Introduction: There are many people in the universe of The Wizard and Spells R Us who are not very happy with what he’s done to them. One transformee decides to take steps necessary to eliminate The Wizard once and for all. She gathers a group of equally disgruntled victims of The Wizard’s magic, and they try to put together a plan. Will they succeed?

Paul confronts his mother about what The Wizard may or may not have done to her. He’s pretty much on the mark as to what actually happened. Since he has her attention, he’s finally able to come out to her about his being transgender. She’s not happy and is convinced it’s The Wizard’s doing. Myrtle is convinced she can take The Wizard out. Tom confronts his parents about what caused their animosity. They didn’t read the instructions!

This story is another addition to The Cynthia Chronicles, Volume III. Cynthia (Cindy) Brewer has graduated from medical school. Randi Lewis at age 18 is starting work on her Master of Science in Chemistry, and Charli Brewer is 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 several years 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

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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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Cynthia and the Queen of the Knight
 

Chapter 8

“How’d the meeting go? You guys figured out a way to kill The Wizard, yet?”

“I don’t think I want to discuss it, Paul. Besides, how do you know what we’re trying to do?”

“For one thing, you’ve already told me as much. You told me that he is evil and that I should try to kill him if I got the chance. That’s a hell of a thing to tell your seventeen year old son; to tell him you would like him to be a murderer.

“Mom, we need to talk about some things. It’s time you stopped avoiding talking about things I’ve tried to bring up to you. You’ve been a good mother. I know you’ve had to work hard to get where you did with my father leaving before I was born, but I need some answers and I need to tell you some things I’ve been trying to tell you for a long time.”

“Things, what sort of things?” she said as she turned to her son. Sandra had been cleaning up after the meeting, and was placing the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

“Oh, like what the real reason is behind why you are so intent on killing The Wizard. We’ve met him by the way, and he seems like a pretty good fellow. I think he’s been very honest with us. Things like why we have to keep moving around so much. Things like my gender.” Sandra’s eyebrows raised and her eyes widened at that statement. “And things like who the hell were you before The Wizard changed you into a woman.”

The plate Sandra had been holding crashed to the floor, shattering into many pieces.

“How, what, when did you ever come up with a ridiculous idea like that?”

“Let’s cut the bull shit, Mom. You’re not trying to kill him because of his politics or his fashion sense, which I admit is lacking. You are not trying to kill him because he is illegally keeping a wolf as a pet. By the way, Wolf, not very original but that is his name, can talk quite well. Everyone in that group of yours was changed by The Wizard into someone of the opposite sex. I’m not sure about their genders being changed. I mean you never have seemed to show any interest in anyone of either sex. Your main interest I know now is your obsession with getting rid of His Wisdom. Yes, that is the proper form of address, in case you were wondering, and I probably know as much or more about him than you do.

“Mom, I love you very much, and I doubt that will change. I am nearly eighteen, and I think it’s time you told me the truth about your origin and mine as well. Who were you and what did you do to cause The Wizard to change you into this very attractive workaholic with a murderous bent. You can’t put this off any longer.”

“Paul, he is an evil, evil man. He’s done some horrible things to people against their wishes.”

“Mom, I know what he does, and as far as I know, he’s never murdered anyone. There’s frequently a lot of irony in what he does. I know there are many tales out there about him; however, evidence is lacking as far as being able to verify many of them. Based on writing styles and the preoccupation with certain things that some authors write about, I’d bet 80 percent or more of the tales out there are purely fabrications of the authors’ imaginations.

“Okay, I’ll ask again. What did you do to make him turn you into an attractive, intelligent, and eaten up with her work mother?”

“I don’t think I want to tell you.”

“Okay then, I’ll tell you what I think. Of course you’re welcome to correct any errors in my guessing. I imagine you raped some poor girl and ….”

“Please stop. I never raped anyone. I’ll tell you what happened. Let’s go into the dining room.” Sandra poured a glass of wine for herself. “Would you like some?”

“I don’t think so; we had a couple of six packs at Tom’s house.”

“Paul!”

“Just kidding, we just had some soft drinks.

“So, what happened?”

“I was your age and starting quarterback for my high school. I had everything, a college scholarship at Stanford and a potential pro career. I also had a very willing girlfriend. She was cute, intelligent, but not too smart, if you know what I mean. She thought she was in love with me, or maybe she saw me as a ticket to wealth. I don’t really know for sure.

