Ju-Ju Box Book II: Change Enough For All

This is the second "book" in the three book series of the story Ju-Ju Box.

CHAPTER ONE - MAGIC COMES IN PAIRS
by Cleo Kraft

-------------
"Mommy, tell us again about the Ju-Ju box," little Heather begged me,
tugging on my dress.

"No," Andrew complained. "Mommy, tell us the rest. Tell us the rest."

I gazed over at the book shelf on the far side of the room.

It's been so long. So terribly, terribly long since it all happened.

"There is more," I said with a sigh. "Though you must believe me when
I say I never saw the ju-ju box again or Aunt Toni. Yet there is more
to the story. Much more."

"No more magic box?" Heather asked climbing up into my lap as I sat there
on the couch. "No more ju-ju box, mommy?"

Were they ready? Were my children old enough to hear the rest of the
story?

"Magic entered into my life even after the first ju-ju box vanished," I
said.

"First box?" Andrew asked. "Then there's another ju-ju box?"

I smiled and said,"That's right, Andrew, and even more magic than before.
You didn't think mommy would go on living life without trying to find out
what happened to the ju-ju box, do you?"

A little bell went off down the hall.

"Popcorn's ready!" Heather cried, leaping off my lap and dashing down
the hall and into the kitchen.

I got up and brought some popcorn bowls, glasses of soda, and napkins for
my children.

We all sat back down on the couch and I resumed telling the story.

"Magic," I said. "Magic is what started it all. Just where do you think
magic comes from?"

"The witch?" Heather asked.

"The bad man, Heubert?" Andrew suggested.

"No," I said shaking my head. "They only took it's secrets for their own
selfish gains. Magic began long ago, before there were people. It was
always here for us to discover, and I certainly discovered what it could
do with the first ju-ju box. Now let me tell you the story of the
second ju-ju box. I didn't even know another one existed until a few of
the girls and I went out hunting for answers one day. It was a warm
July morning. I remember it well. We were out by the rose garden in the
park, talking about things. You know? Girl things. I was wearing a cute
little white dress with tiny pink flower patterns all over it. Each day
being stuck as a girl taught me new lessons and I started to grow attached
to my new body more and more."

"Were you really a boy mommy?" Heather asked, looking up and into my
face to see if she could see a hint of my former self hidden away in
my features.

"Yes, dear," I answered with a gentle smile. "I sure was, but that was
a long time ago. Anyway, the girls and I were walking along through the
rose garden, chatting and giggling as girls sometimes do."

___-----___

"So, I'm telling you, I never knew it was gonna be like this," Heather
said with a nervous giggle. "I mean, Kristen, you remember when I was
just Lou, a geeky guy who played too much chess?"

"Yeah," I chuckled.

"Well," Heather said stopping there on the path and sticking her left
leg straight out. "I can't believe these legs. I mean, they're not just
pretty to look at, but I can stand like this for almost forever without
falling over."

"Well," Tanya said. "You do take ballet lessons now."

"That's not the point," Heather said reaching out and grabbing her
knee. "As a guy, I never could do anything like this. I mean, I didn't
have the ability. Oh, what's the word I'm looking for?...."

"Agility?" I suggested.

"Yeah," Heather agreed and lowered her left leg down to the
ground. "I've got agility now. As a boy, I never had so much capability
of movement in my limbs."

"Well," Tanya said crossing her arms. "I'm sick of it. I want my body
back. I'm tired of being stuck a girl. I want to be Ben again. This
sucks."

"What's so bad about being a girl, Tanya?" I asked.

"I'm sick of it," she said tugging on her red skirt. "Just look at me.
I wear these stupid little outfits, not 'cause I want to, but 'cause my
mom - my new mom - makes me wear 'em. Plus, look at all this blonde
hair. It gets in my face all the time. Then there's these."

Tanya pointed to her flat chest.

"I'm growin' boobs," she complained. "They're sore almost all the time,
and I can't stand this body. I'm short, all the space between my legs
feels way too weird, I walk funny now, and I can't get used to hearing
this squeaky girls voice in my ears when I talk."

"So one of you likes being a girl and the other doesn't," I said. "Is
that it?"

"We've got to find that ju-ju box," Tanya told me with pleading eyes.

"But that storm last year wiped out Aunt Toni's cabin, and I haven't
heard from her since then," I shrugged. "What can we do? We're stuck
like this."

"What about the real Kristen?" Heather asked.

