Stanley Morton was part of Big Closet for many years. He felt a special link to several of my characters from the California Saga. It was obvious from his comments that Musetta's life and death profoundly affected him. He also had many nice things to say about several of the characters in The Cynthia Chronicles. Against my better judgment, I brought these characters together for my final farewell to Stan. Is this a tribute? I'll leave that up to you to decide.

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

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Stanman - The Final Journey
 

Chapter 1 - A Stranger in A Strange Land

He wasn’t sure how he got there, but wherever it was it certainly wasn’t northern Alabama or any other place he’d been. At first he’d thought he’d been dreaming he was walking along the dirt path that roughly paralleled the babbling brook. The fact that he was walking was one reason. He wasn’t hobbling like he had been just a few days before. His body didn’t ache, and he wasn’t out of breath. That just wasn’t right. Well, it was right, but it was wrong.

That herd of deer was a bit strange, too. They just looked at him in a bored way, then returned to their browsing. They didn’t look like the white tails he’d grown up seeing. They almost always immediately ran away with their tails semaphoring danger. No these deer were different and they definitely weren’t white tails.

It was the same thing with a group of cottontails that were munching on some leafy stuff next to the trail. They weren’t afraid of him either; however, they were definitely afraid of a large hawk that dove at them but missed. The hawk screeched in disgust before roosting in a large tree that Stan didn’t recognize.

The temperature was quite pleasant, and wasn’t very humid; not like it had been the week before. Something had happened. He was sure of that.

Now he was thirsty, and the clear little stream beckoned him over for a drink. He managed to kneel on some rocks and was able to sip some water where it spilled over a little fall. The water was quite cool and fresh. A water strider skated away on the surface of the little pool just as he bent down. That was something else. When was the last time he was able to bend over like that?

He almost fell backwards into the little pool below the fall when he caught sight of his reflection in the water. His hand quickly confirmed what he saw. His beard was gone.

That wasn’t the only thing that was gone. There had to have been at least 300 pounds of body weight missing. He hadn’t noticed that at first; however, he was seldom fat in his dreams; so he didn’t take immediate notice. He was wearing what appeared to be his favorite dungarees, but they were many sizes smaller than what he’d been used to wearing. He could tell that he was still a bit heavy for his frame, but he had energy that he couldn’t remember having in years.

Returning to the trail, he stopped for a moment trying to take in what appeared to him to be a special place. Pine trees abounded around him, and there were several varieties; however, none of them resembled the loblolly and short needle pine from his home. He slapped at a mosquito that was buzzing around his ear. This place had to be real, but where was he.

A covey of grouse startled him as he rounded a corner of the trail. They clucked angrily at him as they returned to the ground about 50 yards away. At first he’d thought they were quail, but then he realized they were much larger. This had to be a dream, but it couldn’t be. It was all too real.

“Hello, Stan.”

“Ohmygosh!” Stan exclaimed. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise, and his heart beat definitely accelerated. He turned to see an attractive woman standing beside a granite boulder. She was tall; at least four or five inches taller than he was. She had dark auburn hair, and her features were quite attractive. She was wearing a light weight, white dress that was cinched at the waist by a heavy cotton cord that was loosely tied at her front. She was wearing sandals that had leather straps up around her ankles.

“Who are you, and where am I.”

“You know me, but I will let you figure that out.

“I’ll bet you are starting to get hungry. I have some sandwiches. What would you like?”

He suddenly realized that he was a bit hungry. “I don’t know. What do you have?”

“Whatever you want.”

“Surely, you don’t have …?

“Barbecued pulled pork on a bun, with slaw, a pickle on the side, fries, and a Coke, right? Coming right up. Let’s sit over by that rock and have a picnic.

The woman turned and called out, “Girls, it’s time for lunch.”

Stan turned to see two girls dressed like the older woman was. They might have been twelve or thirteen, and were just entering young womanhood. They had obviously been playing down by the brook, and Stan wondered why he hadn’t seen them before.

