We returned from the mall around two o'clock. As we walked past the garage I was surprised to see the bird statue still sitting just outside the back of the breezeway. As I hurried up to my room to drop off my shopping bags, Mom called out to me. "Don't even think about wearing that cream colored dress in that filthy garage. And don't get any makeup on it when you take it off."

I kicked off the pumps and removed the dress carefully. I put on the first top I could find. It was a dark green, cropped tank top with a zipper in front. I grabbed the tight leather skirt. It felt really good to pull the skirt's zipper up my backside. I put my snakeskin pumps back on.

I knew Mom would need to do some carbo-loading so I hurried out the front door and around to the backyard. I picked up the still petrified bird and went into the garage.

Making sure the door was shut, I opened my eyes to look at the bird. The colored lines and swirls inside the bird were very muted. If I had not seen them brightly before, I might not have noticed them at all now.

Before I could speculate about why the bird was still petrified. There was a knock at the door. I closed my inner eyelids quickly.

"I'll be sure to knock first, Mrs. Harrison," a voice called out. It was Elliot. "Can I come in?"

"It's open," I announced.

Elliot opened the door slowly. When he saw me his jaw hit the floor. He just stood there in shock.

"If you are just going to stand there like a statue, I can turn you into the real thing."

"Gordon?" He managed to ask.

"I think I'm going to use the name Medusa. It's more appropriate than Gordon."

"You are smokin' hot," he looked me up and down. "And so tall. That skirt is so... why are you wearing a skirt and those shoes?"

"You're allowed to stare uncontrollably for only a few more minutes," I joked. "As for the skirt, I have some kind of compulsion against wearing pants. And the shoes, they were a compulsion too."

"Bummer," he commented as he finally stepped into the room and closed the door. He walked straight up to me, "I can't believe how tall you are. In those heels you must be six foot nine or so." His eye level was even with the top of my cleavage. He made a point of looking straight ahead and said, "I can't complain about the view." With a laugh, he sat down on the low bench he always sat on. "It's really true. You had your twist. There were rumors that you turned someone to stone. People are going to believe that rumor when they get a look at you."

"It's true."

"You're shittin' me."

"No, it's true," I said, pointing at the bird.

"Holy, fuck," he exclaimed.

"It only lasts an hour or so. Or at least it did when I did it to Mrs. Rhymes."

"Wow, how'd she react to being turned into a statue?"

"It's funny. She thought she had only been unable to move for about five minutes." I said. "Let me tell you about my day yesterday.” When I mentioned how I discovered I could see with my hairsnakes, he interrupted.

"You can see with those things?"

"Yes, it's like black and white and last night I found out they can see in the dark."

"And I can tell you can control them. How well can you control them?"

I had a couple of the really long snakes extend themselves. "I used these two last night to brush my teeth. Doing that tired them out pretty quickly but I'm sure it looked cool. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

"I decided to chance looking at myself in a mirror hanging in the biology lab. And that's when I discovered I had this face."

"You know," Elliot interrupted. "You don't look anything like you use to but I know I've seen that face before."

"It does seem familiar," I agreed. "I don't look like any of my cousins or aunts. While looking in the lab mirror, I noticed there was a closed inner eyelid under my normal eyelid. I was looking through it. While squinting to see it, I made it twitch and open and suddenly the mirror shattered. These little guys jumped in the way of the flying glass. One of them was nearly sliced in two but it's already regrown its head.

"Looking around the room with those lids open is psychedelic. The colors are more vivid and there are colors that make no sense. I accidentally petrified a bird sitting on the window sill outside the biology lab. And that was when I realized I wasn't dangerous."

"What's it look like when you petrify something?"

"It's odd. The color seems to drain out of them and leaves behind the dull stone statue. It only takes a second. Oh, and when I look at a statue I've made, I can see lines and swirls inside the stone. I don't know what that means.

"Now, where was I? Oh, yeah, some doctors from the Spiral Clinic arrived and asked me a bunch of questions. Then, they took me to the clinic and asked me even more questions for a few hours. When I was done with the last doctor, she asked me to petrify her."

"She didn't."

"She did. According to the receptionist, the doctor is a multimorph and she probably had me petrify her so she would gain another form she could change into. Although I don't know why someone would want to turn into a statue." That last comment made me think of my parents and I just shook my head.