"She lives in New Mexico now," I said. "How are we gonna get there?
We're just a bunch of teenage girls. Plus, she doesn't have the ju-ju
box anyway. Her aunt did and now she's gone too. So what other bright
ideas do you suggest?"

"New Mexico?" Tanya asked. "When did she move there?"

"A few months ago," I answered. "Remember, she's stuck in another girls
body too, so she's not going to be much help. I think her name's Elsa
now."

"What about the old witch's house?" Heather suggested. "The one where
we turned her and that weird swamp dude into chickens. What about
checking that place out?"

Tanya brightened up and said,"Yeah! Now you're talkin'! Come on, let's
see if we can hitch a ride up to that place or something."

I plucked a flower and started walking after my friends.

"We'll get our old bodies back," Tanya said with reassurance. "I just
know it. There's got to be a way back. There's just got to."

If not, my friends sure did make cute girls.

___-----___

We hitched a ride up to the old place in the mountains.

The house was all boarded up and definitely looked abandoned.

We walked around back and found the chicken coup.

It was empty.

"This place gives me the creeps," Heather said tugging on my arm. "Come
on, let's go. I don't want my old body back this much. Let's get outa
here."

We walked over to the barn and looked inside.

The stalls were empty.

"Look," I said pointing. "Even the horses are gone."

"Well, they'd be dead by now if nobody was here to feed them
anyway," Tanya pointed out. "Let's go see if we can break into that
house and find something to help change us back."

We turned and walked across the dirt yard and to the back door.

"How are we gonna get these boards off the door?" Tanya asked.

Heather looked around and pointed.

"Look!" Heather said running across to a tree stump. "There's a chopping
axe here. We'll just cut our way inside."

I couldn't even lift the axe, let alone swing it at the door. The other
girls found similar difficulty so we gave up on chopping our way into
the house.

"Damn these puny arms," Tanya pouted. "I should never have agreed to
trade places and be a girl. This is horrible."

"Come on, girls," Heather said running to the side of the house. "I think
there's another way in."

We wandered over to stand beside Heather and she pointed to a small
crawl hole where a screen lay discarded to one side.

"It's a vent," Heather said. "We can go in under the house."

"I'm not going through there," Tanya protested. "It's dark in there,
plus I don't like closed spaces."

"Come on," Heather urged. "I'll go first. There's got to be a way in
the house through here."

"Yeah," I agreed and watched Heather vanish through the small
opening. "Crawl spaces always have an entry in some room of the house.
This is just the one time we're all lucky to have small bodies. Come
on Tanya. If you want your old body back, you gotta show some effort.
Follow me."

I got down on hands and knees and squeezed through the narrow hole.

I saw Heather up ahead through the dim light.

To my surprise, the light under the house wasn't so bad after all.
Other vents positioned all around the perimeter of the house allowed
light to enter in, helping us see where we were going.

"Found it!" Heather exclaimed pushing up a trap door above her head.

"See?" I said to Tanya behind me. "Come on. Now we're getting someplace."

I watched Heather climb up in through the trap door and Tanya panicked.

"No," Tanya cried. "Let me go before you, Kristen. I don't want you
to leave me to be last. I'm so afraid, I think I'm going to have an
accident. Let me go next."

I watched her crawl past me and climb up into the house.

I followed, wondering what we would find there.

CHAPTER TWO - Riddle of the Box
-------------
I climbed up into the closet through the trapdoor and stood there squinting
to see in the dim light of the room.

"We should have brought flashlights," Tanya complained.

I watched streams of light seep in through the cracks between the boards
on the windows.

"Follow me," Heather said wandering out the room and down the hall.

I followed them into the large, empty living room.

"Someone must have taken all the furniture and everything," Tanya noticed
looking around.

"Let's check upstairs," Heather said heading up the spiral staircase.

I gripped the dusty banister and followed up after my friends.

At the top of the stairwell it was so dark I used my hands to guide me along
by feeling the wall beside me.

"Heather? Kristen?" Tanya asked worriedly. "Hey, I can't see you guys."

"I'm right here," Heather replied from up ahead.

"I'm behind you," I said feeling the dust accumulate on my hands as I
felt along the wood paneled wall.

The wall gave way and a section of it swung back, revealing a small passage.

"Hey, come back here!" I cried. "I think I found something."

"What is it Kristen?" Heather asked coming closer to me in the darkness.