The girls helped the older woman spread a cloth on the ground that she’d retrieved from a picnic basket. Then she pulled out china plates, silverware, and glasses for everyone. Everyone also had linen napkins. She gave Stan a couple of extras. She passed a plate with Stan’s sandwich, slaw, pickle and fries. The sandwich was hot, and the fries were even hotter. The slaw was nicely chilled. The Coke was in a heavy glass bottle, and it was also chilled. It was open, but Stan couldn’t remember seeing her pop the cap off.

“Stan, there’s more if you’d like.”

“How’d you do that?” Stan said pointing at the basket.

“It’s a special basket. I borrowed it from a friend who lives not far from here.”

“Okay, Portia, here’s your tongue sandwich with horse radish. Fanny, here’s your prosciutto and provolone with mustard. Ah, and here’s my tenderloin on wheat with horse radish. And, we have prosecco,” she exclaimed as she passed two glasses of bubbly to the girls. The glasses fogged over immediately.

‘Fanny, Portia, I know those names. Where in the heck am I,’ Stan thought as he took a drink of coke. The bubbles immediately went up his nose, and the taste was something that he’d never quite experienced before.

“I should have warned you,” the older woman said. “That’s the formula from the 1940’s. That’s all we serve around here.

“Have you figured out who I am?”

“You seem very familiar to me, and I remember reading about a Fanny and a Portia. No, that’s not quite right. There was a Portia Bennett who wrote about Fanny. But that was fiction. You look like someone I read about, too.”

“Stan, I’m Musetta.”

Chapter 2 - It Gets Curiouser and Curiouser

"Now I know I'm dreaming, but this is a great dream; has to be the best one I've had in a long time. May I have another coke? I don't think I ever tasted one so good.

"If you're Musetta, you look exactly like I pictured you," Stan said taking a sip from the open bottle of coke that Musetta passed to him. "And, Fanny looks just like her picture in those stories. How come you look just like Fanny, Portia?"

"As I wrote about Fanny and her adventures, I found more and more that I admired what she was able to do. So when I was offered a chance to be here, I asked if I could be like Fanny. Well, I almost am. I'll never be as smart as she is, but we like the same things.

"How come you look like you're twelve?"

"We thought it would be best this way for a lot of reasons that we don't need to discuss right now. You certainly wouldn't react very favorably if I looked like I did in my past life. No, it's just better this way," Portia added.

"Either I'm having a major hallucination, or I'm dead. That's the only answer," Stan said as he took another bite from his sandwich. "Boy, this is good."

"Stan, you're not hallucinating. This is a very real place," Musetta said sweeping her arm around horizon to horizon. "If you cut yourself, you would bleed; however, not for long. That's not permitted here."

"Why do I look and feel the way I do? I haven't been like this since I was a teenager."

"Stan, if you were like you were before, you wouldn't be able to enjoy what we are doing, going to do for you.

"Say, does anyone want some ice cream?"

"Butterscotch ripple?" Portia asked.

"Certainly, my dear.

"How about you, Stan?"

"I don't think I should have any; as much as I would love to. I've probably already had too much sugar. I'm diabetic, and I just realized I don't have my kit with me."

"You're not diabetic. That was taken care of a while ago. There's a cup of 'Death by Chocolate' in the basket. Would you like it?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Don't ma'am me. You know darn well that I'm Musetta, and Musetta will have to do."

After they finished up their ice cream, Musetta collected the linens, dishes, utensils, and assorted trash into the picnic basket that looked similar to the Nantucket baskets made in the eastern United States. Stan didn't realize that. It was just a picnic basket that somehow was able to hold much more than it should.

"May I ask something?" Stan asked.

"Certainly," Musetta responded.

"I'm obviously not in a world I'm familiar with, but I think I have to accept it. I can smell the flowers."

"They are nice aren't they?" Musetta replied.

"Not only that, I can taste the food, hear the wind blowing through those pine trees. I pinched myself, and it hurt. I hear birds singing. There's one that has a beautiful song. That one," he said pointing across the meadow to where the song appeared to come from.

"That's a hermit thrush," Fanny said.

"There're so many other things. For instance Musetta in my world is fiction. I cried when you died, but it wasn't supposed to be real. Besides, if I have my time lines right, you shouldn't be dead yet, and here you are looking younger than I think you should. Fanny, you seem to be much younger than I know you should be. I don't know that much about Portia; however, she's too young, too."

