Introduction: Our four protagonists finally meet. It doesn’t take long for them to determine that there is something very serious going on, and that their parents are deeply involved. The question is why. The SRU Wizard has to be involved somehow.

The group of conspirators loses a member. They don’t take it lightly.

This story is another addition to The Cynthia Chronicles, Volume II. Cynthia (Cindy) Brewer has graduated from medical school. Randi Lewis at age 18 is starting work on her Master of Science in Chemistry, and Charli Brewer is a freshman in pre-med at UConn. Bobbie Anderson is setting the golf world on fire having now won tournaments on the PGA in addition to her many victories on the LPGA. This story takes place several years before Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling. If you are not familiar with the stories that make up the Cynthia Chronicles, you might want to go back to the beginning with An Incremental Journey

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This work is copyrighted by the author and any publication or distribution without the written consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.

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Cynthia and the Queen of the Knight
 

Chapter 2

As first days of school went this wasn’t much different than any had been in the past. Almost every year it had been room after room of unfamiliar faces. One had caught his attention immediately. There was a guy. At least, he thought it was it was a guy. He confirmed that during their second period English class.

“Hi, I’m Ivan, Ivan Papadopoulos. I think we had Calc together last period. Mind if I sit here? I’m new at this school, and I figured I should try to get with someone who knows the ropes.”

“Ivan, I’m Paul Knight; however, if you want to know what’s going on around here, you picked the wrong guy. We just moved here last month. We used to live in Phoenix, Arizona, but Mom decided she wanted to live here. I don’t really know why. I liked Phoenix just fine, but for some reason, she decided Bridgeport, Connecticut was the place to be.”

“What did your dad think about moving?”

“I don’t have a father, er, dad. He was out of the picture before I was born. Mom’s a contract lawyer. She does work on the internet. She’s some sort of specialist, and has clients from all over the country.

“You say you just got here. Any particular reason you moved here?”

“I don’t really know why we moved,” Ivan said. “Mom’s a writer. We were fine in Bremerton, Washington. Then we yanked up stakes and came here. I don’t understand why we have to do this. Two years ago we were in Alameda, California. Before that, we were in San Diego. Before that, it was Victoria, Texas.”

“Shit, that’s just like what my mom does. We can’t settle down anywhere. I had a good friend several years ago, but we had to move. I wonder about him, but haven’t heard from him in a while. He said he was moving, too.”

“If you two are through discussing your life history, we’d like to start class,” a loud voice said from the front of the room.

“Sorry, sir,” Paul said.

Lunch probably wasn’t any different at Harding High School than it was at countless high schools across the northeastern US. The football team had been preparing for the first game of the season since the previous spring. They would be playing their bitter rival, Central High, that Friday night.

The freshmen and new students were probably unfamiliar with the school cheers and yells; so it was the responsibility of the cheer squad to teach the yells to the new students and lead them in a short rally. School spirit was very important. After all, the team had only up to go. They’d won only two games the previous year.

Normally, the pep rallies were held in the quadrangle; however, because of a late summer rain, the rally was being held in the cafeteria. The noise was almost deafening.

The short rally was finally over, and Dimitri and Tom returned to their lunch. “Pappy, did you notice anything unusual about the pep rally?”

“Other than the fact the trombonist was creating more clams than could be eaten at a clambake, not really.”

“What about the girl cheer leaders?”

“Cute, especially that little redhead. Oh shit, they weren’t there. Those three we met this morning weren’t there. I’m sure that squad was the full complement, I can’t be sure, but I can’t imagine those three wouldn’t be there. I mean every one of them was prettier than those that just performed.”

“That just confirms what I was feeling earlier,” Tom said. “There’s something very strange going on.

“That was weird about what those three said about there being a girl out there for us. I wonder what they were talking about. I’m certainly not looking for a girlfriend right now. What would be your ideal girlfriend? Let's take that one step further. What would you want your wife to be like?"

Pappy didn't give his response much thought, "Of course she would be pretty, nice tits and ass, maybe blonde or a redhead. I want a woman to be there when I come home from work. She might even have a drink prepared for me. She would be there to prepare my meals, warm my bed, bear my children, support my work….”

"So, where is this June Cleaver you want so much? What about her life? What would she want, need from you? This is a two way street, you know. You might want someone to keep you happy, but unless you keep her happy, you have no marriage."

"If you know so much about love and women, tell me what you want in a wife or companion."

"She would have to be intelligent; probably my equal or better. She would have to be able to encourage me, and I her. We would have to be partners in every respect. I see us as professors in some university, or at least professionals. Maybe that's not that important. If she was able to do what she wanted, and I could do what I wanted, that would be alright."

"Okay, so you have this smart wife. What does she look like? How's she in bed?"

"I think it would be wonderful if we got along very well in bed. I would hope I could make her happy."

"How have you done so far? The girls like your performance?"

"Never had the chance to find out; I haven't found the right one."

"What about you? How've you done in the bed department?"

"Not bad, I've, murff," Ivan's jaw started to tighten up a bit. "Actually, I've never found the right girl, either.

"So, what would this ideal girl of yours look like?"

"I've never had much of an image in mind. When I found the right girl, then the package would become that person."

"Come on, there has to be something in your mind's eye."

"I don't know. Short, tall, slender, stocky, blonde, brunette, or redhead: it doesn't matter."

"What a cop out. You're as pitiful as you claim I am."

"I give up. See that girl sitting over there with that guy wearing the cami shirt. Shit, I don't believe it. There are two idiots dressed in camouflage in this place. She would look like she does: tall, slender, the rest doesn't matter."

"Er, Tom, that's a guy."

Tom took a second to concentrate a bit more on the two he'd picked out of the blue. "Shit, I know who that is. Come with me. I'll introduce you."

They made their way to the couple sitting by themselves against the far wall of the cafeteria.

"Hi, Paul, long time, no see."

"Holly shit," Paul jumped to his feet to give his old friend a hug. "What are you doing here? How long have you been here?"

"We moved here last month.

"I never get introductions right. Mom's always on me about that. This is Dimitri ’Pappy’ Papandreou. He just moved here, too. I'm Tom Isaacson," he said to the as yet unintroduced boy in the camouflage shirt.

“Hi, I’m Ivan Papadopoulos. Jesus, two Greeks wearing camouflage; it must be an invasion. Not to be left out, we just moved here last July. I’m not sure why, but here we are.

“So, why the get up, Pappy?”

“I heard that someone sighted an Elegant Tern, Sterna elegans, near the estuary. I’ve never seen one before. That would give me 177 on my list.”

“I saw them out in California all the time. I saw them in the San Francisco area and around San Diego. I’d love to go with you and see the Atlantic species. I have only 160 birds on my list.”

Pappy was impressed. “Wow, another birder. This is going to be neat.”

“I think I’m going to go into fish and wildlife, maybe be a ranger naturalist.”

“Cool.”

“Wait a minute,” Tom exclaimed, “have we all been on the west coast recently?”

“I haven’t,” Pappy said. “The closest I’ve been is Las Vegas and Boise. We were in Denver a few years ago. Why?”

“Paul and I went to the same school in Alameda. Where were you going to school three years ago, Ivan?”

“I was in LA.”

“Do all of our parents work at home? Mine do, and I know Paul’s mother does.” Tom said.

“Mom’s an interior decorator and importer of decorator goods, and Dad’s a boat designer and builder,” Pappy said. “She has an associate who lives somewhere else. They get together a couple of times a year.”

“Interesting,” Tom said. “My mother is in the import business. My dad is a web designer. Paul, your mother is a lawyer, right? I seem to remember that.”

“That’s right.”

“My mother’s a writer,” Ivan said. “I never knew my father.”

“I think there is something going on here,” Tom said. “We’ve been geographically close over the years, but only Paul and I have met before. All of our parents work out of our homes, but for some strange reason we keep moving all over the place. Two of our mothers are in the import business. My mother goes off to strange meetings with unknown associates several times a year. I’d be willing to bet that your mothers do the same thing.”

Tom’s supposition was met with three affirmative head shakes.

“I thought so. I’ll bet there was one last Wednesday night, wasn’t there?”

Again three nods confirmed what he was thinking.

“So much for coincidences. There is something very strange going on, not to mention the witches.”

“Yeah, witches,” Pappy said. “Tom and I met three this morning. Hell, they could be here right now. They appear and disappear like magic. They can control you with their minds, make you do things. They are three of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. They were dressed like our cheerleaders, but they’re not really our cheer leaders.”

“You’re kidding,” Ivan said.

“I’m not kidding in the least. They cast a spell on me. If I start to fib, my jaw locks up. Tom can verify it.”

“He’s not kidding,” Tom said. “They have to be witches. There’s no other way to explain what we saw.”

“If I get the gist of what you’re saying,” Paul said. “The reason we’re here in Bridgeport is because our parents are involved in some sort of scheme, and have been for a number of years. Not only that, there’s magic involved. There are three beautiful witches who pop in and out of existence. Of course the whole idea is preposterous. That’s why what Tom is saying makes a lot of sense. I’ve wondered what’s been going on for years. This is the best answer that’s come up so far.

“I just wonder what the hell is going on?”

Chapter 3

“Pappy and I have Advanced Biology next,” Tom said. “What about you guys?”

“The same,” Paul replied

They slid their trays into the dish washing window, picked up their bags, and headed for what they hoped would be an interesting class. They hadn’t been disappointed so far.

The classroom was quite nice, and Tom and Paul were immediately impressed with the availability of equipment at the lab desks.

“This is way cool,” Pappy said.

“Class, please take your seats. We will have ample opportunity to check everything out over the next few days.

They took their seats, and waited for what they expected to be another boring lecture. “I am Mr. Temple, and I will be your mentor over the next year. This is a two semester class, and I think you will find it very interesting.

“Each of you is in this class because you asked for it. Your past academic performances were looked at very closely. Only thirty percent of the applicants made it as far as you have. We expect that every one of you will continue on to a university. I will be conducting this class as if you were graduate students. I am doing this for two reasons. The first is I want to challenge you. The second is I want to learn. The day I stop learning from my students is the day you can start throwing dirt on my grave.

“For the next two weeks I will be going over some basic ecological principles. There are twenty-four students in this class. I want you to form up in four person teams, and come up with an ecological study. I will have to approve of what you want to do; however, I will give you considerable leeway. You will author a paper of at least ten thousand words…”

At the proclamation a number of groans and sounds of protest game from the class.

“Ten thousand words is nothing, especially if they are well put together words. We will spend part of the next few months on how to put together a good research paper. When your project is completed, you will present your paper to the class. I expect the class to tear your paper apart: not with malice, however. I expect you to defend your work.

“We’ll have some of this other required drivel, too. I will have to administer some tests, and as boring as it may be, I will have to present some lectures. I will be accessible 24/7 if you have a question. More times than not, my answers will be in the form of questions.

“Okay, let’s take role. I can count, but I need to make sure that the right people are in this class. Last year, we had a student go through an entire semester showing up for the wrong classes.”

After going over the various rules of class conduct, Mr. Temple asked the class members to sit tight and do whatever they needed to do before the bell rang for the next class. He couldn’t release them to roam the halls.

“Papadopoulos, Papandreou, Knight and Isaacson I need to see you in my office.”

“Shit, we haven’t even done anything, and we’re already in trouble,” Pappy muttered.

The office was between two classrooms. The four followed Mr. Temple into the small area packed with books and other scientific paraphernalia. They sat where Mr. Temple indicated.

“Welcome to Harding High.”

“Thank you,” Paul answered.

“Normally, when we do these projects, I try to separate the participants a bit. You know, get a good mix of experience, gender, new and old students; however, I was asked to see if the four of you would mind working on your project together. I know you are new here. I noticed Isaacson and Knight went to the same school three years ago in California; however, Papa, er Papadopoulos and Papandreou never met Knight and Isaacson before today. Is that correct?”

“Yes sir,” Ivan said.

“Would you have any objections working together on a project?” Mr. Temple asked.

“I wouldn’t,” Tom said. “I think we’ve discovered already that we get along pretty well.

“What do you guys think?”

“I don’t have any problem,” Paul said. “I think I can speak for everyone.” Two other heads nodded assent.

“Good, give it some thought before you decide what to do. Of course, I have to approve of every project.

“Okay, there’s the signal to dismiss class. I’m sure you’ll find this to be a very interesting experience

It turned out that they had their last two classes together: English Literature and Gym.

This is just all too convenient Tom thought. Something is going on.

They didn’t do anything for gym other than get their locker assignments, and get the clothing requirements explained to them.

“Where do you guys live,” Tom asked. “For any number of reasons, I think we need to get together and talk about things.

It turned out they lived within about a two block radius of Tom’s house. That did nothing to dissuade Tom from his previous concerns.

“Let’s go over to my house, and talk things over,” Tom Said. Is everyone driving their own car? We might as well carpool from now on since we’re so close together.”

“I rode my bike,” Pappy said.

I did, too,” Ivan said.

“I took the bus,” was Paul’s reply.

“Tom, Ivan and I want to go down to the estuary to see if we can spot some birds. How about we get together after dinner?”

“I don’t think that would be a problem. Let’s get each other’s phone numbers and email addresses, so we can keep in touch about things.

“Paul, would you like a lift, or do you have somewhere to go, too.”

They exchanged information before the two birders headed for the estuary.

Walking to the car, Tom spotted a note under his wiper blade. It was from his sister. She’d found a ride home with a new friend.
“Well, that didn’t take her very long. She could make friends in a morgue. At least we don’t have to wait for her. Her punctuality clock runs in a different dimension.

“Paul, I’m so glad you showed up. I thought I’d have to try to make a whole new group of friends, although I’m not that much into that, as you know.

“Want to stop by the house and say hello to the folks. I know they’d be glad to see you.”

“Sure.”

“How’s your Mom?”

“Mean as ever. You know what I mean. She’s obsessed with her work. She’s never abused me. Quite the contrary, she treats me quite well. She’s promised to get me a car. The problem is I am not able to talk to her about anything really important. You know like ….”

“You mean you still haven’t told her.”

“She deliberately shuts off any discussion about anything like that. If a famous person comes out on TV, she’ll change the channel or just walk away. Of course we had the talk about sex a long time ago, but if something comes up about gender, the wall drops.

“I’ll be eighteen next spring, and with or without her support, I am going to start my transition. I’ll probably have to move out. I’m hoping that I can get a scholarship. I might be able to get my pre-med done without her help.”

“Still not shaving, I noticed.”

“You would notice that. Thanks to the internet, I have a good supply of spironolactone and Finasteride. I have a lot of estrogen hidden away, but I’m not taking it; at least not yet. With or without her support, I’m going to do this.”

“You’ve hardly grown over the last here years. You were tall then, not so now. You need to see a doctor.”

“No shit! But, my hands are tied. She’d never pay for it.”

“You know I’ll always be there for you. I think I understand what you’re going through; however, it’s certainly not on my bucket list.”

“No girl friend?”

“Not even close. It’s funny, though, one of those disappearing cheer leaders said that the right girl was out there for me. Another one, the dark haired girl, said the same thing to Pappy.

“They really did appear and disappear just like Pappy said they did. They said so, and I have a feeling that we will see them again. There’s something strange going on, and our parents are involved.

“I’ve always believed there was magic out there. It just seemed right for some reason. Now we’re being involved in some sort of mysterious activity.”

“Don’t you mean our parents?”

“Perhaps, but I can’t help believe we’re involved.

“Well, here we are: home sweet home; for how long, I have no idea.”

“Mom, Dad, I brought a guest home,” Tom announced as he headed to the kitchen where his parents were fixing dinner.

“Gloria left me a note saying she got a ride with a new friend.”

“They came by a while ago,” his mother said. She was mixing margaritas. Tom’s father was julienning some green beans. A group of thick lamb chops had been seasoned and were on a platter warming to room temperature. Something his father insisted on doing with lamb and steaks.

“Hello Paul,” Nancy Isaacson said. “How was school?”

“Excellent, Mrs. “I”. I was very surprised to see Tom there. We made some new friends, too. We’re going to be partners in a group project that’s going to take two semesters to finish.”

“We aren’t going to move before then, are we?” Tom asked.

“I don’t think so. It’s rather nice around here. We’ll just have to see,” his mother replied.

The two boys made their way up to Tom’s room. Paul had left a message on his mother’s voice mail telling her where he was.

“I see you are still into gaming,” Paul said as he looked around the room.

“Yeah, it’s sort of a project. I have the newest X-Box system. I do a lot of shit on my computer, too. I’m not the best player, but I’ve been doing a lot of research on the history of computer games. A lot of the modern games don’t require a lot of brain power. Some of the old games without the graphics are really neat. They require a lot of thought.”

“Your mother didn’t seem to be too surprised to see me, did she?”

“Of course not, our four families are in on this, whatever it is. I think Mom and Dad seem to be a bit blasé about the whole thing. I just wonder what they’re up to.”

“Do you think they’re planning a bank heist or an armored car robbery?” Paul said, half jokingly.

“Certainly not, our folks are too well off for that sort of nonsense. No, I think it has something to do with magic. This area of the United States was the center of magic and witchcraft hundreds of years ago. Then due to the Salem thing and a bunch of other stuff it disappeared. I don’t think it disappeared entirely; I think they just got smart and stayed hidden.

“I see this stuff on the internet all the time about there being witches out there. I know it’s ‘on the internet’,” he said forming quotation marks with his fingers, “but I’m beginning to find some supporting information.”

“I know what you mean. I’ve been doing a lot of research both clinical and in the common lore about my ‘problem’,” Paul said using the same quote gesture. “There are literally thousands of tales about people having magical sex and or gender changes. Knowing what you told me, and what I’ve suspected, I’m beginning to think there might be some truth in some of them.

“Margot, I’ll be with you in just a moment.”

Margot Chenoweth peered around the shop she’d inadvertently entered twelve years before; although, knowing what she knew now, she wasn’t too sure how inadvertent that had been. It might have been her imagination, but the shop seemed to be a bit neater than it had been before.

“I have a helper now. She’s a bit of a neat freak, but I’ll have to admit that I’m not losing things like I used to.

“By the way, I took the bullets out of your gun, not that you’d have been able to do anything with it anyway. Come on to the back room with me. I have some great Tollhouse cookies and coffee just the way you like it.

“So how’ve you been?”

“I imagine you know. You seem to know everything else.”

“I do have a bit of an advantage there, don’t I? Coffee okay?”

“Perfect.”

“So, you and the others want to kill me. Why would you want to do that? I certainly didn’t do anything to make your life worse than it was before. If I remember correctly, you were indicted for bilking several charities out of millions of dollars. You would have been convicted in case you are wondering.

“Of course in your current reality, none of that happened. You’re just a 35 year old accountant. You make good money, but you don’t have much of a life other than doing tax returns for several hundred families.

“That young millionaire, what’s his name, oh yes, Donald Epperson, is rather sweet on you, you know. You keep turning him down. I’m not really sure why.”

“I was a man, for Christ’s sake. Then you did this to me.”

“You did come to me asking for help.”

“No I didn’t,” Margot replied.

“I distinctly remember coming out of the back room, and asking if there was anything I could do for you, and you said, ‘You could make me disappear.’

“If I recall correctly, the indictment had just come down and there was a warrant out for your arrest. The conviction was a sure thing. I think you would have received about 20 years. You never would have made it out of prison alive. Your short stature and delicate appearance would have doomed you to a very unpleasant existence. You would have died during a riot that you had no involvement in starting.”

“You know all this? You’re not just guessing?”

“Consider what has happened to you. You can’t deny that. Why wouldn’t I know what might have happened in an alternative universe.”

“You have a point.”

“Look at what I did for you. I erased all your criminal activity. You weren’t a bad person. You were just weak. You are an attractive woman ….”

“But, I was a man, and you took that from me.”

“What are you now?”

“I’m a man in a woman’s body.”

“Are you sure? Your makeup is perfect, you are very nicely dressed, and your deportment is perfect.

“Tell me, how were your relationships before? Did you have a boyfriend or girlfriend?”

“No, there’s never been anyone. I had a few drinking buddies in college. I’ve never kept in touch with any of them.”

“Why not?”

“We never had anything in common.”

“What about now? I’m not talking about the fourteen of you who meet every other Wednesday.”

“You know about that?”

“Of course I do. I’m a Wizard and I ….”

“… know these things. Yes, I should have known. We don’t stand a chance, do we? That’s what Alice said. What are you going to do to us?”

“Each, well most, of you will come to me as you have. I don’t think I will have to do much of anything. I’m sure there will be adjustments, but I’m not going to make things worse for you.

“I’m going to have a young lady come here and tell you something. This will take just a minute.” The Wizard turned to his computer.

“Cindy, Margot Chenoweth is here. Could you drop in for just a second, I think she needs to hear something from you.”

“Sure thing.”

Margot looked up to see a young woman suddenly appear in the middle of the room. There was no one there one second, and the next second she was walking towards Margot with her arms extended.

“Hi Margot, you don’t remember me, but I remember you from before. I was about twelve at the time. I must say, you certainly look nice.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you knew I was thinking about killing your friend a little while ago.”

“You never would have done it even if you could have. I can see that. I’m Cindy Brewer by the way. The Wizard and I have been friends since I was about nine years old.

“I think he wants me to tell you something. I’m a witch by the way; in case you hadn’t figured that out. I’m getting this witchcraft thing down pretty good right now, but on the non-witchcraft side, I’m taking my residency in psychiatric medicine. I’m going to approach this from two points of view. I have the ability to determine when someone’s gender is in conflict with one’s sex.”

“I knew it,” Margot stated rather strongly. “I am a man trapped in a woman’s body.”

“Oh no, there’s no conflict now. There was that conflict though when you came in here thirteen years ago. You were in denial then just like you are in denial now. Deep inside, you have always been a woman; well, a girl at first. I saw that more quickly than His Wisdom did. My best friend was there too, and she saw it.

“Look at you. You say you are fighting your change; however, you’ve embraced it. I think you need to get on with your life. There’s so much more out there to enjoy about life. He gave you a second chance, and now you need to look forward. That past you left doesn’t exist.”

Cindy embraced Margot, kissed her cheek, and disappeared.

“Margot, I have it on good authority that Donald Epperson is going to call you tonight and ask you to go out to dinner with him. He is a very nice man with two small children who lost their mother in a horrible accident. I promise I won’t do anything with your mind. This is up to you; however, chances like this don’t happen very often.

“Ladies, I regret to inform you that we’ve lost Margot Chenoweth. She called today to pass on her regrets. She says she’s in love with a man, somebody she’s known for a while. That Wizard, damn him, got to her. Well, there are still twelve of us. We can still take him down.

“Myrtle, would you please read the minutes from the last meeting.

Alright, so I borrowed the story line. It was originally written by Emanuel Schikaneder, although he may have borrowed it, too. I imagine many of you already know what story it is. Did anyone attempt to translate ‘Gräber’? That was as close as I could come to the name I was looking for.

Our four protagonists are now together and they are very quickly putting two and two together. The group of conspirators has lost a member. Maybe they weren’t as dedicated as some thought.

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

Our protagonists have to go to the mall to pick up supplies for their project. Paul and Pappy are accosted by Mefisto and his pals. The three witches step in once again. The bullies are forced to undergo a transformation; but are they forced? Paul comes out to Pappy. They meet The Wizard, and in spite of all the parental warnings find him to be quite nice.