"It's a secret passage or something," I replied stepping inside the
opening. "Come on. Let's see what's in here."

I stumbled forward into the darkness, bumping into boxes and furniture
along the way.

"God, I can't see a thing," Heather complained.

"Hey I found a window shade," Tanya said and I heard shades rustle in the
darkness and suddenly the room lit up.

"Wow!" Heather exclaimed looking around at everything. "Lucky for us that
window wasn't boarded up or we might have gotten lost in here. Just look
at this place. What do you suppose all this stuff is for?"

I looked around at all the tables full of chemistry equipment, dusty books,
black candles, chalk pentagrams on the floor, and stuffed animal heads along
the walls.

"This must be where the witch practiced her magic or something," Tanya
suggested, picking up a skull from a bookshelf under the window sill.

"If this is the witch's stuff, then we shouldn't mess with anything," Heather
warned. "This place is creepy."

I saw a book lying open on a table beside me.

"Hey, look," I said pointing to the open page. "This says something about
the Ju-Ju Box."

"Let's see that," Tanya said walking over to peer over my shoulder. "Wow!
Heather, come here and take a look at this. This might be the answer to
what we're looking for. Kristen, read it aloud for us."

"Okay," I said glancing at the yellowed page and read. "Thy box master made
them whence troubles abound. They rest on thy hill in thy house of thee
hound. First he created for thy life exchanges, second came time for life
to have changes, when third thy box master lost his own wife, he went
searching for answers in thee next life. Thy neighbor holds thy key to
thy ails, while thy Ju-Ju Box never tells. Find a glimpse and find thy nine
hells. Remember thy warnings, remember them still, thy box master made them
on thy house on thee hill."

"Weird," Tanya said in low whisper.

"It's fake," Heather said pointing to the page. "Look at that stuff. It's
not bad enough they mixed Old English with modern, but that ink looks like
it was printed off a press or something. It's a fake. Who comes up with
this stuff?"

"Hey," I said flipping the page. "This may be our only clue to finding the
Ju-Ju Box, and we all know the Ju-Ju Box is real or we wouldn't be stuck
here as girls. The rest of the book seems to be in some other language."

"It looks like Latin," Tanya realized. "Darn it. Now I wish I'd taken
Latin instead of Spanish. Just look at the stuff. We've got to find an
interpreter or something."

"It's not Latin," Heather said over my shoulder. "There are a few words
in there that make sense but it's just like the English stuff. Who ever
wrote this junk seemed to mix in old and new styles of the same thing
and mix it in such a way that the meaning got lost. There's pages and
pages of some sort of ritual or something. That must be why there's all
these chalk pentagrams on the floor. Looks like the witch tried to use
this book to find the Ju-Ju Box."

"She found it alright," Tanya said. "But now she's a chicken."

"Or was a chicken," I added. "Remember that was over a year ago when
it happened. The chicken coup was empty, same as the stables and the
rest of the house. If the birds didn't die from starvation, they may
have already died of other causes by now. For all we know, the witch
and her son may already have wound up as someone's dinner by now."

"Yeah, but what about their old bodies?" Heather asked peering out
the window, looking at the forest on the other side of the creek. "What
do you suppose happened to their old bodies by now?"

"Who cares," Tanya said taking the bottom edge of her red skirt with
both hands. "It's us that matters anyway. What about OUR old bodies?
That's what I'd like to know. When do we get back our old bodies? I'm
sick of being this way. Just look at us! One minute we're a bunch of
boys about ready to graduate High School, and the next minute we're
reduced to going through it all over again but like THIS - as girls!"

I picked up the book and headed for the hallway.

"Where are you going?" Heather asked.

"Come on," I said. "We have to get to a library. I want to find out
more about the author of this book. We need to find out where this
author got all this information from and where he lived. We need to
find out where that house on the hill is located if we want to find
the Ju-Ju Box."

"Library?" Tanya asked following after Heather and I.

"Yeah," I said turning back. "And shut that secret door behind you.
We don't want anyone else finding that room. There may be more secrets
for us to find in there, but first let's get back to town and do some
research on what we've already found."

CHAPTER THREE - Booking It
-------------
If I thought the town library was big before, it seemed three times as
big to me now.

Hundreds of rows of bookshelves lined four floors of this massive library
and my friends and I wandered about like dwarves in a land of giants.

"Damn," I cursed looking upward at the shelf I needed to get to. "The book
I need is up there. Now what?"

