Suppose the Wizard of Spells ‘R’ Us is only a small part of a big picture. Suppose there are many wizards working among many universes. Maybe they are like sub-contractors hired to do special tasks; however, much of what they do may be due to their own perversities. I think the Wizard has been wrongly maligned. He is old and tired and sometimes he lets his sense of irony get out of hand. Still most of his clients benefit from his spells even if they don’t realize it right away. For those who attempt to cheat the wizard or trick him, that is a completely different matter. It’s no holds barred. If he wants to turn axe murderers into vacuous bimbos, that is just fine. There are many politicians and lawyers out there who would provide far better service as call girls and escorts as long as they were disease free.
Let’s take the case of Alfred Gontarski who has had the misfortune to have been born into the wrong body. Circumstances may have had something to do with it, but basically he is a misanthropic clod who feels sorry for himself and little for anyone else. It wasn’t Al’s fault he was born in the wrong body; however, he hasn’t handled it very well. Well, Al has stumbled upon Spells ‘R’ Us and the Wizard. What Al doesn’t realize is that maybe he didn’t stumble at all. Maybe there is a reason for him being there, a reason that may take more than this tale for him to find out. Whatever the reason is, Al is going to have an interesting ride.
Hopefully, there haven’t been too many violations of the universe created by Bill Hart perpetrated in the revelations in this story. Robert A. Heinlein proposed that each time an author takes to the pen, a new universe is created and I guess I will beg the number of the beast that this universe is just a variation of SRU.
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.
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.
He was basically an insensitive, self-centered clod, and it was a bit strange for him to be out shopping like this. In years past he’d handed a catalogue to his personal secretary and had her order gifts for everyone. The gifts would be presented at the austere pre-Christmas party and probably many would be re-gifted later on.
Al wasn’t much for parties, and after greeting his employees he usually scuttled back to his inner sanctum where he would lose himself in his internet wanderings.
So what was he doing out shopping in a mall like this? Susan could have done it on the internet like she did before. In fact, earlier that morning he’d had the catalog in hand and was going to give it to her. Suddenly he found himself putting on his coat. “Susan, I am going to be out for a while. If I don’t get back, make sure no one leaves early. Stan Lewis is in charge if anything comes up.”
“Stan isn’t here. He’s at the hospital sitting with his daughter. Don’t you remember? He and his wife have been there almost constantly since their little girl almost drowned. She’s still in a coma and they say there have been no signs of improvement.”
“Okay, then, tell Arnold Goldman he’s in charge until I get back. You don’t need me around here anyway.
That’s right, he had forgotten. Hadn’t he sent some flowers or didn’t he have Susan send some? What was the little girl’s name anyway? It was Cynthia. He was pretty sure of it. Now he remembered. She had fallen through some ice and it had taken the rescuers more than 30 minutes to recover her near lifeless form. That was a real shame. The Lewis’s seemed like real nice people and Stan had been with the firm for a long time. He was going to have to follow up.
He had driven to a local mall that had seen better days and found the specialty shop. He ordered the gifts for his employees and made sure they would be delivered in time for the party.
The company’s presence in the community was not ostentatious. That is, they were not flashy, they didn’t have to be. They were just very, very good at what they did. Sales consistently ran around 100 million dollars a year. One didn’t see large billboards with grinning agents advertising their prowess. They didn’t have to as their reputation for being among the best was out there.
So, how had Al ended up with a multi-million dollar commercial real estate business? He’d graduated from college with a BA and MBA and specialized in real estate law. He’d sleepwalked through his courses and still managed to do very well. The fact was the only life he’d had, in spite of his parent’s encouragement to get out and mix with others, was real estate. No, that wasn’t right at all. The only life he enjoyed was the one going on in his imagination.
His parents loved him almost to excess. A product of a late in life pregnancy, he would be an only child. It was very obvious early on that he would be a large boy. It was easy for his parents to take him to work, as years before they had converted some extra office space into a nursery area and any of the employees with small children could take advantage of it if they wished. Over the years, several employees had. Other than the few children who stayed in the nursery, none of whom were Al’s age, Al never mixed with other children until he went to public school.
Even in kindergarten Al was much bigger than the other children. If you saw his class pictures, he was the one who was nearly a head taller than the others. He was large boned and by the time he reached junior high school, the coaches were drooling over the prospect of having this giant anchor the defensive and offensive lines on the football team. But Al could have cared less about football or any other testosterone driven athletic competition.
Several problems arose during his junior high and high school years. Because of his lack of desire for competitive sports either as a participant or supporter, many found his company undesirable. He became even more withdrawn as the company he really sought, the young female students, found him unattractive as a prospective boyfriend. The truth was, he just wanted female companionship.
Al became more and more withdrawn and found solace in the internet and food. By his sophomore year in high school he became known as ‘pear body’. He was 6’ 5” and weighed 320 pounds. Had he been in any sort of physical condition he might have been able to carry close to that weight; however, the bulk of his weight settled around his lower belly, hips and thighs.
He had no friends and sought no friends. He had walled himself away from any interpersonal relationships. He loved his parents but had withdrawn so much that he became almost like a roomer in his own home. He would show up for meals, do his homework and retreat to the world he found on the internet.
As good parents, they were obviously concerned about their withdrawn and possibly depressed son and after much protesting, Al agreed to see a counselor. His indifferent attitude toward the counselor wasn’t much help, however. The only thing the counselor could come up with was that Al was depressed about something he wouldn’t reveal. The counselor felt that Al was probably gay, and couldn’t come to terms with it; however, because of Al’s unwillingness to open up, it was only an educated guess.
After college, Al worked full time at the real estate firm. He easily passed the requirements for a real estate license, but due to his lack of desire for sales, he never ventured into that arena. Still, he knew what was going on, and he gradually took over the management aspects of the business from his parents. This amounted to tracking what the associates were doing, keeping the master files, and making sure that the salaries and bonuses were paid. He also collected a very tidy sum from every transaction. The percentage was small, but the number of dollars was very large.
His parents, although they had complete ownership of the company, had left the company’s operation to Al, though in truth, things pretty much ran themselves.
Tragedy struck when Al was 30. His parents had been deeply involved with Habitat for Humanity and while being flown to a remote site in central Africa the plane disappeared from the radar. The wreckage had never been found. Al was left on his own.
As he stood there, a rather plain looking woman in her late 20’s to early 30’s exited. He heard the tinkle of the bell over the door but it was the woman who caught his attention. She might have been a bit over-endowed; however, it was the expression on her face that he had focused on. She appeared a bit confused as she stopped a few feet outside the door and looked around. Her hands wandered up her blouse to her face and hair. She looked at her left hand and seemed to stare at the two rings.
Suddenly there were cries of “Mommy, Mommy” and three small children about three, five and eight rushed up to her. They were followed by a man (her husband?) who had a bright smile.
She hesitated for a moment and suddenly an equally bright smile formed on her face. The children were jumping around her excitedly talking about the movie they had just seen with their father.
As he watched, Al realized that the young mother wasn’t plain at all but rather attractive. She embraced her husband and hugged and kissed the two girls and small boy who rather reluctantly accepted the sign of affection. The family turned and the five walked hand in hand toward the mall exit.
That was all that Al needed to see. He walked quickly to the door and pushed it open. The mall fire inspectors obviously had not been doing their job, as inward opening doors were against the fire and life safety codes. He was greeted by the tinkling bell and stopped a few feet inside to take in the ambience of the shop.
It was like stepping out of a time machine. The floor to ceiling shelves along each wall were packed with who knows what. It was a cross of an old apothecary, hardware, toy shop and antique store. It could probably, no, no probably about it, it needed a good dusting.
He worked his way toward the counter at the rear, carefully avoiding the large, nearly black wolf stretched out on the floor. When the wolf slightly raised his head and curled his upper lip, exposing two large canines and other large teeth Al almost turned and fled. Had he known more about dogs and wolves, he would have realized that what he took as hostility was actually a friendly acknowledgment.
As near as he could tell no one was present in the front of the store but before he could reach the bell on the counter a voice came from behind the curtain. “I’ll be with you in a moment Al. I’ve some paper work coming in on the FAX, and the crystal ball is clanging for attention.”
The remarks sent shivers down Al’s spine. It was exactly as he had read. The wizard always knew who was coming into the store. There was another thing and that was that the store never appeared unless there was a reason for it to be there.
The beaded curtain parted and the wizened and a slightly bent man of undetermined age in a wizard’s robe that had seen better days appeared. “Yes, I know. The robe looks like hell. Look, I am flitting from one universe to another and flipping back and forth in various time continua, and I just don’t have time to get it replaced. The dry cleaners in this world do an awful job. The last time I was here, they broke three buttons and didn’t replace them. Well that clerk doesn’t have to worry about his acne any more. She’s making a lot more money as a cocktail waitress, and is a lot happier. Besides, a nice sugar daddy is going to sweep her off her feet and if I remember correctly, they will have a nice family.
“Now, Al, what should we do about your problem?” he said as he peered over the top of his wire rimmed glasses.
“Your Wisdom, I’m not sure what you mean by a problem.”
“Al, Al, Al, you had better think before you say anything like that again. You know where you are. You are standing in my shop, that to most, other than a 2:00 PM appointment, looks like a GNC store. I know a lot about you. I know your deepest desire, the desire to be the woman/girl you have believed you have been all your life.”
The wizard turned and walked from behind the counter over to the wolf where he tickled his side and chuckled as the wolf automatically tried to scratch the itch. “Al, I was getting some updates on you over the fax when you came in. My memory isn’t what it used to be 500 years ago, and I wanted to be sure about a few things before I took any action concerning your problem or should I say problems.”
“You say I have problems? I know of only one issue. I am in the wrong body, and my life is totally fucked up because of it.”
“I’m sorry Al, but that is not the case at all. Oh, your soul is female without a doubt. Unfortunately, you have never taken any time to learn what it is to be a human being. There are many people out there who have had the misfortune to be born in conflict with their body. It’s a difficult thing to have to deal with at best; however, most get on with their lives, have friends and make positive contributions to society. Unfortunately, there are too many universes, and too few of us to make all the corrections we wish we could make. There are universes we’ll never get to, and I am so sad about it.”
“Wait a minute,” Al fired back, “Are you telling me you do all these transformations out of the goodness of your heart? I’ve read about some of the stuff you do, turning guys into over inflated, mindless bimbos.”
