Chapters 11 & 12: There are several loose ends to take care of. Cindy and Don have to find a place to live in Boston. Myrna and Avery already have a place, tiny as it is. Bobbie is already set up with Andy at Wake-Forest. Finding a suitable place to live proves to be difficult; however, they realize there are several options for the future. They do find a homeless teenager who is living a very precarious existence. Cindy, Bobbie, and The Wizard save the day. This adventure draws to a close. College starts in a week. The Wizard is finally able to sleep peacefully.

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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, Cynthia and the Moment of Truth, and Cynthia and the High School Years — Part 1. This story, the twelve chapters, completes the Cynthia Chronicles, Volume 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. I’m sure that could happen at any time.

Holly really took me to task this time due to my poor sentence structure and punctuation. She wields a firm ruler and isn’t afraid to use it; my poor knuckles. Thank you so much, Holly, for making this more readable!

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

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Cynthia and the High School Years, Part 2 — Chapters 11 & 12
 

Chapter 11 — Looking for a Home, But With Different Results

Unlike the football team that floundered in mediocrity, the soccer team went all the way to the state finals and finished the season undefeated. Don Brewer made All State in Soccer and Football. He was offered at least thirty athletic scholarships, and as many scholastic ones. But he and Cindy had made up their minds long before that they were going to Boston College, and they had been accepted. That was it. Cindy continued to get academic scholarship offers based on her applications, but her swimming talent wasn’t the type that garnered much interest. Don did take some financial assistance as the Brewers were not yet as well off financially as the Lewis’s were. That situation would improve greatly over the next few years.

Myrna had been selected as the valedictorian for their graduating class. She had aced her ACT and SAT, assuring an academic scholarship to Harvard. Her two mothers, as elementary school teachers were not even close to being able to support her going to Harvard. Of course she and Avery would be sharing a small walk-up apartment, and that helped considerably in keeping costs down.

In June, Don and Cindy’s parents accompanied the college students to be to Boston to assist in the search for proper living quarters. It was not an easy chore. Rent was outrageous, and the price per square foot was fifty percent higher than it was back in their home town. Bobbie was along also. Her living quarters in Winston-Salem had already been arranged earlier that year.

They were sitting around the table in their hotel dining room discussing their options. The Brewer’s two younger children and the three youngest of the Lewis’s were being watched by Evelyn and Esmeralda. Randi had promised she wouldn’t perform any unapproved magic, and Evelyn had somewhat jokingly suggested that she would use a very unpleasant spell if Randi didn’t follow the rules.

The early summer heat in Boston was a bit hard on Marissa as she was nearing her eighth month of pregnancy, but regardless of her condition, she insisted on being there to approve of the selection. After all, her daughter and future son-in-law had to have a proper residence. They would probably be married before they graduated, and if all worked out the way they hoped it would, they might be living there for at least eight more years after graduating. Don would have law school, and Cindy would have medical school, plus her residency.

Avery and Myrna had joined them in the house hunt. Myrna had been moving her things into Avery’s apartment for a while, and she was very pleased with it. Avery was just as pleased that she was with him. Myrna had made a major concession during the last year. She had decided to accept the Jewish faith, and she had been going to see a Rabbi at Avery’s synagogue for instruction.

Her mothers were very pleased that she was accepting any faith as she had eschewed going to church most of her life. Avery’s mother and grandmother were ecstatic. They were already making plans for the wedding, which at a minimum would be at least three years off. Like Cindy and Don’s, and Bobbie and Andy’s situation, the fact that they were going to get married was etched in stone.

“Daddy, I have a thought, and I think I’ve caught some hints of this from you. I think you need to buy one of those older warehouses we passed earlier today. You can convert it into loft apartments, and either sell them or lease them. If I’m going to be here for the next twelve years, why throw away money on rent? Don and I can live in one, Avery and Myrna could move into another one, and you could keep one for business. You are over here all the time, as Bobbie’s dad is. You and Mom would have a place to stay when you visit. As you said, the commute is hell.”

“Sweety, I think that’s an outstanding idea. We’ve been looking at a couple of those places, and I think we’re going to make an offer; however, they wouldn’t be livable for at least two years if we close tomorrow. We still need a place for you, and I don’t think the dormitory is an option, if I read you two correctly.”

They settled one thing on that trip, and that was that ‘The Company’ was going to move more of their operation to Boston. They had been toying with the idea for a long time, and Cindy and Don were the catalyst. The house hunting was put on hold the next night.

