This story starts just hours after the end of my story Ida The Spy.
Holly has just found out that a third daughter has become hers as a result of some black magic. But who dunnit? And why? How Shannon appear out of nowhere, (somewhere?), on the mountain above the house Holly is in the process of buying?

 © 2010 by Holly H Hart

I’d like to give credit to Shalimar for a couple of portions and ideas for a couple more;
to Heather Rose Brown for proofing and numerous small ideas and paragraphs here and there; ditto to Penny Cardon for proofing, and some small and one large portion of the text, and the incentive to even write this. However, any errors, omissions, grammar errors and typos are mine. As with Ida the Spy, there is a zinger, a part of the story nobody else has seen, part of it in the middle, plus the final few paragraphs.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental, except a lot of us whose fictional virtual personas are involved wish it were true.

Not true. In reality, everything comes in ones. Sometimes, when three "ones" come in a row, it seems like everything comes in threes. By the way, in medieval times it was widely believed that everything came in twenty-sixes. They were wrong, too. It just took them longer to recognize the pattern.

It wasn't until my sisters had left, that it really hit me. 'Ohmigaw ...Three kids … What did you think you were doing? " I asked myself, 'Taking on the responsibility for another child, one somewhere around 2 years old? Not long ago you were a crotchety old bachelor. Then you got your dream, and became a not unbeautiful young woman. Then you took on one kid, then another, and now, Shannon, too???'

‘But you couldn't not do it. She kept her eyes on you, not them. And her first words were directed at you, when she called you ‘Mommy.’ I argued with the voice in the back of my mind.

‘But ... but ... What do I know about taking care of an infant, well, toddler? At least she can walk. It's been forty years, and even then, you didn't do any more of the child rearing than you couldn't get out of, at least until they were three or four.'

‘Face it, she wants to be your daughter, Holly! You've already bonded. Look at the way you are holding her right now! Besides, you have your sisters to call on if you really need help.'

'But what am I going to do with her during the day?'

I giggled as I caught a mental image of myself standing over me. 'What to do you for your other kids? I think Mrs. Blomfontaine will be willing to take on a 3rd child . In fact, I'll bet the paperwork has already been done, just like it had been with Heather Rose and Dean, and shows she'd been going there for awhile. Magic, remember?'

I quit arguing with myself and admitted I'd never want to give Shannon up. It was true, a bond had been formed, both ways. Even my question about where she was going to spend the night was answered when I went into my room and saw a crib with a suspended Peter Pan and Friends in Neverland mobile night light next to my bed, which had shrunk to make room for it … no, the room was larger. 'We've really got to close on the house in the country and get more room.'

My first problem came when I tried to put Shannon down for the night. She wanted no part of sleeping in her crib all by herself . She wasn't talking to tell me what the problem was, just whimpering and reaching for me. "Of course! She has to be hungry. No telling how long it's been since she had anything to eat. You don't suppose ... Those training panties and clothes just appeared. You don't suppose ..”

Picking up my new ... newest, ‘daughter,’ I went out to the kitchen, where a cupboard that had been filled with pots and pans now held a wide variety of baby foods, some bottled, some in cans, crackers and cookies. Not knowing what she would like, but noticing that there were a lot more strained plums than anything else, I decided to give them a try. 'That either means she hates them, and I'm stuck with them, or hopefully, that they are her favorite'

As I turned around, I almost stumbled over my four footed kids, Bleu and Neptune. This place really is crowded, with what, me, and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 kids. ‘Yes, I must see if Jack can do anything to speed things up.'

My fears about the food were unfounded, and Shannon gobbled down the entire jar. 'Should I give her more? No, better not take any chances. But I'll bet she can use some water. Oh, dear, I hope she can drink from a cup.' That prayer was answered, too. With a little help she was able to hold a teacup in both hands, and only spill part of it down her front.

It was only the next morning, when I noticed a new base cupboard under an extension of the kitchen counter, that I found the jars of baby food, bottles and everything to go with them. ‘I’ll bet Shelly did this. She was thinking of me and anticipating my needs. Thanks, Sis.’ I almost stopped to listen for an answer to my unvoiced mental thanks.

I was glad Heather Rose was pretty well able to get herself ready, even pouring cereal and milk into bowls for herself and Dean while I got Shannon and Dean dressed.

‘I’m so glad she can have the joy of being an eight year old when she wants to, yet show the maturity of her older self when it’s needed, especially since she doesn’t even seem to realize it. I never realized how tormented she was when she worked at the bank. And Dean, too.

‘I wish I knew more about my little one. I hope we can find out. Black magic is scary, but my sisters are sure that she didn’t do it, it was done to her, and she is as innocent as she appears to be.’

I looked at my newest daughter as I carried her from the car through the arbor of red roses leading to the entrance to Mrs. Blomfontaine’s Preschool and day care.

“Here, let me take Shannon from you, Dear, while you go back for Dean.” As I had figured, she already knew about Shannon.

‘I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to this, the whole world changing when magic changes things, with only our knowing things are different.’ I shook my head as I went back and let Dean out of his car seat. Since it was one of those silly ‘teacher prep days’, Heather Rose was staying, too, and promised to help Mrs. Blomfontaine, who “Remembered her fondly,” even though Heather had never been there except to watch wistfully from the outside.

‘As clingy as Shannon has been, it’s hard to believe she took to Mrs. Blomfontaine as if she’s known her all her life.’ I shook my head again. After all this time, I still had trouble getting used to what my sisters could do with their magic. And I was becoming somewhat proficient with it, too.

Once I got to the bank, I did my best to concentrate on the tasks at hand, but it was quite a challenge at times to avoid drifting off and wondering what was going on with my children. Just after lunch I was surprised, and momentarily worried, when Ida, (the new, happier Ida), buzzed me. “Miss Hart? Your daughter is on the phone.”

“Hello? Heather?”

“Hi Mom! I just wanted to letcha know I could tell ya was kinda worried ‘bout leavin’ Shannon so long on her first day, so I thought I’d letcha know I been watchin’ her close, an’ I think she’s doin’ real good.”

“Thank you, Darling. Have I ever told you you’re a sweet girl, and I love you?”

“I think so …” She paused. “Uh, I think it mighta been when ya dropped me off at thepreschool this morning, but that was like ages ago.” Then she couldn’t help it, she broke into a giggle.

“Well, Miss Gigglepuss. I’ll be there in a bit.”

When she got home from the bank and preschool with the kids, Holly carried Shannon to the condo association’s little kid’girls’ play area where she met Rachel, one of Shelly’s adult children, and gave her a hug. At the time Rachel was watching Maggie, Baruchah, lilAllie, Michelle and lilSara. Obviously, the other sisters had to be around, too.

“Would you like to play with your cousins?” Holly asked. Shannon was a bit scared, and didn’t reply verbally, but the way she hid in her mommy’s arms spoke volumes.

Maggie grabbed Baruchah’s hand and came pouncing over to Holly and Shannon.

”Remembers me?” the MagPie asked. “I’s founded yous. Yous was tired and hungry. We is cousins. Dis is my twin, Baruchah. Hers the one whose magic works. I’m da udder twin. Mine almost works, but mostly not.”

“Hewwo Maggie.” Shannon smiled tentatively at her cousin as Baruchah started playing airplane with lilSara.

“Did you know Maggie likes Eyeore, too?” Holly asked Shannon.

“And who doesn’t?” asked Rachel. “My hubby says I giggle like Tigger.”

“I wikes Tigger bestest,” commented Shannon.

“I likes all Poohs speshully Eeyore but Tigger is kewlies.”

Shannon smiled, but still cuddled in her mommy’s arms.

“I gots candy some pace,” Maggie said. “Wait a mint! Its in my pocket! Can I gives her some candy, Aunt Holly?”

“Sure,” Holly agreed.

Maggie started pulling stuff out of her pocket while Shannon and the other kids watched in fascination. First was a bottle cap, then a small rubber ball, some jacks, a dolly shoe…

“Is dat da doll shoe from mommy’s dolly we’s gives hers for hers birthday dat she missing?” asked Baruchah.

“Maybe, don’t remembers … … dog biscuit with bite out of it …”

“Dat’s Bailey’s biscuit!” Allie exclaimed.

“IF she finds it, you should be fascinated, little one,” Rachel explained. “By the way, lilSara, flying with Baruchah, is my little one.”

“… toothbrush …”

“Hewwo!!” Shannon said.

“… sum jelly beans stuck together, pizza crust …”

“Hewwo!” lilSara replied

“Hummmmm,” Maggie contemplated as she dug deeper.

“… a shilling …”

“And it’s a tiny pocket, too,” Holly explained to Shannon. “That part of her magic does work.”

“… shoelace …”

Rachel picked up the crying lilSara and easily rocked the baby to sleep.

“… small pouch of catnip …”

“Imagine, a kitten that carries around her own catnip. That could be trouble,” Holly commented.

“… a green crayon, shiny rock …”

Shannon smiled up at Holly and clung.

“I tinks I gots it dis time,” Maggie exclaimed just before she pulled out an empty candy wrapper.

“Oh, oh! I forgotted, I ated it. Sorry.”

“Uhmmm,” Shannon replied, a disappointed look on her face.

Maggie checked her other pocket and found a hole in it.

“Awwwww!” Maggie exclaimed as she stamped her foot and pouted. “Maybe I cans magisize some up for yous.”

“Check again,” Holly suggested as she wiggled a finger at Maggie’s pocket. “I think there is another one there. Something is still making a lump.”

When Maggie reached in her pocket again, Shannon leaned her body to go down, so Holly put down her baby who ran over to her older cousin as she pulled out a piece of Cadbury chocolate and held it out for Shannon. Shannon ran so fast she knocked Maggie down. Soon they both were giggling as they shared the chocolate.

“Cmon, Shannon,” Maggie suggested after a while. “I cans makes you fly!”

Maggie picked up Shannon and started to run, “Its almost as good as riding mommy’s broom wid her.”

“Weeeeeeeeeeeee,” Shannon squealed and Maggie shouted.

After a few minutes Maggie said, “We gotta land in a minute.” She crashed with Shannon into a big fluffy bush and said, “Phew, I cans nots play airplane wiff you too long. I is too wittle or you is too big.” Maggie handed another Cadbury to Shannon before taking yet another one out of her never empty pocket. She popped it into her mouth before saying, with her mouth full, “Dis is da kind dat your mommy don’t want you to habs before bedtimes or eben dinners.”

Meanwhile Holly looked away so she wouldn’t complain as both little girls purred an “Mmmmmmmmm” before giggling.

“Here, do dis,” Maggie suggested as she put her hand down for a low five. “Here, Shannon, gib me a low five.”

Holly told Maggie, “Shannon is a baby kitten,” as Shannon timidly gave her cousin a low five.

“Wows!” Maggie said as she gently slaps Shannon’s hand. “I’s a kitten toos.”

Shannon squealed and giggled.

“Dat was good, Shannon. Dat was weally good. Now you’re kewl toos,” Maggie said as Shannon huggled tight.

“Maggie is know as pizzakitten,” Holly told Shannon.

“Its portant to be kewl,” Maggie explained to Shannon. “My big sister, Steffie says being kewl is what its all bout. I’m not sure wat alls dat abouts but I guess it’s good.”

“Otays,” Shannon agreed.

“Steffie is thirteen,” Maggie noted. “I don’t unnerstands her at all sometimes.”

“Wanna be kewl,” Shannon said with a very serious expression. “How do dat?”

Heather Rose, who had been trying to explain to her younger brother about the proper way to hold a doll baby, smiled and turned to Shannon when she heard her sister’s question. “Oh, first you gotta stand like this,” she said. She slouched and shoved her hands into the pockets of her pink corduroys.

Shannon managed a reasonable imitation of the slouch, but not having any pockets, she had to improvise by hiding her hands in the folds of her skirt. “Wike dis?”

“Uh huh! An’ then ya go like this,” Heather Rose instructed as she closed her eyes a little, then lifted her nose in the air in what appeared to be an attempt to look aloof.

“How dis?” Shannon asked as she craned her neck to lift her nose as high as possible.

“Ummm…”

Undaunted, my youngest daughter went up on her tiptoes and asked, “Dis better?”

My oldest daughter examined her sister’s pose for a moment, then said, “You almost got it. You’ll hafta keep tryin’, though.”

“Otay, I keeps twying,” Shannon promised as she attempted to lift her nose higher. This lasted about two seconds before she dropped the pose and said, “Maybe twy later.”

“I is always twying,” Maggie stated. “Da ladies at da dayscare I goes to says I trys dem all da time, ‘n sumtimes I’m vewy twying..

“We have a strange family, Shannon,” Rachel said.

“Den I’s in da right pace I tinks,” Maggie noted as Shannon cuddled into her. “I gotted called strange all da time ‘till mommy made me a liddle girl.”