“Al, most of what you read about me are urban myths generated by the overactive imaginations of some of the incompetent writers at some of those internet sites. We have no way of sorting through all the trash that’s out there. Yes, we have transformed some criminal elements into vacuous bimbos; however, they have been far more productive to society in that form than they had been in their previous forms. I guess I have once in a while allowed my sense of irony to allow some transitions go a way the persons involved hadn’t intended. I remember one where a fellow wanted to be the ideal lover for the girl whose attention he couldn’t get. He didn’t realize what he was asking for and ended up being her identical twin. They love and enjoy each other very much now.”
The wizard’s tone turned a bit more serious. “Now in your case there are some problems. First of all, Al, you’re not equipped to be a woman in this society. If I changed that little Y chromosome into an X chromosome, you would still be the same unsociable clod you are today, and that would be a terrible waste of some very good magic. Frankly, I don’t think you deserve to be a woman; however, I have my instructions.”
Al realized that if the wizard had instructions, the instructions had to be about his possible transformation. “It sounds to me as if your higher ups have told you what to do.” His confidence bolstered, he began to think it was out of the wizards hands. He was going to get what he wanted. “I know what I want and I think you have to do it,” he gloated.
“Al, you had better watch it. This attitude of yours needs to improve. I could turn you into a female toad and have you in a pond being amplexed by another toad in ten seconds. I always have the final say in these things, and I have a lot, let me repeat, a lot of latitude. I could have you walk out the front door with a sack of vitamins and you wouldn’t remember a thing about being here. There’s another thing, and that is the cost. These things aren’t cheap. We’re allowed to do some pro bono cases, but not very often.”
“Pro bono,” exclaimed Al, “You do pro bono work?”
“Certainly, it’s good PR. That woman who just left is an example. When she came in here he was a single father of two girls. His wife had been killed in an auto accident and he was very, very despondent. Tonight he was going to commit suicide and take the two little girls with him. His best friend since high school is a single dad, too. His wife left him saying motherhood wasn’t for her.
His friend volunteered to take the children to a movie and while they were there it was relatively easy to get him in here while they were at the show. Now, in this world, they have been married a little over a year and she is going to get pregnant tonight.” The wizard paused for a moment pulling a large linen hanky from a pocket that Al swore hadn’t been there before, dabbed his eyes and blew his nose. As soon as he replaced the hanky, the pocket disappeared.
“We had another one not too long ago that was almost as good. A Hell’s Angel biker is now a second grade teacher near here. She’s been married several years now. We did that one in the city park during a thunderstorm. It was a lot of fun.
"Now your case is different. There is much bad karma to overcome.” The wizard began shuffling through some papers that Al would have sworn weren’t on the countertop a moment before.
“We need to make sure everything is on the up and up. I have some paperwork here, the usual disclaimers and such. Let’s see, where is that invoice? Ah here it is. We are going to have to do a lot of temporal adjustments to make this work correctly. I hate it when I have to go back and eliminate paradoxes.
“These twenty-six pages describe the adjustments that have to be made. Initial each page at the bottom right in that blank and sign each copy on the last page. You do realize you will no longer operate the real estate company? This document lets us make the adjustments so that the company will continue to operate as a partnership with the current employees. This is the last document and it just says you are initiating the changes of your own free will. We don’t want you coming back and saying you were coerced in any way. The amount due is $1,075,000, though that does include sales tax.”
“Wow! Isn’t that a bit steep?” Al asked, protesting rather strongly.
“Al, you know what you want, and you can afford it, and after my appointment later this afternoon I am not sure if I will be back in this universe anytime soon. We do many of these changes at a loss, and have to rely on our wealthier patrons to keep the cash flow going in the right direction. I’m sure you can understand how that works.”
Al had always been a fairly logical person when it came to business; however, his desire to be a woman, to correct the physical anomaly he had been saddled with his entire life, overrode any semblance of logical thought, and for sure, Al hadn’t thought things out very well at all. He knew one thing, and one thing only. The wizard was real…and he was standing in his shop. He was going to get his gender problem straightened out at last. He quickly initialed the papers where indicated, and signed them on the appropriate lines. Getting out his check book, he asked, “Who do I make this out to?”
“Make that out to ‘Spells ‘R’ Us’.”
“You may have a problem with this going through. I don’t write checks for this amount very often.”
“There won’t be any problem at all. I just run it through this check machine,” he said, indicating a device next to the old brass cash register. He inserted the check in a slot, entered an amount and the check was drawn through and then released. “See? The amount has been deducted from your account and all is in order. Nothing to it, I just tweaked a few circuits and it went right through. Here, you can have the check as a receipt.”
“So what do you do now, wave that magic wand of yours and say some mumbo jumbo?”
“Al, you’re starting to get on my nerves. Things will happen when they’re supposed to happen. Don’t question how we do things. I suggest you leave now. Here, take this shawl. It’s getting cold, and you should keep your shoulders warm.” The wizard draped a woolen shawl over Al’s shoulders. Al never considered the fact the wizard didn’t have to reach up to do it.
As Al walked out the door and listened to the bell tinkle as he opened and closed the door, he suddenly realized something. He had just written a check for over a million dollars without giving it much thought. What about all the rest of his money, his funds, condominium, car?
Suddenly, he had a lot of questions. He turned and looked into the bright lights of the wide open GNC store. ‘Spells ‘R’ Us’ was gone.
Looking around, nothing looked right. He realized it had to be his dirty glasses. Glasses! He didn’t wear glasses. His hands reached up and removed the dowdy frames. ‘Jesus! My hands, what’s wrong with my hands?’ The fingers were boney and the joints seemed disproportionally large. His skin was pale and the blue veins stood out. The nails were painted with bright red enamel and they were certainly longer than he normally wore them.
He turned to the window next to the opening at GNC, looking futilely for his reflection. All he could see was the usual mass of shoppers and one elderly lady staring open mouthed at him. He brought his hand up to his face, a motion mimicked by the lady reflected in the window. She had to be in her 70’s.
‘What sort of rip off is this? This isn’t right.’ He looked downward over two obvious but somewhat unevenly sagging breasts. He was wearing a fashionless dress, and below that he could see some opaque hose and walking shoes. ‘What did the wizard do to me?’
One shock piled on another. His hands dropped from his face to his breasts. There was a serious problem. His hands could feel the two mounds but the mounds felt nothing. ‘What is this? Am I just a short man in a dress?’
His thoughts were short circuited by some loud voices.
“Here she is! I found her.”
Al turned to see a woman with a name tag on her breast approaching. “Maddy, Maddy, how many times have I told you to stay with the group? If you keep doing this, we won’t be able to bring you to the mall to shop. You’re going to have to stay at the home.”
The next thing she knew was being escorted to a group of elderly men and women and herded onto a small bus. Al found a seat at the rear. The bus departed for an unknown destination. Al knew no one on the bus.
Apparently she was supposed to be hard of hearing, because Al could overhear everything the two escorts were saying and they were talking rather loudly about Maddy, whoever she was.
“I don’t think we can let Maddy go on these trips with us anymore. She’s showing all the signs of Stage II Alzheimer’s. I don’t think she knows who we are, and I’m not sure she knows who she is. When I found her it was almost as if she was in a trance. We need to get an evaluation before we take any further chances with her.”
“I agree, Ethel. The home can’t stand to have another case like we had a couple of years ago when ‘Old Man Dawson’ wandered off and froze to death before we could find him. We may have to have Maddy transferred to a nursing home where they can keep closer watch on her.”
Well one thing for sure was that Maddy/Al didn’t have a clue who she was. A quick investigation had already proven to her (dis)satisfaction that the equipment she used to carry between her legs was no longer there. Instead, there was a fleshy area with the appropriate opening. Inside her panties there was also an absorbent pad. Maddy was slightly incontinent.
She realized she was carrying a small purse and opened it to find a little makeup, a wallet and a coin purse. Inside the wallet, along with some credit cards, were several forms of identification: a Social Security card, Medicare identification and an old driver’s license. Her name was Madeline Franken. She was 82 years old. She also found a key to what she assumed was her room.
The small bus finally arrived at an attractive facility that Maddy assumed was her home. There seemed to be some subconscious guidance going on as the group entered the lobby area. She looked around and then headed for one of the halls where she found her room on the left, about half way down the hall. Beyond the door she found a small efficiency apartment with a small but complete kitchenette and a small dining table. Beyond was a sitting area with a wide screen TV. An open door revealed a nicely furnished bedroom with a small closet and full bath. The closet contained a small wardrobe of fashionless clothing and equally undistinguished shoes.
A strange sensation suddenly awakened Maddy to the fact she needed to go to the bathroom. Again, a subtle automatic pilot took over. She raised her dress and lowered her panties and sat on the ring. Urination came naturally, and she reached over to a plastic bag that contained underwear pads. She discarded the pad from her panties and replaced it with a dry one. After cleaning up and flushing, curiosity got the better of her.
She stood in front of the bathroom mirror, unbuttoned her dress and hung it on a hook behind the door. She was fairly erect, and osteoporosis did not seem to be a problem; however, something did not seem right. She pulled her slip off and then she could see it. Her breasts were not right and then she saw the edges of the scars. Beneath the padded cups there were no breasts, only scars left from a double mastectomy done many years before.
Maddy was devastated. What had that wizard done to her? What had she done to deserve this? She sat on the toilet seat and sobbed.
Thanks again to Holly H. Hart for her very professional assistance.
Portia Bennett
Thanks again to Holly for her enlightening editing.
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.
Al searched her little apartment for anything that could help her figure out what to do. There was a small complement of dishes and utensils in the kitchen. The food supply was limited and she realized this person whose body she was currently occupying had most of her meals in the dining room. There were no pictures of people on the walls, table or desk top. A search through the small desk revealed that she was a ‘Miss’. Apparently, she’d never married and had no near relatives. There was a retirement account and the money from that was paying her monthly fees. The retirement home was not cheap.
A daily bulletin related a bunch of crap about the various residents: 60th anniversaries, great grandchildren, 95th birthdays and the like. There was a menu showing what was available for the evening meal. It didn’t look too bad and she noted there was going to be a Bingo tournament after dinner. She turned on the television and sat in a very comfortable easy chair.
