Alfred Gontarski had the misfortune to have been born into the wrong body. That’s all been fixed now; however if you are not familiar with how things were corrected, you should go back and read “An Incremental Journey” before you read this little adventure. Al, now Cynthia Lewis, has a problem. It seems that one of her nine-year old classmates has the same problem she had. He was born into the wrong body. Cynthia was able to work a deal with the SRU Wizard to get Bobby Schmedlap a gift certificate for his birthday that would allow him to become the girl Cynthia knows he wants/has to be. The problem is this. Bobby has not redeemed his gift certificate and now the powers behind SRU want to know when he’s going to do it because it’s the end of the fiscal year and unclaimed spells cause all sorts of accounting problems. It’s going to be Cynthia’s job to find out what’s going on and why Bobby Schmedlap hasn’t gone for the change he so desperately wants.

Cindy confronts her parents with who she really is. It turns out they are not as surprised as she thought they would be. Now it’s time for the final confrontation. Will Cindy, with Maddy’s help of course, be able to convince the Schmedlap family to let Bobby use the gift certificate? Her parents come with her to lend support; however, this is Cindy’s assignment and she is going to have to pull it off or Bobby is doomed to have to try more conventional means to set things right.

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I have researched the Spell’s—R-Us Universe diligently and cannot find anything that violates it, other than that The Wizard is a bit kinder and gentler than sometimes reported. Don’t get me wrong. Given an opening and The Wizard could resort to some of his more ironic and nasty transformations. I’m sure that could happen at any time.

My thanks must go to Holly H. Hart for taking time from her harried life to correct the multitude of errors made while creating this story. She is a dear.

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.

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Chapter 8
 

“I think my Mom and Dad want to talk with you,” Bobby said first thing when they got to class.

“Great! I guess they want to let you use the certificate?”

“No, I think they want to tell you to stop filling my head with false hopes. Those were the words Mom used. I think they want your mother and father there, too. I think they’re really upset about some other things. No one will hire Dad because of his back. We might have to move again, too. It’s not very good right now.

“I really do believe you, Cindy. I keep thinking about the things you’ve told me, and magic is the only way you could know what you know. I looked at that certificate last night and I got all tingly. I almost felt it was doing things to me.

“What are we going to do?”

“Let’s not worry too much about it,” Cindy said while thinking things over. “I am going to have to talk to my parents. Maddy says we should. My parents don’t know about me and I am going to have to tell them. Give me your phone number, and I will call you when I get things straightened out with them.

“This is going to be tough. There may be two sets of parents who think I’m crazy.”

Cindy was eating lunch in the school cafeteria when the subject of Bobby came up. Stephanie Adams looked at Cindy and spoke in a knowing sort of tone, “So, is Bobby your boy friend? You two have been getting awful chummy lately.”

“Bobby and I are friends. I’m a little young to have a boyfriend. We just have a lot in common.” ‘Whoops,’ she thought, ‘I’m talking like a grownup, again.’

“Well, I think he is gorgeous. Those eyes are to die for. You know, you are the only girl he ever talks to like he does. You are very lucky.”

The rest of the day went quietly. Bobby and Cindy said goodbye to each other and each went their separate ways at the end of school. Cindy promised to call as soon as she knew something.

“You’re being awful quiet this evening,” her mother said as they cleaned up after dinner, “Is anything wrong?”

“No, I don’t think anything is wrong. It’s just that I need to talk to you and Dad about something that is pretty important.”

“Well, what is it? You’re not in trouble at school are you?”

“No, nothing like that, but I think we need to wait until after Tommy has gone to bed.”

It was not going to be easy, but she thought it was like getting into cold water. She needed to jump in before she lost her courage. They went into the family room after Tommy was asleep. Cindy was shaking a bit. Her parents sat on the couch but Cindy stayed standing.

“I need to tell you some things about me that may be a bit difficult for you to believe. Please let me tell you everything before you decide to have me committed.