“Shannon, your Aunt Shelly is my mom, and is Maggie, Baruchah, Michelle and Steffie’s mom,” Rachelle said. “I was already on my own when Maggie and Baruchah were born, so they call me Aunty Rachel because I was a grownup when they were kids. They still call me that and I accept the honor they mean it to be.”

“I’s all confused bout whos in da famby.” Maggie told her newest cousin. “Mommy says dat wiff da way our fambly is dat I bedders be carefuls or I will end up my own mommy.”

“You’ll be doing better than me, sweetheart,” Rachel giggled. “because I’ve been confused for a long time. I think our family is like a Celtic knot.”

“It otay, Shannon,” Maggie said. “We’s ain’t gotta knows nottin. Dats da kind of stuffs dat make grownups stay up late and drink coffie all night.”

Meanwhile Shannon was enjoying the cuddles, and the love in those cuddles.

“I likes you Shannon. You gwoovy. Dat’s one of dem words my big sister Ally, says sometimes.”

“Gwoovy?” Shannon asks.

“Uh huh,” Maggie continued. It’s a good word ‘cause I don’t gets inta no trouble when I says it. And Ally says it lots!”

Holly and Rachel giggled as Shannon went to her mommy for a cuddle.

“You know, Shannon, Maggie can be very trying at times,” Rachel explained tongue in cheek as Holly rocked Shannon. ”She’s always trying to get out of baths; trying to reach the cookie jar; trying to do magic spells; and trying to explain how it’s not her fault that something broke.”

“Bafs no fun,” Shannon remarked

Maggie went over to Shannon and gave her another low five.” You wanna join TABAS?”

“What dat?”

“TABAS is Toddlers Against Bafs and Showers, Caffleen da pwesident.”

“I’s a toddwer.”

“I’ll have to tell you Cathleen’s story about TABAS,” Holly told Shannon.

“Yeppers, pweeze do, Aunty Holly,” Maggie said as she yawned.

Shannon yawned, too. “I’s tiwed.”

“Ummmm,” Maggie said as her eyes drooped. “Bees careful, Shannon. Da sandman is round. My sandman yawn alarm jus go off. That mean he sneaking round put you to seep.”

“Yep, it’s about bedtime for both of you toddlers,” Holly told them as Shannon cuddled closer.

“Do you want me to tuck you in, Maggie?” Rachel asks.

“Pweeze,” Maggie said as she yawns. “I’s too tired to run from da sandman, tonight. I’s too tired ta talk my way out. I’s too tired to magicize my way out.”

“So you’re going to surrender without a fight?” Rachel said.

“Reads me story first?” Maggie asked.

“Strawberry Shortcake?”

“Uh hum,” Maggie agreed.

“Seep wid Maggie ‘n Bawu … Bawuca ‘n Sawa?” Shannon asked as she started crying tiredly.

“I gots lion dat cases away bad dweams,” Maggie told Shannon. “Sir Lionheart.”

Maggie opened her arms to Rachel, who picked her up and took her to Shannon’s room, followed by Holly and Shannon and the other kids.

“Aunty Rachel, I tinks you is gwoovy and purdy toos,” Maggie said.

“Thank you Maggie,” Rachel said as she kissed her and gently stroked her hair. “I think you’re groovy and pretty, too.”

Rachel put Maggie in her pajamas, then put her into bed with lilSara. Holly changed and pajamaed Shannon before she tucked her in next to Maggie and lilSara as Shelly tried to find room for Baruchah. Holly waved her hand and Shannon’s crib grew large enough for all four girls.

Calmed down by being with her cousins, Shannon stopped her whimpering. As Rachel read the story to the little girls, their eyes began to close.

When they were all out, the sisters went out to the front room, where they could all talk, could talk, interrupted only by the delivery of some kosher Chinese takeout Prue had ordered.

Shelly spoke up. “Holly, we need to discuss a Gathering for Shannon.”

Holly sighed, then was silent for a moment before saying, “She’s gone through so much. Is it really necessary?”

“As far as I’m concerned it is just a formality, but this is one rule we’re not going to break. There’s too much at stake if we don’t do it, especially considering the black kind of magic that was used on her. Damn, I wish there was a better term for magic done with an evil intent used on her. Besides, we’re doing it for Shannon.”

“Don’t forget, we still need to clean Shannon up,” Gina reminded them. “That evil magic smell is still on her.

Holly slowly nodded. “I know what you mean. I bathed her for nearly an hour before I realized what I’d first thought was an odd odor was actually something that went past the sense of smell; ordinary soap and water can’t touch it.”

“The materials we need to do that are in the clinic at the Kamp, not here, and they do not travel well magically. Besides, that’s where we have the stuff to find out what happened to her, too.”

“But we can’t take her back the normal way, either, because of the black magic,” Misty reminded everyone.

“We can use the corporate jet,” Prue suggested.

“What do I need to take? Holly asked.

“At the minimum you’d need several diaper changes and outfits for Shannon,” Jenna reminded her. “A few baby bottles and some toys. Take a few changes of clothes for you and the rest of your children.”

“How soon does this need to be? Even though I own the bank, I also manage it, and I have a number of appointments. I don’t want to ruin our reputation by just taking off for a week or two with no notice. Magic can’t fix everything, you know.”

Shelly cut off Holly’s protest. “Just because Shannon can’t travel by magic until things are fixed doesn’t mean you can’t come here during the day to work, and spend the rest of the time back east with your kids once in a while.”

“It needs to be done as soon as possible.” Prue told her. “The sooner we can test her, the more we can learn about what was done to her. I took a good look at those rags she was wearing when the kids found her. They aren’t rags, Or rather, while they’re badly torn up rags now, they used to be a tee shirt.”

“A tee shirt?”

“Yeah, before I encapsulated them for safety, I took a quick look, and it used to be a Righteous Brothers tee. It also said, ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.”

“Uhm. I always liked that song. Well, I’ll see if I can reschedule so I can get of the rest of the week.” Holly shook her head, perplexedly. “I guess I’d better get off to work if I’m going to get it done. Come back tonight and we can talk about it some more.”

The next evening, as the sisters watched the children play on the jungle gym/swing set provided by the Townhouse Association, Holly reported, “I managed to reschedule some appointments till next week, moved a couple forward to today, and I think Mark can take the rest. But there are still four I have to take tomorrow, the last at 3. When can you get the plane here?”

“It’s already been taken care of. One of the Plieades’ G-IVs is, or soon should be on its way west right now. Just be ready to go as soon as you lock the vault, or whatever it is you do, when you close tomorrow.” Jenna nodded, confirming Prue’s words.

“Holly, you know we can’t have the Plieades plant here on this property, as big as it is.” Holly looked at Shelly, wondering what she meant. “The hill is too steep. I don’t think it would be good for tractor trailers to negotiate a road back there.”

Just then Baruchah, pulling on Maggie’s arm came over. . “Wes lets da cat out.”

“Yeah. I pretty much realized that, but this will still make a great EWF West gathering place. And that’s not a hill,” Holly interjected. “It’s a mountain, 1,178 meters high, not one of your east coast ‘mountains’ that isn’t even 500 meters.”

“You just made my case,” Shelly grinned. “It would be too dangerous. You told me that a big Navy base nearby is going to close. We could put Pleiades there. The small shipyard could be converted to a tanker offloading area. The rest of the shore could be used for water based rides.”

Baruchah pulled Shelly’s arm.

“What is it, kitten?” Shelly asked.

“Wes sorta lets da cat out.”

“What do you mean you sort of let the cat out?” asked Holly.

“I’s was holding da door for Maggie dis afternoon when da cat ran out,” Baruchah explained.

“We chaseded it but it plays catch me if you cans,” added Maggie.

“Which one?”

“Da gray one.”

“Where was it last?”

“Over der,” Maggie pointed.

Most of the women began hunting for Neptune, Holly’s gray cat, but could not find him.

Later that evening, as the women were talking, Holly heard a small meow outside her front door. She found Neptune sitting in front of the screen door swishing his tail.

“You had an adventure.”

“Meow.”

“You know you shouldn’t leave like that.”

“Meow?”

“OK, you can come back in,” Holly told him as she opened the screen door, thankful that he’d come back before she had to leave for a few days.

She got on the phone before she returned to the front room. “Chris? This is Holly. What are you doing the next few days? … … I’ve got a problem. I need to leave town for a few days, and I need someone to take care of my cats while I’m gone. Could you …?”

As soon as we’d settled on our plans, my sisters and their kids walked into the Gather Room, and went home.

About an hour after the bank opened, I got the call we’d been waiting for from Jack. “Miss Hart? Call on line 2 from Jack Palmer.”

“Good morning, Holly, and it is a good morning. As soon as you can get down here to the title company, the papers are ready to sign, and then the place is yours.”

“That’s great, Jack. Let’s see, it’s not 10:30 yet. How long do you think it will take?”

“At least an hour, no more than two if nothing crops up. We’re going to do this as a video teleconference. Your sister, Mrs. Johnson, and the Harisons will be on the other end. They’d like to be through before 5PM on the other end, but we should be able to finish by then if you can get over here by noon. If you can’t, it will probably mean we’ll have found something that can’t be taken care of in one day, anyway.”

“Can you give me ten minutes to be sure I can get away?

“Sure, Holly. Want me to call you back then?”

I looked at the caller ID on my phone. “No. I’ll call you. Bye, Jack, and thanks for giving things a real push.”

Less than ten minutes later, I’d talked with my staff and made sure they knew what to do if anything came up while I was out, so I called Jack to tell him I could make it anytime. “If now works better, I can wait and take you out to lunch to celebrate.”

“It’s a deal.”

Lunch was almost on time. By 12:15 we were shaking hands with our counterparts on the other end of the video link as best one can from nearly 3,000 miles away. Shelly did the honors for me, in any case. I’d have to wait until the weekend, as I think the Harisons might just wonder if I showed up back there anytime that night.

I took Jack to one of the best restaurants in town, but all too soon duty called and I returned to the bank. I was anxious to get to the day care center, but knew I shouldn’t take off again.

I phoned Heather Rose when I knew she had a break from classes., “Oh, Guess what? We got the house. We can move in anytime.”

Heather Rose’s squeal almost broke the sound barrier, or at least, my eardrum. “Can we move in tonight? Can we?”

“Well, I didn’t mean that soon. I think it will take until Saturday to get things planned and underway.”

Boy, was I wrong! When I got off work and took my brood home, I found Shelly and half the rest of the family waiting for us. In fact, everything except a few of our personal belongings had already been packed, and loaded into two Plieades Resources vans. “Get busy, Sis,” Prue told me. “We left a few things for you.”

My head was spinning. Looking around, I was glad Shelly wasn’t with them.

Sure enough, after the kids and I had put the bicycles into the van, and put the cats into their travel boxes, and traveled the few miles to the house, Jack and his wife were waiting for me with a couple of housewarming presents. “Jack, you shouldn’t have.”

“Holly, it isn’t everyday I close a deal for $17 million.”

“In fact,” the petite brunette beside him said, “I don’t think he’s ever closed one for anywhere close to that amount.”

“Claire’s right. ,” Jack gave his wife a one-armed hug. “And since I own the agency, and handled the deal for both parties, that makes this my first million dollar commission.”

I stopped to run a fast calculation in my head. “You’re right. 6% of 17 million is just over 1 million. Congratulations, Jack. If you weren’t before, you are now a millionaire, at least until the tax man hears about this deal.” I gave Claire a hug, and thanked them both again, then pointed out that we had some vans to start unloading if we were going to have beds to sleep in.

When they were gone, Prue organized everyone. We went through the house room by room, telling the other sisters which room was which.

Prue and Jenna asked the kids to hold hands with them and me. We had to be part of it, but my two sisters did most of the work. About half minute after they began concentrating, the furniture from the similar room suddenly appeared, magic’d from wherever it had been in the trucks.

The only problems were when the furniture from one room in the townhouse needed to be separated into more than one room in the new house. Each of the kids, as before, had a room to themselves, though now, standing in the door of my room facing the hall, Dean was in the room on my right, while Heather Rose got the room directly across from Dean.

Shannon was in the room on my left, which had interior connecting French doors into what had been, I’m sure, designed as a sitting room off my room. While not quite a suite, each of the bedrooms had its own bath, what I’d known in my European travels as an en suite. Even Shannon’s did, but I sealed the door, figuring the huge master bath would do for both of us until she was old I could feel she was safe around its facilities.

Magic sure made the move fast and easy. The early autumn sun hadn’t yet set, though being on the northeastern slope of a nearly 900 meter tall mountain with its peak 300 meters higher due west had put us in shadow hours earlier by the time we were finished. When we phoned her to tell her the coast was clear, Shelly brought her family, with dinner for everyone.