This story is another addition to The Cynthia Chronicles, Volume II. Cynthia (Cindy) Brewer has graduated from medical school. Randi Lewis at age 18 is starting work on her Master of Science in Chemistry, and Charli Brewer is a freshman in pre-med at UConn. Bobbie Anderson is setting the golf world on fire having now won tournaments on the PGA in addition to her many victories on the LPGA. This story takes place several years before Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling. If you are not familiar with the stories that make up the Cynthia Chronicles, you might want to go back to the beginning with An Incremental Journey

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This work is copyrighted by the author and any publication or distribution without the written consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.

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Cynthia and the Queen of the Knight
 

Chapter 4

“Class, I’m very pleased with the project ideas you’ve submitted to me. I’ve made some suggestions, and they are noted on your submissions. Team four, I need to see you after class,” Mr. Temple said. “We need to go over a few things just to make sure we are on the same page.”

Tom, Pappy, Ivan and Paul stayed behind as the rest of the students left class.

“I am more than pleased with the project you submitted; however, it’s going to be very difficult, and I am convinced you are up to it. The idea of interfacing cave ecology with surface water recharge zones and discharge areas is quite a bit to chew.

“I don’t know how much you are into caving; however, there are some good sites in the area, and in spite of the population growth, there are some relatively unexplored caves that might be ideal for the project you have in mind.

“Here’s a topographic map of an area I would suggest you consider. I think that area has all the features you would require for your project. I’ve put together a list of things you would probably need to make your exploration go well.”

Tom looked over the list. “This is quite a bit of equipment. I’m not sure it’s available anywhere around here.”

“You shouldn’t have any problem getting what you need at the mall. There’s a new outdoor supply store there. I think it’s taken over the place that used to be occupied by the Hallmark Store. I searched the internet, and it came up immediately. According to the website, everything you will need will be there. Let me know if you have any problems.”

“Mom, my team and I are going to the mall to get some supplies for our project.”

“That’s nice. Oh dear, the mall; you Tom, Ivan and Dimitri need to be careful. Remember what I said about some of those people who work at malls; they’re not to be trusted.”

“Trusted about what?” Paul asked.

“There’s an evil man who runs a shop. He moves from mall to mall looking for victims he can transform into his slaves.”

“You’re talking about magical transformations?”

“Yes, magic, the most evil kind.”

“Why haven’t you talked about this with me, before?”

“We didn’t think it was time; however, we think he’s very close by. All the evidence points to that.”

“That’s what your little meetings are about, aren’t they? I know you know about Tom and his parents being close by; however, I never mentioned Ivan and Dimitri by name. We suspected something for quite a while, but now you’ve confirmed it. There’s something going on, and you and their parents are involved. Exactly what is going on?”

“I knew I should have told you sooner, but I was afraid to. We all were afraid to. We are planning to kill a wizard. He has done terrible things.”

“Such as?”

“I can’t talk about it right now; however, you need to know that you should avoid him at all costs; however, if you and your friends do run across him, you need to take note and let me know where he is, immediately. If the opportunity arises, kill him. Use whatever means are available.”

“If this Wizard is so powerful, that might be a difficult task. After all, I don’t think we’ve ever been taught how to deal with magic.”

“You don’t seem to be having any trouble accepting the idea of magic.”

“Mom, we’re almost eighteen, and we’re pretty capable. Over the last week, we’ve seen evidence of magic. Well, at least Tom and Pappy have, and the corroberating evidence they presented is pretty convincing. There is something very magical going on.

“We’ll let you know if we see anything. Meanwhile, we have a major project to work on. May I take the car? I was going to pick up Pappy. Tom and Ivan are going to meet us there.”

“Not a problem, I have a number of contracts to work on. Remember, if you see anything strange, let me know.”

Pappy was waiting at the curb when Paul pulled up. “I told Mom we were aware that our parents were meeting. She confessed that magic had something to do with it. Now, get this. They want to kill some evil wizard. She wouldn’t say why.”

“Yeah, Mom essentially told me the same thing. Your mother called just a little while ago. They’re worried about us, but they are afraid to say why. She said there’s this evil wizard who hangs out around shopping malls. I guess he’s some sort of pervert. Well, I’m not into that sort of stuff, anyway.”

“I’ve only been in this mall a couple of times. I don’t remember an outdoor supply store. I guess we might as well take the closest entrance. I see a parking spot right there. How convenient.”

“I don’t see anything,” Pappy said as he looked over the rather large listing of stores. “Wait, there it is. I guess I missed it. I could have sworn that was a Hallmark Store. ‘Survival R Us. That has to be the place. Man, it’s clear down at the other end of the mall. Let’s get going. The guys are probably there already.

“I gotta take a leak. I think the rest rooms are down that corridor.”

“Well, well, well, it’s that weird faggot and his faggot friend who have been spreadin’ lies about me and my friends.”

The voice sent chills down Pappy’s neck. That was all he needed.

“Well if it ain’t Irving Mefisto. What the hell do you want?”

“Clyde, Melvin, grab his friend and hold him while I take care of shithead here. I don’t like people saying things about me that ain’t true.”

“If I recall correctly, Irving, someone else said you were scared off by some cheerleaders before you could beat up Tom who’d been knocked out. Somebody else said it looked like you and your friends wet their pants.”

“Nobody scares Mefisto.” He reached into his jacket pocket and brought out a set of brass knuckles. I think these will help get the message across.”

“Guys, take care of Wimp while I finish off Dork, here.”

“You never learn, do you?”

Clyde and Melvin had released Paul and were pointing in terror behind Mefisto from where the voice had come. It was the lead cheerleader and her associates.

Mefisto recognized the voice, and slowly turned.

“I think we’ll let someone else take care of you in a permanent fashion; however, that will have to wait. What are we going to do?

“How about we give them curly blonde hair and dress them in tutus,” Charli said. That would be fun.”

“I have a better idea,” Randi said. “Let’s not use magic. Let them do it to themselves. I’ll just give them a little push.

“Boys, I have put $150 in each of your wallets. I want you to go down to the ‘Cut ‘n’ Curl’ and pick out the most feminine hairstyles you can imagine. Of course you will all want to be blondes. After you have had the full treatment, including perms, you may leave. Tell Terri we sent you. She will look out for you. Now, here’s the good and bad news. Once you’ve gone through the process, only you, Terri and a select few will be able to see what has been done to you. Each time you look in the mirror or at each other you will be able to see how nice you look. No one else will see anything but the scruffy delinquents you are. You will report once a week to have your roots done. Don’t worry, I’ll pay for it.

“Okay, hurry on, Terri’s waiting for you.”

The three hoodlums left their intended victims and headed for the ‘Cut ‘n’ Curl’.

“Wow,” Pappy said as he looked at his rescuers. “You guys are something else. Thanks for the rescue.”

“We told you we’d be looking out for you, and we keep our promises,” Cindy said.

“Tom and Ivan haven’t arrived quite yet; they’ve been held up in traffic. So take your time getting to the shop. You might want to talk about some things. We have some other things to take care of.” Then they were gone.

“Well, if I didn’t believe it before, I certainly do now. Wow, what three positively gorgeous women.”

“Yeah, and Charli, the dark haired one can kiss like a Dyson vacuum cleaner. I wish I could find someone like she is.”

“You mean, a witch?” Paul asked.

“Tom and I talked about it the other day, you know, who would be your ideal woman. I gave him a typical juvenile response. I know that now.”

“What was his counter?” Paul asked.

“He said the only important thing was that they were intellectually compatible. He said she would have to complement him, and he her.

“Now this is the strange thing; although you may not think so. Maybe you would. I kept after him; asking what she would look like, and he said, ‘short, tall, slender, stocky, blonde, brunette, or redhead: it doesn't matter.’ I pressed him a bit more, this was before I’d met you and Ivan, and he said she would look like she does: tall, slender, the rest doesn't matter. He was pointing at you. He didn’t realize it was you until he took a closer look.”

“Oh shit,” Paul said quietly. He sat at the closest chair in the food court.

“I’m sorry, Paul, I didn’t know. It’s okay if you’re gay. I don’t care. It doesn’t change anything.”

“I’m not gay. This isn’t for public distribution; however, Tom is fully aware of the situation. I’m transgender,” Paul said very quietly.

“I think this puts a whole different twist on things. I’ll stick my neck out here, but you love Tom, don’t you?”

Paul nodded.

“He doesn’t know?”

“That’s right. We’re very close, but I don’t think he understands.”

“I’ll keep your secret. I certainly don’t want to mess up your friendship.

“We’d better get down to that store.”

“What a mess,” Tom muttered as he parked his car. “There had to have been at least a thousand pumpkins spread across the highway. I’ll have to run the car through the car wash before I go home. Fortunately, I have Mom’s credit card. Let’s see if we can find that shop before it closes, and Paul and Pappy leave.”

“If they were going to leave, they would have called us,” Ivan replied. They’ll be waiting.

Their entrance was much like the others. The large store directory pointed the way to ‘Survival ‘R’ Us. It was down the long corridor where several other corridors met.

“Oh, my, gosh,” Ivan said as they stepped away from the directory. Standing only a few feet away were the three cheerleaders.

“Hello ladies, to what do we owe this pleasure?”

“We were just visiting an old friend. Your destination is just around the corner. He’s really a very nice man. I think both of you, all four of you, will find him to be very interesting. We’ll see you later.”

“Pappy was right about one thing,” Ivan said. “They certainly are beautiful. Did you notice that no one else around us was paying any attention to them? I have no doubt they are real; however, they are very powerful. There are hundreds of people around us, and not one batted an eye when three of the most gorgeous women I’ve ever seen are standing right there.

“Tom, there’s some weird shit going on, and we’re in the middle of it.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been saying all along.

“Okay, according to the mall directory, this should be the spot, but that’s a Hallmark Store. Maybe it’s down to the left.” A search in that direction found nothing.

“I could swear those cheerleaders said it was right here. Let’s look down the right hand corridor.” That search proved equally fruitless.

“Look, there’re Paul and Pappy,” Ivan exclaimed.

“Hey guys, where you been?” Paul asked.

“We were looking for the ‘Survival ‘R’ Us’ store.

“Look, there’s Mr. Temple, and that’s the store. He must have just come out of it.”

“Hi, kids, I was just heading down to get some supplies at Petco, and thought I’d drop in here to make sure he had what you needed. I think he’s ready for you.

“He’s a great guy in spite of what you may have heard about him. I’ve known him for close to 18 years. I have the greatest respect for what he does. As you get to know him, I think you will agree.

“Well, I gotta go. The cats will be very unhappy if I don’t get the right litter for them.

The door opened inward which wasn’t as much of a surprise as the door itself. It was wood with a six panel window. Some would call the door ‘shabby chic’, but the chipped paint and grout spoke of something different. The sound of a little bell tinkling as the door hit the actuator. There was something right about it. And yet, it was not right. Paul knew that immediately. He noticed Ivan’s unease as the door shut behind them.

“Boys, I’ll be right with you. Your packs are on that table. I think everything you will need is in them. Give Wolf a cookie. They’re low calorie. We’re watching his weight.”

“Holy shit, what is this place?” Pappy said quietly. The shelves and racks were crammed with all sorts of outfitters’ gear. Mountain climbing accessories were on one wall, camping equipment on another. Several rubber rafts and kayaks decorated the ceiling. One whole section was dedicated to bird watching; another to fly fishing.

“Excuse me,” a rather rough voice said, turning their attention back to the counter where a rather large wolf was sitting on his haunches. His tale was slowly wagging. “The boss said I could have a cookie. You’ll have to get one for me. As I explained to Simoné, I can’t open the jar. I don’t have opposable thumbs. I won’t tell if you give me two.”

“Go ahead and give him two, he’s been a pretty good wolf, today.” The owner of the voice was parting a beaded curtain hanging in the doorway obviously leading to the back room. The man of an undetermined age looked a bit like someone from ‘Duck Dynasty’. His camouflaged jump suit was perfect for the role; however, the boys realized there was no hunting equipment to be sold in the shop.

“You’re correct, Dimitri, or I should say Pappy, I don’t sell hunting supplies, and the fishing gear is mostly for catch and release.

“Well, welcome to my shop. I think I have everything you’ll need for your class project. Mr. Temple explained where you will be going and what you would require. I must say, I admire the work you’re doing.”

Paul and Ivan had been taking everything in, and realized very quickly where they were. “Your Wisdom,” Paul said, “I’m certain you know what’s been going on, and I’ve been putting two and two together over the last few days. My mother told me you were in the area, although at first I wasn’t exactly sure whom she was talking about.

“You know she wants to kill you. She told me to kill you if I had a chance. Of course, that’s the furthest thing from my mind.”

“So, this is the one Mom was talking about,” Pappy said under his breath.

“Tom,” Paul said, “We don’t have to worry about a thing. At least I don’t think we do.

“This is the man, the reason all of our families have moved to Bridgeport.

“Your Wisdom, may we get rid of all this?” Paul said while pointing around the shop.

“Certainly, we’ll just go somewhere else. Let’s go to the back room, have some refreshments, and go over a few things.” The shop reverted back to the way Paul had always thought it would appear. The Wizard was now wearing the proper wizard’s robe. Paul also noted that the mall was no longer visible through the windows.

“I know that two of you don’t know much about me; however, I assure you I mean you, your parents and their associates no harm. It will take a while, but everything will be straightened out to everyone’s satisfaction.

“You are going to be involved in some adventures, one of which is academic. In the meantime, I have to take care of a bit of a problem for which I am partially responsible. As you said, Paul, your mother and friends think they want to kill me. I need to convince them otherwise. So far, things have been going fairly well.”

“Who are the cheerleaders?” Tom asked.

“Three of my associates whom I’ve tasked to make sure things don’t get out of hand. They won’t always be right there, but they are watching when they need to. Cindy’s a medical student. Actually, she’s now a doctor in her residency. Randi is Cindy’s younger sister. She’s 18 and starting her Master’s in chemistry at MIT. Charli’s a freshman at The University of Connecticut. She’s Cindy’s sister-in-law. She will be going into Veterinary Medicine.

“You will meet them and their families when this is all over. You are mostly on your own; so don’t think you can rely on them to bail you out all the time.

“Don’t forget your packs. You’ll have to go out the back door. We’re currently in Albuquerque.

Chapter 5

“Wow, what an honor!’ Ivan exclaimed. “Imagine meeting The Wizard. I wonder … “

“Not now, Ivan, you and I need to talk: later, okay,” Paul said while raising his eyebrows.

“Oh,” Ivan said realizing the implications of his comments.

Tom and Pappy were a few steps ahead, and hadn’t heard the comments.

Their attention was diverted by three rather startling appearing blondes exiting a beauty shop. Their hair was perfectly styled, their faces made up as if they were going to the theater, and their previously chewed nails were perfectly manicured with nice extensions. They were trying to slink out of the closest exit, hoping no one would see them. The other patrons of the mall hadn’t seemed to take notice of the three, but that was not the case of their four previous victims.

“Hello boys,” Paul said. “I must say you look very nice; quite an improvement, really.”

“Oh shit, you can see us,” Mefisto said.

“Certainly”, Tom said. “Why wouldn’t we be able to see you?”

“Mefisto, be quiet for a moment. Wait right there and don’t move a muscle. Tom and Ivan don’t know what happened to you,” Paul said.

“Mefisto and his two buddies tried to attack Pappy and me when we first showed up. Our three witch friends stepped in and put a stop to it. They told the boys to go to that beauty salon and get done to them what you see before you. Actually, I think they got a little extra. I imagine they will have to keep their good looks up until our friends release the spell.”

During the conversation, Mefisto was looking at his reflection in a store window. He was arranging his ash blonde curls just a bit. Then he reached into a pocket, found a tube of lipstick and retouched his lips.

“You know, this color really suites me. When I saw Terri’s hair, I just had to have that color. She told me hers is natural, though.”

“Mefisto, what the hell are you talking about,” Clyde said, almost shouting. “When I get home, I’m going to shave my head.”

“Clyde, you will not be able to do that until the spell is removed,” Paul said. “You might as well get used to it.”

“I don’t know, Clyde,” Melvin said. “I think she, er, he looks very nice. I just love the light pink tint Terri gave me. She said it would wash out and I can use other tints. I would love to have hair that looks like that golden blonde witch. She sure is pretty. I sure don’t want to miss my appointment to get my roots done.”

“Guys, you’d better get home. I’m sure you will come to some sort of solution eventually. There’s always the chance your parents won’t notice,” Paul said bidding the three former adversaries adieu.

“What the hell happened to those three? I wouldn’t have believed it unless I saw it. That must have been one hell of a spell,” Tom said.

“In the case of Mefisto and Melvin,” Paul said, “I think Randi just released a lot of inhibitions. She gave them a pretty good push to make the initial changes. As far as Clyde is concerned, Randi added several strong compulsions; however, Clyde might always be Clyde. Maybe he will learn a lesson, maybe he won’t.

“Ivan, I need to talk to you in private.

“Guys, we’ll catch up to you in a minute. We’ll meet down at the game arcade.”

Paul pulled Ivan to an empty table in a remote corner of the food court.

“Ivan, you seem to know quite a bit about The Wizard and his shop. Nothing seemed to faze you about him. That can mean only one thing.”

“Actually, two,” Ivan responded. “You know as much as I do. Does Tom know about you?”

“Yes, he’s known for years. He is very supportive.

“Are you going to tell Pappy about you? I think I know how you feel about him. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Pappy knows about me. I told him a while ago, and he seems to be pretty cool about it. Tom doesn’t know that he knows; however, if we’re going to be working together for the next year I don’t think we should be keeping these thing a secret.”

“Paul, about the Wizard, Do you think …?”

“Of course I think about it all the time; however, I don’t think we need to worry or obsess about it. All that machinery has already been set in motion. You know as well as I do that The Wizard works by his own rules. I think we need to worry more about the problems at hand.

“Oh shit, I just realized something. Why are our parents here? Why are they wanting to kill The Wizard?”

“I think I know,” Ivan said. “They’ve met The Wizard in the past. They’ve all been affected in some way or other by The Wizard. I would say there is a good chance that our mothers had probably been boys or men in the past. Apparently, they’re not too happy about the changes, and they want to get revenge.”

“My thoughts exactly. I’ll bet Tom and Pappy have figured it out, too,” Paul said.

“I don’t think so. They were impressed by The Wizard, but I don’t think they understand his reputation. We may have a bit of educating to do about us and our parents. We may have to feed it to them a little bit at a time.”

“Please make yourself at home Eleanor, you too, Lindsay. I’m just heating up some water for your favorite tea. I’ll be out there in just a minute. I’d have you get some cookies for Wolf, but he, his wife and kids are out for the evening. There, that should be ready pretty soon.”

“Well, to what do I owe this pleasure? Surely, you’re not thinking of doing something rash?” The Wizard said as he parted the curtains.

“No, we think that’s all past,” Lindsay said.

“Let’s go to the back. I imagine we have a lot to discuss.”

“We know that you are aware of what’s going on,” Eleanor said as she smoothed her skirt beneath her thighs as she sat. “Sandra has this idea that we can bring you down.”

“Others have thought the same, and I’m still here after nearly a thousand years. I don’t think anything’s changed other than we understand better how all this magic works. So what made you think you could get away with this plan?”

“Sandra is quite the motivator. When we saw her ad in the paper we thought what the heck, we’d see what it was all about. It would have been different a few years ago right after what you did to us happened; however, things had really been going quite well for us,” Lindsay said as she reached over and gently took Ellie’s hand.

“We know we are not very attractive, and we know that was your intent. We had become parodies of what we thought lesbians were. My god, even our gay friends pity us; however, they support us. We learned very early about how much our preconceptions were wrong.

“You know as men we weren’t that bad looking. We couldn’t understand though why we had no success with women. I think I said it in this very shop before you lowered the boom on us when I said a woman was a life support system for a cunt. We were chauvinistic assholes.”

“How much did you screw with our minds? I always wondered about that,” Ellie asked.

“Not much at all. I gave you some artificial memories so you could cope with some basic things like feminine hygiene; really just some basic skills. I have some associates who gave me some advice on what you might need.”

“So, you didn’t make us fall in love with each other?”

“You did that on your own. When you need love, it’s not always where you think it might be. I think you’ve made some great strides over the last five years.

“So, why did you come here this evening?”

“We think you know,” Lindsay said.

“I do, but I’d rather hear it from you.”

“Could you make us a bit more attractive; just so people don’t turn away from us?”

“You don’t mean turn you back into men?”

“As you said, you didn’t change our minds that much,” Ellie said while continuing to hold her lover’s hand. “We’re still not attracted to men, and we’re sorry to say that if we were men, we would not be able to physically love each other. We would be friends, but we couldn’t have the relationship we have now. We don’t want to lose this. It’s too important. We are truly happy, thanks to you.”

“Well, well, I’ll tell you what. I might make a few alterations, nothing much I assure you; however, there is a price. Would you trust me to initiate these changes without me telling you what they are before I do them?”

“I think so,” Ellie said turning to Lindsay. Lindsay nodded her assent.

“You won’t know what I’ve done to your appearance until you return to your hotel room. I don’t think you will be unhappy. Now, this is the price. It is already done. You have no choice in the matter. You are both pregnant, and you will be pregnant several more times. We are in the process of saving embryos that were aborted. I suspect both of you will have three or four children each over the next ten years or so. You may have more if you desire.

“Oh my god, this is wonderful,” Lindsay said almost bouncing up and down in her chair. “We’d talked about having children. We just didn’t want to go about the process in the normal way.”

“I knew that. Would you like another cup of tea? By the way, you both have appointments with your doctor.”

“Yes, and those wafers are delicious.”

They discussed a few more pleasantries before they bade The Wizard good evening.

The taxi driver was quite pleasant to them when he asked their destination. The doorman tipped his hat and held the door for them as they entered the lobby. Their heels clicked across the marble floor as they headed for the elevator. A man held the door for them at the elevator.

The realization of what had happened to them didn’t hit them until they entered their room.

“My god, Ellie, you’ve got boobs, and you’re a redhead, and you’re tall.”

“I always did have a thing for tall slender blondes. Look in the mirror,” Ellie said as she turned her lover to the dresser mirror.

“What did we do to deserve this?” Ellie asked as the tears started to flow. They were nice tears.

“I think we were honest with him. Besides, he can read our minds like a book. I think we have a lot to learn about motherhood over the next few months. However, right now, I want to make love to you.”

“Ladies, I’m sorry to report that Ellie and Lindsay have gone over to the dark side. They got married at the courthouse yesterday, and are honeymooning in the Virgin Islands. Lindsay said they are both pregnant and couldn’t be happier.

“We’re down to ten, but we can still do this.

“Myrtle, would you please read the minutes from the last meeting.

“Irving, what have you done to yourself?”

“I couldn’t help it, Mom. Some witches made us do it. Me and Clyde and Melvin were harassing some guys at the mall when these three gorgeous witches made us stop. They’d stopped us from doing things before. They gave us money to go to the beauty salon and get our hair done. We couldn’t resist. We had to pick out hair styles. I picked out this one and the color. I really love it. What do you think?”

“It’s quite nice, but you’re a boy.”

“I don’t think so, Mom. I think that’s what’s been bothering me. I think that’s what’s been bothering Melvin, too. His hair is really beautiful. He’s got a pink tint.

“Mom, it’s like a whole new world opened up to me. I can’t, don’t want to, go back. This is who I’ve wanted to be for a long time. I was just afraid to tell you.”

“I think I knew. You’ve been wearing my bras, haven’t you?”

“Er, yes, but I don’t have boobies.”

“That won’t happen for a while. I think we need to see a doctor who will help us with this. This isn’t going to be easy. I knew something was going on, but this is a bit more than I expected. What are you going to do about school?”

“They told us that not everyone can see what happened. Only a couple of guys noticed what we looked like. I think I need to get different clothes.”

“I am so sorry you got those tattoos. They are going to be very difficult to hide.