"What's with the head shake?"

"Nothing."

"You lips say, 'Nothing,' but your snakes look embarrassed."

"They do?"

"No, I can't read your snakes, yet. But now I know you do feel embarrassed," he laughed. "So spill it."

"I wasn't going to mention this, but Daddy last night—"

"Daddy?" Elliot asked in a tone mocking how I had probably said it. "You sound adorable saying, 'Daddy.'"

"Now, I am embarrassed," I said. I must have been blushing and that made me curious what color I was. "Last night, my father," I overemphasized, "asked me to petrify him."

"Did he say why?"

"He said something about needing to know what happens when I cause someone to be petrified so that if he needed to hand down punishment over my misuse of my trick he would be familiar with what being petrified felt like."

"And you thought this was bullshit, why?"

"As I left the room I ran into Mom heading to the garage with a camera."

"No way."

"You know how she goes fast? She once told me it thrilled her to move around other people standing still as statues."

"I think the only thing worse then finding out about your parents’ kinks would be finding out your parents don't have any kinks."

"That's very comforting," I laughed. "Where was I?"

"You were leaving the clinic."

"Dadd-- Dad picked me up from the Clinic and we went home. I had dinner and then I was sent to go take a bath because Mom said I probably had soot in my hairsnakes. That was the first time I had a big mirror to see my whole body with. I'm just going to call the bath sensual because even if I go into detail, you will read more into it than actually happened regardless. I figure you may as well have your little fantasies."

"Thanks, I think," Elliot replied. "Did you go while in the bathroom?"

"Oh, yeah, I did. It wasn't very interesting. In fact, it wasn't very different aside from having to do it sitting down. Oh, and having to wipe afterward."

"Nothing's there to give a good shake."

Ignoring that comment, I continued, "Afterward I spent time in front of the mirror practicing getting these guys to do what I ask. When I got back to my room I put on some pajamas Mom bought while I was at the Clinic. Eventually, I went to bed and woke up this morning. Today was a five hour shopping spree at the mall."

"Are you wearing lipstick?"

"Yes, it goes with my nails," I said with my voice pitched up higher than normal as I twinkled my fingers at him.

Elliot started laughing hard, "Woah, that was girly."

"Well, I've always known I was going to twist and that the person I was would not necessarily be who I became. I need to embrace my girly-hood."

"I can embrace that for you."

I made my hairsnakes swing around and glare at him.

"That's intense, dude." He leaned back.

"I'm afraid I have to be one of those girls that friend-zones you. Don't expect benefits."

"Awww, you're no fun," Elliot moaned. "But seriously, you never struck me as someone who would be happy to explore his feminine side this easily."

"I'm not or I wasn’t. It's just if I don't just go for it I get the feeling I'd end up curled up in my bed sobbing all day."

"Do you need a hug?" he asked. Something about his body language seemed genuine.

"I don't know."

He got up. "That means you need a hug," he demanded reaching out to me. "C'mon, no funny business. You need a hug."

He held me. I tensed up waiting for him to do something stupid. But, all he did was stand there with his hands holding my back.

"Loosen up a little Gordo. If you need to cry, you go right ahead."

I raised my arms and he let go immediately. "Thanks, Elliot. But, I don't think I'm ready for being held like that."

"Like what? I was just being a friend. You're the one who friend-zoned me." He smiled. "Can I touch a snake?"

"Sure," I said, floating a long one to him.

He held his hand out and let the snake curl around his hand once. He rubbed the back of its head with his other hand. "Feels like a real snake. Do they eat?"

"I have no idea. I certainly hope not. I can't imagine how these short ones would be long enough to digest anything." I could feel some of the snakes drifting toward Elliot. "I think they like being rubbed like that."

"Can you feel it?"

"Distantly. If a bunch of them were as mellow as the one you're holding, it might feel nice to me. All I know is that one snake is felling mellow."

"So what it's like to have big boobs?"

"You would ask that," I replied.

"Yeah, but consider how long we've been talking and I'm only now asking about having boobs."

"Is that restraint or is the rest of my twist just that much more interesting."

"I'm going with restraint only because it sounds more mature."

