Penny Wishes 3: Speak Only Truth
By Captain Webster and Dr. Isosceles
Make your wish on a magic penny and then, watch out.
John was depressed. He had really blown it in school today. His parents were
gonna be so "P.O.'ed" at him. He knew what the problem was, he just didn't know
how to fix it. He always got very nervous under pressure and, when he got
nervous, he tended to lie. He just couldn't seem to help himself. He started out
meaning to just tell the truth and take his punishment like a man, but then his
brain shut down and his mouth took over.
Mrs. McGillicudy, his English teacher, had wanted to know where his essay on the
Iliad was. Well the plain unvarnished truth was that he found "Homer's Epic"
about some stupid war so boring that he never got more than two or three pages
into it without falling asleep. So he never did the essay.
When Mrs. McGillicudy had looked at him, down her long thin nose, with those
piercing blue eyes he had panicked. The next thing he knew he was trying to
convince her that a burglar had broken into his house the night before and taken
his homework, along with other valuables. He told her he figured it was probably
someone else with the same assignment and that's why they took his oh so
excellent report.
Needless to say, Mrs. McGillicudy was having none of it. Oh she wouldn't call
him a liar right out, she just told him to have his Mother call her at the
school, confirm the break in, and all would be fine. Now he was sunk. His Mom
and Dad had told him that if he got into trouble for lying once more, he was
going to loose the use of the family car for a year, and be confined to his room
for a month. John felt miserable. So lost in thought was the hapless
highschooler, he failed to notice the tall, thin man standing on the sidewalk
just ahead of him.
John's first indication that anyone else was present on the entire planet
besides him was when he heard a deep voice say, "Don't feel so badly John.
There's still time to change."
Looking up suddenly, John found himself almost nose to nose with a man who gave
new meaning to the word thin. He was emaciated looking, taller than John, with
golden curls framing his thin, horsey looking face.
"Man is this guy homely," John thought as he stepped back. John studied the man
carefully; he could be one of those fanatics from the Kingdom Hall his parents
attended. The man was about six foot five inches tall. He had a hawk-like nose,
piercing black eyes, pallid complexion, and was dressed all in blacks and grays.
His clothing looked, somehow, archaic to John.
"Sorry Mister. I didn't see you there," John said as he made to move around the
stranger and continue on his way.
"J. Penington Pennyworth at your service," the man smiled as he extended his
hand for John to shake. "And you are Mr. John Calvin O'Rourke, recently in
trouble with your fifth period English teacher, one Mrs. McGillicudy, over an
undone essay on the Iliad. Your parents resent having a twelfth grade son who
continually lies whenever he gets into trouble, which is frequently, and are
prepared to punish you to the extreme that their love allows. Am I close?"
John was stunned. Just who was this guy? Did he work for the school? Was he
trying to trap John by getting him to confess to his wrong doing?
"Look Mister, I don't have any idea what you're talking about I gotta go." Again
John moved to pass the tall stranger, but the scarecrow of a man moved to block
his passage once again.
"No John, I don't work for the school, and I am not trying to trap you. I'm
trying to help," he smiled at the frustrated teen.
Now John was really confused. It was almost as if this guy could read his mind.
"Okay," John said, "I'm listening. You got three minutes and then I'm outta here
even if I gotta go right through you."
Five minutes later, John stood alone on the sidewalk, staring at the shiny new
penny in his hand. The story he had been told had been unbelievable, yet
Pennyworth had known all about his little problem. Pennyworth had sworn that the
penny could help. All John had to do was make an unselfish wish upon it.
John was tempted to wish that everyone would always believe him and he could do
as he pleased, but he figured that would be a selfish wish and would not work.
Instead he squeezed his eyes shut and said, "I wish that from now on everything
I say would be the literal and absolute truth!"
Not realizing what he had done, John headed home figuring his problems were now
over. After all, if everything he said was the truth then that meant that he
could never lie.
As he was approaching his house, John noticed his neighbor's Rottweiler barking
it's head off at him. He hated the large and stupid dog. He also feared it. If
it weren't for the chain link fence restraining it, he figured he would have
been doggy chow long ago.
John glared at the animal as he passed the house, "Stupid dog. What a mangy cur.
I wish you had been a bitch. They're not so aggressive."
Entering his front door John called out, "Hi Mom I'm home." He headed into the
kitchen for a snack. Food, and a tendency to be lazy, were his downfalls in
life. He loved to eat and he hated to work.
As John piled cheese and meat onto a bun with pickles and olives, his Mother
entered the room. "Hi Sweetheart. How was school today?"
Immediately John began to sweat. "Oh well," he thought. "At least I can't lie
anymore. Maybe I'll get some brownie points for being honest about this." But
when he opened his mouth, the truth was not forthcoming.
"School was great Mom. My English teacher even told me that my work is so good
that I don't have to do any more assignments or homework for the rest of the
year." John was stunned. "Oh crap! What did I tell her that for? Now I'm really
gonna get it. No way will she buy that load of baloney."
His Mother gave him a "you have to be kidding me" look.
"Umm, you do believe me don't you Mom?" he asked her nervously.
His Mother's face brightened suddenly. "Of course I do Dear. Why wouldn't I
believe you?"
Huh? Now John was starting to get cold chills. His Mom was nobody's fool. There
was no way she would buy such a ridiculous story, but she had. Why? Puzzling
over this new conundrum, he completed his monster sandwich and began to eat.
"Don't spoil your appetite Dear," his Mother cautioned. "We're having fried
chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner."
"Don't worry Mom," he managed around a large mouthful of sandwich, "I'm hungry
enough to eat a horse." Suddenly John realized it was true. He was ravenous,
with a hunger that surpassed understanding. Quickly finishing his sandwich he
looked around for anything else to eat, preferably meat. Horse meat!
"Whoa! What's wrong with me? I know I love food, but I'm never this hungry," he
mumbled as he pawed through the refrigerator for more food.
As suddenly as it came, the ravenous hunger left him. Shaking his head John
walked slowly out of the kitchen. "I'm gonna go to my room until supper is ready
Mom," he called back to his Mother. "I've got some thinking to do about what the
heck is going on," he finished privately to himself.
It took him a while, but he did finally figure it out. Everything he said was
now the literal and absolute truth, just as he had wished. He had meant to make
himself unable to lie, and in a way he had. Now whatever he said became reality.
"This is great," John thought as he looked out his bedroom window at the
confused mixed breed bitch, wandering aimlessly, in the neighbor's yard.
John smiled to himself. "The world is mine now. Guess I don't need this
anymore." With that he tossed the Wish Penny into the large jug with the rest of
his huge collection of pennies.
"John. Supper is ready!" his Mother's voice shocked John out of his gloating
thoughts.
"Be there in a minute Mom," he called back, intending to spend a few moments
more in idle contemplation of how he was going to start making his life better
and his enemies' lives worse, before going out to supper.
Exactly sixty seconds later John found himself sitting at the supper table.