"Let's get a librarian to get it down for us," Heather suggested walking
away.

"No," I called to her. "No, don't do that. Remember how a few years ago
a group of parents got the Library to banish a few children's books because
there was mention of demons in them? Well, what do you think would happen
if a bunch of school girls like us wanted to find a REAL book of black
magic, demons, and devils?"

"She's right," Tanya nodded. "That's what happens when you live too close
to the Bible Belt. They'd censor us right into the dark ages if we let
them. Let's get a ladder or something."

Tanya rolled a ladder up to the shelf and climbed up and got the book.

She climbed down and I couldn't help but laugh to myself as I glanced up
at her white panties. It wasn't just that my height allowed such a sight
to exist but that one of my friends, Ben, who once was just a geeky guy
from the chess club, was now stuck as this cute young teenage girl who
had no sense in the world that she was revealing her panties to me.

Though she'd hate me for saying it, I thought she made a better girl
than the boy she used to be before. Same with Heather as a matter of fact,
and though I desperately wanted my old body back myself, I even found
a fondness for my new state of existence.

Being a girl was, after all, the most fun I ever had in my life. New
experiences every day from a perspective I never hoped to have the
privilege of having.

Emotions alone were a whole new joy for me. If I wanted to cry, I would
cry. If I wanted to laugh, I'd laugh uncontrollably. If I wanted to
show feeling, I would show it. My emotions were no longer trapped within
a male body, in a world where men were always looked down upon for showing
a hint of true feeling for anything. If something looked cute or adorable
to me, I wouldn't hesitate to say it now. Girls could do that. Girls could
show feeling and people wouldn't think it out of the ordinary, but if a
man showed too much feeling then people would say things. It wasn't right
for a man to show too much feeling. That is what society told me all my
life, and finally I had a break from my confinement. Finally I could
be free.

What seemed even more fun to me than just being a girl was the fact that
this was something I volunteered for and even though I was stuck this way,
I kind of liked it.

When Kristen first suggested this possibility to me, I eagerly worked with
her to make this my new reality. My reality as a young girl. The little
sister of my best friend, Mike. Ten, a hundred, a thousand times weaker
than before and yet I loved every minute of it. This is the way I should
always have been.

Doors would open up before me and young boys seemed to glance in my
direction, showing approval of my developing beauty. Dresses would hang
there in my new closet, causing me to pause on the decision of what would
suit me best to wear for each occasion. Life finally smiling at me as I
smiled at myself in the mirrors of my pretty reflection. Every person
treating me the way I always wanted to be treated. Treating me as a girl.

Well, not every person. Mike still was his little sister's worst enemy.
Teasing me and tormenting me at every chance he got. That is - at every
chance that he wasn't already cruelly ignoring me. If I didn't know any
better, I'd think he was teasing me because he was jealous. Perhaps he,
too, secretly wanted to be a girl. One day I think I'll ask him.

"Here ya go," Tanya said handing me the book. "What's wrong? You look
like you're a thousand miles away. What's on your mind?"

"Oh nothing," I said carrying the heavy book over to a table. "Now let's
find out about this author, shall we?"

___-----___

The author was a Mr. Chenlau. He grew up in Arizona but when he wrote
the book on the Ju-Ju Box, he was living in New Mexico.

"New Mexico!" Heather exclaimed.

"Isn't that where Kristen moved to after the swap?" Tanya asked, slowly
realizing what that could mean.

"Kristen must have been on the trail all along," I realized. "We have to
find her and see if she's found the Box."

"Wait a minute," Heather said leaning back in her chair. "Then how did
she get her parents to move there? Isn't this all a big coincidence or
something?"

"Hey," Tanya said. "She lives in El Paso. Isn't that really in Texas?"

"Part of it," Heather said. "But part of it's also in New Mexico I think."

"And there's some mountains near there," Tanya said. "My dad was in the
Army and there's an Army Base or something around there."

"Biggs Army Air Field," I read from the back of the book. "The author
worked there on some research project according to this, but it doesn't
say where the house on the hill is located."

"It must be near there," Tanya suggested. "Now how are three teenage
girls going to get down there?"

Heather tousled her red hair back over her shoulders and smiled as she
kicked her legs up on the table.

"I'm sure one of us looks older than her age enough to trick some guy
into giving us a ride," Heather grinned, smoothing her hands along her
thighs while winking at us.