They had had another fruitless day of house/apartment hunting. But they were able to work out a visit to one of the warehouses that they had talked about, and while they were there, Stan called Amos and told him that the building was exactly what they were looking for. He was ready to put in an offer, contingent on the inspection that Amos’s group would conduct.

That done, they decided a Boston seafood dinner was in order. The concierge had recommended a restaurant near one of the industrial areas northwest of the airport. They followed the highway under the river towards the airport before veering a bit to the west. The neighborhood was quite old and probably was made up of descendents of the Portuguese and Italian fishermen who plied their trade in the nearby harbor and beyond.

The restaurant was very popular, and there wasn’t any on-the-street parking for several blocks. They finally found a small parking lot that would take their cars, about three blocks away from the restaurant.

The neighborhood was quite eclectic, and there were a number of bars, small restaurants and clubs. One club caught Cindy and Bobbie’s attention. The establishment obviously catered to the gay population, and as they passed the bar next door to the restaurant, Cindy sensed something she hadn’t sensed in quite a while. She turned to Bobbie who subtly nodded back. Someone was in there, and whoever ‘she’ was, was not well.

Dinner was outstanding; however some of the edge was taken off by the presence next door. Marissa picked up on it pretty early.

“Something’s bothering you two, may I ask what it is?”

“Bobbie and I sensed someone next door who needs help. Nothing bad has happened yet, but she is not well.”

“She has hepatitis. It is treatable. The problem is she’s very young. I would say sixteen or seventeen at the most. She certainly doesn’t belong there, and she has consumed some alcohol. I think Cindy is keeping track of her.”

Bob Brewer was very interested in the discussion. He and Hilda had become intrigued by the revelation of witchcraft, and found the whole concept to be very interesting. The parallel universe aspect of things had been a little more difficult to accept; however, as they absorbed the memories of their parallel lives, the alien concepts were becoming easier and easier to accept. They still hadn’t been told very much about the sex change phenomenon, other than that they knew Don had been Donna in the other universe. They also understood that what had been two parallel universes had been rejoined as one, with the line where Don as a male was the surviving line. Bob had had a field day trying to figure out all the implications.

“What are you sensing? I don’t think I have ever heard you talking about anything like this before,” Bob asked.

Cindy looked around before casting a curtain of silence spell. She wanted to make sure that there weren’t any visitors within the curtain. “As you know, when I was eight, I nearly died from drowning. When I woke up, I wasn’t quite the same person. Most everything about the original Cindy was still there. Her memories were intact, as were her as yet unknown magical abilities. However, Cindy had actually died. Her spirit had left this body. Eventually, her spirit actually helped me move in. This is really the same process that Don went through.

“When I moved in, the main thing was to get my health back. Being in a coma for any length of time does bad things to ones body. When I finally got back to school, I began to realize that I had some special powers.

“I want you to accept what I am going to tell you. Everyone at this table can verify what I am going to say. When I got back to school, I didn’t know anyone. Yes, I remembered them, but I didn’t know them. I obviously had to go through many adjustments. You see, the person I had been before was a very unpleasant thirty-five year old man, whose only true desire in life was to be a woman. As you can see, that wish was granted.

“Here I was, this almost nine year old girl who knew very little about being a girl, but I already knew there was something different about me, and I knew Bobbie was different, too. You see, Bobbie was a handsome, very athletic nine year old boy.”

“Preposterous,” escaped from Bob’s lips before he shut them, as he suddenly realized this was just one more amazing thing he was going to have to get used to.”

“It’s absolutely true, Mr. Brewer. Cindy had a lot of credit built up with The Wizard, and she gave me the most wonderful gift. I was always this person you see. It was just that I was in the wrong body. The Wizard and his group did some wonderful things, and here I am. What Cindy is getting to, is that she can sense other people that were like I was; people who were born in the wrong body. I can sense physical problems, especially in magical people and transgendered individuals, and to a lesser degree I can detect transgendered individuals. We weren’t very good at it at first, but now Cindy’s talent is very strong in recognizing the transgendered.

“There is a young boy next door who is a girl. She’s in the wrong body. The problem is that she shouldn’t be there. She’s too young. She’s sick, and she’s been drinking. As horrible as it sounds, she is probably prostituting herself for money, food, and drugs. The drugs are probably the hormones she desires, but there may be others. I haven’t detected anything for sure in that area.

“Whoops, this is getting real bad. Somebody has slipped some rohypnol into her drink. Two people just grabbed her rather roughly by the arms. I think they are leaving. It’s time for Cindy and me to get going. We can handle this, but we have to act fast. Come on, Don.”

