betty cast another obscuring spell, but it seemed to have no affect. She was momentarily distracted by a bag lady rummaging through the dumpster at the back of the restaurant removing aluminum cans and flattening them before putting them in a large canvas bag. The lady was old and bent over, and obviously presented no threat.
The group in the parking lot was another matter.
In addition to the five from the restaurant, there was Frank’s ‘ex’ girlfriend, two women who appeared to be in their late 30’s or early 40’s, and two older women who were perhaps in their 60’s or 70’s. As she watched, two more women appeared from between the cars. One had to be the older sister of Frank’s girlfriend. She was pregnant, as was the redhead who stood next to her. Two young men in their late 20’s or early 30’s were accompanying the two pregnant ladies. Betty couldn’t read any of them. Suddenly, she realized she was in way over her head.
‘Marvin, we’ve got to do something. What can we do?’
‘How about using a very strong sleep spell? I think I can make it strong enough to stun them.'
“It won’t work, Betty, our shields are too strong,” Marissa had obviously picked up their mental conversation.
The bag lady had apparently retrieved all the aluminum she was able to get and started walking toward the road. The obscuring spell had obviously worked, as she was paying no attention to the tense situation in the parking lot. Her bag was heavy and she had to set it down after traveling only a few feet. She was gasping for breath with the asthmatic wheeze of a heavy smoker. After resting for about thirty seconds, she picked up the sack and slung it over her shoulder. She didn’t get fifty feet before she had to set it down again about five or six feet behind Betty.
Neither Betty nor Marvin ever saw the head of a platinum gray tabby cat poke out of the bag. The little cat, the most beautiful and intelligent cat in the world by the way, launched herself at the shoulder of the woman in front of her.
“Betty!” Marvin screamed.
Betty had felt the attack, but it was over before she could react.
“Betty, it’s going to kill me!” Marvin screamed again, as the cat raced with him in her jaws to hide in the crowd.
‘Marvin, if you move as much as a whisker, I just might. Just hold still. Everything is going to be okay.’
‘You’re going to kill my Betty.”
‘No one is going to get hurt. Just relax. I have a good grip on your neck, but I won’t hurt you unless you make me.’
Betty was terrified. She tried to cast a stun spell, but it fell to the pavement like the water from a weak squirt gun. She knew it was over. She turned and ran for the cemetery. She had to find a place to hide.
“I’ll get her, Mom,” Randi said.
“Don’t be too hard on her. She doesn’t have a clue what she’s up against.”
“I’ll be gentle.” Randi took off at a slow jog after the figure that was disappearing in the darkness of the trees and tomb-stones. She returned ten minutes later, alone.
“You let her get away?” Marti exclaimed.
“No, I didn’t, she’s right here.” Randi placed a small, rectangular block on the ground. “She ran into this crypt. I just shrank it and slowed time down in it. She’s fine.
“So what do we do about her?”
“I guess we need to get her to remove the spell on Frank and his family,” Marissa said looking at Frank, who hadn’t moved for the last thirty minutes.
“I’ll get her.” Randi suddenly started shrinking until she was no more than an inch tall. Then she walked into the crypt.
Randi walked into the small room to meet a sobbing and cowering Betty. A quick, simple little spell lighted some candles that suddenly appeared.
“Betty, I’m Randi Lewis. I know we’ve met before, but we haven’t been properly introduced.”
“Go ahead and kill me. I know you can. Just let me go be with Marvin.”
“Betty, why would we want to do that? You haven’t done that much. We just need to fix a few things.” Randi sat on the marble bench next to Betty. “You didn’t know about us, did you?”
“No, how many of you are there?”
“There are about two hundred of us in the New England Coven. There are nearly 300 in the New York and New Jersey Covens, and I guess you are one more. There are several thousand across the country, and many more around the world. Our numbers are finally getting stronger.”
“What are you going to do to me?”
“Betty, we are not going to hurt you. You can count on that.”
“But, you killed Marvin,” Betty sobbed. “He was my only friend.”
“Marvin is fine,” Randi listened for a few seconds. “Right now he is getting acquainted with Maddy, Silky, Chloe, Selene, and Petra. You’ll like them.
“We have to do something about this spell you put on Frank and his family. Then we have to talk about some other things. You’re a strong witch, and I have a feeling that you have no idea how strong you are.”
“I can’t be very strong. You certainly didn’t have any trouble with me.”
“Well, you’ve never had any training to speak of, though we’ve seen some indications that you can do quite a bit. The other thing is that we are very strong, especially Mom, and we have a mentor who is extremely powerful.”
“I found a book, and I was learning. Marvin and I both were.” She paused for a moment. “Why can’t I have Frank? He loves me now. You’re pretty. You could have anyone.”
“Betty, real love can never be taken. It can only be given. You have tried to take a love that was not yours to have. There are a number of problems because of what you tried to do. You see, Frank is a carrier of the witch trait. If he marries a witch, there can be all sorts of problems if love isn’t involved. The marriage will only work if there is genuine love on the part of both parties. His Wisdom said that if one or both parties were under a spell, there could be disastrous results. He hasn’t told us exactly what might happen, but I have a feeling it wouldn’t be good.
“Frank’s love for me and my love for him is genuine. The ring you tried to take from me is full of very strong magic. You never would have been able to wear it, even if you had been able to get it.”