"Be thankful you're a girl just this once," I said to Heather and walked
away from the table with the book. "Come on, girls. Let's put this book
back and get out to the highway. We have a ride to catch."

CHAPTER FOUR - Runaway Hope
------------
"This isn't going to work," Tanya said sticking her leg out while hiking
her skirt up as traffic passed us by.

"This is silly," I agreed, trying to ignore the wind blowing my hair
all about my face.

Cars and trucks honked at us as we stood there showing off our legs on
the side of the freeway.

"Nobody's stopping," Tanya said.

"Uh oh," Heather said straightening up. "Here comes bad news."

A highway patrol car pulled up behind us and an officer got out.

"I told you this wouldn't work," Tanya complained. "Heather, now look
at what your stupid idea's gotten us into."

The officer walked up to us.

"Hello ladies," he said towering over us. "You weren't doing what I thought
you were doing were you? You know, hitch hiking's not allowed around here.
Where do you live? Where are your parents?"

"We just need to get to Colorado Springs," Heather said. "That's all."

"Yes, but you didn't answer me," the officer said. "Now be honest. What are
you three up to? You're not running away from home are you?"

"Not exactly," Tanya said looking down at her feet.

"Do any of you have some I.D. ?" the officer asked. "No?"

Great, here it comes.

"What are your names?" the officer asked. "Look, you better all pile up
in the back of the car. It's dangerous to stand out here on the side of
the freeway like this."

"We didn't do anything wrong," Heather complained.

"Yeah, and so what if we're running away," Tanya added. "It's our right."

"But hitch hiking is not allowed around here," the officer said ushering us
to the back door of the car. "Do you live near here? No? Okay then, now I'm
going to take you all up to the next exit and you're each going to make a
phone call to your parents from the gas station."

"But we don't want to go home," Tanya complained.

I elbowed her and whispered,"Shut up. This was a bad plan from the beginning.
Let's just call our parents and go home to face whatever we have to face."

"Damn it all," Heather said climbing into the back seat.

___-----___

"Grounded!" my mom said for the hundredth time. "I don't want you hanging
around those other girls ever again, do you hear me? They're a bad
influence on you, Kristen Anne Tiederov, and I don't want you giving me
any lip either because this time you've really done it. Don't you look
at me that way! Just you sit there and shut up until we get home. You
don't even know what trouble you're in this time, because this time
you've really done it. Do you hear me?"

"Yes mom," I said in a weak voice, still crying uncontrollably.

"Shut up!" she said reaching over from the steering wheel to slap me
again. "I told you to shut up."

We pulled up to a stop light and she glared down at me.

"I expected it from my own sister, but not from you, Kristen," she said
pointing her thumb back towards the book in the back seat. "I don't want
you ever going near that black magic occult stuff ever again, do you
hear me? And you're going to start going to Sunday School again, you got
that? If you think I'm going to let you fill your head with Satan, girl,
then you've got another thing coming. Where did you get that book from
anyway? I'm going to see to it that it gets burned! Burned! No, better
yet, I'll have you burn it yourself. Teach you a lesson. What kind of
daughter are you anyway? Messing with black magic like that - why I
ought to send you off to a convent or something. Teach you a lesson.
You don't even know how much trouble you're in this time, Kristen
Anne Tiederov. You can't even imagine."

The light turned green and my mom glared at me again before driving
on down the road.

"You make me sick," she said rolling down the window. "I need some
air. You're making me sick."

___-----___

We got home and I was sent up to my room without dinner, as part of
the usual deal when I was in trouble.

Awhile later my Dad came in and turned me over his knee and I got
the belt, as part of the usual deal when I was in trouble.

Then I got lectured to for awhile and then he left me alone in my
dark room to cry myself to sleep, only the next thing I knew, my
mom barged in with the magic book and ushered me out by my ear.

"You're going to burn it," she said leading me down the stairs and into
the living room. "Now toss it in the fire and watch it burn, girl. Toss
it in the fire and learn your lesson."

We rarely used the fireplace any more but mom was a bit fanatical when
it came to punishment.

Several presto-logs sat in there, burning away like a roaring inferno
and my brother Mike sat on the couch nearby watching with a content smile
on his face. He loved it when I got in trouble. Boy did he love it!

"First apologize for what you did," mom told me.

Dad looked on from his den just down the hall.

"Sorry mom," I said looking down past my pink nightgown at my bare feet.

"Now to your father," she said. "Apologize to him."

"Sorry dad," I said.