Don had seen them go into action before, and he had a good idea what was going to happen. He turned to the group. “Somebody needs to call 911. Call for an ambulance and the police.”

The three got to the sidewalk in time to see two individuals escorting a very wobbly smaller person in a blouse and mini skirt. They were met by two others before they turned into an alley about a block away. Cindy, Bobbie and Don took off at a half run. Avery and Myrna were close behind.

The beating had already started when Cindy and the others entered the alley. One of them had just landed a rather telling blow, and the smaller person was collapsing into a fetal position. The assailant was getting ready to land a devastating kick to the fallen one’s head.

“Stop right there!”

The four assailants looked up, basically frozen in place.

“Mind your own fuckin’ business, bitch. This doesn’t concern you.”

“Oh, but it does. You have no right to do that to anyone.”

“Lady, I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but this faggot embarrassed my friend last week, and we’re just getting even.”

“I don’t think that’s true at all. I think the four of you cruise gay bars and get a kick out of beating up transvestites when you’re not selling dope and robbing little old ladies.

“Isn’t that a bit closer to the truth?”

“Actually, it is.”

Cindy turned to see that a patrol car had pulled up, and two rather well armed officers were approaching. Bobbie was on her knees trying to help the injured young person who was only semiconscious stay comfortable. They could hear the sirens of an ambulance.

“You are going to tell these nice police officers what bad boys you have been, since you have nothing else to do. They will read you your rights, and I expect you to tell them everything. Don’t leave anything out.”

“Officers, these bad boys have seen the error in their ways, and are ready for you to take them in. They are rather heavily armed, so you should be very careful.”

The paramedics had arrived and were soon seeing to securing the young person to a stretcher. They quickly rolled him to the rear of an ambulance, and someone inside assisted in securing the stretcher. They were gone in less than five minutes.

“Cindy, His Wisdom says to meet him in the hospital. He wants all of us there. He’s in the ambulance now,” Bobbie said, closing up her phone. By this time, the entire party was there.

As far as what the police and hoodlums would remember, the police had come upon the assault, and put a stop to it after a brief skirmish. Because of the numerous parole violations, assaults against the police officers, and numerous other crimes, they ended up spending many years behind bars. None of them remembered a visit by a strange, robed man, however, when they got out of prison, they went to work fighting the AIDS epidemic in Africa. The four lived together until their deaths. Their affection for doing service was almost as strong as their affection for each other. Fortunately, they were not able to bear children. The Wizard had not transformed them into women. They were just very gay.
”ƒ
Chapter 12 — Necessary Changes

“He’s resting as comfortably as can be expected. It’s strange. At first we thought he had a ruptured spleen, but apparently, it’s just a severe bruise, as are what we thought were broken ribs. Dr. Bettencourt will tell you everything as soon as he comes out of the room. I think he’s making some final checks.”

They turned to see a doctor leaving the room where the young person had been taken after the initial examination. The doctor was wearing green scrubs and a green cap over his pony tailed hair. Bobbie stifled a giggle.

“Mr. and Mrs. Brewer, your daughter is going to be fine.”

“What?” Hilda gasped. She and Bob had recognized The Wizard immediately.

“Just go along with him,” Cindy whispered. “Everything is going to be fine.”

The Wizard continued as if nothing had been said. “Thank heavens for seatbelts. In spite of the force of that impact, they and those side airbags saved her life. Now she would like to see everybody.”

They entered the room to see the teenage youth with very obvious small breasts sitting up in the bed. The patient’s hair was long, and in spite of the fact the patient no longer wore makeup, the features were definitely feminine. The young person seemed to be remarkably comfortable and at ease for having just gone through such a severe beating.

“Charles and I have been having quite a conversation. He has been hiding under the horizon for quite a while. As good as our system is, we didn’t know about him until we did some serious research after Bobbie called. I think I need to set up a shop around here. I really am spread too thin.

“Like many, Charles didn’t think I existed; however, he recognized me immediately.

“I must say you did an excellent job hiding your surprise, Charles. That made things easier. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, sir. I am having trouble believing this is all happening,” the youth said in a rather delicate, high pitched voice.

“Charles has been living under a bridge for the last three years, since his parents were killed in a robbery more than three years ago. He found a maintenance access, and really made a very comfortable nest. He is an orphan, has no relatives, and we all are aware of this other thing. Because of this problem, and the continued harassment because of his slight body and small stature, he has not gone to school since his parents’ deaths, nor has he had any medical attention. As far as the police are concerned, they believe he was kidnapped, and maybe murdered by the robbers.

