A Night at the Reunion
By Bill Hart
Pete arrived fashionably late at the hotel, where the thirty-year
reunion of his Forrester High School graduating class was being held.
When he'd first received the notification in the mail, he hadn't been
certain whether or not he'd wanted to attend. Quite obviously, his
name had appeared among the many on the "We Found Them" list, but
there was another name - this one listed among "Those Still Missing" -
that had grabbed his full attention.
Even though he knew that seeing her again was an impossibility, he
would have really enjoyed seeing her again. He wondered how her name
had even made it onto the list, since she had never truly been a
student at Forrester. She may have been his date for many school
functions, but Pete knew that Maleena Vanetra had never actually
been a student anywhere.
The reunion was being held in one of the swankiest hotels on the
beach. Although each ticket cost a small fortune, Pete had finally
decided on buying a single ticket; he'd go just to look up a few of
his old friends. Besides, it had never been a question of money
bothering him most about his attendance. It was instead the distinct
possibility of being asked embarrassing questions about Maleena
Vanetra that he'd rather not answer.
However, except for him and his small group of friends who knew the
full truth of what had happened - the five of them had all played an
integral part in the whole affair - he'd had plenty of time to concoct
a believable story.
After entering the outer room, he spent several minutes going through
the line to get his reunion badge, which identified him as Pete
Wistral. With disgust, he stared at the picture on his badge.
Although his mother had always considered it one of his better
pictures, Pete always thought his senior picture was horrible - even
worse than the one on his driver's license. If he could have had his
way, he would have found and burnt every single copy of it. And yet,
burning everyone's Forrester Woodcutters yearbook wouldn't have made
him a very popular senior that year.
Once he'd pinned on his badge, Pete wandered inside the conference
room. Almost immediately someone he didn't immediately recognize
approached him. "How are you doing, Pete?" asked the man, as he
looked around. "I'm surprised you came here all by yourself tonight."
"What do you mean?" Pete looked closer at the picture on the man's
badge. "Bob?" he added. Even if it had been thirty years, how could
this gray-haired balding fat slob possibly be Bob Tompkins, the
captain of the only Woodcutters football team to ever win the state
championship?
"I'm surprised you recognized me, Pete," replied Bob. "Most people
don't any more; I've put on a little weight, you know. It's just that
I always thought you'd wind up marrying that gorgeous blond we always
saw hanging on your arm. What was her name again? Marcie... Or
was it Mariah... I'm sure it was something like that."
"Maleena," said Pete. "Her name was Maleena... Maleena Vanetra."
"That's the one. Have you got any idea whatever happened to her
anyway, Pete? And how could you possibly let someone so incredibly
gorgeous just slip through your fingers?"
"She just sort of disappeared, Bob. It's a little hard to explain.
We had a really bad fight one night - all words, nothing physical -
and the next night when I went over to apologize and beg her
forgiveness, she told me it was all over between us. She told me
she had her own life to live, then told me her new life didn't include
me."
"I saw her name on the 'Those Still Missing' list," said Bob. "It
surprised me; I don't remember her going to school with us."
"She didn't, even though it must have seemed that she had to someone,"
replied Pete. "I haven't seen her since that night, Bob. And that
was nearly thirty years ago."
"That's too bad. I was hoping I'd get to see her again. I had this
really big crush on her, you know." Bob's face reddened slightly at
his admission. "But she never seemed interested in anyone other than
you or one of your little circle of friends. I always assumed she'd
wind up with one of you."
"I guess we did too, Bob. But it just didn't work out that way."
"Too bad," repeated Bob. "I guess I better continue mingling with
the crowd some more. We can always hope Maleena got word of the
reunion somehow. Maybe she'll show up anyway."
"You never can tell, Bob." Pete watched Bob wander away. But, he
thought, I'd be really surprised if Maleena showed up here or anywhere
else tonight.
Pete began wondering about the four guys that Bob had termed his
little circle of friends. Even though Pete had always considered
Maleena as more his girl than any of the others, all of them had been
intimately involved with Maleena to varying degrees - how could they
not? It wasn't as if they'd been given another option.