“Well, I guess I’m going to have to call Melvin and Clyde’s mothers, and see what they think about all this. Witches, you say: now I’ve heard everything.

Our adventurers are on their way. They have met The Wizard, and they know he is fully aware of what’s going on. Well, of course he is. The three bullies, Irving, Clyde and Melvin at Randi’s urging have undergone an amazing transition. I wonder what’s in store for them? I also wonder who will be next in abandoning the cabal?

The action will definitely start to pick up. Tom realizes that the area of their study isn’t really in Connecticut; however, he recognizes the location even though he’d never been there except in his mind’s eye. Our bullies will undergo another transition, probably their final one. Then there are some strange things about their packs.

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

Our four protagonist discuss what they are going to do in light of what they’ve discovered. They decided to press on. They realize why their parents are trying to kill The Wizard. The three newly blonde bullies and their mothers meet with Dr. Bettencourt, aka The Wizard. The mothers want the best for their bad boys, as long as the boys really want it. Guess what? Two more conspirators drop out.

This story is another addition to The Cynthia Chronicles, Volume II. Cynthia (Cindy) Brewer has graduated from medical school. Randi Lewis at age 18 is starting work on her Master of Science in Chemistry, and Charli Brewer is a freshman in pre-med at UConn. Bobbie Anderson is setting the golf world on fire having now won tournaments on the PGA in addition to her many victories on the LPGA. This story takes place several years before Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling. If you are not familiar with the stories that make up the Cynthia Chronicles, you might want to go back to the beginning with An Incremental Journey

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This work is copyrighted by the author and any publication or distribution without the written consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.

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Cynthia and the Queen of the Knight
 

Chapter 6

“I think this whole idea of ours to include a cave in our ecology study may not have been that good an idea,” Tom said. “We may be biting off more than we could chew. Not only that, there just aren’t that many caves in Connecticut, let alone close to where we are. It takes a bunch of limestone under the right conditions to allow caves to form. There just isn’t that much limestone around here. If we were in Maine, it would be a different matter.”

“What about the map that Mr. Temple gave us,” Ivan asked. “Didn’t he indicate a place that would be perfect for our project?”

“He did. Let me look at that map,” Tom said. “You’re right. He’s put a big red X on a place about 10 miles north of here. I don’t think the geology’s right there, but we certainly can take a look.”

The four had gathered at Tom’s house on Sunday afternoon. They’d discovered that they all enjoyed computer gaming, well Paul not so much. Paul liked the more intellectually challenging games that didn’t require a lot of action. Tom was a bit in between. Pappy and Ivan could really get involved in some of the action fantasy games.

“We have a little time before we really need to get to work; however, we’d better get down to the nitty-gritty. Mr. Temple wants an outline of what our plan is in three weeks. I think we need to check out that area out as soon as possible,” Tom said

“There’s plenty of time this afternoon to at least take a look at the site. I want to make sure it can provide us with the opportunity to put together a good project. Each of us has our set of strengths. We’ll be able to see things from different perspectives.”

“I’ll let the folks know we’re going out for a while. You might want to do the same.”

As Tom said, the drive to the proposed site was not too difficult. The map Mr. Temple provided was quite detailed, and led Tom to a country lane. Just past a small cemetery they found a gravel road leading to a small valley. An official appearing sign indicated “Advent Cave State Park”. In addition to the main sign, an information board at a small parking area posted some rules for visitor conduct. It included admonitions against damaging cave features and littering.

“This is really strange,” Tom remarked as the group looked around. “The geology changed considerably when we left the road. I wouldn’t have expected this type of terrain; however, here it is.”

“What do you mean?” Ivan asked.

“This is karst limestone: perfect for cave development. That looks like a small sink hole over there. That’s a major indicator of cave development.”

The group followed Tom as he led them down a slight hill. They stopped next to a stone building that had a small stream running out of an opening. The stream ran across a meadow and disappeared down the slope of another sinkhole. A nearby sign said “No Unauthorized Entry to Advent Cave”.

They opened the creaky door to the stone house. There wasn’t much to see in the dim light that came through several openings near where the stone walls joined the roof.

“That’s what I thought,” Tom said as he peered around the room. “We’re not supposed to be here yet.”

“I think I know what you’re talking about,” Paul said. “This is magic, isn’t it?”

“No question about it,” Tom replied. “This is all being set up for us, and Mr. Temple is involved somehow. Our parents, that Wizard, those witches, even those three morons are all involved in this. This is really going to be interesting.

“Has anyone gone through those packs we bought the other day?” The others shook their heads.

“Well, I did. It’s impossible to get everything that is in them in them. I half-filled my bedroom with stuff that came out of that bag. There must have been a hundred pounds of stuff in there. It couldn’t possibly fit, but it did, and it weighed only twenty pounds when filled. We could go on a safari with what’s in there.

“Okay, next Saturday we come back with our packs. Believe it or not, there’re hard hats with lamps in there. We’ll need those before we enter the cave.

“Please come in ladies. I’m Dr. Bettencourt. Boys, you will wait in the reception area. Do not touch anything. You may read the magazines and watch TV if you wish.”

Dr. Bettencourt looked very nice in slacks, pressed shirt and lab coat. His long grey hair was in a neat pony tail, and his beard was trimmed neatly close. “Right this way ladies. I can see we have quite a bit to talk about.” He led them to a pleasant office where there were four chairs already set up with a ‘master’ chair facing three comfortable looking chairs.

“From what you told me, Mrs. Mefisto, this whole thing happened rather suddenly.”

“Yes, Doctor, two nights ago I came home to find my son looking like you saw him. I had been pretty sure that he’d been sneak wearing my undergarments, something he freely admitted to me. He said some witches told him and his friends to go get their hair done.” The two other mothers nodded in agreement.

“The funny thing was he seemed to enjoy it. He said it was something that he wanted to do for a long time. As you undoubtedly noticed, he insisted on wearing one of my dresses when he came here. He even wore it to school. The funny thing is that no one but a select few seem to even notice his change. My macho husband hasn’t said a thing. And apparently, no one at his school has noticed anything unusual. He said he’d been in deep conflict, and that was why he’d been such a trouble maker. I didn’t think he even knew what that meant.”

“Let me add something,” Mrs. Davis, Clyde’s mother said. “I came home to find my son looking like a princess. He was checking himself out in the mirror, and he kept saying, “I don’t want to be a girl. I don’t want to be a girl.”

“The thing is, I’m not sure he meant it. Clyde has been a problem ever since his father and I divorced four years ago. If you want to know the truth, he is the real ringleader of our bunch of potential hoodlums. He’s been making Irving do the dirty work because Irving is bigger.”

“I agree with Shirley,” Melvin’s mother added. “Clyde has been the ring leader. Melvin has mostly been looking for a place to belong. I tried to get him interested in more constructive things; however, he seemed to be more interested causing trouble with the other two. When he got those horrid tattoos I was beside myself.

“Then he walked into the kitchen looking like that girl from Grease with his pink tinted blonde hair all up in little curls, his face all made up, eyebrows plucked and nails painted. I don’t recall ever seeing him happier than at that moment.”

“Assuming that the three are not that distressed about what they did. What are your feelings about this?

“Mrs. Mefisto, you may go first.”

“I wish I had known many years ago that this was something he wanted to happen. We might have been able to get him some of the right type of counseling and medical help. I don’t think any transition at this point would be very satisfactory appearance wise.”

“I think we might be able to do something very satisfactory, if you and Irving agree to it.

“Mrs. Davis, what are your thoughts about Clyde?” Dr. Bettencourt asked.

“I would love for Clyde to be happy. He has not been happy for a long time.”

“If Clyde were to become a girl, what would you think about that?”

“I don’t think it’s so much about what would I think. It’s what would Clyde think. I’ve often thought about having a daughter, but I can’t have children. Besides, I don’t have a husband.

“Clyde said some witches made him do what we see. If it isn’t his decision, I don’t see him staying with his appearance like it is.”

“Mrs. Douglas, what are your opinions about Melvin, what has happened to him, and his reaction to it?”

“As I said earlier, I’ve never seen him happier. If something could be done to allow him to satisfactorily become the girl he thinks he is, I would be all for it; however, I could never afford the costs involved.”

“Cindy, what do you think about our current situation?” Dr. Bettencourt said addressing someone who was behind the three mothers.

The mothers turned to see an extremely attractive young woman sitting behind them. She had a very pretty Siamese appearing cat in her lap. The cat had a yellow ear and hind foot that indicated non-Siamese parentage.

“Where did she come from?” Mrs. Mefisto remarked.

“Ladies, this is Dr. Cynthia Brewer. She is currently taking her residency in psychiatric medicine. I’ve known Cynthia for many years, and she is very, very good at what she does.

“Cindy, tell them what you’ve observed,” Dr. Bettencourt asked.

“Ladies, I have had several opportunities to observe your children. As you may have suspected, there is more to going on that what first appeared. In addition to being a doctor, I am specializing in gender studies by the way, I am a witch. I am the one who encouraged your sons to do what they did.

“I have encountered many transgender children and adults over the years; however, this is the first time I have ever encountered three like your three daughters at one time. Yes, I said daughters. Melvin and Irving only needed a little push to let them see the truth about themselves. Clyde is still in a bit of denial, but with the support of his friends and mother, I believe you will find that she will be a lovely daughter.

“Since I was nine years old, I have had the ability to detect when a person’s gender is in conflict with his or her sex. The brain sends certain signals. I can read minds, by the way. Those three want and need to be your daughters.

“Your Wisdom, I think it would be a good idea if you revealed your true self.”

“Certainly.” The Wizards appearance and garb changed to that Cindy had been familiar with for most of her life.

“Oh my,” Mrs. Douglas said, “you’re Albus Dumbledore.”

“Actually, we are just cousins; but he resides in a different universe. I am a wizard, though. I’ve been around for nearly a thousand years. As soon as we settle a few things I’ll let you see my shop the way it really looks.

“Based on the fact you didn’t go ballistic with all these revelations, I am going to assume that you understand quite a bit of magic is being involved in this. I’ll be very honest with you. I can through means that I will not discuss, alter reality in limited ways. I can change your sons physically into functionally perfect young women. I can alter their appearances. They could be natural blondes, if you and they so liked. I could make them physically very attractive. I could make them unattractive. I don’t do the latter very often.

“Under these circumstances, we want only positive outcomes. I could leave them as sixteen year olds; however, Cindy and I agree that they should be given an opportunity to learn what it means to be young girls before they become young women. They are not emotionally prepared for womanhood in spite of their mental genders.

“We feel they should be given a chance to start out at about six or seven. What do you think, Mrs. Douglas?”

“I find it difficult to believe that you can do what you say you can. I think this is all smoke and mirrors,” she said while waving her hand around. “I mean, I would love to have a daughter, especially with what I’ve had to put up with Melvin these last few years.”

“Mrs. Davis, what do you think?” The Wizard asked.

“I want what’s best for my child. If allowing him to become a functional girl would turn him around, I’m all for it. I just can’t see how anything like what you say you can do is possible. He would have to agree to anything we decided if it is possible, though.”

“Mrs. Mefisto?”

“I’m already convinced that Irving would welcome the change if it were possible. I know it would benefit him if he could start over. He’s so immature as it is. I think I could do a lot of good for him if he were to start over as a six-year old girl. I wouldn’t make some of the mistakes I made before.”

“Alright, I think you’re pretty much in agreement that you would prefer that your boy were girls. I guess the only thing we need to find out is what they think.

“Cindy, ask the three boys to come in here so that we may talk things over.”

“Certainly, Your Wisdom.”

Cindy place the little cat, the most beautiful and intelligent cat in the world, by the way, on the chair and opened the door to the waiting room.

“Your Wisdom, I think we have a problem. It appears as if they got into the jelly beans.”

“Not the pink jelly beans?” The Wizard asked.

“I’m afraid so, and I think they finished the entire jar.”

Mrs. Mefisto jumped to her feet and raced for the door. Three six-year old girls were where three sixteen-year old boys had been a short while before. The girls were dressed in almost identical pinafores. Their Maryjane shoes were like new. She could see the resemblance in the little blonde girl to her son, but the tattoos were gone. She was reading a copy of ‘Seventeen’.

“Hi Mommy, something happened to us. I think I like it. I think I’m a real girl.”

Another little girl with blonde hair fixed into two pig tails secured with pink ribbons was working on a coloring book. She briefly looked up and smiled as the room filled with the adults. The third girl stood in front of a mirror obviously placed there for their benefit. She was running her fingers through her long, wavy, deep auburn hair. She was repeating over and over, “I think I like it, I think I’m okay.” She turned to see her mother standing there with her jaw hanging open.

“It’s me Mommy. I don’t know how, but it’s me, and my name is Cleo, now.

“Well,” The Wizard said to the little girls, “see what happens when you don’t do what you’re told to do. I told you not to touch anything but the magazines and the television.”

“But they looked so good, and we were hungry. We couldn’t help eating them.” By this time, little Melanie Douglas had put aside her coloring book and had grabbed her mother’s hand. Her smile was almost ear to ear.

“I think I’m Iris, now,” the previous Irving Mefisto said to his astonished mother. “That pretty lady’s a witch. I think she’s a good witch. What’s Daddy going to say?”

“I know this may be quite a bit for you to take in,” The Wizard said. “However, this is pretty much what they wanted. Dr. Brewer, her sister, sister-in-law and I did a very thorough study. We are very adept at reading minds, and we were certain that deep inside this was what they wanted; well, almost. They did have some images that were influenced a bit by some of their previous male fantasies of some rather well-endowed young ladies. Of course, as we said earlier, they are not ready for that life. It’s up to you as their mothers to take care of their education in that area.

“Speaking of education, they are enrolled in the St. Agnes School for Girls. Your good fortune with the lottery will pay for their education. They should be ready enough by the time they are twelve to face the world and attend public school.

“Obviously, many things will have to have changed, but no one outside this group will ever be aware anything has happened. You will never be able to discuss what happened except among yourselves. The girls’ memories are intact, but they are no longer important to them; their future is. Their changes have gone far beyond what you see just here. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, your girls have always been little girls. There are other changes that will become apparent over the days, weeks and years, but we don’t need to go into those right now.

“One other thing, I will be needing to borrow your little girls every once in a while for a project we have on going. I assure you they will never be in danger. I think they will enjoy it.

“And, Ms. Davis, you need to see your gynecologist.”

When the mothers assisted their young daughters with their baths that night they discovered one other thing about them. Each had a birth mark on her left shoulder in the shape of a small butterfly. Of course they were too young to have tattoos; however, the details were perfect.

Chapter 7

“I see what you meant about the packs. That is certainly another example of the magic we’re dealing with. Somebody has quite a talent with manipulating space and mass. I’ll bet there was close to a hundred-fifty pounds of things, including ropes and harnesses that are probably for climbing cliffs. I repacked it and put the hardhat and flashlight at the top. There’s enough dehydrated food for a month, and some of it looked pretty good.”

Paul was with Tom in Tom’s bedroom, where they’d been working with Tom’s new tablet computer. He’d had spent several hundred dollars on a CAD software program that would allow him to draw in three dimensions. He knew that their compasses should work underground as long as they didn’t encounter any large ferrous masses, and this would allow them to map their underground journey. They’d also purchased a small laser measuring device.

“You seem to know an awful lot about this Advent Cave for not ever having been there before,” Paul said as Tom rebooted his computer, after having installed the CAD program.

“I have been there before, or at least I’ve been to several variations of it. This whole thing is some sort of test for the four of us. It’s more than just a school project.

“The Wizard, His Wisdom as you call him, is at the core of this,” Tom said.

“Without a doubt, he is,” Paul said. “I am considerably more familiar with His Wisdom than you are. I’ve known about him for years. Ivan knows about him, too.

“Before I go any further with this, I need to call Ivan.”

“Hey,” Paul said as Ivan answered the call, “Tom and I have been talking about His Wisdom. I think we need to let Pappy and Tom in on what he’s all about; or at least what we think he’s about. There’s probably a lot more to him than we realize, though.”

“Can we come over there?” Ivan replied. “Pappy’s with me, and I just told him that there was more about me than he’d realized, too. He’s cool.”

“Excellent idea, we’ll see you in a couple of minutes.”

It didn’t take long for the four friends to be together behind the closed door of Tom’s bedroom.

“I need to say something,” Paul said, “before we get into this other matter. Tom has supported me for the entire time I’ve known him, especially after I came out to him. He knows about hormones and the surgeries that are necessary to make someone who is in the wrong body complete. I have been taking testosterone blockers for several years. My mother doesn’t know about it. Maybe if she’d paid more attention to me she might have noticed that my puberty stopped quite a while ago. Tom noticed right away.

“Pappy, you’ve been wonderful, too, and maybe someday we’ll get everything straightened out.

“Now, back to our problem at hand. I think the first thing is that we need to be on the same page about The Wizard. As we said the other day, the main reason we are in Bridgeport is that our parents, at least our mothers, are conspiring to kill The Wizard. Of course, they won’t be able to; however, His Wisdom seems to be content to let them think they can.

“The big question is why our parents and their friends are bent on doing this? After all, murder is rather illegal in this country.”

“That’s exactly what I was wondering,” Pappy said.

“I’ll get to that in just a minute,” Paul said. “I think we all agree that The Wizard exists, as do the three witches. There is no question that there is real magic going on around here. Look at what they made those three morons do. By the way, I haven’t seen them since Monday. Has anyone else?” There were three shakes of the head confirming what Paul had observed.

“Now that we are out to everybody in this room, Ivan and I want to tell you some other things about our parents. We think we are on pretty good ground with this, and it explains quite a bit. The Wizard is probably close to a thousand years old, and he is very powerful. He can travel to alternate universes, and he can on a small scale alter reality. He has the power to change people. He can make them older or younger, and he can change their sex and gender. You saw what he can do on a small scale. Believe me what you saw is nothing.”

“How come you know all this?” Pappy asked.

“For many who are like Ivan and I are, we go to many places for help. The internet is a great tool as you are aware. It is also a source of myth, unsubstantiated information, as well as pure bull shit. It also supports many of us as we can communicate with each other. There is quite a network out there among the LGTBQI.

“The internet was where Ivan and I first learned about The Wizard. At first, it just seemed he was another bit of fiction; however, more and more evidence kept popping up that supported the fact The Wizard may be real. As you know now, he is.

“Enough about that for right now. The important thing is why our parents are involved in this conspiracy. I will put it very bluntly: our mothers used to be men or boys.”

“You’re shitting me,” Pappy said.

“I don’t think so,” Ivan said. “It makes a lot of sense. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Tom’s and your fathers used to be women. They have to know what’s going on.”

“So, what do we do,” Tom asked.

“I think you know the answer to that,” Paul replied. “We continue to do exactly what we’ve been doing. He has his reasons for putting us through this. Although, at times I’m not too sure if he is the one in charge. I suspect there are others who may be on a different plane of existence who actually are controlling things. I know this. We are definitely not in control. He might be trying to keep us away from our parents when the shit hits the fan, so to speak.

“Sometimes, I feel he might be tormenting us. Then again, I’m not too sure. Then, there’s Mr. Temple. What does he have to do with all this? He’s definitely in on it, but he can’t be magic. It doesn’t work that way. He’s not a wizard, although he knows him, and he can’t be a witch.”

Their conversation was interrupted by a knocking on the door.

“Yes.”

Mrs. Isaacson opened the door. “Boys, Mr. Isaacson and I are going over to the Knight’s for a while. We ordered pizza for you. It may be a while before we’re back.” She gave Pappy a strange look and shook her head before she left closing the door behind her.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Papandreou, I’ll be out there in a minute. If you have it in your heart, you may give Wolf a wolf biscuit. Marissa Lewis made them especially for him.”

Wolf was nodding his head up and down while wagging his tail rather vigorously. He probably couldn’t control the latter.

“Please,” he begged.

Sherri Papandreou opened the jar and gave one of the rather large bone shaped biscuits to Wolf.

“Thank you,” was his muffled response.

“What do you think?” The Wizard asked as he parted the beaded curtains.

“It is certainly a lot neater than it was before,” Ted Papandreou answered.

“That’s mostly Randi’s doing. She helps me out around here. She’ll be running a branch shop one of these days, but that will be for only high volume periods.

“Let’s go to the back room. It’s much more comfortable back there.”

“I take it you are about ready to abandon Sandra Knight’s project.”

“We already have,” Sherri said. “We’ve been talking about it for a while, and we just don’t see any point in it, and you proved your point quite a while ago. I was so wrong about child birth both from a negative and positive point of view. We had wandered into your shop, not by accident I imagine, and were arguing about having another child. As the husband, I wanted one; however, Ted, then Sherri, said she wasn’t too sure. Dimitri had been a difficult birth for her. I poo-pooed it saying that was a woman’s burden.

“She commented that I wouldn’t have the guts to go through what she did. It was two weeks later, two days after we’d made love that we woke up in each other’s bodies. Three weeks later Ted told me I was pregnant. I was.”

“I will give you credit,” Ted said. “You held up very well. I know Margaret’s birth wasn’t as difficult as Dimitri’s was, but giving birth is seldom easy. You got a good taste of what it was all about. As much as you hated it, you loved it. You liked breast feeding as much as I did.”

“I think Sherri felt angry about what had happened to her, and I felt you had taken the right of motherhood from me. When we saw Sandra’s advertisement, we thought this might be a chance to get back for what you had done to us. The thing was, Sandra’s bitterness began to wear thin with us. We just didn’t see how killing you would serve any purpose.

“I think Alice’s comments really hit home. What did we really have to be angry about? We have a wonderful family, two intelligent and relatively well adjusted children, and a good, secure life. We’re tired of moving, tired of trying to find you so that we can exact an undeserved revenge. We realized what we really want. We want more children. We have several good child bearing years ahead of us.”

“I would say at least ten,” The Wizard interjected.

“I want to be a mother again,” Ted said.

“And I do too,” Sherri added.

“I think that could be arranged. I’ll just fix it so that each time one of you gets pregnant, you will switch. Would that be satisfactory?”

“I think that would work very well,” Sherri said. “I do have another question. What about our children. They’re sure to notice the changes in their parents.”

“Dimitri already has a good idea of what’s been going on,” The Wizard said. “There are four smart young adults out there, and they have just about figured everything out. You should be very proud of them.

“We have quite a while before everything works out, and unless I’m wrong, I seldom am, everything will work out to just about everyone’s satisfaction.

“I don’t understand it. I thought Ted and Sherri were with us all the way,” Sandra Knight was furious. She’d thought the Papandreous were solidly behind her; however, Sherri had called her that afternoon to say that they were withdrawing from the group.

As soon as she’d ended the call she sent messages to the remaining members calling an emergency session. There had to be a way to stop him before he got to their children any more than he already had.

“Myrtle, I think we can dispense with reading the minutes from the last meeting.

“Folks, disaster is looming. That creep has pulled two more from us. As you can see, the Papandreous are no longer with us. We must stop him. Does anyone have any ideas?

“Myrtle.”

“I was just thinking that since he may be influencing the children we might be able to use them as a diversion. I used to be a sniper. I could get in position and, while his attention is elsewhere, take him out.”

“But wouldn’t he hear the shot?” Agnes asked.

“I could take him out from a mile away. He couldn’t read me from that far away, and the bullet travels at about four times the speed of sound.”

“When were you a sniper? We haven’t had any significant military action since Viet Nam.” Glynnis asked.

“I served four years in the Marines. I was a damn good shot when I went in, and I was even better when I got out. I was a paid mercenary in Africa. I don’t know how many people I took out. When the people I worked for decided not to pay me I went to the other side. They paid a lot better, and I took out the guys who wouldn’t pay me what they owed me. I would love to take that bastard out,” Myrtle said with more than a little animosity.