"Yeah, right, I believe that." I mocked. "In any case, the answer I'm sorry to say is I don't know. They feel nice, not that I'm inviting you to check yourself."

"Awww."

"And they are kind of heavy. I was disappointed last night when I couldn’t sleep on my stomach comfortably like I use to. I haven't internalized having them yet. They're still 'these things on my chest'. I'm guessing someday they'll be 'my breasts' but I'm not there yet."

"I assume that's also the answer to your other feminine anatomy."

"Yes," I replied noncommittally.

Elliot looked like he was going to press the point but decided to drop it. There was an awkward pause until he suddenly looked all around the room and jumped up. "I've got it."

"Got what?"

He went over to a shelf and pulled the sheet off the bust I had made a few months ago. "That's who you look like," he exclaimed pointing at the bust.

I walked over to the bust and looked at it. I picked it up and held it up beside my face and asked him, "Seriously? Do I look like this?"

"That bust is your twin sister who had snake reduction surgery."

I laughed as many of the snakes hissed.

"Why are they hissing?"

"They don't like it when they feel threatened. They lack a sense of humor." I put the bust down on the bench nearby and studied it again. "I guess I do look like this."

"Your twist must have pulled your look out of your subconscious. That's so cool."

"Then why am I orange and green? And scaly?"

"You aren't scaly."

"I'm not bumpy. But there's definitely a scaly pattern in my coloration."

"In your coloration? What are you a puppy?" He asked. "You actually worry that you're some kind of monster, don't you?"

I flared my snakes into a big headdress. "Don't I look monstrous?"

"Squeal about your lip gloss and shiny colored nails again," he deadpanned. "That was monstrous."

"Okay, I'm not a monster. Just don't offer to hug me again."

"A change of topic seems in order. What did the Clinic have to say about your tricks? You glossed that part over."

I described the various tests Dr. Adelaide conducted, finishing by saying, "They were surprised by my trick. Very few Twisted can directly affects others without touching them."

"Can you petrify multiple people at once?"

"I don't know," I realized.

"Do your targets have to look at you and do you have to look at your targets in order to petrify them?"

"I guess so."

"Which one? Both? Was that bird looking at you?"

I thought back to petrifying the bird and it was about to fly away from me so how could it have been looking at me? "No, the bird wasn't looking my way. Oh, the doctor measured the distance at which my gaze broke mirrors and it was just under sixteen feet."

"Medusa?" Mom called out from the kitchen.

"Yes, Mom," I called back after opening the door to the breezeway.

"Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Is Elliot staying for dinner?"

"Tell her, 'No'," Elliot said.

"He said, 'No'," I repeated. "I'll be there in a few minutes." I closed the door."

"You need to find out if you affect people looking away or standing behind you."

"At some point."

"No, let's start finding out now."

"How are we going to do that?"

He stood up and grabbed the measuring tape from a shelf and handed the roll to me and told me to stand by the door while he walked to the other side of the room holding the end. "How far apart are we?"

"Over nineteen feet," I read off the tape.

He turned around away from me, still holding the end of the tape measure in his hand, over his shoulder. "Turn on your trick and start walking toward me. If I turn to stone, stop walking toward me and record the distance. If you can affect people not looking at you we'll find out the range at which that works."

"And you'll be a statue for an hour."

"It'll only feel like five minutes by the time you get done with dinner. Besides, at some point you're going to zap me. May as well be on my terms the first time."

I sighed. "Okay, it's on," I said opening my inner eyelids. "Eighteen feet."

"Oh, that's good," he said. "It's like a countdown. If I don't petrify at the range the doctors said, try concentrating on petrifying me."

"Sixteen feet, so if you had a mirror facing me, it would have shattered about now," I commented. "Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten. I just noticed that strange psychedelic effect I usually have when my trick is active isn't doing anything to make you look weird. Nine, eight." And it happened. One second, there was nothing unusual and then suddenly I could see all these lines and swirls on Elliot's body and a split-second later the color drained from his flesh and he turned to stone. I snapped the lock on the tape measure, which read seven feet, two and a quarter inches. I put the tape measure down and walked over around to the front of Elliot and laughed. His head was tilted upward and slightly to the right. His eyes were closed and his mouth was puckered up for a kiss. I bent down a little and briefly kissed his stony lips. "I'll see you in an hour."

