Chapter 11: Bobbie’s golf skills garner national attention, some of it not what she really wanted when a picture of her and Cindy dressed in revealing bikinis surfaces. Bobbie is invited to compete in a women’s professional tournament as an amateur, and after a slow start, does very well. Cindy and Donna go to a summer camp for athletes so they may refine their skills. Cindy is just glad to be with Donna, as Donna is glad to be with her. Cindy realizes there is something bothering Donna; however, she respects Donna’s privacy and doesn’t ask what it is. Then Donna disappears, never to be seen again. Needless to say, Cindy is nearly destroyed with grief as she finds out Donna no longer exists in their universe. The whole thing reeks of magic gone wrong, and The Wizard admits her existence has been terminated. He doesn’t seem to be too concerned. And, what’s this about ducks?

If you haven’t read the previous stories about Cindy and how she arrived where she is now, you should probably read them. Start with “An Incremental Journey”, “Cynthia and the Reluctant Girlfriend”, “Cynthia and the Dumpster Diver”, and “Cynthia and the Moment of Truth.” “Cynthia and the Christmas Gift” is looked at from a slightly different perspective in this story.

This story is a bit longer than the previous ones in this series. It is 13 chapters and 34,000 words long. The High School Years, Part 2 is partly written, but nowhere near ready to post. Chapters 12 and 13 will be posted alone in a few days. That will be the conclusion of Part 1.

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.

Once again, Holly has taken time out of her busy and hectic schedule to correct my many and grievous errors. Thank you so much!

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 11

The feeling of distress and discomfort that Cindy and Bobbie had detected in the past kept popping up. There wasn’t any rhyme or reason to it. They could be at the mall, or school. They might be at church; it would just suddenly hit them. A major problem was that there was no direction to it. It was like walking through that cloud. It hadn’t changed much at all over the last two years.

They had talked to The Wizard about it, and his response was that they were just going to have to work it out. Cindy felt she had a responsibility to find out what was going on. Her frequent statement was, “If I know something is wrong, I have to try to fix it. The problem is, I didn’t know what’s wrong and I don’t have a clue where this distress is coming from.” They did the best they could.

School ended, and now they had to look forward to the last summer break before their senior year at high school. Bobbie had actually qualified for, or received invitations to several significant tournaments. This was going to be a test far beyond anything she had experienced before. There was a lot of talk on the sports pages, golf magazines, and Golf Channel about the 17 year old ‘phenom’ who could drive the ball as far as many of the men, and had a spectacular touch around the greens.

Her first major pro tournament as an amateur was an eye opener for her. She drew two well known and successful lady golfers as partners for her first round. They were very polite and supportive. The press was not. Someone had dug up a photo of her on the beach with Cindy. No one knew where the photo came from. It was probably somebody’s blind luck that they had taken a picture of two beautiful teenagers on the beach in their revealing bikinis.

Regardless, the headline “Bikini Clad Beauty to Compete in First Pro Tournament” unnerved her. The picture was very complimentary; however, she didn’t want to be known as a bathing beauty, she wanted to be known as a ‘damn good golfer’. She shot a 75, and was in position not to make the cut. Andy was carrying her bag, and after the round, he gave her a pep talk. Cindy called and did the same. Of course her family was there, too.

The next day she shot a 68, and made the cut by a stroke. Another 68 followed by a day’s best 67, and she finished in fifth place and the top amateur. She never looked back. It would be only a matter of time before she turned pro.

Cindy and Donna’s romance became firmer and firmer. It wasn’t just the sex, as powerful as it was. It was like a Vulcan Mind Meld, Cindy would say. Donna was receiving more and more looks because of her soccer prowess, and there was some talk that she might even try out for the US Olympic Team. Donna was non-committal.

An athletic summer camp in northern Vermont designed for pre-college athletes had sent Donna an invitation. A number of sports were addressed, and Donna asked Cindy if she would like to attend. There was a good swimming program, and Donna felt Cindy could benefit, even if she chose not to continue swimming in competition in college. Cindy applied and was accepted. Her parents were very supportive, and the next thing Cindy knew, she and Donna were driving off to the mountains near Woodstock, Vermont to spend two weeks of concentrated athletic training.

The camp was not inexpensive; however, there were some perks. One was that that rather than open barracks or multi camper tents, there were two attendees per room. Cindy couldn’t complain. It was tough, and the training was intense; however, they had a lot of private time. Besides the formal training, there were hikes and nature walks. They made new friends, and best of all, they enjoyed each other.

There were times that Cindy felt Donna’s lovemaking was almost frantic. It was as if she was trying to cram in as much as possible. Cindy wished Donna would take her time and draw things out. Still, sex, even when it is not the best, could be pretty damn good.

All in all, it was a very fulfilling two weeks, and it did nothing to lessen Cindy’s feelings about Donna. However, while she did have a feeling something was bothering Donna, she didn’t feel like pushing.

Two days after they returned, Cindy’s world crashed down. Donna disappeared. The bad thing was Cindy knew magic was involved, and some of the evidence terrified her.