“Randi, I don’t think I can do anything about Frank or his family. I don’t know how to remove the spell. It was something I discovered. It just came to me.”
Randi pondered that for a few seconds. “Oh dear, we may have to get some help from His Wisdom.”
“Who is this Wisdom you keep talking about?”
“He is a very good friend. You will like him.”
“But, I’m your enemy. I tried to destroy your happiness. I tried to hurt you.”
“That didn’t, and wouldn’t have happened. There are too many of us, and we are too strong.
“We have never intended to hurt you, Betty. We just want to get things back the way they were.
“We’ve learned a lot about you over the last few hours. You never had a family, did you?”
“No, I grew up in a girls’ school. That’s all I remember, all I know. I couldn’t leave until I was eighteen. That was part of the terms of the support agreement. I’ve been out only three years.”
“You never knew your mother or father?”
“I think I saw my mother once or twice. I never knew who my father was, but they said it wasn’t her husband. My mother died when I was about three.”
“I’m so sorry. You’ve never really had a family?”
“Not one that I would claim, although the school would state otherwise.”
“Well, that stops right now. We are your family. Betty, your mind is like an open book, and I know what you went through. One of these days you will learn how to close it. What you’ve been through over the years is unforgivable. You deserved so much better. You have so much to learn.
“Would you like a fresh start?”
“What do you mean by a ‘fresh start’?”
“I mean, would you like to have your girlhood over? Would you like to grow up with a mother and father, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles?”
“How could that happen? I’m 21.”
“Believe me, it can be done. I’ve seen it happen several times. I was born on a different Earth than this one. I died here, and was reborn here. My mother is the older blonde lady who talked to you. Some of us were boys who became women. It was our choice. One of us was a girl who became a boy. Fortunately, there are many more of us who were in the correct sex to begin with.
“Enough of this talk: you need to come with me and meet your new family.”
“Randi, I’m scared. I have not been a nice person. I mean, you could turn me into a toad or something like that.”
“That will never happen. If anyone is turned into a toad, it will be me. I haven’t always been the best little witch.”
“What about my magic? Are you going to take that away from me? What about Marvin? We’re real close.”
“We certainly don’t want to take away your magic. That’s much too much a precious thing. You and Marvin will always be together. He is your familiar, and you belong to each other. We won’t do anything without your approval. Let’s talk to everyone and see what they think.”
Randi hugged Betty, then kept her in her warm embrace and kissed her as Betty started to sob again. The sobs gradually subsided.
“May I fix your makeup? Your mascara’s run all over the place.”
“I guess so, but where is the makeup? You don’t have your purse, and I seem to have lost mine.”
“Just hold still a second, I know a few tricks.”
It took only a few seconds and all signs of makeup damage were erased.
“There, you look just fine. Come on. No magic now, promise?”
“I promise.”
Randi took Betty’s hand. “Don’t be frightened when you first step out. Things won’t look right to you for a few seconds. I’ve done a little thing with space-time.”
”ƒ
Chapter 13 — The Solution
The group of witches, husbands, children and friends were sitting in some of the patio chairs in the outdoor dining area at the rear of the restaurant. They knew their presence would be intimidating, and being seated when Randi and Betty emerged would reduce the intimidation factor. The men had carried Frank from the parking lot, and he was standing beside one of the tables, still silent. He hadn’t moved on his own.
Two tiny figures emerged from the crypt, then rapidly returned to their normal size. Betty looked at the group and was met with nothing but smiles. That is, except for Frank, who still hadn’t moved. Randi took Betty to her mother who stood as the girls approached.
Sally stepped over to the little stone building, picked it up, and looked at it for a moment before peering across the street into the darkness. Then she just dropped it, except that it never dropped. It started floating toward the cemetery, gradually returning to its original size. There was a slight thud as it returned to its correct location.
“Welcome to our family dear, precious Betty,” Marissa said as she enfolded Betty in her arms while giving her a kiss. “I know this is a bit much for you, but you have nothing to worry about. We need to fix a few things, and then figure out how you are going to fit in.” She proceeded to introduce Betty to all of the extended family. Each one greeted Betty with a hug and kiss. Marvin introduced the cats to her. Queen Maddy was first, and she apologized for making Betty think that she had killed Marvin. They’d just had to separate the two and keep things confused enough so that they couldn’t coordinate with the spell casting.
“Now we have some serious business to attend to,” Marissa said as everyone took their seats. “Can you release Frank from the paralysis spell? I know that any one of us could, but it’s always better if the spell caster removes the spell. That avoids having to do extra cleanup.”
“Sure.
“Frank, it’s okay to move and talk. Just sit in that empty chair.”
Frank was suddenly furious, “Betty, what in the hell is going on? Who are these people, and where have you been?”
“These are your friends. Don’t you recognize them?”
“They look vaguely familiar, but I certainly don’t know any of them.”
“Mom,” Randi said with a bit of a worried tone, “Betty doesn’t think she can remove the spell she put on Frank. She says she discovered the love spell by accident. It just sort of happened. She was never trained to use it.
“By the way, she found a copy of the primer, and has worked her way through the first two chapters. A love spell like this is chapter five material, and she really complicated things by combining it with a spell to make Frank’s family do what they did. I have a feeling it has spilled all over the place.” Randi turned to Betty. “Do you think you can do anything?”