"Would it help if Fanny and I appeared a bit closer in age to what you think we should? That can be fixed."

"It's not that important. It's just confusing as all get out. Besides, what are you doing here?"

"We're here to see you, to welcome you to your world," Musetta said, giving Stan a little hug. "There are things you need to know, and we'll explain them to you today and tomorrow.

"For instance, I actually am living in another world; the same one where I died as Fanny held my hand. Much time has passed there. I've had a childhood as a little girl, growing up the way I wished I had the first time. I'm married to a wonderful man and we have two little girls and two little boys. I'm a school teacher. In that world, I'm not aware of my past, but when I pass on, all my past lives will be there for me to review. They're not lost."

"The neat thing is," Fanny added, "is that I'm Musetta's daughter this time around. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do when I grow up, but I suspect music will be there. In that life, I'm not aware of my past either.

"Portia, tell her, er, him about your life." Stan did not catch the apparent slip of the tongue.

"Sure, I'm currently a grandmother, and I teach ecology at my old university. When I was called to be here, I was on vacation in Europe with my second husband. I have four children, two by each husband. My first husband was killed in a road rage incident. I miss him terribly, but I know he's okay. I have seven grandchildren.

"I also am a moderately successful writer of romance novels, and I've written several text books on ecology. I have a good life, and I'm ready for the next one.

"The neat thing is that when our mission here is over, we'll pick up right where we left off. Now, we have to get moving. We have a meeting to get to."

Portia had left several facts out of her brief biography. She had switched universes many years before, and was, along with her twin sister, a witch. The fact that her twin in her previous life had been her wife was another thing. She had also travelled to this world directly, unlike Musetta and Fanny whose spirits only had made the journey. She also left out that she was over 300 years old. There is such a thing as TMI.

They headed off down the trail in the same general direction that Stan had been going when he had found himself in this strange world. He was amazed at what little difficulty he was having keeping up with the longer legged Musetta and the two girls who appeared to be teenagers. He wondered, also, why he was going on this journey to where he knew not. Then he realized that he had nowhere else to go. There were things going on that were well beyond his scope of imagination.

Soon another trail joined the one they were on. A sign on a crooked post pointed to the right; however, nothing was written on it. A large raven was perched on top of the sign.

"Is that the way to the Wayfarers' Inn," Musetta asked.

"Do you have any food? My kids are hungry."

"How about some prosciutto?"

"That would be nice."

Musetta reached into the picnic basket and pulled out a rather large package of the desired meat. She passed it to the raven who placed it under his right claw on top of the signpost.

"The inn is in that direction," the bird exclaimed while pointing with his beak in the direction opposite the way the sign was pointing. "My day here is done since there are no more travelers. Thank you for the meat. The children will appreciate it." Grasping the package by a string that was conveniently tied around it, the raven took off toward a large grove of trees.

"Gee, I thought he would say 'never more'," Stan said as the bird disappeared.

"I'm glad you didn't ask him to. He gets annoyed when visitors ask him to do that. Fortunately, there are not very many people around here who are familiar with EAP.

"Okay, we have about a mile to go in that direction," Portia said pointing in the direction the raven had pointed.

"How do you know that?" Stan asked.

"Oh, I already knew which way to go. It just makes the raven happy to feel that he's useful."

The path soon joined a road made of closely laid ochre colored bricks. The route was obviously more travelled, and they even passed a few farm houses with red thatched roofs. Something that Stan thought was unusual too, was that most of the clothes hanging out to dry were red, and even many of the horses and cows seemed to be reddish in color. Many of the houses were also trimmed in red. The fact that the horses were talking among themselves was not missed by Stan.

Twenty minutes later they arrived at the inn. It looked like a building right out of the Black Forest with its exposed timber construction. Again, the timbers were painted dark red rather than brown or black.

The air had started getting a chill to it, another reason for Stan to realize that he was not dreaming, and the fire at one end of the huge dining room was very inviting. It had been summer when whatever happened to him had happened, and although it did still seemed like summer, it definitely was not the subtropical summer of northern Alabama.

"I'll see about the rooms," Musetta said. "They should be ready. Why don't you take Stan over to that group in the corner? I'm sure you'll recognize some of them."