"Whoa!" he thought to himself. "What the heck happened? One minute I'm sitting
there planning on how I'm going to make Darla and the other snotty cheerleaders
into my own little pleasure toys, and suddenly I jump up and run in here. Why'd
I do that?"
"Something wrong Son?" his Father's taciturn voice cut through his thoughts.
"Huh? Wha...? No. No, Dad. I was just thinking." John had been caught off guard
by his Father's question. His Father rarely spoke during dinner, or any other
time for that matter.
"Pass the mashed potatoes." His Father's attention had already left John before
the boy could complete his answer.
It was a quieter than usual dinner for John. He was deep in thought through most
of it, and replied with monosyllabic answers whenever his Mother tried to talk
to him. As dinner drew to a close, John's Mom reminded him, "Now don't forget
dear, you promised to clean your room up tonight."
"Hmm. This could be a perfect test of this new power thingie," he quietly mused
to himself. Out loud he said, "But Mom, don't you remember? You promised to
clean the room up for me." As usual John's Father was oblivious to the dinner
conversation. His nose was buried in the paper.
John's Mother's face brightened. "That's right. I remember now. Whatever could I
have been thinking? I'll get on it right after I do the dishes."
Deciding to push it a bit further John said, "You remember telling me that I
could use the car tonight, don't you Dad?"
Setting his evening paper down the elder O'Rourke stared blankly at him for a
moment before responding. "Of course Son. Have a good time and be home by ten.
You have school tomorrow."
"Midnight is what you meant to say, wasn't it Dad?" John prodded his Father.
"Isn't that what I said?" his Father seemed confused. "Midnight is your usual
curfew for a school night after all."
"Thanks Dad. Oh yeah I could use a little cash for this evening."
Ten minutes later, John was cruising in his parent's Cadillac toward his
cousin's house. "This is great," he thought for the hundredth time. "I've got
the car, a midnight curfew that I can expand to whatever time I want, and fifty
bucks to spend. Yeah, life is sweet." Arriving at his cousin Terry's house he
virtually skipped up to the door.
"Hi Dot, is Terry home?" he called through the screen door to his twenty year-
old cousin Dorothy.
"Sure John. Come on in. I'll call him. He's in his room finishing his homework."
"No need to bother yourself," he told his elder cousin. "I'll surprise him."
"Hey Cuz! What's happenin'?" John asked as he walked into his cousin Terry's
room.
"Nyaahh. Shit! John, you asshole! You almost scared me to death. Don't ever
sneak up on me like that." Terry was red faced and breathing hard.
"I guess I did surprise him," John thought with a chuckle. "Hey, you wanna go
grab a pizza or something?"
"I've got no money, Moron. Allowance day isn't until Friday, and you already ate
up all of my last week's allowance this past weekend, remember?" Terry sounded a
bit peeved at John.
"No problem-o cousin mine. I've got plenty of money -- and the family car," John
was openly gloating now.
"Money? And the family car? What happened, your Dad finally snap from the strain
of knowing his son is a mutant?" This sort of banter was normal between the two
best friends.
John smiled complacently, "C'mon let's go."
"Can't. Wish I could. Got too much homework to do." Terry responded
disconsolately.
John decided to tweak reality with his power again. "No you don't. See your
homework is all done, and it's all guaranteed one hundred percent correct."
Looking down at the pile of paperwork on his desk, Terry saw that his homework
was indeed all done. "Now how the hell...?"
"C'mon. I'll explain as we go," John grinned like a Cheshire cat.
Thirty minutes, twenty-five miles and one lengthy explanation later, Terry sat
stunned beside his cousin. "You mean to tell me that anything you say becomes
reality, instantly? No freakin' way."
"It's true. Want a demonstration?" John was eager to try his power out again.
"Yeah, sure." Terry was intensely curious. He could not explain what had
happened to his homework, or his cousin's sudden largesse, but what John had
told him was just impossible.
"Okay," John said with an evil glint in his eye. "Since you choose to be
immature and not believe me. You are a six year old again."
Terry felt his world contract and then expand suddenly. He noticed that
everything looked much larger. His cousin looked like a giant sitting next to
him. His clothes were huge and pooled around him on the seat. His tiny upper lip
began to quiver. Where was his Mommy? Why was he in this car with this big man?
His six-year-old mind couldn't understand it at all.
"Whoa man. Don't cry." John hastily said.
Immediately Terry aged to twenty-one years. His clothes were now stretched
tightly over his expanded frame. "Why would I cry?" he asked.
"Oh shit!" John moaned. "I've gotta be more careful about what I say."
Immediately there was an odor in the car and his, now, adult cousin looked
acutely uncomfortable.
"Okay, that's enough!" John all but shouted. "Terry you are seventeen again, and
you have not shit in your pants and you remember everything that just happened."
Reality hiccupped. His cousin sat beside him with a bewildered expression on his
face. "Somanabitch," he said in a stunned voice. "Howthefuck did you do that?"
John had been paying so much attention to his cousin that he had not watched
traffic closely enough. His car lurched to a stop by virtue of impacting the
rear bumper of the truck stopped ahead of him at the light.
"Oh no," John groaned. "I didn't just hit that truck? Did I?"
"No." Terry replied. "Why would ask such a stupid question anyway?"
As the light changed to green and the undamaged truck pulled away again, John
headed to Pizza Hut. He needed some time out of traffic to sit and talk for a
bit. He wasn't sure how much more his nerves could take.
"I'll have a beer please," John told the frumpy looking pizza waitress.
"Yeah right kid," she replied. "Got an I.D.?"
"You don't need to see an I.D. for me or my friend. Anyone can tell we are old
enough to drink. Oh yeah, be nicer to us. We are V-E-R-Y important people."
"Two beers coming right up, Sir!" The waitress scurried off as if the devil
himself were on her tail.
"Yo John!" Terry hissed at him. "Scope out the babe with the wad of muscle at
the next table."
"Yeah." John breathed. "What a fox! Too bad she's with such a muscle bound
weenie."
As he spoke John saw the auburn haired girl shrink and transform into a red fox.
When he looked for her boyfriend he saw a huge wiener steaming on his seat.
"That's the biggest fucking weenie I've ever seen," Terry said, the hint of a
hysterical giggle starting in his voice. "You don't suppose his name is -- Oscar
do you?"
"Oh no." John groaned. "I did it again. The girl is herself once more and not a
fox, and her boyfriend is himself and not a weenie."
The fox had started to devour the delicious looking weenie as John spoke. As the
animal's lips and teeth closed around the scrumptious morsel it changed back
into a girl. The young woman tried to scream but found her mouth engaged in the
act of fellatio -- in the middle of the pizza joint! The boyfriend had a
bewildered look in his eyes but seemed to be enjoying his girlfriend's oral
manipulations too much to focus.
"No, no, NO!" John said. "That's not what I meant at all. None of the stuff I
said about her being a fox and him being a weenie ever happened. They're still
sitting there having their dinner."