The television was on the Food Channel, her favorite in the past. This time she didn’t pay much attention. She had a bigger problem. The escorts on the mall trip were probably telling the administrator of this ‘country club’ that Maddy was losing it and had wandered off again at the mall. Damn, she didn’t wander off. That wizard had somehow put her in Maddy’s body. If that was the case, what happened to her old body? ‘Wait a minute, the wizard said he was going to have to go back and make sure there weren’t any paradoxes, or at least fix them.’ No, she’d been changed into Maddy and Al Gontarski did not exist in this universe. At least he didn’t exist any longer. She would have to see if she could figure out what had happened to him.
She was going to have to think of herself only in the feminine gender from now on. After all, that was what she had wanted. It was just that she didn’t want it this way. She knew that if she were sent to a nursing home, that her chances of getting to the mall and the wizard would be slim. She was going to have to convince the administration there was nothing wrong with her, or at least that her mental condition was strong enough to let her stay. She needed a computer and wasn’t sure if there was one available.
Rummaging around, she found her check book. It hadn’t been kept up, and it took several minutes to get the balance. She was receiving a nice monthly deposit from her retirement fund and a major portion of that went to the retirement home. Still, there was a healthy balance, and if there was no computer available she should be able to buy one. Considering some of the web sites she visited, it would probably be best if she purchased her own computer, regardless; however, her main purpose of getting to the internet would be to find out what happened to Alfred Gontarski, and when.
There was still an hour before supper and Maddy knew she would have to familiarize herself with the personnel working at the retirement home. There was a small loosely bound book on the desk and she found it explained just about everything she needed to know about the facility. She noted that instead of being called a retirement home, the place was an assisted living home.
She found the directory of key personnel and quickly memorized the list. ‘Now I am going to have to put these names with faces.’ She remembered that the employees she had seen so far had rather prominent name tags and that would make things much easier. She couldn’t afford to have anyone think she was losing her cognitive powers. There was going to be a serious problem with the residents, though. She didn’t know any of them. Maybe she could fake it.
On the back of the entry door to her room there was an evacuation diagram and she quickly memorized it before stepping out. The layout was actually quite simple. There were residence halls leading away from the central reception area, a large dining room with a large kitchen attached, a laundry facility, offices and a large sitting area.
Maddy started wandering around the building. Her neighbors, a husband and wife, were leaving their room too and Maddy said, “Good afternoon.” The couple seemed surprised that Maddy would talk to them, and mumbled a response.
She wandered into an adjacent hall where she found a beautician’s shop. Next to it was the office of the ‘Activities Director’. Maddy could see her working at her desk, and decided to see if she could start here. This was the lady who had first approached her in the mall. Maddy knocked on the door.
“Come in, oh, hi Maddy. How are you?”
”I’m doing fine. I just wanted to apologize about what happened at the mall. I ran into someone I knew from many years ago and she told me about some mutual friends who had recently passed away. I started to think about my own mortality and I guess I sort of zoned out.” If the Activities Director noted Maddy was using words that most 82 year olds wouldn’t have in their vocabulary, she didn’t indicate it.
“That must have been something, running into someone you knew here so far from your home.”
‘Oops, I had better learn more about Maddy’s past before I say something that could get me in trouble’ “Yes, the whole thing was a rather disturbing. It was so many years ago when I had last seen them.
“I do have a question. Is there a computer available for me to use. I’ve decided I need something to do besides watching television.”
“Maddy, you never do anything with the other residents. All you do is stay in your room, come to the meals and go to the mall. You’re not getting your money’s worth of we have to offer here. You could be staying in a small apartment and eat frozen meals for half of what it costs to live here. Why don’t you get out of your hole and join in on a few things. They’re playing Bingo tonight after dinner. Why don’t you join us? Maybe you will make some friends.”
“Bingo’s a stupid game. There’s no skill involved.”
“That’s not the point. It’s a chance to have fun and mix with other people. The game is nothing. It’s all the other stuff going on that makes it worthwhile. Unlike you, there are some folks whose income is very limited. After they pay the rent and their healthcare expenses they can’t afford to do much else. The thrill of winning a small prize means a lot to them. Give it a try. It might surprise you.
“As far as computers go, there is the one in the media room, but it’s on the fritz at the moment. None of the internet programs are working. I am surprised you didn’t know it was there.”
“How long has it been out of commission?” Maddy asked.
“A week or so; it was in the bulletin.”
“Would you mind if I looked at it? I used to work in IT and I know a little about them even if I am old and out of touch.”
“Go right ahead. The repair service keeps putting us off. The other residents would appreciate it. Many of them use it for emails and internet activities. It would be very nice if you could do something.”
“I’ll work on it tomorrow morning. I think supper is going to start soon and then there is Bingo.” Maddy found her way to the dining room. She side-stepped through the cafeteria style line and selected her meal. For some reason, she selected only a fraction she would have taken before her transformation.
One of the dining room staff took her tray as she tried to find a place to sit. She noted that no one acknowledged her other than a slight nod. There were no invitations to join others at their tables. She found a small table by the window and the waiter set her food at her place. The food was acceptable, not great.
After dinner many of the residents hung around in the sitting room while the staff cleaned the dining room and converted it to a Bingo parlor. Maddy decided to linger and see what all the fuss was about. After all, it really was a stupid game. As she watched, certain rituals became evident. Some players had to have certain cards, and others had to sit at certain tables. Some would play one card and some played as many as four or five. ‘What a mess,’ she thought.
There was the simple Bingo that Maddy remembered from her previous life. Then there were all these variations: make an ‘X’, ‘B’s’ only, etc. It was around the third game when Maddy noticed something about a little bent over lady who was sitting directly in front of her. She had glasses that looked like the proverbial soft drink bottle bottoms. She was also wearing two hearing aids. She had shouted “Bingo”, only to find out she didn’t have it. One of the helpers was checking her numbers. “I’m sorry Gretta, you covered ‘B-7’ and the number was ‘B-9’." Gretta was very disappointed. She seemed to be close to tears.
Maddy turned to a helper who was standing by her. “She can’t see very well, can she?”
“Who?”
“That lady, the one who didn’t have a bingo.”
“That’s Gretta McNally. She has very limited vision and doesn’t hear well at all. It’s the same thing every time. She can’t read the numbers, and misses half the calls. It’s a shame because she really wants to play.”
“Maybe she needs some help. I’ll see what I can do.” Maddy sat in an empty spot next to Gretta. “Hi, Gretta, I’m Maddy Franken. Do you mind if I help you? It must be very difficult to see those numbers in this lighting, and I think you missed a Bingo in the previous game when you didn’t hear the number.”
“Thank you, Maddy. I’ve seen you around here, but we haven’t had a chance to talk. My husband used to help me play, but he passed away earlier this year. I don’t win nearly as often now that he’s gone. I think he was a good luck charm."
It was an interesting and fun time, Maddy had to admit. She was able to hear the calls and point out where the numbers were on Gretta’s card, and the best part was when Gretta won the ‘cover all’. There was a $125 prize, and Gretta was ecstatic. The small crowd cheered her as she made her way to the front to collect her winnings. As the group broke up for the evening, Gretta gave Maddy a hug while thanking her for her help.
Maddy retreated to her room for the evening, and for some reason, felt like smiling. Her smile was quickly erased as she undressed and looked in the mirror. She might have been an attractive woman at one time; however, it was difficult to see. She had little muscle tone, and her arm muscles hung, hidden by the almost translucent skin. There were sags everywhere. Her belly sagged. Her butt sagged. She wouldn’t have minded having saggy breasts; however, there was nothing but scar tissue.
Her bath had both a tub and shower, and she opted for the shower. There were rails to hold onto, and a portable seat. Obviously this was the way Maddy had been using it. Maddy realized she wasn’t that steady, and was thankful for the assists. As her shower progressed, exploring her scars was only cursory; however, in the warmth, she tried to see if she could elicit any response from below. She quickly determined that the soap was irritating, and her explorations ceased.
She found a formless nightgown and donned it over her panties with their ever-present absorbent pad. The whole process was very annoying. Lying in bed, she thought about the day’s events. This morning she had been a fat, ugly, giant of a man, and now she was an 82 year old, breastless woman living in an assisted living home. She had to get back to the mall and find that wizard. She would have to find a way to make him correct the problem. She didn’t pay a million dollars to become a woman who was a lot closer to death’s door than she wanted to think about.
Her dreams didn’t change too much from what they had been in the past. Most dreams are pretty ridiculous if you examined them closely. Her dreams that night were no different. Most of the time, her dreams did not dwell on her gender. Previously, she might be a man, woman or small child. She was happy if she was female, and unhappy as a male. There was one dream that was a little out of the ordinary, though. She could see or sense that she was in some sort of ill defined tunnel that faded away in both directions. She sensed one direction was forward and the other was back. She wasn’t very sure of what ‘forward’ or ‘back’ meant. She knew one thing. She was very lonely.
She started walking, if it could be called walking, no, it was more like floating. It was like a balloon that had lost most of its helium. It would just float along, neither rising nor falling.
Then she had a companion, and it more or less appeared out of nothing. It was mostly light suspended at her side. She thought she could detect a form in the center of the light. It seemed to be humanoid in shape but it was very ill defined. The light seemed to pulse slightly.
“Hi, Alfred, how’s it going?”
“Okay, this is a dream, right?”
“Well, in a way it is. This is the only way I can contact you at the moment. Later on, there will be other ways, but we won’t worry about that now.”
“Who, what are you?”
“That’s difficult to put into words. I guess the easiest thing to say is I am sort of a spirit or soul. I’m what’s left after the body is gone and what there is before the body is created. I am going to be your guide for a while. We have a lot of ground to cover, and I will be with you when you’re ready to start your journey. That will be a while yet. I guess I just wanted to say hello and let you know I am around.
“I know you’re a bit disturbed about all this; however, there is a reason. The best advice I can give you right now is to go with the flow. Don’t fight it. That was very nice what you did for Gretta, by the way.” Maddy retreated to more normal dreams after that.
The next morning Maddy again found herself on semi-autopilot as she prepared herself for the day. Breakfast wasn’t bad and she had good choices. As she looked for a place to sit she saw Gretta waving at her to have a seat. Breakfast was mainly small talk for a while. “Well, Maddy, what are you going to do today?”
“I am going to take a look at that computer and see if anything can be done to get it working correctly. I understand that no one has been able to get on the internet for a while.”