“Why I have asked you here is because Charlene, we have already decided on that name, would like your inputs.

“Mr. and Mrs. Brewer, do you think you can take care of another daughter?”

“Yes,” Hilda replied, “We would love to. We have room for many more children.”

“Fine, that’s done. The adoption papers, post dated are being drawn up. They should be on record shortly.

“Charlene has been doing some risky things in order to survive. Her choices weren’t always well thought out. We can attribute that to a lack of parental and professional guidance, and a desire for her physical changes. She is very intelligent, but has missed out in a lot of formal schooling, and for that matter informal schooling as well. Charlene thought she should go back to first grade and get a better start all the way around. I totally agree. I think Lucy will be a great, big sister for her.

“What do you think, Don?”

“Well, I hadn’t really thought about it, but having two sisters would be great. Lucy and I get along great, and Jorge gets along with Lucy very well.”

“Bob, is this alright with you?” The Wizard asked.

“Absolutely, we were looking into another adoption as it was. We are very ready.”

By this time there was no sign of the teenage boy who had been there when they walked into the room. There was just a small androgynous child, wearing a very wide smile.

“Charlene and I discussed this for some length. She needs to fit in with what the Brewers have done in the past. What I am implementing is strictly in accordance with her wishes.”

Charlene’s body changed a bit more. It was definitely a little girl’s body now. There could be no doubt about it. Her skin darkened considerably. Her hair fell in dark waves to below her shoulders. She had black ancestry, without question; however, there was much more. There was probably a little Native American, European and Asian subcontinent there, too. She looked like a young Halle Barry or Vanessa Williams. The wizard had outdone himself.

“What do you think?”

“There were some gasps, and the young women were tearing up. Cindy handed Charlene her pocket mirror. “Oh, Mommy, is that really me? I am so pretty. How can I thank you, Mr. Wizard?”

“You can thank me by going to school, and always wearing your seat belt when you are big enough not to have to use the child seat. There are many other things too, but we will talk about those later. Why don’t you go to the bathroom while your parents and future in-laws have a discussion?”

Charlene, or Charli as she would be known by most, hopped out of bed. She closed the door behind her. She was a while checking things out.

“We almost lost her. If Bobbie hadn’t called me when she did, Charlene may have bled to death. Her spleen was ruptured. I was in the ambulance, and fixed it while we were on the way to the hospital. Her liver was also lacerated. The hepatitis is gone now. By the way, she is a carrier of the witch gene. Under the circumstances, it was decided to duplicate that portion of her X-Chromosome. What we are doing is on a rather gross scale. Myrna, when you start working on your doctorate, would you see if you can pin down the location of those genes a bit more precisely? That might be very helpful in the future.

“I have no doubt that Randi will figure out things very quickly. Try to convince her to not push Charlene in the magical direction too soon. She’s going to have enough to deal with as it is. I’ll talk to Randi, too. She’s doing considerably better, but my goodness, she’s impulsive.”

When Charlene returned to her bed, she was beaming. There was a knock on the door and a nurse entered. “There’s no reason she can’t be discharged right now. Everything looks just fine. I’m sure Dr. Bettencourt will agree.”

“Absolutely, where do I sign?”

“Right here, I’ll get a wheel chair for her.”

“Could my daddy carry me? I think I would like that.”

“Sure, Honey, I think we can allow that. We’re just so happy that you are okay.”

The group was alone again, at least for a few minutes. “This has been a very good night and it’s very late,” The Wizard said. “I think we need some rest. Why don’t you come back to Boston in about two weeks? You might find the house hunting a little bit more productive then. I think it would be a great idea if everyone took a couple of weeks to get acquainted and just relax.”

That was exactly what they did. Lucy and Jorge were very pleased with their new sister. They had known there might be one soon, but when the beautiful little girl jumped out of the car to look at her new house, they were a bit surprised. After all, their parents had gone to Boston to look for a place for Don and Cindy to live, and they came home with a new sister. There was instantaneous love and acceptance. Ten minutes after she arrived, Lucy was showing her all the ropes, and there were many happy tears.

Randi was told under the threat of a lobotomy that she was not to attempt to develop Charli’s magic talents until The Wizard approved. She did not err.