“I don’t think so. I was so mad that you had taken Frank from me that I may have flown off the handle. I have a feeling that if I try anything now, it might just make matters worse.”
“Mom, we may have to bring The Wizard in on this, but I would like to try something first.” Turning to Betty, she said, “Tell Frank to do what I ask. I have an idea that may be a bit of a cliché, but it might just work.”
“Frank, do what Randi asks you to do.”
“Okay.”
“Hi, Frank, do you remember me?”
“I don’t think so. Should I?”
“Do you remember this ring?” Randi showed him the blue diamond engagement ring.
“Yes, I gave it to someone special. You have it. Did I give it to you?”
“Yes, you did.”
“Then you must be special.”
“I’m glad you think so.” Randi was starting to tear up a bit. She raised Frank’s right hand, before interlacing the fingers of her left hand with his. There was a gasp from the crowd as a strong blue light seemed to engulf Randi and Frank’s hand.
“Now kiss me, Frank. Kiss me as if I were the only woman in the world for you.”
“But, Betty’s ….”
“It’s okay, Frank, just kiss me.”
He did. At first it was like a shy teenager on his first date. But after a while, there seemed to be a bit more passion in it. The ring began to glow furiously. Soon a blue glow seemed to envelop the two as the kiss went on and on.
They finally came up for air.
“Randi, I had the most horrid dream. I dreamed I didn’t love you anymore. It was awful.”
“I’m right here, Frank, and I will always love you. I think I need another kiss.” The glow continued to brighten, and something not missed by Marissa and a few others was that a piece of the blue light seemed to break off and settle on Betty. It was quickly absorbed.
In a town in Connecticut a ball of blue light emerged from a makeup table drawer, engulfing the husband and wife who were sleeping there. Smaller portions of the light disappeared through the walls. There were some additional repairs to be made.
Evelyn and Esmeralda said goodnight, and just disappeared. The restaurant had long before closed its doors, and the members of the group were sipping their drinks and discussing the night’s events. Betty had been cornered by the young woman who had pulled off the bag lady act so convincingly. It was Ginny Chronister, and she had another task to perform.
“Bobbie’s grandmother came by my house a couple of days ago and said I was needed here. She said that The Wizard was in another universe, or he would be able to get me here immediately. She did pull a few magic strings and we had first class tickets from San Francisco to Boston. My husband had a few days off and the grandparents hadn’t seen their grandson in a while, so we told them we were coming for a few days visit. We left our little boy with the grandparents and ostensibly, Richard and I were having dinner with the Lewis’s tonight.”
“I don’t get it; neither you nor your husband is magic, yet you dropped everything to come here and help them?”
“Cindy and Bobbie saved my life, and Randi helped me adjust to my new one. They gave me so much, and they made my new family whole again. The original Ginny had died a couple of months before. I am genetically identical to her. I don’t know how they did it, but I don’t ask too many questions. They gave me the life I had desired for more than seventy years. I will do anything within my power for them. My husband knows my story, but the rest of my family never will know.
“These are good people, Betty. You can trust them to be compassionate and do the right things. There are some things in store for you. It may be difficult for you to accept at first, but what they have in mind is the best way for you. They don’t want you to lose your powers, nor do they want Marvin to lose his. However, if you don’t accept their offer, you are going to find yourself like you were a few months ago, except you will have no magic powers, or memory of what has gone on. Marvin will just be another pet with a short life span.
“Betty, your life will not be very pleasant if you choose that route. I know it’s not all your fault; however, most likely you will end up like your mother, using your body to get what you want. Think about how you got to where you were before these wonderful people intervened. What sort of life were you looking forward to?
“You have a gift, a very powerful gift. If you learn to use it properly, there will be many rewards for you and others. Being able to use magic in a good way requires a special combination of family, instruction, and love. You were shortchanged on all of those.”
What had started out as a pleasant conversation was beginning to get very serious. “Why are you telling me this, you’re not magic? Why aren’t they telling me these things?”
“Maybe because we’re a bit closer; neither of us grew up in a magic environment. Plus, I’ve experienced what they can do. Marissa is in charge right now, and she won’t pull any punches with you. I’ll leave you with this. They are not going to punish you. They are going to offer you a life: a life far better than what you’ve experienced up to now. They won’t take anything from you. You will still be you. You are just going to see things from a little different perspective.”
Things seemed to fall into a lull and Marissa spoke up. “I want to thank everyone for their help tonight. I think it would be best if we went back to the hotel or wherever we are staying. We all need some sleep before we head home. We’ll see everyone at the house for dinner tomorrow night.
She turned to Betty, Frank, Randi, Bobbie and Cindy. “We need to go to Betty’s place. There are still some things we need to take care of.”
The drive was short, and there was little conversation. Andy, Sally and Don followed in a second car. Betty could feel her anxiety building. Cindy reached over, took her hand and gave a gentle squeeze. “It’s going to be alright. You’ll see.”
Betty’s apartment was spacious, but sterile. She had a desktop computer and laptop on a desk at one side and there was an entertainment center along the other wall. Prominently placed next to the computer was the magic primer.
Bobbie went to the kitchen and prepared some special tea. That wasn’t too strange, except Betty didn’t have any tea in her kitchen.