The scene reset, with the two hapless victims apparently none the worse for the
experience. No one else seemed to notice. John groaned with his face in his
hands. "What am I gonna do? I've gotta watch what I say." His words seemed to
take shape and float just before his eyes. Hanging, unsupported, in the empty
air.
John sighed in exasperation.
After eating and settling up their bill, John and Terry headed back to Punta
Gorda. John was deep in thought and not watching his speed. Red and blue lights
lit up on top of the car following them.
"Uh oh, John. Looks like you got fuzz on your tail." Terry said.
"City Kitty, County Mounty, or State Bull?" John asked.
"State Trooper I think," Terry said.
*****
Elsewhere, Mrs. June Waters heard a knock at her door. "Who is it?" the elderly
woman called out tremulously.
"Fort Myers City Police, Ma'am," a male voice answered her. "You called about
kids running around being a nuisance?"
"Oh yes, Officer. Please come in." Mrs. June Waters, retired high school teacher
and septuagenarian, fainted at the sight that greeted her as she opened the
door. Standing before her, decked out in a Fort Myers City Police uniform, stood
a creature that resembled Tony the Tiger come to life.
"I wonder what the hell is wrong with her?" Officer John Maddington thought as
he knelt to check on the elderly woman's pulse. Purring to himself, he pulled
out his portable radio, with his right forepaw, and called for an ambulance.
*****
"License, registration and insurance proof please." The voice at John's car
window was gruff and very deep.
"Sure Officer, got it all right here," John said. The documents dropped from his
nerveless fingers as he stared at the Minotaur standing before him, dressed in a
Florida State Trooper's uniform.
John swallowed loudly as he stared at the huge man-bull standing beside his car.
The Minotaur bent down and picked up the paperwork John had dropped to the
pavement.
In a deep rumbling bass voice the Trooper asked, "You seem to be nervous. Is
anything wrong?"
"N-N-Not a thing Sir." John squeaked.
"I'll be right back." With that the State Minotaur turned and walked ponderously
back to his car. "Wow John." Terry said. "I always thought cops were bull
headed, but this is ridiculous."
*****
At that moment Nena Jansen, dispatcher for the Lee County Sheriff's Department,
was trying to calm down a frantic caller. "Sir. Please calm down. You're not
making any sense. We are the Sheriff's Department, not the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police.
"No, we don't have any R.C.M.P. assigned to our department.
"No sir, that is just not possible. The deputy that responded to the barking dog
complaint you made could not have been dressed like a Mountie. Thank you for
calling though. Goodbye." As she hung up she noticed that all the phone lines
were lighting up.
"Is it a full moon tonight or something?" she wondered. "Why do all the nut
cases call us?"
Similar panicked calls were coming in to the Highway Patrol offices in Lee
County and to the Fort Myers City Police Station. Reports of anthropomorphic
catmen in police uniforms, Minotaurs in State Trooper uniforms, and R.C.M.P.'s
responding to calls for the Sheriff's Department were coming in from all areas
of the county.
*****
"I've gotta stop this," John thought. "Okay! Enough is enough," he said aloud.
"Everyone of the officers I caused to transform are back to normal." A few
moments later a very normal looking State Trooper brought John's paperwork back
to him, along with a warning citation for speeding. After a brief exchange of
pleasantries, John and Terry were once again on their way.
"Man you really have to start paying attention to what you say." Terry
commented.
"I know," John replied. "I never realized just how dangerous this power could
be." So of course it was now more dangerous than ever.
*****
In a small shop at the mall an old man in a frayed robe watched the unfolding
chaos, on a nine-inch color television set resting on top of a display counter.
"Hmm," he mused to himself. "This could get very interesting before it's all
over. I hope I don't have to involve myself. This is just too much fun to
watch."
*****
After dropping his cousin off, John headed straight home and collapsed into bed.
He never noticed that his jar of pennies was now a large stack of neatly rolled
coins, courtesy of his Mother. The next morning John felt better. After all, he
had only to be more cautious in his speech and he could have anything he ever
wanted. After a quick breakfast and a hurried goodbye to his Mother, John headed
off to school.
"Wait up dork-ass," Terry called out to John as he walked briskly onto the High
School grounds. "Since when are you in such a rush to get to school anyway?"
"Since I no longer have to take any tests, I never get any homework, and I don't
have to do any class assignments. I have perfect scores for all work through the
end of the year," John laughed.
"You know John," his cousin said in a worried tone. "There are consequences for
everything we do. Aren't you afraid of the eventual price of all these changes
you're making?"
"You worry too much," John said. So, of course, his cousin immediately found
himself obsessing over the slightest detail of everything he could imagine. John
never noticed.
"Look at that." John said, and so Terry found himself compelled to look. "Can
you believe that David Chaffin? He really thinks he is the B.M.O.C. Well I'm
gonna change that. He needs to get in touch with his feminine side! I think he
looks much better as a five foot four inch, one hundred and two pound, blonde
haired, blue eyed, well built, giggling bimbette!"
Terry gaped, his worries increasing exponentially, as the hulking linebacker
transformed into the petite beauty John had just described.
"He also should be dressed very 'slutty,'" John said with venom in his voice.
Terry knew John resented David. The larger boy had humiliated John in front of
the entire senior class at the last assembly, calling him a blimp and other not
nice names. As the transformed boy's clothes shifted into a midriff blouse and
tiny miniskirt, Terry could only stare and worry.
"What the hell is happening to me!" the new girl screamed in a high soprano
voice.
"No one notices anything out of the ordinary about this or any other
transformations I make, except for me -- and you of course -- Terry." John told
his cousin. "Oh yeah. David will know what has happened to him, but will be
unable to act any different than any other horny teenage bimbette." The new girl
licked her lips and began to swivel into the hallway at the front of the high
school, a look of panic in her eyes.
"This is gonna be so much fun," John said with an evil little chuckle.
"I don't know John," Terry said.
"Oh will you lighten up," John responded crossly, and then gaped as he saw his
cousin begin to drift towards the sky.
"Ulp!" John swallowed. "You weigh what you normally do, just stop worrying."
Terry immediately fell the couple of feet to the ground.
"Ufff," he gasped upon landing. "Thanks. I feel better."
As the first bell rang they headed off to their classes. The day proceeded
slowly. John soon found himself bored. With no work to do and with his teachers
now fawning over him, after he made little mental adjustment to them all, he had
nothing to do. Finally the bell rang, signaling lunch.
As John walked into the cafeteria he noticed his reflection in the glass doors.
He had to admit he was out of shape. "Well," he thought to himself. "I can fix
that." Aloud he said, "I'm in perfect physical condition. I'm handsome, and I
have the best physique of all the guys at this school." No one noticed his body
and face change as John got into line behind some girls.
"Did you hear about Mr. Johnson and that little tramp Davina Chaffin?" one girl
asked the other.
"No, tell me." The other, eager for gossip, giggled in reply.