After we ate, I was given a real surprise, as my three sisters brought furniture they’d purchased locally and hidden in a warehouse, to fill most of the guest rooms. Shelly explained it, “It’s close to bedtime for the kids. You didn’t think we were going to sleep on the floor, did you?”

“But I thought … oh, come here girls.” I gave them each a big hug, and didn’t forget the husbands who were hanging around. For some of them, this was the first time they’d seen the place that was going to be EWF West, Shelly’s place now becoming EWF East.

The next day, as soon as we closed the bank for the weekend, I picked up the kids. It’s only a few miles from the bank to a small business and private plane field big enough for the G-IV. As we approached the plane, Prue warned me, “Don’t be surprised by what you see on the plane. We’ve arranged some entertainment for the kids. It’ll be up to you to explain it to them.”

“Aren’t you coming, too?”

“I’ve got a faster way, remember? It’s going to take some time to set things up to get everything we need before you have to leave to get back here for Monday morning.” With that, she turned and left us.

Heather and Dean were no trouble. To them, it was their first plane trip, as neither remembered anything like that from their former lives, at least not, unless they really tried to remember, and Dean had never showed an inclination to try to remember his previous life. And Heather only remembered enough to help in her art, plus whatever it was that made her such a responsible young lady for an eight year old.

The surprises began as soon as we entered the plane, where we were greeted by three rabbits, an extremely tall white rabbit that sometimes turned invisible, who introduced himself as “John Howard, your pilot”; a gray one with extremely buck teeth, who always seemed to have a carrot on him, “Tim Holmes, copilot”, and an extremely sexy female, “Jessica, your cabin attendant.” I’d been wondering what sort of surprises Prue meant. Now I knew what some of them were. We had three of movieland’s best known rabbits as our crew.

I knew magic was involved though, as our tall pilot entered the cockpit through a door that only reached his shoulders, yet hadn’t had to duck. He went through it like a ghost. Looking at Heather, I saw she had spotted it out, too.

We were off the ground just before 5PM, with a 5 hour flight ahead of us, and a 3 hour time zone change, so we should get into the field near the Kids Kamp around 10 PM our time, but 1 AM local time. I had ‘Jessie’ send a message to tell everyone I was going to keep the kids on Pacific time, since it was just to be a 2 1/2 day trip, meaning Shannon was not going to be available until around 10 AM Eastern Time, but also, that we would not leave until10 PM Sunday evening. “Just make sure there are 4 beds set up for the return trip.”

“Already taken care of, Holly” Jessie told me. She dropped her illusion to let me see she was Janice, one of the regular staff members I’d hired when we bought the planes for Plieades before I went into the banking business. Guiding me further towards the tail, she showed me the two cabins, each with two large bunks, one above the other, Pullman car style.

Heather had shown Dean how to find a movie on the individual screens for each position, and set up a cartoon for Shannon while I was getting my tour. When I saw she’d pulled out her omnipresent sketch pad and huge box of colored pencils, I went back and helped Janice get dinner ready for the kids.

“I’ll bet you aren’t very used to making mac and cheese for two, and regular food with no Brussels Sprouts for one, plus adult food, are you, Janice?”

“Actually, my kids are worse than that, Holly.”

“You’ve got kids? I thought you were single.”

“I was when you hired me, but John and I got married a month after that. My mom takes care of the kids when we can’t be home, and works at the Kamp when she isn’t taking care of them. But when we’re home, it’s my job. I think it’s the best of both worlds. They get to see me a lot more than most kids see their working mothers, yet I get some time away, knowing they will get great care. And Mom loves it, she gets to see her grandkids more than most grandmoms do.”

“It sounds like it works well. That’s one of the things that bothers me about mine. I’m afraid I won’t always be there for them when they really need me.”

“That’s what cell phones are for, dear. You’ve got a good one in your oldest. I think you could trust her with one. Get her one that limits the numbers she can call, and the number of minutes she has for any non-free calls. You can get them, you know, that will let her call you free, and free night and weekend minutes, yet shut off charged calls once she reaches her limit for the month. They’re a good tool for teaching responsibility. My brother did that for his kids, and now I do it, too.”

“One thing I do not have to teach that one is responsibility. She has it by the bucketful. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind seeing a bit more wildness from her, but I don’t want to suggest it.”

Heather Rose glanced up from her drawing just then. I thought I saw the hint of a mischievous grin, but it flitted away before I could be certain. As her attention returned to her sketch pad, I was once again reminded how little ears can have amazing hearing abilities at some of the most inopportune times.

We fed the kids, and took the pilots their meals before we ate our own dinners. As we were collecting the remains, Tim suggested, “If your kids would like to come visit the cockpit, just have them tell Janice. We don’t want to give them free run of our office, but we don’t have to follow all the airline rules on locking the cockpit when it’s just crew and members of the family that owns the plane. Particularly when you were one of the ones who hired us.”

Dean was excited when we told him, and to my surprise, Heather decided she wanted to see it, too. The rabbit illusions had been turned off for Janice and me, but were on once more when the kids entered. So of course, after the visit, that’s the way Heather drew it. Her near photographic eyes remembered all of the instruments and the cockpit layout better than I could, and she got our rabbit friends perfectly.

After the visit to ‘the office’ as Tim called it, I told Dean and Heather they could stay up if they wanted to, but that Shannon and I were going to nap until just before we landed.

When we woke 2 hours later, Janice told me we had gotten a good tailwind and would be landing in half an hour. “Heather and Dean are in the other two bunks. Do you want me to wake them?”

“Yes, please.”

I barely had time to get Shannon up and ready before John announced we should get in our seats and prepare for landing. Then, as Heather Rose and Dean rushed past to get to their seats, Janice asked, “Dean, would you like to watch the landing from up front?”

When my son looked back at me, I nodded, knowing he would certainly remember this flight for a long time.

Twenty minutes after each of the kids had thanked Jessica, Roger, and Harvey as they left the plane, we were at EWF East.

In the morning after we woke, Rachel took the older kids, and I took Shannon over to Little Kids Kamp.

We had to put up a sonic barrier so Shannon could see us, but not hear us as we discussed her case, before she would agree to let me leave her to be examined.

“I want some answers!” Shelly demanded when the meeting started “I want to know who did this to little Shannon, and I want to know how! And I want it BEFORE the Gathering!”

“Calm down, Shelly,” Kimmie told her. “We’ll find out what happened. I just can’t guarantee we’ll have it for Shannon’s Gathering.”

“Do you know anything?”

“Well, we’ve been looking over the shirt Shannon was wearing. We know that she was a novice.”

“She? You know this evil one was a woman?”

“We don’t know her age, yet, but yes, we know it was a woman. We think we even know the spell she tried to use, but the ingredient mix of the powder appears a bit wrong..”

“Get Scotty here. He knows chemicals. Maybe he can tell you something. It is a top priority.”

“Why are you so hot on this? You know we’ll find out.”

“This is a hate crime. This person is too dangerous. We are the only ones I know of who can punish this perpetrator. I will not have this person causing another Shoah.”

Note: “Shoah” is the Hebrew name of the Holocaust of 1932-45. The word means “burning.”

I’m not sure just what all my sisters did with their mysterious magical machines down in the Kamp’s evaluation center, but once they had gotten all they could, , I was told that we could head back anytime. “We will need time to evaluate it, and then we’ll have to go looking for the culprit. Most of what we got is circumstantial, as she really doesn’t have much memory of her previous life. One thing Shannon could not tell us was where, or even when she’s from.”

“What do you mean, ‘when’?

“We’re positive Shannon was not 2 years old where and when she came from. We’re more inclined to think she was between ten and twenty. We also think she is from somewhere at least five months before or after now, and maybe as much as a hundred or more ahead of now. I think we might get more, but it will take a lot more preparation and time than a weekend. We’re going to try and fix up what we need to be able to do the rest at your place in a few weeks.

The flight back, after a wonderful Sunday evening dinner at Shelly’s was uneventful. Dean got to sit up front for takeoff, while Heather was able to sit there for the landing this time.

I wasn’t too surprised to get a call from Chris Scott a couple of days after we got back. “I’ve had some time to think over what you told me and showed me, and I was wondering if you might like to have dinner and talk things over?”

I’d already made up my mind to say yes, when this expected invitation came, so I simply replied, “Yes. where and when? or, should I say, tonight, at my place? Six PM?”

“Sure … uh, what about the daughter you mentioned? Since school is in session, I suppose she’ll be there. Won’t that make things a bit awkward?”

“Not at all, Chris. She knows everything, and I do mean everything. Well, except about you, that is.”

“Well, okay, I guess. I’ll be there.”

I told him how to find the new place, then told Heather, Dean and Shannon that we were having company for dinner, and they became all excited.

“Is it a man or a woman?” Heather asked.

“A man,” I replied. She became even more excited at that.

I had deliberately not told Chris everything, wanting to surprise him. I greeted him at the door with a hug, then took his coat. “Come on into the family room. I want to introduce you to my family.”

I led him down the hall, and waited for the expected double take, which I got. Chris, these are my daughters, “Heather Rose, and Shannon, my son, Dean, and you already know our two junior citizens, Bleu, and Neptune.”

“But … but you said you had one daughter, and from your description, I assume that’s Heather Rose. You didn’t mention Shannon … or Dean.”

“I’m going to have to ask you to suspend your disbelief again. But let’s talk about it over dinner before it gets cold.”

Over dinner, which consisted of Beef Stroganoff over wide noodles, a green salad Heather had put together, and Acorn Squash, I told Chris about how first, Dean, and then Shannon had happened to join my brood. “All of this sounds unbelievable, but remember I’m part of the ‘Evil Witch Family.’ ” Heather Rose and Dean giggled at my reference to our family.

“But we’re not really evil, or even witches,” Heather put in quickly. She explained, with some help from Dean and me, how the family had come to be, as a gift from God, and how we not only never did anything evil, but only good. “ The Evil Witch part was a joke on my Auntie Shelly’s part before anyone in the family had powers, and we just kept it.”

“How old are you, Heather Rose?”

“Eight, most of the time. But Mommy made it so I can think older when I don’t need to be a little girl. And this seemed to me to be a time to be a bit more mature.”

“I… see. Well, I think you can be as old as you want to be around me, okay? You too, Dean.”

When dinner was over, Heather Rose told me, “You take your guest out back where you can be alone. We’ll take care of cleaning up. And then I’ll take care of things until bedtime, OK?”

“Okay, dear. Thank you.” I knew I could trust her to be her grownup, or at least mature self for at least a couple of hours, and told Chris so as we went up to the glassed in deck that looked up at the mountain, and towards the north, over the city.

“Obviously, you had something on your mind, Chris, what is it?”

“Nothing much. Just that I’d like a chance, if you will give it, to become better acquainted. But now I see there is even more to it than I thought.”

“I’d like that,” I told him.

“Say, Holly, how did you ever swing a place like this? I know you don’t make enough as a bank manager to afford it.”

“True, but I told you, I have a big, make that huge, family. We decided we needed a place everyone could gather here on the west coast, too, just like Shelly’s place back east. And this place fits the bill pretty well. We had been thinking about setting up part of the Pleiades operation here, but decided it was too steep, at least for the stuff coming in or leaving by truck. We might still bring in stuff by pipeline, but probably not. Pipelines make a lot of people nervous. So we might just leave most of it as a nature preserve, an unofficial extension of the state park, as it has been all along.”

We talked about a lot of things, mostly going into more detail of our lives during the time we were not seeing much of each other.

We were interrupted by a knock. “Mom?”

“What is it, dear?”

Heather stepped in, wearing her Care Bear jammies. “Dean and Shannon are in bed, and want to be tucked in and kissed goodnight. I’ll read Shannon a story and then I’ll go to bed too.”

“Certainly, darling.” I got to my feet and headed for the door, but stopped when she ran over to Chris. “Thank you for making my mommy so happy.”She gave him a kiss on the cheek before turning to join me.

When the kids were down, before she read to Shannon, she whispered to me out in the hallway, “He’s pretty special, isn’t he?”

‘How has she picked up on that? I’m not sure how I feel. Or how Chris feels.’ “Yes, dear, he just might be. May I assume you like him?” I giggled.

“Unh huh.” She nodded in time with her words.

“Well, we’ll just have to see what happens.” I shooed her towards Shannon’s room.

Later, as Chris was leaving, he asked, “Would you like to attend a play with me Friday night? It’s Gilbert & Sullivan’s ‘Pirates of Penzance.’ Dinner first, of course. Pick you up at 5?”

“I’d love to, but I’ll need to get a sitter. Heather may seem grown up, but remember, she is only eight. Can I call you tomorrow?”

“Sure. You’ve got my number, don’t you?”

“I do unless you’ve changed it in the last couple of days.”