“This is so hard. I think you know that I am different than I was before. I think I remember the doctors telling you that because of brain damage, I would be likely to have personality changes.”

“Well you are a bit different,” said her mother, “but you are still the sweet little girl we have always known.”

“Mom, Dad, Cynthia died when she almost drowned. She’s still around, or at least her spirit is. We’ve talked a lot. There was so much damage to the brain that she couldn’t stay. I am not Cynthia. I am Cindy. Before, I was someone else. Cynthia’s brain was fixed while she was in the hospital, but there wasn’t a spirit there to run things. When her brain, my brain, was fixed I was allowed to move in.

“You know I have most of her memories. The thing is I am loaded up with the memories and personality of someone else. I am not that person anymore thankfully, because I wasn’t very nice. I love both of you very much and I love Tommy, too.

“There’s something else. It seems that I have some special powers. Some of them may have been there before, but I think it took my moving in to make some things happen. I know things about certain people. I’ll get to that in a minute, if you will let me.”

She looked at her parents who had been very attentively listening to her. She was somewhat amazed by the fact that neither had spoken out while she was talking. Neither had made a move to protest anything she was saying. She stared at them for a moment. She had expected some sort of reaction, and she wasn’t getting any. Her parents looked at each other, and then walked to her. They pulled her close and hugged her for a long time. Cindy realized she was crying.

“Cindy, a day or two after you woke up, I had a dream. It was a very strange dream. I was in a tunnel and I wasn’t alone. There was this thing, a sort of bright light, and it was alive, or at least seemed to be. Then it spoke to me. It said you were going to be OK, that it would take a while. It also said you would be different, but that you would always be our daughter. It said that you were a very special person and that someday you would tell us all about it. That was when I realized that your father was with me. It told us other things, and so far everything it said has happened.

“The next morning as we drove to the hospital to see you I told your father about the dream. He almost wrecked the car. You see, he had the same dream, exactly the same dream. Before the dream ended, the spirit, for want of a better description that’s what we called it, said it loved us and always would. That was the end of it.

“We wondered what sort of insanity we had been afflicted with, partly because you never said anything. I think that right-handed thing was the first clue we had. The way Maddy warmed up to you was another. There were many little things that could have just been due to your brain injury, but they didn’t add up.

“We do know this. You are our daughter. We couldn’t possibly be wrong about that. Yes you are a bit different, but that is as much of a blessing as anything. We are so lucky to have you and we don’t want you to ever think anything else.”

There were some more hugs and tears. Maddy had been reclining on the back of Cindy’s chair during the revelations.

“Menow.”

Cindy turned to her. “Now?”

“[Yes, now.]”

Stan Lewis, who had been quiet through most of the conversation, after all, this was greatly a mother/daughter thing, stated with some affirmation of what he had suspected for a while, “Maddy can talk, can’t she.”

“Yes, she can. She has trouble with some of the syllables and letters, but she is getting better. She can mind speak to me, but I don’t think you can hear her.”

“[They can’t.]”

“She wants me to tell you something. We will get to that in a minute.

“Daddy, I heard you say the other day that you need someone at work to do property inspections and evaluations for you. Would someone who had been a construction superintendent be able to do that? I would think he should be able to.”

“Yes, that’s exactly the qualifications we are looking for. Do you know someone?”

“Bobby Schmedlap’s father: I think he used to be good, but he hurt his back.”

“Amos Schmedlap would have been perfect, but I don’t think he can do the climbing that the job would require. They say he can hardly walk. It’s a shame what happened to him. He was one of the best. I understand the judge threw out the lawsuit out on some sort of technicality. I haven’t heard anything about him in quite a while. I thought they had moved.”

“No they live here, but they lost their home. Bobby Schmedlap is in my class. I think they live somewhere down in that old industrial area by the river.”

“This brings me to the main reason I needed to talk to you. It’s about something I can do and it has a lot to do with who I used to be. I don’t think the spirit told you about that. I know that spirit by the way. We spent a lot of time together.