“What sort of gun can shoot and kill someone from a mile away?” Sandra asked.

“I had one before he changed me; however, it went away with everything else. I have contacts, and it won’t be too hard to get what I need.”

“This is beginning to sound interesting,” Agnes said. “Where would you do this? You certainly couldn’t do it in a mall.”

“We’d have to get him outside; somewhere where there’s plenty of open area and still a place to hide.”

“Well, there is that place where the children are doing their research project for school,” Sandra said. “I don’t like that, though. If we involve them in this, there’s a chance they could be shot, too. I imagine a large bullet going as fast as you say could easily penetrate one person and go on to kill someone else in its path. We need to think of something, else.”

“I don’t think anyone has come up with a better idea. If someone else gets hurt, that’s just the cost of war. We need to get rid of that bastard. If we take some losses, so be it.”

“That’s easy for you to say, Myrtle,” Nancy Isaacson said. “You’re not a parent.”

“I don’t want anything to do with the little monsters. I’m surprised to hear this from a woman who used to be a man. What happened to your spine? What sort of wuss are you?”

“Regardless of my origin, they’re our children,” Nancy said.

“I agree,” James Isaacson said. “I will not support any action that might put our children in jeopardy. There has to be another way.”

“I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” Barbara Boom-Boom Reynolds said. “I just want to get my mind back.”

Things are starting to heat up. The cave is looming just a little ways off. Things may get very serious, not that trying to kill The Wizard isn’t.

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

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

This story is another addition to The Cynthia Chronicles, Volume II. Cynthia (Cindy) Brewer has graduated from medical school. Randi Lewis at age 18 is starting work on her Master of Science in Chemistry, and Charli Brewer is a freshman in pre-med at UConn. Bobbie Anderson is setting the golf world on fire having now won tournaments on the PGA in addition to her many victories on the LPGA. This story takes place several years before Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling. If you are not familiar with the stories that make up the Cynthia Chronicles, you might want to go back to the beginning with An Incremental Journey

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This work is copyrighted by the author and any publication or distribution without the written consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.

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Cynthia and the Queen of the Knight
 

Chapter 8

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I don’t think I want to tell you.”

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

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

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

“Paul!”

“Just kidding, we just had some soft drinks.

“So, what happened?”

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

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

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

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

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

“Anything here I can interest you in?”

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

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

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

“I understand. Are you okay?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Mom, how old am I?”

“You’re almost eighteen. Why?”

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

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

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

“Stopped your puberty, how can that happen.”

“I’ve been taking testosterone blockers.”

“You’ve what!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 9

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

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

“No, that’s it.”

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

“Mom, Dad, we need to talk.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“We didn’t read the instructions.”

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

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

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

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

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

“Now, what can I do for you?”

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

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

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

“How did you know that?” Jim asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What exactly do they do?” Sam asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Thank you, unsweetened please.”

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

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

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

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

“Yes, Ma’am.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I’ll do my best, Ma’am.”

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

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

“Who’s this Mr. Temple?”

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

“Thank you, for the compliment.”

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

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

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

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

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

Barbara gets her mind back. Myrtle finds the ground where she will carry out the assassination. Ivan explains to Pappy that she will do nothing to foul up the project because he believes it will lead to his transition. Tom explains to the others what he believes the cave is about, and Ivan agrees. He and Tom have been there before. Bob Temple asks Sandra to have a drink with him. It doesn’t exactly go well.

This story is another addition to The Cynthia Chronicles, Volume II. Cynthia (Cindy) Brewer has graduated from medical school. Randi Lewis at age 18 is starting work on her Master of Science in Chemistry, and Charli Brewer is a freshman in pre-med at UConn. Bobbie Anderson is setting the golf world on fire having now won tournaments on the PGA in addition to her many victories on the LPGA. This story takes place several years before Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling. If you are not familiar with the stories that make up the Cynthia Chronicles, you might want to go back to the beginning with An Incremental Journey

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This work is copyrighted by the author and any publication or distribution without the written consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.

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Cynthia and the Queen of the Knight
 

Chapter 10

“Barbara, I’ll be right with you. I have to complete a conference call. Help yourself to some milk and cookies if you’d like.”

Barbara was absentmindedly scratching Wolf’s ears. She was carefully going over the speech she had rehearsed many times. She just hoped she wouldn’t stumble over the longer words. It had become very difficult for her to communicate in anything but the shortest sentences and words.

She had gone to the mall to get some cosmetics, there was a Clinique special, and was garnering the stares and wolf whistles she usually garnered when she was out in public. Then she saw the sign – Spells-‘R‘-Us. She panicked for a moment before gathering up the little resolve she had. She would confront The Wizard and plead with him to give her mind back to her. She knew she’d been intelligent, but now it was all gone, and she couldn’t even spell intelligent.

When The Wizard came out of the back room he couldn’t find Barbara, but he could hear her giggling, and could hear the patter of little puppy feet. As he came around the corner of the counter, he found Barbara sitting on the floor playing with the six puppies. They were licking her face as puppies do and their proud parents were sitting by watching.

“Oh, Mr. Wizard, I’m sorry. They’re just so cute and I couldn’t help it.”

“That’s quite alright. Let’s all go to the back room. I think we have quite a bit to talk about.”

Barbara stood while trying to straighten out her skirt and blouse which at the moment was displaying a rather large amount of cleavage.

The Wizard led her to a comfortable chair before sitting opposite her.

“What can I do for you Barbara?”

“I, like, wish ….” At this point she broke down in sobs. It took a few minutes for her to regain her composure. The Wizard passed a clean linen hanky to her. After blowing her nose she was able to start talking. “I had a speech memorized, but I forgot it. I don’t seem to be able to remember things like I used to.”

“It was a very nice speech, Barbara. I know you worked very hard on it.”

“How?”

“I’m a wizard, remember.

“Barbara, I was very hard on you, maybe a lot harder than I should have been. If I remember, nothing was working correctly that day. I had just dealt with a rather unpleasant pedophile. That’s no excuse, though. I think I need to fix some things.

“I think I will bring in one of my assistants, if you don’t mind.”

The Wizard turned to his desk top computer. “Charli, are you very busy? I need your assistance. I need to set some things right with a certain young lady out here in Las Vegas.”

“I’m never too busy when you have a project like Barbara. I’ll be right there.”

The Wizard turned to Barbara. “Charli is my makeup and hair consultant. She doesn’t mind me telling you this, but she used to work the streets. I know you never did anything like that; however, you’ve lived pretty close to that environment. Charli was almost killed when we rescued her, she was a boy at the time; however, with her concurrence we allowed her to start over as a six year old girl.”

They were interrupted by Charli suddenly walking out of the broom closet. She was carrying a bag of cosmetics.

“As you can see, she turned out pretty well.”

“Charli, I was just giving Barbara a little bit of your background. I was trying to put her at ease. I have a number of things in mind here. Barbara is very intelligent. I’d given her a little block, but that’s gone now.” The Wizard turned back to Barbara.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Better than I’ve felt in a long time. What did you do?”

“Alice Gräber asked me to give you your mind back. That’s just the beginning.

“So, what do we do about her hair, Charli?”

“Of course the style is atrocious. I’ll show you what a college student should look like.” She ran her hands around Barbara’s head, and the bouffant hairstyle was replaced with long straight hair held in a nice pony tail. Charli worked a bit more with the style until it suited her.

“Of course, the color is terrible, but you will have to take care of that. I would suggest you take her back to her natural color. I don’t know how you can make someone grow hair that looks like it’s been bleached, and I don’t want to know.”

Barbara’ hair was suddenly a light brunette with natural streaking.

“Oh, that’s so much better. There’s absolutely no reason to mess with your color, Barbara. It’s perfect.

“Your Wisdom, the boobs have to go. I don’t see how she can even walk with those things cantilevered out there like that. I’d say a very full ‘C’. On her frame that would be perfect.”

“Not a ‘D’?” The Wizard sounded a bit disappointed.

“No, a full ‘C’, after all, you tortured her with those monsters for four years.

“Okay, how’s that?”

“Your Wisdom,” Charli said in a scolding tone, “not a ‘D+’, a full ‘C’. Yes, like that. That’s much better. Now let me work with her makeup.”

When Charli was through with her work she turned Barbara to a mirror. “What do you think?” Charli asked.

“You’ve made me look human. I don’t know what to say. I guess thank you would have to do for now. I do have a question though. Obviously I am no longer Barbara Boom-boom Reynolds. Who am I?”

“You are just Barbara Marie Reynolds, freshman student at U Conn.”

“I guess Ben Reynolds is gone.”

“In your current universe he never existed. In that alternate universe where you started, Ben Reynolds was shot and killed by an irate husband who found him in bed with his wife. The wife was also killed by the same bullet. You had no future there,” The Wizard said.

“We have done a little manipulating with events. It required a bit of adjusting things over the last century; however, I think you will find that your father is not quite the bigot he was before. You do have an older brother; however, he is not you.

“As Charli said, you are now a freshman at The University of Connecticut. I gave you six years back. You could go back to physics, you would do well; however, we think you are better suited for veterinary medicine. It’s your decision.

“Charli is your roommate for your first year. She’s going to act as your mentor until you get your feet on the ground.

“By the way, your former self in Vegas has mysteriously disappeared. They will find your car at the boat ramp at Lake Mead. It was the easiest way to explain your disappearance. You were a person unknown when you arrived, and that’s how you will have left. I also transferred the money from your bank account, quite a bit by the way, to your college fund. It should cover your post-graduate work.

“Now, Charli needs to show you your new room.”

The Wizard watched as Charli led the somewhat bewildered Barbara to the broom closet Charli had exited from a while before.

“Boss, you are a real softy,” Wolf said.

“I know, but we have more serious things to take care of.”

“Yes sir, this should be fun.”

“Serious fun,” The Wizard said.

The sun was barely creeping over the horizon as the four wheel drive SUV pulled into the parking lot. The driver, dressed in a jogging suit did a few warm-ups before taking off on a slow jog down a well-marked trail. About a half mile down the path, the jogger turned off the path towards a knoll. A lesser used trail led to a clearing near the top of the knoll. She looked for a position that gave her a clear view.

“Damn,” she said to herself. “The whole area in front of that building is blocked. This location will never do. Time to check that other knoll.”

It was a few hundred yards to the next possible position. ‘Much better,’ she thought. ‘I have a clear view of the entire area. This will be a piece of cake. Now, let’s check the range.’ She turned on her compact laser range finder and took a few measurements. ‘Fifteen hundred yards, that old bastard’s going to be dead meat.’

She jogged back to her car and headed back to her apartment. She failed to notice one thing as she proceeded down the country lane. The knolls, the valley, the entire area for that matter could not be seen. From the road, they just didn’t exist.

“What did you think when I told you I was transgender,” Ivan asked.

“I was a bit surprised,” Pappy said. “I never would have guessed; however, I’m pretty ignorant about that sort of thing. Paul was the first person I knew about who was like that.”

“We work hard sometimes to hide it. It does complicate things. Does it bother you that I’m a girl?”

“Why should it? You are the same person I met on the first day of school. Nothing’s changed. It’s sort of like finding out you don’t like peanuts when I do.”

“I like peanuts.”

“Maybe that’s not the best example. I mean, look at all the things we like to do. We added five birds to our life lists. We like gaming. We’re Greek and like Greek food. You’re really cool. I don’t care if you’re a guy or a girl.”

“What if I were a real girl?”

“That might get interesting. Do you think that could happen?”

“That all depends on The Wizard, and there’s no use taking that idea any further.”

“But you wish he would?”

“Of course I do. There hasn’t been a day go by that I haven’t wished for that magic pill, that mysterious artifact, the genie in a bottle, or that wizard that I now know for sure exists, to make my body match my brain. The only difference is that I know that there is real hope, a real chance that it might happen.

“I’ll tell you this. I will do nothing to screw things up for Paul and me. If The Wizard wants us to play a game, I’m going to play it to the hilt. This is a very complicated game. Paul and I talked about it yesterday. Then, there’s still that other thing.”

“What would that be?” Pappy asked.

“What does Mr. Temple have to do with all this?”

Pappy hadn’t realized it at first, but Ivan was very strong and determined. He was considerably more take charge than he was, and he seemed to be quite relieved when he found out that his parents had given up on that insane project to kill The Wizard. As near as they could tell, there were still several people left in the group, and unfortunately, one was Pappy’s mother. They were pretty sure there were three others including Paul’s mother.

Chapter 11

“Guys, I’ve done quite a bit of research, as you know, about the history of interactive computer games. One of the very first interactive games invented was developed by a fellow named Willie Crowther. I believe he was at Princeton University. The game caught on very quickly and was played by many on the earliest forms of the internet. You were given a scenario and from that point on you were basically on your own. You typed in basic commands, and based on the answers, you progressed to the end. Which, by the way was not that easy to get to.”

“I’ve played it,” Ivan said. “I was never able to figure it all out. I took a lot of notes, but they were lost during one of our moves. It’s a lot of fun.”

“Paul and I installed a three dimensional CAD program on my tablet. We’re going to take it with us when we enter the cave. We’re going to plot every nook and cranny. I have a laser range finder that should help us.

“I wasn’t able to solve it either, but I did get quite a bit of it done. I don’t have my notes, either,” Tom said.

“I’ve never heard of this game. What is it?” Pappy asked.

“It’s so old most in our generation never have heard of it. It’s too simple. It’s just that it isn’t that simple.

“I knew as soon as we drove into that ‘Park’ what was going on. That place doesn’t exist in the real world. The game was called “The Adventure Game” or something like that. There are several versions, and who knows what version that crazy wizard has concocted for us. As soon as we left the main road everything changed; the terrain, the geology, even the plant life. We were suddenly in central Kentucky, not western Connecticut.

“The whole intent of this project is for us to solve the problem of the cave. I’m not sure what it is; however, I’m sure it has nothing to do with an ecological study. One other thing, we are in this together. We won’t do anything without the concurrence of all of us.”

It was the after game pizza at the favorite local pizza parlor. Tom and Pappy were in the marching band, and they put on a good show. The best part was that their team won; beating a rival from a nearby city.

“Remember, the first time we looked into the spring house? There was nothing there. That’s when I knew we weren’t ready for this adventure. Many more things have had to come together before we are allowed to start. I think we should be prepared to go into the cave tomorrow. The rest of what we planned to do is just extraneous action. I’ll know if we’re to go ahead as soon as we get to the spring house.”

Across town a meeting of a different sort was taking place. Sandra Knight was having a drink with a man. Ever since her change she’d steadfastly refused to have relationships with men, or women for that matter, however, when this rather handsome, balding man approached her as the stands emptied after her son’s school’s victory, she felt compelled to listen to him.

“Ms. Knight, may I have a word with you?” he’d asked.

“I guess I’m at a disadvantage here. May I ask who you are?”

“That’s only reasonable. I’m Bob Temple. I’m one of your son’s teachers.”

“Oh yes, you’re his teacher for that class where they have that big project. What may I do for you?”

“I would like to talk with you about your son and his friends.”

“Have they done something wrong?”

“On the contrary, they are doing everything right. Your son is quite brilliant, as are the others. Look, this is not the place to talk. May I buy you a drink? I know a respectable place where no one would question your presence. I know your son and the others are going to have pizza. It will be a while before they go home. I would just like to talk with you about a few things.”

“Alright, Mr. Temple, I’ll have a drink with you. Where is this place you’d like to go to?”

“O’Flaherty’s down by the river.”

“I know the place. I’ll meet you there.”

“Thank you.”

Sandra wondered what it was about. What could this teacher know about her son and the others? She’d found a recently vacated parking spot near the front door. She and Paul had eaten there when they had first moved to Bridgeport that summer. Their meals were excellent if not a bit pricey. They had not been back since. There wasn’t the need to.

Bob Temple was waiting for her at the entrance to the bar area, and held the door open for her. The bar was a pleasant change from some she’d been in over the years. Not present were the wide screen TVs that seemed to dominate so many chain restaurants and bars. In one corner a man was playing a Gershwin medley on the piano. He led her to a booth not far from the piano. A young couple was sitting at a small table for two, and they waved to Bob as they approached.

“Hi Bob, I hear our team won; better start than last year,” the very attractive blonde said.

“Yeah, maybe we’ll have a chance this year.

“Sandra, I’d like you to meet Cindy and Don Brewer. They were both students of mine many years ago, and now Cindy’s a doctor in her residency in Boston, and Don’s a lawyer.

“Cindy and Don, I’d like you to meet Sandra Knight. She and her son just moved here. Paul’s in my advanced biology class.”

“Sandra,” Cindy said as she extended her hand, “welcome to Bridgeport. I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other often.” Sandra felt a strange but pleasant warmth as Cindy took her hand. Some of her apprehension about being with Bob disappeared.

“What a lovely couple,” Sandra said as Cindy and Don left.

“Yes they are. They went through quite a bit to get where they are today. They fell in love during their junior year at school. I’ve seen many infatuations come and go during my career as a teacher, but I never saw a stronger love than theirs has been.” Bob seemed to get a bit emotional, and Sandra could hear his voice catch briefly.

“I was an assistant coach back then, and we recruited Don as a walk-on place kicker. I never coached a finer young man. He set the state record for place kicking. No one has come close to his field goal record. Then they went off to Boston College where he set the NCAA field goal record. The pros offered him a fortune. He turned it down. Instead, he went to Harvard Law School.

“Cindy might have been Valedictorian except for one of her best friends, Myrna Mankowitz. She and her husband are PhD candidates at MIT. She is doing amazing things in DNA research. Avery is an up and coming expert in alternative energy sources. I am very proud to know them.

“Enough about my students. I think I invited you here tonight to talk about other things. I always wanted to be a teacher. I received my Master’s in Education from Cal Berkley and moved here shortly afterwards. I was made an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“Wife?” Sandra asked.

“Nope, never could find anyone who’d put up with an academic neat freak. Besides, I didn’t belong to The Hair Club,” he said making an obvious reference to his bald pate.

“I don’t think that’s a problem.”

“What about you?”

“I was an unwed mother at eighteen. There never has been a Mr. Knight. There, that’s out in the open.”

Bob didn’t say anything, but continued to listen.

“My parents disowned me. They paid for the medical costs and gave me $10,000 to help get my life started. I worked the hamburger joints and got my degree in six years. Fortunately, there was daycare at the school. I went to law school after that and passed the bar on my first try. I specialize in contract law, and have built up a very good clientele on the internet. I have neither heard from nor seen my parents since the day they kicked me out. They’ve never seen their grandson.

“Such a sad story, but you have seemed to have done very well. Paul seems not to have suffered.”

“I’m not sure. I may not have been the best mother, but I love my son. He’s never been in trouble. I think he wants to be a doctor. I know he’s tired of moving. I am, too.”

“Why this bent? You have a good life. Why not just settle down and enjoy what he’s given you.”

Sandra was shocked. She stared at the man she was beginning to like.

“You’re one of them aren’t you?” she said deliberately keeping her voice low; however, the tone was not missed by Bob.

“I hardly qualify as one of them. I know The Wizard, and have known him for a number of years. He’s not a bad man in spite of what he may have done to you, and I don’t know what he did. I do know this, whatever plans you have, please consider those four children.”

“Consider the children,” her voice raised a bit, and a few heads turned their way. “Do you know what he’s done to my son? He’s made him think that he’s transgendered, that he’s a girl in a boy’s body. He’s tormented me for nearly twenty years and now he wants to torment my son.”

“As far as I know, The Wizard has never made someone transgender. He certainly wouldn’t do it to someone to get at his or her parent. That’s the last thing he would do. He fixes that problem whenever he can. If you would let him, The Wizard could fix your daughter’s problem.”

“Paul is my son,” Sandra said quietly but emphatically.

“I think you need to have another talk with Paul. Take him to a doctor, a specialist.”

“I’m sure he will have reached the doctor, too. It’s obvious I can’t trust anyone around here.

“Thank you for the glass of wine.”

Sandra picked up her purse, and stalked out of the lounge.

Bob watched her leave. ‘My God, she’s beautiful,’ Bob thought. ‘That may not have gone as well as we wanted, but it’s a start.’

“Lover’s quarrel?” the waitress asked with a smile as Bob handed a twenty to her.

“Perhaps,” he smiled as he headed to his car. ‘We’ll just have to wait and see.’

“I see what you were saying about Sandra Knight,” Don Brewer said as he and Cindy climbed back in bed after a shared shower. They were staying at her parents’ home for the weekend. “She certainly is an attractive lady.”

“Watch it buster, or I might not let you have your way with me for a while.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. She’s much too old for me, and she seems to have a boyfriend.”

“That’s not a sure thing, but the signs were good. Sandra still has a lot of anger to get over. She’s very defensive at the moment. I was able to detect several things during our meeting this evening. She’s definitely past the tipping point. She’s totally female, and His Wisdom had nothing to do with it. I wasn’t around when he transformed her, but I would be willing to bet her infatuation with football was due to overcompensation. She had to prove her masculinity to her father. Of course in their reality, she never was a boy. Her father had never wanted a daughter. When she showed up pregnant, he just got rid of her. What a jerk.

“You know, I think her being abandoned is the source of most of her anger.”

“What else did you sense with that ‘spidey’ sense of your?”

“I knew this the first time I met Paul. He is carrying the witch trait and so is his mother. That should have been, but you never know when The Wizard starts messing with things. I confirmed his mother’s status this evening. In that first meeting I also confirmed Paul is transgender. It’s very strong. His friend, Ivan, is also transgender and also carries the witch trait. The neat thing is the four of them know it. At least they know about the transgender issue. Tom has known about Paul for a long time. Ivan came out to them a while ago. Pappy’s cool about it.”

“The Wizard will take care of their problems won’t he?”

“I suspect so, but you never know. I’ve never known him not to when a transgender person was involved. He’s not a cruel person; a bit strange, but never cruel.

“Good night my handsome husband; tomorrow is another day.”

Across town, Sandra had finally cried herself out, and was asleep before Paul came in from the after game pizza and strategy meeting.

Sandra goes a bit over the top trying to convince Paul to kill The Wizard. Lois Papadopoulos tells Sandra what happened to her and why she’s giving up on the project. Bob Temple asks Sandra to have lunch with him. She agrees. Our four protagonists enter the cave.

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

Paul tells his mother that her quest is futile. The intrepid four enter the cave, and soon discover the importance of each treasure. They also discover that their time in the cave is different than outside. Lois Papadopoulos comes to Sandra to tell her she’s out of the group. She tells her what happened to get her where she is. Sandra agrees that their venture is futile. Tom is selected as leader. Ivan is second in command.

This story is another addition to The Cynthia Chronicles, Volume II. Cynthia (Cindy) Brewer has graduated from medical school. Randi Lewis at age 18 is starting work on her Master of Science in Chemistry, and Charli Brewer is a freshman in pre-med at UConn. Bobbie Anderson is setting the golf world on fire having now won tournaments on the PGA in addition to her many victories on the LPGA. This story takes place several years before Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling. If you are not familiar with the stories that make up the Cynthia Chronicles, you might want to go back to the beginning with An Incremental Journey

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This work is copyrighted by the author and any publication or distribution without the written consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.

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Cynthia and the Queen of the Knight
 

Chapter 12

Sandra was having a cup of coffee when Paul came into the kitchen to fix breakfast.

“We need to talk,” she said as she placed her cup on its saucer.

“Sure, Mom.”

“Are you still planning on carrying on with this project of yours?”

“Certainly, why wouldn’t I? It’s part of my high school curricula.”

