Introduction: This is another story in the Cynthia Chronicles series. Other stories in the series are An Incremental Journey, Cynthia and the Reluctant Girlfriend, Cynthia and the Dumpster Diver, Cynthia and the Moment of Truth, Cynthia and the High School Years - Part I, Cynthia and the High School Years - Part II, Charli and the Girl Cave, Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling, Randi and the College Professor, Adam and the Three Wishes, Lisa and the Culinary Quest (aka Howard and the Completed pass), Cynthia and the Solicitous Sisters-in-Law, Cynthia and the Queen of the Knight, and Cynthia and the Dropped Ball. The time frame of this story follows about three to four years after Charli and the Girl Cave. This story takes place a little more than a year after Bobbie Anderson wins the (British) Open and about ten years after Simoné and the Second Time Around.

Marti and Lanu hope that the dance will give them an opportunity to find out who the transgender youth is. Unfortunately. That person doesn’t show up. Lanu steps in to prevent unwanted advances toward Edna.

Fortunately, there were no blisters to be treated by the medical staff. Tamesha had developed a small one on the way up. Marti adjusted her shoes to fit better and Lanu fixed the blister. They did the same for two other members of their party. Those two were never aware of what happened.

Some of the camp members had gone on a fishing expedition along the Santa Ana River and they’d even managed to catch a few trout. One of stipulations was that if you caught a trout and intended to keep it you had to clean it. That immediately meant there was quite a bit of ‘catch and release. Some of the ‘fishermen’ were quite experienced and knew how clean them. One girl hooked and expertly played a very large brown trout estimated to be between three and four pounds. There was a quick picture and the trout was safely released back to the river. That fish was the talk of the camp that evening, and the picture hit the internet very quickly. There was a very proud father back in Indiana.

Marti and Lanu were considering bringing The Wizard in on their discovery; however, as Rhonda reminded them, they weren’t really sure who the missexed person was. They’d have to do further investigation before they stuck their neck out too far. There just might be an opportunity to find out who it was that Saturday.

As dances go, it was a pretty tame affair. If some of the teenage boys thought they were going to take advantage of the girls, they had another thought coming. The rules were that the party was limited to the dining hall and the patio. Leaving that area was not allowed.

The weather was pleasant enough; however, it wasn’t long before the outside air chilled and brought most of the group inside. There was the usual assortment of fast and slow dances including the latest craze. There was no one in particular who appealed to either Marti or Lanu, and they essentially played the field while trying to locate the source of the problem they had noticed a couple of days before.

“Is this everyone from your camp,” Lanu asked her partner from the previous dance. They were having a cup of punch, and he’d politely poured a cup for her first. He was a nice kid. That was evident right away; however, he didn’t interest Lanu that much. None of them did.

“No, there are several who didn’t want to come. They’re missing out on a lot of fun.

“Do you want to dance the next one?”

“Thank you for asking, but I think I will sit this one out.”

The reason for her wanting to sit it out was across the floor. She got the distress call from Edna who was looking at her with pleading eyes. The dance was slow and her dance partner was trying to take advantage of it. The lights weren’t that bright and his hand had slid down to her nice buttock. She had slapped his hand away but it was creeping downward again. Lanu decided it was time for action. She cast a little obscuring spell around the couple and then proceeded to cut in. Edna gave her a thank you smile as the lothario looked at Lanu in rather leering stare.

“Well hello baby, I’ve been checking you out all night. I’m glad you finally decided to dance with a real man rather than with that wimp you were dancing with earlier. That bodacious bod of yours is going to get what it’s been begging for all night.”

“First of all, Jimmy, I am not your baby, and when I’m with a real man I will know it, and it is certainly not you.”

“Why, you bitch, how dare ….”

Lanu silenced him by placing her right index finger over his lips. “Second of all you will never be able to use the “B” word again when describing a female in a derogatory manner.

“Now, when a girl says no she means no whether she says it orally or silently by her actions.

“By the way, you won’t be able to say anything unless I let you, and you won’t be able to discuss this little meeting with anyone. There’s no one here besides that girl you tried to molest and two other people whom I won’t identify that know what’s going on between us.

“Let’s see, you are eighteen and a counselor. You should probably resign immediately. Even if you did get a fifteen year-old girl to go to bed with you willingly you would be guilty of statutory rape. That’s the law. It might be a bit different in Europe; however, they’re a bit better with sex education over there.

“I see you were going to use the ploy that a girl never gets pregnant the first time. If you believed that, which you don’t, at least I’ll give you credit for that, I have an atoll in the South Pacific that I would be glad to sell to you. It’s only dry at low tide thanks to global warming. I see you don’t believe in that. You need to get an education rather than trying to get young girls pregnant.

“You wanted to get off? Well, you just did as I can see by the expression on your face. You’d better go clean up before too much shows through. Then go sit in that corner until your group leaves. I’ll expect your resignation tomorrow. Be careful driving home.”

The humbled Jimmy headed for the restroom.

“Boy, you guys show no mercy, do you,” Rhonda said after watching and listening to what had transpired.

“Cindy told me what she did to a guy in high school that was very similar to what Lanu just did.” Marti said. “The good side to that little episode was that he straightened up and became a decent guy. He married one of her best friend’s sister. They have a bunch of kids. He loves her with his heart and soul. Cindy made it impossible for him to say he loved a woman unless he really did.”

“What about this other thing?” Rhonda asked. “He’s not here, is he?”

“Apparently not,” Lanu said. “One of the fellows I was dancing with said that several had stayed at the camp. He’s probably there moping in some corner.”

“What other thing?” Edna asked.