“I was someone you knew before; not real well because reality has been changed a bit. In the world you remember, I was killed 10 years ago in an airplane accident. In the world I knew, I was around until last December, when Cynthia drowned, or almost drowned. My spirit was extracted from my body before things were changed. For a while I was an elderly woman and I learned many lessons about life and getting along. Then the Spirit and I went to many places and saw many things. That ‘I’ was being healed while Cindy’s body healed.

“This may seem a bit strange; however, I have among other things, the ability to sense or detect people who are in the body that is not their gender. I used to be a person like that. I have always been a girl. It’s just that I was in a man’s body. I hated it, enough said. Everything is just fine now.

“I know now that because I have been able to tell you all of this that it is OK to tell you more. Bobby Schmedlap is a girl like I was. His family knows it and they love him. It’s just that they can’t afford to do anything about his condition. He wants to be a real girl so much. I knew that as soon as I got back to school.

“Remember when I went into that Hallmark Shop? That’s what it looked like to you. To me, it was the Spells-R-Us shop. It is operated by a very special person. I think it will be OK for you to meet him soon. That candy store I went into on Sunday was his shop also. If you check now you will find out that there is a specialty tea and coffee shop there. Anyway, I bought a gift certificate for Bobby so that The Wizard’s magic would allow him to be a girl on the outside, too. The trouble is, unless his parents and brothers agree to let him use the certificate it won’t work.

“The Wizard says I am going to have to work this out on my own. I think it is part of my training. Maddy told me to tell you all this. I would have eventually; however, we need your help. Bobby’s parents are mad at me because they think I am being mean to Bobby by giving him false hopes. We need to meet with Bobby’s family and try to convince them to at least try to get the certificate to work. They don’t believe in magic. I think you do.”

“Of course we believe in magic. It brought our daughter back to us. How could we not believe in it,” her father said as his voice cracked a bit. “They said there was no hope for you; that that best we could do was donate your organs. Then you were back. They said it was impossible, but here you are. Then there is this thing about a talking cat.

“Maddy, you really can talk, can’t you.”

“Mrresss. Mralk oo Missindee. Easrr rat way. (Yes, Talk through Cindy. Easier that way.)”

“That’s all we need to know. No I think there are two things. You want us and Maddy, too, I suspect, to talk to the Schmedlaps.”

“Right; and what’s the other thing?” Cindy knew what it was, and she dreaded the question.

“Who were you before?”

“I was Alfred Gontarski.”

“No, Alfred Gontarski died with his parents in a horrible plane crash. You are our daughter, Cynthia Elizabeth Lewis. You have always been and always will be our daughter; a very special girl with something extra.”

Cindy was walking on air and Maddy was on her shoulder. They had absolutely nothing to worry about, except Bobby Schmedlap.

Chapter 9

It had been threatening to rain all day. There had been a warm, gusty wind from the south, but now the west was darkening faster than could be attributed to a setting sun. As they drove past the school, Cindy began to have serious doubts about what they were doing.

Bobby’s parents had wanted to talk to Cindy’s parents to get her to stop talking to Bobby about his gender identity problem. They had wanted to help him get the medical and psychological help he would need. They just couldn’t afford it. Maybe when Bobby was older and their financial situation got straightened out, they could do something. It was hard enough now to put food on the table. Their phone service would be the next thing to go, then the power and water. They had a roof over their heads but that could change at any moment.

The double-wide trailer had basically been a loan from Amos’s previous employer. It had been a construction office; however, with the downturn of the economy, it wasn’t needed. If things turned around in the construction business, they might lose their home, such as it was.

Amos’s employer was a good man, but with Amos’s injury and the downturn of the economy, there was no hope for a job.

After the injury, things went downhill fast. The worker’s compensation insurance company refused to pay the workers’ compensation insurance. They maintained that Amos was not on the job at the time of the injury. Amos’s lawyer filed a suit against the subcontractor who actually caused the injury; however, the opposing lawyer successfully filed a motion dismissing the suit.

