Introduction: Tommie tells her sister about meeting a real witch and The Wizard. Elaine’s not too sure what to believe. We also learn one other thing. Tommie can converse with his cat. Does this sound familiar?

This story is another addition to The Cynthia Chronicles. Cynthia (Cindy) Brewer has graduated from medical school, and is well into her residency. The Wizard has difficulty remembering exactly where she is in her studies. Randi Lewis at age 18 is starting work on her Master of Science in Chemistry (read Randi and the Professor), and Charli Brewer will soon be a freshman in pre-med at UConn. Bobbie Anderson is setting the golf world on fire having now won tournaments on the PGA in addition to her many victories on the LPGA. This story takes place a year before Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling. If you are not familiar with the stories that make up the Cynthia Chronicles, you might want to go back to the beginning with An Incremental Journey. There are references to Cynthia and the Reluctant Girlfriend and Charli and the Girl Cave. If you don’t remember what happened in those stories, you might want to go back and read them again. This story also takes place just a few months before Cynthia and the Queen of the Knight.

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 3

“So how was your day?” Don Brewer asked. He’d come home to find his beloved sound asleep. She’d been working four straight with little rest. She’d been officially a Medical Doctor for several years by this time and it wouldn’t be long before she and Bobbie would be able to start their clinic. She was a medical doctor; however, her goal had always been to be a psychiatrist. In her first year of internship she completed four post-graduate months of internal medicine and an additional four months of pediatrics. She also completed two months of neurology during that first year. Since that time she’d been spending time at various mental health institutions in the area. For the last eight months she’d been counseling victims of mass terror acts and shootings. Those acts had seemed to be on the increase lately; however, her younger sister, Randi, had told her that things were far worse in the universe she’d left years before.

Four days before, someone who Cindy deeply regretted never having contact with, managed to get into the underground with an assortment of weapons. He killed 12 men, women and children in seconds. He wounded several dozen more; some of whom never survived. Two genuine heroes tackled him and prevented further mayhem. He was not allowed the privilege of dying by his own hand. Cindy had spent the last four days working in the trauma ward with both the survivors, families and their loved ones. It wasn’t easy work. She got to see the results of the worst of mankind.

“Sorry I asked,” Don said after Cindy gave him more details of the aftermath of the shooting.

“Don’t be sorry; I have to get rid of some of this. The victims are recovering, and their families are there for most of them. I did a lot of grief counseling last night. I think I helped ease a lot of pain.

“I was a little late getting home. I knew you were in court, so I wasn’t about to bother you. A wonderful thing has happened, or maybe I should say is happening.”

Cindy proceeded to explain the events of that morning.

“So, His Wisdom is up to his usual tricks,” Don said with a knowing tone.

“It certainly appears that way. He’s twice told me that the ball was in my court.”

“Do you think he’s going to allow you to do a transformation?”

“I don’t think so, and I’m not sure I want to. He’s allowing Mom to do some under strictly controlled conditions. If it comes to the point where she will be allowed to do them on her own, it will still have to be coordinated with The Wizard. He said he wasn’t allowed to do any for more than 100 years when he first started out as a new wizard.

“So, tell me more about this ‘little girl’ who found you this morning.”

“Here’s her picture, and if you scroll one back you’ll see her sister’s picture.”

Don looked at the picture of Tommie. “What a shame, can you do anything about that?”

“That port wine birthmark means nothing to her. It’s not important. She doesn’t think about it, nor does her family. The most important thing to her is getting her body in sync with her gender, and she’s well on the way without our help. I know His Wisdom will fix things, but he’s going to do it in his own time and way

“Now, take a look at the next picture,” Cindy said.

“Wait a second, that’s not the right picture. That’s a picture of ….”

“No, that’s a picture of Elaine Floria Donizetti DiMaggio. Now, do you get an idea of what’s going on?”

“This is amazing; all these years. How long has it been?”

"Well, we were looking for a place to live in Boston. So that had to have been 10 years ago.”

“Wait a minute, something isn’t right here. How old is Tommie?”

“Eleven.”

“And, how old is Elaine?”

“About 15.”

“Do you see what I’m talking about?”

“Yep. They’re not old enough, but that’s nothing for his Wisdom. He took them four years into the future, changed a little paperwork, and no one is the wiser. Elaine would have been about four. It wouldn’t be too difficult to make her think she had remembered the wrong date if even she had.

“What I’m wondering is why is he doing this?”