As I turned to go, I noticed the bird and reactivated my trick. The lines and swirls inside the bird were definitely regaining their strength and vibrancy. Closing my inner eyelids again, I left the garage, leaving the light on in case I could not get back in there before Elliot returned to normal, normal for him anyway. I went to the powder room and washed my hands. In the kitchen I sat in my usual seat.

"Did Elliot leave?" Mom asked. "I didn't hear him go."

Daddy interrupted, "Elliot was here? How did he react to the new you?"

"He's very supportive," I replied and rushed to keep the topic away from Elliot's whereabouts. "Of course, he can't stop flirting with me and I find that a bit annoying. On the one hand, he said I'm smokin' hot but he's still Elliot. We've done a lot of things together. He's like a brother to me. And to hear him using double entendres about me is odd. For example, when I tried to describe what having breasts feels like, he joked about feeling them himself. If any other guy were to make that kind of crack, I'd probably want to deck him. But, I know Elliot was just trying to treat me like I was one of the guys still."

"What are you going to do about it?" Mom asked.

"Nothing," I replied. "I'm hoping he's just as confused about how to act around me and that we'll fall into a new rhythm eventually. I mean, I hope he'll reach a point where he doesn't feel the need to use the 'If I said you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me' jokes any more."

Daddy cleared his throat and changed the subject, saying, "You'll be going to school tomorrow. The Clinic cleared you and your principal wants you to report to his office before first period. I'm going to drive you there in the morning. Be ready at 8:05 sharp."

"I only get one day off for twisting? Totally unfair!" I complained. "What's the principal want?"

"He is probably going to tell you he doesn't want find any statues temporary or otherwise on school grounds." Mom said. "I know when I went back to school I was told there better not be any high speed running through the halls while I was attending school."

"It's normal," Dad said. "Anyone with a semi-dangerous trick is given a warning to remind them to behave." After a pause, he said, "I can't believe the clothes you are wearing, Medusa."

"Gregory!" Mom exclaimed.

"It's okay, Mom," I stated. "Sometimes I can't believe it either. Besides, Daddy hasn't heard about my issues with fit pants and sleeves."

"Some kind of compulsion?" He asked.

I nodded. "I think we all were expecting to see me in a bunch of T-shirts and jeans. But, I just couldn’t stand to wear anything on my arms or anything wide on my shoulders. And I tried those tight fitting joggers and I just couldn't stand to pull them higher then my knees. Fitted pants were very irritating. I also seem to be drawn to leather and other animal skins."

"That doesn't explain the makeup."

"No, it doesn't," I admitted. "I'm just doing what you said: embracing the new me."

"Well, that's wonderful," Daddy exclaimed.

The conversation became a store by store description of our day. Daddy interrupted to see my fingernails up close and to see me walking in my snakeskin heels. After dinner, I had to clear the table and fill the dishwasher. Another chore only given a one-day reprieve after being Twisted.

Afterward, I returned to the garage. Elliot was still a statue. I glanced at the clock on my phone and guessed he still had another five or ten minutes. I walked over to him. The Clinic said I was stronger than normal. I tried to turn Elliot around. With a little effort, I had him facing my work area. I sat down on the stool next to my workbench. I could see how the tall stool would normally be hard to sit on in a tight skirt, but I was so tall that I could keep my legs together while sitting on the stool with both feet on the floor. I took out my phone and started the video recorder running.

A few minutes later, color seemed to flow into Elliot and he was no longer made of stone.

He opened his eyes and looked around. "That was freaky, dude," he stated. "How did you turn me around?"

"I just did," I replied putting down the camera and holding up an arm in a muscle pose. "I'm not as weak as I look. What was it like?"

"Rhymes is right. It's only because you told me I would be turning to stone that I believe I was stone." He stepped forward and retrieved the tape measure as he spoke. "I just felt like I couldn't move and it only felt like it lasted five minutes or so."

"Anything else?" I asked.

"I don't think so. Why? Did you grope me or something? I did feel you touching my arms just before I could move again. That must have been when you were turning me around." He glanced at the tape measure. "Your trick affected me a little over seven feet away, looking the other way, with my eyes closed. That seems to mean that you can petrify people who aren't looking at you. Now we need the opposite test."

"The opposite test?"