“It’s nothing of the sort. That evil wizard is just using you to get at me.

“Hell is too good a place for him. He has caused me nothing but despair and agony, and his death is the only way to fix things. It would be only right that my son who he is trying to turn into my daughter would kill him. He would never get a chance to complete his evil agenda.

“The vengeance of hell boils in my heart.

“If you don’t try to kill him, then you are no longer my child.”

“Mom, I think you’re being a bit melodramatic. Of course I won’t try to kill him. You of all people should realize how futile this thing you’re trying to do is. I think The Wizard is trying to help you, not harm you.

“At any time, he could put a stop to what you and the others have been planning, and most of them have decided not to continue. I think a better solution would be to meet with him.

“Tom just drove up, so I’ll get breakfast on the way out there. I imagine we’ll be back late this afternoon. We won’t be able to call you from the cave, but we probably will call when we’re outside it.

“I love you, Mom. You mean so much to me, but you have to get rid of this hate. He didn’t steal your life. He gave you one – me.”

He kissed her tear streaked face and left.

“Where the hell did all this fog come from?” Pappy asked. There hadn’t been any fog until they turned off the main road; however, one could call it ‘pea soup’.

“I wouldn’t worry about it.” Tom said. “Where we’re going there won’t be any fog.

“I think we’ll know for sure when we get to the spring house if everything is ready for us. He won’t let us go in if we’re not ready.

“Okay, there’s Mr. Temple’s car; so far, so good.”

Mr. Temple approached as Tom opened the trunk to get their packs out.

“Guys, I got the keys to the culvert from the Park Superintendent. Once you open it up, take the keys with you. I wouldn’t want anyone locking you in. Of course there won’t be any cell phone reception once you get in the cave. So you might as well leave your phones in your car.”

“Is there any problem if we take them with us? They can also serve as minicomputers?” Pappy asked.

“Probably not. Take them with you if you want. Who knows, you might need them.

“I noticed another car parked back there along the access road. No one else is authorized entrance into the cave today. It might just be a jogger or some bird watcher.

“Okay, you’re on your own.” Mr. Temple returned to his car and departed.

“He certainly didn’t make much of an attempt to make this sound like a school project, did he?” Paul said as the car disappeared into the fog.

“Not one bit,” Tom replied. “All right, it’s on to the spring house. Everything starts there.”

Previously, the sunlight coming through the ventilation ports at the roof line had allowed adequate visibility. The dense fog this time plus the early morning light made it very dark inside. Immediately in front of the door were a paper bag, an old lamp, and a bottle of water.

“Well, this is pretty much what I expected,” Tom said looking around. “Whoa, what do we have here?”

They looked to where Tom was pointing. Three little girls were standing there. It looked as if they were wearing long flowing dresses; however, Paul quickly realized they were wearing night gowns. They were three very pretty little girls. Two were blonde. One blonde had very curly hair. The other little blonde girl had her hair done in pigtails with pink ribbons holding them in place. The third girl had very dark hair. Had it been a bit lighter inside the building, they would have realized her hair was dark auburn.

“And who do we have here?” Ivan asked on top of what Tom had already said.

“Hi Tom, hi Paul, hi Pappy, hi Ivan, I’m Iris, this is Melanie” the little girl said pointing to the other blonde.

“And I’m Cleo,” the dark headed girl said. “The Wizard said we should give you these.”

Cleo handed Tom a long closed case. Iris handed Pappy a smaller squarish box with a handle coming out of one side.

“We have to go now. We had a sleep over last night, and the cartoons are coming on.”

And with that, the three little girls disappeared.

“Who in the world were they?” Pappy asked.

“I know,” Paul said. “Those were our former adversaries Irving Mefisto, Clyde Davis, and Melvin Douglas. So that’s what happened to them. I guess The Wizard got to them. They certainly seemed happy.”

“I think they really are,” Ivan said. “Somehow, I think that was what they really wanted all along.

“What did they give you?” Ivan asked.

Tom opened the leather case. “Oh my God!” Inside was a flute, and based on its weight it was made of solid gold.

“What do you have, Pappy?”

“I think it’s a music box. What the hell am I supposed to do with that?”

“I think you’ll know when the time’s right,” Paul said.

Tom opened his pack, and was able to slide the encased flute easily inside. Pappy was able to do the same with the small music box in his pack.

“I guess we’d better get going,” Tom said shouldering his pack. “We’ll need the light and keys. We’ll need this other stuff later on.”

The four explorers, not sure of what they’d find, headed down the creek that quickly disappeared through a crack in the limestone. Beyond in the dry creek bed was the sink hole with the locked grate they’d seen the week before.

“Everyone okay?” Tom said as he unlocked the grate. He and Pappy pulled it back. In the dim light allowed by the dense fog they could see what amounted to some boulders and limestone forming a rough stair leading downward into the dark abyss.

“From now on it’s hardhats and chin straps. I’m not sure if the lights on our hardhats will work or not. As I said, the only light mentioned in the versions Ivan and I’ve seen is this lamp. If our head lamps work, fine. If they don’t, we may have to rely on this ancient lamp. All right, it’s down we go. Turn on your lamps.”

They gathered at the bottom of what appeared to be a rock fall from above. A low passage lead to what Pappy said was the west. They would have to crawl for an undetermined distance. According to the range finder, it was about a hundred yards. Paul noted the distance on the CAD program. He also noted the altimeter readings Pappy got off his watch. It read the change in barometric pressure as they descended. It wasn’t that accurate, but it would have to do.

“Look at that,” Pappy said, “some jerk left an old bird cage. I wonder if he thought he’d be able to catch bats and put them in there.”

“Nope, that’s part of the game. We’ll need that in a few minutes,” Ivan said as he picked it up.

“What about this? Some jerk has scratched this nonsense into the limestone.”

In rough block letters was ‘Magic Word – XYZZY.’

“Nope, that’s part of the problem, too. That word will transport us back to the spring house, but it only works between here and there,” Ivan said. “We could have tried it back at the spring house; however, I needed to verify it here rather than take the chance. We’ll use it when the time is right.”

“So, what’s this old piece of pipe doing here?” Pappy asked.

“Take a closer look,” Tom said. “We’ll need that later, too.

“Ivan, what did you do with it?” Tom asked.

“I took it to the next area and dropped it there. I figured out what the problem was. I don’t think it would matter if we took it with us. We just need to put it down so he can’t see it.”

“Who’s he?” Pappy asked.

“We’ll see in a little while,” Tom said. “I really have no idea about distances in this place. We’ll know when we get there.”

They continued west, according to the compass, down a long sloping passageway that finally opened into a fairly large room. They’d been hearing some strange noises for quite a while, and now the source of the noise was in front of them.

“Oh my God, a Paradisaea apoda,” Pappy said. “Can we count that, Ivan?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t think this counts as an accidental,” Ivan said.

“Put the rod down where the bird can’t see it,” Tom said. “Then put the cage down near the bird.”

Pappy placed the cage near the bird, and not too surprisingly, the bird hopped into the cage. Pappy closed the cage door. Tom picked up the rod.

“Is the bird a treasure or something like that?” Pappy asked.

“No, it’s a tool. Depending on the scenario that’s been set up for us, we may need the bird more than once.

“Get the rod. We’ll need it later on. Let’s keep going in the only way we can go.”

Several hundred yards further on the relatively level passage ended in a small room with a pit at its center. Stairs led downward to an area they couldn’t see.

“Now I know this isn’t real,” Tom said as he tried to project his light downward. I want to try something. I’m going to turn off this lamp, and turn it back on. I’m talking about less than a second.

“Ready, lamp off.”

Immediately, all the lights went out.”

“Lamp On.” All the lights came back on.”

“Okay, we have enough light, but this lamp controls everything as far as light is concerned.”

“We’ll have to be very conservative as far as its use,” Ivan said. “In the computer game if you use too much time wandering around, the lamp will run out of power. You can buy batteries, but you use up part of the treasure. That’s why mapping this place out while we go is so important. We’re not going to get to ‘save game’ for a place to come back to.

“This is beginning to come back to me. I remember a lot of the tricks. What about you, Ivan?”

“Yeah, same here. Let’s get started.”

“I thought you said there wouldn’t be any fog down here,” Pappy said as they started down the stairs that looked as if they might have been there for five-hundred years.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ivan said. “It’s just special effects.”

“Now what do we do?” Pappy asked. “The fog seems to be getting even thicker.

“That’s because this is called the Hall of Mists,” Tom said as Paul entered the data into the tablet. I think we need to go south into that low passage. We have a lot of choices here. We don’t have to do things in any particular order, at least as far as this level, is concerned.”

So, they headed south. At least that was what Paul’s compass said. After fifty or sixty yards of dodging stalagmites they arrived at a low ceilinged room that had no apparent exit other than the way they came.

“Holy Shit!” exclaimed Pappy. “Look at the size of that gold nugget.”

“That’s treasure number one,” Tom said as Pappy picked it up.

An eerie voice filled the room. “You won’t get it up the stairs.”

Tom and Ivan had expected the words, but Paul and Pappy were obviously startled. However, there was more to it than that. Paul shook his head and sat on a nearby rock, and Ivan briefly leaned against the wall.

“You guys okay?” Pappy asked.

“I think so,” Paul said. “I think I’m just hungry. How long have we been down here anyway?”

“A little over four hours,” Tom said checking his watch. “Let’s eat lunch. I think we should go back to the Hall of Mists.”

The seemingly bottomless packs quickly produced some MREs and water.

“I gotta take a leak,” Pappy said. “Where am I going to do it?”

“How about over there,” Ivan said pointing to a pair of doors that certainly hadn’t been there before. One had a logo of a man, and the other a logo of a woman. Pappy quickly headed for the correct logo. Inside was a light switch that activated an exhaust fan. He washed his hands before returning to the others.

“I can’t believe they’d put a place like that down here.”

“They didn’t,” Paul said. “The Wizard put it there. Besides, it really isn’t there. I imagine that as soon as we leave this area, it will disappear; just like that trash can will after we’ve finished cleaning up.”

Ivan pulled Paul aside. “What happened to you back there when Pappy picked up the gold?”

“I had a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. Then it went away.”

“And?”

“My testicles are gone. It’s going to happen isn’t it?”

“I think so. He did the same thing to me, and that’s just what we can see. Who knows what else is happening. Obviously, our changes are tied to the treasures. We have a long way to go.

“Do we tell them?” Paul asked nodding towards Tom and Pappy.

“They’ll find out soon enough.

“You know Tom loves you. He’s hoping for this almost as much as you are.”

“What about you and Pappy?”

“I like Pappy; I like him a lot; however, he has a lot of growing up to do. I’m going to have to find out how trainable he is before I commit myself to him. I think there is hope, though.”

Chapter 13

Sandra hadn’t heard from Myrtle, and felt she’d just better leave her to her own resources. She’d finished breakfast a little while before and was now just staring at the wall, and fiddling with a piece of toast crust. She used it to wipe some remnants of jam off the butter knife before slowly chewing it up.

Her cell phone vibrated across the table. “Hi Lois, what’s up?”

“We need to talk. May I come over?”

“Certainly, I’ll brew a fresh pot of coffee.”

Five minutes later Lois Papadopoulos was at the back door.

“Sandy, I’m out. It’s over. This is totally futile. We’re in way over our heads.”

“I think I’m beginning to realize that,” Sandra said taking a sip of her too hot coffee before rapidly putting the cup back on her saucer. “What are we going to do?”

“I think we need to tell The Wizard that we’re giving up.”

“He probably already knows,” Sandra replied. “What are we going to do about Myrtle and the other two? I think nothing would please Myrtle more than to take him out. I think Agnes and Glynnis feel the same way. They’re consumed with getting their manhood back.”

“I think The Wizard can take care of himself. I don’t know if he can nullify Myrtle’s sniper rifle, though.

“Ivan left me a rather long letter this morning. It explained many things, some of which I expected. Ivan said he is transgender; that he is mentally a girl. I think I’ve known that for a while. I wish he’d brought it up to me before. He’s desperately hoping that the Wizard will change him. I’m hoping he will, too. Maybe my daughter will be able to have children. Something that I will never be able to do.”

“What did he do to you, Lois?”

“Nothing I didn’t deserve.

“I was an alcoholic; something I wouldn’t admit to myself. I was coming home from a party and I ran a stop sign. I killed a little girl and badly injured the members of her family. The Wizard was nearby, but since the little girl was dead, he couldn’t do anything for her. He switched our bodies. I became a badly injured little girl, and she became my dead self. I probably would have killed myself one way or another anyway. So in a way, he did me a favor. I just didn’t realize it.

“My body was so badly injured that they had to take my ovaries and uterus. I’ve been on HRT since I was nine.”

“Ivan’s adopted, obviously,” Sandra said while trying to keep the tears back.

“I told him as soon as he was able understand. I was a literature major, and started writing while I was still in college. I sold my first book before I graduated. I discovered I very much wanted to be a parent, and I think that was his major punishment for me. It’s what would have happened to that little girl had she lived.

“I adopted Ivan when I was twenty-two. He’s as Greek as I am. It’s easy sometimes even for a single parent to adopt a child from an impoverished country. So, here I am, a single mother with no hope of marriage, with a son who desperately wants to be a woman, and I am not going to do anything to prevent it. I hope he knows that.”

“I wonder if that’s a coincidence. Paul told me he’s transgender. I’m such a great mother that I’d never noticed he was taking hormone blockers for the last three years. I did some reading that indicates he could still go through male puberty if the blockers were stopped. He gave me his supply of finasteride, but I don’t think he’s going to go back. I made an appointment for him to see my doctor. We’ll have to see what he says.”

“I don’t think you’ll ever see your son again. I’d be willing to bet we’ll both have beautiful daughters by the time this is over, and he won’t be doing it to punish us. Our punishment has been over for a long time.

“Where to leader?” Paul asked Tom.

“I didn’t know I was the leader. I don’t recall that being picked as leader of this nefarious group.”

“I think you were picked by default. De fault no one else wants the job.”

“If that’s the case, I want Ivan as a second in command. He knows this cave as well as I do.

“If that’s the way it is, we need to take the bird with us down to the next level. We have quite a bit more treasure to find.”

After what must have been more than a hundred steps, they arrived to what Tom called The Hall of the Mountain King. Very faintly they could hear what sounded like Edvard Grieg’s Pier Gynt Suite being played in the background. That was the good part. Across the way there was a huge green snake slowly making its way in their direction.

“That’s the biggest viper I’ve ever seen,” Pappy exclaimed. “It has to be venomous.”

“Put the bird cage down,” Ivan said.

Paul set the cage down and opened the door.

“Right,” Pappy said, “that little ol’ Bird of Paradise is going to kill that big snake.”

“Watch,” Tom said.

Like a shot the bird flew straight at the snake, attacking its eyes. The snake became very confused looking this way and that before giving a very loud hiss and disappearing down a hole in the floor. The bird strutted proudly across the floor, hopped onto its perch in the cage and began to preen its feathers.

“We may or may not need the bird again depending on what version we’re playing. We can leave the bird here. It will be fine. Let’s go south. There will be something there for us.”

A small entrance led them to a room-like chamber where a rather impressive assortment of jewelry was sitting on a pedestal. Pappy immediately picked the jewelry up and placed it in a pocket on the side of his pack. Paul winced as another strange sensation overtook him. Ivan seemed to steady himself against the wall of the passage leading back to The Hall of the Mountain King, a name they had decided on. When they got there, the bird was gleefully singing a few bars from Grieg’s Piano Concerto.

“Ho, ho, me harties, I’ll just take that gold nugget and jewelry and put them in me chest, thank you very much.” Addressing them was a man in a ridiculous pirate costume.

“You may have them, sir,” Tom said.

“Pappy, give the nice pirate the gold and jewelry.”

“Thank ye very much. I’ll be off now,” the pirate exclaimed as he rapidly disappeared down the passage.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ivan said. “We’ll probably get everything back later on. Hopefully, we won’t have to deal with him again. That could screw things up for us.”

From there it was west to another chamber where they found a pile of gold coins. Tom placed them in his pack. The feeling that hit Paul was almost orgasmic.

“Are you okay?” Tom asked.

“I’m fine,” Paul responded. “In case you haven’t noticed, Ivan and I are changing. Every time we find something we go a bit further in the right direction. I’ll not go into details right now. What do you think?”

“I think it’s wonderful. It’s just that much more important that we complete this project.” Turning to the other two, “We need to take that passage to the north. There’s another treasure there and another way out.

“Are you alright, Ivan?”

“Getting better by the minute.”

Pappy seemed a little puzzled by that last remark.

The North passage seemed to wander a bit; however, the general direction according to the map they were making was north. Around a bit of a corner they came upon a pair of spectacular sterling silver candelabra made by Tiffany. At least that was what the placard placed on the table in front of them said.

The set was pretty massive, and when Tom picked them up, both Paul and Ivan gasped. For the first time, Pappy realized something was going on that was pretty serious.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked Ivan.

“I’m fine. It’s just that every time we find a treasure Paul and I change a bit more into women. I’m not going to show you the changes – yet. You’re just going to have to take my word for it. I’ll just say they are very definitive.

After several hundred yards of dodging rock falls, stalagmites and stalactites, they came to a room with a large Y2 carved into one wall.

“This is our exit,” Ivan said. “Sometimes, a voice will say a magic word. We won’t say it yet. I want to verify with Tom that we agree on the word.” Ivan wrote a word on his pad and showed it to Tom.

“It doesn’t have an ‘O’ in it; just a ‘U’.”

“I think you’re right,” Ivan responded.

“Everyone grab hands. We’ll be coming right back to this spot in a little while

“Plugh”

They were back in the well house.

“Turn off your lights, Tom said as he turned off the lamp.

A rather large table was located to one side, and they place their treasured there.

“What if someone steals them?” Pappy asked.

“What the fuck,” Ivan suddenly shouted. He was standing at the door looking across the foggy valley. “How long have we been down there,” he asked.

“A little over nine hours; we went in at 9:00 AM. It’s 6:15 now,” Pappy answered.

“Take a look at your cell phones. It’s only 9:15 in the morning according to my cell phone. According to my phone we’ve been down there for only 15 minutes. It’s still foggy out there, and from those faint shadows I know it’s still morning. My wrist watch says what Pappy’s does.”

“A period of time was never specified in the game,” Tom said. “The life of the lamp seems to be governed by how many bad turns we make: how much wasted motion we do. I think we’ve been very efficient so far. The game never specified how long it would take to finish it. Based on what Ivan and I know, it could take us as long as five days. I think the intent is for us to stick it out until the end. I suspect in real time that might be until sometime this afternoon.”

“That’s why we have so much food and water. We’re going to be down there for quite a while, and I guess we’d better get with it. We’ll need that bag of food and that water bottle.

“Grab hands. Plugh. Turn on light.”

They were back at Y-2.

“Okay ladies, this is where we take care of that son-of-a-bitch. I have a clean shot at just about every spot down there except inside that building. I was back in the woods when those kids showed up this morning. That teacher of theirs gave them some stuff. They messed around in that building before they followed that creek. They opened up a grate over a hole down there, and they disappeared down there.

“I just got this feeling that everyone’s going to show up here, and I have just what will do it.”

“And what’s that?” Agnes asked.

“I checked out that building a while ago. I found this,” Myrtle said holding up a cell phone. “I’ll just send a text message saying they’re in trouble in the cave. I’ll bet everyone will come running, including that wizard.

“Pappy, where’s your phone? “Weren’t you carrying it in your back pocket?” Tom asked.

“Shit, I left it on the table. It should be there when we make the next drop. At least my battery won’t be as low as yours. There really isn’t much we can do with it while we’re down here.”

“You’re probably right. We need to go back the way we came back to The Hall of the Mountain King. We should probably spend the night there.”

Their packs revealed several surprises, Among them were sleeping bags, air mattresses, a catalytic propane stove with fuel, bottled water, changes in underwear, a bath towel, soap, tooth brushes and toothpaste, dental floss, and many other things. Much to their surprise, well maybe not, a pair of restrooms appeared at the far wall.

“I definitely think the intent is for us to stay here for the night,” Tom said.

“But what about the lamp,” Pappy asked. “Shouldn’t we turn them off?”

“That would not be a good idea,” Ivan replied. “Because we haven’t violated the usage rules for the lamps, we haven’t been warned. If the lamps are off for too long two bad things can happen. We could be eaten by a grue or we could fall into a bottomless pit. With either of those the game is over, and we’re dead. No, the intention is for us to spend the night or nights down here. It’s our making mistakes that might be the end of us, and I don’t think he wants that to happen. We just have to be smart.”

“Ivan, there’s a shower in the rest room,” Paul said. “I intend to use it later on.”

“Right, to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

The adventure in the cave begins. Fortunately, Ivan (how long will that name last?) and Tom are remembering much of the cave from their previous experiences with the game. Ivan and Paul are changing with each treasure the group finds. Now they know how critical it is that they finish the ‘game’; however, it’s much more than a game. Sandra Knight realizes who Bob Temple is.

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

Bob Temple asks Sandra Night if she would have lunch with him. She doesn't find it difficult to accept. During their conversation, she suddenly realizes who he was. He's known who she was for quite a while; just that he didn't know the whole story. They agree to talk to The Wizard. Many changes are occurring in the cave, including changes in names.

This story is another addition to The Cynthia Chronicles, Volume II. Cynthia (Cindy) Brewer has graduated from medical school. Randi Lewis at age 18 is starting work on her Master of Science in Chemistry, and Charli Brewer is a freshman in pre-med at UConn. Bobbie Anderson is setting the golf world on fire having now won tournaments on the PGA in addition to her many victories on the LPGA. This story takes place several years before Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling. If you are not familiar with the stories that make up the Cynthia Chronicles, you might want to go back to the beginning with An Incremental Journey

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This work is copyrighted by the author and any publication or distribution without the written consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.

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Cynthia and the Queen of the Knight
 

Chapter 14

“Sandra, Bob Temple. I know things didn’t go very well last night; however, being the eternal optimist I am, I was wondering if we could have lunch. There’s a nice place in the mall that serves very nice lunches. I know I’m stumbling a bit, but I’d really like to talk with you.”

“Bob, you caught me a bit off guard last night, but I think I would like to have lunch with you.”

“After lunch, would you mind if we met with an old acquaintance of yours?”

“No, I don’t mind. I think it’s time we had a talk.

“What time?” Sandra asked.

“How about 12:30?”

“That would be fine. Where should we meet?”

“Maziotti’s. It’s down by the Hallmark store.”

“That will be fine.”

Sandra took a little extra care with her makeup. She’d never had to use much because, in truth, she didn’t need it. Her pale complexion contrasted her coal black hair. She’d religiously avoided overexposure to the sun, and other than her 30 minute jogs in the morning, she spent little time in the sun. Most of the rest of her days were spent on the internet dealing with clients

Bob stood as Sandra approached the table. She held her hand out for him to take, and he didn’t disappoint her. He was very strong without a doubt, but he was gentle at the same time.

“Thank you for coming. After last night I wasn’t sure if you’d ever talk to me again.”

“I think I got over it very quickly for some reason. I wondered if The Wizard was messing with my mind.”

“He told me he wouldn’t do that for any of your group, including the children. He told me the adults would just have to work things out for themselves. He wasn’t about to let anything bad happen.

“Would you like to have a glass of wine before lunch? I think the waiter would like to take our order.”

“Yes, Pinot Grigio please.”

“And, I’d like a pint of the Bitburger draft, please.”

“Their pizza’s supposed to be very good. It even comes in individual sizes; which means you will have enough left over for dinner.”