“Nope. I’ll be looking forward to hearing a yes from you tomorrow sometime.’ As he seemed to be hesitating, I wondered, ‘Is he going to kiss me?’ I was disappointed when he turned, just looking back over his shoulder a couple of times on his way to his Camaro. We’d always had a friendly rivalry, him with his ‘Stupid Chevy’ as I called it, and him, making snide remarks at my ‘Fix Or Repair Daily’.

The next morning, as Heather helped me by making her own lunch while I fed her siblings, I asked, “Heather, how do you feel about sitting for Dean and Shannon? I’m not really wanting you too. It’s a lot of responsibility for an 8 year old.”

“I’d druther not, Mom. I mean, I could do it in an emergency, but I would rather be a normal 8 year old as much as I can.”

“I understand, dear. I probably put too much on you a lot of the time, and I appreciate your not making a scene at the time. But at times like this, I want you to tell me, and afterwards, just remind me. Remember, I still sometimes confuse you with that young woman who worked for me, and who was one of my most trusted employees. Now you are just my always trusted daughter.” I gave her a hug, almost making her drop her sandwich on the floor. “Oops!”

When he arrived at work I called Mark into my office as soon as he arrived. “Relax Mark, I just need a favor, maybe. Your oldest is what, fifteen?”

“Yes. Marcia is almost sixteen.”

“Does she like to sit other people’s kids?”

“Does the Pope like to pray? She depends on it. Her basic allowance is pretty small, but I match anything she earns. I guess you need a sitter?”

“I have an invite to a play Friday. How soon can you get in touch with her? I need someone from about 5 till maybe midnight.”

“I can text her during her lunch hour. Would that be okay?”

“Sure, even tonight after you’re both home, though noon would be great! Thanks.”

Just before one, I called Chris, “I don’t know how to tell you this, but is that invitation still open?”

“Huh? Oh, yes, it is. If I didn’t believe you before, that’s the final proof. That weird sensayuma of yours. I’ll pick you up at five?”

“See you then.”

Mark brought Marcia over in time, As Chris led me out to his outrageously orange Camaro, I pretended to hold back. “I’m not sure I want to get in. Are you sure it won’t give my gown cooties?” We’d gone thought the ‘girl have cooties stage’ together many years before, as he reminded me.

‘Don’t you remember? It’s girls who have cooties. Are you sure you won’t give them to my car?”

We had a wonderful night, with a middle eastern dinner about 2 blocks from the theater, to which we walked, since the car was parked in between them.

This time, at my front door, he didn’t disappoint me. When he drew back, he said, “I never thought I’d ever kiss you, leave alone, enjoy it. Viva la difference.”

I’d let Mark know we were leaving, and when he should be able to pick up his daughter. He cut it pretty close, for his car was coming up the drive as Chris reached the road.

“How’d it go, Marcia?” I asked as I helped her pick up her books.

“I’ve never sat for any better behaved kids,” she told me as I counted out her pay, with a fair tip on top of it. I didn’t tell her I expected nothing else from my kids. All of the EWF family’s kids are very well behaved.

Marcia soon had a weekly sitting job, though it was usually on Saturdays so she could go out on her own dates on Fridays.

When I asked my kids not to tell anyone else in the family about Chris, they agreed, “As long as it’s not too long, Mom.”

As the family gathered at Holly’s new place for the first time over the weekend before Halloween, Holly, who’d had little time to herself for a long time, found once again that having family was wonderful. Even though it was her place, many of them had already been there and knew their way around, and were determined that she was not going to have to knock herself out for them.

As Jan, the Matriarch of the whole clan, told her, “You don’t think anybody, Shelly included, is ever in control of everything when we meet at her place, do you?”

Holly thought about it. While Shelly had often been the spokesperson, and ringleader, it was true. Most of her sisters and brothers-in-law had also been in charge of different activities, just as she had once in a while.

Jan didn’t give her much time to think it over, saying, “It’s hard to believe, Holly. 10 months ago, when I began the trip around the world that everyone gave me for my birthday, you were single, and a workaholic. I deliberately stayed out of touch while I was gone, and I come back to find you have not one kid, but three already.” She giggled, “At that rate, you’re going to catch Shelly in about five more years.”

“Not going to happen,” she replied. “I got all three kids in less than 3 months, and it’s been almost that long since Shannon arrived, literally out of thin air from what the others tell me. Besides, everything comes in threes, doesn’t it? And sometimes I think three is just too much, except then I immediately tell myself there’s no way I’d want to give up any of my three.”

“Of course not, you’re a mommy now, and it is your job to love and nurture them. I can’t imagine getting that many kids all at once.”

“Hey, some mothers have triplets, and get 3 or sometimes even more kids all at once, and somehow, they cope. And they have to go through the ‘terrible twos’ with all of them at once. I’m sure in Heather’s case, that her ability to be anything from a 5 year old to a teenager in her mind has made her a huge help, more than the usual 8 year old would be. Somehow she manages to keep that eight year old spirit, while being more responsible than one would normally expect from someone her age.”

“And Dean is somewhat the same way,” Holly admitted. “While Ida chose not to keep her memories of having been Ida, still, we had to leave a bit as the kernel for Dean’s personality. I think my sisters did a wonderful job of crafting the spell, so Dean is all boy, yet also better behaved than most. All of the other mothers at the day care have seen it. “One of his biggest gripes is that the other boys sometimes call him goody two shoes, because they are told they should be more like him. Yet they still like him, and don’t pick on him. In fact, the other kids, boys and girls, usually pick him when asked who should be the leader in some game or activity.

“And everyone is jealous of me about Shannon. While she doesn’t seem to have any conscious memory of her past life, still it seems to have had some effect on her, because the other moms say she shows hardly any signs of the terrible twos you mentioned earlier.” Jan kept Holly focused on the positive aspects of her new family. “Look at it this way. Which one would you give up, if you had to?

The shocked look on Holly’s face was all the answer she needed. “Maybe it’s too early to ask this, but would you ever think of having more, like your sister?”

“You mean like Shelly? No … not that many, at least.” After she left, I thought back to everything that had happened since that day we’d found Shannon … and decided I wouldn’t change a thing.

After we returned from the trip back east, the basement of my new place became the nerve center where plans were made to expand westward, now that we had a foothold.

I certainly couldn’t begrudge them. After all they’d done for me, turning a curmudgeonly aching old man into a vibrant young woman with a bank of her own, helping two similarly afflicted bank employees to reach their dreams, and help me care for Shannon, whatever her story, not to mention putting up the money for the house itself. Why, I owed them everything.

In the hours spent in planning, we had made good progress.

“So what have you found, Scotty?” Shelly asked.

“The chemicals used were common ones. The sulfur you smelled was a poorly mixed gunpowder. The gunpowder implies that the magic used was from a formula only a few centuries old, say around the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries.”

“Do you know how much gunpowder was used?”

“Enough to kill anyone nearby. If it wasn’t for the magic mixed with it, Shannon wouldn’t be alive.”

“So, it may have killed the practitioner?”

“That is possible, or at least severely injured her.”

“So you think it was done by a woman.”

“A girl, really, and she doesn’t know chemicals or spells well. I think she is about twenty. I could be off by a few years.”

“That, at least could help us find the girl. I’ll ask Misty’s husband if he could find an accident that may fit the crime seen. Do you know where?”

“No. It could have been in Baltimore or Timbuktu, Singapore or Vienna, but it is probably in a civilized area, because I found some cement that appears to be about ten years old. I also detected a language used in the spell that is not English, not even from that period.”

“It is true that basic English hasn’t changed THAT much since Shakespeare’s time. Hummm. We need a language expert. Laurie knows magical languages. Maybe she can help.”

When Laurie came and checked the information, she detected a form of French that was in use around the fourteenth century, but not knowing French of that time very well, she could not translate everything.

By the time she had finished her investigation, Bubba, Misty’s husband, had found only one incident that fit the parameters. He said that a girl of about nineteen had been severely injured and was still on life support several months later.

“We can’t let her die,” Betty pleaded.

“Why not?” Shelly asked. “She almost killed little Shannon Michelle. If Steffie hadn’t detected that the magic was done to her, instead of by her, we might have let the baby die.”

“If we save her life we might be able to find out more about Shannon.”

“Her punishment might be worse that her dying.”

“Remember, the girl is innocent until proven guilty.”

“I’ll try to keep my anger in check,” Shelly replied as she cried. “We all know how much we could be hurt just because of what we are.”

Misty, Kimmie AND Gina went to the hospital where Racinne was on life support care and cured her wounds. When she was well enough to travel they took her to the Kamp, where there was a Gathering to officially welcome Shannon Michelle into the family.

Racinne watched, spewing verbal venom when she realized the family seemed to be practicing magic, or at least, pretending to..

The next day, it was her turn, as she was put on trial.

Shelly and Laurie were the most vehement and acted as prosecuting attorneys. Brianna volunteered to be the defense attorney. At one time Shelly told the Gathering that she had to leave to get her anger out, as Racinne was incorrigible.

During one of Shelly’s timeouts, Baruchah and Maggie ducked under a woobie, pulling Michelle, lilAllie, Shannon, lilSara, “big” Sarah(UK) and Cathy with them.

Baruchah said to Maggie, “I has neber seen mommy so angry.”

“I hopes she’s neber that angry at us’es.”

“She not dat angry eben when you had dat dragon on da plane.”

“I haded time outs for a long time with dat! I thoughted dat I’d be a mommy before I got out of dat time out.”

“A real dragon?” asked Allie.

“Was whens wes in Engleyland,” Maggie explained. “Hers name Wendy.”

“Dat’s where I was born,” Allie replied. “I neber saw no dragon.”

“It was a little one like us’en and was Maggie’s friend,” Baruchah explained. “Mommy saided dat it needed to stay with its mommy so it went back to Engelyland.”

“No dragons here,” added Cathy.

“’Cept mommy now,” noted Maggie.

The older toddlers giggled. Not understanding, the younger ones still giggled.

“I cants see Wendy no mores,” Maggie sighed. “I cants go back to Engleyland.”

“She gets trouble in Englyland,” Sarah explained.

“Made cookie dough.”

“Cookie dough fun!” Shannon noted. “Mommy maked cookies dis morning! I licked da spoon.”

“Made too much,” Maggie admitted. “I uses magic. Dough all over! Dough so high it bigger den me! But it was chocolate chip.”

“Dats good cookies!” Michelle proclaimed. ”Da bestest.”

“When mama saw Mama sounded angry. Saided, ‘Don’ts used magic again.’ I saided, ‘I’s sorry.’ She saided, ‘I habta clean up da mess!’ Den we met da queen.”

“Da queen of all of Englyland?” asked Allie.

“Yea, she is like a grandma an she said, ‘We is not amused.’ Why she saided ‘we’ when she is only one sitting in chair? Den mommy saided ‘we have to leave.’

I saided, ‘Vacation over?’ Mommy saided, ‘For us it is. We cants come back.’

I asked ‘Why?’ Mommy just sighed. Den on way back to hotel I founded Wendy and took her on the plane. Dese men dey helps us pack I smiles at one he nos smiles back. and get on plane. We rides in car dat makes big noise den get on plane.

Wendy makes smokes and we lands in Canada. We meets more men, no smiles. ‘Cept one lady whos talks ta me an mommy. Mommy not happy. Meets Wendy, and me and Wendy huggs each odder. Wes gets home an mommy saided I’s grounded.”

In the other room, when Shelly came back from getting over her latest mad the trial resumed.

Racinne was questioned, and freely admitted what she had done, and why. She had been brought up homophobic, and transphobic, and every other phobic that her parents and their pastor could think of. Anyone who racially, religiously, or in any other way varied from the ‘true path’ of her pastor, was wrong, and was going to hell.

And as for the boy who thought he could become a girl, that was even worse. “I made up my mind to get rid of him and remembered a book I’d found in my parents things after they died, a book which was supposed to have magic spells in it. It belonged to many of my ancestors, going way, way back. One of the spells was supposed to make a person live backwards, becoming younger and younger until they died of being too young to live.”

“I don’t know what went wrong. It wasn’t supposed to affect me, but it nearly killed me, and it apparently blew him to hell, because they never mentioned finding even the tiniest parts of a body besides mine.”

Racinne went on and on, until she ran out of things to say. Finally, she was taken back to her room, where everything was magically protected against her doing any damage, and which she could not leave unless escorted by one of the adult ‘witches’.

It had a large window overlooking the backyard play area. The only chair was set next to the window, and could not be moved from the spot. All she could do was lie on the bed or sit in the chair. She’d apparently had enough of lying in bed during the time she had been on life support, as she spent all her time in the chair, except at night.

Watching, she saw how the children seemed to have so much fun. She’d never been allowed to have fun, being told it was evil.

‘But if it is wrong, why is it that almost everyone doesn’t seem to think it is?’ That and other thoughts came to her as she watched a young woman talking to some of the kids, who looked up at her and smiled as they listened. One of the youngest ones, the little blond girl they’d made such a fuss about the night before, looked up most often, even waving to Racinne towards the end of the talk.

