® "Any of y'all remember the basketball finals from three years ago, or am I the only one of us ain't touched in the head?"

 © "What kinda finals you meanin'? I didn't think they been further'n Sectionals until this year since way back 'fore any of us were more'n a spit."

 ¥ "No, you idjit woman. Not the boys. Just 'cause your grandson is the high-fallutin' star of the show these days don't mean the boys are the only ones what can do a good job. Some them girls are mighty fierce on the court."

 £ "Oh, yeah... that was the one where we come back from thirty points behind, right?"

 § "Thirty-seven points, actually! I was still followin' the radio commentary from when I just retired from it. What the heck happened there, anyways? Wished I'd've seen it."

 ¥ "What it was, was Magic!"

ᆠ"You old fool, if you don't pipe down, someone's like to think your oatmeal's gone off again. I was there, and it didn't look like no hocus-pocus to me. Our girls needed a kick in the pants, and they got it. Shoot, the girl that showed up halfway through third quarter is what saved us. She had a spark about her, somethin' special in her eyes, a certain... panache. Yeah, panache is a good three-dollar word. She had a panache to her, showed them spoiled little babies what a good leader can do for a team. Won with the last basket that was put in the bucket at the buzzer."

 § "We've had an awful lot of them 'favorable upsets' in the past few years, ain't we? I had to go and retire and miss all the fun."

 © "They've been in a lot of the girls' teams, lately, now that you mention it."

 ® "Yeah, like that volleyball tournament last year. My granddaughter was playin' in it. That was just plain odd. We was seeded last, and then we go and win every match we play, and it's all thanks to one girl makin' all the saves, havin' the great serve... Was that the same girl as in the basketball finals couple year 'fore that?"

 £ "Rumormill said that girl weren't even on the team roster."

 ¥ "I heared me somethin' about that, I think. What happened with that, she get in trouble or disqualified? What was that?"

 ® "What it was, was Magic!"

ᆠ"Oh good grief, you old men go gray and just lose your senses? Would they've let her play if'n she weren't s'posed to be there? They's just got 'em a girl with some skills to back up the brags they been makin' for years. I dunno if she was the same as the basketball girl, but if she was, why would it be so surprising to be good in one sport when you was good at another one?"

 © "Maybe that girl is why our girls're doin' so well these days. They got themselves a ringer. Should we maybe be gettin' the school board to give 'er an award of some kind or somethin'? No. She's just doin' her duty by her school. What else's she done for us, anyways?

 ¥ "How's about the big golf game over t'Midland Fields Course couple years back. Could that be her, too?"

 ® "Wasn't that a boys' golf tourney?"

 £ "I know what he means. Yep, it was the boys on the team, but golf's one of them co-educational sports. Most girls just ain't all-fired interested. Was a girl what hauled their keisters outta the fire. Most amazing round of golf I've ever seen, and my husband (rest his soul) was out on the links every durn weekend, May to September!"

 § "What it was, was Magic!"

ᆠ"Tarnation. You boys are sure hung up on that. What, she use her broomstick as a putter? You all sayin' that was the same girl again? I wasn't there for that game, golf course is no place for my rheumatism. Way I heared it, though, the li'l gal swinging iron that day had the power of Babe Ruth and the precision of a surgeon. Like that pro guy, whatzisname. Leopard Forest."

 © "Well, I just know it was her in the soccer game 'gainst Central."

 § "Didn't we lose that one?"

 © "Not that one, t'other one."

 ¥ "Oh, you mean that one three years ago? First time we beat Central in over 20 years. Not that you'd've knowed it from the past few seasons. Shoot. We whoop up on 'em every time, now."

 © "I says that was the same durn girl! 'Nother one'a them sports where the boys and girls play together, but ev'body knows it same as I do, that girl is the one that won it!"

 £ "What it was, was Magic!"

ᆠ"Don't you start encouragin' the menfolk, you old bat. You'd think the old farts were wantin' t'be in a faery story, what with the way they're a'lettin' on. So, since you all seem to be in agreement. Tell me more about this mysterious magic girl, then."

 £ "Well, she's gotta be a runner type, too... did the four hundred meter dash at the state track meet — and didn't she do the triple jump? Well, she did the 300 meter high hurdles as the only girl even competin' there, and the long jump, too. Won everything she was in, I know that."

 ® "Now't you mention, I think I sawed her at the big cross country meet a couple months ago when I went to see my girl's twins run. The same girl beat everyone there. Everyone. Even the boys with their too long to be natural legs. Kids these days are so dadgummed lanky and just long every which way."

 ¥ "Was she the place kicker what won the Conference Game for the football team last year?"

 © "I think you might be right. Couldn't find pads to fit her, so she risked it out on the field in just the uniform and helmet, then ran like the dickens after she kicked so they wouldn't spread her on the field like jam on toast."

 § "I seem to recollect that she was the one that took on all the other schools in Quiz Bowl this year single handed after we weren't able to field a team with any smarts worth a plug nickel. Single handed, I tell you. Won the whole kit and kaboodle like it weren't no more'n a mild pop quiz. Didn't blink. Yep. She's the one what made the other schools sit up and take notice that we weren't slackers in smarts or sports anymore. That li'l girl seems to be as smart as she is good at the sports."

 ® "The girl's downright amazing, alright. Too bad none of us knowed who she is, though. Hmph. Anyone all that mysterious and secretive, why I just don't trust 'em."

 £ "Aw, she's just not wantin' credit, I says. It's a series of selfless acts of school spirit. All of it, the past few years... she's gotta be a senior now, this'd be the fourth year. Whoever she is, I'd like to thank 'er for giving back the pride to the school and town. Don't rightly know what to make of all that she was..."

 © "What it was, was Magic!"

ᆠ"You five can make up stories about witches and giants and faeries all you want. Such nonsense. Pfeh! Magic, indeed. I'm going home, you lot keep entertainin' yourselves.

Yep. That's how I heard it happened. Must've given the listeners quite a chuckle to see the 'Pillars of the Community' talking about magic to explain sports, of all things. Heh. My granny Esne weren't as amused by it as I was, though...

She came thumpin' in the back door, already a bellowin' fit t'be tied.

"Jack! Boy, get your lazy — oh, hullo Jill," she yells as she came in, though that last bit — the greetin' to me — was at a much more, ah, genteel volume.

"What's up granny Esne?" I asked, not yet havin' a clue as to what she was all fusticated and bothered by.

"Lemme see your locket a minute, girl," she demanded with her hand held out.

"But granny Esne," I protested as my left hand protectively closed about my beloved necklace, "Daddy's fixin' to be home any minute now. You know I don't wanna disobey you, but I don't wanna —"

"Just hurry up, youngun, and I should be done 'fore my daughter's husband makes it here. I hafta check on something important to us all: you, me, and your poor mama what passed on."

Reluctantly, I reached behind my neck and unhitched the li'l catch on my locket chain, and handed it over to granny Esne as I gritted my teeth and waited.

She took it and opened it up, peering in at the picture of Mama that always smiled at me from inside it. Once again, just like every time I set eyes on that tiny image of her, I wished that I'd've had the courage to really know Mama. Granny poked at it, muttered under her breath, snorted once or twice as she cussed at it, then snapped it shut and handed it back.

"Alright, Jack. Put it back on and get changed, then go change into your dress for graduation. I think I fixed the memory changer on it so that folks won't question you showin' up four years ago right after my daughter died. Your Daddy'll still remember you as Jill from when you were still a baby, but the best I can do for the town is make 'em not question Jack disappearin' and Jill showin' up. This'll be easier when you leave for college, 'cause no one'll know you there."