“I didn’t know you knew anything about computers. I never saw you using it.”
“I used to work with them a lot. Things haven’t changed that much. If I can fix it, maybe I can save this place some money."
Later, as Maddy approached the computer room a couple was coming out. “Don’t bother. It’s frozen up and you can’t get on the internet.”
Maddy smiled, “I’m going to give it a try. Maybe we can get it running.” The first thing Maddy did was reboot it. It took forever. It became obvious very quickly that a number of programs were corrupted. There were all sorts of things running in the background that Maddy couldn’t identify. She was not a computer expert, but she did know some tricks. Since the problems were only a little over a week old, she did a system restore, disc cleanup, and defrag. Then she downloaded Spybot © and ran it. There were several dozen Trojans and other spyware, and she removed those. It took about three hours but the computer was now humming along quite nicely. While she was on it, she went to a major computer manufacturer’s website and ordered a lap-top and some peripherals for use in her room. For the types of searches and internet activity she wanted to do, she would prefer to do it in private.
Maddy was a heroine to many of the residents, as the internet was the least expensive way for them to communicate with their friends and loved ones. By the time she was through, several residents were in line to get on line.
Her computer arrived two days later and she spent a few pleasant hours setting it up and getting the local cable TV company to allow her access to the internet. She planned on spending a lot of time on the internet. She needed to find out what happened to Alfred, and when. She needed to know what to confront the wizard with, when and if she ever found him. All she wanted was a normal life as a woman, and she figured she only had a few years at best in her current state.
Once on the internet, she found her favorite sites and bookmarked them for easy access. Going to FictionMania she did a search on SRU. She was amazed at how many stories there were. She had not really kept track of them. She started at the earliest story, and when she found one she felt might be authentic, she copied it into her computer file so that she could read it in detail later on. She hoped she might find a chink in the wizard’s armor, something that she could use to make her transformation more acceptable.
She broadened her search to other sites finding some of the same stories and also finding some new ones that seemed to be possibly authentic. She found one on the Master PC site that might prove to be helpful. Big Closet provided a couple of others.
Old habits die hard, and she soon found she was trying to catch up on the new postings at each of her past favorite sites. The stories didn’t seem to have the same bite they had in the past. Previously, she had wanted a transformation to make her be like she felt. Well, she was now female, and none of the transformation stories had the same impact. The ones that most closely matched her desires were the stories that included age regression.
Things changed again at dinner. Gretta McNally was with two other ladies (single ladies outnumbered men by a significant number at the home) and they motioned to Maddy to join them.
Gretta did the introductions. Maddy knew the two other ladies by name but had never talked to them. “Maddy,” asked Gretta, “we were wondering if you played Bridge. Our fourth had to move to a nursing home and we need a replacement.”
“I guess I know some of the basics but I have never really played.”
“We’ll teach you. You need to learn. I’m surprised you don’t know about all the Bridge playing that goes on here.”
So Maddy learned to play Bridge. They started her out with some of the basic bidding systems and lines of play. The artificial bidding systems would come later. The philosophy of the finesse confused her for a while but she quickly caught on. She was thankful her intellect had not been diminished by the transformation.
A special day was when her partner put her in a near impossible small slam. Maddy realized her only chance was to use an end play, and when she pulled it off, she was very pleased with herself. They were playing Duplicate Bridge at the time, and none of the other teams had managed to pull it off. It was the last hand of the night, and several members of the other teams had gathered around to watch the play. There was a subdued cheer when she brought the contract in. Her success enabled her and her partner to get second place in the tournament.
Thanks again to Holly for her enlightening editing.
This work is copyrighted by the author and any publication or distribution without the written consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.
Chapter 3
Maddy didn’t spend that much time on the internet, as she seemed to be more and more involved with activities in the retirement home. There were always those moments of regret when she prepared for bed and when she dressed in the morning; however, her time for regret seemed to be getting shorter and shorter.
She found that Alfred Gontarski had apparently died with his parents in the airplane crash in central Africa. She found the obituaries first, and then found several articles from the business sections written about the unusual terms of his parents’ wills that had stipulated if there was no survivor, meaning Alfred, in the event of their deaths, the real estate business was to go to the employees and associates. The six associates would receive equal portions of two thirds of the business, and the administrative personnel would divide the other third equally. Obviously, the wizard had to have done many ‘corrections’.
She took over the task of monitoring the common computer and making sure it wouldn’t get corrupted. She knew that many of the residents didn’t have a clue about the evil some people were inflicting on the internet. She encouraged the management to subscribe to one of the good virus protection programs, and they agreed. Regardless of the warnings she posted about downloading from unknown sites, things kept showing up. Many of the users were very naíve about these things. Maddy also set up a strong SPAM filter. Her surveillance prevented one couple from losing thousands of dollars to a Nigerian based scheme claiming that the couple was coming into a huge inheritance from a deceased relative they had never heard of.
Her weekly trips to the mall proved to be fruitless. She thought she saw Spells R Us in place of a shoe store, but when she looked again, it was just a shoe store. Still, she hoped she could confront the wizard and give him a piece of her mind. It wasn’t the money; obviously, she had little use for a lot in her current state. It was just the principle of the thing. She had been cheated, pure and simple. She hadn’t thought about it lately, as she had not been dwelling on the situation that much. The activities at the assisted living home seemed to be occupying her more and more.
Things took a downturn a few weeks later. Gretta had returned from the doctor and Maddy immediately knew something was very wrong. Maddy caught up with her as she was unlocking the door to her room.
“What is it, Gretta? I can tell something is wrong.”
“Come in and close the door.” Maddy closed the door and sat across from Gretta’s easy chair.
“Maddy, I have lived in fear of this all my adult life and now it has happened. I have breast cancer. I’ll be going in for surgery next week. There have been times today when I thought, ‘Why bother’. I might as well curl up and die. What’s the use? I’m old and don’t have much time left anyway.” Gretta was close to tears and Maddy wasn’t far behind.
“How old are you, Gretta? I can keep a secret.”
“I am 69, why?”
“How old do you think I am?”
“I don’t know. I never thought about it, I guess”
“I will be 83 next month. I am 14 years older than you, and there is no reason in the world you won’t live as long or longer. If you don’t take care of yourself, you will be cheating your family out of many years of love. I’ve seen your grandchildren, and they love you very much. Don’t you want to see them marry and have children of their own?
“I haven’t been as fortunate as you. I never married and have no family. I’ve spent all my life making money and avoiding relationships with others. Believe me, it’s not worth it.”
“What do you know about this sort of thing, Maddy?”
“I know a lot. I lost both of my breasts to cancer many years ago. I used to think that having breasts would be my badge of womanhood and because I didn’t have them, I would be less of a woman. I found out I was wrong. There is more to being a woman than I will ever experience in my lifetime, but I know I am a woman regardless of the fact I don’t have breasts. As a young woman, they have a lot more significance than they do now. You won’t be any less of a woman or person than you are now, if they have to take one or both of them.
“You are a good friend, Gretta, and I don’t want to lose you. You are going to do what the doctors say, and you’re going to get well. We’re going to continue to play Bingo and Bridge together, and you’re going to live to see your great grandchildren.” She stood and embraced Gretta, who was considerably shorter than she.
Maddy stayed with her at the hospital, helped her with her dressings and drain when the home’s nurse wasn’t available, and stayed by her side as she fought the effects of the chemo. She helped her select some wigs, and when the usual ones looked too much like wigs, she bought her one made of human hair that was as perfect as a wig could get.
The next few months continued in a fairly positive way. Gretta’s attitude continued to improve as did her health. The lymph node tests had been very good and the doctors decided there was no reason to remove her other breast. Gretta’s hair was growing back and at first the growth was quite curly.
The bus took the small group of shoppers to the mall as usual. The weather was pleasant, and Maddy and Gretta were standing near the covered entrance, waiting for the rest of the group to catch up to them. Maddy was watching a harried young mother trying to control her three year old while carrying several bags and a small infant. The three-year old was on the verge of a tantrum and was testing his independence. Maddy was walking toward the woman to offer her help when the little boy broke away.
Maddy was 83 years old, and certainly looked and felt it. She saw the approaching retirement home bus, and at the same time the little boy headed for the curb. There was only one thing to do, and she did it almost without thinking. She had the angle and threw herself at the little boy, knocking him back on the walk. Her momentum carried her into the path of the bus. The last sounds she heard before the bus struck her were the sounds of screams.
“Well, Al, that certainly was a spectacular way to go out. I’d ask you how you feel; however, in this form there is nothing physical to feel. We didn’t expect you to do that. You were supposed to have a heart attack a few weeks later.”
“What the hell is going on, and who and what are you?” She realized that the entity was just like the one she had dreamed about and had discarded as a figment.
“First of all there is no Hell. That’s just the product of some uninformed and overactive imaginations. I guess I could say you are dead. Well, the body you inhabited this last year is. You know, death of the physical body isn’t really that big a deal. Sometimes the physical pain is severe but that’s the physical thing about it. The body fights. It can’t help it. The important thing is you’re alive and ready to move on. As to what I am and you are: we are the spirits that give the body life, a persona.”
“I’m dead?”
“No, just that body you inhabited. It would have been dead long before, however, we worked a deal, and the previous owner was allowed to leave and move on while you were moved in. It’s all very complicated but the more you cycle through, the better you will understand how it works.”
“I think I am confused here. Are you saying that there is something like you and I that inhabits every body? I am having a little trouble with the math here.”
“There are a number of options. Spirits may move from universe to universe joining with the body of the equivalent of a human being on the planet they are on. There are billions of earthlike planets, by the way, just in this universe alone. Not all planets are in the same stage of development, though. Some are far advanced of this Earth, while others have millions, if not billions, of years before they reach this point.
“Spirits are mortal and pass on to other existences. Sometimes spirits are created at conception, and sometimes an existing spirit will move in the new body. You were a new one, and there was a little error. With the population explosion that has been happening on this planet, it’s difficult to keep track of things, and the entity who was monitoring your creation had just come from a world where reproduction was done by parthenogenesis. All babies are female in that world. You are female and should have been with a female body. Instead you were put with a male body. It does seem to be happening more and more these days. By the time we caught the error, it was too late to do anything about it.
“Damn!”