"Well, I heard she got caught giving him a 'B.J.' in his office. Now she is
being expelled and he is being fired." Both girls laughed at this.
"Oh no!" John thought. "What have I done?" While he intensely disliked David,
now Davina, Chaffin, John had no desire to see her expelled. He also liked Mr.
Johnson very much. The science teacher cum football coach had always been nice
to John.
John then sighed and ordered the events erased that had caused the expulsion and
firing. He also transformed David back into his old self and erased everyone's
memories of the incident, except for David, thinking it should help take some of
the wind out of David's sails if he thought he was having homosexual fantasies
about the football coach.
As John sat down with his lunch he was feeling concerned. Maybe Terry was right.
Maybe this power was more trouble than it was worth. Soon however more immediate
concerns occupied his attention. The prom was coming up the next night and John
had no date. He could, he mused, cause any girl at the school to want to go with
him. But then he reconsidered. What did he have in common with any of them? They
didn't like the things he did. They didn't have the sort of personality he got
along well with. What he needed was a beautiful girl who thought the way he did
and whose personality meshed well with his. As he pondered this his cousin sat
down beside him.
"Hey scuzzola what's up with you? Whoa, you've been making some adjustments to
yourself I see," Terry commented.
"Yeah. As a matter of fact I have cousin-o-mine," John replied with a wicked
gleam in his eye. "Got a date yet for the prom?"
"No freakin' way John!" Terry was almost shouting. "There is no way I'm gonna
let you change me into a girl so you can have a date for the Prom, so just
forget it!"
"Why Terry," John's voice fairly dripped sarcasm as he spoke. "You talk as if
you have a choice in the matter. You WANT to be a girl. It is eating you up
inside. You can never feel whole or content until you are physically female."
"Oh God John, what did you go and do that for?" His cousin's voice had been
reduced to a small whimper. "I know what's happening. Remember you said I would
be able to tell when you caused any changes? But now, even though I know you
caused it, it's killing me. I need to be myself. I can't stand living in this
hateful male body one second longer. Please John, make me a girl!"
John smiled and made sure no one noticed his distraught cousin's outburst. "Not
just yet. I think you need a lesson. You will go through the rest of the school
day with the need building inside you. At the end of the day, after the last
bell, meet me in the front of 'A' wing and I'll see if I can't do something
about your craving."
"No John, please. You don't understand!"
"Oh I understand alright. I'm not just a man anymore, I'm a demi-god! See you
after school." With that John stood up to leave. As he did an underclassman,
head bowed and trying desperately not to be noticed by any of the seniors
present, bumped into him.
Turning with a snarl John said, "Watch where you're going you 'jackoff.'" As
John stalked off, leaving a whimpering Terry behind at the table, the young boy
who had bumped into him began to unfasten his pants and masturbate
uncontrollably. Amazingly no one seemed to notice except for the sobbing young
man sitting nearby.
John stood in front of the school as the last dismissal bell of the day sounded,
smiling as he thought of all he had done today. There had been that idiot weight
lifter in gym class. The guy had wanted to challenge John to a contest of
strength. After John showed him up the guy had been stupid enough to call John
an asshole, so John called him a pussy. There was now a very athletic girl
wandering around the gym trying to understand why she was taking Boy's P.E. Then
there had been that stupid bitch of an Assistant Principal, Ms. Jacobs. When she
started to get on John's case about smoking in class, he told her to eat shit.
The large fly was still buzzing around the boy's rest room. Yes, life was good
when you were answerable to no one. As John stood quietly reveling in his power,
his cousin approached.
"John, oh Jesus, John! This is worse than being addicted to drugs! I know that I
don't really want this. That you made me want it. But I've got to have it anyway
or I'll go mad." Tears were streaming down the distraught boy's face.
"Oh alright. If you're going to cry, then I'll change you. But just remember, it
was your idea." This thought would haunt Terry for the rest of his life.
"You are now a five foot four inch, one hundred and two pound, seventeen year
old girl. You have flawless skin, straight, jet-black hair, and perfect teeth.
Your measurements are 35C-20-34. You have perfectly arched eyebrows, which you
maintain by plucking them daily. Your lashes are long, and I do mean loonnngggg,
and thick. You have no pubic hair and no hair on your legs or under your arms.
Your skin has the natural coloration of an Asian or Polynesian. Your eyes
though, are still blue. You are graceful, coordinated, and extremely limber.
Your voice is a sexy alto. Oh yeah, you have no gag reflex. That should do it."
Terry felt John's power once again take hold of him. He lost ten inches in
height and forty-three pounds in body weight. His hair lengthened into a cascade
of ebony reaching his, now, tiny waist. His lashes lengthened as he felt
virtually all of his body hair fall out. His sex wriggled about like a snake
before it retracted into his body. It was almost as if it were fighting it's
banishment. He could feel the flesh of his chest push outwards into heavy mounds
with tiny points of sensitivity on the ends. Finally he felt his insides churn
as his bones and organs shifted. His center of gravity dropped into his bottom,
which rounded out nicely.
"Oh God. What's happening to me?" the new girl cried in a sexy, almost
breathless, alto voice.
"I gave you what you wanted," John smirked at his transformed cousin. "Oh, but
these clothes will never do."
Looking down at herself Terry had to agree that she looked ridiculous in the
boy's size fifteen shirt and men's size thirty-two - thirty two jeans. As she
staggered forward, she stepped right out of her size 13EEE shoes.
"You should be wearing a tight black dress that comes to about mid-thigh. Under
it you have on black bikini panties, black stockings with a garter belt, and a
black lacy bra. Oh yeah. You should also have on three inch high heels."
Terry stared at her transformed body, encased in it's new clothes. "I feel so
strange. I feel as if I really wanted this, but I know I didn't. Why John? I
thought we were friends. Water Brothers like in Heinlein's book, Stranger In A
Strange Land. Why would you do this to me?"
"Because I can," was her cousin's only reply.
No one questioned how the very American family who lived at the corner of
Burland and Elizabeth Streets had a daughter who looked to be a cross between
Asian and Polynesian, with faint traces of American. Not even them.
As Terry got home her Mother greeted her at the door. "Hi sweetheart. How was
school today?"
"Umm -- fine I guess Mom. I'm not feeling real good right now, so I think I'll
go lay down in my room."
"Oh, I'm sorry Baby, but you can't. You know we have an appointment to get your
dress finished for the Prom tomorrow night. You do want to look your best for
John now don't you? You're such a lucky girl to have him for a boyfriend."
"Sure Mom. I guess I just forgot." Terry headed back to her room to change into
something more comfortable. "Great! Now he's used his power to make me his damn
girlfriend! He's gotta be stopped."
Just then a thought occurred to her that had been niggling at the back of her
mind, ever since her earlier encounter with John. "I wonder why he made me have
no gag reflex?"