Portia knew that Stan might recognize some of those in the group; however, she didn't think that Fanny would know who they were by sight. She was wrong.

Chapter 3 - The Plot Thickens

Portia took Stan's hand and led him around the crowded trestle tables to a group that was sitting around a round table in a corner of the large dining area. Stan had noted that most of the people in the room were dressed in the red highlighted garments he had seen earlier in the day; however, some of the folks were dressed in green highlighted garments, while others were in blue, purple or yellow. Something about this arrangement of colors reminded Stan of something. It was right on the tip of his tongue; however, he couldn't quite put things together.

Three men and four women were in a deep discussion as they approached the table. Several large pitchers of an amber liquid topped with foam were on the table along with some baskets of nuts and pretzels. Everyone had a glass stein in front of them with various levels of the amber liquid. Four empty chairs, obviously set for the new arrivals had empty steins with the exception of one where there was a stein filled with ice. Next to the ice filled stein was a pitcher filled with what looked like tea. It was.

Stan recognized the first man immediately as he was dressed in a robe decorated with stars and crescent moons. He had a long, rather scraggly beard, and there was a pair of wire rim glasses perched on his nose. The other man appeared to be middle aged. He was balding, and what hair he had was slicked down close to his scalp. The third man was young, probably in his early twenties. The first thing he noted about the women was that they were exceptionally beautiful. They appeared to be in their late twenties or early thirties.

The older blonde woman was the first to see the three approach. "Ah, Portia, you made it, and this must be Fanny and Stan. I guess introductions are in order. On my right is His Wisdom, the SRU wizard. Next to him is ..."

"Let me guess," Fanny exclaimed. "The gentleman is Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmanuel Ambroise Diggs. You are Cynthia Lewis Brewer and that handsome young fellow is your son, Donald Alfred Brewer. The gorgeous redhead on your right is Roberta, Bobbie, Schmedlap Anderson, and the equally beautiful redhead is Cynthia Roberta Anderson Brewer, her daughter, and this gorgeous, exotic brunette is Charlene, Charli, Brewer.

Turning to the voluptuous blonde she had not addressed to this point, "Randi, you are even prettier than I thought. How're Betty and Linda doing?"

"They're grown up with their own families. They're sorry they couldn't be here, but they have a lot on their platter with all those kids and grandkids. They wanted me to say hello, and can't wait until you enter this universe. They're already fighting over who gets to be your mother next time," Randi answered with a smile that caused a bit of questioning on Fanny's part.

"Musetta had me read all of Portia's stories. I am so honored to meet all of you," Fanny replied.

"Actually," Charli stated, "I'm now Charli Lewis. Stan Junior and I have been married for quite a while. I guess Portia hasn't written about that yet," she said with false hurt tone.

Stan was speechless.

"Stan, have a seat," The Wizard said while indicating the empty chair with the pitcher of tea in front of it on the table.

"I think everyone who's supposed to be here today is here.

"Cindy, would you please put up the curtain of silence for us."

Cindy said something quietly, and The Wizard nodded his approval.

"Folks, as you know you have come from many times and many places. We are here to help to help Stan move into his next life. As we, and others who are not here, decided, Stan is a special person and he deserves professional consideration as far as his future is concerned. With your concordance it was decided that this was the best place."

Stan was pondering all this talk that was taking place. He realized rather quickly that for some reason he was the center of attention, the reason that all of these people had gathered in this strange land.

"I'm dead, aren't I?" Stan said with rather somber tones. "I must be in Purgatory. I'm scared."

"You're not dead Stan. Everything you've experienced so far denies that. The body you occupied previously is dead, but how your body died is of no importance to you or anyone else. I think you would agree that that body was pretty worn out and wasn't of much use to you. Well, all the problems you have had with that body are over. You will never be sick again."

"Randi, go over the main points of our previous discussions."

"Certainly, Your Wisdom.

"Stan, as you know, Cindy, Charli, Bobbie, The Wizard, and several others of us can read minds. We also know about the inner you. This was obvious to us as soon as you entered the room. You are confused about many things about yourself, including your gender and sexuality. Well, we're going to fix all that.