Maleena would have been never around or available for any of them if
it weren't for what they'd done in the first place. On the other
hand, no one had seen her for the past thirty years or was ever likely
to see her again - also because of what they'd done.
And yet, strange as it now seemed, none of his little clique had been
able to sustain successful relations with any female after Maleena.
Obviously, she must have done something to them somehow. It must have
been Maleena that had totally messed up their lives.
Pete considered his own situation first. He'd never been married.
Although he'd get interested in some pretty girl quickly enough, once
his thoughts started turning towards marriage and settling down, his
interest in the girl would swiftly evaporate. Not long afterwards,
their relationship was finished forever.
Jim Harris had a similar problem; only his was almost the reverse of
Pete's. He just couldn't become interested in any of the pretty girls
who were constantly throwing themselves at his feet. Some of these
girls he'd rejected became very angry. They told their friends Jim
was queer - he wasn't; he'd never had girl problems before Maleena -
but how else could they explain to their friends that some male they
wanted didn't want them back?
No one was interested in Hank Bartlett, which was just as well because
Hank, one Maleena was gone, never really gave a damn about anyone
else. If he could have become invisible, more people would have
probably noticed him. Even a celibate monk got more action than Hank
dreamed possible. At least the statues in the park had pigeons visit
them occasionally.
The problem affecting Chuck Wells was quite different. Over the past
thirty years, he'd been married eleven times. After only a couple of
years of relatively blissful married life, he'd begin comparing them
unfavorably to Maleena - they were never amused. Shortly after that
his eyes, quickly followed by a few other pieces of his anatomy,
started wandering. All eleven marriages had ended up in very messy
divorces that always left Chuck swearing he'd never get married again.
But within six months to a year following his divorce, he was once
again being blissfully led down the matrimonial aisle. He was
currently nearing the end of his latest six month "I'm never getting
married again" period.
And then, there was Burt Adler. In his entire life, Burt had never
met a woman he didn't want to bed at least once. He'd never been
married, but of the five members of their little clique Burt was the
only father. At last count, there were thirty-three of them; there
might even be another one by now. Fortunately Burt had slowed down
in the last few years, but the maternity ward at the local hospital
still buzzed about that week when they'd admitted seven women - one a
day for seven consecutive days - who had all listed Burt as the father
of their child.
They were a sorry lot now - the five of them. But it hadn't always
been that way. After due consideration, Pete finally concluded that
their sorry states of affairs were somehow all Maleena's fault. Every
thing had been fine before her; every thing had turned to crap after
she was gone.
Pete was taken by surprise when he saw all four of his friends walking
towards him. He hadn't known they were all coming tonight. Seeing
all of them together tonight was nothing he'd considered possible.
He'd seen one of them occasionally over the years, but he hadn't seen
two or more of them together in the same place and at the same time
since that night nearly thirty years ago. He even had to look a
couple of additional times to make sure that Hank was really with
them. After all, Hank never went anywhere - at least no one thought
Hank ever went anywhere.
"Hey, Petey," said Jim Harris as the four of them approached. Hank
said nothing, which wasn't overly unusual. And Chuck and Burt, also
quite predictably, were apparently sizing up every woman in the room.
"How's it going, old buddy?"
"All right, I suppose," replied Pete. "But I'm surprised all you
guys are here tonight. It's nearly as surprising as my deciding to
come."
"But I knew you'd be here, sooner or later, Petey," smiled Jim. "Once
I made certain that Maleena's name would appear on the missing list,
I knew your curiosity would give you little other choice."
"You put her name on that list? What the hell did you do that for?"
snapped Pete. "You know there's no way anyone's gonna find her. But
I was afraid someone had discovered what we'd done that night; I've
already been asked about her tonight. There are several people here
that would like to see her again." Pete breathed a big sigh of
relief. "But you and I know that isn't possible; Maleena's gone
forever, Jimmy. We made certain of that thirty years ago."
"I'm no longer sure about the 'forever' part any more, Petey," replied
Jim. "I've been talking a few things over with the other guys. Even
Hank isn't certain Maleena's gone forever." Jim looked for some
reaction from Pete, but after failing to get one, he added, "It just
means all five of us must work together again - just like we did
thirty years ago. And tonight just seemed the perfect night to have
all five of us together again."