Two weeks later, the two families were back in Boston to look for a home for Don and Cindy. Bobby had a golf tournament, and she and Andy would be involved with that. Evelyn and Esmeralda looked after the children. Randi, as a matter of protection and control, accompanied the families on the trip. In a way, it was a reward and encouragement. Randi was growing up. She was eight years old, but in many ways, she was so much older. Her joie d’ vivre was extremely contagious. Of course, the fact that she had once died might have had something to do with it.

Avery and Myrna had insisted that everyone come over to their place for some wine and cheese before they went out to dinner. Like any young couple, they always saw the best in everything, and the fact that they were profoundly in love didn’t hurt. Their little three-room flat plus bath was stretched to the limit. The bedroom was hardly big enough for a standard sized bed, but Myrna had insisted on a queen sized bed. They had struggled for a while, but somehow managed to set the bed up. There was a tiny problem, in that they couldn’t open the two bottom drawers of the dresser, and had to step across the bed to get to the closet. One also had to walk sideways to get to the little bath. It was a struggle. The main room wasn’t bad, but the little kitchen could barely accommodate two people.

Avery and Myrna had acquired some nice wine, cheese and crackers, and there were some soft drinks for Randi. It really was a very homey atmosphere. The flat was furnished with love.

Eventually, Randi had to go to the bathroom. She had listened to some of the comments made out of hearing range of the two lovers, and wondered what the conversation was about. If the adults had been paying attention, they might have been concerned.

When she returned, she looked up at the others. “I want to show you something in the bedroom.” She had that eager expression that said ‘See what I have done.’

“What’s that, dear?” Marissa was leaning back in her chair, trying to get comfortable. Randi’s little sister was still several weeks away from making an appearance.

“Well, you’re going to have to come and see.”

Cindy was already at the door. Maybe it was because she knew her sister so well.

“Myrna, come here,” she said not too loudly.

“What do you think?”

“Omigosh, how did she do that?”

“You probably don’t want to ask.”

The bedroom that had been barely adequate for a standard bed, was now about twice the size it had been before. There was plenty of room to get around the bed, and the dresser was completely accessible. In fact, there was now room for Avery’s dresser that was currently parked in the living room.

“Randi?”

“It’s okay. His Wisdom said I could do it. He said the landlord would never notice, and it would be good practice for me.”

Randi got an extra piece of baklava for desert.

They found an ideal flat for Cindy and Don the next day. It was a little bigger than Avery and Myrna’s had been before Randi had her way with it. They didn’t say a thing when Randi expanded it a bit, since the changes were only on the inside.

Don and Cindy were alone at last. A lot had been going on over the last few weeks due to the birth of the newest addition to the Lewis family. The birth was uncomplicated, and little Martha Louise took one look around after a brief cry of surprise and discomfort for being thrust into the cold world, and went to sleep. Once again, Marissa’s systems kicked in as they should. Mother and baby went home in three days.

Now, Don and Cindy were alone and on their own. Everything had been moved into the flat, and school for real would be starting in less than a week. They had made love for a long time that first night, and it had been especially satisfying. There was no rush. Don had taken a long time worshipping her. As he did, he thought about that first time they had been intimate and how sweet it had been. She was so beautiful and sensitive. From the very beginning, it had been about them, and it had never been less.

Cindy had told him how devastated she had been when Donna had disappeared. It had nothing to do with their physical relationship. Her soul mate had been ripped from her, and she hadn’t been given a chance to prepare for the loss. If Don hadn’t shown up when he had, she wasn’t sure what she would have done.

Don had lived 17 years without realizing that the love of his life had been so devastatingly hurt. He probably never would have made it through that time had he known. When he was finally allowed to remember Cindy, it was all he could do to restrain himself from rushing to her. The Wizard had told him all would be well, but still the doubt was there.

When they were finally reunited, he knew it was right. To see the joy in Cindy’s face was all he needed to know to tell him that all the sacrifices had been worth it. Yes, it had taken a while for them to make physical love again, but that wasn’t really an issue. It was a bit more difficult for Cindy, and that was understandably so; however, Don was not concerned, because he knew their spiritual love was so strong.

Well that was all past now. He had bought a ring for her, and would make a formal declaration that Christmas. They had already decided they would marry between their junior and senior years. Barring accidents, they would start their family about the time Cindy was finishing her residency. If there were any accidents, they would be welcomed with everlasting love. They would adjust.

