Introduction: Charli awakens to a surreal world. She realizes she's in a hospital, and there is the strangest doctor who seems to be attending to her. He seems to know a lot about her. In fact, he can read her mind. He reveals his true appearance to her and she is shocked to realize that he is the wizard from the mall. Then things really get weird.

This is another story in the Cynthia Chronicles series. Other stories in the series are An Incremental Journey, Cynthia and the Reluctant Girlfriend, Cynthia and the Dumpster Diver, Cynthia and the Moment of Truth, Cynthia and the High School Years - Part I, Cynthia and the High School Years - Part II, Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling; and Randi and the College Professor,. The time frame of this story parallels Cynthia and the High School Years.

Once again I must thank Holly H. Hart for her encouragement and invaluable help in proofing and straightening out my poor English.

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

Chapter 10

Things gradually started coming back into focus. She was on a bed. That she knew for sure. There was a partially drawn curtain on one side of the bed. The lights were on, but not too bright, and she could hear and see someone beyond the foot of the bed. He was wearing green scrubs, had a neatly trimmed beard, and his long gray hair was in a ponytail. He was humming some tuneless song, and was holding a small glass globe in one hand. There seemed to be light coming from the globe, and the man was studying it closely. Every once in a while he would say something in an unintelligible language. He looked up at her and she caught the reflection of light off the lenses of his wire rimmed glasses.

"How are you feeling Charli? That is your name isn't it?"

Charli didn't know what to say. How did he know her name was Charli, and not Charlie?

"I'm a Wizard, and I know those things." And, without breaking stride, added, "You gave me quite a scare. That guy did quite a number on you: ruptured spleen, lacerated liver, and you had hepatitis, too. Well, that's all fixed now. And in just a few minutes were going to fix some of the other things that are ailing you."

"Who are you? You said you were a wizard. I'm not sure I believe that. You're dressed like a doctor, but I'm not sure I believe that either."

"Would this help?" There was a slight shimmer, and the green scrubs became a robe that some would describe as a bathrobe. His hair was no longer in a neat ponytail, and his beard flowed nearly to his waist.

"You're him, the Wizard in the mall. I don't believe it. I must be dead, and this is my punishment."

"You're not dead, but I must say you've been living on the edge for a while. Your survival instincts are pretty good; however, I think it's time we found a family for you. What do you say?"

"I don't know. My family's dead. Well, I had two cousins, but I don't know where they are."

"They're fine. They're in an orphanage in Connecticut. We'll see to them after a while. The question is, what do we do about you? You have too much potential to be wasting your life like you have been. You haven't been to school in nearly four years, and you've missed out on learning all the things you need to know about being a girl and a young woman."

"But I'm a boy. I don't want to be, but I am."

"Not anymore, I took care of that a while ago. Feel free to check things out if you want to."

Charli's hand slid down and encountered nothing like she had ever felt before. She lingered for a few seconds; however, she realized this was not the time. She started to cry. "Thank you. Please don't turn me into a bimbo."

"I hardly ever do anything like that anymore, and you certainly haven't done anything to warrant anything like that.

"Now, about you, I think Charlene and Charli are very nice names; however, Charles Donizetti is dead. It's just that his body has not been discovered. I have several things to take care of in that regard. But this is about you and your future. Are you up to meeting some very nice people? They are going to be your family for the foreseeable future, and I'm able to see quite a ways in that direction.

"How about we make your body reflect what I know you have hoped for. We'll make sure that no one will ever recognize you, not that that's a problem. It's just that we have to create a bit of a biologic history for you.

"I'm going to bring in your extended family in just a minute. Some of the things we say won't make a lot of sense. The hospital staff doesn't know that you are now in perfect health. We'll be doing a little adjusting of local history, nothing too severe, just enough to make your 'history' fit in. This will take just a minute."

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

The duty nurse was explaining things to the Brewers, Lewis's, Schmedlaps, and Myrna and Avery about what she thought had happened to the young child in the closed room. Of course, most of what she thought were artificial memories installed by The Wizard.

They turned to The Wizard leaving Charli's room. Bobbie stifled a giggle at his appearance.

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

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

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

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

Charli looked up to see a small crowd entering her room. There was the beautiful redhead she remembered from earlier. Next to her was the equally beautiful blonde. Next to the blonde was a tall, handsome man who was holding hands with the blonde. Behind them were three couples whom she guessed were probably their parents. There was also another young couple whom it would turn out were not related to the others, except that they were all great friends and part of something beyond Charli's imagination.

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

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

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

Charli was having a bit of trouble with being called Charles. She wasn't comfortable with the name, and hadn't been for several years. Besides, she had already confirmed that she was Charli, for sure. “You’re welcome, sir. I am having trouble believing this is all happening.” She was thankful her voice didn't crack.

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

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

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

'What is he talking about,' Charli thought. 'He's sounding like this was all his decision.'

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

Charli looked at the attractive older woman who spoke with a slight accent.

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

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

Charli thought about what The Wizard said. She hadn't agreed to anything like that; however, she thought it wasn't a bad idea. She wanted to be a girl, well she was pretty sure that she was already, and she wanted to have those special experiences she had missed out on.

“What do you think, Don?” Don was apparently the son of the woman with the accent. He was the one with the blonde girl.

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

“Bob, is this alright with you?” The Wizard asked the man who had to be Don's father.

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

Charli started feeling a number of changes taking place in her body. She was slowly shrinking. It was a weird but pleasant sensation. Her breasts were gone, but she knew that someday they would be back, hopefully nicer than the ones that had just disappeared.

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

'We'll just have to see about that; however, he hasn't been wrong yet.'

Charli felt more changes in her body. She was much smaller now and her complexion had darkened considerably. Her dark hair lengthened a bit, and she was pretty certain that it was now a natural dark auburn. Suddenly, all the bad things that had happened to her didn't seem that bad. She was wrapped in a warm glow of happiness.

“What do you think?”

There were some gasps, and the young women were tearing up. The blonde girl handed Charli her pocket mirror. She looked at her reflection. She was a beautiful little girl. She couldn't be more than six years old. That was just the way she felt. She was just six years old. “Oh, Mommy, is that really me?" she said to the woman who was now her adoptive mother. "I am so pretty. How can I thank you, Mr. Wizard?”

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

Charli slid out of the bed. It was a lot further to the floor than she expected. The trip to the bathroom was as much of a necessity as it was an opportunity for exploration. Yes, it was all there, and everything seemed to be working perfectly.

There was more discussion going on outside the bathroom. She knew about some of it. It would be a while before she learned some of the other important facts.

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

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

When Charli returned to her bed, she was euphoric. It had really happened. She was a real girl. There was no question about it.

A knock on the door by the entering nurse distracted her for a moment. “There’s no reason she can’t be discharged right now. Everything looks just fine. I’m sure Dr. Bettencourt will agree.”

'Dr. Bettencourt,' she thought, 'is that what he goes by?'

“Absolutely, where do I sign?”

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

“Could my daddy carry me? I think I would like that,” Charli piped in. 'Where did that come from?'

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

There's only one more part to go in this tale, and there are many loose ends to take care of. We're already getting a hint that The Wizard has done more than just physically change Charli. There are some serious questions to be answered. The one that is bothering me is what happened to Padrona and Willie? Not all the questions will be answered in the next part. There will be more tales in the future.