“That sounds like a good idea. I think I will have the porcini and prosciutto,” Sandra said.

“I’ll have the four meat pizza. Please add artichoke hearts, black olives, green olives and anchovies. I would like the anchovies on the side. Don’t cook them.

“Sandra, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine as soon as I get that bottle er, glass of wine.

“Last night you said you were from out west, but came back here when The Wizard made you an offer you couldn’t refuse. May I ask where you’re from out west?”

“Milpitas: that’s a little town northeast ….”

“… of San Jose. I know it very well. Well bless his little pea picking heart. You’re one of his victims, aren’t you?”

“I wouldn’t say I was a victim. I was a girl who desperately needed to prove her sexuality, even if it meant laying every boy on the football team. I also was a close companion to several of the cheerleaders. It was all pretty empty. My first was the quarterback, but he moved away. I moved on after that. I was getting quite the reputation. I started cratering after a while. It was getting to the point that I thought of killing myself.”

“May I ask who you were?”

“Carol Johannesen.”

“God, I am so sorry I did that to you.”

“You didn’t do anything to me in that world. The only Sandy Knight I knew was the most beautiful girl, now woman, I’d ever seen. You lived in a different world of country clubs and debutante balls. I was just that easy girl who lived in the wrong part of town.

“I was seriously contemplating suicide when I wandered into his shop. Of course he knew everything. He said he would do what he could to straighten my life out, but it would come with a price. Part of that price is the person you see before you.

“The saddest thing was that I lost my family, but the change kept me from being with them when they collided with a gasoline truck on the 280. Had I not been changed, I would have died with them. I was a pitcher for the baseball team and was playing ball when it happened. I was very upset with him, but he showed me that they would have died in the alternate universes. The event was too big to make disappear. In a sense, he’d saved my life twice.

“The insurance money left me very well off as did the out of court settlement. Now that I was relatively wealthy, I thought I’d try to find you, but you’d disappeared off the face of the earth. I also changed my last name to get away from all the scammers and crooks.”

“I wouldn’t call San Jose off the face of the earth. As I told you last night, I was flipping burgers while I went to college.

“What brought you back here,” Sandra said as she bit into a piece of her prosciutto and porcini pizza.

“I received an offer from the school system here after I received my Masters in Education. I’ve been here ever since.

“May I ask about Paul’s father?” Bob asked.

“Certainly. He’s provided one hundred percent of Paul’s support throughout the years.”

“So, where is he?”

“Looking at you.”

“What?”

“I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out. The Wizard works in mysterious ways. I hate to break it to you, but you’re Paul’s mother,” Sandra said taking a sip of wine.

“Rise and shine everyone,” Tom said rather loudly. We have a full day ahead of us.”

It didn’t really matter which restroom they used as Tom and Pappy had already taken care of things including brushing their teeth. The Wizard had outdone himself overnight. The two toilets were now the latest thing out of the Far East, and included a warmed seat.

Paul looked down at what wasn’t there and what was there. It hadn’t been a dream. He, no strike that, she had the vulva of a girl entering puberty. There was no question about it. There was even a sparse growth of hair at its top. She had discovered the night before what ‘jilling’ was about, and it had been very enlightening. She realized as she sat there that she was considerably broader in the hips than she’d been the night before. Additionally, her briefs were now girls briefs and her girl’s Levis were very form fitting. They felt wonderful. Then she realized that her shirt was also a girl’s shirt with the buttons on the other side. She was disappointed that there wasn’t a training bra. Maybe that would come later in the day.

Ivan had also undergone similar changes, and the two boys were have trouble not staring at the two new girls.

“Men,” Ivan said, “the first order of the day after breakfast is our names. Obviously, those other names are no longer appropriate. I’ve chosen Aurora. I think my mother will be okay with that.”

“As prosaic as it might be, I’m sticking with Paula,” the new Paula said. "All I have to say is that it will only get better."

“Let’s get on with this treasure hunt. We have quite a bit invested in its success.”

Once more their exploration took them downward into a very dirty and dusty passage. They then headed west around a jumble of broken rocks covered with dirt and dust.

“There hasn’t been any water in this area in a while,” Tom said. “The last time there was water it must have been sitting in here for quite a while. The area hasn’t been washed clean in centuries. At least that’s the way it looks.

“I think we’ll take this passage down.”

The passage led them to a room with a number of passages going in a number of directions. “What do you remember about this, Iv..., er, Aurora? Sorry about that.”

“No problemo, I think we need to go west. See that limestone that is streaked in a crisscross pattern. I think they called it ‘bed quilt’ in the version I did. Once we’re in there, we’ll turn south for quite a while." They finally came to a large room where a huge slab of limestone had fallen from the ceiling. At the far end there were two pits and a very peeked looking plant that was faintly calling for water.

“This is ridiculous,” Pappy said.

“Pappy, whether or not it is ridiculous doesn’t matter. We have to play the game. If we don’t Paula and I are not going to reach our goal, and you certainly won’t reach yours. Just keep that in mind.

“Take that water we got at the spring house, climb down there, and pour it around the base of the plant.”

The somewhat chagrined Pappy did as he was told. After getting the water, the plant started demanding in a much louder voice, “Water. Water.”

The startled Pappy scrambled out of the pit. “What do we do now?”

“We give it more water,” Tom said trying not to laugh.

“We have several bottles of water. Let’s just pour some of that,” Paula said.

“That’s a good idea, but it probably won’t work,” Tom said. “Go ahead and try it. I don’t think any harm will come of it.”

Pappy took a bottle from his pack. Their bottles had mysteriously been filled over the previous night. Dropping into the pit, he poured the bottle of water on the base of the plant.

“Yuck!” the plant yelled. “That is chlorinated tap water. Gag me with a spoon. I require nothing but the best spring water.”

“That’s what I thought. So now we have to find the right type of water. This is going to be a long trip,” Tom said as he shouldered his pack. “Let’s get going. We’ll probably need to stop for lunch after a while and we still don’t have any of the important stuff.”

Back at the slab room Tom led them to a passage that went north. They hadn’t noticed it on the way down, but Tom obviously knew it was there. They headed north through a room with highly polished walls, and then on to a very large room with a large lake.

“This is the water we need. We should need only one bottle, but we might as well fill the bottle Pappy emptied, too.” Then it was back to the plant. Pappy poured the water on to its base and before Pappy could get out of its way, the plant shot upward to an area almost out of sight of the light provided by their lamps.

“My god, it’s a fucking bean stalk,” Pappy exclaimed.

“I’m not just any beanstalk,” the plant replied. “I am an heirloom beanstalk. There are none better than I.”

“Glad to know that,” Pappy answered politely. He realized that the plant was probably a bit sensitive.

“So, do we climb the beanstalk, now,” Paula asked. She was subconsciously rubbing her chest.

“No we’ll do that later. First, we need to go to the bottom of the second pit.” Aurora led the way down a flight of steps where they came to a pool oil bubbling out of the rock. “We’ll need to fill that water bottle. Pour out that extra water. Now we can go up the beanstalk. Back to the other pit.”

If there was any time not to think about heights, this was it. The leaves and tendrils were arranged in a spiral around the stalk. It was really a spiral stair case with a lot of space between the steps. They were just about at the end of the stalk that kept muttering something about being tickled when they came to a passage leading to the north.

“Oh, oh, I knew it was too good to be true,” Tom said looking down the passageway.

At the far end of the reach of their light they could see a group of what could only be described as elves. They were brandishing swords and axes.

“I’ve been worried about this, too,” Aurora said. “What Tom means is that we should have been attacked long before this. The way the game worked was that you are attacked by an elf or dwarf. He throws an axe at you and it misses. You use the axe to kill additional attacking elves. I don’t know if you actually kill them as they disappear in ‘a cloud of oily smoke’. After you’ve dispatched of about a half dozen you’re not bothered by them anymore.”

“That reminds me,” Tom added, “we may have to deal with the pirate again; however, this matter is a bit more pressing. It won’t matter if we retreat or not. They,” indicating the elves, “will press us until they kill us or we dispose of them. The question is, how do we kill them?”

By this time the evil looking elves were less than a hundred feet away.

“Look in your packs,” a trio of sweet voices said.

They turned to see the three little girls no longer dressed in night gowns, but instead dressed in matching play clothes. They wore matching pink sneakers, and were obviously dressed for the playground.

“What you need is in your packs. The Wizard said it will ring true for you.” With that, the three little girls disappeared.

They realized that the girls hadn’t actually been there, that they were probably a holographic projection; however, now was not the time worry about that. The elves were only fifty feet away.

“Shit, it’s the bells in that little music box. Where the hell did I put it?” Pappy was furiously digging through his pack.

“Here it is.”

“Stop talking about it and play it,” Paula shouted.

Pappy cranked the handle and a delightful little tune sprang forth. It was a march and entirely too loud to be coming from the little box. The tune’s effect was instantaneous. The elves snapped to attention and started marching in place. Then they sang a little song.

“That sounds so pretty, that sounds so fine!
La ra la la la la la ra la la la la ra la.
Never did I hear and see anything so sublime!
La ra la la la la la ra la la la la ra la.”

At the end of the song, in perfect step, they marched off the edge of the abyss, eschewing using the vine.

“What the hell was that,” Aurora asked.

“I think it was Mozart,” Pappy replied. “That means the flute is magic, too.”

“That may or not be the end of the dwarfs, elves, or whatever they are,” Tom said. “They took their weapons with them; so we are still basically defenseless. We have a lot to do, and we still don’t have any treasure. Let’s grab a quick bite, then head on.”

After a quick lunch of tuna sandwiches, they headed down the passage from where the elves had come. A sign proclaimed ‘Giant Room’. It wasn’t particularly large; however, against one wall was a large nest filled with golden eggs. Carved into wall above the nest were the words “Fee Fie Foe Foo”.

“Somebody can’t spell,” Pappy remarked.

“Paula, put those words exactly as written into the tablet. We don’t want any mistakes. This is critical, as Tom will attest,” Aurora said. Tom nodded.

“Pappy, get the eggs.”

“Sure.”

Pappy picked up the eggs, and started to stuff them into the pockets in his pack.

“Fee Fie Foe Foo,” Aurora said.

“What the fuck,” Pappy exclaimed, “where did they go?”

“Look in the nest,” Aurora said.

Chapter 15

The Hallmark Store was gone. At least it was for them. Bob held the door for Sandra as she entered the shop she hadn’t been in for nearly nineteen years.

“Bob, Sandra, we’re in the back. I’m sorry Wolf, Padrona and the puppies can’t be here; however, they’re involved in some other business at the moment.”

Parting the curtains, Sandra saw the man she’d tried so hard to hate, but was now finding it more and more difficult. He had three guests. One was Cindy Brewer. The other two were a bit younger. The stunning platinum blonde had to be Cindy’s sister. She was no bimbo blonde (Poor Barbara, Sandra thought). Her eyes sparkled with a keen intellect. An equally gorgeous auburn tressed girl smiled up at Sandra and Bob.

“Sandra, I know you know His Wisdom and Cindy Brewer. This is Christine Miranda Lewis, but she prefers Randi. She’s Cindy’s sister. And this lovely lady is Charli Brewer, Cindy’s sister-in-law. I have their permission to tell you they are witches.”

“Oh my, there was no coincidences about our meeting last night, was there?”

“Ms. Knight, we have been looking out for the four children since they arrived last summer. We want you to understand that absolutely no harm will come to them. They are involved in a project of self-discovery and enlightenment. I think you will be very proud of Paula.”

“You mean Paul, don’t you?”

“No, it’s Paula. That was her choosing, by the way. There are some wonderful things going on right now. His wisdom had nothing to do with Paul’s being transgender, by the way. You need to believe that. My sisters and I experienced that, and it can be very difficult. We’ll give you all the details in a little while.

“Obviously, His Wisdom, and others we’ve never met, allowed us to be who we are today. That has happened for Paula and Aurora, too. You see, they are very special. They don’t know it yet, but they are also witches. There was a little genetic manipulation here. As a male you carried the witch trait in your ‘X’ chromosome. Bob as Carol also carried the witch trait in one of her ‘X’ chromosomes. Don’t ask me how they do that. Our friend Myrna Moskowitz can explain it better than I can.

“The same thing was done for Aurora. But in this case both her parents were carriers. That was very easy to fix. Aurora’s sisters could have been witches, but her mother is deceased and never bore more children.

“So I don’t have any choice in this?” Sandra asked a bit contemptuously.

“No more choice than Paul would have had had he been gay. There is no choice. Paul would always be transgender and miserable. Paula is no longer transgender, and she is no longer miserable. She’s very much in love by the way, and Tom is in love with her. He’s already come to terms with the fact that Paul is now Paula.”

“What will Tom, Dimitri, and Aurora’s parents think when they find out about this?” Sandra asked.

“They already know,” The Wizard said. “They left a little while ago. We had a very nice chat.”

“All of us will meet out there when they come out of the cave. That should be at 5:06 this afternoon.”

“What do we do now?” Pappy asked.

“We take the gold eggs and hope that the pirate doesn’t find us again. We should continue north from here,” Tom said.

“What happened to you?” Aurora whispered to Paula.

“My nipples are itching like crazy. I think there’s a lot going on in there.”

“Yeah, me too. It’s kinda great isn’t it?”

“You have that right.”

It was another hundred yard according to the range finder when they came on an iron door that appeared to be quite rusty. Tom pulled on the large ring handle, but nothing happened. “We need to oil the hinges.”

Pappy poured some oil on the hinges and they waited. Tom gave the door a hard pull. It creaked and maybe moved an inch. Pappy poured a bit more oil on the hinges and they were able to get it about halfway open.

“Leave the oil, we shouldn’t need it again,” Tom said as he squeezed through the opening. He gave the door a push from the other side and it opened another foot. They continued north for a while until they could hear the roar of water. Coming around the corner of a boulder they were greeted with a large waterfall that plummeted beyond what they could see.

“Isn’t that a pitch fork?” Paula asked pointing at something that lay against a large rock.

“Nope, that’s a trident, and we will definitely need it,” Aurora said as she picked it up. “Things are going to get interesting, now.”

They headed west for a while before going down a long sloping passage. From there it was southwest and still on a downward slope, then finally upward to an open area with a large chasm disappearing in both directions. A rather rickety bridge crossed the chasm and a sign rather rudely nailed to a post said, “Pay the Troll.”

Before they could take one step on the bridge, a rather ugly troll appeared. “If ye want to cross, ye gotta pay up.” He really was quite ugly and seemed very proud of it.

“Throw the eggs to him. We’ll get them later.”

Spying the eggs, the troll grunted, “That’ll be three eggs apiece if you want to cross.”

Pappy tossed the eggs to the troll who raced off with his booty.

“Are we coming back this way?” Pappy asked.

“Most likely,” Aurora answered. “That’s part of the puzzle.”

They headed in the only direction they could go until they came to a fork in the cave.

“We’ll go left first. I don’t think it really matters,” Tom said.

The tunnel ended in a small chamber where a small chest sat on a flat spot on a boulder. Inside were carefully labeled bags: each containing precious spices. There must have been a pound of saffron.

Heading back to the fork, they took the other path that dropped down and east where they came upon a rather large bear who immediately growled and stood on his hind legs. Fortunately, he was secured to the wall with a bright gold chain locked in place with a gold padlock.

“First things first,” Aurora said. “I need the lunch in the brown paper bag. I believe Paula has it.”

Paula handed the bag to Aurora who opened it, unwrapped two large sandwich subs, and gave them to the bear. The sandwiches disappeared rather rapidly, and the bear immediately became very docile. Aurora took the keys she’d carefully kept in her Levis and unlocked the chain from the wall.

“Okay, he’s our friend for life. We’ll need him in a little while.

“Come on bear, you’re going to have some fun in a little while.”

They made their way back to the chasm and the troll who immediately barred their way.

“You don’t cross until you’ve paid,” the troll exclaimed.

“Here, have a bear,” Aurora said as she released the chain from the bear’s collar.

The troll screamed as he turned to run down a narrow path alongside the chasm with the bear at his heels.

“Time to cross,” Tom said. He stopped at the far side of the bridge and fiddled with the sign.

“What are you doing?” Aurora asked.

“In one of the versions I played the sign came off a nail. I hung the chain on the nail and climbed down there,” he said pointing at the rushing waters many feet below. “I went along a narrow ledge before ending up in an accounting office. There was a deed to the whole cave. The only problem was that I couldn’t take the deed unless it was signed. There was ink but no pen.”

“The bird,” Pappy exclaimed. “You had to take a tail feather from the bird. It became the pen. That’s cool.”

“Very good, Pappy, I had to die several times before I figured it out.”

They pressed on through the sloping corridor and the large low room where they were very thankful for their hardhats. They turned southeast and found a room decorated with very fine oriental carpets and fixtures. A very ornately painted oriental vase stood on a pedestal.

“Don’t touch the vase,” Tom said as Pappy started to reach for it. “It’s a trap. You’ll see what I mean in a little while.”

They moved on to an area where the limestone was full of holes, and looked exactly like supersized Swiss cheese, except it was gray. Past there they came to where they had been before, the bed quilt formation, and Paul was able to close a loop in the diagram. From there they went to the complex junction and headed to the north. After climbing a considerable way, they came to a giant clam sitting in the middle of the floor minding its own business.

“Now what?” Pappy asked.

“We open the clam with the trident,” Aurora stated.

It was relatively easy to pry the clam open, but when she did, a large pearl popped out, fell to the floor and rolled out of sight.

“Don’t worry about the pearl. We’ll get it in a minute.”

The clam snapped shut and refuse to react to any more probing. Following the route the pearl had taken, they dropped several levels down before they found the pearl up against a far wall. It didn’t seem any worse for wear, and Paula put it in her pack. They returned to the shell room and then south to the complex junction. From there it was past the dirty rocks and dusty passage to Y-2.

“Are we together,” Tom asked as he took Paula’s hand in his right hand and Aurora’s in his left. They, in turn, were holding hands with Pappy.

“Plugh.”

“Lights off.

“How long were we gone his time, Pappy?” Tom asked.

“I don’t know. I can’t find my phone, but all our treasures are here.”

“According to my phone we’ve been gone a little over an hour. By my watch, it’s been a bit more than a day,” Aurora said. “I’m hungry and need a shower. I think we’d better return.”

“I agree,” Paula said looking at Aurora. Her face and skull had changed considerably. She no longer looked like a teenage boy. She was definitely a young woman. She also had a developing bust line as did Paula. It was going to be time for further exploration.

They left their acquired treasures and the trident (Tom felt that it might have another function later on), held hands, turned on their lights, and returned to Y-2 where they would spend the night. Of course the restrooms were now installed in the opposite wall.

Tom and Paula were fixing dinner over the small catalytic propane stove. The food wasn’t bad. Some of required reconstituting by soaking it in water. They picked an Irish stew for the main course and a peach cobbler of sorts for desert.

“How are you feeling?” Tom asked Paula.

“Very good. How do I look?”

“Quite nice, I see the old you; however, you’re now a very attractive young woman. I would say physically you look about 13. You have a ways to go before you catch up to your actual age.

“It really is happening isn’t it?”

“Yes, all the external plumbing is definitely female. I’m pretty sure things are changing internally, too. My hips are definitely wider. I have little boobs now. I hope they grow a bit more.”

“I think you are at least an inch taller than you were when we started. It’s funny, I think Aurora’s at least an inch or two shorter.”

“Yeah, but she’s as cute as a bug. Pappy’s going to have his hands full with her. I mean that in a figurative sense in case you were wondering.”

“What about us, Paula? Is this going to change our friendship?”

“More than likely,” Paula said.

“Oh,” was Tom’s worried reply.

“You know I love you, don’t you?” Paula asked. “I have for a long time.”

“I think I said it in the cafeteria that first day of school when I pointed you out to Pappy. I felt something inside when I realized it was you. I knew then and more so later on that I was going to be at your side while you transitioned. I think I knew then that I loved you and that we’d have to face the world together. I know this whole thing makes things easier for us; however, my feelings haven’t changed. Regardless of the outcome, I want to marry you if you will have me. I’ll make that official when we get out of here.”

“I accept your unofficial proposal,” Paula said as she planted a kiss on Tom’s lips – a kiss that lingered for quite a while.

“They seem to be getting on quite well,” Pappy said as he watched the two in their affectionate embrace.

“Hell, that was written in stone. I hope they use protection.

“What? You mean they’re going to do it?”

“Eventually, the times not right now, though.”

“What about us?”

“That remains to be seen.”

Things are happening rather quickly, and all four protagonists are determined to successfully complete the adventure. Alice Gräber is surprised when she returns home. What is the translation of Gräber?

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

Romance is beginning to show up in several places, and not just the cave. Sandra knows for sure that Paula is now her daughter. There is no trace of the former Paul. With only a few treasures left to find, the four adventurers know that there is no room for error. Myrtle is in position to take out The Wizard and as many of the others she can.

This story is another addition to The Cynthia Chronicles, Volume II. Cynthia (Cindy) Brewer has graduated from medical school. Randi Lewis at age 18 is starting work on her Master of Science in Chemistry, and Charli Brewer is a freshman in pre-med at UConn. Bobbie Anderson is setting the golf world on fire having now won tournaments on the PGA in addition to her many victories on the LPGA. This story takes place several years before Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling. If you are not familiar with the stories that make up the Cynthia Chronicles, you might want to go back to the beginning with An Incremental Journey

 
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.

---

 

Cynthia and the Queen of the Knight
 

Chapter 16

Tom and Paula shared a kiss as they headed to bathrooms the next morning. Tom saw additional changes in Paula, and she would see them soon enough, although she was already aware of some of them. She was carrying the bra she’d found earlier in the pack. She’d also found a dispenser of birth control pills with a prescription made out to her. The implications were enormous. She smiled as she took one. As she threw out the paper cup she’d used, she realized that the prescription indicated that it was number four of twelve. That meant she’d been taking the pills for at least three and a half months.

The bra proved to be no problem, and she was happy to see she was a 34B. She looked at her profile, and tears almost came to her eyes. She was definitely a woman. She had to be close to five-nine, maybe a bit on the slender side, but definitely all woman. Because she’d been taking blockers before her change, her voice had not dropped into a lower register; however, she realized her voice was no longer a boy’s voice. It was definitely a young woman’s voice.

Aurora was waiting for her as she exited. She was about five-five, and definitely bustier than Paula. She had a sultry appearance that spoke of her Greek ancestry.

“I may have trouble keeping Pappy under control. I accidently flashed him when I got out of my sleeping bag. Look at these girls. I’m a 34C. It’s hard enough keeping his hands off of me as it is.”

“Is that little package what I think it is?” Paula asked.

“Yeah, and I’ve been taking them for a while, apparently. You?”

“The same.”

“Look, just because I’m taking the pill doesn’t mean I’m going to have sex with him,” Aurora said defensively.

“If you change your mind, at least you know you’re protected,” Paula replied with a smile.

They had a major discussion during breakfast.

“This next stretch is very complicated, and there are many opportunities for error. Aurora and I remember most of it; however, there are pitfalls both figurative and real. We will have to be on our toes. The entire time.

“Okay, time to head the way we’ve been before.”

They headed south in the low passage while being careful not to bang their heads on the occasional stalactite. Then it was down to the dirty jumble of rocks, and west to the Dirty Rock Room. From there it was down again to the Complex Junction, west to Bed Quilt and on to the Swiss Cheese Room. From there they went northwest to the oriental room.

“May I take the vase now?” Pappy asked.

“Nope, be patient,” Aurora responded.

They wandered north and west for a while. “This is going to be a bit strange,” Aurora said, “but we’re going to have to leave the lamp here. We can’t take it through that narrow passage. Don’t ask why. It’s just the rules.