“Maybe we were both caught up in the sex thing. She was my first, and we couldn’t get enough of each other as far as sex was concerned. We used condoms most of the time; however, I forgot to get some when we went on a date. She didn’t want to have sex because she was afraid of getting pregnant; however, I had learned my lessons well and knew all her hot buttons. She was putty in my hands. Needless to say, she called me two weeks later to say she was pregnant.” Sandra took a sip of her wine.

“School was over, and I had a job as a life guard at our country club. Thankfully, her parents weren’t members. I didn’t really know what to do. She kept calling me, but I refused to answer. I was in the local mall when I saw her, and I ducked into guess whose shop. That was more than eighteen years ago. I remember it like yesterday.”

“Come in Sanford. Help yourself to a soft drink. They’re in ice in that tub. I’ll be with you in a moment.”

Sanford (Sandy) looked around the quaint shop with aisles and shelves filled with things he had no idea what for. His attention was brought back to the elderly, strange looking man who had parted the curtains. He was followed by what Sanford thought was an enormous German Sheppard.

“Anything here I can interest you in?”

“No sir,” Sandy said. “What do I owe you for the coke?”

“Consider it part of the deal. Just ducking in for a moment? Too hot out there for you?”

“No sir, I just didn’t want to meet someone.”

“I understand. Are you okay?”

“A little dizzy all of a sudden. May I sit down somewhere?”

“Sure, come to the back. You’ll be over it in a minute.”

“That was an understatement. I sat on his couch as the changes set in. I didn’t realize at first what was happening. Then I looked down and saw my breasts pushing out my blouse for the first time. I had become a young woman.”

“You won’t be able to do or say anything for a few minutes, Sandra, The Wizard said. “That is your name now. You have always been Sandra Knight in this universe. You still have the same family, the same house, the same country club, and scholarship to Stanford. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to use the latter. It seems you are pregnant.

“Getting drunk at that party was a poor decision on your part. No one will ever know but you and I, and anyone else you tell, who the father is.”

“Who is the father?” I managed to say.

“Why, you are my dear, and that girl you dumped is the genetic mother; however, the honor of motherhood is yours. I have given you some memories to help you get on with the rest of your life. It won’t be easy, but things might work out very well if you apply yourself.

“Your ex-girlfriend was never pregnant in this universe, and you were barely acquaintances. You should be ready to face the world in a few minutes. Your car is where you left it. It is a bit more conservative than it was before.”

“I left the shop, and almost in a trance, found my way to my car, a newer model Edsel.

“I had to tell my parents about my pregnancy, and I was essentially disowned at that moment. I was lectured about the usual things. You’ve heard it all before. The car was mine. Your grandfather gave me ten thousand dollars, and paid for my medical expenses. I never saw them again. I went to work in a fast food restaurant, you want fries with that? They gave me time off to give birth to you. I balanced raising you with my job, and going to school at night. As you remember, at twenty-eight I had my law degree, passed the bar, and set up my practice.”

“So, actually, you are my father as well as my mother.”

“I was the contributor of the “Y” chromosome. The “X” chromosome came from Carol. So, genetically, she was your mother, except in this universe, that never happened. If they ever looked at your genetics, I sure it would drive a geneticist crazy.”

“Mom, I don’t understand what you are so mad about.”

“My future was taken from me. I probably would have gone to the NFL.”

“Other than the fact you never played college football, how did you know that would have been the case?”

“Suppose you’d never walked into that shop and just left my mother to her resources. Who knows what might have happened? I hate to think of the alternatives. I might never have been born. You might have been maimed playing football, and never had a career at all. This is where we are today, and I think you did very well. I’m very happy that you decided to have me. You’ve been a pretty good mother in spite of not listening to me when I wanted to talk to you about things.”

“I don’t think I understand what you mean.”

“Mom, how old am I?”

“You’re almost eighteen. Why?”

“Look at me, really look at me. How old am I?”

“I know you’re not maturing as quickly as some your age, but you look fine to me.”

“I stopped my puberty three years ago. I still haven’t started shaving.”

“Stopped your puberty, how can that happen.”

“I’ve been taking testosterone blockers.”

“You’ve what!”

“Mom this is what I’ve been trying to tell you for all these years. I’m transgender. Inside I’m a girl.”

“That son-of-a-bitch got to you, didn’t he?”