Then the market crashed and their 401K lost 60% of its value. The medical expenses ate everything up and the Schmedlaps ended up filing for bankruptcy. They couldn’t make the house payments and with the mortgage balance being more than the house was worth, they ended up having to walk away from it. Now they were living on a shoe string and there wasn’t much left of it. Then some idiot girl had to start bothering their beloved son about his gender identity problem.

It would have been difficult, but they had it all planned out to help him the best way they knew possible. He was going to start anti-androgen medication within the year. Then when he would start low dose estrogen and progesterone to simulate early puberty. When he reached twelve they would increase the dosage to allow him to start female puberty and grow into the girl he was. They had it all worked out and then that damned forklift had to run Amos down. He was exactly where he was supposed to be and doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing; however, the other lawyer was cleverer than his lawyer and the judge threw it all out. Amos would gladly have lived with the back injury if their son had just been able to become their daughter. It was so wrong that Bobby had to suffer because of someone else’s careless action.

Now that crazy girl and her parents were coming over to talk to them about something. She had no business dragging Bobby through all of this. He had accepted things pretty well and now she was bringing up all this magic crap. It wasn’t right and he was going to tell them that what she was doing was unnecessarily cruel. He was going to do his best to make them leave Bobby alone.

His back hurt like hell and his leg was essentially numb. He could barely make it work. He had some pain pills left, but he didn’t want use them because they fuzzed his mind. He wanted to be sharp when the rich people from up the hill arrived.

“It’s down here dad. We’re supposed to go past the old warehouses and up the levee. After that we turn left at the stop sign. There will be a bunch of trailers in a yard and they are back by the office building.” The wind was picking up and lighting was reflecting off the cloud deck. They found the trailers and noted a light on at one near the rear of the yard. The rain was starting to spit as they walked up the portable stairs to knock at the metal door.

Lightning flashed again and thunder rumbled about fifteen seconds later. The wind was picking up and had shifted to the northwest. The temperature was starting to fall.

They could hear someone coming to the door. It started to open slowly, but a sudden gust of wind blew it out of the grasp of the woman who stood there. She was an attractive woman, but weariness shown in her expression. Her hair was dark red and Bobby had her eyes. Cindy saw that right away.

“Please come in. It’s really starting to look nasty out there. I’m Sally Schmedlap.” She politely extended her hand. She led them into the main room of the double-wide trailer and introduced the rest of the family. Bobby’s brothers were David, age 12, and Ezra, age 14. They scowled at Cindy when she was introduced. Cindy introduced Maddy, but didn’t mention that she could talk. The Schmedlaps’ German Shepherd ran up to investigate the intruder. Maddy murmured something and the dog stopped in his tracks. Maddy twisted around his legs and everyone watched somewhat astonished as the two headed for the kitchen and the dog’s watering dish. They returned shortly and settled down on the mangy carpet to watch the humans.

“Would anyone like something to drink? We can’t offer much. We have coffee, tea, iced tea and some cokes. I think there are a couple of beers in the refrigerator,” Sally offered.

The adults settled on coffee and the children opted for the soft drinks. Cindy felt almost guilty about taking a coke because she knew how tight things were for the Schmedlaps. There was a bit of unease in the group and before anyone could say anything, Cindy decided it was up to her to get the ball rolling.

“I know that Mr. and Mrs. Schmedlap are upset with me because of what I said to Bobby and what I gave him at his birthday party at school. I know now that I did the wrong thing. I didn’t handle the situation very well. I should have done things very differently.”

“Young lady,” interjected Mrs. Schmedlap, “I don’t know how you found out about Bobby, but the last thing we want is to have it spread around is that Bobby is transgendered. Things are hard enough on him as it is.

“We were going to move so that Bobby could start living as a girl in our new home, but everything was lost due to Amos’s accident. We can barely put food on the table; much less get him the medical help he needs. Then you come along and dangle this preposterous ‘gift’ in front of him. What sort of nonsense is this? I think it is a cruel joke and we think you owe Bobby an apology.”