“By the way, that’s a meaningless expression. Anyway, if you look at the overall percentage error, the rate isn’t too bad. We know it’s difficult for those who are victims, and that is why we have the group you know as wizards out there to help correct these problems. Some, such as your wizard, do get a little out of control when they improvise too much. Still, they’re able to facilitate many corrections.”
Al was confused and perplexed. For over a year she had been Maddy Franken, and had actually become accustomed to the role. No, she had actually been happy for the first time in her life. Then she had to go kill herself saving a child from being hit by a bus. Now there was this. ‘What is going on?’
Al realized that although she had been carrying on a conversation with this ‘spirit’, words were not being spoken. They were words in her head, if she had a head. For that matter, she didn’t have a body, either. “Er, ah, Spirit or whatever you are, do I look like you?”
“If you could see yourself, I guess you would. The thing is I look to you the way you think I should look. You have to realize that you’re not really seeing or hearing things. You are not breathing, because you don’t need to. You are currently in a different dimension. Time and distance are considerably different here, and you’re just a bundle of energy that is maintained on a subatomic level.”
This was more than Al could handle, and she chose not to get into the details. Either she was having a hallucination brought on by the traumatic injuries she had experienced, or the spirit was telling the truth. “If I am dead as you say, when is my funeral?”
“Your funeral was four days after the body’s death. Do you want to go?”
“How can I go if there was a funeral already?”
“You forgot about what I said. Time and distance have little relevance here.”
“Yes, I would like to go,” Al said after a brief pause. “I think I would like to see what some people thought about me. Not that it really matters.”
“Okay, let’s go. This should be the right spot.” They faced a portion of the tunnel wall (if they had faces, if it really was a wall, and if they were in a tunnel). Al finally decided she wouldn’t think about it. The wall opened, and they were at the back of a church. Al couldn’t remember anything about religious preferences; however, they were in a church.
The service was interdenominational and quite nice. Al noticed a large contingency from the retirement home, and several people she didn’t recognize. The family of the little boy she saved was also there. Gretta was openly crying, and Al wished she could comfort her. The eulogy was very complimentary, and Al was pleased that she was obviously appreciated. Her too short stay had some positive results.
“I am going to call you Al for now, as that is the name your spirit was born with. You may want to change that later on. We have a lot to do, and it’s going to cover a lot of time in the world you’re from. We need to go places that you have little awareness of, or may have forgotten. You have much to learn.
“As I said earlier, we spirits are mortal. We gain strength and life through existing in harmony with others and working for the betterment of all and the sphere around us. Some spirits are defective. Things happen in their creation similar to birth defects in the biological world. There is an evaluation whenever the spirit leaves the body. You weren’t aware of it, but you were evaluated at the time of your physical death. Some spirits never continue. Some are relegated to a black hole where escape is impossible. The spirit that was Sadam Hussein was quick to join that group.
“Your original self had an opportunity for growth, but chose to withdraw and care little for anyone but yourself. It was our mistake that helped you along that route; however, many others in similar circumstances managed to overcome adversity and grow in spite of it. You are weak and might have just faded away after that one venture. As Maddy, I must say, you did far better than several thought you would. Your aura is much stronger now but you still have much to learn, and much to gain.”
They were back in the tunnel. Al tried to assess it in more detail. It was difficult to describe and she realized it was rather pointless to try. After all, who would she describe it to? She really wasn’t seeing anything anyway. It was just a sensory impression. Still, she had just seen her own funeral. Maybe all of this was being created in her brain in the fractions of a second it took her brain to die after she was struck by the bus. It was really a moot point. Dead, dying or a spirit being escorted by another spirit: it was all out of her control. What had the spirit said in the dream? That’s right: “Go with the flow.”
“That’s right, Al, go with the flow. Just let it take you. When it’s time, you will know.”
“What do you mean, ‘When it’s time….’?”
“Just what I said, when it’s time, you will know.”
“Know what?”
“I’m not going to keep repeating it. When it’s time, you will know. It’s as simple as that.”
That’s all Al needed — a cryptic spirit.
“Okay, Al, we need to go.”
Well, it’s back to being Al, and her dream companion from the first night as Maddy has returned. Perhaps it wasn’t a dream after all. Reconciled to whatever it is that she is going through, Al joins her companion on a lengthy and convoluted journey. She returns to her early school years and learns about someone who could have been a friend that she instead rejected.
Thanks again to Holly for her enlightening editing.
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.
Al had not been paying much attention. She was a bit put off by the spirit’s unwillingness to reveal anything. They were no longer in the tunnel. They were in what appeared to be a schoolyard. There was a group of boys playing softball in one area. They seemed to be a bit older than many of the other students and appeared to be having a good time. Some girls were playing kickball in another area. Some girls were playing hopscotch, and there was a younger group of girls, probably second or third graders, playing jacks.
Al realized she had been hearing the sounds of the playground activities. It was almost like a river tumbling over rapids, this chaotic mass of noise that would every once in a while eject a louder phrase or shout that could be separated into intelligible words or phrases. They seemed to be moving in on the jacks game and the sounds became more specifically related to what was going on.
“Chrissy, look, there’s that creepy Alfred Gontarski. He’ll probably come over here and want to play jacks. He’s such a dork.”
Al looked toward the bench against a retaining wall at the upper end of playground. There he sat, too big, too fat, too dour and too sad. The girls, Christine and Diane looked at him with obvious distaste. “Alfred,” sneered Diane, “why don’t you just go over and play with the other boys? We don’t want you here.”
The spirits watched the scene unfold before them. They could see that the young Al was nearly in tears. Then his expression changed to a malevolent scowl. He stood and walked towards the two girls, who were totally unprepared for what followed. He passed between them, and with a sweep of his foot, knocked the little metal jacks away, scattering them across the playground. Several fell through a grate-covered drain. The girls watched him with obvious disgust and then attempted to recover the lost jacks.
“Well, Al, that was certainly not the way to win friends and influence people, was it? What happened there?”
“They wouldn’t let me play with them,” Al said with a far away tone in his voice.
“Do you think your attitude might have had something to do with that? Let’s look at another day.”
There was a flicker, barely noticeable, and they were standing at the same place, but obviously on a different day. The girls were playing jacks again; however, there were several more involved in the game. Al was unable to see her former self anywhere in the area. There was another boy there, and it took Al a moment to realize who it was. It was Jackie Baldwin. Jackie was a bit strange, if Al remembered correctly. He wasn’t very handsome as a little boy, and he wasn’t any better looking as he got older.
Jackie stood there for a while watching the game. “That’s kinda neat how you do that. Can I try it?”
“Jackie, this is a girl’s game.”
“That’s okay. The boys don’t want me around. They keep on calling me a pansy. They told me to come over here and play with you. Since you’re a lot nicer than they are, I thought I would ask.”
Diane Hauswald, the one who had rejected Al previously, said, “We don’t want any icky boys playing with us, so why don’t you just leave?”
“What if I pretend to be a girl; you know, make believe?”
“Well, I guess that would be okay,” said Christine, looking at Diane. “You have to promise to be nice, not like that dorky Alfred Gontarski.”
“I promise.” said Jackie as she sat cross-legged with the four other girls, awaiting her turn with the ball and jacks.
“What happened?” asked the astonished Al.
“The problem, Al, is that it was always about taking, wanting, and never joining. You needed to gain rapport, that is, assume the protective coloration of the group. You always were demanding, never joining. Jackie let her feminine side show, and she eased into the group. You were a bull in a china shop.”
“So Jackie was like me. I never knew. He was always pestering me.”
“Jackie wanted to be with you, because she could sense something about you that many others could not. If you hadn’t been so self-centered, you might have found a true friend. However, you always shut Jackie out, just like you shut so many other people out.”
“You know, it was about a week before I went to the mall that Jackie called me. I just let it go to the answering machine. I think I was reading a story on the internet, and didn’t want to be bothered.”
“That’s right, Al, you didn’t want to be bothered.”
The scene suddenly changed, and it took a moment before Al realized where they were. They were in Al’s inner sanctum, the computer room in his condominium. At least it had been his in the time line where he hadn’t been killed along with his parents in the airplane crash. She wondered about that for a moment, then decided it was too complicated to think about. The Al in front of them was deeply engrossed in some story on one of his then favorite websites.
The phone rang, and the corporal Al glanced at the answering machine display. The display was easily read: John Baldwin, 555-0170. Al did not pick up, and the machine went through its recorded spiel.
The voice on the other end seemed almost frantic. “Al, this is Jackie, er, John Baldwin. I need to talk to you about something. It’s very important. I think I know something about you and it’s very important that we talk. I need your help and I think you need mine.
“It’s been a long time since high school, but you’re the only person I know that I think I can turn to. I’ve run out of options. Please call me tonight. I need your help. My number is 555-0170. Please, please call me.”
The Al at the computer turned to look at the display on the answering machine, then shrugged his shoulders and continued to read the image on the computer screen.
“I wonder what that was about? I remember the call. I think I thought it might have been some sort of come-on for the high school reunion or something like that. I didn’t think it could have been very important. I hadn’t seen or heard from him in nearly ten years.”
“Why didn’t you ask yourself what it was about then? I think we shall see what it was about.”
They seemed to flash back into the tunnel briefly, then they were in another room. A woman was at a desk writing something. She finished whatever it was, and stood while reading it over. When she turned, Al recognized her immediately. It was Jackie; there wasn’t any doubt about it. The full head of hair was obviously a wig, and the dress was ill-fitting. The bust didn’t look right, and the make-up was a bit garish.
Jackie turned to the bedside table where there was a glass, a bottle of Scotch and a bottle of prescription pills. Jackie sat on the edge of the bed and took the pills, washing them down with the Scotch. Al wanted to yell, wanted to stop her but she was powerless to do anything. The spirit refused to leave the scene before them and they watched the very intoxicated figure climb onto the bed. She was quietly sobbing and rolled onto her side in a semi-fetal position. The sobbing subsided, and gradually the breathing did too.
“Why did she do that?”
“Out of despair. She came out to her parents and they rejected her. You were her only hope. It’s interesting. Had you come out to your parents, they would have accepted you without question.”
“That’s great! Some woman I would have made at six foot five and 320 pounds. My transition would have been a joke. I never could reconcile how I looked to how I felt inside. No amount of hormones, cosmetic surgery, or sexual reassignment surgery would have made me comfortable with myself. I would have been a joke.