“No, Mom, he didn’t get to me. I’ve been this way all my life. I didn’t even know about The Wizard until six or seven years ago. I’ve been studying about him ever since. That’s why I know so much about him.”

“This shit stops right now. I want those pills. I’m going to make an appointment with my doctor for you. We’ll get you straightened out right away.

“I can’t imagine what your friends will think when they find out about this. You will be a laughing stock.”

“Tom has known for more than three years. He’s cool and so are Ivan and Pappy.” Paul was not about to mention that Ivan was also transgender. Then he realized The Wizard had to know, too.

Later that night Paul could hear his mother sobbing in her bedroom. I guess that didn’t go as well as I’d hoped it would, he thought.

Chapter 9

The next morning Paul gave his mother his complete supply of Finasteride.

“You don’t have any more of this,” she asked.

“No, that’s it.”

Paul had never in the past done anything to deceive his mother; however, there was a first time for everything. He maintained his goal of preventing any further masculinization and doubled his dose of spironolactone. His studies had revealed that it was estrogenic and might even increase any feminization already occurring. Once his mother had calmed down a bit he would tell her that when he reached eighteen, he would continue with his transition. He was definitely not going back, and she could do nothing about it. Meanwhile, he’d have to keep the peace as best he could. It was not going to be easy.

“Mom, Dad, we need to talk.”

“Sure, Tom,” his Father said, “you know you can always talk to us about anything.”

“That may change after what you hear me say.”

“That serious,” his mother said. “You haven’t gotten some sweet young thing pregnant, have you?”

“No, nothing of the sort; we need to talk about your past and why you are so hell bent on killing The Wizard.”

“Oh,” was the simultaneous reply from his parents.

“Look, Paul, Ivan, Pappy and I know what’s going on, and we have a very good idea about everyone in that group of yours. For reasons we don’t know, every one of you was changed. I don’t really care about what happened or why. We just want you to know that it doesn’t matter. I guess what bothers us more is why you think it’s necessary to kill The Wizard.

“We’ve met him and talked with him, and he doesn’t strike us as being particularly evil. Paul and Ivan know quite a bit about him, and they’ve told Pappy and me what he does and what to expect.”

“I’m curious,” Tom’s mother said. “What is your relationship with Paul? Are you gay?”

“Paul is my best friend. He just happens to be transgender, and, no, I am not gay. Why?”

“Sandra Knight called a while ago, and she is very upset. Apparently, Paul, told her about his being transgender, and she is certain The Wizard caused it.”

“I don’t think he works that way. If he wanted to do something to Ms. Knight, he would have done it to her. Being transgender is just an accident of birth. There’s not much that can be done about it other than to try to make physical corrections to allow you to get your body in the correct alignment with your body.

“If he wanted to turn Paul into a woman, he would have done it just like he did to a bunch of the members of your group. He would never harm Paul because of a bone he had to pick with Ms. Knight. Paul’s being transgender has nothing to do with what’s gone on with the others in your group.”

“Why do you know so much about your friend’s condition?” his father asked.

“I think you just answered your own question. Paul is my friend. He confided in me many years ago. I will support him any way I can. What he is experiencing is not easy. Friends help friends. I intend to help Paul any way I can.

“There is something going on that involves all of us. It is very complicated, and The Wizard is at the core of it. I don’t, we don’t think we need to fight what’s going on.

“How many of the group have you lost over the last few weeks?”

“Six, not including your mother and me. After the meeting last night, we’re thinking that we’ll drop out, too. Some of the actions suggested are far too severe and dangerous for everyone, especially the four of you.”

“I’m curious about something. What did you and mom do to get you into this situation.”

“We didn’t read the instructions.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Isaacson, I’ll be right with you. Don’t mind Wolf and Padrona, and the puppies. If the puppies start jumping on you, tell them to stop. They understand English quite well. They are a bit spoiled. If you give them some dog biscuits, they’ll behave. They’re only three, and you know how three-year olds are.”

Jim and Nancy Isaacson looked at the six puppies who were politely sitting in front of them. Three of them looked like the enormous wolf, and three looked like the rather large Rottweiler-Bull Mastiff mixed breed. They were politely sitting to one side while Jim opened the large cookie jar containing the dog biscuits. By this time the puppies were sitting on their haunches in a cute begging position. Jim handed a biscuit to each of the puppies, and they immediately began to devour them.

“Children,” Padrona said, “remember what I taught you.”