It began when Andy called on his cell phone. “Cindy, Donna’s gone. It’s scary.”

“God, what happened?”

“I don’t know. I got up this morning to use the bath, and when I went in, none of her stuff was there. Her shampoo, towel, shower cap, razor: they’re all gone.

“That’s not all, I looked in her room, and it’s like no one lived there. Bobbie and I were out rather late last night, and when I came in, Donna’s car was gone. I just thought maybe she and you were out, or she was spending the night with you. She’s not there, is she?”

“God, no, I haven’t seen her since yesterday afternoon. She told me she had to do something. She started to walk away, but came back to kiss me. I thought she was going to cry. I just thought that it was just because it was her time of the month. She does get emotional, sometimes.”

“Cindy, I think this goes beyond anything I understand. No one in my house even knows she existed. She’s not in any of the family pictures. All the paperwork we had getting ready to adopt her is gone. That really got me going.

“Get out your yearbook from last year.”

“Just a minute, it’s buried in my closet.

“Okay, I have it.”

“Take a look at page 67. Who was most valuable player on the women’s soccer team?”

“What? That can’t be. My book says Lucile Graff. Donna was; I know it.”

“Look at the team picture.”

“Andy, she’s not there, and she’s not in the picture with the cross country team either. I’m going to have to get hold of The Wizard. Maybe, he knows what’s going on.”

“Cindy, what’s wrong? You sound distressed.” Cindy looked up to see her mother looking at her with a worried look.

“Mom, Donna’s gone. Andy just called. It’s like she never existed. There’s no trace of her. She’s not in the high school year book. It’s like her existence has been erased. Mom, she’s my life. What am I going to do?”

“Dear, we’re just going to have to let things work out. I’m sure that everything will be okay. Why don’t you talk to The Wizard? He might have some answers.”

“I was just getting ready to try to call him.”

Cindy went to her computer and made her call the way she usually did. It took a horribly long time for The Wizard to respond. While waiting, Cindy grabbed her purse and pulled out her cell phone. She’d call Donna. Maybe she would answer. The problem was there was no phone number for Donna in her cell phone. Someone had removed it. That shouldn’t be that much of a problem. She would just dial it in. She knew the number by heart.

“We’re sorry, the number you have dialed is a non-working number. If you have dialed this number in error, please check the listing and dial again.” She knew the number, and knew she hadn’t misdialed. She called again, anyway. The response was the same.

She called Bobbie. “Bobbie, have you heard anything from Donna?”

“No, I haven’t talked to her since yesterday afternoon. She seemed to be in a bit of a hurry about something, and didn’t stick around. I think she was going to the mall. Why?”

“It’s like she dropped off the ends of the Earth. Andy said there’s no trace of her at his house. She’s not in the family pictures. She’s not in the yearbook. Somebody has erased her existence. Look in your cell phone directory. I’ll bet her number is no longer there.”

There was a brief pause. “You’re right, the number’s gone.”

“Don’t bother to try to call her. The number is a non-working number. This has to be magic. I’ve been trying to get hold of The Wizard. He’s not responding. Oh, here he is. I’ll call back. Bye.”

“Good morning Cindy, what’s going on?”

“Your wisdom, Donna’s missing. It’s like her existence has been erased.”

“Well, that is odd. Let’s see what I can find. Hmmmm, how unusual; her existence was terminated yesterday afternoon. Let’s see, it was a code 3712, Temporal Discontinuity. That is not done very often. There’s nothing I can do about it right now, but I’m sure things will work out.”

“But I love her. She can’t be gone. My God, you said her existence was terminated. Does that mean she’s dead?”

“Not exactly; what it means is that she never existed in this universe. There have been a number of adjustments. I’m afraid she is gone, my dear. Love is very powerful. It’s amazing what love can do in the right circumstances. Try to be strong. Sometimes things happen for a reason and it takes a while for us to figure out why.”

To say Cindy was distraught would be putting it mildly, and she was really disturbed by what seemed to be a lack of concern on the part of The Wizard. She headed downstairs to find her mother fixing breakfast. It was several minutes before Cindy could stop crying long enough to tell her mother what she had found out.

“Mom, she’s gone, Donna’s really gone.”

“Gone where dear?”

“I don’t know. The Wizard said her existence was terminated, that she never existed in this universe. I don’t get it. If she never existed, how come I remember her? You remember her, Bobbie remembers her.

“Remembers who?” Randi asked as she entered the kitchen while rubbing her eyes.

“Donna: she’s disappeared, and The Wizard says her existence has been erased. Oh God, where is she?”

“Cindy, I forgot to tell you. Donna called yesterday afternoon. She said she was going away, that she had to do something about some ducks. She wanted me to tell you she loved you very much.

“I don’t know why she wanted to do anything about the ducks. I like the ones down at the pond.” No one else could figure it out either.