“Suppose I had answered that call, what good would it have done? What sort of life would either of us had? Besides, I am not gay, although I didn’t know about Jackie. What sort of life could either of us had?” Al asked angrily.
“You might have been able to give each other some comfort. Jackie really did like you, even if it was only a sisterly thing. There was nothing sexual about it. For sure, both of you would have gained a lot; things that would have been useful in future lives. Jackie probably could have transitioned successfully, and both of you would probably have been happy in an asexual way. Both of you have much to learn.”
“You keep saying I have a lot to learn. How do I apply all this alleged knowledge? Do I have a reference manual to refer to in future lives?”
“No,” the spirit replied. “Very few spirits ever have a connection to the world we’re in now when they’re in corpora. Running their current body is a major task in itself. There are subconscious controls and knowledge in place; however for first time spirits like you and Jackie, there is nothing to fall back on.
“Almost all of these cases are due to mix-ups at the time of insertion. You have to realize that once you get much beyond the basic building blocks of the universe, nothing is perfect. There are variations among all the universes. In some, what you call magic is almost non-existent. In others, what you call magic is common place. In most, like this universe, magic is controlled by few.
“Imperfections show up at very basic levels. Once detected, some can be fixed; however, many go undetected. There are evil or malfunctioning spirits, as well as very good spirits. I told you what can happen to the evil spirits.
“None of the time-lines we researched indicate you did anything to intervene with the actions you just saw. In fact, even in the universe where you were killed many years before, Jackie still committed suicide. There may be a universe out there where you did respond to the phone call and prevented Jackie’s suicide. Who’s to say what may have happened.
“Okay, I’ve been allowed to make a brief stop here.” They were in a hospital and Al suddenly realized it was a maternity ward. They passed through a wall into a room where a young mother was being assisted in feeding her newborn baby. The baby had a pink ribbon attached to what little hair was on her head.
“Support her head like you are and bring her up to your nipple. Rub the nipple on her lips and see what happens.”
As they watched, the baby’s mouth opened and pulled in the rather prominent nipple and portion of the areola.
“She certainly isn’t going to have any trouble nursing if she keeps reacting like that. How do you feel?”
“Fabulous! I’ve wanted to do this for so long. My breasts have been leaking for the last week or so and I got a tingling sensation in both breasts when her lips touched my nipple.”
”That’s wonderful! You’re having a let down reflex already. That is pretty unusual for this soon.”
Al was having a strong emotional response to what she had been witnessing. “Why did we stop here? That’s certainly a wonderful scene; however, what does it have to do with me? I don’t know those people.”
“Al, the little girl is Jackie. The insertion was flawless, and she is going to have a very nice life and be a mother, too. They wanted me to show you that. Now, we need to move on.”
Al’s life was a history of not being involved with others and she learns more about what might have happened had she. She and her companion visit another universe and follow the experiences of a family previously explored in The Heart of the Beholder and other stories. She learns a great deal about forgiveness, acceptance and love.
Thanks again to Holly for her enlightening editing.
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.
“Where are we now?”
“Where and when doesn’t really matter, and I don’t always know what’s going to happen. I just know where they want us to go, and when in the time continuum. I think we need to stop here.”
Al took in the scene around them. They were in what appeared to be the suburbs of a typical American city. The area was relatively flat, and the streets were broad and curbed. She thought she recognized some of the many trees as oak trees, others had lacey foliage and if she had known much about trees, she would have recognized them as Mesquites. The mystery for Al was solved when they settled into the middle area of a broad avenue. They were in Texas, a fact displayed on most of the license plates on the cars that whizzed by them. There was a sign proclaiming the speed limit was 40 miles per hour; however, the speed of choice seemed to be closer to 50 miles per hour.
Wondering why they were standing in the middle of a road with traffic oblivious to their existence passing around them and through them, Al took in more of the surroundings. She thought she caught sight of something, and then she knew it for sure. There was a small cat hiding in the shadow of an Oleander. It made several false starts before it raced for the other side.
“Shit, it’s not going to make it!” Al figuratively yelled. Several cars slammed on the brakes and others swerved to avoid the little, terrified critter. It managed to cross three lanes and the center turn lane but it just wasn’t to be. Almost safely to the shelter of the far side, cat and car met. There was an audible thump, and the little body was tossed to the gutter against the curb. The driver had made a weak attempt of swerving and braking, but it was far too late and too little. Instead of stopping, the auto sped off with the rest of the traffic.
Al felt terrible, yet there was nothing she could do about it. The cat was still alive and lay panting in the gutter. There was a nasty gash along one hip and there were probably other injuries as well. After five or six minutes the cat dragged itself over the concrete curb and managed to get up to the shade of a tree. That was as far as it could go. It lay there for the better part of an hour. There was no doubt many drivers and some of their passengers saw it. Several cars slowed, but then went on their way.
By this time Al was in agony. She hoped that the cat would die and end its, as well as her, misery. That was not to be. Al couldn’t feel the heat, but she knew it was hot. Finally a car slowed and almost stopped. The driver turned on the flashers then thought better of stopping. Instead, the car pulled into a driveway several hundred feet away.
The driver was a young woman. She got out and opened the trunk of the car where she retrieved a blanket. She cautiously approached the little form. If the cat was feral, it no longer had the energy to try to flee. It lifted its head, and uttered a quiet hiss that could probably be translated to, “I am hurt and don’t want to be bothered. Please let me die.”
“You’re not going to die, Little One; not if I can help it.” The woman gently covered the little cat and bundled it gently. It no longer had enough energy to fight back, although it did utter another little hiss. Gently cradling the cat, she placed it on the floor of her car, then carefully backed into the traffic and headed off.
Without any willful effort on Al’s part they followed the car to a veterinarian’s office several miles away. The woman rushed the cat inside.
The vet and assistant took the cat back to the operating room and a few minutes later the vet returned. “Mrs. Tankersley, it doesn’t look very good, and I’m not sure we can save it. The leg will have to go. The bones are shattered. If you want my advice, I would have her put down.”
“Can you save her?” asked Alice Tankersley wiping a tear from her eye.
“It will be difficult, but we can try.”
“Then try. She deserves a chance. I guess the estate sales aren’t going to have me as a customer for a while.”
They were back in the tunnel. “What’s the point of this? We don’t even know if the cat lived.”
“Oh, the cat lived. It was a close call, though.”
“I still don’t see why we are here. What do I have to do with this?”
“Not that much; however, you could have.”
“What do you mean? I didn’t hit that cat.”
“No, you didn’t; however, you were in the fourth car that passed after the cat was hit. You were attending a real estate conference in Arlington, and were returning to your motel.”
“I don’t remember that. Yes, I was in Arlington at a conference, but I wouldn’t have just driven by something like that, would I?”
“You did. It wouldn’t have made much difference as far as the cat was concerned, and it wouldn’t have ended up in a different home. The Tankersley’s spent their summer vacation money on the care of the cat. That is, instead of going on vacation, they paid for the medical care of the cat. No one complained, and the children eagerly waited until they could bring the little three legged cat into their home. That is where it is now, and it hardly knows that it is missing its right hind leg.
“Had you stopped and rescued the cat, the results would have been the same. You probably had what it cost to treat the cat in pocket change. The Tankersley’s often rescue and adopt injured pets, and in this case the cat would have still ended up in their house. The only difference is they would have been able to take a family vacation to Walt Disney World.
“You had a chance to make a difference but you didn’t.”
“Al, this is going to be a long path to follow, although time isn’t that important.” They were back in the tunnel and Al noticed that for the first time there was a ‘fork in the road’ so to speak. “We are going into a different universe,’ the spirit continued. “What you call magic is much rarer here than it was at one time. It’s a world close to yours in many ways and there is a story here that you need to experience.”
They were in another schoolyard which except for the fact was in a different universe, was virtually identical to the one Al had experienced when she was in grade school. There was a scene unfolding before them. Three boys were harassing a small, effeminate boy. They were teasing him and calling him ‘queer’ and ‘faggot’. Time sped up and now they were inside the school building. The little boy was going to the restroom and had been preceded there by one of the bullies. They watched as the unsuspecting boy was struck rather brutally in the face by a rapidly opening stall door. It was a very deliberate and cruel act.
The scene changed and now one of the previous harassers was trying to establish a friendship with the previously injured boy. What’s more, the friendship was quickly established.
“The little boy is gay after all, isn’t he,” stated Al. “In fact, they are both gay.”
“One would think so; however, that’s not the case. The blond boy is actually an intersexed girl. She is just starting to enter puberty, and the physical changes are just starting to show up. They are very much in love, by the way, and always will be. Both of them are a bit conflicted by the mutual attraction they feel; however, they have both come to the realization that there is nothing wrong with their friendship. The gender issues aren’t that important at the moment. Only their friendship is. It’s just going to take a while for this little drama to unfold.
“We need to move forward a few years.”
Now they were in a city park, and once again Al was frustrated by her inability to affect what was going on. The two friends were being brutally attacked by the two bullies from the elementary school, and the intersexed girl was badly hurt. Fortunately, help arrived in time. They followed the injured children to the hospital, and observed the first aid treatment, and the revelation that the blond boy was actually a girl.
Al was amazed at how easily the revelation was accepted by every one; that is everyone but the boy’s father.
“He knew all along, didn’t he,” Al said as they watched the two young lovers to be kiss.
“Yes it was something they both felt almost right away,” remarked his companion. “But it will be a long time before they can be together. It’s not their love that’s the lesson to learn in this story. It is something much deeper than that. Shall we move on?”
“Certainly,” replied Al, knowing full well she had no choice in the matter.
They followed the boy and girl’s families for what was apparently many years. They witnessed the bigotry of the boy’s father expand, and witnessed his involvement in murder. There was a divorce, and the boy’s father remarried, as did his mother.
The two best friends (They were Mike O’Donnell and Jo Beebe) were now in college. The two spirits had been viewing vignettes of their lives as well as the lives of two youths’ relatives. Something was bothering Al besides the months of real time involved in seeing what the two were going through.
“Why don’t those two, who are so obviously in love with each other, do something? He has never pressed her for any sex. They haven’t even discussed marriage. Now she’s going to medical school, and soon he will be going on active duty. Time for them is wasting.”
“There will be much more time before they are finally together. We are here to see something else.”