When the talk was finished, the children dispersed, but Racinne noticed that the little girl kept looking at her every minute or so. Towards supper time, the little girl went over to the woman and they talked for a long time before going in.

Racine’s dinner arrived in the hands of the woman who had been talking to the kids, and later, to the young girl alone. She did not offer to leave, but instead, sat on the bed while Racinne ate. “I saw you watching the kids play. Do you really think that young kids having fun is evil? Play is a normal part of growing up. It is teaches them interaction with each other, hopefully, without any fights or hard feelings.”

“I’m beginning to think a lot of what I was told, what was beaten into me, was wrong.”

“I’m glad to hear that. My youngest one thought you looked lonely and sad, and wanted to come see you. When I told her why you are here, and why you can’t go out to play, she said she forgives you.”

Racine stopped chewing, then resumed and swallowed. “What do you mean, ‘she forgives me?’ ”

“She doesn’t know why you did what you did to her. Most of the time she barely even remembers what her life was like before, but you gave her the chance to be what she wanted to be, a real girl, like you.”

Racinne took a moment to take in what she had just heard. “You want me to believe that that pretty toddler was once the teenaged boy who thought he was a girl? The one I killed?”

“You didn’t kill her, dear.” The woman gently took her face in her hands and looked her in the eyes. “You had a lot of the spell all wrong, except for the part about making her younger. Instead of making her so young she could not live, it just made her into a two year old, but more importantly, you made her into a real girl, As nearly most people can tell, she is just a slightly precocious two year old. Oh, and the spell did one more thing. It projected her, from what we’ve learned, a bit over five months into her future. Apparently no time passed for her while you were lying on life support.

“One more thing. Where were you while you cast the spell?”

“Wichita,” Racinne told her.

Holly went on, “Then it apparently moved her about than 1500 miles west, onto the side of a mountain east of San Francisco. That’s where we found her. It’s a good thing we are ‘white witches,’ so we were able to take her in and fix her up. And a good thing for you, too, so we could find you and heal you. Otherwise you would still be in that bed, all wired up and wishing you were dead.”

“What do you mean, you are witches? There is no such thing!”

“Oh? You believed in magic enough to try and kill Shannon with a spell, but still think witches don’t exist? There is magic, good white magic such as we use, and evil black magic such as you used. We call ourselves ‘white witches,’ who only use it for good purposes. But actually, we got our powers from God, through an angel many of us knew before she died. I wish I had …”

“Then why are you trying me in this kangaroo court? What are you going to do to me if you decide I’m guilty?” It seemed as if it what she might be facing was finally sinking in.

“We will not harm you, no matter what the verdict. If we find you guilty, we might make sure you can never do magic again, and that you can’t speak of what happened, and let you go, though we will keep track of you. If you ever repent, you can come to us and we will help you get over your guilt.”

“If we find you innocent, things will be pretty much the same as if we find you guilty. Our hope is that either way, you will realize that what you did was wrong, that the way you were brought up is wrong, and that you will not see harmless human nature as evil. You saw my little girl out there. Can you really think that she is evil? I can’t. She is innocence itself.”

“She couldn’t help it that her mind was that of a girl while her body said boy. All she was doing was try to fix it as best she could. That would still not have let her be a girl or woman in all ways, and she would have faced disapproval and hatred such as yours from some people anytime the word got out. But she would still have been closer to what she felt in her soul was the way she should have been.”

“But …” Racinne stopped, and Holly let her think about whatever had made her stop.

Finally, minutes later, she went on, “But what she was doing to herself is evil. My pastor said so. Why can’t all of you see that it is evil?”

“Why does he say that? I’m a Christian, and that isn’t what I read in the Bible.

Didn’t Christ say, ‘“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye’ ”

“He also said, ‘Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.’

He is forgiving, for he also said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ He put no other conditions on it.

“Tell me, have you ever actually read the Bible for yourself?

“Oh, we shouldn’t read it for ourselves. We’re too likely to misinter …” She stopped and thought for a bit. “You’re saying that by not reading it, we are being told what he, my pastor, that is, thinks it said, and that if I read it for myself, I will learn that he might be wrong?”

“Dear, what makes you think that he is right, and that for everyone that thinks his way, hundreds, or many thousands of others are wrong?” Holly held out her hand, and a Bible appeared in it. “Here, read it for yourself. If you believe that magic is evil, then how can I do magic on the book itself?”

The next morning, Racinne looked haggard when they came for her at breakfast time. When Rachel asked why, she answered, “I haven’t been to sleep since Holly came in to see me. Everything she said seems to be what this says, not what my pastor told me.”

When the trial resumed, she stopped the questioning to make a statement, telling the Gathering, that she had been wrong in her beliefs, and in what she had done, that she was ready to accept whatever punishment they felt she merited.

The family looked at each other and began to talk among themselves. Racinne couldn’t hear a thing, and everyone’s mouths appeared blurred to her. It didn’t take long for them to arrive at some sort of consensus.

Shelly, who had been the most vocal critic until then, was the first to resume speaking to her. “Racinne, will you consent to have your mind examined to prove you have truly changed, and are not just saying that to try and get out of being punished?”

“You mean you will read my mind? You can?”

“No, we will not read your mind.” Prue told her. “Oh, we could, but no, all we need to do is examine your aura to determine if you have spoken the truth, your intent, I guess you could say.”

Racinne hesitated not one moment. “Yes. Yes, you can.”

The women gathered around Racinne as Jan questioned her.

“Thank you, dear.” Jan turned to the others as she finished her questioning. “There, as you can see, she has told us the truth this morning. She has no intention of ever trying to harm anyone ever again, and she plans to think for herself, not let anyone else tell her what to think, or interpret things for her without at least thinking about what they have said.”

The members of the Gathering nodded, and Jan turned to Racinne. “We have decided that while you were not innocent, you were misguided, and not wholly responsible for what you did. For that reason, you will not be punished. You are what, nineteen?”

Racine nodded.

“”You haven’t finished high school, is that correct?”

“That is correct. My pastor told us that it was a waste of time for a girl to learn too much from the evil teachings of schools. He was teaching me, teaching me what I now see was misguided.”

“Would you like to go back to school, and finish, maybe even go on to college?”

I … I think … But I’m too old”

“That can be fixed, dear, and you needn’t think you cannot afford it, either. We can take care of the obstacles. We can even make you younger, and if you will agree, make you a member of our family, so that your other needs can be taken care of. Or, we could just let you go to fend for yourself as you were doing before you tried to hurt Shannon. But we hope you will be willing to join us, as part of our family.”

Racinne’s tired face blossomed. “You would? You won’t punish me?”

“No, dear. You didn’t kill Shannon, and for that matter, what you did for her was to give her her fondest dream, one she never thought possible, to be a real girl. I suppose you could say you harmed her in that she lost her memories of most of her life, except that we were able to recover most of her memories, and they will be there for her to make a final decision on whether or not she wants to keep them when she becomes an adult. From our experience with similar cases, we doubt she will want to keep most of them, except as faint, almost dreamlike memories. She will have a full life that is much better than the life she was running from when you tried to harm her. The way she felt, if you had killed her, it would have almost been welcomed.”

“You’re kidding!”

“No, dear. her father felt much like you did, that she was bad, crazy bad. He beat her many times, and finally threw her out and locked her out of the house after beating her very badly. But her feelings of rightness in what she was doing were so strong she was overcoming the obstacles. What you did was for her, even though you did not intend it, a wonderful dream that has come true.

“As I said, if you wish to remain as you are, you may, and we will help you with your education. And if you wish, we can make you younger, so that you can repeat these last few years, and get a regular diploma, rather than one from an adult school, which many regard as wrong, rather than as a sign you had worked hard to better yourself. We won’t ask you to make the decision right now. Think it over for a few days if you need to.

“In the meantime, you will have the freedom of the place. For that matter, if you wish, you can leave, though you find you will never be able to speak about what you have learned here, or what you did. If you want to learn more about what the family does, you have only to ask, subject to the same restrictions if you should decide not to stay.”

Holly went over and hugged Racinne. Her welcome was repeated by all of the others, women and men. As the meeting broke up, and people began to leave, Shannon, followed by the other toddlers, snaked between the larger bodies, and ran over to hug Racinne’s knees. “Fank you,” she got out as she began to cry. “Mommy told me what you did, F-Tank-Thank you, Racinne. Does this mean you’re gonna be my big sister now?”

Racinne sat in the chair Holly shoved behind her knees, and lifted Shannon to her lap. “I … I don’t know, Shannon. You mean, even though you know what a horrible thing I did, you forgive me?”

Shannon nodded, suddenly shy.

Racinne looked at Holly, who mouthed, ‘We’ll see’.

Over the next week, Racinne explored, getting to know all of the children and adults, and went with Scotty to visit the nearest Pleides Resources facility, and visited Kids Kamp several times, even spending an afternoon as a four year old, playing with the others that age. But she decided that was not for her. She had been through that age as a girl, so she hadn’t missed it as most of the others had, ( She had been let in on the fact that many of the girl toddlers had once been girls or women in boys or men’s bodies, who had missed out on that part of the lives they felt they should have had. Now, they had been given the chance to live the life they had missed, just as Shannon had.)

She also spent some time as an older girl, one day as an eight year old, and another as a twelve year old, before finally deciding that she wanted to stay as part of the family, and she wanted to restart her life as a twelve year old, and see why the other girls in high school, that she has thought of as sinners, had seemed so much happier than she had been.

Holly had been unable to stay, and had taken her brood with her. During the week before she returned, Racinne found herself being escorted by Rachel, and a bond was formed. Rachel agreed, at her request, to be a new mother to her.

When Holly returned, Racinne carefully explained to Shannon that Rachel was going to be her new Mommy, “… but that will make me your cousin, and we will still see each other a lot.”

She picked Shannon up and hugged her, then carried her as she became acquainted with Holly’s other children, Heather Rose and Dean. “I’ve heard a lot about you, and I’m glad that you are happy now. I was so mis-guided. I didn’t know. I’m so sorry for what I did to so many people. I must have been pretty hateful.”

Dean hugged her waist, for she was still a lot taller than he was. “Mommy told us what you were, but she told us you will never be that way again.”

Heather Rose held back for a moment, then slowly approached Racinne and hugged her tightly as she said, “I’m sorry.”

Frowning with confusion, Racinne asked, “What are you sorry for?”

Heather Rose looked up at her new cousin, her face creased with anguish and guilt. “When I’d heard ‘bout what’d happened to Shannon, I got really mad. I wanted whoever hurted her to hurt … a lot. I feel awful now, ‘cause I see you’re really a nice person.”

Racinne, nearly overcome by emotions she’d been keeping bottled up, shed a silent tear as she hugged all three of her cousins, or were they going to be sisters?.

Over the next few months, Holly and her kids often went east to be with the family, and spent a lot of time with Racinne and Rachel, happy to see how things were turning out.

But while that was working a miracle for Racinne, lilSara, who had never bonded particularly well with Rachel after her adoption, drew further away from her. She began asking Holly to be her Mommy every time Holly visited.

Not wanting to get in the middle, Holly repeatedly turned her down, explaining the Rachel was her mommy. But her resistance disappeared when Rachel herself asked her what she thought of the idea. “You know, most of our kids are adopted, however unofficially that is. In most cases, it is strong, unbreakable. But this doesn’t seem to be that way, and I don’t think it ever will be. She wants so badly to be Shannon’s sister. Why don’t we give it a try for a month or so, and if it seems to be working, magic it into being permanent?”

Jan and Shelly came out from the Kamp offices, and nodded their approval, and Holly realized she had been had, or was it, that she now had another daughter? She’d had a feeling it would go that way, and during the week, still out in California, she had asked Heather Rose and Dean if they would help her take care of the two younger girls. One thing she had going for her, was that unlike so many parents, she knew she could trust them to keep their word.

Every time we visited The Street of Dreams for one of my audits, Heather Rose looked for the old woman who had so fascinated her the first audit after she came into my life. But the woman was never there.

Then on a rather warm day for November, after a tasty snack at Amelia’s, Heather talked me into visiting the park even though the ground would still be soggy in places from the rain that had fallen the day before, so we went down to Bob’s Café to have him fill a picnic basket.

When we got to the park, Dean wanted to play on the slide and wooden pirate ship near the tables, so I decided to start getting our dinner out of the picnic basket while I kept an eye on him, and let Heather Rose take her sisters for a walk while she looked for the old woman. “Stay on the big loop where I can see you, dear,” I called after her as they started off.

I figured it was about half a mile around the loop, which surrounded a grassy area large enough for four softball fields or several soccer pitches. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll stay in sight.” As they left, Shannon was tugging on her hand, urging her to get a move on, while lilSara was content to walk beside her new big sister. I think a good part of her problems had been because she saw that all of her cousins had siblings, while she was alone when away from family get-togethers.