"In spite of your angering and frustrating many people with your comments, we know that deep down, there was no malevolence in your heart. Many of your problems in your previous life were due to environmental things that you had little control over. Your academic and social education has been lacking in many ways.

"Everyone on that one web site that you practically lived on reacted so strongly in your favor. You made over 20,000 comments on stories there. You did a lot to boost the confidence of many new writers. The response to your death was amazingly positive, and those who were rightfully concerned about the direction some of your writings went were kind enough not to say anything. It's a moot point.

"As the years passed, your writing improved greatly, and it was nice to see how kindhearted your attempts were.

"Now it's dinner time. You've had an adventurous day and you need to enjoy dinner before you go to bed. There are some other people who will be arriving tomorrow who are eager to meet you."

The dinner was sumptuous to say the least. After several glasses of iced tea, Stan had to excuse himself to go to the rest room. He was a bit surprised to find out how modern it was, in spite of being in what Stan figured to be a world at least one hundred years behind the world he'd left.

"You fixed the restroom, didn't you?" Charli asked.

"Of course I did," The Wizard replied. "I'm hurt that you'd even ask, Charli," The Wizard chuckled. "That will all change tomorrow.

"Okay, I've reviewed all your inputs, and I agree with all of them. We'll do it tonight. Charli drew the short straw, so she gets the opportunity to practice her skills. I have the utmost confidence in all of you to do this the right way as you have proven in the past.

"He's returning. Randi, induce the slow sleep spell, and Musetta can take Stan to the suite."

Desert was a Salzburger Nockerl. Stan had never tasted anything like it, and about the time he had finished, he was starting to nod off.

Musetta led Stan to his room, and returned a few minutes later.

"He's out like a light. He was surprised to find pajamas in his size, and mentioned that this was the first time in years that he could sleep lying down.

"She's in your hands now, Charli. Shall we do it?"

Musetta, Fanny, Cindy, Bobbie, Randi, Portia and Charli returned upstairs.

It was a relatively easy transformation as there were few mental hurdles to overcome. Charli had done these before; however, she still had to do them under supervision. It was only a matter of minutes before there was a little girl lying in place of the young man. She was about ten years old, and had long curly blonde hair. She could have come right out of a Victorian painting, and the shift she was wearing completed the image.

"Nicely done, Charli," Cindy said, "not too young, not too old, perfect. So, what's her name?"

"I found 'Sarah' in her mind, and I don't think there will be any problem for her to adjust to the change. She always believed that His Wisdom's world, as well as this world, was real.

"Her new family will be here tomorrow. They lost their daughter when she was taken by a roc. They didn't realize what had happened to her until Glinda found the entry in her book. The poor little girl had struggled, and the roc dropped her in the Deadly Desert. Her spirit has been moved to a very nice place. She will have a nice life. Unfortunately, it won't be here."

Chapter 4 - The End of a Journey

Musetta was awakened by a gentle knock on the door leading to the adjoining room where Sarah had spent the night.

"Come in, dear."

After a moment's fumbling, Sarah was able to open the door. She stood in the doorway, and had a quirky little smile on her face.

"Auntie Musetta, what happened to me?" she said in her little girl's voice.

"Nothing you didn't want to happen."

"But, I'm a little girl. How did this happen?"

"I couldn't do it, but The Wizard, Donald and the witches knew what you wanted. So Charli did the magic. We didn't tell you what was going to happen because we didn't want you to worry about it.

"Are you unhappy?" Musetta asked.

"I don't think so. I dreamed about this for a long time, but what's going to happen to me?"

"We found a family for you. You will have brothers and sisters, and there are many other children in their village who are about your age. We think you are going to be very happy. That's why we are doing this. You deserve to be happy, Sarah."

"How did you know my name? That's always been my girl name."

"Sarah, you have to remember who these people are. They know everything about you."

"Everything? That might not be good."

"You don't have to worry about that, and you don't have to think about that. That was left in that other world."

"So, I can't go back."

"Not for a long time, if ever. This is going to be your home for now on.

"Get dressed. Don't forget to brush your teeth. If you need any help, just let me know. We need to get downstairs for breakfast."

Breakfast was wonderful. Was there any doubt?