"Will someone walking up behind you become petrified if you are using your trick facing the opposite direction?"

"Do we have time for that? Don't you want to get home for dinner?"

At that moment, the bird on my bench regained its color almost instantly then it stumbled forward on its feet. It regained its balance and took flight.

"What time is it?" I demanded.

"Almost 7 o'clock," he replied looking at his phone.

"Really?" I thought about what time I came downstairs. "That was a little over fourteen hours."

"Fourteen hours? I thought you said it only lasts an hour."

"It does unless I mess with it." We watched the bird circle the garage and then settle down on a high shelf. I turned my attention back to Elliot. "Nobody else knows this, but my palms glow when my inner eyelids are open. Or maybe they always glow and I can only perceive the wavelengths necessary to see the glow when my inner eyelids are open. I touched the bird and nothing happened. Then I thought about my glow while touching the bird.

"Suddenly I felt warm all over and I felt comfortable and energized. I don't know how long I was in contact with the bird but Mom called me at that moment and I was startled. When I looked at the bird with my sight again, the lines and swirls were faint, barely visible. And afterward it took the bird fourteen hours to return to normal."

"You say you felt energized."

"Yeah, I felt good all over like I'd woken up from a great night's sleep and quickly downed a couple of energy drinks."

Elliot paused, "I don't know how to make this comment without potentially freaking you out but that sounds like you were draining the bird's vitality like some kind of vampire."

"I know," I nodded. "I'd been trying not to think about it. Is there a point where the bird would permanently be a statue? I don't know if I want to know."

"You have to know."

"You volunteering?"

"No, the bird is," Elliot said getting up. "I'm going to go outside. You do what you do to the bird and then drain it dry and then find him a nice perch."

"To spend eternity."

"I doubt the garage will last that long."

"I don't think this is a good idea."

"Of course it isn't. It's one of mine," Elliot joked. "But seriously, you need to know everything there is to know about yourself."

"All right. Go outside and close the door firmly."

"Call me in when you're done and you have the safety back on your eyelids," he said as he left the garage.

I got up and snatched the bird from the shelf. There were advantages to being really tall. I calmed the bird down before startling it. As it was about to take wing, I petrified it again. That scent of nutty ozone filled my nostrils. I turned the bird this way and that. His head was turned funny. Oh, well. I opened my inner lids again and looked at the bird. The lines along its neck reminded me of muscles. I placed my hands gently around the bird. Before concentrating on my palms, I evaluated the look of the bird with my sculptor's eye and wondered if he would look better with his head turned a little. I placed a hand on the side of its head and imagined the lines inside the bird were less curved, straightening on center while pushing gingerly on its head. The bird's head turned, facing how I intended.

I had just reshaped stone as easily as I would sculpt clay.

There was a soft knock at the door. I snapped my inner eyelids shut and called out, "Come in."

"Is it done?"

"No, I think I'm doing a different experiment, now."

"Oh? What happened?"

"Look at the bird," I said. "When I petrified it, his head was turned to the right at a sharp angle. I didn't like the way it looked so I turned it back forward."

"You turned the stone neck forward?"

"You know how I see these lines and swirls inside the stone?" I ask rhetorically. "Well, while lightly pressing against the side of its head, I imagined those lines which twisted with its neck to straighten out. And slowly its head turned back forward. It looks natural, doesn't it?"

"Sure, I couldn't tell it was modified."

"Well, the experiment now is to find out if the bird survives my messing with its anatomy while its made of stone."

"Right," he seemed to understand. "For all you know, you snapped its neck or ruptured a bunch of cells in its neck. Hopefully it worked or an hour from now you might have a bloody mess on your workbench."

"I know."

"Okay, time for the next experiment. You go stand where I was facing the garage door and I'll sneak up behind you."

"Why don't I just stand over here again?"

"Because there's a lot of reflective metal over here. There's none over by the door. If you remember the myth, Perseus observed Medusa in a polished bronze shield. Your trick shatters glass mirrors but it doesn't affect any of the metal in this garage."

"You think I could petrify myself in a metal mirror?"

"We can test that tomorrow."

"We can?"

"All we need is a toaster or some other shiny appliance."

"I guess I shouldn't use my trick in a kitchen."