Marissa picked up the primer. “Betty, you were very lucky to have found this. It’s an early edition, and in the best condition of any I’ve seen. You will love learning from it. I enjoyed mine, still do, for that matter. This is part of a three volume set. When you’re ready for volumes two and three, you may use mine.
“Now, as Randi said earlier, your mind has been pretty much an open book to us. That ends tonight. We will respect your right to privacy, and we will never read your mind again unless it is an emergency and you’re in peril, or if you ask one of us to. We will also show you how to shield yourself.
“Before we take care of what has to be done, I need to ask you something. As Ginny told you, there are basically two choices. I know this may seem harsh, but the magic world works by rules that are a bit different than the non-magic society.
“Choice number one is that you stay the way you are; however, you and Marvin will lose your magic, and both of you will forget everything about magic and this current situation.
“Your second choice will allow you and Marvin to keep your magic; however, your education will start over. You will be closely supervised for many years. I guarantee this will happen under conditions far better than those you previously experienced. Do you understand how this will be carried out?”
“Yes.”
“What is your choice?”
“I want to keep my magic. I want to start over.”
“Fine, then that’s the way it will be.
“Men, we ladies have some things to take care of in the bedroom. Pack up her computers and anything else she might need. Don’t forget Marvin’s things.”
Marissa looked at a worried Marvin, who was sitting on the back of the couch with the cats.
“Don’t worry Marvin. Betty will be fine. You will be back together in just a little while.”
One terrified witch surrounded by five other witches moved into the master bedroom. The door closed quietly behind them. The men set to sorting and packing things. There really wasn’t that much. They could hear muffled conversations followed by pregnant pauses. While they waited, there was a quiet knock at the front door of the apartment. Frank opened the door, to be met by The Wizard and Wolf.
Wolf immediately loped over to the cats who greeted him with great affection. Needless to say, Marvin was terrified, and it took a few minutes for the cats to convince Marvin that Wolf meant no harm. It wasn’t too long before Marvin led them to his cache of snacks.
“So, how are things going?” The Wizard had been watching Marvin’s reaction to Wolf before he turned to Frank.
“With me or Betty?”
“How about you, first?”
“I guess I should be very mad, but for some reason I’m not. I’m flattered that she was finally attracted to me; however, I’m pissed that she used magic to try to eliminate my love for Randi and transfer it to her.
“She tried to convince me I had been going to bed with her, and I think she was going to make a major effort to get me to sleep with her tonight. She had convinced me to move to California, and she had created all sorts of false memories in my mind. The thing was I had trouble believing them.”
“That was because they hadn’t happened. You didn’t experience them. If she had been well trained, you probably would have believed that they happened. Fortunately for everyone involved, she was a rank amateur, though a very dangerous and powerful amateur.
“As far as California is concerned, we made a few little adjustments, and things are back to the way they were last week. That includes your project here.
“You need to realize that Betty is the result of a very abusive and neglectful childhood. Now that we know about her, I have been able to check many probable outcomes. With immediate and proper intervention, we think Betty will become a quite wonderful and loving person. It’s going to take a lot of work on your and Randi’s part, but I think we will all be very happy with the results.”
“I don’t think I understand.”
“You will soon enough. Just have an open mind. You won’t be sorry.
“So what’s been going on with the ladies?”
“We’re not sure. The ladies have been behind closed doors for quite a while. Betty said she would accept whatever Marissa had in mind for her. Maybe you should check things out.”
“That won’t be necessary. Marissa knows what has to be done, and I gave her the authority to do it. Is there any of that tea left?”
They probably would have watched television, except all the electronic equipment had already been disconnected, so they quietly drank their tea, and waited.
The muffled conversations ceased several minutes before the door to the bedroom finally opened. Marissa and Sally, closely followed by Bobbie, came out and stood to either side of the door. Then Cindy emerged with Randi following. They were holding hands with a little girl who was probably a bit less than four years old. She was a dark brunette and her hair was quite curly. Her pleasantly rounded face framed two rather large dark brown eyes. There might have been remnants of some tears, but she had a bright smile. She was dressed in a little pinafore, and her white stockinged feet were wearing mary-janes.
“Hello, Your Wisdom,” Marissa said when she spotted The Wizard. “This is Elizabeth Jane Brown, but she would prefer to be called Betty.
“The old Betty is still with us for the moment; however, in a little while she will just be a three and a half year old little girl.”
Poor Marvin was stunned, but he quickly recovered and raced to the little girl who leaned over and picked him up. She giggled as he nuzzled her ears.
“Betty has something she wants to say to everyone. It’s way past her bedtime, and she will have to go to sleep shortly.
“Betty … ,” Marissa indicated to Betty that she had the floor.
The little girl looked around at all the adults. Her gaze stopped at The Wizard. “Fank you, Your Wisdom, for giving me this chance.” Her attention went back to the rest of the group. “I don’t have a wot of time, but I wanted to apowogise for all the twubble I caused. I wish I had known all of you many years ago. Fank you foh being so kind to me. I suttinly down’t desewve it. Fwank, pwease fowgive me foh what I did to you and Wandi.” She started to tear up, and paused to wipe her nose with the back of her hand, then looked back at Randi.
“Go ahead, Dear, it’s going to be just fine.”
She turned back to Frank. “Fwank, I weally do want you to wuv me. Would, would you pwease be my daddy? Wandi said she would be my mommy.”