“There’s a fellow who should have been born a girl. He’s been abused by his parents; we could read that much. We’re not sure who he is. He was in that group that passed us the other day on the way to Dry Lake. He might be in the group that will be climbing San Gorgonio with us next week. If not, we may have to take more drastic measures. If nothing else, we need to talk to him and ease his mind about things. If he’s from the east coast we can steer him to my sister’s clinic. They can work their magic there.”

“I take it you’re talking real magic.”

“Absolutely.”

“I have a girlfriend who is in the process of transitioning. She told her parents when she was quite young, long before she realized that there was still a stigma attached to such things. They’ve been very supportive. There are only a couple of us who know her story. She’s been very lucky and she’s as cute as a bug.

“She told me that she’d read about a wizard who turned boys into girls. He was known for turning men and boys into bimbos. She said that if she had to be an airhead, she’d accept that just as long as she could marry and have children. She’s going to have surgery next year. Is that magic you’re talking about like that?”

“Yes, he’s real, but he only does the bimbo thing in extreme cases, and even then he will usually take that mind control away when the lesson is learned. He never reverses the physical transformation, though. There is one unique exception that involves Lanu’s great-great many times aunt and her wife/husband. They have three children with another on the way. They trade off being father and mother; however, once the baby raising is through, they like to stay as women. The children don’t have any problem with that.

“You’re from Los Gatos, Right?”

“Yes.”

“Is your friend from there?”

“Yes, we’re in school together.”

“Okay, I’m going to ask The Wizard if he can do anything. We’ll take care of things when we get back to the cabin.”

As more and more had become the routine, Marti and Lanu were the last ones to shower. It was easy to manipulate things so that no one thought anything about the fact they were the last ones to leave. It just gave them some privacy to talk about things without having to have anyone else around.

“I think you need to tell me a bit more about my aunt. You just said that she and her husband had remarried.”

“I said she and her husband/wife lived in Romania with their children. Simoné and Nicolae were very much in love and married in 1880. They never had children as much as they wanted them. Nicolae was sterile due to the mumps. He died in 1907. Simoné lived a very rich life in Europe, some might say rather wild. She never went back to the US until 10 years ago. That was just after she met Ivana. They fell in love almost immediately. It wasn’t until about five months later that they discovered that Ivana was actually Nicolae reincarnated. The Wizard and his associates had Nicolae’s spirit transferred to Ivana’s embryo. She had seen Simoné’s image on some websites featuring attractive nudes of young women. The pictures had been posted unknown to Simoné. Ivana was compelled to find her. She couldn’t figure out why, but they finally found each other in Istanbul, and the rest is history.

“The pictures are pretty good. Simoné is quite attractive, as is her wife. The pictures are a bit more revealing than would be safe for work or school. She’d never thought they would be published; a bit naïve of her if you ask me. She got a bit nervous about the pictures and removed them from her lover’s computer and sent him on his way while not knowing he’d already sold them. She wasn’t aware that they’d been published until Ivana told her. I’m sure The Wizard and his group made sure they got together. The Wizard finally was able to get the pictures off the internet; however, it was more than he wanted to attempt to get them off private computers. I can show them to you if you want to see them. They are still accessible.”

“I think I’ll wait.

“You said they trade off being father and mother.”

“Yes, it’s a bit complicated. When they appear in public as the Count and Countess Enescu, they trade off. No one is any the wiser. In private, unless they decide to make a baby, they’re always Simoné and Ivana. You’re going to love them and their children.

“Just a minute, I want to ask His Wisdom a question.”

It took only seconds to access The Wizard on her phone. “Your Wisdom, I know you’ve following things and I appreciate your not interfering.”

“Thank you, you two have been doing a pretty good job so far. I like how Lanu handled that situation earlier this evening. I’d been attending to some vandals and it was on my computer when Wolf, Padrona and I returned. Well done.

“Now, what do you need?”

“We don’t need anything. It’s a friend of Edna’s. She’s been transitioning since she was a small girl. Her parents are very helpful. She knows about you, or at least she is aware of the myth. Edna didn’t tell us but I caught that her parents are not very well off, and it’s been a bit of a financial strain. Essentially, they are going to sacrifice what little they’ve saved for her college education for her surgery. They’ve agreed on that priority.”

“Do you know the girls name?”

“It’s Sydney Morrison. They live in Los Gatos.”

“Ah, yes, here it is. Mmmmmm, I’ll see what I can do. I have an opening tomorrow afternoon.”

Lanu and Marti could tell after dinner the next day something had happened. Edna was suddenly very happy about something. So happy it brought tears to her eyes. She confronted her friends as soon as they returned to the cabin. “I love you two so much,” she said while fiercely embracing them.

“Sydney texted me a while ago. She and her parents had gone to the mall, and they found a very quaint little shop.

“You told him didn’t you; you told The Wizard about Sydney.”

“Yes, I told him last night. Is Sydney okay?”

“More than okay, she’s ecstatic. The Wizard greeted them when they came in and asked them to come to the back for some refreshments. Her parents were a bit wary, especially when they saw The Wizard, but he eased their minds. Sydney said they had a very open and nice discussion about things. Suddenly she realized something was different. She couldn’t feel the pressure from her gaff, and her bra felt different. That was when she realized he’d changed her. Her mother realized what had happened almost immediately. He explained the rules, not that they would have been able to do anything, anyway.

“She was allowed to tell our friend that knew about her, and me what happened. I’m sure the same rules apply here. She wanted me to thank you for what you did and hopes that she will be able to meet you someday.

“One other thing, The Wizard gave them a Power Ball ticket that someone had thrown away. It didn’t have the Power Ball but it had all the other numbers. Her college education is taken care of.

The troops climb Mt. San Gorgonio, at 11,500 feet the highest peak in Southern California. The unhappy hiker is in the group that passes them on the trail. He is not very communicative, and the girls realize something serious is probably going to happen.