They were in the library of the university and watched a young lady approach Mike and strike up a conversation with him. Al recognized her immediately. “That’s his stepsister, Mindy. What’s she doing here? They have never met. He doesn’t even know she exists.”
“She’s here because his father, her stepfather sent her. She’s here to destroy the relationship between Mike and Jo.” They watched as she nearly succeeded. They watched as Mike, the ever constant gentleman, took Mindy out on two dates.
The disaster took place a few days after their second date. Mindy met Mike as he walked between classes. They sat down on a bench in the shade of a large Kellogg Oak when Mindy suddenly said, “Mike, isn’t that your friend over there? I would love to meet her.”
Mike stood up and waved at Jo, motioning for her to come over.
“Hi, Mike.”
“Jo, this is Mindy Rudolph. She’s the one I was telling you about.
“Mindy, this is Jo Beebe. We’ve known each other since the fifth grade.”
“Oh, Mike,” exclaimed Mindy, “so this is the freaky little faggot you were telling me about. It really does almost look like a woman, but I’ll bet she can’t fuck nearly as good as I do.”
The two spirits watched the scene unfold. “Of course Mike had never even thought about making love to Mindy,” mentioned Al’s companion. “There is only one person on that agenda and that is Jo. As you can see, Jo was devastated by this event. She felt that Mike betrayed her by revealing her intersexed childhood. She was very naíve and her naiveté compounded the problem. Mike’s father was behind this and you may want to learn more on your own later on but you are not ready to do that yet and won’t be for a while, if ever.
“Things are going to work out and we don’t need to see everything over the next few years of their lives. You were scheduled to visit Mike a few years from this point in time. He became quite the hero and was willing to sacrifice his life to save his comrades. However, you proved to us that was no longer an issue when you saved that child. As I said earlier, that was a complete surprise to almost all of us.
“Life and events are not predetermined. Some big events can be manipulated; however, there is so much randomness that comes into play that what was considered to be a sure thing suddenly becomes a non-event. We can make adjustments; however, there are some things that just happen. We are now going forward about seven years.”
They were back in the (a?) tunnel and travelled what seemed to be a short distance. “Al, what do you think about Mindy? What she did was a pretty evil thing, wasn’t it?”
“It was awful, so malevolent.”
“Things have changed a bit. Mike and Jo are getting married, and Mike’s father has been arrested for a previous murder and two additional deaths. He attempted to have Jo killed. Mindy found out what she had been part of and it could have killed her and her children. She is a very innocent woman who has been mentally abused by her stepfather and husband. She was brainwashed into believing what she did to Mike and Jo was God’s will.
“What happens next is very important. Mike’s father and Mindy’s husband are both in jail because of many crimes, and Mindy has innocently been involved. She found out through television and magazine articles a closer approximation of the truth about what had happened, and after much inner torment is seeking forgiveness from Jo.”
They paused as they had done so many times before at some predetermined point. “Okay, we’re here.” They were outside a hospital. The weather was dreary and a light rain was falling. Mindy had just parked her car and was carrying her youngest daughter with the older daughter in tow. She looked at the hospital directory in the foyer, and then proceeded to a reception area.
“Hello, I don’t have an appointment but I need to see Dr. Beebe. It’s very important, and I have driven a long ways to see her. My name is Malinda Alexander.”
“Dr. Beebe is in. Why don’t you have a seat? There is a play area over there for the children, and we can watch them while you are visiting the doctor.”
One of the nurses called Dr. Beebe, and shortly afterwards escorted Mindy to her office. What followed was one of the most heart rending pleas for forgiveness that Al could have imagined.
Al could see that Jo was deeply moved as she moved to Mindy’s side and gently embraced her, and through her embrace and gentle words let Mindy know that she was forgiven. Mindy, through malevolence that was not her own, had nearly destroyed a relationship, and as it would turn out was welcomed into the family. Her fortunes would take a miraculous turn.
The spirits hit several more points along the family’s time line. Al was astounded by the amount of warmth displayed in their welcoming arms. A little more than a year after the birth of their twins, Jo and Mike adopted an orphan. Several years after that, they welcomed a transgendered woman into the group, and helped her adjust to her new life after being released from prison. Jo was at her side as she completed her transition.
Their adopted daughter used tens of millions of dollars of her inherited wealth, inherited from her natural parents, to create and operate a medical network for the disadvantaged.
“Al, there will be a time when you might be able to follow this family further if you wish. It might be that someday you will become part of them. Right now, we need to go the where and when you came from, or at least, about when.”
OK, take a deep breath. Al's journey is just about over. We are going to find out about something mentioned in the very beginning of this tale. Obviously, there was a purpose behind the journey Al has been through. The Wizard helped facilitate Al's adventure, but where and when Al is going is being directed by others. We still haven't found out who Al's companion is/was and the revelation may not be a surprise to anyone who has stuck this tale out. Please forgive me from borrowing from my other stories; however, I felt Al would benefit from experiencing some of those adventures.
Al doesn’t realize it but her journey is ending and at the same time, just beginning. She and her companion return to her original world, or at least the world where she had been Maddy. They witness a near drowning and then everything suddenly becomes much clearer. If The Wizard needed a hanky, you might need one, too.
Hopefully, there haven’t been too many violations of the universe created by Bill Hart perpetrated in the revelations in this story. Robert A. Heinlein proposed that each time an author takes to the pen, a new universe is created and I guess I will beg the number of the beast that this universe is just a variation of SRU.
Thanks again to Holly for her enlightening editing.
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.
They passed back through the tunnels, if it was back. It may not have been the same tunnels for that matter. All Al knew for sure was that they were going to somewhere and somewhen. She was going to have to take her companion’s word that they were where it said they were when they arrived.
The scene before them certainly appeared to be similar to the area Al had called her home. It was winter, and there were crusty low drifts of snow wrapped around stems of winter browned grass. The sky was mostly overcast, and there were a few flakes of snow falling. It was the kind of snow that could elicit arguments from the local population as to whether or not it could really be considered snowing. It was a rural area with widely separated houses; each perched on its four or five acres attached by their umbilical driveways to a winding country road.
The snow was deep enough in some areas to allow sledding, and some children were taking advantage of it. They had found an area near a grove of leafless trees where the snow had drifted. Some of the boys, obviously future engineers, had collected additional snow and constructed a toboggan run. They had managed to add some banked turns which added to the excitement. The snow had become packed enough that the sleds with runners could also use it. The run started near a road where an elevated berm gave the sleds a speedy start. It paralleled an old stone wall, curved along a copse of trees and ran out along a small creek.
The area along the creek was ideal for alders, willows and cottonwoods and a family of beavers had found the area particularly to their liking. The all-year creek had cut a natural channel that was five to six feet below the fairly flat terrain. The beavers, with their innate wisdom, had dammed a narrow area and raised the level of the pond that formed so that it spread out over perhaps an acre. The pond was frozen out to the creek channel; however, the beavers and current kept a narrow band of water open.
At one time, it had been particularly cold, the sled run terminated on the frozen pond. That had ended when one of the sledders went through the ice. No one was hurt; however, the parents put an end to sledding out onto the ice and made sure the run ended away from the pond.
The children would ride two or three at a time on the toboggan and it was a fun run with just enough speed to make it exciting.
Al watched the children playing. It was something she was never able to do while she was growing up and now she was so sorry she had missed out.
The spirits were gradually drifting toward the bottom of the hill to an area between the end of the sled run and the pond. A group of three girls was careening down the frozen path. There were screams of mock terror and loud laughter. The toboggan finished its run and the girls tumbled into a snow bank just for fun as the sled halted.
Al saw it at the same time one of the girls did. Close to the edge of the frozen pond there was a small furry form. At first she thought it was a squirrel and then she realized it was a small kitten. Someone may have abandoned it, or maybe it had wandered away from its mother and littermates. Where it came from was not important. The important thing was that it was there.
Some dried leaves were being caught in the light breeze and were tumbling across the smooth ice. The kitten took after one and managed to gain some speed. The leaf briefly stopped and the kitten did not.
“Look at that! That kitten is sliding toward the water!” The kitten didn’t get quite that far, but it was in a precarious position. Some water had splashed on the ice and it had not yet frozen. The kitten’s feet were wet. It took a few steps and the wet fur around the pads froze to the surface of the ice. The kitten couldn’t move, and it was terrified.
One of the girls, without saying a thing, grabbed a fallen limb and raced for the edge of the pond. The ice was thick enough to bear her weight, just barely. She gingerly walked toward the kitten, and the ice creaked ominously. She tried to extend the branch to the kitten; however it was firmly fastened to the ice and could only cry pitifully. The little girl got onto her hands and knees and crept towards the little ball of fluff. She was finally close enough and gently slid her hand under the body. She gently pried the paws off the ice, leaving a little fur behind. The little kitten was firmly in her grasp as the ice gave away. Without much thought for her own safety, she turned and tossed the kitten to the more secure ice.
The water was deep where she went through, maybe six or seven feet. She struggle to get back on the ice, but the sheets didn’t offer any hold. Her clothing was quickly absorbing the water, and her buoyancy disappeared. It didn’t take long, but it was inevitable, and she disappeared below the surface.
Some of the children ran to the closest house where someone was able to call 911. Two of the children had tried to get to her, but the ice gave away immediately and they were soaked to mid thigh. One of the nearby residents brought a ladder to support his weight on the ice but there was no way to tell where the little girl had gone.
Her distraught parents arrived shortly after the first adults and one of the children handed a terrified little kitten to the girl’s mother.
“She was trying to save this kitten. I don’t think it belongs to anyone. It looks like some that live in that abandoned shed over there.”
The girl’s mother held the kitten to her chest and realized it was shaking. She opened her blouse and placed it between her breasts. The kitten’s little feet were like icy-hot pokers. She closed her blouse and wrapped her coat around her.
It took thirty minutes for the rescue crew to arrive. A man with a dry suit and scuba gear found her less than five minutes later. She had a very slow heartbeat and they restored her breathing in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
Once again Al felt desperation. She had watched the scene unfold, and there wasn’t a thing she could do. They had observed the scene from a little distance, but close enough that Al recognized the girl’s parents. They were Stan and Marissa Lewis, his employee and wife in his previous existence. ‘So that was how she drowned, or almost drowned,’ Al thought. ‘How awful that must have been for them'.