Frank was caught totally off guard. He looked at Randi who smiled and gently nodded. He looked at the little girl who was looking up so hopefully at him, and his heart melted. “I would love to be your daddy. Would you be my little girl?” She nodded. He picked up the little bundle in his strong arms and gently hugged her as she threw her little arms around his neck and kissed him in return. Marvin had to scramble to avoid being crushed. Randi moved in to join in the hug.
Gentle pandemonium reigned for a little while; however, the little girl was getting very sleepy. Randi and Frank returned her to the bedroom, gently kissed her, and covered her with a light blanket. The old Betty Brown closed her eyes for the last time.
When they returned to the living room, they saw that most of the equipment and boxed items were gone. The Wizard was explaining what had happened and what would happen, “Most everything is at the Lewis’s home. The desktop with its connection to me is set up in Betty’s new bedroom, although we know that is only temporary. Her other things are in storage. I located the other two volumes of the primer at another flea market. They have joined their mate, and are there for Betty as she grows up.
“When Betty wakes up tomorrow, most of the things she has endured over the last seventeen years or so should have been forgotten, at least until she is old enough to handle their memory. She will eventually know she is a witch, and will look to all of you for her training, guidance, support, and love. According to all the records, Marissa and Stan have been appointed as her interim foster parents until Randi and Frank marry this November. Her adoption by Randi and Frank will happen very quickly after that.
“Marissa, you did a great job, first transformation or not. I think your being a mother gave you an insight to things I might not have noticed. I may have to seek your advice on some of my future transformations.
“You need to gather up that precious little bundle and go to Frank’s apartment. The apartment manager here is going to be showing this unit in the morning.”
Randi’s brain had been working at its usual rapid rate and she had come to several conclusions. “Your Wisdom, may I ask a question or two?”
“Certainly, Randi, I’m sure everyone has a few questions.”
“Where have you been for this last week or so? I’m beginning to think that you probably weren’t at a conference in another universe at all.”
The Wizard chuckled, “No, I’ve been very close. Your mother and I have been in close contact most of the time. I spent part of last week as an orphan in a certain school in New York. There have been a number of changes. Several on the staff are experiencing new starts. They have a lot to learn about life. I think they will do better this time. A certain ex-bishop who left the church a while ago due to Betty’s unique form of meddling, is now the head administrator. He is a new father … I think there is a pun in there somewhere … and he is dedicating his life to making sure that what happened to Betty and others will never happen again. He is a good man.
“Did you have another question, Randi?”
“Yes, er, I guess I’ll just have to say it. Did we do okay? We didn’t screw it up anywhere, did we?”
“Everyone did very well. You and Ginny made a huge impact on Betty. I will thank Ginny tomorrow night. She and Richard have already returned to her parent’s home. You two were the main reasons she agreed to trust your mother with whatever was in store for her. She was an unhappy young woman, and didn’t really see much hope for the future the way things were. She was going to be changed regardless, and her choice to a certain extent, was voluntary.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen several magic families get together like this on a project that was as important as this one. You have helped salvage someone who might have been lost much too soon. I think everyone at Headquarters will be very impressed.
“We can talk about this tomorrow. I still have a few loose ends to take care of.”
With a ‘pop’, The Wizard and Wolf were gone. Or was it the other way around?
The little girl was sound asleep, and Marvin was curled up against her chest. She was gently cradling him. Neither stirred as Frank and Randi picked them up, took them downstairs and secured Betty in a child’s seat that had appeared there. They carefully drove to Frank’s apartment. Frank kept looking in the rearview mirror at his daughter to be, a gentle, loving smile on his face.
“Are you okay with this, Frank? I know it’s a surprise.”
“I can’t think of a better way for this to have worked out. Now we get to show her what love is all about, and she will get to share that love with her brothers and sisters.
“Was it difficult? I mean the change is certainly quite drastic. I know you told me about these things, but to actually see the results for the first time is quite shocking.”
“Not really. Mom explained to her what was going to happen, and that she, Betty, didn’t really have much choice in the matter. Betty asked if she could have any inputs. Mom asked her what they were. The only thing she wanted was to get rid of her colorless eyes. Then she added that she wished her jaw and teeth wouldn’t be the way they were before. Mom told her she didn’t have a thing to worry about. Then Betty asked if she could apologize to everyone before all the changes set in. As you saw, she got her wish.
“We discussed at some length where she would go, and we came to the conclusion that you and I were the best choice to look after her. I knew you wouldn’t have any problem with it.
“After the discussion, Mom took a deep breath and started to concentrate. The changes happened very quickly. Mom gave her a mirror, and Betty started to cry, but we knew she was not unhappy with the changes. She ran her fingers around her face and eyes for a long time, and pulled at her hair a bit. She asked how old she was and Mother told her she was three and a half. She replied, ‘I wike that.’ Then we brought her out to everyone.”
Somehow there was already a child’s bed in the spare bedroom. They tucked her in and Marvin snuggled back up to her. His home (not really a cage) and toilet were next to the bed.
“Mom said Betty won’t wake up until morning, and right now I really, really need you to make love to me.”
“I think I’ll sleep with Betty and Marvin,” Silky said as she trotted out of the bedroom.