I tried to keep one eye on Dean, and the other on Heather Rose and her sisters as they followed the long loop, while I was setting things up on the table.

I noticed a number of kids apparently taking part in a contest with balsa wood gliders. Since Sarge’s shop was only a couple of blocks away, I rather felt many of them, or at least, the materials for them, had come from the Bear Market.

Once I had the table set, I noticed Heather Rose was carrying Shannon, while lilSara was still plugging away. They were most of the way back, so I began getting out the food from Bob’s Café and Amelia’s Meals. Looking up halfway through, I saw Heather Rose had stopped and was looking over the shoulder of an old man seated on a bench.

‘Could that be …? Nah. That’s an old man, She was sure it was a lady she had seen painting. But it does look like he is sketching or painting ...’ I decided to keep a closer eye on her till she got back.

After a couple of minutes, still carrying Shannon, Heather Rose came directly to me, cutting across the grass at a run, with both lilSara & Shannon in her arms. As she got close to me, she called out, but not yelling, like she wanted me to hear her but not anyone else, "Mommy! Mommy, she's back. She's back!"

"Easy now, remember, we talked about your running. You don't want to fall down and scrape your knees again!" I reminded Heather Rose with a smile. "Now tell me, who's back?"

"The lady who’d done ‘em funny drawings," she replied, sounding a little out of breath as she set her sisters down on the picnic bench.

I quickly scanned the park. Not detecting any changes, I looked back at Heather Rose . "I don't see her. Are you sure you saw her?"

Heather Rose nodded emphatically from her waist as she said, "Uh huh, but today she ain’t dressed like a lady."

Surprised by Heather Rose’s last statement I looked around once again. Focusing on the elderly gentleman I asked, "Are you talking about the old man on the other side of the park?"

Heather Rose replied again, nodding her whole body, an action that not only told me she was certain about what she'd seen; but was also amusing as it caused her pigtails to fly wildly, as if she were being beaten by hair and ribbons. "At first I was wonderin’ why some man had her drawin’ paper and her box of special pencils, but when looked closer, I knew it was her. I prolly wouldn’t have even realized it was her if it weren’t for that neat case she gots."

“You’re sure?” As I asked, my eyes went back to the ‘man?;’ He was putting his things away.

“I looked across the park at the gentlemen in question, trying to remember if I'd seen him before.. "Heather, I want you and Dean to go play together on the other side of the playground. I'm going to have a chat with our mysterious artist."

"But I wanna watch him, I mean her, draw. It's lots different from my pictures."

"I know you do, but I need to talk with him first. After we talk, and if it's okay with him, then you may watch him draw. Perhaps we can get him to do a drawing of you. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"Oh all wight … I'll watch after Dean, but don't talk too long."

"I'll try to be brief, Punkin. Now, go distract him so he won't notice me as I come up behind him."

"Okie," HR replied. She tilted her head and gave me a suspicious look before she scurried off to round up brother, stage whispering, “You gonna do something sneaky?”

I wasn’t sure if it was something related to the magic in or family, or just the natural ability of all eight-year-old girls, but she’d caught me red-handed. “Well, it is slightly sneaky. I just need you and Dean to provide a little distraction so I can get close enough to our friend to talk to him.”

Heather Rose replied with a grin, then ran over to her brother, tapped him on the shoulder and shouted, “Tag, you’re it!” She squealed with glee when Dean ran after her. Not wanting to be left out of the fun, my youngest daughters joined in, and soon all four were making quite a racket as they chased each other around the playground.

'Hmm, I wonder if I could get away with using the teleportation I've been working on? Let’s see, nobody is looking directly at me, concentrate on my destination, concentrate on exactly who and what I want to move, and in what condition I want to arrive. Double check to make sure there are no eyewitnesses, close my eyes ... now open them and ...’

‘WOW that's neat! I'm just where I wanted to be, right behind him.'

"Good afternoon, mind if I join you?" I asked softly as I stepped around the end of the bench.

Startled, he looked as if he was going to run away. Then he remembered his drawings and supplies, and hurriedly started collecting everything together.

I smiled to myself as I watched for just a moment. I remembered how I had reacted under similar circumstances, that is, before my sisters helped me. I gently placed a hand on his shoulder, "It's alright. There's no need to leave or to be afraid. I'd like to talk with you for a few minutes. Would that be alright?"

"Umm, I, I guess so," he replied timidly.

"Would it bother you if I sat down?"

"N No! You can sit down if you really want to." Under his breath he muttered, "Nobody ever sits by me for long."

"Shall we start with the formalities? My name's Holly, Holly Hart. What's your name?" I asked as I extended my hand.

He looked at my hand as if it were the head of a snake about to strike, then he looked up into my eyes. Cautiously he put his hand in mine. He had a light, gentle touch to his hand, almost feminine, smooth and without any calluses. For several moments we simply held hands; no shaking, just gently touching.

"My name's Penn — n - no, no, no. Um, Paul, my name's Paul ... Paul Smith," he stammered, as he looked away.

"Hello, Paul, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"You say that now, but wait until you get to know me. Soon you'll ignore me or run away like everyone else does."

"Now, why would you say something like that?"

"Because nobody ever wants to be around me after they get to know me," Paul replied sadly.

"I find that hard to believe. You appear to be such a nice person; and believe me, I do know how to read people," I added, trying to build up his self-esteem.

"Yes, well, you must not be from around here," he added glumly.

"That may be, but I can still tell a good and kind person when I meet one. Changing the subject, I'd like to ask you a question; right now you're dressed male. Last time we saw you, you were dressed as a female. Which do you prefer?"

"What? What are you talking about? I don't ... I mean … when did you ... " Reluctantly and sadly he continued. "How did you recognize ... "

"Relax Paul, I'm not here to criticize your lifestyle or make any kind of judgment concerning how you live your life. Having been a man myself a few years ago … I think I can understand how you feel." ’Don’t want to give away too much information just yet, so a little white lie, to back up a little white magic, shouldn't be considered out of order.'

"But how did you ... I'm mean what did I do to that gave myself away?"

"Actually, it was my eight-year-old daughter that figured it out."

"Oh, that's just great, I've been outed by an eight-year-old," Paul moaned, as he hung and shook his head.

"Honestly, it wasn't you she picked up on, it was your drawing supplies."

"What?" he asked, his head snapping back up

"The case you keep your paper and pencils in, it's somewhat unique."

"Oh, yes it is, I made it myself. I couldn't find anything I liked, so I got some oak and built a box that fit my needs and with the ornamentation I wanted. I didn't think anyone would notice or pay attention to a box."

"Well, most people probably wouldn't pay any attention, but my little girl would notice, she's sort of our family artist."

Paul’s head came up as he remembered what I’d said earlier, "Wait, you said you’re post-op. How can you have a daughter?"

"Well, let’s just say that we mutually adopted each other."

"How?"

"It's a long story, one that I don't really want to go into right now. But I promise, I will tell you after I hear some of your story. But right now, my daughter would like to meet you and talk to you about your drawings. Would that be all right with you?"

With tears forming in his eyes, Paul answered, "Oh my ... yes, of course, I'd love to see her. It has been a long time since I've had the opportunity to visit with any young people. Since I ... well, came out of the closet, my children won't see me or speak to me. And of course, that means that I don't get to see my grandchildren, either."

“Would you join us for dinner? We’ve got lots of food, more than we can possibly eat before we go home tonight.”

“I couldn’t do that. I’m not homeless. I don’t need charity.”

“This isn’t charity. It’s a friendly offer. As I said, Heather Rose over there is also an artist, and she was fascinated watching you. I’d like to give her a chance to talk to you. Please, won’t you join us so we don’t have to eat in front of you as the two of you talk?”

“Well, put that way I guess I could nibble on something.”

“We’ve got pizza, sandwiches, ‘sgetti, as my kids call it, and your choice of fruit juices, milk, and soft drinks.”

“I’ll take a slice of the pizza, if it doesn’t have anchovies, please.”

"I thought ya was gonna keep it short," Heather Rose complained sarcastically after I motioned to her that she could come talk to Paul.

"We did keep it short, relatively speaking," I replied with a giggle. The game of tag had been abandoned during the time I had been talking, because all four of my children were busy digging in a sandbox when I waved to Heather Rose. She jumped to her feet and came running. Dean was right behind her, while the little ones came more slowly.

"Heather Rose, this is Paul; Paul, meet my precocious little artist, Heather Rose and her overzealous little brother, Dean."

"It's certainly a pleasure to meet both of you," Paul replied, as he extended his hand, Heather Rose returned the gesture. Paul, instead of shaking hands, rotated Heather Rose’s hand and kissed the back of it, sending her into a fit giggles.

Dean, seeing Paul kiss his sister's hand, drew back. When Paul greeted him, Dean replied with a wary hello, but refused to shake hands. Even after it was explained that gentlemen don't kiss each others hands, my son stubbornly refused to shake hands.

I could understand that, having all my memories from when I was a little boy his age. When I’d asked my sisters not to take away any of my memories, I found that I’d gained memory. I can clearly remember everything that has happened to me since around the time I began to walk, and quite a bit before that.

As we ate, Paul and Heather Rose talked a blue streak. I won’t try to tell you everything they said, as it was mostly about art, the biggest thing they had in common at that moment.

When everyone had eaten all they wanted, I sent Heather Rose and Dean off to play, while I took a blanket from the picnic hamper and wrapped lilSara for the nap she’d already started.

“Could I persuade you to make a drawing of my kids? Heather Rose first, I think.”

“I suppose so. But I must warn you, sometimes my drawings aren’t what people expect. I sort of go into a trance, and my mind’s eye sees something different than what anybody else sees. With adults, the few times one of my subjects has seen my drawing, they tell me I’ve drawn them the way they wish they were, instead of how they are.

“With children, it seems to work the same way. I see them the way they want to be. At least, the way they want to be at that moment. You know how kids are. They don’t know enough to really choose what they will want to be when they are older.”

I just nodded agreement. “That’s good enough for me, Paul. How do you want her to pose?”

“Oh, she needn’t pose.”Paul turned to look at her. He got out his sketch pad, and smiling, raised his voice, “Heather Rose? Would you be good enough to stay there and play with your brother for a few minutes?”

“But I wanna watch ya draw!”

“You can come back and watch once I start drawing. But I need to really see you for a few minutes before I start to draw. When I start drawing your mother can call you over to watch. OK?”

“Okie.” Heather darted off and resumed playing catch with Dean. Shannon decided she was worn out, too, so I took a blanket from the picnic hamper and let her take a nap on it next to her sister.

“Once I’ve seen what I need, a picture will form in my mind and I'll start drawing, and unless something happens to take me out of my trance, like when you spoke to me, I don’t see anything but what is in my mind’s eye, and what I’m putting on the paper.”

For a few minutes he sat motionless, just watching Heather Rose playing with Dean. Then, without taking his eyes from her, he picked up his pad and began to sketch faint lines on the pad.

I waited until Heather Rose looked our way, and motioned for the kids to come to me, but stepped aside maybe 10 yards. When they reached me, I told them both, “You can go over and watch Paul if you wish, but don’t say anything. If you disturb him, he’ll lose his concentration, and might spoil the picture.”

I didn’t even have to look at Heather Rose, knowing she’d know what I meant. Dean gave it a moment’s thought before nodding. I knew I had no worries, for some of Ida must have rubbed off on him. I haven’t heard a lie from him, or had him break a promise.

“Mommy, can I go play? Dean whispered after a few minutes.

I could tell he wasn’t really interested in watching someone draw, so I nodded. “Just don’t go too far.’

“I just wanna go play with those boys.” He pointed at some kids maybe 50 yards away.

“OK, but don’t go much farther than that.”

Heather and I wandered quietly over behind Paul, and saw him drawing a very close likeness of her. I kept looking up to check on Dean, but found nothing to worry about.

Then, when I thought he’d finished, Paul began to draw smaller images all around the outside edges of the paper. The first one was a young boy, with sort of a wistful look on his face, followed by a series of images of the same boy, maybe 3-5 years apart, each with the same sad look.

For a bit, I was unsure why Heather Rose began to get excited. Then an idea, correct as it turned out, began to tickle my mind.

When the faces reached what I guessed was maybe 18, there were two at each age, one remaining masculine, the other one becoming more and more feminine. By the twelfth image or set of images, I saw the Heather Rose who had worked for me in the bank just 6 months before, and the Mark Jackson who had taken her place.

When it was completed, Paul came out of his trance, and for a moment, just stared at what he had drawn.

“It can’t be,” he whispered to himself. “It just isn’t possible. But oh, how I wish it was …”

“It might be more possible than you think, Paul. But first, I need to hear more of your story, and I think some of my sisters would like to hear the story, too.”