Another of many surprises was waiting for Sarah when they took her outside to the stable area. The sound of barking, puppies barking, caught her attention immediately. Randi opened the door to a stall, and four puppies bounded out. They immediately started jumping all over everyone, licking faces whenever possible.

"Puppies, they're my puppies," Sarah exclaimed grabbing the closest one to her. She immediately got the face licking treatment. It was not missed that the puppy was licking tears from her face.

"Boys and girls, sit. You'll have enough time to get reacquainted later on," The Wizard admonished, and the pups immediately sat with their little tails wagging.

"Yes Sir," the largest of the puppies responded.

"Wolf, Padrona and Charli have been working with them for the last week. They had a lot to learn."

"Where are Wolf and Padrona now," Sarah asked.

"They are on a special mission. We found a puppy mill in another world, and we're getting ready to shut it down. We had some problems figuring out what to do with the operators. Let's just say that they are getting to start over in a much better environment. They will be much better people this time around.

"Okay Sarah, all your clothes have been packed and are waiting for you out front. Your new family is arriving in a few minutes. They run a dairy farm in the next village. I know you will like them.

Sarah waited with her friends for only a few minutes before a buckboard pulled up. It was drawn by two large horses that seemed to be arguing about who was responsible for splashing water on their owner.

The handsome couple descended from the buck board. They nodded to the man with the very long name who was leading Sarah to them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Dairyman, this is Sarah. She is looking forward to living with you." And, in truth, Sarah was.

"Come here Sarah. Let me look at you," Mrs. Dairyman said holding her arms out. "You are such a lovely child."

"Thank you ma'am."

"I think 'Mom' would be okay," she said pulling Sarah into her warm breasts.

Sarah received a hug and kiss from everyone before her new father placed her on the seat of the buckboard. The puppies were in the back along with her suitcase. She looked back and waved as the buckboard headed down the brick road in the direction opposite the one she'd come from the previous day.

"I could read her earlier," Portia said as she morphed into a woman who appeared to be in her 30's. She was just a bit on the plump side. "She was thinking about growing up and being able to be a mother. Maybe we should have told her."

"She'll be fine once she settles in," The Wizard said. "She will be the perfect little ten-year old girl forever. This was really the best solution. She will never be able to reach menarche and have children. As much as she thought about it, she wasn't really equipped for adulthood. Oz was the perfect solution.

"Oscar, give my best to Ozma and Glinda. Thank you for your hospitality, and I really do apologize for calling you third rate. That was several hundred years ago, before I had a chance to get to know you. I guess we'll be seeing you at the convention next year."

"Good to see you, too, Al, and it has been so nice to meet all your protégées. You're doing wonderful work.

"Donald, it has been wonderful to meet you, too. I'm so glad the wizard line is going to get stronger in your universe. There are far too few of us."

Oz pulled out a handkerchief, and with a wave it turned into an oriental rug. He stepped on it, and it rapidly disappeared down the brick road towards the north.

Next, there was an exchange of goodbyes before Fanny and Musetta disappeared to return to their world. Then The Wizard, his wizard assistant and the witches disappeared with a pop. In a land of magic this wasn't really an abnormal occurrence; although the use of magic was limited to only a few.

The hospital orderly pulled the sheet over the bearded face. "Well, he's gone. May he rest in peace. What a strange bird. Nurse, I'll take care of notifying the doctor. I imagine he'll want to notify his brother.

"Mom, would you read Tic Tock in Oz to me. I like that story.

"Mary, you can certainly read it if you want to. You read better than anyone in your class. The teacher said so."

"Well, it's just nicer when you read it. I like the way you can change voices. I can't do that when I'm reading by myself."

"Your piano practice sounded very good tonight. When did you learn to play Scott Joplin?" her mother asked.

"It was easy, not nearly as difficult as Chopin.

"Mom, I had a strange dream last night. We were in Oz, and we were helping The Wizard and the witches from those stories you let me read. There was this guy, and they turned him into a little girl."

"Oh dear," her mother said after pausing for a few seconds. "I had the same dream, too. It was such a nice dream. How could we have had the same dream?

"I wonder?"

Requiescat in pace, Stan.