They were awakened in the morning by the sound of the toilet flushing and, “Mommy, Daddy, I am vewy hungry.”
”ƒ
Chapter 14 — Aftershocks
The party celebrated many things. It was the first opportunity for many of the extended family to meet Frank and his family. It was also the first time that Frank was able to meet Avery, Myrna, and their growing family. Avery and Frank had difficulty not retreating to their special world of physics, and both Myrna and Randi had to keep after them to remember what the real purpose of the party was. “There will be time enough for that later on,” Myrna admonished.
In a way, the party was the scene of the first official announcement of Randi and Frank’s engagement, although everyone had known about it almost immediately after Randi had returned with the ring.
The biggest celebration was welcoming Betty into the family and the world of witchcraft. Her memories, (just slightly adjusted by Marissa’s spell), had supposedly retreated to where they were when she was three and a half. Memories of the abuse she had suffered had been smoothed over. She knew she had been an orphan, because of the loss of her original parents; however, she retained only the good memories of her time in the orphanage. The official records on file reflected the new life that had been created for her.
Everyone who had not been at the event in Princeton was aware of what happened. They knew Betty had been given a fresh start, and they treated her as anyone should treat a slightly shy, three and a half year old orphan girl, who through good fortune had found a family. Several of the adults did let it slip within earshot that they were so happy that another ‘special person’ had been found.
The party would go on for some time, but soon it was time to put the little girl to bed. She didn’t argue as Frank carried her up to her bedroom. Frank waited as Randi gave her a bath and dressed her for bed. “Mommy, dey said I was a witch. Is dat bad? I tawt witches wuh bad peoples.”
“Yes, you are a very special person, just like your mommy, aunts and grandmother. We are witches, but we are good witches. We are going to help you be the best witch possible. You are a very lucky little girl.”
“Is Daddy a witch?”
“Your Daddy has a lot of magic in him, but he is not able to make magic like The Wizard can.”
“I wike The Wizud. He’s funny. Wolfy is weal nice, too.”
“We like The Wizard, too. He has been part of our family for a long time. He loves you very much. Now it’s time to go to sleep. We’re going to go shopping tomorrow. Give your Daddy and me a goodnight kiss.” She did, then snuggled down in her new bed, and was joined by Marvin and several cats.
As Randi turned out the light, Betty had one more thing to say, “Fank you fo’ being my Mommy and Daddy. I am going to be a good widdle girl.”
They quietly closed the door, a look of shock on both their faces. “She remembers, doesn’t she,” remarked a stunned Frank.
“It certainly sounded like it, didn’t it?”
They asked The Wizard about it when they returned to the party. “She knows she had a previous life. Sometimes it is difficult to hide all the old memories, especially for a witch. She knows she is who she is, because a lot of people love her and want her to be happy. The thoughts about her past life should fade and then start to return when she is older.
“Ginny, was it hard for you when you started to remember? I know we did a little adjustment.”
“Remembering for me was a bit startling at first; however, it made me so thankful for what you, Cindy and Bobbie had done. I never had any conflicts. I just mostly felt a great deal of joy when I woke up every morning the way I was. It got even better when I started waking up with this handsome hunk at my side,” she said as she hugged Richard to her.
“Fortunately for Betty, she doesn’t have to deal with the gender thing. She’s going to be fine. Randi will make sure of that.
“I do have a question, though. This was a pretty serious situation, and there could have been a lot of damage. Why are we so at ease with it? Frank and Randi’s happiness could have been destroyed. Yet everybody is happy and carrying on as if nothing much happened. I’m not sure I understand.”
The wizard knew that things might have turned out differently had the families not acted as quickly and in concert as they had. Maybe they had overestimated Betty’s power a bit, but they had been decisive, had put together an excellent plan, and carried it off without a hitch. They would probably figure out what had happened. It was pretty obvious, but they hadn’t connected all the dots, so to speak.
“It was the ring and the earrings. They are strongly connected. You’re not supposed to know about the earrings yet, Randi. The ring and earrings belong to the Deere family line; however, it takes a witch from outside the line to allow it to reach its maximum power. Frank and Randi are not married in the legal or ceremonial sense, but when she accepted the ring, they were married in the magic world. It is Randi’s ring until her death, which is so far off we don’t even need to think about it. Her daughter, granddaughter, or great granddaughter will then give it to a male member to give to his beloved.
“The ring has tremendous healing power, among other things. It broke Betty’s spell, rather easily I might add, and it cleaned up all the fallout that the spell created. It also went to the source. It did a lot to help Betty ease into her transition. It helped erase any animosity anyone might have had, and it helped everyone understand what had gone on. Understanding does much to destroy anger.
“There are many more Betties out there, and we need to find them before more potential disasters happen. The work Myrna has been doing in gene identification has opened up a whole new world for the magic community. We now have a great opportunity available to find young witches and insure they get the proper training.
“We thought we had located a curandero near Cuernavaca a few weeks ago, but that proved to be a false alarm. I’ve donated my DNA so that we might find more with my genetics. As you know, we know where a future wizard lurks, the first one in more than five hundred years. The last 30 years has been a great time for the world of magic. The future looks even better.”
“Bobbie, I’ve had just about all of this pregnancy I can stand.”
“I know what you mean, but it has been worth it, hasn’t it? I wouldn’t trade these swollen ankles, swollen boobs and sore back for anything. I think little Cindy is about ready to pop.”