Cindy was trying to summon up all the courage she could. She was gong to have to fall back on her Al Gontarski personality a bit to give her some strength. “Mrs. Schmedlap, everybody, this is not a joke. I know about Bobby because I was given a gift. I used to be like Bobby. I used to be a man who wanted desperately to be a woman. I got that chance.”

“This is nonsense. I think you and your parents need to leave now,” Mrs. Scmedlap said rather emphatically.

“Would you give me a chance to prove that there is validity to what I am telling you? If you would let me and Maddy show you a few things, things that might be attributable to magic, maybe you would you at least let Bobby try to use the gift certificate? There can’t be any harm in at least trying. If it doesn’t work, you can do what ever you think is necessary to do about me and my parents. The only thing is that all of you have to agree to let him redeem the certificate. There’s nothing else to do. I know it will work.

“Please humor me for a few minutes.”

“Who are you? You certainly don’t talk like a nine-year old girl.”

“I know, and I’m trying to forget how I used to talk. I want to grow up as a girl and rid myself of some of my old habits. This isn’t easy to talk about, but it’s the only way I can see to at least convince you to try to let the magic work.

“The original Cynthia Lewis died last December. Her body was kept alive and it was repaired until I could occupy it. I am one person, but I am a combination of the original Cynthia and someone else. When I woke up in the hospital, I was the new Cindy Lewis. The doctors think that my problems with personality are just due to brain injuries.”

Cindy paused for a moment and listened as the storm raged outside. She hoped her brother wasn’t afraid of thunderstorms and that the baby sitter would keep him safe.

“I don’t want to flood you with a lot of details right now. If you will let this work, we can talk about it and other things over the years. I have been given a brief glimpse of what will happen, and I know everyone will be very happy with the results

“Maddy it’s time for us to do our thing.”

Maddy got up, stretched, said something to the dog, and then trotted over to Cindy. She jumped to the arm of the chair and then to Cindy’s shoulder.

“Maddy is my familiar. Bobby helped save her the day I drowned. Maddy, please say hello to everybody.”

“Herrow.”

“She still is having trouble with her ‘l’s. Maddy can mind speak with me and I suspect she can with Einstein.”

“Maddy, ask Einstein what his favorite fun food is.”

Maddy looked at Einstein and he looked back, licked his chops and wagged his tail.

“[Pepperoni, but he didn’t get any for Christmas this year.]”

Cindy passed on the information.

“Why, Bobby could have told you that. That doesn’t prove anything,” said the doubting Amos Schmedlap. “Ask him where the skunk family is that I found today. I haven’t told anyone about that. And, how many kittens were there?”

Maddy relayed the answer.

“They are living in the small trailer that is up against the building in the northeast corner of the lot. Einstein thinks it is a light gray trailer, but Maddy says it is blue. There are five kittens and one is sickly, but if you give them food like you did this afternoon they will survive. Einstein says he doesn’t mind that you left some of his food for them earlier. They are pretty warm in that old utility closet. Einstein says the mother killed a pigmy rattlesnake under this trailer two nights ago. That’s what he was talking about, er barking about.”

“I don’t believe it. That kitten told you that?”

“Yes, she’s learning about what she can do, just like I’m learning.

“Dad, do you have a business card with you?”

He fumbled around and found one in his wallet.

“Crumple it up into a tight little ball and throw it to the middle of the floor.”

Maddy reacted instantly to the sound of the card being crumpled. Cindy could feel her twitch in anticipation. Her dad threw the wad onto the floor.

“Maddy, take the paper wad to Mr. Schmedlap and then return it to my father. The only thing is you may not touch it. Do it like you did the other night. Can you do that?”

“Mmyesss.”