"Now to your brother," she said, and I paused for a moment. "Damn it, girl.
I said apologize to him."

"I'm sorry, Mike," I said at last.

"What?" Mike said folding his hands in his lap. "I didn't hear you. Could
you say that again?"

"Say it!" Mom yelled to me, twisting my ear sharply.

"Sorry Mike," I bawled. "I'm sorry . . ."

By this time I couldn't stop myself from crying. The tears just wouldn't
stay away. I couldn't help it. I felt awful.

"Burn the book," Mom ordered me. "Burn it. Burn the book."

I walked forward and stepped up on the hot bricks, only inches away from
the roar of the fire. My arms trembled under the weight of the large book.
My feet ached on the steaming hot bricks.

The sooner I did it, the sooner I could step back onto the soft, comfortable
carpet and away from the burn of the bricks.

"Burn it girl," Mom said.

"Yeah, sis, burn the book," Mike sneered, enjoying every minute of this.

"Burn it and all it's evil magic forever," Mom added. "Burn the book."

This was it. The key to whatever hope I had to get back my male body.
I was being forced to destroy my own escape from this madness.

There had to be another way. If only I could get to New Mexico and find
the real Kristen.

"Burn it sis," Mike said and laughed. "Burn it good."

There had to be a way.

"Obey me!" Mom demanded. "Do it now!"

"Yeah," Mike added. "Obey your mother like a good little girl. Burn the
book."

God, how I came to hate my best friend. One of these days he'd be sorry
for picking on his little sister. One of these days he'd pay for this.

I dropped the book into the fire and turned around, only to get slapped
across the face by my mother.

"Damn you," she said and slapped me again. "Damn you. You obey me next
time! Now turn around and watch it burn."

I stepped off the hot bricks and onto the carpet and turned around.

Black smoke streamed upward from the burning book. The blackest smoke
I'd ever seen in my life.

Slowly the pages crumpled up under the heat of orange flames. Crumpled
up and sent ashes spiraling upward through the chimney and into the sky.

I watched and listened to the crackle of sparks shooting away from the
smoldering book. Tiny sparks sending shivers up and down my spine as I
watched my hopes fade away into ash and smoke.

"Runaway," Mike jeered. "Little runaway got what she deserved didn't
she? Lost her little magic book didn't she? What's wrong? Now you can't
use your spells on me? Huh, sis? Kristen got busted. Ha ha ha!"

"Shut up," Mom said turning around to scold Mike. "Get out of here! Go
up to your room and do your homework."

Mike stood up and made a cross sign with his fingers and stuck out his
tongue at me as he left the room.

"Now you get back up to your room, Kristen," Mom said slapping me on
the behind. "Get up to your room and go to bed. In the morning, we'll
talk more about your punishment. Now get!"

I hurried up the stairs as fast as my little feet would carry me and
I ran in my room and shut the door. Then I leapt on my bed and cried
myself to sleep.

___-----___

I woke up early the next morning to the sound of someone whispering
something in my ear.

"Voodoo.... voodooo....," the voice teased over and over again.

I turned and looked beside me.

There on the pillow lay one of my dolls, or rather Kristen's dolls
that was now mine since I became her.

Hundreds of needles and pins protruded from the plastic doll's body.

"Vooooodooooo.....," Mike whispered, gazing down into my face.

I tried to scream but my mouth was gagged with a sock.

"Voodoo.... voodoo.....," Mike taunted, squirting water into my face
with his water pistol. "You are under my spell..... you seem to have
wet yourself again..... voooo-dooooooo....."

I struggled and kicked helplessly as he pinned me down.

He laughed at me and squirted more water in my face.

"So," he said, emptying out the rest of the water on me. "You thought you
could use your magic to get revenge on me, eh? Well, now who's laughing?
Now who's laughing, sis? Ha ha ha!"

I tried to roll over but he stopped me with his arm.

"Oh, no," Mike said shaking his head. "Not yet. You're not going no where.
Do you realize that Mom's blaming me for part of why you ran away? Do you
realize what trouble you've caused for me? Do you?"

I shook my head no.

"Well now I'm grounded along with you," Mike said poking me in the
ribs. "Now I'm in trouble because you tried to run away. How do you
like that? Huh? From now on I'm supposed to keep an eye on you so you
don't try nothin. You think I want anything to do with you? Do you? Well
I don't."

I moved my left leg under the covers a bit closer to the far side of
the bed.