“Oh wow,” Heather Rose said in an awed voice.” I don’t bleeve it,” she told him, astonished at what was on the paper before her. “That’s me! But how doos ya know?”

“I don’t know what happened. That’s the first time my gift has failed … You say that’s you? But … the picture says you were a boy, and grew up, and then became both a man and a woman, … and now you’re a little girl?”

Heather Rose looked at me questioningly.

“Go ahead, dear. I think he needs to know the truth.” I was breaking one of our rules, but Paul’s gift had already told him most of the story.

There was an almost imperceptible shift in her expression.

“Your picture tells the truth, uh, may I call you Paul?” she asked, shifting from child mode as to adult mode. Both Paul and I nodded, Heather Rose continued. "I was born over 30 years ago, and grew up to be a very unhappy young man. Even after I transitioned, I wasn’t happy, because I’d never gotten the chance to be a little girl. Then mom and her sisters helped me be ME … THIS ME!” She held her arms out wide and spun around, smiling and giggling as her braids went flying.

Paul lifted his eyes from her face, and turned to me. “What are you, some kind of aliens?”

“Nope. I’m just a banker. I was born right here. Well, in this country at least, during World War II, and until not quite three years ago, I was in the same boat you are. Then some friends, whom I want you to meet, made me the young woman I am today.” I opened my purse, took out my wallet, and handed him a copy of the one picture of the old me I’d made sure my sisters didn’t change, so I would have something to remind me of who I used to be.

“That was me a few years ago, just after my wife passed away.”

“If … if … it wasn’t for … my drawing, I’d say this is an elaborate and cruel hoax. But my pictures have never lied before … You said you wanted me to meet your sisters? The ones who changed you? Both, of you?”

‘Might as well go for broke.’ “And my son, too, who was a mean old woman just a few months ago. She hated herself, she wanted to lose all of her old memories when she became a boy. Paul, you started to use a different name, then switched to Paul. What is your real name, the name you call yourself, young lady?”

Paul’s mouth dropped open, and he couldn’t speak. I could see he wanted to bolt, but he was in the middle of the bench, between Heather Rose and myself.

“Whoever you really are, it’s okay. We all know about Little Girls, and being trapped in the wrong body.

“You know? But how?”

“I’m a sort of witch, but a good witch. If you could be the young lady you want to be, how old are you, and what’s your name?”

Still a bit leery, Paul looked around as if looking for the cameras of the second reincarnation of Candid Camera.

“Alan Funt is gone, Paul. There are no cameras.”

"You can't blame me for wondering. After all, what you've just told me sounds more like an episode of the 'Twilight Zone' than a casual conversation in your average park." He paused, looking again at the drawing he'd made of Heather Rose. "If it weren't for this … I'd call the men in the white coats to come take you away. However, all things considered, I feel like you're someone I can trust. My real name is Penny.

“And to answer your other question, maybe eleven? I hate dressing this way. The only reason I'm dressed as Paul, is there was a meeting I couldn't get out of and my accountant insisted that Paul attend. I 'm usually dressed feminine”

Penny, whose name seemed to perfectly fit the girl I saw peeking out from behind the disguise of an older man, paused for a few seconds, then smiled shyly as she added, “Not modern feminine, mind you,. I really love the dress styles from around the 1900's. Of course, I have to settle for the ladies clothes from that period, but what I really love are the clothes for the girls of that period, skirts or dresses just below the knee, knee high stockings, buckle shoes, bloomers, and of course, the lace collars. .”

I saw a wistful look in her eyes as she sighed. “If I could be a ten-year-old girl, maybe eleven or twelve, I'd dress in period clothes every day. I wouldn't care if the other kids called me a freak. I’ve been called a freak most of my life anyway."

'That's something to consider, it might be nice to have an older girl around to help take care of the little ones. Although, Heather Rose would probably complain if I referred to her as a little one. Still, this could be mutually beneficial.'

Heather Rose came around the table and hugged Penny, dirty trench coat and all.

Penny wrapped her arms around my bundle of energy as she turned her face to me. “But … but you say you’re a witch. There’s no such thing!”

“Penny, it’s November. You’re obviously dressed for it. Haven’t you noticed there is no wind here? Yet look at the trees all around us! And does this feel like November to you?”

“No. In fact, it’s a little too warm for my trench coat. But how …”

“I’m still sort of an apprentice witch, not nearly as powerful as a lot of the family, but blocking the wind and keeping us comfortable is a minor spell.

“Heather Rose was nowhere near as old as you or I when my sisters helped her have her dream of being the lovely young lady seated next to you.”

I turned, pointing, “Dean was a bitter old woman about your age.”

“And Shannon,” I pointed at the angel sleeping on the table, “used to be a teenaged boy, miserable because he didn’t fit in. Her father beat him and finally threw him out, nearly naked on a winter afternoon.

“My family had nothing to do with changing her to a 2 year old girl. That was done by an enemy who hated her, and found a spell in an ancient grimoire. She didn’t translate the spell properly, and what she did is so strong we are glad Shannon decided she would like to grow up from her present state.”

“Penny,” Heather Rose began hesitantly, “is this you?” She held out a portrait she’d been sketching on the back of a landscape she’d done earlier. “I did this while you were talkin’ with Mom.”

“Why, that IS me. Well, almost … You can do it too, can’t you/ That’s the way I see myself in my dreams.”

“I was jus’ sorta guessin’ at some of the details.”

I moved around to where I could see it. Heather Rose’s portrait was of a young woman not quite ready to blossom, dressed in the costume of a hundred years earlier.

“You’re right, Holly, She is an excellent artist.”

I nodded, and began putting things away. As I worked, Penny’s doubts came back. “Holly, I don’t know how you blocked the wind, or made it so warm, but … witchcraft?”

“We’re not really witches, just users of God given white magic, Would you like to go home with us? Maybe that will convince you. Is there anyone who will miss you if you’re gone for a day or two?”

“No … well, yes, my cat. So I can’t go.””

“Would you like to go home and care for it, or bring it with you? We’re cat people, too.”

“Why would I want to take Pancake with me? She’ll be okay for a couple of days if I can go take care of her.”

“Because I have a feeling you won’t want to come back, Dear.”

I think that ‘Dear’ kind of shook Penny. “I … I don’t know what you mean … but if you think I should …”

“I do.” I turned, “Okay, kids, time to go home, but we need to make a couple of stops along the way.”

I picked up the picnic hamper, and Heather Rose picked up our trash bag, which she dropped in a can as we left the park. Across the street and down the block we came to the Bear Market.

As we passed, Penny slowed to look in the window with a wistful look on her face. I had just looked back at her when Sarge opened the door and stepped out to beckon us inside.

“Welcome, Ladies, and Dean.” I found out later that Sarge had caught the same vibes I had, in regard to Penny. Looking right at Penny, “Which of the stuffies or dolls in particular caught your eye, Miss?”

“What is this? Some sort of conspiracy? Why does everyone think I’m a girl?”

“Well, aren’t you? Sarge is a member of the family, so she can sense the real you, too.”

“This one?” Sarge held up a lovely white teddy bear similar to the one that spent most of her time on my pillow.

Penny shook her head. Timidly, she pointed at the frilliest doll in sight. The doll was dressed and painted as a young woman in the early 1900s. Her dress was filled out with layer upon layer of frilly petticoats.

“Angelique … Of course!” She handed Angelique to Penny, then motioned Penny to the counter. “Wait right here,” she commanded in her no nonsense top sergeant manner.

“I … I can’t afford a doll like this, it must be very expensive.” Penny turned to me with a strange light in her eyes. The wistful look of a young girl who desperately wants something , and thinks, ‘just maybe…’ but afraid she is being teased, peeking out from her scruffy old man’s face.

Penny was still standing there, gently stroking the doll when Sarge came back with a huge doll house on a cart. It barely made it through the doorway from the back room. This is Angelique’s home,” she announced, “the other part of her ensemble. Her clothes are all inside.

“I can’t afford all of this,” Penny protested.

“Yes you can, young lady. For Penny, it’s just a penny for Angelique and all her stuff. Surely you can come up with one penny?”

Penny shook her head unbelievingly, looking at me with a helpless expression. “I hope you have a big van.”

“It’ll fit, don’t worry.”

Still shaking her head, Penny dug in her pocket and came out with a penny. “Are you certain? I didn’t fall asleep on that bench or something?” She was still looking at me.

“No, dear, you’re not dreaming, and I am certain of that.” I motioned to Sarge, whose hand was outstretched, and Penny started to hand it over. She hesitated, “I can’t!” she almost wailed, “What will I do with her?”

Sarge looked startled, “Why, play with her with the rest of Holly’s girls, of course.”

“The rest of … ? You means you believe her nonsense …”

“… about being a white witch?” Sarge broke in and finished her sentence for her. She took Angelique from Penny and placed her in a chair in the house, then gently squeezed the house, which began to shrink, ending up only about six inches by twelve by twelve, with a tiny Angelique still seated in the chair. “I’m a witch, too. Enjoy spending time with Angelique and Holly’s girl’s, Penny.”

“But how did you …”

“… know your name?” Sarge again finished her sentence for her. “I just said, I’m a witch, pretty girl.”

“But I’m not… ! I’m an ugly old man.”

“I’m not looking at the outside. I’m looking inside, at the real you, dear.” Now, here is a piece of candy for each of you, and I think you’d better be going. I think you have things to do, don’t you?”

Penny joined us as we walked out, still looking dazed. I thanked Sarge, handing her a slip of paper after she gave everyone an extra piece of candy.

When we got to the car, Penny looked at my Mustang Mach I, Lady Galadriel. “No way are we all going to fit in there.”

“Yes we will. Just watch! Heather Rose, you ride behind me, then Dean in back.”

While they climbed into the back seats, which were custom buckets raised to improve the visibility, I slipped Shannon and lilSara into their special seats, which were firmly anchored to a special bracket between the front bucket seats and let them see out, too.

Taking the house from Penny, I put it into the trunk, saying, “You’re riding shotgun, so you can show me how to get to your place.”

I had to show Penny how to fasten the racing style 5 point seat harnesses installed for everyone.

A few minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of a small marina. Penny got out and went down the dock a little way, climbing aboard what looked to me as a large sailboat, but was small compared to some of the others. The name ‘Munchkin’ had been carefully painted on the boat’s stern.

A few minutes later Penny came up from the cabin carrying Pancake and a small bag. When she got in she explained “I know you said I wouldn’t need to bring her food because you’ve got cat food, but I decided to bring her favorite toys, and a couple of changes of clothes for myself.”

As she got in, I held out my hands to take Pancake while Penny got in. “She doesn’t take to strangers …” Penny stopped when Pancake jumped into my arms and began purring. As soon as Penny was seated and buckled in, Pancake jumped over into her lap.

“I’ve never seen her take to anyone like that before.”

“She can tell I’m cat people. We have two ourselves. An interesting place you live, by your choice or …”

“Yes. I bought her a number of years ago, before I decided I couldn’t pretend any longer. Since most people don’t want someone like me around. Living aboard the Munchkin seemed to be the best way of avoiding the close minded. Since I’m retired, I don’t need much and the Munchkin has been … well, more of a companion than just someplace to live.”

I took a good look at Penny’s home, noting her smooth lines and especially her location.

We talked about inconsequentials as we headed out of town. Finally, she asked, “Where do you live? I thought you lived in town?”

I checked the mirrors. Seeing nobody in sight, I stopped the car, then reached down and gave the shifter knob the special twist. “No, we live in California.”

“California? But …”

I pushed down, and suddenly we were no longer in the cold November twilight of the East Coast, but in bright mid-afternoon sunshine. It even looked a lot warmer. “This is where we live.”

Penny looked around, staring at the bright sunlight that was hours earlier than where we’d left. In front of us was the huge old home I, or should I say, ‘we’, had purchased just months before. The renovation and upgrades to make it more environmentally friendly, and bring the wiring into the 21st century were almost completed. We were still on the grid, but supplied most of our own electricity with solar power. The sun also supplied most of our heating, not that we needed much here, compared to Shelly’s requirements back in Delmarva.

Yet with all we’d done, the house still looked as if it hadn’t been touched since its original construction 100 years before, when it had started as the home of the son of one of San Francisco’s silver millionaires, who’d moved his family there after the 1906 quake.

Penny, I could no longer think of her as Paul, even if she did look like an old man, helped Heather Rose, Dean and me unload the car, including my two angels. Penny carried the picnic basket as Shannon took her other hand and tried to drag her into the house. “C’mon, Penny. I wanna show you your room!”

‘I could have sworn she was asleep when we talked about her being Penny. Oh, that’s right, Sarge called her Penny, and I guess I have been, too.’ I mentally slapped my forehead.

Shannon showed Penny to the room next to Heather’s and across from mine, the one I’d had in mind for her, even though I hadn’t told any of the kids where I wanted to put her.