*****
The old man watched the TV screen with growing concern. He could appreciate a
good "bimbo" transformation, but turning Assistant Principals into huge, feces-
eating flies, or future Olympic weight lifting champion Carl Rigby into Cathy
Rigby? And what about that poor freshman who was still mindlessly masturbating
in the school cafeteria? Then there were all the ripples in the fabric of
reality caused when he had changed all of the law enforcement officers in Lee
County into R.C.M.P.'s, Minotaurs, and Cat People. No, the home office was going
to probably blame him for this mess if he did not act to straighten it out
before it got much farther out of hand, but how exactly could he do it without
anyone knowing of his interference? That would take some thought.
*****
John walked into his room and flopped onto his bed. He noticed, for the first
time, how clean and neat everything was. His pile of old comics were neatly
stacked, in plastic covers, according to company and date. His clothes were all
folded and put away, or hung neatly in his closet. His shoes were sitting
displayed on his shoetree. His shelves were neat and dusted, even his TV was
cleaned within an inch of it's life.
"Wow! When Mom cleans a room, she really cleans a room!" That's when he noticed
the pennies. All three thousand plus pennies were neatly rolled and stacked in
the far corner from his bed.
"The wish penny!" John exclaimed. Then he calmed. What did he need that stupid
penny for anymore anyway? He didn't need anyone or anything. From now on he was
going to be on easy street. Still his cousin's tear streaked face kept haunting
his memory. "Why John?" The words echoed through his head.
"Aw, Hell." John muttered. "It's only for one night. He should thank me. After
all he will have a whole new insight into how the other half lives. Maybe after
this he can actually get a date for himself." John fell asleep still justifying
his betrayal of his best friend in this manner.
Terri was boiling mad. The reason being that she was sitting on the toilet and
peeing. "Damn him!" she thought angrily. "He had no right! He even made me beg
him to do this to me. Look at me! The only way I could write my name in the snow
now is to hobble around like some sort of retarded crab!"
Finishing up she washed her hands and exited the bathroom. The door read
"Ladies". "I'm gonna kill him if it's the last thing I do, and considering his
present abilities, it just may be." She thought as she stalked off to her first
period class.
He was unhappy. Everything seemed to be going wrong. Even when he said things to
accomplish specific effects now they seemed to go awry. Like when he told Ms.
Neal, his first period math teacher, to "get fucked." He had intended to do the
honors, but she had grabbed Shayna Jenkins from the first row and immediately
began a lesbian lovemaking session. Who knew she was a dike? Still it was fun
watching her creative uses of a pointer, but he would have rather had her use
his pointer.
His Father had been short with him that morning ands as a result John had lost
his temper. He did not have to take that crap from anyone; after all he was a
demi-god now, so he had told his father to "get lost." His Father had left the
house and had not been seen or heard from since. John was so distraught that it
never occurred to him to simply command his Father back.
Then there was that stupid kid in Future Farmers of America that he had called
"mule headed." The kid' head had transformed into a mule' head, but the boy had
seemed happy about it. He had always heard that Jack was a bit strange but who
in the world would want to be a mule? In a fit of pique John had changed him
back and the boy had looked shattered. "Take that DeMule," John had thought
viscously as he walked off, leaving the distraught youth sobbing in the animal
pen.
He had called that skinny geek in band a birdbrain, and the kid had been
transformed into an anthropomorphic bird form. Some sort of albatross John
thought. Birds were never his big thing, but he had watched as the bird boy had
flapped off, unable to tell if he was distraught or enraptured by his new form
and freedom. "What was the fun in torturing somebody if you couldn't tell if
they were tortured by what you did or not?" John grumbled to himself.
The girl next door was a fat bitch who was always after him to date her, so he
had called her a cow. He had left her like that as a lesson and been gone when
the bull, from the next pasture over, broke through the fence and mated with
her. John had already decreed that she would transform back at the end of the
day, when school let out.
Nothing seemed to give him any pleasure anymore. Even turning his cousin into
his own personal walking wet dream had backfired. He had slept horribly. He kept
seeing his cousin's shocked face, and hearing her plaintive "Why?" over and over
in his mind. Head hanging he walked into his third period class.
*****
Terri was uncomfortable with the stares of the other boys. She was used to being
ignored or, at worst bullied, but not being lusted after. The short dress she
wore was no help either. John had seen to it that all her clothes had converted
into his image of proper attire for a young woman. Sheer blouses, short skirts
and dresses, hot pants, halter-tops, and micro bikinis. All her underwear was
sheer and designed for exhibition rather than modesty, comfort, or support. She
now had one pair of flat shoes. Pink tennis shoes. PINK! S(he) hated pink! The
rest were all high heels.
*****
The old man was on the phone in the back of the shop. It was the home office.
"Yes dammit I know that he has to be stopped.
"Yes, yes I realize that he has set things in motion that will cause any number
of alternate futures to be created, and others to be canceled. Just what do you
want me to do about it?
"Well yes I did give the wish penny power to that Pennyworth fellow, but I was
just doing what you told me to.
"Yes what you told me! You said to create repeat business, and keep customers
happy. How was I, or even he, to know that the boy's wish would go so far awry?"
The old man was sweating profusely now.
"Alright, alright! I'll take care of it." With that he hung up the phone.
Grabbing a black leather briefcase, he adjusted his clothing from his usual
bathrobe to a blue serge suit. He headed out the front door muttering to himself
about bureaucrats.
*****
It was lunchtime and John waited outside the cafeteria for his "girlfriend"
Terri. He shuffled his feet as she approached. "I guess you don't really wanna
see me, huh?"
"You know as well as I do that I can't help but want to be with you. Just like I
can't help but want to look like this." She hissed as she took his arm.
"Look. I'm sorry, okay? I guess I just got carried away. You always were the
only one who understood me, so I thought that if you had been born a girl, well
things would be so much better." He looked sheepish.
"Better for who John? I was very happy as a boy. Pathetic, but happy. Now I
shudder when I think about being male again. I'm so confused. Knowing what you
have done to me, and still being unable to feel the way I think I should, is
driving me crazy." She smiled and hugged him close to her as she said this.
"I'm sorry. Look, I'll release you to feel what you normally would if you will
consider just staying that way until after the dance. I just want to be with a
pretty girl who thinks like me and understands me. Is that so wrong?" John
seemed very pathetic right then.
"You do that voodoo that you do so well, and then we'll talk." Of course Terri
knew she would have no choice but to consider staying this way until after the
dance, since John had said it.
"Okay, Terri. You are free to feel anything you would normally feel under these
circumstances, without my influence. Do you forgive me?"
"Of course I forgive you, you big lug. But next time you decide to redesign my
body and world, how about asking me first?"
"Ok, I promise. But will you stay that way until after midnight tonight? I
promise that at midnight you will change back into your old self." John's face
was hopeful.
Terri sighed. "Okay John, if you promise, but tell me one thing. Why did you
give me no gag reflex?"
John whispered into her ear. "You sick pervert!" She slapped his arm. "I'll see
you at six sharp. I want flowers, candy, and a limo. Oh yeah, you better make us
both able to dance or we're gonna look real stupid out on the dance floor."