“We’ll have enough light without it.” They could see an eerie green light coming from whatever was beyond.

“Damn! I wish I’d played this game before,” Pappy muttered.

They proceeded east through the narrow passage. The green light had been emanating from a large emerald the size of a plover’s egg. At least that was the thought Pappy had when he looked at it. Paula picked it up, wrapped it in a hanky, and put it in her pack. They headed back to the alcove where they’d left the lamp.

“Uh, we have visitors,” Paula said pointing to the exit. A half dozen elves stood between them and the way out. All of them were brandishing rather wicked looking knives.

“Any ideas?” Tom asked. “We don’t have any weapons.”

“Play that flute those little girls gave us,” Pappy said. “It has to be for something.”

By this time, the elves were advancing on them. Two had thrown knives, but the knives had fallen well short of their intended targets.

“If playing it doesn’t work, at least I can use it as a club.” Tom quickly assembled the flute, and blew a few practice notes before starting the first melody he could think of. Surprisingly, the elves stopped their advance. They waivered for a few seconds before collapsing on the cave floor. Tom continued to play as they passed around the snoring elves.

“What in the world are you playing?” Paula asked.

“Brahms Lullaby.” Tom said. “I guess I’d better keep this closer at hand,” he said indicating the flute. He picked up the lamp as they exited the room.

They headed northwest before the passage turned them south where they arrived in the oriental room. “It’s okay to pick up the vase now, Pappy. Just be extremely careful with it. If it breaks, we’re done for, and neither Paula nor I are quite done yet.” Pappy got the meaning immediately.

They continued on to the Swiss cheese room before turning east into a room Tom called the soft room. In the center was a small beautifully decorated pillow. Taking the pillow, they turned back west through the Swiss cheese room to the two pit room. Once again they made the difficult climb up the bean stalk that apparently didn’t feel like talking to them. They proceeded down the long narrow tunnel to the Giant Room.

“You may do the honors, Pappy,” Aurora said.

“Fee Fie Foe Foo,” Pappy said a bit melodramatically.

The eggs, as expected, appeared in the nest, and Pappy quickly scooped them up and put them into his pack. They then headed back to the bean stalk and down to the Two Pit Room and then up and west to the slab room. From there they headed up into the secret north/south canyon that no one would have known about if it hadn’t been for Tom. This time they went south for quite a ways before entering a large room with an equally large dragon sprawling on a large oriental rug.

“Holy shit, what do we do now?” Pappy asked.

“Why, we kill it.”

“With what, your bare hands? We don’t have any weapons.”

“Yes, with our bare hands. Who wants to try it?”

“Tom, you seem awful confident about this. Are you sure it will work?” Paula asked. “I’m not sure what I’d do if you got killed. Why don’t we just quit now, or maybe look for a weapon. There might be something around here.”

“There never was in any version I played. Since you guys made me in charge, I guess I’ll have to do it.”

Tom approached the dragon that appeared to be sleeping, and launched himself at its neck. The startled dragon thrashed about briefly as Tom put an arm lock around its neck. It gave a brief burp of smoke and expired.

“The game never said how to do it. It just says you kill it with your bare hands. That was far too easy.

“Now, what are we going with the rug?”

“First we roll it up,” Pappy said. “Then we put it in one of our packs. I don’t see why that wouldn’t work. Who has the least stuff?”

“I think I do,” Aurora said. “All we can do is try.”

Removing her pack, she moved some of the contents at the top to one side. Tom and Pappy had tightly rolled the nine foot by twelve foot rug, and after carefully aligning it with the opening of Aurora’s pack, gradually slid it in.

“How’s the weight?” Pappy asked.

“Not bad, maybe a couple of pounds. I guess we’d better move on.”

“This took me forever to figure out,” Tom said.

“Figure out what?” Paula asked.

“When we got the emerald I could see another room beyond. It was very dark. Without the lamp, there was no way to continue on. You might ask why we didn’t do what we’re going to do before; however, if someone is playing this game for the first time, they wouldn’t have the knowledge.

“Pappy, you and Aurora are the bird experts. What did you think when you saw the emerald?”

"It reminded me of a killdeer’s egg. They’re quite pointy on one end so the parent birds can tilt them up when the ground’s hot so the eggs won’t get cooked. It’s kinda neat. They don’t have much of a nest: just a scooped out spot on the ground,” Pappy said.

Aurora added, “They’re a type of plover….” She was gone.

“Quick, grab my hands,” Tom said. They did. “Plover.”

They were in the room where they’d previously retrieved the emerald, and were standing next to a very frightened Aurora.

“Are you okay,” Pappy asked.

“I think so. So that was the magic word. I should have figured that out, but I hadn’t advanced this far when I played the game.

“That was scary, very scary. You don’t last very long around here without a light.”

“You know, all this treasure isn’t worth shit if I lose you,” Pappy said as he took Aurora’s hand. She didn’t flinch; instead she gave Pappy’s hand a gentle squeeze.

They headed northeast according to the compass to the previously dark area. Of course there had to be a treasure; Tom already knew there was. Sitting on a pedestal under a glass cover was a metallic pyramid.

“The honor is yours, Aurora,” Paula said. “I need to catch up on getting some info into the tablet.”

Aurora uncovered the pyramid, setting the glass cover on the ground. She started to pick it up and found it to be much heavier than she thought it would be. “What the hell is this? It can’t be gold.”

“It’s platinum. It’s worth as much as gold. I think that’s enough for today. We need to get this stuff back to the spring house before the pirate finds us again.”

Two magic words later they were back in the spring house. Tom turned the lamp off. “The first thing is to put the pillow down on that table.” Paula did.

“Now, Pappy, carefully hold the vase over the pillow and set it on the pillow." The vase slipped from his hands, but gently settled onto the pillow.

“Damn, I almost dropped it.”

“That wasn’t your fault. That’s built into it. I kept dropping it and couldn’t figure out why. I was extremely careful, but it broke anyway. Then I stumbled onto the pillow, and it all made sense,” Aurora said.

“Same thing here,” Tom said. “It was so damn frustrating because I would be progressing very well, but breaking the vase killed the game.”

They unloaded their treasure, and for want of room on the table, spread the rug on the floor.

“We were down there for an hour and a half according to my phone. My watch says 24 hours,” Paula said. “What do we do now?”

“There’s one more treasure in addition to our stolen treasures. This is something I’ve never been able to do. I’ve been through several areas of the cave where we haven’t been this trip. In one version there’s a dictionary down there. I was never able to figure out what to do with it,” Tom said.

“I had the same problem; except it was magazines. Obviously, we’re supposed to do something with them,” Aurora added. “I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“Speaking of bridges,” Tom said, “there’s another area we need to go to. There’s this damn maze where no matter where you go everything looks the same. Sometimes I’d end up where I started. One time I ended up at a vending machine where I could buy batteries for my lamp. I used the gold coins, but I realized I could do a lot of exploration even if I lost some of the treasure.”

“We’ll enter at a different place this time. We’ve been there before.

“Hold hands. Xyzzy.”

Chapter 17

Sandra was astounded by what had changed. All the pictures that had previously shown her handsome son, now portrayed an attractive young girl or woman. It was very easy to accept what she saw. She would have to, regardless, because that was the way things were. She wondered if Paula would be happy with her changes. Of course she was. The pictures said it all. Her smile was radiant.

Her bedroom was obviously a girl’s room. It wasn’t over the top girly with pink curtains and the like. There weren’t any posters of handsome movie entertainers. It was neat, but all girl. The closet was a shocker. Her daughter’s wardrobe was extensive, but tasteful. Using a mother’s prerogative, she checked her dresser drawers. Everything was neatly placed just as her son had done. “34B: on her that’s probably just right for her frame. She could still grow some more. She’s not eighteen,” she said to herself.

She returned to the first floor where Bob Temple was waiting for her.

“It’s all changed,” she said. “There’s no trace of the former Paul. I don’t have any doubt that this is what she wanted. I just wish I’d been more supportive instead of being caught up in this other crap. I’ve wasted a lot of time.

“It seems that we are parents of a young woman, Bob. What the hell are we going to do?”

“I think we need to get to know each other a bit better. After all, we have to overcome the merging of several realities and nearly nineteen years of being apart. We also need to get to know our daughter a bit better

“I’ll tell you what. I’ll pick you up a little after 4:00, and we’ll join the others when our daughter comes out of the cave.

“I’m sending a distress message by text to the Papandreous. I’ll make them believe that those kids are trapped and the Papandreou kid is hurt. They’ll all come running. We’ll get that wizard for once and for all. I’ll take out as many of those cowards as I can. They’ll never figure out who did it.

“I got something else. I got a silencer for this beauty. I’ll be able to get a lot of shots off, and those sorry bastards will never know where they are coming from.

“I’ve waited a long time for this, and now, we’ll just have to wait a little while longer. I want that sun behind us; just a few more hours.

They headed for the debris room as Tom turned the light on.

“Get that rod. We’ll need it shortly.

They kept going west to the small pit, and continued down to the Hall of Mists.

“I think the intention is for us to camp here for the night. Check out the rest rooms,” Pappy said pointing to two restrooms. Each door had a male/female logo.

Both couples seemed a bit on edge as they finished dinner. It had been a rather difficult day. Pappy disposed of the trash in the convenient trash can while Aurora and Paula headed for the showers. They both exited wearing robes that must have been in the shower because they certainly weren’t carrying them when they went in.

Tom and Pappy decided also to shower. Tom was searching through his bag for clean underwear when he came upon a small box of condoms. He certainly hadn’t put them in there and he was wondering if Pappy was trying to play some sort of crude joke. His mind drifted away from that thought as he entered the warm bathroom. It was quite a bit larger than before, and it was now equipped with a double sink. There was also the lingering touch of perfume in the air. He noticed two hangers on the back of the door. One was empty; the other had a robe with his initials on it.

The shower was great, and maybe he lingered a bit; however, he didn’t think The Wizard would let it run out of hot water. It was obvious to him now. They were being set up, but somehow he didn’t think it was wrong. This had to be a part of the whole thing they were going through. If Paula didn’t want it to happen she would say no, and he would honor her wishes. She certainly hadn’t seemed too disturbed when she left the bath wearing the robe. That’s when he noticed her nightgown lying on the counter.

At the other end of the counter by the sink was a razor and shaving cream. He knew that hadn’t been there when he got in the shower. He put it to use.

The lamp had conveniently dimmed each night, and he had been very worried that first night; however he checked the battery meter, and it had indicated a good power level. He checked it religiously every hour or so after that, and when they’d set up camp that night it still had more than half power left. He wasn’t worried about the dim light when he left the shower; however, there had been some changes made. Their sleeping areas had been separated a bit, and his bag and Paula’s were very close together. In fact, they were now zipped together as one double bag.

“Shut your mouth and get in here. I’m lonely,” Paula said.

Tom removed his robe and set it on a convenient rock next to Paula’s robe.

“You might as well get rid of the rest of that stuff. It will only get in the way.”

Tom felt no unease as he took off his t-shirt and shorts. He was quickly becoming aroused, though.

He slid into the partially open bag, and she quickly pressed her cool skin against him. He was in heaven and she was an angel.

“I have to do this, Tom. If we screw up and don’t finish, I could never go back without making love to the man I have loved for years. All I ask is that you go slowly. I’m not sure if there’s much in the way or not.” She had taken his hand and pressed it against her breast. He was gently caressing her as she talked.

He silenced her briefly with a kiss as her hands wandered to his erection.

“Very nice, I think.”

“What about Aurora and Pappy?” Tom asked.

“Don’t worry about them. She’s so horny she can’t stand it. So am I for that matter.

“Something very interesting has happened. We were talking about our noise bothering each other, and I thought wouldn’t it be nice if I could put a sound proof screen between us. Something just came to me. It’s difficult to explain. I did some things in my mind and suddenly I isolated their bed from ours. I’m sure they’re making a lot of noise; it’s just that we can’t hear them. I think I’m magic.”

“If that’s the case, I love my beautiful witch, but now I would like to try some magic of my own. Please be patient. I’ll just tell you that I’ve read some interesting books.”

The next hour was beyond their expectations. If there had been any hymen, it was no problem for either of them. He made love to her gently and patiently. When he was sure she was ready, they slowly joined before the rhythm of love making took over.

Paula cried a little, but it was okay. Tom held her to him, savoring the contact of their bodies before they gradually drifted off to sleep. They made love once more early the next morning. It was just as good the second time. They had been awakened by Pappy and Aurora leaving one of the bathrooms together. The light had caught them briefly. They weren’t wearing any clothes.

There was some embarrassed silence the next morning as they prepared breakfast.

“Okay guys, I think we need to get over it. Pappy and I made love last night, and it was wonderful. I suspect it was for you, too. Look, in most countries we’re considered adults. Let’s be adults about this. We’re in love, and what could be more natural than making love. It may be a bit difficult to explain to our parents, especially for Paula and me since we’ve changed quite a bit over the last few days. I have a feeling that Paula’s and my mother already know what’s happened, though. His Wisdom is usually pretty good about making sure everything is taken care of.

“Our most important task after we clean things up is to finish the problem at hand.”

“I have a question, Tom,” Paula said. “You said that every room of this maze you got into looks exactly the same.”

“That’s right.”

“We’ve been carrying a lot of extra crap around with us. Why don’t we leave a piece of that crap in each room? I can carefully log each piece so that we will know where each passage leads to. That way we can avoid going over the same ground again and again. We’ll keep going in directions we haven’t been before. If we have to come out the same way we went in, we’ll know. If there is a different way out, we’ll know it, too.

“That pirate has to have hidden our stuff where we can find it. The game wouldn’t work, otherwise. Let’s find it.

“By the way, Paula,” Aurora said, “that little thing you did to make our areas quiet, I can do it, too. This is really getting to be interesting.”

“Okay,” Tom said, “we’ll go west from here to a fissure. I figured this out early when I first played this game. I just thought that the order we did things was faster. It’s moot.”

The nasty looking crack in the ground was obviously too far across to jump. Tom took the rod and waved it at the fissure. A crystal bridge, ala Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, crossed the chasm.

“Just don’t look down,” he said as he started across.

Once across, they immediately found a jeweler’s filing box. Inside were envelope after envelope of the highest quality diamonds. Additionally, there were two other envelopes. One had ‘Isaacson’ printed in neat letters, and the other said ‘Papandreou’. Each held a rather nice diamond engagement ring. They put the box in Paula’s pack.

“This certainly makes this easy. I proposed to Paula several days ago. Thankfully, she accepted. So, without further ado, I ask again. Paula Knight, in front of our best friends I ask, will you please marry me?

“Of course I will. Although I imagine we’ll have to wait a while. Mom’s going to have to get used to having a daughter first.”

He slipped the ring onto her ring finger. It was sized perfectly, of course.

Pappy didn’t miss a beat. “Aurora, I know you seduced me; however, I was in love with you a long time ago. We had so much fun bird watching, and you were so cool about my stupidity.

“A few weeks ago,” he said to everyone, “three beautiful witches cast a spell on me. If I start to tell a fib or exaggerate my jaws lock up. I told Aurora I loved her very much. That was after I thought we’d lost her. The words flowed easily. Last night was just as easy. I meant every word.

“Aurora, would you please marry me and make me the happiest bird watcher in the world.”

“I certainly will. You clean up pretty good, you know.”

Like Paula’s, the ring fit perfectly.

“We’ll have to celebrate later. We seem to be losing battery power.”

They headed west, then a bit south, and they were in the maze. It took nearly two hours, but they finally found their way to the far end of the maze. At the end of the maze they went northwest and there was the pirate’s chest with their stolen treasure. Back tracking, they found a spot where they could drop down to the Bird Chamber without too much difficulty. They headed up the way they first came in while realizing they would not be able to take the chest up through the grate.

That was no problem. “Xyzzy.”

They were in the Spring House. “Lamp off.”

They put the chest with their recovered treasure on the rug. The filing box of diamonds was placed on the table with the other treasures.

As far as the four adventurers know, they have found all the treasure; however, they still haven’t solved the puzzle. There has to be more to it. The only solution is to return. Speaking of returning, Alice Gräber is in for quite a surprise when she returns home. There is only one solution. She will seek out The Wizard. She and The Wizard come up with a very satisfactory solution to her ‘problem’. The next posting completes the adventure.

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

Alice Gräber finally finds a satisfactory solution to her problem. Our tale finally comes to a close.

This story is another addition to The Cynthia Chronicles, Volume II. Cynthia (Cindy) Brewer has graduated from medical school. Randi Lewis at age 18 is starting work on her Master of Science in Chemistry, and Charli Brewer is a freshman in pre-med at UConn. Bobbie Anderson is setting the golf world on fire having now won tournaments on the PGA in addition to her many victories on the LPGA. This story takes place several years before Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling. If you are not familiar with the stories that make up the Cynthia Chronicles, you might want to go back to the beginning with An Incremental Journey

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This work is copyrighted by the author and any publication or distribution without the written consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.

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Cynthia and the Queen of the Knight
 

Chapter 18

“Mr. and Mrs. Gräber, please make yourselves at home. I’ll be right with you.”

“David, this is Wolf. In spite of his ferocious appearance and size, he is really quite gentle.

“Aren’t you, Wolf?”

“Thank you Alice, may I call you Alice?”

“Certainly.”

“The children and wife are in Antarctica. Otherwise I’d have you meet them. Padrona’s trying to explain the difference between the North and South Pole to them. The easiest thing is to go there.”

“David, Alice, let’s go to my sitting area so we may talk about things. When Alice came to me a few days ago, she told me that you had a lot of things on your mind and needed to talk to a professional about them. Well, when it comes to problems like yours, I’m as about professional as they come and I’m sure I can help you.”

“David, what in the world are you doing?” Alice had been able to catch an earlier flight from DFW. She hadn’t been able to contact her husband, so there was no one to greet her at the airport. It wasn’t that much of a cab drive to their spacious “starter castle” just outside Bentonville in the little community of Centerton. The Gräbers always said they lived in Bentonville just because it was easier to locate. Besides, it didn’t really matter. But, back to the problem at hand.

David was wearing one of her ankle length dresses; however, it came to mid-calf on him. He was made up, and judging from his appearance, he’d had a lot of practice. Other than the short hair, he didn’t look too bad.

“Well, well, this is a surprise. Do you want to talk about it?”

“I’m sorry, Alice, it’s not what you think it is.”

“What is it? Are you dressing for a role in a play? I thought the only role you had was to keep me pregnant. I’ll have to admit you’re pretty good at that. If it wasn’t for that TV show we’d be starving to death and be on welfare. I forgot, you don’t believe in welfare for the unfortunate.

“You’ve been living a lie, haven’t you? Here you are a spokesperson for your intolerant church, it’s not my church and never has been, and yet, you can’t personally abide by its teachings. I just wish you’d had the courage to tell me how you felt. Just so you know, I’m not very disturbed by this. Had I known, about your interests a bit earlier, we might have been able to break away from that church a bit sooner than we are. And believe me, we are.

“Do the children know about this?”

“I don’t think so,”

“You might be surprised. Regardless, you’re going to come out to them. That should rock your church to the roots. You do realize that three of our children are gay. They’ve been afraid to tell you because they are afraid of you.

“Is this outfit a bit of wishful thinking on your part or just a turn on for you?”

“It makes me comfortable.”

“Alice, I’ll be honest with you.”

“It’s about time.”

“I jealous of you. I stick my penis in you and I ejaculate a few minutes later. I know most of the time you don’t get anything in return but another pregnancy. You get to bear the baby, or babies. You get to nurse them. I don’t get to do anything.”

“I’ve had three, even four babies in diapers at one time, and you never once offered to help me change them.”

“That’s not a man’s place. That’s the wife’s job. If I ever stepped across that line, I would be ostracized.”

“The church doesn’t have a fucking thing to do with it!”

“Alice, please.”

“Please; fucking bull shit. I have been a prisoner of this hypocrisy for twenty years, and I deserved every year of it. For some reason, a few months ago I was set free. You’d better sit down, because you’re going to have trouble believing this. I was just as much a hypocrite as those your church turns out by the thousands.”

“Alice, it’s our church.”

“Not by a long shot, it never was my church. I was forced through some interesting processes to assume the role of a virgin bride. As hard as you may find it to believe, twenty-four hours before you married me I was a twenty-one year old roué. I had impregnated close to two dozen women and girls. Well, He put a stop to that. Here I am the mother of twenty-three, soon to be twenty-five, children, and there’s no end in sight. At least there isn’t if you keep sticking that thing inside me. You see, He made it impossible for me to refuse having intercourse with you.

“Who is this ‘He’ you keep referring to?”

“The Wizard, of course. That’s right, even if you knew about him, you wouldn’t believe in him. Your church says his kind doesn’t exist, and if he did, he would be in league with the devil. I’ll tell you this, if the devil existed, and I doubt he does, The Wizard would give him a run for his money.

“I got exactly what I deserved. I have twenty-three children whom I love dearly. I would never do anything to harm them. I am stuck in this existence, but I intend to make the most of it.

“Where are the children, by the way?”

“In school or at the day care. We’ve run out of breast milk.”

“We had back up formula.”

“I’ve never fed any of the babies, remember. The folks at the daycare take care of them until the older children pick them up after school. Then the girls take care of them. I have to work on the scripts for the next show.”

“This is ridiculous. If you only knew what I have to go through.” That was when the idea hit her.

“That’s pretty much it in a nutshell, Your Wisdom”

“David, is that correct; you’ve had a hidden desire to be a woman all this time?”

“Yes sir, but it’s so much against God’s Will.”

“As difficult as it will be for you to believe, God doesn’t have the time or interest to deal with the minutia of this miserable little planet. There are nearly a million planets in this galaxy alone with some form of sentient being. Some are more advanced than we are; many are not. There are billions of galaxies with plus or minus a few hundred million planets similar to the number in this galaxy. God allowed this universe to develop along what some physical parameters allow. We have a choice. We can either enjoy the wealth he has given us, or we can screw it up. On this planet we’re pretty much on our way to doing the latter. I’m trying to help turn things around.”

“You’re Jesus?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m just a very old man who can do some things many others cannot. I will have a helper in the not too distant future; however, that’s of no concern here. What is of concern is what to do about your problem.

“You know, you’re pretty much an open book to me. I mean that in the literal sense. I can read your mind. Would it be acceptable if I made some of your innermost desires come true?”

“What do you have in mind, Your Wisdom?” Alice asked.

“I think the first thing is to have a meeting with your children. Both of you need to be honest with them. What’s discussed there will never become public knowledge.

“Think of your reality TV show. Suppose you made a public announcement that you and your family were leaving your church. I imagine some of them would stay although I don’t know why. I think by last count that might have been three. That would be an opening for two of your boys and one daughter to come out as gay. Of course the youngest are a bit too young to understand; however, they would in time.

“I think we all agree that the old David has to go.”

“You don’t mean kill me, do you?” David was beginning to wonder if things were going a bit too far too fast.

“Of course not, well not as far as you’re concerned. It will have to be some sort of spectacular exit. Suicide is out. That just wouldn’t look right, and it might hurt your ratings. After all neither of you is prepared to earn a living any other way. You will need to do something to bring in a larger, more eclectic audience,” The Wizard said.

ENTERTAINMENT TV: “Well it has been shock after shock out of northwest Arkansas. The notorious Gräber family announced just last week they were resigning from the church organization they’ve represented for the last ten years with their hit television show “Is Twenty Three Enough?” It seems the title had increased by one or two every year since its beginning, and now they are expecting numbers twenty-four and twenty-five.