Cindy was dozing contentedly on her side. Her smile was illuminated by the glare of the city lights coming through the window, and that was all he needed to see. Anyone could have seen a picture of her and known she was beautiful, but there was so much more than that. It had taken a while to get the whole story, but he had gradually been able to piece it together. Yes, he had died once to get to where he was now, but in a sense, she had died twice, actually three times. She had also given up her life as Al Gontarski with the hope she might be a better person. She had sacrificed her life to save a child from being run over. She had also sacrificed her life to rescue a small kitten, the kitten who was now peacefully sleeping at the foot of their bed. She would be cuddled up with them in the morning. Don had a feeling that there was more of this current Cindy involved in that past incident than she realized. They might find out for sure some day.

They were just eighteen, but they were so much older in so many ways.

“What are you looking at?”

“Your pretty smile.”

“Was I smiling?”

“You always smile.”

“I think I have a reason to smile.”

“We both do.”

Getting serious for a moment, Cindy asked, “Do you think we will ever know what’s going on?”

“He said we would, and I think I believe him. I think they are afraid of losing control, whoever they are. You and I are the center of this thing, and I think Andy and Bobbie, Myrna and Avery, Randi, and maybe even Charli have important parts to play in whatever it is. For that matter, our entire families are probably central in all this.

“There is something, and I know you and Bobbie asked him about this. All the love we feel has to be genuine. It can’t be artificial. They can’t screw with that. If they do, it will spoil everything. I think it has to do with our babies. They’re scared, and we are their only hope. There’s nothing bad intended. We are just their hope for the future. If I’m right, we have nothing to worry about.”

“So it’s about babies?”

“I’m pretty sure it is.”

“So how do we make babies?”

“I do this.”

“Hmmm.”

“And then I do a little of this.”

“I’m not sure you got that right. You better try that again.”

“Is it more like this?”

“Much better.”

“You know, you are getting very good at this.”

“I think you are, too.”

(Several minutes of vocal silence)

“Don, I have a feeling we will make many babies.”

“Yes, and we will have a long, long time to do it.”

Somewhere in his little niche in time The Wizard was sleeping soundly, a smile of self satisfaction on his face. Wolf was in his special bed by the fire place, twitching and growling in his sleep. He and the kittens were arctic wolves, and they were stalking some caribou north of the Arctic Circle.

Next time: Will there even be a next time? I’m not sure it is worth all the research it takes to put this continuing story together. Up to this point, Cindy and the gang have managed to avoid any confrontation with evil magical forces. That is probably not going to last. They really have led a sheltered life up to now. Bobbie will turn pro. I know that for sure. She will set the Women’s LPGA tour on fire. Then she takes the step that Annika Sorenstam tried, but was unsuccessful in doing. Things work a little differently for Bobbie. Remember The Wizard’s admonition about using a 9-iron on the twelfth? I already know that Randi works part time in SRU. She is a very powerful, and yet untried witch. There is one power that she is not able to overcome, and that is love. She happily submits.

After her undergraduate years, Cindy has medical school and her residency in Psychiatry to endure. That will take twelve years. Don has law school and the Bar. Avery and Myrna will be entrenched in research and academia after getting their PhDs. Charli and Martha will also have important roles to play. Cindy, Don and Bobbie’s brothers are not drones, just there to pass on the magic gene. I wonder what roles they will have in this tale. Finally, we will find out what The Wizard and his bunch have been up to. Apparently, there were some serious screw ups that allowed things to go the way they did. Some people weren’t watching the store, so to speak. Of course there are transformations of various sorts. All are meaningful. I believe Cindy and Bobbie’s first babies are born on October 31st. Cindy’s baby is a boy, Donald Alfred. Bobbie’s first is a girl, Cynthia Naomi. The magic continues.

I look back at the stories in this series and wonder what happened. The early ones had a very good response as far as I am concerned, but as things drew closer and closer to what I felt was the whole idea of the series, the responses dropped to a third of the early ones. Well, I thought, that will be taken care of when everyone sees how sweetly I revealed the Donna/Don situation and the eventual consumation of Don and Cindy's relationship. I thought I had written a very sweet, not overtly sexual chapter, where their genuine love for each other was finally expressed in the act of love. Boy was I wrong. The chapter bombed! Go figure. I have literally shed a few tears over its failure; however, I know what I wanted to happen, and I think I achieved that very nicely, even if the response says otherwise.

To those who have been nice enough to write and say they enjoyed the series, I want to say I am still working on the Volume 2. I might be able to get together enough material to pick up where this story left off. We'll just have to see. I want to start on the sixth novel in the California Saga. It promises to be interesting. I suspect it will be well into 2011 before it is done, if then.

So long for now,

Portia