Maddy did exactly as she was asked. She chased it across the floor towards Mr. Schmedlap. Before it reached him, she cut it off and proceeded to push it across the floor toward Cindy’s father. At the last second, she gave a little grunt and twitched her behind. The paper wad popped into the air and landed in his lap.

“Are there any questions?” Cindy asked.

There were none.

“Now, is there anyone not in favor of at least letting Bobby try to redeem the gift certificate?”

Bobby’s oldest brother, Ezra, who had been silent up to this point, commented, “Bobby has always been a good brother, but he has always been like a sister, too. I will always love Bobby whether he is my brother or she is my sister. I have always wanted a little sister that I could be proud of and protect as she grew up. I say go for it.

“What do you think, David?”

“I would like to have a sister. One brother is enough. I think Bobby would be pretty, too.”

“All Sally and I want is for Bobby to be happy. If this doesn’t work, we will find a way some day to save enough to do what we need to do medically. It’s just that I don’t see anything happening soon. I say let him try to use the certificate. What do you think Sally?”

“Yes, we can try. It certainly won’t change anything if it doesn’t work. After what I’ve seen and heard, who knows?”

Cindy breathed a sigh of relief. It was going to happen.

“So what do we have to do to redeem it?” Sally asked.

“I think we will need to go to the mall. The Wizard will probably contact me and let me know when. He’ll work out the details with you and Bobby. I already know a bit about what Bobby wants.”

The raging storm had abated somewhat, but the wind was blowing fiercely. There was a simultaneous flash of lightning and a huge crash of thunder. The lights flickered off and then back on after about two seconds.

Cindy gave a gasp at what she saw.

Bobby stood up and headed down the hall. “I think I need to go to the bathroom.”

Cindy stood to follow. “There’s another bathroom in the master bedroom,” Sally Schmedlap said. “I’ll get some brownies. I made them this afternoon.”

Cindy tried to catch up to Bobby but she didn’t make it in time. Bobby opened the bathroom door, turned on the light, and closed the door behind him. The shriek that no one but Cindy expected was loud and short.

“Eeeek!”

“Mrs. Schmedlap, Mom, I think we may need your help.”
”ƒ

Cindy had been the first one to get to the door. She opened it and stepped into the small space. The change had been happening as Bobbie got up and started walking down the hall. Cindy had seen the changes taking place, but everyone else was too startled by the brief power failure to pay any attention to someone going to the bathroom. The change was probably complete by now.

Standing in front of the mirror was a relatively tall, slender nine year old girl. Her beautiful red hair hung in loose waves down to her shoulders. It was a Titian red, almost auburn in shade. Her eyes were the same beautiful blue green they had been before. Her complexion was a bit paler and still lightly freckled. Her face was that of a young girl not yet entering puberty, but it was a beautiful face. There were some tears streaking her high cheek bones, but there was no doubt that the tears were due to an extreme happiness that was just beginning to settle in.

One of the things that had first caught Cindy’s attention was the clothes. She was wearing a nice cotton blouse rather than a boy’s shirt, and the Levis were definitely girls Levi’s. They no longer had the bulge and looseness of boys’ trousers. They fit tightly to her body and left no doubt about her femininity. She had a tight little waist and a very pert little bottom. Her legs hinted at the glamorous length they would some day grow to.

There were two simultaneous gasps behind them. Bobbie looked up at her mother’s reflection. A huge smile was spreading across her face. “Mommy, I’m me. I don’t have to pretend any more. It really is me. I look just like I wanted to.” Then she got a look of concern on her face. “Mommy, I gotta pee. What am I going to do?”

“I think you can figure that out. Just sit down and relax. Don’t forget to wipe. We’ll work out the details later. I am going to have my work cut out for me. I can see that. We’ll wait out here for you.”

They closed the door and let Bobbie find out about one of the things she would be dealing with for the rest of her life. Finally the toilet flushed and there was the sound of her washing her hands.

She opened the door and smiled. “I think everything worked just fine.” She looked down the hall towards the living room. “Do they know yet?”