"It wasn't even mom's idea either," Mike said and spat on my doll. "It
was dad who told me flat out that I should keep an eye on you. Prevent you
from running away again. For all I care, I wish you'd gotten away too. You
think I like having you around, pestering all my friends when I invite them
over? You're nothing but a punky little girl and I'm sick of you."

He climbed up on the bed and sat down on my legs, pinning me down further
from any hope of escape.

"You think I was glad when I found out mom had a girl?" Mike asked, looking
across the room at the wall. "I told all my friends that I was gettin' a
brother. I told ALL of 'em. I don't know how I could have been so stupid
but I was counting on you bein' a boy. Finally I was gettin' my own
brother. Then things would be different, but then YOU came along - a girl.
Made me a laughing stock. All my friends called me a liar because you
were a girl. Then when I got new friends I promised myself not to make that
mistake again. Nope, Mike Tiederov doesn't have a brother. No sir, but he
sure does have a bratty little sister. You know what you are, Sis? You're
a curse. You're my curse and I hate you for it."

He took my doll and threw it across the room into the closet.

Then he hopped up off the bed and opened the door, pausing to glare at
me with hatred before walking out the room.

CHAPTER FIVE - Much Too Much To Do
------------
I pulled the sock out of my mouth and sat up in bed.

Until now, I never understood why my best friend, Mike, treated his
little sister so bad. Now I wasn't so sure I really even wanted to
understand anymore.

I looked down at my thin, girl arms and my small girl fingers with
wonder. I wriggled my dainty little toes under the bed sheets and
gazed through the locks of auburn curls that dangled there before
my eyes.

Everything about me was so smooth, so delicate, so perfect now.

Waking up to this existence was always my favorite time of day for
me. Before, when I was just plain old Andy Smith, I hated waking up
to another day of same old dull existence, but now, as Kristen, I
found true joy in just being alive. Most of all, just being a girl.

I wasn't so bad at being a boy before, but after so many years of it,
I was waiting for something as miraculous as this to give me the
perspective I needed in life. A perspective that began as a simple
game.

"It's called perspectives," she said to me that day. "Come on out to
the patio. I'll show you what I'm talking about."

Perspectives.

That's what it's all about. How one perceives the world. We all each
get our own unique viewpoint. Some are luckier than others and have
viewpoints of a world filled with happiness, pink bunnies, and shades
of lipstick. Right now, I'm living in a world of pink bunnies. The
world as seen through the eyes of a young, pretty girl. Am I dreaming?

"Kristen!" Mom called out from downstairs. "Come down for breakfast."

I slid out of the covers and climbed down off the side of my bed.

Another day as a girl.

If I'm dreaming, don't wake me up.

___-----___

Breakfast was the same as ever and I was last to eat, as usual.

It seemed odd that Mom wasn't as angry at me like she was last night.

I finished my toast and milk and then mom sent me up to my room to get
ready for Sunday School. Then she suddenly changed her mind and said for
me to get into some jeans and a t-shirt. Evidently she wanted me to go
play baseball with my brother.

With my brother? Now I must be dreaming. He wouldn't give me the time
of day, let alone go play baseball with me.

"Come on, sis," Mike said from my doorway as I finished tying my pink
tennis shoes. "Mom says this is for our own good. This is supposed to
fix things or something, though I don't know how that could be. Hurry
up and come down to the side yard. We're riding our bikes to the field."

Finally, a normal family!

I just hope Mike wasn't going to pound the hell out of me when I got
outside.

___-----___

I grabbed a mitt and ran down the stairs and out through the back door.

"Bye mom," I cried closing the door behind me.

I ran around to the side yard and Mike stood there with a mean look in
his eyes.

"Just get your stupid bike and come on already," he said hopping on his
mountain bike and riding past me and out into the driveway.

I climbed on my small, pink girls bike and rode out after him.

"Come on," he said pedaling ahead of me on the sidewalk. "I hope you can
keep up."

Girl or not, I was one of the fastest bike riders in the area. Mike wasn't
going to loose me, that's for sure!

We rounded the block and rode onto the bike path beside the creek.

One thing was for sure - this wasn't the way to the baseball field.

"Where are we goin'?" I called out to him as we rode along beside the
trees.

He didn't answer. Instead he pedaled faster.

Fast as I could ride, I just didn't have the lungs I had before. I quickly
lost my breath and had to stop while Mike vanished off around the bend
ahead of me.