Instead of following the ambulance on to the hospital, they returned to that non-world they had travelled through to so many places and times.
There was silence for a long time as Al pondered all she had seen. “I have a question, Spirit. You told me that my problem was due to the fact I was inadvertently inserted into the wrong body. Based on what I’ve experienced and seen in this adventure, I have to believe what you’ve told me, but what about people, men and women who are gay, lesbian or bisexual? I don’t see how any mistake could lead to someone’s behavior being that way.”
“Al, behavior in a population where there are two genders varies considerably. There’s a wide distribution of behaviors, and they may vary from one corporal occupation to the next. Some male spirits may find their orientation is strictly towards other males. They remain strongly masculine in behavior. Some male spirits feel more female in their attraction to other males. Some of these may eventually become female in spirit. The same thing happens for some female spirits. Some feel very female, but have no desire for sexual relationships with males. They are attracted sexually only to females. Other female spirits feel more and more male in their relationships and may eventually become strictly male. Then there is the other group who finds mutual attraction to both sexes. Some wish to maintain either the male sex or female sex, and others go back and forth. Sometimes they are male, and sometimes they are female. These are not mistakes. Unfortunately, some societies cannot accept anything except pure heterosexual roles. That is unfortunate.
“The big problem is those like you where the bodies and mind are in such conflict. That’s where we try to make the corrections. It’s just that there are not enough available to make the changes happen. In some worlds, there are medical procedures that can make superficial changes and some changes that are far from superficial; however, these are not the changes those souls desire, but it’s as close as they can get. For some, it is not close enough. Unfortunately, there are many societies that stigmatize what are real conditions, not perversions.”
Al filtered these apparent facts and had to accept them. It wasn’t that he had a problem with being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or even heterosexual. He just had never given it much thought until he had experienced what he had over the recent months. His previous transgendered state was his only concern until recently.
“Al, your aura seems to be getting particularly bright. I think it’s time now.”
“Time for what?” Al asked.
“You have an appointment that must not be missed. It’s time.”
“Do you mean you’re going to torture me further? I’m not sure I want to go through any more of this. You have shown me so much sadness, happiness and kindness. I used to have hope for something, and now I’m not sure what I want. I think I just want to get to the end of this tunnel or what ever it is, and face whoever or whatever has been putting me through this.”
“I can’t take you there, and I’m not sure anyone can. That is something that just happens when the time is right. I can’t explain it. Okay, we’re here now.”
They stopped, if it could be called stopping. The wall of the tunnel became translucent, then transparent, then faded completely away. They were at the far wall of a room that had to be patient’s room in a hospital. A child was on the bed and a couple who had to be the child’s parents were sitting at either side. The woman was holding the little girl’s hand and quietly crying.
“We have only a little time and we are synchronized with this world now. I want you to follow me closely, because I know the way. We’re going to get you in place and then I will have to leave. This is the end of your journey for now.”
Al looked at the two adults and recognized them immediately. They were Stan and Marissa Lewis. The little girl on the bed had to be Cynthia, and she was still in a coma and hooked up to several machines.
“Come on, we don’t have a lot of time. They’re going to remove life support in a few minutes, and you have to be ready.”
Al suddenly realized they had entered the little girl’s body. Somehow there was light, and she could see an endless network of cells and blood vessels.
“Great! Everything has been fixed. There won’t be any problems. All this over here got messed up, and that’s why I had to leave. I couldn’t make anything work.”
Al was quickly putting two and two together. “You’re Cynthia! Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Actually, I’m not; at least not any more, and haven’t been for a long time. I was Cynthia when I resided here, but now I am moving on. It was my time, and you’re not taking anything from me. When you became available, this was the ideal place for you. You just weren’t ready and Cynthia wasn’t either. Now you both are.
“Okay, just slide in here. You just about have it. Here, let me help. That’s it and none too soon. You’re going to have to work a lot of this by yourself; however, most will be automatic, and it should all kick-in in a few seconds. You’re on your own now, Cynthia. I’ll check on you every once in a while. You’re going to have a birthday next month and you’ll be nine. I’m not sure when I’m scheduled to be back in this sphere, but if I do get back, we might get together. You never know. And, please, stay off the ice.”
There was a brief blending of spirits and then she was gone. For the first time in a long time Cynthia, for she truly was Cynthia, felt the need to breath. It wasn’t easy, and she almost coughed. She felt her mother’s grasp, and squeezed back.
“Stan, Stan, she squeezed my hand! Oh my God! She’s breathing! She’s off the respirator and she’s breathing on her own!” Marissa was punching the call button, and at the same time yelling, “Nurse, Nurse, Doctor, somebody! She’s alive, she’s alive!”
Cynthia realized she still had her old memories, or at least many of them. She also had all of Al’s memories, including everything she and her companion spirit had done over all of those days, weeks and months. She realized, though, that much time could not possibly have passed. She tried to open her eyes and found she could. She saw her mother and father’s tear stained faces. Her mouth was dry and her throat hurt. Still she managed to croak, “I love you.”
It took many weeks of therapy before Cynthia had most of her strength back. The weeks of immobility had caused much atrophying of her muscles and there were times she was still a bit unsteady, but it was hardly noticeable now.
The little kitten she had saved from drowning had grown under the care of her parents and little brother while she was in the hospital. The first day she was home, the kitten sprang into her lap as soon as Cynthia was settled in an easy chair in the family room. Then it did something unexpected. It clambered up her chest until its little face was directly in front of Cynthia’s. It sniffed Cynthia’s breath, half closed its eyes and bumped Cynthia’s nose with her nose. Then it curled up in her lap and went into a purring sleep. That night, the kitten moved from Cynthia’s parents’ room into her room, where every night after that, until Cynthia married, it curled up under the blankets against her chest.
Her parents and brother had not named the kitten. They had been worried about other far more serious things. They thought the immediate attachment the kitten had to their daughter was unusual but didn’t think a whole lot about. It was the next day when her mother approached her. “Have you thought about a name for her, Dear? She does seem rather attached to you.”
Cynthia seemed a bit thoughtful before responding, “Her name is Madeline, but we’ll call her Maddy, with a ‘Y’.”
Hearing her name, the little cat raised her head, gave a little chortle of agreement and returned to her nap.
The happy family was shopping at the local mall and had stopped outside the Hallmark Shop to eat the ice cream cones they had purchased. Cynthia looked up at the store. “Mommy, may I go into the shop? I need to get a card for a classmate who is having a birthday party next week. They might have a present for her, er, him too. I have some money. May I please?”
“Sure, we’ll wait right here.”
Cynthia skipped to the wooden door with the glass panels and pushed it open. The sound of the bell’s tinkling sent pleasant shivers down her spine. “Mr. Wizard, are you in there?”
“Just a moment, Cindy, I’ll be right with you.”
Cynthia looked around the shop she had first entered only weeks before. She found the wolf in his usual place, and pounced on him. His tail thumped loudly on the wood floor as Cynthia threw her arms around his neck. He gave the side of her face a slurpy kiss. She started scratching his side, and was pleased to see his scratching response.
“Well, Cindy, how are you doing?”
“I am doing great Mr. er, Your Wisdom. Mommy and Daddy are great, and my little brother is okay. I am so glad you’re here and I have to thank you. I was so angry with you at first. It took a while, but I finally realized what everyone was doing. It was a tough row to hoe.”
“Cindy, that sounds more like Al talking. I think we should have taken care of that. It will only take a minute. I just have to find that spell.”
“Please don’t take my memories. Al needs to be inside me. As much as I am Cynthia now, I am Alfred too. The other Cynthia was/is a different person. I am not her.”
“I’m not going to take your memories. I am just going to tune a few things down a bit. It seems you’re a special case. You have, and are going to have, some special talents. You’re going to need all that knowledge and some more in a while. Do you know what a ‘familiar’ is? Never mind, we’ll get to that later.”
Shifting away from the subject of adjusting her memory, she added, “I told my parents I was here to buy a present for a classmate. He’s Bobby Schmedlap and he is just like I was. Is there something I can get him so he won’t be as unhappy as I was?”
“Come on to the back room with me. Let’s see what we can find out about this friend of yours.” They carefully stepped over the wagging tail and passed through the beaded curtain. The crystal ball was cloudy, but the wizard made a few passes over it and it cleared up. Cynthia couldn’t see anything, but the wizard obviously could.
“Ah, here it is. Oh dear, a typical case, just like yours. Let’s see. She was scheduled for about ten years from now, but I don’t see any reason we can’t speed things up. They tell me the earlier the better and we can avoid a lot of the problems you had.
“We don’t want anyone to get something that’s not intended for them, so I think a gift certificate would be the best way to go. He will have to bring it in here to redeem it. I’ll personalize it, and you can give it to him, ah, her next week. I see here that you two are going to be great friends, and no one but the two of you should ever need to know what happened.
“I think I’m going to send a memo up. I don’t have to change nearly as much if I do these things early. That will save a lot of time and expense.”
“What’s this going to cost? I can’t afford what you charged Al last time,” questioned Cynthia.
“Well, I just got a notice that there was a ten percent rebate on major transformations last month. Why don’t we just apply that and call us even. By the way, there’s a finder’s bonus that we pay each time you bring in a customer for a transformation. You may apply it any way you wish. It could go towards future pro bono work that you might want to do.
“Okay, here’s the certificate and birthday card from Hallmark.”
‘Where did they come from?’ thought Cynthia as the wizard put the card, along with the gift certificate in a nice Hallmark bag.
“Cindy, you are going to have a beautiful life.”
Cynthia looked up and saw what she thought might be a tear in the old man’s eye. “I know I will,” she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. “I love you.”
Picking up her bag, she skipped to the door. Turning to wave, she saw the wizard putting his old linen hanky into the pocket in his robe. As she waved, ‘Spells ‘R’ Us’ faded into ‘Hallmark’.
“Who were you waving at?” asked her mother as they walked away.
“A friend, a good friend.”
EPILOGUE
If one could see such things, there were four bundles of energy hovering near the family. They followed the four for a while and then returned to the worm hole they would travel through.
“That certainly went well,” said the spirit that had once been Madeline Franken.
“Yes, our little girl is finally where she belongs. If only we had known.”
“Come on,” said the spirit that had once occupied Cynthia, “We have to get to that planet 10 light years the other side of Alpha Centauri.”
And they did.