*****
At that exact moment Mrs. O'Rourke was busily cleaning the house. She was trying
to take her mind off of her husband's mysterious exodus from the house this
morning.
There was a knock at the front door. When she opened the door she saw a medium
height, elderly man in a blue serge suit. He held a black briefcase in his
hands. "Hello." The man said. "I'm a collector of comics, coins, memorabilia,
and the like. I own a little shop called Spells R Us. May I come in and talk to
you?" His smile was positively hypnotic.
*****
Terri sat fidgeting in "her" prom dress. "Dammit. It's almost quarter after six.
Where is that dork? If he did all this to me, made me go through all this female
shit, and then he stands me up for the prom... Wait a minute... what the fuck am
I thinking? Oh shit! I'm thinking just like a girl! I'm actually upset that John
is late and may not show up to take me dancing? Midnight can't come soon
enough."
At that moment a long black limo pulled up in the driveway outside. "About
friggin time." Terri fumed as she grabbed the small black clutch purse her
Mother had picked out to go with her slinky black prom dress.
As she hurried out the door Terri heard her Mother call to her, "Wait Honey. I
want to get a picture of you and John in your prom outfits."
"No time right now Mom. We'll get pictures taken at the dance. See ya'." Terri
hurried to the limo. "Yeah right. It'll be a cold day in hell when I let anyone
get a picture of me this way." She thought as she climbed in the door the
chauffeur was holding open for her.
As she slid into the car she noticed a very large, and slightly odd looking bird
flying by overhead. "Oh geez," she thought. "That bird looked almost like that
geeky kid Bolehouse. Now I'm seeing things. Or am I?"
She looked at the other occupant of the rear seat and realized that answers
would not be forthcoming from him tonight, not comprehensible ones in any case.
John was drunk.
*****
Back in his shop the old man looked at the magic wish penny. He could see the
trails of power coiling around in it. It was linked directly with the person to
whom it had originally been given. Through it he could trace, and correct the
biggest problems caused by John. Then he would have to do something about the
boy himself.
It had been a relatively simple matter to fascinate John's Mother and obtain the
magic penny where it was hidden in the midst the many rolls of coins. All this
trouble because of a poorly spoken wish. But then that was his stock in trade.
People confusing directions, making poorly thought out wishes, etc. Still, he
was a professional, this boy now... hmm.
*****
"John you great ass, you're drunk!" her voice was a sexy whisper, slightly husky
and oozing with erotic appeal. It was pitched at exactly the right level to get
John's little soldier to come to attention.
"Well o' course I'm drunk. You would be too if you had consummumm... consomme...
drunk a whole bottle of Wild Turkey."
Inwardly Terri groaned. If John kept insisting he was drunk he would stay that
way. This was not good.
"John?"
"Yeah Terri?"
"Don't you think it would be more fun if you were sober? I mean how're you going
to enjoy the dance if you're chicken fat blotto?" She hoped her logic could
penetrate the alcoholic haze John was lost in.
"Shit no. I'm havin' a great time right now." There was an odor.
"Oops, sorry. I didn't mean that you were supposed ta shit. I mean you didn't
shit. Right?" The air cleared.
Terri looked at him crossly. "Never mind." John was too intoxicated to notice
the icy chill in her voice.
"Ya know Terri, you're really cute as a girl. Maybe I should jus' leave you this
way." John was trying to slyly move his arm around the angry young woman's
shoulders and grope her breast as he spoke. Unfortunately his watch got caught
in her hair, pulling it painfully.
"Ow! Will you be careful you big asshole!" she snapped. "And don't you even
think of leaving me like this. You promised me that at midnight you would change
me back! You gave me your word as a water brother!"
"Ya know I don't think pretty young women should talk like that. They should
speak sweetly and like a lady." John said as he retracted the offending arm.
Terri, who found that she could no longer swear, no matter how badly she wanted
to, merely muttered, "Well you got that half right. You don't think."
At that moment pretty young women everywhere found themselves unable to speak,
except in a sweet and demure fashion. It was most frustrating for some of them.
"We're here Sir, Madam." The chauffeur announced over the intercom.
"Great. Let's just get this evening over with." Terri just knew that things were
going to get worse as the evening progressed.
As they walked into the, already, crowded gymnasium the room fell momentarily
silent. They looked like a couple of slumming movie stars. John had so far
enhanced their appearances that neither even looked like real people anymore.
They were just too perfect.
All the girls felt a surge of heat to their nether regions as they spotted
John's six foot three inches, two hundred and fifty pounds of ruggedly handsome
face and form. They all felt jealous that he dated Terri.
Meanwhile, their boyfriends were desperately trying to unobtrusively move their
erections into a more comfortable position. They all knew exactly what a girl
who looked and moved like Terri was good for. If only her boyfriend wasn't such
a biiiggggg guy.
One of the football players walked by, on route to the refreshment table.
He called out jovially to John, "Hey O'Roinnkkk!"
It was a joke, and meant to be received in a friendly manner, but John was so
intoxicated that he took umbrage to the remark. "Hey you walkin' penis with
ears!" He shouted back.
Immediately the other boy felt his legs fuse together. His arm became small and
nearly useless. His testicles fused into two large feet as they enlarged and
dropped to the end of where his legs used to be. His ears and eyes became small
slits in his engorged crown of a head. Large veins appeared on his long, thick,
tubular body. If he felt shock at his transformation, and the disappearance of
his clothing, he did not show it. He merely waddled along toward the refreshment
table. No one else noticed.
"Ha! Didja see that. He turned into a dick! A walkin' dick!" John was laughing
so hard he almost fell.
"Quiet!" Terri hissed. "People are staring. You can't go 'round making boys into
giant penises! Now change him back this instant!"
"No way... I'm havin' too much fun. Now who's next? Hey how about Brad? He's
always tryin' ta get inna some girl's pants. Maybe he'd like ta be a pair o'
panties?" John was on a roll now. "Hey Brad." He called. "Panty boy! Look over
here."
As the boy started to turn toward the sound of John's voice, he vanished.
Fluttering to the floor where he had stood were a pair of hot pink, women's
bikini panties.
"Oh no!" Terri groaned. This was getting way out of hand now. John was so drunk
on alcohol and power that he was going berserk. "John, please. Stop this!"
"Oh quit being so critikl, cretekikl, crit... quit giving me a hard time."
Instantly the raging erection John had being sporting, since he had picked up
his cousin, subsided. "If you're gonna be that way 'bout my fun, why don't you
just go fuck yourself?"
Terri "gleeped" as she hurried off toward the ladies room, a desperate look in
her eye.
"I wonner where she's goin'?" John wondered silently. "Guess she's gotta piss."