Stupid brother of mine - he ditched me! He ditched his own little sister!

I looked to my right and saw a small dirt path between the trees.

"A shortcut!" I exclaimed hopping on my bike and riding into the woods.

I rode about twenty yards into the woods and then suddenly my tires hit
mud and I slid out of control through some bushes.

"Not again!" I yelled, sliding down a muddy hill and landing flat on my
back.

A brown eyed brunette woman in a black dress gazed down at me and glanced
at her watch.

"It's about time," she said lifting me up to my feet. "It's about time,
young lady. I've been waiting here for hours. Where have you been? Oh,
never mind that now. Let's get going."

"Where?" I asked.

"To get your body back of course," she said leading me by the hand.

"But my bike," I protested.

"What's more important, getting your body back or your stupid bike?" she
asked. "Now come along now. Bellabog's tired of this body too. Come along,
girl. Come along. We have much to do. Much too much to do. Can't keep a
demon waiting like this forever, now. Can we? No, ma'am, we sure can't.
But don't you fret, my little one. We'll get everyone back to normal, oh
yes we will. You'll see. Now come along. The others are waiting."

CHAPTER SIX - Second Box
------------
Before I knew it I was in a station wagon with Heather and Tanya and
the lady who claimed to be the demon Bellabog.

"So when I put the book in the fire, you knew?" I asked.

Bellabog nodded her head,"Yep. Sure 'nough. A demon never forgets an old
signal like that. I knew it meant trouble an' boy oh boy does the
destruction of that book ever mean trouble! You're lucky all the hells
didn't open up an' swallow your whole family whole. Now we've got to
hurry up and find the second Ju-Ju Box before the other side does, or
we're all goners. I'm not stayin' this way longer than I have to."

"Second Box?" Heather asked.

"Yep, the ol' bugger made more than one of 'em," Bellabog nodded.

"So you don't want to be a lady anymore?" Tanya asked.

The woman shook her head,"Nope. It's not that it hasn't been real fun
or nothin' but after the first two bad relationships, I realized bein' a
woman's not all I thought it was cracked up to be. No siree, Bellabog's
goin' back ta bein' a demon again - a male demon, thank you very much."

"Why did you need to bring us with you?" Heather asked. "Couldn't you go
off to find the Ju-Ju Box without us?"

"Nope," Bellabog said as we got out onto the freeway. "It's like this.
I made a deal way back when, and as part of the deal I was stuck this way
just so long as you three were also stuck. Don't ask me why you three
were the chosen ones, you'd never believe me, and besides, it's not the
first Ju-Ju Box that we're after. It's the second."

"What's the difference? First or second, we get our bodies back,
right?" Tanya asked.

Bellabog drove on for awhile and then said,"Well, that's just it. The
first box is gone, kaput, out of the picture. Someone used it to gain
access to the third box. That's a big no-no in magic-land. That mistake
left only two boxes, and we sure as hell ain't goin' after the third
either. No siree, the third is not for us. We just want the second box
to get our bodies back."

"What's wrong with the third box?" I asked.

"Do you want to live to see another day alive on this earth?" Bellabog
asked me back. "If you do, then you'd know better than to try messing
with the third Ju-Ju Box. That box is supposed to be the key to everything.
Nope, we don't want that one. Too dangerous. We just want the second box."

"Aren't all the boxes the same though?" Heather asked.

Bellabog turned momentarily away from looking at the road and glared at
Heather.

"No," Bellabog said turning back to resume driving. "The old bugger made
each one do something different. Some help that was though because it
sure as hell got him deader'n a doornail in the end. Can't fight death,
you know. Death's not to be toyed with. That's where the old bugger made
a mistake. Thought he could bring back his wife. No siree, not on this
world he wasn't. Not like that anyway."

"Where are we heading?" Tanya asked.

"New Mexico of course," Bellabog said with a smile. "It sure has been
awhile. Don't you worry yourselves a bit. Bellabog's gonna fix everything,
you'll see. The second box is in the bag. Everything's gonna be A-O-Kay."

I gazed out the window at the Rocky Mountains off in the distance, still
wondering if it all wasn't some sort of dream.

"Get ready for some changes, girls," Bellabog said in a crazed voice,"Oh,
how this is going to change the world. Get ready for some changes, girls.
We're goin' for the Ju-Ju Box and you ain't seen nothin' yet! No siree.
Change enough for all and you ain't seen a thing!"