“Thank you Mr. Isaacson,” the six puppies said in unison before returning to their snacks.

“I’m glad you got to see them,” The Wizard said as he parted the beaded curtain separating the front and back of the shop. “They’re usually traipsing all over the Arctic with some of their cousins this time of year.

“Now, what can I do for you?”

“I’m impressed,” Nancy Isaacson said as she watched the canine family retreat to the back of the shop. “That’s quite a ventriloquist act you have going there, and they are so well trained.”

“Oh no, they are really talking. I’m a pretty good ventriloquist, but I don’t do it very often. There just isn’t any need to do it these days with Ed Sullivan gone.

“I think you came in here looking for something to spice up the romance in your bedroom. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“How did you know that?” Jim asked.

“I’m a Wizard, and I know these things. Drat, I get so tired of trying to explain this to everyone.

“Okay, I think I have exactly what you need. Now where did I put those?” The Wizard started rummaging around in a cabinet. “Oh my, I’ve been looking for those for year,” he said placing a box on the counter as he continued to look through things.

“Ugh, what are those?” Nancy said peering into the small box filled with what looked like dried up lizard tails.

“Dried blue tailed skink tails, first harvest. They’re the finest. Second growth tails would never do. I’ve been looking for those for over fifty years. I really need an assistant to help me get this mess straightened out.”

“What on earth are they for?” Nancy asked.

“They’re great for removing ear wax. I have a jar of that somewhere around here. They’re also good for removing warts and relieving menstrual pain.

“Ah here they are right under the box of belly button lint.” He placed two small boxes on the counter and put the lizard tails back where he’d found them. The rectangular boxes had a clear plastic tops, and through them, Jim and Nancy could see two fancy garters, very similar to what one would see brides wear at their wedding as ‘something blue’; however, in this case, one was blue and the other was pink.

“Let’s see,” The Wizard said running them by a scanner. “They’re $19.95 each, but I have a special on these. It would be $29.95 for the pair.”

“What exactly do they do?” Sam asked.

“You wear the pink garter on your arm when you make love, and Nancy wears the blue one. Each of you will feel what the other feels. There are some other things, so be sure to read the instructions. There are no warranties implied or otherwise; however, I assure you that they will work as I said.”

“As you are well aware, your mother and I enjoy our bedroom activities very much. We were young, this was before you were born, and we couldn’t wait to try them out. What The Wizard said was absolutely true. Neither of us had any idea what the experience was like for the other. It was so good that we did it three more times before passing out.

“We decided we’d try it the next night without the garters so that we could compare notes so to speak. The problem was that nothing seemed to work right. I was like impotent –nothing – I literally couldn’t feel one bit of sexual sensation. Your mother was feeling, or not feeling the same thing. Then we discovered if we played with the other’s erogenous zones that the feelings of arousal were transmitted back to us. It got very complicated, but we found we could make it work.”

“When did you read the instructions?” Tom asked. It was a bit embarrassing discussing his parent’s love life with them.

“That afternoon, needless to say there was an admonition about wearing them only once a day when making love, and resetting them the next day by switching garters; again only making love only once while wearing them,” his father said.

“There were many other things, implications that we didn’t understand until much later,” his mother added. “Once we got into the rhythm of things, we made it work quite well. The first hint of impending disaster was a couple of weeks later. Your father became very grouchy, not at all like himself, and then I realized my period had started and hadn’t been aware of it.”

“I think I can see where this is going. You got pregnant with me didn’t you, except you didn’t feel it,” Tom said looking at his father and mother.

“You have that right,” his father said. “I experienced everything: morning sickness, swollen breasts except they weren’t swollen, labor pains, the full experience.”

“And, I felt very little other than the weight gain. I was a bit sore after giving birth to you, and your father walked real funny for a few days. I felt very little while nursing you and your father suffered from the constant stimulation of my uterus. We tried to find The Wizard, but were unable to until I was pregnant with your sister. He was sympathetic, but as we had failed to follow the instructions, there wasn’t much he could do. We felt he didn’t really care, and I was devastated that I could not experience most of the physical sensation of carry a child, giving birth, and nursing.”

“And, I was certainly sympathetic to what a woman goes through; however, I am still male,” his father said. “Somehow we’ve managed to have two more children; however, your mother would like to experience carrying a child, and I’m a bit tired of it.”

“I’ll bet His Wisdom can fix things if you approach him the right way.