“I’m sure he’ll tell us in good time. However, there is another problem. I think he wants me to handle everything right up to the penultimate moment. I have quite a bit going on, but I can handle it, I think.”

“I take it you found the doctor,” her aunt said. “You’ve been gone quite a while.”

“Yes, we had a nice conversation. She knows about me. I didn’t have to tell her.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Yes, she has to stick to that Hypo …, Hippocratic Oath.

Tommie could see that his mother was holding his father’s hand across the space between the beds. His dad was definitely awake.

“How’s my little girl doing?” her father asked.

“Glad you’re back, Dad. You had everyone worried for a while.”

“Dr. Adams said everything was fine; that there was nothing to worry about.”

“There’s another thing,” his mother said. “The driver of the truck that hit us turned himself in. His company’s lawyers contacted us. They want to settle for a lot of money. On top of that, the doctors said that we’ll be able to go home by next weekend. The trucking company has already said they will pay for the ambulance and the in-home care until your dad and I get back on our feet.

“Your uncle and sister will be here in a little while. Your sister said the cats miss you.”

The drive back to New Bedford the following day was only a little over an hour, and Tommie was itching to tell her sister about what had transpired earlier that day. Elaine (Lainie) and Tommie had fixed dinner for their uncle before retiring to their upstairs retreat in the rear wing of the small boutique hotel. Actually, the dining room staff had done most of the work. Most of the time the two families prepared their own meals in their own quarters. Aunt Delia and Uncle Rudolfo, who were several years older than Tommie’s parents, had a separate house closer to the harbor. Their two children were in college nearly three thousand miles away on the northern coast of California.

Uncle Rudolfo had retired to his own home after dinner. He knew Lainie and Tommie were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.

“Lainie, remember those stories I showed you about The Wizard and those nice witches?”

“Yes, they were a little weird, but mostly sweet. Wouldn’t that be nice if there really were such people? If that were the case, you wouldn’t have to be going through what you’re going through and they could get rid of that birthmark.

“Are you feeling okay? No nausea? I know the doctor said that could be a problem. I can’t wait to help you pick out your first bra.”

“Lainie, I met them.”

“You have to be kidding. That stuff you’re taking has to be messing with your mind.”

“No, really, I met a very pretty doctor. Her name is Cynthia Brewer. She’s a witch and she knew about me right away. Then I met Dr. Bettencourt. He is The Wizard. There is no question about it.

“Dad had a clot on his brain, and The Wizard fixed it. I saw the clot. The thing is that neither Mom, Aunt Marie, nor Dr. Adams remembers anything about it.”

“What have you been smoking?”

“Nothing: you know I don’t smoke.

“Matilda, stop kneading my thigh. You’ll mess up my skirt.”

‘I’m sorry Tommie. I’m so glad you’re back home, and I’m so glad Mom and Dad are going to be okay.”

“You know, it’s like that cat understands every word that you say,” Lainie said as she watched the little cat curl up in Tommie’s lap.

“Oh, she does. She’s very glad that Mom and Dad will be alright”

“Lainie, have you been able to find out anything more about our parents? I told Dr. Brewer about us. I gave her your picture. She seemed very interested in it.”

“I think I found some interesting stuff while you were gone. I ran across it yesterday. I don’t know how I missed it, before. There was a robbery at a grocery store in East Boston that seems to fit the right time frame. Four, possibly five people were killed, and their names were, get this, Giuseppe, Floria, Matteo and Zerlina Donizetti. The fifth one was Charles Donizetti. I remember them, Tommie. Dad was Matteo, and Mom was Zerlina. Giuseppe and Floria were our uncle and aunt; and Charles was our cousin. I think he was about your age. They never found him but presumed he was dead. They thought he could probably identify the killers. So they killed him and got rid of the body. As far as I could tell, the killers were never found.

“I guess I just buried most of my memories. I remember being taken to that orphanage, and Mom and Dad taking us home with them just a little while later.

“I’ll keep looking. I had to pay to look back in the Globe’s archives, but I think it was worth it.

“By the way, I bought you a present. It’s in that bag. They had a sale at that little boutique dress shop. I thought you’d like it. You needed one of your own, anyway, rather than wearing my old nightgowns.”

“Lainie, it’s beautiful,” Tommie said holding up the lavender nightgown. “It might be a little big, but I will grow into it. I might be able to even fill out the top part after a while.

“I love you, Big sister.”

“I love you, Little Sister.”

Next: Charli is let in on what has been going on. Randi has to hold her back.