"Stop stalling," he said giving me a playful pull. We walked over to the far side of the room. "Turn around and hold out your hand," he instructed. He put the tape measure in my hand and started walking away from me. "Shout out when I'm over sixteen feet away."

"That's sixteen," I called out. "I have my trick active. Start walking forward when ready."

"Okay, here I come," he started. "The sneaky thief is creeping up on the girl with the luscious body and snakes for hair."

"Ell-- ee-- ot!" I sternly intoned, emphasizing each syllable of his name individually.

"Shush, I'm narrating," he joked. "What malicious deeds ran through his mind? What salacious needs ran through his loin?"

"I'm warning you."

"Would she be startled to find him breathing down her neck or would some quantum force-- Oh," he said and was suddenly cut off. There was silence for a few seconds.

"Elliot?" I called. I called his name once more before looking at the tape measure to my right, moving the lock into place. I turned off my trick and turned around. "Seven feet, three and three-quarter inches. About the same distance either way." I had a sudden realization. "Elliot, we are idiots. We didn't test when someone is petrified head on. Just because the mirrors break at around 16 feet doesn't mean head on I would petrify someone sixteen feet away. Or fifteen feet, or fourteen feet. Any distance greater than seven and a quarter feet is purely speculation on our part."

I was pacing back and forth in front of him when the door to the garage suddenly opened.

"Oh, there you are," Daddy began as he stepped in and stopped. "I thought Elliot went home?"

"I never actually answered that question," I explained.

"And why is Elliot a statue?"

"He said I was making him stiff too many times," I joked. I had no idea that was about to jump out of my mouth.

"What?"

"I'm joking. We were experimenting. He insisted I need to know everything about my trick to know my limitations."

"Well, that sounds surprisingly wise coming from Elliot. It doesn’t explain why he’s crouched like that?"

"We only did two tests, since it takes an hour once he ends up like this."

"He was here through dinner?" Daddy asked.

"He was standing over there facing away."

"Okay. Now explain these experiments."

I explained the experiments in detail involving Elliot. I did not mention the bird at all. At the end, I asked, "Speaking of experiments, last night when I petrified you, how long did it last and how long did it seem to last?"

"It lasted about an hour as apparently is usual. You mother was in here talking the whole time so it felt like an hour went by before I could move again. Also, like Elliot said, I had no idea I was made of stone. I just couldn't move."

"Oh," I exclaimed. "I wonder if this time Elliot will feel the whole hour going by since we're talking in front of him."

"Probably," Daddy answered. "When he can move again get him into the kitchen. I'll have Mom reheat something. I will not send him home this late without giving him supper."

"Thank you, Daddy," I said sweetly.

Nonplussed, he gave a perfunctory, "You're welcome. Carry on," he added as he left.

I felt ambivalent about using such a sweet, girly tone on Daddy. I really didn’t want to become one of those girls who wraps their father around the finger. I felt a little dirty pulling that voice on him. At the same time, I didn’t want to get in trouble for omitting the fact that Elliot was a statue in the garage while we ate.

I turned to look at him and said, "You're always making my life interesting. I'll give you that."

My comment was met with stony silence.

I turned Elliot so he was facing my workbench. Rather than just wait, I experimented with my hairsnakes. I poured an assortment of screws and bolts out of a jar onto the workbench and attempted to sort them into piles using my snakes. With my eyes closed, I instructed the four long snakes directly, shifting my focus from snake to snake. I was talking about how I was thinking about naming the snakes and other trivialities just to keep Elliot aware of how much time was passing.

Eventually, the bird was flapping its wings and taking flight again. I had forgotten all about the bird. I followed it over where it was perched and managed to get a hold of it. It appeared to be turning its head from side to side without a problem.

"I've got food for Elliot when he's ready," called Mom from the kitchen.

"It'll be a few more minutes," I called back.

I returned to the screws on the workbench. Before the bird interrupted I had started getting some of the snakes to work independently of my explicit commands. I concentrated fully on the task and lost track of time because when I was done, Elliot was standing there video recording what I was doing with his phone.

"You have got to see this video," Elliot said, hitting a few buttons on the camera.

"Inside," I said pointing toward the house. "Mom insists on feeding you before you go home."

"I know," he said as he handed me the phone. As we sat down inside and I started the video.