“There’s something else going on here that doesn’t make sense. According to Paul, Wolf’s wife had those puppies just a few years ago. Magic animals seem to mature much more slowly. The Wizard must have gone back in time to give you those garters. He knew exactly what was going to happen. You were set up.”

“Well we’re down to six, maybe we’d better make that five,” Sandra said while glancing toward Barbara. Barbara was texting one of her sister dancers, telling her that she would be returning to Las Vegas the next afternoon. As sympathetic as the members of the group were, they realized that Barbara was barely functioning at a fifth grade level. She never would be able operate at a level they needed to carry out what they intended to do.

“Myrtle, were you able to get what you needed?”

“Piece of cake. Even though I’ve changed, my old acquaintances haven’t. Besides, money talks. They don’t think I can handle it, but I proved them wrong. I haven’t lost a thing. I tried it out at a private range. That wizard is dead meat. We just need a place to pull this off.” Myrtle was rubbing an obviously sore shoulder as she spoke.

“Here’s a copy of a topographic map my son obtained for the nature project they’re doing. There are some good elevated positions that have line of sight to the parking area and some sort of structure. I imagine you’ll want to check out the whole area.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that ASAP,” Myrtle replied while taking the map from Sandra.

“I’m going to talk to my son’s friend to see if we can convince him to cooperate in helping us get rid of that old SOB.

Tom couldn’t help checking Ms. Knight out as she let him into their nice two story home. She had called a few minutes before saying that she wanted to talk to him in private while Paul was out running errands for her. She was definitely a MILF. Her figure didn’t show any excess fat even though she was probably in her middle thirties. Her coal black hair accentuated her perfect complexion, and she was definitely stacked. Tom remembered his hormonal reaction to her the first time he’d met her nearly four years before. She was just as attractive now as she had been then.

“Would you like something to drink? I have some iced tea.”

“Thank you, unsweetened please.”

“I wanted to talk to you about Paul. He told me some rather startling things about himself, and I thought as his best friend, you might be able to enlighten me about what’s been going on.”

“I’m not sure that I should. I mean that is personal information.”

“Tom, you are an intelligent young man, and you shouldn’t be afraid of me. But you know that as a mother of a young man I have a right to be concerned.

“I feel that The Wizard has done him a terrible thing about making him think he is transgender. Were you aware of that situation?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“How long has he had this fixation, these thoughts?”

“From what he told me, all his life. I knew four years ago.”

“He told me he was taking drugs. I took them from him this morning. Were you aware he was taking drugs?”

“They’re not really drugs. They’re just something that keeps him from turning into a man. I told him he needed to see a doctor.”

“Thank you for doing that. We have an appointment for later this week. I just don’t know how I can undo what that horrible wizard did to him.

“I don’t know what I did to make that wizard hate me so much that he would hurt my son the way he has. If you can do anything to bring him back to me I would be eternally grateful to you.”

“I’ll do my best, Ma’am.”

“Thank you. How’s your project going?”

“Very well. I think we’ll start more detailed exploration this Saturday. We’re going to have to lay out plats so that we can plot our data, and we want to take a preliminary look at the cave. Mr. Temple obtained permission from the park service to allow us to enter the cave. I think the local park superintendent is going to meet with us. He’s Ranger Bettencourt. We’re going to meet at 8:00 AM.

“Who’s this Mr. Temple?”

“He’s our instructor. He’s a very nice man. He’s young like you are.”

“Thank you, for the compliment.”

“Paul, it went almost exactly like you said it would. She is definitely worried about you. She’s convinced The Wizard has done that to you.”

“I think suggesting going to the doctor was a good idea,” Paul said. “If he’s any sort of doctor at all he’ll know what being transgender is all about. Maybe he can talk some sense into Mom so she’ll drop this whole thing.

“I found out something interesting. Mom is actually my genetic father. He got a girl pregnant with me, and The Wizard changed him into Mom and put me inside her. Mom’s pissed because she never got to play football in college or with the pros. Here she is a beautiful, high paid lawyer. She could have everything, and she’s pissed because she can’t play football. Jesus I wish she’d get a life.”

Next: Barbara meets The Wizard in Las Vegas. Things go very well. Sandra Knight meets Bob Temple after the Friday night football game. Things do not go quite as well. She finds out he’s known The Wizard for a long time. What possibly could be Bob Temple’s interest in Sandra Knight?