John surveyed the crowd for his next victim. He spotted some of the "socials"
dancing in the middle of the dance floor. Grinning evilly John said, "What a
couple of stiffs." He chortled with joy as the two students began to become
rigid, until only two mannequins stood in their place. The crowd surged around
them, ignoring the strange sight of two department store dummies, in full prom
regalia, standing in the middle of the dance floor. No one noticed that another
girl was dancing with a giant penis either.
As Nancy finished her business and flushed, she heard low moans coming from the
stall next to hers. Chuckling to herself she wondered who could be horny enough
to masturbate in a public rest room.
"Oh I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch!" Terri moaned silently to herself as she
squatted in the next stall over, following John's last directions to her.
A large fly flew in the door and buzzed around the stall that had just been
vacated, frustrated to find the bowl empty.
John wandered around the dance floor starting to get frustrated. Where the hell
was Terri? He was distracted by a couple arguing nearby.
Sneering John noted "how childish" they were. As he turned away, the two
teenagers shrank into five year olds and began to bawl at the top of their lungs
for their Mothers.
This went on all over the dance floor. The more frustrated John became, the more
people got transformed. One girl yelled at him for bumping into her, causing her
to spill punch on her dress. John called her a bitch.
Another offered to see if she could find Terri for him. He thanked her and
called her Dear.
Finally John had enough and said, "I wish Terri would get her ass out here right
now!" Looking up he saw Terri, her panties off and her dress hiked up around her
waist, hurrying toward John with a donkey trailing behind her. John was
fascinated by the glistening folds of flesh revealed by her state of undress.
"Damn you John. You could have at least let me get dressed before summoning me!"
she snapped at him as she fixed her disheveled clothing. The donkey brayed.
She looked up to notice her cousin leering at her. "Oh, put your eyes back in
your head John. You made me this way."
"Yeah" He sighed. "But I didn't realize I'd done such a good job."
Suddenly he remembered why he had been upset. "Say just where you been anyway?"
"WHERE HAVE I BEEN?!" Terri was almost apoplectic. "I've been in the ladies'
room. Remember, YOU told me to go fuck myself!"
Suddenly John realized what the smell was he had been detecting. A big grin
broke out on his face. "Ya mean you were -- Ha!!! That's great. So, was it good
for you? Was it better'n as a guy?"
Terri was no longer listening. She noticed the donkey nibbling at her dress, and
all the other transformed people around. "Oh Good God John! What have you been
doing while you had me back there diddling myself?"
"Done? Nuttin' much. I just made people look more like the way they were
actin'."
"John, these people have lives. People who love them. Now I want you to do
something for me, okay?"
"If you give me a kiss." John smiled at her.
"Oh great! Just fucking great! Now I've gotta kiss him!" She thought to herself.
Out loud she said only, "Okay John if that's what you want. Pucker up."
Gritting her teeth Terry pressed her lips tightly together and lifted her face
toward John.
"With tongues!" John laughed.
A moment later his transformed cousin found herself passionately kissing him.
"Bleegh" she spat when it was over. "Don't you ever make me do something like
that again. I'm gonna have to gargle with gasoline for a month! Now repeat after
me."
John looked a little hurt but he agreed.
"I am not drunk." Terri said.
"You are not drunk." John faithfully repeated.
Holding her head in her hands Terri thought, "Why me God? Why me all the time?"
Terri shivered and shifted from foot to foot.
"What the heck's wrong wi' you?" John slurred at his cousin.
"If you must know... you called me out so fast I left my underwear in the
bathroom stall!" Terri hissed at him.
"No problem-o cuz," John intoned. Snapping his fingers he said, "Panties just
for Terri!" A pair of hot pink bikini panties appeared in his hand.
"Ewwww pink. They're not used are they?" His embarrassed cousin asked.
"Naw... I can guarantee that these have never been worn by any girl before you."
"Oh thanks loads." The sarcasm in the transformed boy's voice was evident as she
donned the panties.
A few moments later John noticed that she was still squirming.
"Whazz wrong now?" His voice seemed to be getting even more slurred. If that was
possible.
"I don't know. It's like these things are riding up in my cracks constantly. It
feels almost like they are squirming around trying to get up in there." Her
distress was evident as she picked at the offending underwear.
"Yeah that Brad. He's gotta be in eggz... ecstasy right now." John chuckled.
Terri felt the crotch of her underwear become rather stiff and wet, but not from
her.
"Brad!" she all but shrieked. "You mean that these are that hormone factory you
turned into a pair of girls underwear? I'm wearing Brad Nelson next to my?..."
"Oh calm down. You're the one who tole me ta be nicer ta people." John leered.
"Get him off of me and change him back right now!" John blanched to see the cold
fury in his cousin's face. He could never remember seeing pure hate upon his, or
her, face before.
"Okay, okay!" John held up his hands defensively as if his cousin was about to
attack him, which may have been the truth for all he knew.
"Brad's not a pair o' panties. He's the same's he always was 'fore this." John
intoned.
"No wait!" Terri shrieked. "Get him off..."
Too late John realized his mistake. Brad materialized squatting, with his face
up thrust, under Terri's dress.
"Gleep!!!!!!"
"Oops. Sorry Cuz. Brad go home an' forget 'bout everythin' 'at happened
ta'night."
The object of his magic extracted himself from between Terri's legs and wandered
in the direction of the door, a look of ecstasy on his young face. John smiled
sheepishly at his cousin, as she looked daggers back at him.
"Now will you please listen to me?" She asked hotly.
"Sure. I'm sorry. I'll be good."
"Hello John, Terri." Both turned toward the voice that had addressed them. There
was an old man standing beside them. He snapped his fingers and John was no
longer drunk.
"Excuse me," Terri said, "but are you wearing a bathrobe?"
"Yes I am. Now do be quiet for a moment won't you Terri." The old man then
looked at John. "I've fixed everything that needed fixing from the messes you
have made." His tone was rather severe. "You'll be happy to hear that your
Father is back home and none the worse for wear. David's memory has been wiped.
Really John, you had the boy doubting his sexual orientation. Ms. Jacobs is
restored... though hopefully she will be a kinder and gentler Assistant
Principal now. Carl I left as Cathy as it seems she was destined to be a girl
all along. Just one of nature's little screw-ups I guess. I have restored the
deer, the dog morph, and your neighbor's dog also."
Terri was trying desperately to speak but found herself unable. She glanced at
the huge clock on the wall. It was two minutes until midnight.
"What about Bolhouse and the kid in the cafeteria?" John asked as he sagged in
defeat.
Terri felt badly for John. All his life he had only wanted to be someone, to
make his parents proud and to make a difference. But when given the chance he
had blown it. Now he would have to pay. It was one minute till midnight.
"The masturbating boy is restored to normal and as for Mr. Bolhouse... well I
turned him all the way into an albatross."
"You did?" John asked incredulously. "Why?"
"He was fated to become a police officer after he grew up. His father would not
let him pursue the career he really wanted, Ornithology. The stress would be too
much. At the age of twenty-seven he would die of an aneurysm. I just felt he
would be happier this way. I think he is." The old man smiled at John.