“I’m not sure. They probably suspect something happened. You always did shriek rather girly-like if you were surprised. Your father probably ignored it.

“Well, they are going to have to find out sooner or later. There’s no reason to wait.” The two mothers preceded the girls back to the living room. They stepped aside as the newly minted girl made her entrance.

“Gentlemen, it seems as if the gift certificate has been redeemed. Meet Roberta Allison Schmedlap.”

Amos dropped his coffee cup on the dilapidated carpet. Fortunately, the cup was empty. “Oh my God: it worked. It really worked. What a birthday present! Thank you, Cindy. Thank you so much. This is more than we could have ever hoped for.”

Suddenly there was a mass hug going on. David and Ezra held back a little at first as if they were afraid that Bobbie had suddenly become fragile.

Everybody was beaming at the pretty little girl and she couldn’t stop giggling. Finally, things started to settle down.

“Amos, there was another reason for this meeting tonight, although I must say it pales in comparison with what we have just witnessed. I know you need a job, and we need someone with your qualifications. I think you are aware that our company deals in commercial real estate and property management. We need someone can oversee the various properties and make sure they are properly maintained. We also need someone to conduct property inspections. We are also getting into renovations and restorations. Loft apartments are becoming a big thing all over the state. We were wondering if you would be interested. You would be our property and construction superintendent.”

“I would love to do it, but I’m afraid I’m not physically able. My pain is severe and the doctors don’t seem to be able to do anything about it, and, as you can see, I have just about lost the use of my left leg. God, I would love….”

They were interrupted by a rapping on the door. Sally looked out through the peep hole. “Oh my! There’s an old man in a robe and he has a huge dog with him. And, it is really snowing hard.”

“Wonderful,” Cindy shouted, “It’s His Wisdom, The Wizard, and he brought his wolf. You can let him in. I’m sure he wants to see his handiwork. I’m sure he knew how Bobbie was going to turn out, but I’ll bet he has some other things to talk about, too.

Sally opened the door and a cold blast of air preceded The Wizard and Wolf. They could see that the early spring snow was falling hard and a few flakes followed the pair in.

“Good evening everyone; sorry about the lightning and thunder display earlier. I couldn’t resist. We would have been here sooner but we had to deal with a gang of hoodlums who thought I might have something worth taking. They have been sworn to an unbreakable oath not to lose their virginity until after they are married, and they are now home with their mothers learning how to knit.

“So, Amos and Sally, what do you think of your daughter? I think she turned out rather nicely. I knew she would.”

“She’s beautiful. And, above all, she seems to be very happy,” Sally said while wiping away a tear.

“Ezra, Dave, what do you think of your sister. Is she what you expected?”

“Er, yes sir,” replied Ezra in awe of the robed man in front of them. “She’s very pretty. I’ll bet she will have a lot of boyfriends someday.”

“Yes there will be boyfriends, but only one will matter. Promise to look out for her.”

“Yes sir.”

“Well, Stan and Marissa, what do you think of your daughter? She did pretty well for her first case, didn’t she? She’s going to help us a lot. I’ll have some assignments for her in a few years, maybe sooner. Right now, she is just going to have to learn about her abilities. We’re not sure right now about everything she is going to be able to do.

“Great job Maddy. I liked that little trick with the paper at the end. Keep practicing. Work on pushing and pulling. You’ll never know when it might come in handy.”

“Mresssir.”

“Now let’s see,” he said while pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket that hadn’t been there seconds before. “We made a few adjustments, nothing that will be very disruptive.” He moved the paper up close and then far away as his arms could reach. Finally, he pushed his glasses up on his forehead. “Double drat and fried toad kidneys, arms are too damn short.” He muttered something and suddenly the paper quadrupled in size. “There, now I can read it. I’m going to have to put the shop next to Lens Crafters next time. Okay; Amos, the judge had second thoughts about your lawsuit. It has been reinstated and should settle out of court for around $500K for you after fees.