"So, now you're a scientist?" Mom asked Elliot.

"Mad scientist," he insisted. "What's point of being a scientist if you can't take over the world?"

"Well, Medusa's trick is dangerous so be careful."

"We were just testing her limits. She can affect people she's not looking at or who aren't looking at her within seven feet."

"Did you speed this up?" I interrupted.

"No," Elliot exclaimed. "Your snakes were moving that fast. When I could move, I whipped out the camera because you were obviously not paying attention to me. I know you started out with just a couple of the snakes working but how did you coordinate so many at the same time."

"What are you talking about?" Mom asked.

I paused the video and slid the slider back a moment. Then I handed the phone to Mom.

"I didn't coordinate them. They joined in on the task on their own as they understood what to do. I would have to correct some of them as they didn't all realize there was a difference between screws and bolts. But eventually, I was just supervising them without really giving directions."

"I've got to show this to your father," Mom said zipping out of the room with the phone.

"How long did it feel like you were stuck?" I asked.

"Almost an hour. When you were talking and practicing with your hair, time crawled along, probably at what is normal speed." He continued in a quieter voice, "I didn't see what happened when you were doing something with the bird. I didn't see any blood either."

"The bird seems fine." I started whispering, "It was turning its head normally. It was looking up and down. I'm not going to mention this to Mom and Dad yet."

"If you insist," he replied.

Daddy entered, "Honey, this is amazing. This is your phone, Elliot?" He handed back his phone as Elliot held out his hand. "Who knew how useful those snakes could be?" He added as he exited.

"Yeah, every teenage boy wants to have snakes for hair when they grow up," I muttered.

"Hey, none of that, Missy," Elliot admonished. "No one is going to mistake you for a teenage boy. And you know you enjoy finding out what you can do with those snakes."

"Well, maybe a little," I admitted.

"Oh, my!" Elliot exploded.

"What?"

"You just twirled a snake around your finger like it was long hair."

I looked at the snake in my hand and let it go, "No, I didn't."

Elliot laughed. "You're right. No, you didn't. I'm crazy."

I giggled like a school girl and was shocked by having done so.

Elliot looked down at his plate. "No comment, here."

I resisted the urge to run from the room. "Tell me, Elliot," I stated calmly. "What color do I turn when I blush?"

He looked up and laughed, "You actually are a deeper orange or rust at the moment."

"I thought so."

"Tomorrow, I have just the thing for testing your trick on yourself."

"Oh, I just remembered," I interrupted. "On my way to biology yesterday, I ran into Marie Applebottom and she wanted me to do a bust for her in clay."

"Marie Amplebottom was talking to Gordon Harrison?"

"Don't call her that."

"When were you supposed to start?"

"She's giving me a ride home Friday afternoon."

"Who knew Gordon was a heartbreaker?"

"Oh, please," I sighed.

"Do you still like girls?"

I didn't answer immediately. "I didn't think I was going to be dating Marie."

"That's not what I asked."

"I don't know. I haven't seen a guy I've gotten all flustered about. I also haven't seen a girl who did it either. Of course, other than going to the mall, I haven't seen a lot of people either."

Elliot got up from the table. "Well, don't sweat it, my good friend." He reached out to give me a hug and did so when I didn’t resist him. "I've got to go home. You usually clean up the table, right?"

I rolled my eyes at him as he scurried out the door. I cleared his plate. I went out to the garage and scooped up the screws and bolts and put them back where they belonged. The bird flew by. I forgot he was still flying around in here. I opened the overhead door and chased him out of the garage.

In my room, I took off my shoes and got undressed. I found my closet emptied of most of my old clothes and the new clothes we bought today hanging in their place. I picked up the pajama bottoms I had worn last night but it did not feel right to wear them. I went back to the closet and picked out a sleeveless nightgown that had caught my eye at the mall. I put it on and went to the bathroom to relieve myself and brush my teeth. The hairsnakes did not tire as quickly tonight and I managed to use them to do the whole job. I also removed my eye makeup and lipstick after Mom knocked at the door on her way by and reminded me to do so.

I didn’t feel like watching television or playing video games tonight. So I decided to turn in early. A parade of students reacting to the new me wandered through my mind as I tried to fall asleep. I imagined most of those reactions being poor.

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