"What about me?" John asked. Thirty seconds until midnight, and Terri still
could not make a sound. Frantically she waved her hands at the two men, but they
ignored her.
"You must decide between this power... and your life." The old man told John.
"I can't go back to being a nobody, a nothing." John said sadly. It was ten
seconds until midnight.
"I thought that would be your answer. I'm sorry." The old man sadly intoned as
he threw some sparkly dust into the air, and John vanished from sight.
The old man turned toward Terri and said, "I regret that it came to this. I hope
you will be happy and responsible in your life. You will not be able to talk to
others about this, but you won't forget either." Then he smiled and vanished
from sight.
Everyone turned and stared at the beautiful girl in the middle of the dance
floor as, at precisely midnight, she screamed, "Nnnnoooooo!!!!"
It was one in the morning and the dance was winding down. Terry, now Terri,
wandered outside into the humid night air. John was gone, taken before midnight.
Now Terri was stuck in this transformed state for the rest of his... err... her
life. She was miserable. She had lost her manhood and her best friend in the
whole world in one fell swoop.
As she stumbled toward the waiting limo Terri heard a drunken voice say, "Whooo
nice ass babe!" She turned in shock to see Chuck Arenal talking to her. He was
one of the biggest womanizer's, and in Terri's opinion, assholes in school.
"Leave me alone you brainless ape!" She said with dark menace in her voice.
As she turned away she didn't notice Chuck crouch down and start to put on mass.
His arms elongated until his knuckles dragged the ground. His hair became longer
and coarser on his body. His skin darkened. His brow ridge grew and his jaw
thrust forward. Soon a four hundred pound mountain gorilla stood where Chuck had
been. As the limo pulled away from the curb the air sparkled around the ape-boy
and he vanished.
The gorilla appeared in a small shop in the mall. His animal brain could not
take in what was happening to him. A wolf stood nearby growling softly at it. An
old man gestured and the ape shrank into a leopard skin loincloth. He picked the
musky garment up and put it into a box. "You never know when one of these will
come in handy." He said to the handsome youth standing nearby.
"So what's going to happen to Terri now?" John asked.
"I'll give her some time to slowly discover her powers and then confront her as
I did you. The rest is up to her. She can stay female and retain her
transformational power, though for her it takes deliberate will to activate it,
or she can revert to who she was and lose the ability."
"Why can't she be a guy and have the power?" John asked. "After all she gained
it when I willed it into her as I was disappearing."
"Yes and that is exactly it. You willed it into HER! You had already begun to
think of your cousin as a female. So your power attached the ability to HER
form, not his."
"What happens to me now?" John sighed.
"You will be happy to know that you received your diploma early due to your
academic excellence. Now you can go back to being John again or..."
"Or what?" John was clearly intrigued.
"Well, I run a franchise business. We are always looking for up-and-comers to
place in our apprenticeship program. You could be running a store of your own in
a couple hundred years. As soon as we have taught you to control that power of
yours."
John smiled broadly. "Mister, you got yourself a deal." The two men, one young
and one old, shook hands and laughed as the limo rolled through the night.
Dawn sent rosy shafts of brilliance through the chintz curtains of her room.
Slowly Terri moaned in her sleep. In her mind she kept replaying the events of
the previous evening over and over. Always they ended the same. Just before her
cousin was set to return her to her normal state of masculinity, he had been
destroyed by that oddly dressed old man. And she was trapped... forever... AS A
GIRL!!!!!!!
Her eyes snapped open and she sat up in bed, panting with fear.
"Damn!" Terri thought to herself. "If only that old geezer hadn't interfered I'd
be me again. Instead of someone who looks more like Miss July. Damn you John.
How could you do this to me?"
Groaning, she slowly got out of bed. Her bed... HER bed. Yeah. It was all frilly
and lacy and soft. She used to have a very utilitarian, single bed. Now she had
this big four-poster job with fluffy pillows, and a big downy comforter on top.
Everything was in pinks, and pastels. Her chest of drawers had become a dresser,
with a large vanity mirror on top. She had a make up vanity in the corner where
she used to have the card table with her "Battle of the Bulge" game set up. Her
closet was bigger, and full of dresses -- and blouses -- and skirts -- and high
heels -- and other feminine things. Her underwear drawers were overflowing with
silky panties and lacy bras. She had slips and half-slips and other things for
which she had no idea of the purpose. She had tons of make up and pictures on
the walls of -- bleggh -- David Cassidy! She even had a pink phone in the corner
of her room. A PINK PHONE!
"Oh John," Terri moaned to herself softly. "I wish I could talk to you. Just one
more time."
Then the phone rang. Terri really didn't want to talk to anyone. Just the sound
of her new voice deeply disturbed her, but it wouldn't be proper for a young
lady to ignore a caller.
"Now where the hell did that thought come from?" Terri wondered, as she answered
the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey Cuz how's it hangin'? Oh... Heh... I guess it ain't exactly hangin' right
now are they?"
Terri felt the world contract around her. That voice. THAT VOICE! Then the world
steadied and she got her mind to settle around the fact that her cousin -- her
FAT DISREPUTABLE PIG OF A COUSIN WHO DID THIS TO HER -- WAS STILL ALIVE!!!!!
"You Asshole!" Terri shouted at the phone, though with her new voice it did not
have the same impact it used to have when she shouted such things. "How can you
still be alive? And why the hell am I still a girl? We had a deal!"
"Whoa! Calm down there Cuz and I'll explain everything." John knew his cousin
would be a tad upset -- but really -- he felt she was overreacting.
John proceeded to explain all about the old man, the wishing penny and exactly
what happened the night before, in her reality. He explained how he had willed a
portion of his power into her and how she could do the same things he could,
except she would have to consciously will it to happen, not just casually speak
it. He also explained that the more she used the power the more it would tire
her until she built up her endurance, rather like an athlete in training. Then,
he went on to say how he had been at the Academy of Magic and Mercantilism for
almost a hundred years now in the reality in which he was currently living where
he was in his dorm studying when he had the sudden irresistible urge to call
her.
"You mean", Terri said, "That with all that magic at their disposal they use
telephones?"
"Oh no. We use crystal balls. Still costs 35 cents though."
"Crystal balls? As in looking in the crystal ball and seeing the person whom you
are spying on or communicating with? That kind of crystal ball?"
"Yeah," John said. "Is there another?"
Terri shrieked! She had been so depressed last night that she had simply
stripped off her dirty outer clothes and bra -- she had no panties at the end of
the evening -- and gone to bed in the nude. In the few seconds of wakefulness
she had enjoyed before John's call, she had not bothered to dress. Dropping the
phone she grabbed her see-through robe with the feather boa top and whirled it
around her, at least partially screening her charms from prying eyes.
"You rotten prick!" Terri's voice rose an octave in anger. "You could have told
me at the beginning of our conversation that you could see me standing here
naked!"
"Now where would the fun be in that?" She could hear J