“I’m not licensed to practice medicine, but I got the OK for this.” He made a subtle motion with his hand and Amos gasped in surprise. “I hope that didn’t hurt. They said it shouldn’t.”

“No, it didn’t hurt. I just felt a twinge in my back. What did you do?”

“It seems that the doctor never detected this little bone chip,” he said while handing a tiny fragment of bone to Amos. “It was impacting your sciatic nerve. The doctor should have found it but he was on drugs, totally incompetent. The hospital should have detected his problem long ago. Well she’s going to have a long time to think about it. She’s going to be a midwife in about 20 years when she is about 30. She will never take drugs again.

“It will take a while for your leg to recover. It wouldn’t look right when you go to court if you had miraculously recovered. You should be able to work in a few months. I think Stan will have the job ready for you then.

“Now, what do we do about this little situation? I know that the Schmedlaps are fully in accord with Bobbie’s change. Cindy may have told you it was scheduled to be handled by my shop in about ten years. It would have been good, but all the memories would have been artificial. This way’s better. The only thing that would have been better would have been if the mistake had not been made in the first place. That’s not your fault. The mistake was made elsewhere. Cindy will explain all about that later.

“What do you want to remember? I can fix it so that you will remember Bobbie as a tomboy who decided to become all girl, that’s the way all outsiders who knew her will remember her, or we can just let things alone. You just won’t be able to tell anyone unless there are important reasons for it. Cindy will probably know what those are.”

Sally thought about it for a moment. “I think we can all agree on this. We want to remember how it was, if only among us, so that we may share her joy about what has happened. This has been such a wonderful evening. I know I don’t ever want to forget it. You have opened up a whole new world for us.”

“Fine, that’s the way it will be.”

“Your Wisdom, would you have a brownie and some hot chocolate? We have some extra.”

“I would love some. We can stay for a little while. We have to be in two places at the same time later on. That’s always a strain.

“By the way, I think that scratch off in your purse is worth $10,000. You should probably claim it tomorrow. That will hold you over until the settlement comes through. There’s going to be a nice house available just down the road from Cindy’s home. You might want to look at it.”

The Wizard reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of beef jerky for Wolf and a stick of pepperoni for Einstein. Then he pulled out a small dish of kitty treats for Maddy. He made room on his lap for Cindy and Bobbie and the two families spent the next 30 minutes discussing Cindy and Bobbie’s future, plus a lot of just happy talk. Finally, The Wizard excused himself. He had to move on. There was no rest for the weary. Maddy, Einstein and Wolf had been snoozing together.

“We’ll see all of you many times, I am sure. Maddy, Cindy and I will have a constant connection. They will always be able to reach me.”

The Wizard received hugs and kisses from the women and girls, and handshakes from the boys and men. Wolf followed him down the steps into the snow. They disappeared after about four paces. The footprints just stopped. The two families returned to the inside of the trailer and found that the horrid soiled carpeting had been replaced by a nice plush carpet. Nobody questioned it.

The Lewis’s gathered up their things and Cindy bundled up Maddy in her coat. They said their goodbyes once again and returned to their car for the drive home in the waning snow.

Sally Schmedlap looked at her pretty little daughter as she helped her get ready for bed. She kissed her goodnight as she had kissed Bobby every night before. They were going to have a lot of fun over the next few years. She knew there was something special about a mother-daughter relationship. It would be very special for both of them.

In fact, it was going to be magical.

Well, that’s it for now. I think there are many adventures ahead for Cindy, Maddy and their friends. What they are, I can’t be too sure about that right now. I have one in mind; however, it happens many years from now. We’ll just have to wait on that one. I’m sure there will be many more transformations in the future. Some may be more in line with those we have seen The Wizard do in the past. Thank you for reading and thank you for your comments. Constructive comments are always fuel for future stories.

I also want to thank the large number of readers who took the time to read the previous story, 'An Incremental Journey', and vote. The response to the suggestion to read it was very heart warming.

Portia