“I have been having the same sort of feeling all day. I think little Don is ready, too. I know I am.
“Wouldn’t it be funny if we gave birth the same day? We’re pretty sure they were conceived on the same day. Why not?”
Cindy had coaxed her gravid body behind the wheel to visit her best friend. She was taking some time off from her nearly completed residency for the anticipated birth of her first child.
Bobbie hadn’t had to worry about taking any time off. She had taken leave from playing golf on the tour after her victory in Augusta. She would never have to work another day in her life if she chose not to; however, she would continue to play in a few tournaments, primarily to thumb her nose at her male detractors. However, she and Andy wanted more children, and she knew her energies were going to be concentrated on her growing family and the clinic she and Cindy were going to start.
Bobbie and Andy had bought a very nice, but not ostentatious home close to the golf course where she and Andy shared the head touring professional status. The home had been designed for the family they expected to have. It had been her dream since she was a small boy to have three children. She wanted two girls and a boy, and she felt very strongly that was how things were going to work out (although she was beginning to think she might want more). After all, Cindy had confirmed with her that first day, that that was what she had desired so strongly. Cindy had revealed her past and her abilities to her that day. That was more than 20 years ago, and what a wonderful time it had been. The best thing was that it was just starting.
“Bobbie, I was just thinking about that time when I finally got you to listen to me. Who would have thought that we would be here, two very pregnant ladies, like we are now?
“Is something wrong? You look funny.”
“I just felt a cramp like I’ve never felt before.”
“Do you think …? Oh shit, me too.”
Their bags had been packed for several weeks, and Don and Andy got them to the hospital before their contractions became too close together. The obstetricians were a bit amazed by the fact that their contractions were in perfect synch. They were in lock step. Their water broke at the same time, and their rates of dilation were virtually identical. The medical doctors were close at hand; however, unless there were complications, the birthing process was being handled by a midwife, Diane O’Sullivan. Not coincidentally, she was a member of the coven.
It was late in the afternoon when it became obvious they were looking at practically simultaneous births and Diane didn’t think she was going to be able to keep up. At least one of the doctors was going to have to attend one of the births.
Andy and Don were with their wives the entire time, offering their encouragement and support. Marissa and Sally were also in close attendance. Giving birth is never real easy, and giving birth the first time can be difficult, but neither Cindy nor Bobbie seemed to be having a particularly difficult time.
Don stepped out of Cindy’s room just as Andy stepped out of Bobbie’s. They were both getting a bit dry, and headed for the drinking fountain. A window at the end of the hall gave them a glimpse of the setting sun as it winked out in the west. Andy looked at his watch. It was 5:48 PM.
“It won’t be long. How’re you doing?” asked Andy.
“I think I’ll make it. We need to get back. Little Don is getting close to crowning.”
Things had progressed quickly while they were in the hall, and it would be just a few minutes more and Cindy and Bobbie’s ordeals would be over: at least the birthing part. At precisely 6:08 PM Donald Alfred Brewer and Cynthia Naomi Anderson made their appearances.
The umbilical cords and afterbirths were taken care of and everyone was cleaned up in short order. Bobbie and Cindy were exhausted, but eagerly took their babies and held them while the proud fathers stood to one side while the grandparents made a quick visit and took a few pictures before leaving to let the new mothers rest. The feeding would start in the morning.
Don and Andy hung around for quite a while, just to make sure everything was alright, then they quietly left after Cindy and Bobbie went to sleep. The light of the full moon smiled on them as they got in their cars and drove off. They would be there early in the morning, as would be the setting moon. It was October 31st. Fortunately, there was someone at both houses to pass out the candy.
Cindy woke up to the sound of a small baby fussing. All sorts of things started happening psychologically and physiologically. It was still early, and there were many of the noises that make hospitals so unattractive. Someone was running a floor polisher, the nurses were talking loudly among themselves, and the change in shift was in progress.
Diane didn’t have the luxury of a twelve-hour shift. She was on for 72 hours, but had her private room where she could get a few hours sleep if she wasn’t needed. There had been two other births earlier in the previous day, and several the day before that. The OB wing was a busy place.
Little Don, he wouldn’t be called that for long, fussed a bit more, and Cindy was about ready to try to get up. She needed some help, she was sore, and pressed the call button. Diane appeared almost instantly.
“Good morning, how’s everything in here?”
“I need to pee and I’m not sure I can stand, much less walk to the bathroom. I’m as sore as all get out, and I feel wonderful. I don’t know how to describe it.
“How’re Bobbie and the little one?”
“They’re fine. The lactation nurse is going to be there in a minute before she comes over here. Dr. Bettencourt is with her right now.” She raised her eyebrows in a knowing expression. “Bobbie issued a challenge: she made it to the bathroom without any help. Let’s see what you can do.”
Cindy definitely felt as if she had been run over by a truck, but she took it in stages, with Diane at her side. Diane helped her sit. It took a few seconds, but she was finally able to relax. After that, everything was nominal, except for some stinging where the tissue had been torn.
Things were a bit swollen but didn’t appear as nearly as bad as she thought they would. There had been very little tissue tearing and she had needed only a couple of stitches. She hated, but at the same time was proud of her poor stretched out belly. She knew she would get her figure back. After all, there was going to be a wedding very soon.