Penny looked into the frilly girl’s room, and turned back to me, a questioning look on her face. I nodded. “Yes, that will be your room as long as you want it. I’m sure you want to get out of those things you are wearing. The room has its own bath. Go in and get clean and make yourself comfortable. There’s a cat box in there for Pancake, but as soon as she is used to the place, and meets ours, I’ll put a cat door in this one so she can go in and out, and use the one in the cattery.”

Looking stunned, Penny turned to do as I’d suggested.

The kids helped me take everything into the house and put it away, then went and found something to do while we waited for Penny.

Much sooner than I expected, she came out wearing, as she had intimated, clothing that appeared appropriate for a ten year old girl of the late 1800’s or early 1900’s; a bit of a large girl, but good things come to those who wait.

She looked apprehensive until lilSara, followed closely by Shannon, ran over and hugged her knees. Penny broke into tears, and turning, found a chair, sinking into it, dragging my twins with her.

The one month trail for Lilsara had become permanent. She had thrived, being with Shannon, and Rachel and I had agreed she would become my 4th child, while Rachel would become Racinne’s mother.

Over the next months, she and Shannon had come to look more and more like identical twins. One thing about the way our families grow, is that our children really do become our children. By the time they have been with us for a year, if not much earlier, DNA tests will even say they are our children. And the twins were already identical, after just a couple of months, according to my sister Misty, the Pediatrician in Pink.

Racinne had decided to be no younger than 14, figuring she had not missed being a young girl, even though her girlhood had not been nearly as nice as her cousins. She had also taken advantage of being with her new cousins, especially my two youngest, whom she could seldom tell apart. That meant that when Marcia had a date on Friday nights, I had a fall back I could trust, for now I trusted her around all of them,

I had sneaked into my room for just a couple of minutes while waiting, and used my mirror to call for a gathering, here, tonight, if possible.

Enough of my sisters could make it that they were due here in about 20 minutes, so I told the other kids they had just a few minutes until they would have to go to bed. The timing was almost perfect. Shelly was the only one to show up before Heather Rose led the twins away to get them ready for bed, and Dean went quietly on his own.

Shelly and I led Penny to the back of the house to the room we had set aside for Gatherings. Soon, everyone arrived, and after questioning Penny, and my transforming to my old self as I had for Heather Rose, she excitedly agreed that she wanted to be a ten year old.

All of my sisters wanted to know more about her before deciding to help her gain her wish. As they had with Racinne, and for that matter, with everyone who wanted such a radical change, they asked to examine her mind as she talked, and she readily agreed when the process was explained.

The following is a compilation of her answers to our many questions .

Being that I don't remember much of anything before the age of six, I'll assume that it was uneventful. At the ripe old age of six, I, along with every other little six-year-old, started attending public school.

Elementary school wasn't too bad, all things considered. After all, there were other kids to play with, things to learn, pictures to color and games to play. I had some great friends at school and we did almost everything together.

The first time I had a problem, was on my first day. I was going to the bathroom, along with several of my friends. We were talking as we were escorted down the hall by our teacher, when she suddenly stopped me. She told me that I couldn't go with my friends; I had to use the boy's bathroom. When I asked what the difference was, the boys started laughing and several girls broke into giggles. My teacher said that we would talk about it later, but we never did. When my mommy came to get me, she and my teacher talked quietly for a few minutes.

That wasn't the only time I had to be reminded that I was a boy, not a girl. The problem was, I didn't feel like a boy, I didn't want to play the boy's games, I didn’t want to talk and act the way the boys did, and I didn't like having short hair like the boys. To tell the truth, I had more in common with the girls than I did with the boys.

I tried talking to mom about how I felt, but that was a waste of time. "But dear," She'd say, "you are a boy and boys just aren't girls." It was then that mom showed me a book with some drawings that showed the differences between boys and girls as they grow up. I almost got sick as I looked at the drawing of an adult man, covered in hair like a gorilla, thinking that someday I'd look like that. To help me feel better mom took me shopping for a new toy. She excitedly picked out some new G I Joe toys; I wanted the Strawberry Shortcake doll.

It was hard for me to hide my true feelings, even when everything and everyone told me that I should be and act like the rest of the boys.

The rest of my life in elementary school went by without too many incidents, aside from getting beat up now and then by one bully or another. However, some neat things did happen during those years; I was recruited into the school orchestra and learned to play the French horn, I also discovered my love of reading. My best friends were still girls, although we kept that quiet, at least through the years where boys are supposed to loathe girls, and vice versa. I think one or two of them recognized me as a kindred spirit as they treated me with kindness and love.

Starting in junior high, I guess they call it middle school now, and continuing through high school there is a horrible little custom called gym class. Now don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against exercise and keeping fit, or organized group sports, as long as I'm not forced to participate in some barbaric exhibition of 'Hey wimp, I'm better than you'. The real problem with gym class is the ritualistic game of 'Pick on the shy kid', that takes place before and after gym class in the locker room.

For six years, I had to put up with the pokes, jabs, pinching, bottom slapping, bruised arms, tripping, and towel snapping. Sounds like great fun doesn't it? Yes great fun, unless you're always the one on the receiving end of things. Needles to say, I survived the horror of an insensitive and uncaring public education system.

Did anything good come of those six years? Let me think. In junior high I had one good friend. Of course, my friend was a girl. She understood and accepted me for the person I was inside. Unfortunately, her family moved away in the middle of our second year. I didn't really look for someone to fill the void that Becky left in my life. I was too afraid of being called a pervert for wanting to wear cute dresses.

The only other good thing to happen during junior high was that I was introduced to the field of electronics, which turned out to be my best love. Others came and went over the years, but electronics has always been both an income and an escape.

My first year of high school was at a new school in a big city. Trying to fit in, I volunteered to take part in the sophomore play. They were doing a period comedy set in the Roman Empire. I was a Roman soldier wearing a short toga. For the first time I really felt good about myself. After all, it was almost a dress. I just couldn't let anyone know that I liked wearing that costume.

It was during my sophomore year of High School that my glands woke up and puberty descended on me, like a ton of feathers. It was as if overnight my body changed, I grew six inches in no time at all, my voice went from soprano to almost a baritone, I started growing fine blonde hair all over, and as for what changes took place between my legs - let's just say that I wasn't happy about that either.

Then, as suddenly as puberty had set in, it departed. I didn't grow enough body hair to be considered attractive, just enough to be considered male; like that was something I wanted. My voice hadn't dropped through the basement, but singing with the girls in the choir was definitely out. As for the other things, they did grow some but nothing that your average man would be proud of, still smaller than what is considered normal. So there I was; stuck halfway between boy and man, no hope of finishing the process and wishing it hadn’t started in the first place.

The summer between my sophomore and junior years, my family moved from the big city to something that barely qualified as a city. To be honest, there was a college, there were three interstate off-ramps, a downtown shopping district that was more than four city blocks, and there were about six traffic lights throughout the entire city. Now tell the truth, does that sound like a city, or simply a large town?

After finishing High School and going to the local college, I met a gal and thought I was in love. As it turns out, she was just someone I was more comfortable with. Considering my early experiences with girls, it seemed odd to be shy while in high school. The young lady I married, on the other hand was just looking for a meal ticket, that is someone to take care of care of her so she didn't have to do anything. You know the old saying; 'Love is blind', I can testify to the fact that the saying is absolutely true. The problem was that before I woke up and realized what was going on, we had a bunch of kids.

During twenty plus years of marriage, my inner feelings surfaced from time to time. The time between each uncontrollable need to express, or embrace, my inner self became shorter and shorter. The first few times my, then wife thought it was amusing to help me dress in a feminine manner. Of course she thought it was just a sexual thing, not really understanding.

As time went on, she wanted less and less to do with helping me fulfill my need to express my feminine desires. This regressed from once buying clothes for me, to allowing me to wear them in her presence, to not wanting to know when I dressed, to demanding that I stop all together. An ever-increasing rift grew between us, along with my need to satisfy my hunger for feminine expression.

Fortunately, we had three daughters. I was able to keep my balance by expressing myself through them. I could buy for them the frilly clothes that I so desperately wanted to wear. The only problem with living your life vicariously through someone else is that by nature, they have to change. After the age of about six, my daughters refused to let me buy their clothes, calling them too frilly. So once again, I was left with no way to express my inner feelings.

For the next ten years, I was forced to hide all outward expression of the person that I truly wanted to be, but my personality couldn't hide. The kind and loving person that I'd become refused to allow my former insensitive and uncaring personality reemerge. So there I was, the father of eight, expected to be a strong, tough, macho kind of guy, that my wife and children could be proud of and look up to. I just wish I liked the person that looked back at me from the mirror.

Between the birth of our fifth and sixth child, I accepted a position with a new company in order to provide for my still growing family. Of course, this required moving, as I did not want to commute an hour and a half each way.

We purchased what I thought was a beautiful old house; built in 1911, it had two stories, a massive family room, and a half an acre of ground for the kids to play on. The kids loved that old house and yard; the wife on the other hand let it be known that she wasn’t happy there. As much remodeling as I did and as often as I explained to her that we couldn’t afford a new house, being a single income family, she still wasn’t happy.

Before long, we parted company and I was free to do as I wished, but what did I want to do? I knew I wanted to wear feminine clothes, but I still didn’t know exactly why. It was almost a year later that I learned why I felt the way I did. Before that time I’d never seen or heard the word ‘Transgender’ or its meaning. After reading everything I could I realized that I was indeed Transgender. As time went on, I happily gave more and more of myself to the feminine side of my personality. I started by wearing nightgowns to bed, then panties under my clothes all the time, then trouser socks under my work boots. In the evenings, when I am alone I wear long skirts, platform shoes, turtleneck blouses, breast forms and a long blonde wig.

I’ve developed many friendships on-line, and with their encouragement, I started writing some TG fiction. Stories about the young girl I wish I could have been and the school I wish existed.

That was ten years ago. Today I spend ninety-five percent of my time as the woman I should have been. It was a shocker at work the first time I showed up wearing a skirt and blouse, but after a while everyone accepted it as just being me. They didn’t want to let me go because I was the best automation troubleshooter there is. Remember, the stress I was under with the house, the wife, the kids, and the job; well, living with major stress does different things to different people. In my case, I was left with a slight incontinence problem. It’s not too bad, I wear a pad in the gusset of my panties and everything is fine, I just think of it as having my time of month, all month long. You remember that person that I didn’t like, the one that looked out of the mirror at me. Well I can honestly say that I like that person now.

My only regret is that I never had the chance of being a girl and wearing cute girl clothes. Why is it, that adult clothes can’t be cute? Why is it that an adult wearing a dress style that is typically thought of as a child’s style is treated as if they are crazy? A man can dress as a woman, that’s usually acceptable. An adult, dressed as a child and you’re considered a freak, why is that? Just one more area of intolerance to overcome.

We went into closed session, discussing her story. My mind was already made up. I know how my kids felt about her, and how I felt about her. My sisters agreed, and that that her mind really was that of a girl child. A few minutes later, she got her wish. Like Heather Rose, she kept enough of her old self to be very responsible, becoming Mommy’s big helper in taking care of the younger ones and the house.

Even when she realized, that like Heather Rose and Dean, she would have to attend school again, she never whimpered. She was so happy being herself, that she was willing to do anything. She even volunteered to be much more mature, even adult mature when I needed it.

I couldn’t help but wonder what her reaction would be when she discovers her old companion quietly waiting in a marina near the one time navy base that will become the Pleiades West Coast base of operations, and Kids Kamp West. I assume that a boat like the Munchkin will require regular maintenance and wonder how much of her old self Penny will retain to keep Munchkin in shape. I think maybe she will want to be her older self, even a bit physically older in order to enjoy her Munchkin. Someday I’ll have to ask her how she came up with the name.

Going back to the night when she became my fifth child, before they left, Shelly took me aside, “I was just kidding when I told you that ‘It means you have about 3 months to find the right man to keep the 3 year progression.’ You seem to have been doing all right on your own. Six more months, and you have 2 more kids. I really think you should think about slowing down, dear.”

I received a surprise myself, even hoping it might happen, when Chris got down on one knee facing me with all my kids around behind him as if rehearsed, as I later found it had been, and asked me to marry him.

I was sure of the answer, but still, took the time to look each of my daughters, and my son in the eyes, questioning them, and seeing from each in return, that they were all for it.

Some of the times when Chris and I had gone out, we had gone out as Holly and Christine, and I was able to use a temporary spell Prue had taught me to turn Christine into a real younger woman my age. We’d made no attempt to hide the fact from the kids. Okay, so ours is a strange family, but this switching from Chris to Christine was no problem, obviously.

Prue, who was the only one of my sisters to really know about Chris/tine, had assured me there should be no problem in returning Chris to my age, and not even in allowing him/her to switch genders as she wished.

Somehow, I knew that I was destined to have still more children.