“If that wasn’t enough, three of the Gräber children have come out as gay, and only three have decided to remain with their church.

“Then, this afternoon the family had gathered in front of their spacious 30-room mansion to announce a new contract for the upcoming year for their TV show. There was talk that they would be traveling across country to visit migrant worker housing facilities and homes for estranged Rainbow Children.

“As all this was going on, storm clouds gathered over the area, and just as David Gräber was going to make a final statement, lightning struck him. The blast was caught on the video, and as you can see, nothing was left other than a few sparkling embers.

“The Widow Gräber was heard to remark that if one had to go that was the way to do it. Then before returning to the house she said, “One must get on with her life.”

“Word came out of Virginia Beach that God had missed his chance to get rid of the lot of them. Surely lighting should strike the house he was heard to say.”

“Will Daddy still sleep with you now that that nice wizard turned him into a girl,” little Ramona asked.

“Yes Dear, Dahlia, remember that’s her new name, has a lot to learn about being a new mommy. I have to teach her many things.”

“Will she be able to have babies?

“Yes, she wants very much to have babies. We know that she will be having a baby girl in nine months.”

“Who is the daddy? You can’t be a daddy, can you?

“No I can’t. I can only be a mommy. You know what being pro-life means, don’t you?”

“Yes Mommy, we don’t want to hurt unborn babies.”

“Well, The Wizard is saving those tiny little embryos that no one wants, and Dahlia and I will be their new mommies. That’s where Dahlia’s new baby came from.”

“Will Dahlia be able to nurse her babies like you do?”

“Certainly, that was something she asked for.”

“Is that why her boobies are so big?”

“No, that was just something extra The Wizard gave her.”

Chapter 19

“I can’t think of anything else to do other than go to that area where Aurora and I played around forever until we ‘died’” Tom said.

“We’re not going to die this this time. I won’t allow it,” Pappy said. “Maybe there is more to this place; however, from what Tom and Aurora said, this cave doesn’t fit the more complicated versions they’ve played. It has to be something simple, but easy to overlook. All we can do is try.

“Everyone ready?”

They held hands, and Tom said, “Plugh.”

He turned on the light. They were at Y-2. From there it was the tedious walk and crawl they’d done several times before: south to the north/south passage, down to the Dirty Broken Passage, west to the Dusty Rocks Room, down to Complex Junction, and then finally to the Anteroom that Tom and Aurora had referred to several times.

“See, there are the magazines, Spelunkers’ Journal, I believe,” Tom said.

“They’re addressed to T. Witt. Who’s that?”

“I don’t know,” Aurora said.

“What’s down there,” Pappy said pointing to the east.

“It’s quite a ways down there. There’s a room with some chairs, end tables, and some lamps that don’t work,” Aurora said. “How’s the lamp holding up, by the way?”

“I think we have enough power for today. That’s it.”

“Did that place down there have a name?” Pappy asked.

“I think it was Witt’s end,” Aurora said.

“Shit,” Pappy said. “I think we need to deliver some magazines.”

After walking a considerable distance the passage turned south, and as Tom and Aurora had said, there was what looked like a waiting room. Pappy placed the magazines on and end table. Paula and Aurora felt it at the same time. A shiver ran from their tail bones to the nape of their necks. Paula gave Aurora a thumps up.

“I think we’re through here,” Paula said. “I think we need to go back to where we found the magazines. Aurora and I just felt something. I think we did what we were supposed to, and now we need to find out where we go next.”

For want of anything else to do, they headed for the Anteroom. As they arrived, a voice boomed out as if it were coming from unseen loudspeakers, “The cave will be closing in fifteen minutes. Please be prepared to leave.”

“Well, we’re either finished or finished,” Pappy said while looking around for the speakers.

“So, what do we do now? I don’t think we’re supposed to go out the way we came in.”

Suddenly, lights throughout started to flicker on. They buzzed like mercury vapor lamps.

“The Cave is now closed. Please proceed to the nearest exit.”

A loud rumbling came from the wall opposite where they stood. A rather stylized crack appeared, and two halves of the wall slid open revealing a huge, well-lit cavern that according to Paula’s CAD drawings shouldn’t be there. That was a moot point. It was there.

“I think we need to explore a bit,” Tom said, “but we need to stick together regardless of the light.

“Paula, based on what you have in the CAD program, approximately where are we in relation to the spring house?”

“I would say somewhere to the west, about where that first knoll is.”

“That makes sense. That stream is probably the source of the spring. What we have to do is figure out how to get through that wall.

“The Wizard said you must keep your lips sealed until you know the time and place are right. Say nothing. Seek and find a noble gift.”

They turned to see the three little girls sitting on a swing suspended from the ceiling.

When they finished delivering their message, the swing was pulled up out of sight; probably out of the immense cavern.

“So what the hell does that mean?” Pappy asked.

“Shhhhhh,” Aurora admonished.

“Oops.”

The cavern was immense, probably covering a half dozen acres. Even though it was well lit, they stayed close together as they had no assurance that the lighting would stay on. After searching for a bit more than an hour, not knowing what they were searching for, they found evidence that someone had been there before them. A wooden box lay up against the far wall. The side panels were tightly dovetailed. The top that had been nailed on lay to one side. The box was empty other than some powdery substance that looked like sawdust. More sawdust was piled around, evidence there had been other boxes in the past.

Tom motioned for Pappy to assist him, and also putting his finger to his lips to remind Pappy to maintain silence. They gently picked up the box and set it aside. Against the back wall, partially buried in some old sawdust was what Tom had been looking for. The eight inch waxy cylinder looked relatively harmless, but Pappy knew what it was immediately.

Tom pointed to the tablet and Paula brought up the latest image. Tom indicated the four of them before pointing to the diagram. Paula indicated one end. Tom spelled O-U-T with his fingers, and Paula indicated the far wall.

They took the stick to where Paula had indicated. Tom placed it against the wall, and motioned for everyone to go back where they’d found the stick. He had them sit behind a large rock.

“Now, Pappy, tell us what you were thinking when Paula indicated that the way out might be through that wall,” Tom said pointing to the far wall where they had just placed the stick.

“I was thinking we might be able to blast ….” He was never able to finish his sentence. A bright flash followed almost instantly by an ear stunning explosion finished the sentence for him.

“And that was why we had to maintain silence,” Aurora said rather pointedly. “Any word remotely sounding like ‘blast’ or its synonyms would have set off the dynamite. We might have set it off when we were holding it. Just as bad, we might have set it off prematurely as Pappy’s unfinished sentence would have had he said that when we first got in here.

“I guess it’s time to see if that little explosion did any good.”

Light was coming through what appeared to be a passage. To where it led, they were not sure. They quickly moved some rocks and debris and the next thing they knew, they were outside. Quite a few people and other oddities were waiting for them. All of them were cheering loudly. Two dozen elves carrying a large banner saying “CONGRATULATIONS” were on one side. A large dragon, a huge snake with a Bird of Paradise sitting on his head were next to the dragon. Next to them was the troll and a rather large bear. In the middle were the Papandreous, Isaacsons, Lois Papadopoulos, and Sandra Knight. Holding Sandra’s hand was Bob Temple. It was 5:06 PM.

Paula and Aurora were immediately rushed by their mothers. For a while there were just hugs and tears.

“As long as you’re happy, I’ll be happy,” Sandra said holding her daughter at an arm’s length. “Are you okay with this? I mean it happened so fast.”

“Mom, for us it’s been five days. When the changes started to happen it just gave all of us more incentive to get to this point.

“I love him, Mom. I want you to understand that. This is not one of those teenage romance things. Reality has shifted a bit, and it seems I’ve been on the pill for a while. I’m a woman, Mom. I’m complete, and one of these days we’re going to make you a grandmother, but that won’t be until I’ve completed medical school.”

“You mean you and Tom …?”

“Yes, Mother, we made love, and it was wonderful. The Wizard made things very accommodating while we were down there. We didn’t want for anything.

Paula could see Aurora and her mother going through a similar discussion. She could also see Mr. Temple politely standing a few feet away.

“Mom, when we first came out of the cave I could swear I saw you holding Mr. Temple’s hand.”

“That’s true, after your football game last night, Bob asked me to have a drink with him. Several things came to light last night, and I was a bit upset. We had lunch again today, and got to know each other a bit better. It seems we went to the same high school in Milpitas.

“Bob, come here. I think we need to explain some things to our daughter.”

“Mom!”

“All will be explained. It’s complicated.

“Look, here comes The Wizard, now. He has a lot of things to discuss.”

Paula turned to see The Wizard followed by Wolf and his family exiting the Spring House.

At just under a mile away, Myrtle was putting the cross hairs on The Wizard’s head. This was going to be so easy. She squeezed off the shot like she’d done hundreds of times before; however, the results were not what she expected. The Wizard made a swatting motion with his right hand. Looked at something, then turned and looked directly at Myrtle. He winked at her. That was when she knew it was over.

“We have to get out of here or we’re done for.”

“It’s already over, ladies,” a voice said.

Myrtle, Agnes and Glynnis turned to four rather attractive ladies standing there. The speaker was the oldest of the four. She was a stunning blonde, and had Myrtle had time to think about it, she would have realized that she was the mother of two of the other three. It didn’t really matter. It took her a few seconds to realize that the gun was gone.

“We’re going to meet His Wisdom in his office. So,” she said gesturing to the terrified three, “please come with us.” The seven disappeared with an audible ‘pop’.

“Thank you for the warning, Sandra. This was what Myrtle had in store for us,” he said as he handed the half-inch in diameter, inch and a half long copper jacketed slug to her. She quickly passed it to Bob who looked at it appreciatively.

“Marissa and the girls have been with them since early afternoon. They wanted to make sure that they didn’t do anything else stupid before it came to the showdown. When Ted and Sherri got a text from Pappy’s phone, they alerted us that those three were getting ready, and they’ve been with them ever since. They’ve taken them back to the office. I’ll deal with them later.”

Turning to the group that had gathered in front of the Spring House, he said, “I want to thank everyone for their help in making this project possible.

“Dragon, you were really a good sport about all this. I put your rug back in your lair. I had it cleaned.”

“Thank you.”

“Snake and Bird, you were really great. You both deserve best acting awards.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Elves, we couldn’t have done it without you. I’ve had all your knives sharpened and axe handles repaired. I also told the Grue to stick to his own cave or I’d turn him into a newt. Additionally, as part of our bargain I’ve installed those bathrooms in your residential areas. Perpetual hot water is part of the contract, plus I installed a state of the art sewage treatment plant and lift station. All of your hydroponic greenhouses have been upgraded, too.

“Once again, thanks to everyone for their help.”

With the dragon leading the way, the group marched, flew and crawled through the opening in the hill. The opening closed up behind them.

“The treasures with a few exceptions have been returned to the cave. We’ll worry about the rest, later.

“Now, we need to go our separate ways until this evening. Sandra has graciously offered her house for a little get together. I believe the caterers are already setting things up. Meanwhile, I have three problem children to take care of.

“I haven’t killed anyone in centuries, although a bit more than ten years ago I condemned a murderous pedophile to the life of a steer. At least he ate well while he lived.

“I guess the question is what do I do with you three? I gave you every opportunity to make something worthwhile of your lives, and you blew it.”

“Go ahead and kill me. I don’t give a shit,” Myrtle spat.

“The thing is, I think you do. The mistake I made with all of you was not taking you back to an earlier age. This time I’m taking you back all the way. I’m going to find a good home for you where you will be brought up in a loving atmosphere. I should have known you wouldn’t change as adults. This time we’ll make sure it works.”

And with that, the three women disappeared.

“Where are they,” Charli asked.

“Right now they are in stasis, they’re embryos and their spirits are being held elsewhere. After they’ve been implanted and developed enough, their spirits will be reinstalled. It will be a few years but they will grow up in a large loving family. Actually, I did a little time adjustment. Myrtle is already implanted, and things look very good. Glynnis and Agnes will be joining her in a few years. I know things will be a lot better this time.

Chapter 20

“How in the world did you come up with a name like Aurora,” her mother asked.

“Aurora is the Roman goddess of the dawn. These last few days have been my dawning.”

“It’s a lovely name, if not a bit of a mouthful; however; you’re Greek.”

“I know, but Eos just didn’t sound very feminine to me. And, believe me, I feel very feminine. Besides, Pappy and I have picked out a nickname for me.”

“What might that be?”

“Poppy. It just seemed right.”

“Poppy and Pappy, that is a bit unusual.

“Tell me about this ring you’re wearing. If that were real, it would be worth a fortune.”

“He gave it to me when he proposed. As far as we can tell, it’s exactly the same as the one Tom gave Paula. They were part of the treasures we found; however, we’ve been allowed to keep them.

“Yes, it’s real, by the way. We’ll have to get it insured.”

“Proposed! The next thing you’ll be telling me is that you’ve had sex with him.”

“I wouldn’t call it having sex; it was more like making love.”

“Oh my God, you’ve been a woman for two days, and you jump into the sack with the first man, er boy available.”

“He’s the only one, Mom. I teased him a lot, but I knew it was right. I knew it a long time ago. Under that hokey veneer is a man with a kind and gentle heart. He’s real intelligent, if not a bit off the wall, and that’s fine with me. Another thing is that he will never lie to me, not that I would ever have to worry about it.

“I’m going to have to rely on you to teach me many things. Apparently, I’ve been on birth control pills for quite a while. The first time we made love was the first time for both of us – me obviously. But there’s all this other stuff. You’re going to have to teach me about makeup and periods and stuff.”

Lois turned away as the tears started to flow.

“Shit, I’m sorry, Mom. That was stupid of me.”

“I didn’t mean to do that, but I seem to be getting emotional for no reason over the last few days. My stomach’s been upset. I feel bloated. Then on top of everything, my son is turned into my daughter, and it’s right. I know it is. I’m so damn happy for you.”

“Mom, I haven’t told you about everything I know about The Wizard. I’m making a guess here, but I think I know what your problem is. This will take about 30 seconds. I’ll give you a clue. That first night Pappy and I made love, I found a package of birth control pills in my personal items. I found something else, too. Let’s check your bathroom.”

Aurora led her mother to her bathroom. She opened up a drawer that was between the sink and the toilet and pulled out a package.

“I thought so,” she said as she handed the package to her mother. “Your period’s starting. As soon as you figure out how to use them, you’ll need to teach me.

“Mom, he fixed you, The Wizard fixed you. You can have babies. Now, we’re just going to have to find a husband for you.

Things were not going quite as smoothly at the Isaacson home. Tom’s sisters could tell that their parents were not very happy about something that had happened between him and his girlfriend. They liked Paula, and were very happy when they found out that Paula lived only a few blocks away. Maybe they could stay here for a while.

“Do you mean to tell us that as soon as Paula had completed this magical transition that you jumped into the sack with her?” his father shouted.

“Well it wasn’t that immediate, and she invited me. You need to realize something. Everything we did down there was tied to Paula’s and Aurora’s changes. I mean everything.

“I’ve known Paula for a long time, and I know how much this means to her. I told her I would stand by her regardless of how successful our adventure was. You see, I’ve loved Paula for quite a while. If the only way she could have transitioned was through surgery and hormone treatment, I still would marry her. We don’t have to worry about that, now.

“We will get married in three or four years.

“If I remember, correctly. You were the same age as we are now when you took that same step. So I’m not really sure what the problem is.

“I think a more important thing is to see how The Wizard is going to fix your ‘little’ problem. I bet he will; just this time, read the instructions.”

The party was more like a house warming, and The Wizard made sure that all the right people were invited. He had acquired the services of a catering company, and strangely, all of the servers closely resembled the elves. They were very efficient.

“Your Wisdom,” Paula said prior to the guests’ arrival, “apparently Tom’s sisters don’t remember about me. I think they need to know for several reasons. I was talking to Cindy about this a while ago. I know I’m magic, and I want to thank you for making that possible. Aurora will tell you the same thing. We’re looking forward to getting a lot of instruction. Cindy said that his sisters are carriers of the magic trait, and I feel it’s very important that they know the legacy they carry. They’ve always liked me and I don’t think it’s necessary to hide from them what my origin is. In fact, it might be very important that they know what they might be able to pass on. It could be a great help for what you’re trying to do.”

“How do you know I’m trying to do anything?”

“The evidence all points to it. You’re trying to save magic. It was almost lost a few hundred years ago. The world may not be quite ready for it, just like the world hasn’t been ready for a lot of other things; however, someday we might be more acceptable to the world.”

“You will be a great doctor one of these days,” The Wizard said. "I think there will be a place for you in Cindy and Bobbie’s clinic.”

“Who’s Bobbie?”

“Ah, here’s Tom now.”

Tom put his arm around Paula’s waist before giving her a quick kiss.

“Tom, I have a question for you.” The Wizard asked.

“Yes Sir.”

“Who is that attractive redhead talking to Cindy?”

“Oh my God, that’s Bobbie Anderson. What’s she doing here?”

“She’s Cindy’s best friend, and she wants to take five strokes off your handicap. She says you have great potential.”

“What on earth are you talking about?” Paula asked.

“She’s just the greatest golfer in the history of women’s professional golf. She’s playing on the men’s tour, too, and she’s won there.

“Come on, we need to meet her.”

Unseen by the pair, The Wizard winked at Bobbie.

Margo Chenoweth arrived fairly early, but not too early. She had Donald Epperson with her, and it wasn’t clear who was hanging onto whom. She looked positively radiant. They stayed for about a half an hour before heading off on a dinner date.

Alice and Dahlia had skyped Sandra earlier in the evening. They promised to get with everyone, but perhaps the best thing to do would be to have a get together in Centerton as baby sitters were difficult to come by for their large brood. They asked Sandra to pass on their best wishes and thanks to everyone, and no, Dahlia was not yet experiencing morning sickness.

Ellie Singleton and Lindsay Snider were two very happy ladies. They showed off their wedding rings, and proudly announced their joint pregnancies. They stuck to fruit punch. They wanted to get home to continue with the unpacking as they had permanently moved to Bridgeport. They had purchased a large daycare center, and were eager to get started.

“Jim, Nancy,” The Wizard got their attention before indicating they should talk in private. They retreated to an outside deck. “I wanted to let you know that the original garters were recalled by the manufacturer. I had yours replaced. They should be able to correct your problem. I just ask that you please read the instructions before you do anything.”

“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that,” they said in unison.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was when Charli showed up with a very attractive, wholesome looking young woman. It took Sandra a minute to realize who she was.

“Oh my God, Barbara, it is Barbara isn’t it?” she asked.

Barbara shyly nodded. “I’m Charli’s roommate at UConn. I haven’t picked out a major yet; however, those puppies (indicating Wolf and Padrona’s brood) have convinced me that I might go into veterinary medicine. That’s Charli’s intent; so we could be working together.

Marriage came to Lois Papadopoulos a bit more quickly than she and anyone else had expected. Her literary agent wanted to talk to her about a producer in Hollywood who wanted rights to make a movie of one of her romance novels. This was the first time she’d been close to New York City during their professional relationship. He told her he was going to be in the area, and would like to take her out to dinner to discuss business. He was five years older than she, and the sparks flew. No one would ever accuse either of being a fortune hunter. They were both multi-millionaires.

Lois was pregnant when they married three months later. She hadn’t told him before he proposed. It didn’t matter. Aurora thought her step father was a wonderful man. They took a while breaking him into the magic world. He had no problems with accepting things. He had moved to Bridgeport immediately after he proposed.

The golden flute was returned to Sir James Galway; although he was never aware it had been missing. The music box was returned to the prop room at the Vienna State Opera House.

The ecology project was completely revised, and pertained to the real world. The state park disappeared; however, there was a very nice stream running through some farmland, and the four were able to turn in an exemplary project based on stream ecology.

Sandra and Bob were married in a civil ceremony six months later. They’d sent an invitation to Sandra’s parents, but it was never acknowledged. They weren’t missed. They hadn’t waited until after their marriage to make love; however, they hadn’t rushed into it. They might have been a bit hesitant as neither had ever had sex before in their current bodies. It took a little while before they got it right. Their third daughter was also a witch. Their sons along with their daughters carried the magic trait to pass on to another generation.

Pappy and Poppy married in their senior year of college. Tom was Pappy’s best man, and Paula was Poppy’s maid of honor. Two months later the roles were reversed. The brides wore necklaces with a single large teardrop shaped pearl. The giant clam had worked overtime.

.

My thanks go to Emanuel Schikaneder for originally putting the story together; although, he may have taken ideas from a work by Karl Ludwig Giesecke. Schikaneder’s story was put to music by an Austrian composer of little importance named Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. The original story is very racist and sexist. I think I fixed most of that.

The original Adventure Game was designed/created by Willie Crowther. There are at least four other versions of the game out there. The version followed in this story was probably close to the original. I first came across the game around 1985. That version was a bit more complicated. There was another maze with twisty passages all looking different, there was a dictionary, and there were several more treasures and puzzles; some of which I referred to in this story. The trident also had another use, as did the bird.

I took the game back to my office where all of us would play it at lunch on our primitive computer supplied by the Air Force. We learned from each other. Each of us had a saved version we worked from. The Dictionary was tougher than the magazines to figure out as a clue had been removed. I never figured it out, but somehow found the answer in reading something somewhere. The dynamite was a bit easier. I only killed myself once or twice. I had the whole place mapped out with all the steps written down for the best solution. The game was on a floppy disc. I gave it to someone. I threw out all my maps and notes, and soon regretted doing it.

The original and at least one other version are available for downloading or playing on the internet. The solutions and some poorly drawn maps are also available. Beware, there is some randomness built into the game.

Who are the original members of the conspirators?

Barbara Boom-Boom Reynolds, previously Ben Reynolds, bimbo stripper. Became Barbara Marie Reynolds, college student.

Alice Gräber, mother of 25 children, renounces her church, her husband willingly is transitioned by The Wizard. Their family will continue to grow.

Sandra Knight, lawyer and mother of Paul/Paula, discovers love with a version of the former girl, now man, she’d left pregnant 19 years before.

Myrtle Hightower, secretary and ex-Marine sniper; determined to kill The Wizard and others. She will start over.

Ted and Sherri Papandreou, boat designers and decorators, parents of Dimitri (Pappy). They are switched by The Wizard’s magic. They decide to continue to switch.

Margot Chenoweth, bookkeeper, embezzler. She wished she could disappear, and The Wizard obliges.

Ellie Singleton and Lindsay Snider, former chauvinist pigs of the worst order; now lesbian lovers and mothers to be many times thanks to The Wizard’s ‘correction’.

James and Nancy Isaacson, software engineer and importer of small goods, parents of Tom. They didn’t read the instructions.

Agnes di Lammermoor, past hit man for the Irish mafia. She did not learn her lesson. Back to square one.

Glynnis Roberts; past enforcer for the Miami mafia. Same as Agnes.

Lois Papadopoulos, writer and mother of Ivan/Aurora (Poppy). Past alcoholic switched with the little girl she killed. She finds love.

Carol Johannesen was Sanford Knight’s girlfriend. A version of her becomes Bob Temple.

Cast of Characters From the Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte):

Sarastro – The Wizard
Tamino – Tom Isaacson
Pamina – Paul/Paula Knight
The Queen of the Night – Sandra Knight
Papageno – Dmitri (Pappy) Papandreou
Papagena – Ivan/Aurora (Poppy) Papadopoulos
The Three Ladies – Cindy Brewer, Randi Lewis, Charli Brewer
Monostatos – Irving Mefisto
Two Armored Men – Clyde Davis, Melvin Douglas
Three Child Spirits – Iris Mefisto, Cleo Davis, Melanie Douglas
Speaker of the Temple – Bob Temple