The Wizard had explained things to her very early after her transition. He would never do anything to make being a woman easier for her. She was going to have to experience all the ups and downs of womanhood without his magical assistance. There had been some rough times, especially menarche, but she wouldn’t have traded it for anything.
She seldom thought of her past life anymore: that had been more than twenty years before, but she and Don agreed about one thing. Their first son’s middle name would be Alfred, in honor of her past self. There were a few questions about their choice, and they would just explain it was an old family name.
“Dr. Bettencourt, it’s so nice to see you,” Cindy almost chuckled. The Wizard looked just like he did when Charli had joined the family. “Where’s Wolf? I thought he’d be here, too.”
“He’s running the floor polisher. He loves to do that.
“So how’s the little fellow?”
“He’s doing quite well. He hasn’t had any trouble finding the boob, as you can see.”
Cindy could see that The Wizard was getting choked up. He tried to hide it, but Cindy could read him pretty easily after all these years. It had been almost nine months ago when Cindy announced that she was going to have a boy, Bobbie detected that almost immediately, that The Wizard had really teared up.
“After a thousand years, I can finally put in for my retirement. I have to give them a hundred years notice, and he should be ready by then. I have a few hundred years left, and there are a lot of places I want to see.
“You will let me take him with me, won’t you?”
“Only if you let little Cindy come along, too,” Bobbie said walking slowly into the room with her own special little bundle.
Cindy had visions of the last scene of Auntie Mame as she left with her grand-nephew on a world journey. “Of course he can travel with you. He can’t miss any school, though. I think you should take all of us on some of those journeys of yours. We should meet those folks at headquarters, too. It’s about time.
By the time Don and Andy arrived, the two new mothers were sitting together in Cindy’s room experiencing the joys of motherhood. The beautiful scene brought tears to the new fathers’ eyes. The Mothers and babies went home the next day.
A month later, Bobbie would be back on the indoor driving range. She had one more goal to be achieved on the golf course, and there was nothing that was going to keep her from at least making a reasonable attempt. Next summer she was going to St. Andrews and storm the most sacred male bastion in golf.
Betty was a joy. She was sweet, loving, and for a little girl who was three months short of being four, very helpful around the house. Randi, Frank and Betty had moved into a condo unit in Boston that conveniently belonged to the Lewis’s, Schmedlap’s, and Brewer’s company. Frank had to commute back and forth from Princeton, at least for a while. Their unit was in the same building and close to Don and Cindy’s place. It was also very close to public transportation.
There were a few times, not very often, when Betty seemed a bit distant. They would only last for a few seconds before she would give a big smile and get on with what she was doing. She and Marvin usually slept in her bedroom. There was never a problem getting her to bed. Randi would help her with her bath and help her with her nightie. Then she would run off to give Frank a kiss before hugging and kissing Randi goodnight. But every once in a while, Randi and Don would find her snuggled up to them in the morning.
One Saturday night they were watching a nicely sanitized family movie. The happy ending brought lumps to their throats. What transpired after that brought even more lumps and a few tears. The wedding was only a week off.
“Mommy, why do you call Aunt Cindy and Aunt Bobbie ‘your angels’?”
‘I wonder where that came from?’ Randi thought to herself. “I guess because many years ago they saved my life.”
“Then, you and Daddy are my angels, too, because you saved my life.”
“Oh dear, you do remember, don’t you. And, what happened to the baby talk?”
“I’m trying very hard not too. I needed to tell you. Marvin told me I had to. I wuv, er love you and Daddy vewy, shit —oops, very much, but I couldn’t lie to you. I think it’s good that I remember, because I know now that what I was is not what I want to be. I want to be the bestest, er best wittle, er little girl and daughter I can possibwy be. I pwomise not to, I give up, to use magic until you tell me it’s okay. I want to be a vewy good witch, and I don’t want The Wizud to get mad at me.
“Even though I weemembuh, I am not her anymow. I don’t wike her. She was not vewy nice. I wike me just the way I am.
“I don’t think anyone is going to get mad at you sweetie. Just don’t try to talk like an adult. You don’t need to, and your mouth and tongue aren’t ready for it. Just enjoy being a little girl as much as you can. The adult things will come too soon, as it is. Just don’t ever forget that we love you, and that we will always be here for you.
“Now, shall we try on that ‘Ring Bearer’s’ dress we picked up? Daddy can see that, but he can’t see the wedding gown yet.”
“Mommy, can I weaw your wedding gown when I get maywied?”
“I don’t see why not.”
Randi thought back to when she was only a little bit older than Betty was now, when she’d remembered her past life. She’d realized that that life was no longer important. It was her life from that point forward that was important. From what Betty had said, she knew that Betty felt the same way. Things were going to be just fine, if not a bit complicated. Within the year, Betty was going to have a little sister or brother.
That’s going to be it for a while. This story and the previous one popped up rather quickly. I have nothing else in print at this time and don’t imagine there will be anything for quite a while. You never can tell though, when I might find something. This story came out of nowhere, and I wrote the first chapter in a matter of a couple of hours. The two stories were a lot of fun to put together. Hopefully, I will be able to dig up some more tidbits that are substantial enough to put together another tale about Cindy, her family, and friends.
Thank you for reading and thank you for your comments.
Portia Bennett