Cindy did a little discrete research and made several discoveries. The Lewis’s and Schmedlaps remembered Donna, as did all of their families. Only Andy remembered her in his family. Maddy and the kittens remembered her, as well. That’s when Cindy realized that there was a lot more to Donna’s disappearance than she’d first thought. If her existence had been erased, why did a handful of people remember her? Something was going on and it was beginning to seem very complicated.

For the next few days, Cindy would go in and out of crying jags. She had trouble sleeping, and her appetite was almost non-existent. Everyone who knew, or remembered Donna sympathized with Cindy, but there didn’t seem to be anything they could do to cheer her up. Since she didn’t exist, a missing persons report would never get off the ground.

About three days after Donna’s disappearance, Cindy had a strange dream. It might have been wishful thinking, but she wasn’t sure. She was having a rather ill-defined dream, when suddenly she was in the tunnel she had been in many years before. She looked around and saw the endlessness she had seen before. Suddenly, The Spirit was with her.

“How are you doing Cindy?”

“Not very well, thank you.”

“Cindy, I want you to understand that what’s happening in your world started a long time ago, and you have a very important place in that world. Sometimes things happen that are difficult to explain or justify.

“How old are you now?”

“I don’t know, I guess fifty two, fifty three.”

“No, no, forget about Al and all that stuff. That doesn’t matter anymore. You are a young woman, a bit over seventeen years old. You’re not even of legal age yet. If you add up all my lives in your temporal space, I’m over two thousand years old. Your Wizard is over nine hundred years old in this life alone. You have so much to learn, and you have done so well with what you have learned so far. As you get older, you will find out that there are many twists and turns to reality that don’t make sense to you right now. They will some day.

“I’m not warning you or advising you. I just want you to know that all of this will make more sense, some day.”

“Yeah, like losing the love of my life. She’s gone. She doesn’t even exist in this world. I wish they had taken my memories of her like they did for most everyone else. At least I wouldn’t feel so sad.”

“How, can you be sure she’s gone? As you said, some of you remember her. The fact you have these memories must mean something. Be patient. Things will make more sense.

“I told you I will stay in touch with you. You will hear from me again.”

Cindy returned to a much less logical dream world after that. When she woke up the next morning, she had forgotten about the dream meeting with the spirit.

It was a couple of days later when Bobbie arrived shortly after breakfast to find Cindy moping around.

“Come on Cindy, we’re going out.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Regardless, we’re going over to the park and get some sun. It’s a beautiful day, and maybe we will run into some of the kids from school. There’s a bunch over there playing soccer.”

At the mention of soccer, Cindy almost started crying again. Reluctantly, she got up and did a little work on her makeup. Her eyes weren’t as puffy as they had been. She got out a scrunchy, and put her hair into a loose ponytail. Her hair had a lot of volume and it spread out in a narrow golden fan across her shoulders. She grabbed a purse and slowly followed Bobbie to her car. “Mom, we’re going to the park. We might get some lunch while we’re out.”

As Bobbie had predicted, there was a pickup soccer game in progress. There was also a tag football game, and the tennis courts were full. Soccer doesn’t garner much attention, especially a pick up game; however, several families were sitting on the low bleachers, plus some girls who Cindy figured were girlfriends of some of the players.

They sat on the first row next to a family of four. The father was probably in his forties. He was quite attractive, as was his wife. She was blonde, but based on her apparent age, was probably coloring her hair. The boy with them was about twelve to fourteen, and fairly dark complected. He was probably of Latin American origin. The little girl was eight or nine and had an oriental heritage.

The family was shouting encouragement to one of the players. After a few minutes, Cindy realized he was the player she had been watching for a while. He would look over their way and wave, she assumed, at the four sitting next to her. He was about six feet tall, maybe a bit more, and rather slender. He wasn’t skinny or anything like that. His muscles stood out; maybe wiry would describe him. He was dark like the other boy, and Cindy realized he was very handsome, a bit like a young Antonio Banderas. She noticed dark hair in a narrow strip climbing up his six pack belly to above his navel. He was wearing a half tee shirt, and she could see some of the dark hair on his chest. There wasn’t a lot, but it stood out. There was something very familiar about him.

Someone kicked the ball out of bounds, and it rolled up to them. Bobbie footed it back to the boy Cindy had been watching. He picked it up to do a throw in, and as he did, looked Cindy in the eyes. He winked at her.

“Hey, guys, let’s take a time out. I’ve got to do something.” He came over to the family sitting next to Cindy and Bobbie.

“Mom, Dad, Jorge, Lucy, I would like you to meet someone.” He grabbed Cindy’s hand in his, and pulled the stunned girl to her feet. Bobbie followed. “This is Cindy Lewis, the girl I told you about from the sports camp, and this is her best friend, Bobbie Schmedlap.”

Cindy looked into his dark brown, gold flecked eyes; and for the first and only time in her life, fainted dead away.

Next: Wow! What just happened? I think we know, but we are going to have two more chapters to try to straighten everything out. Who is this handsome fellow, and what are he and his family doing there? We shall see. Well, we need to wrap up a few loose ends. Actually, there are more than just a few; however, some will have to wait for Part 2 and future stories.

Portia