"Okay, so the five of us are here," said Pete. "But you're forgetting
one other little detail that's even more important than any of us.
There's still someone else we need for what I think you're suggesting
we do, Jimmy." Pete shook his head. "And I really doubt putting
Maleena's name in the still missing list is going to bring him here
tonight. How could he have possibly missed Maleena? He probably
doesn't have the slightest idea who she was. I doubt he knew she even
existed."
"I'm on the reunion committee; you find out a lot of interesting
things." Jim grinned at Pete. "That's the real beauty of what we're
planning to do tonight, Petey. The four of us have already agreed."
Hank nodded his head; Chuck and Burt continued checking out all the
women. "All we need now is your assistance."
"And you've got it," replied Pete. "It'll be just like old times, but
as I said earlier, the five of us can't do squat without him; he's the
key to the whole thing."
"I know that. But guess what?" asked Jim with a widening grin. "I
was surprised when I saw it, but the Geek's coming to the reunion,
Petey. In fact, he's already here; I've already seen him. He hasn't
changed much in the last thirty years. And once I found out he was
coming to the reunion, I had no trouble having Maleena's name added
to the missing list to pique your curiosity. Everyone we need for
what we want to do is here, Petey."
"But what if it doesn't work this time? It's been thirty years,"
said Pete. "We haven't done it in a long time. How do we know if
it will still work after so long?"
"We don't. But the four of us are willing to try," replied Jim
simply. Once again, Hank simply nodded his approval. Chuck and Burt,
having obviously yielded all of their decision-making power to Jim,
continued checking out the women in the room. "None of us know how
she did it to us, Petey. But we know she must have done something; we
all want our chance at living a normal life."
"I can certainly agree with that," replied Pete, realizing his friends
had reached the same conclusion he had. "When do you want try?"
"How about right now?" asked Jim. "There's no sense wasting any more
time. If it doesn't work, then it doesn't work and we aren't out
anything. But if it does work, then all of our lives must definitely
become better than they've been in over thirty years."
Pete smiled and nodded his agreement. In light of what he'd been
thinking about Maleena earlier, everything Jim had said made plenty
of sense. "Where is he?"
"Follow me, Petey."
Pete followed Jim - they were in turn followed by the other three -
across the room. He smiled as he saw the man he and his friends had
nicknamed the Geek during their high school years. Jim had been
right, he noted. Aside from being a little grayer, Marvin Langer
AKA the Geek hadn't changed much at all over the past thirty years.
"Hey, Marvin. How are you doing tonight?" asked Pete. "Long time no
see."
"What do you and your cronies want from me now?" replied Marvin
nervously.
"We just wanted to say 'hello' and find out how you were doing,
Marvin," replied Pete.
"I can't see any harm in that," added Jim. "Can you, Marvin?"
"None of you scare me any more." Marvin stared at them. "You guys
made my life a miserable hell when we were in school."
"We never wanted you to be afraid of us, Marvin," grinned Jim. "We
always wanted to be really good friends."
"You had a strange way of showing it."
"We've just been thinking about that. We think we should finally make
it up to you after thirty years," added Pete.
Marvin looked skeptical. "How?" he asked nervously.
"Follow us, Marvin," replied Jim. "And we'll show you."
"No. I don't think so," said Marvin. "I still don't trust any of
you. I don't think it would be a good idea for me to go anywhere
with you."
"Just follow us, Marvin." Pete glared at Marvin. "You want to come
with us," he mumbled.
"Oh, all right. I'll come with you," replied Marvin, wondering why
he'd suddenly changed his mind.
Although he nervously looked from side to side as he walked, Marvin
followed closely behind Jim and Pete. And Chuck, Hank, and Burt
followed right behind Marvin. Jim opened the door to the small room
they'd found earlier just off to one side of the main room. After
the six of them had entered, Jim re-closed the door. But aside from
the six men standing around the room, there was nothing else inside.
"Oh, shit!" exclaimed Marvin. "I knew this was a big mistake. I
knew I shouldn't have followed you; I don't know why I did." Marvin's
fear of them had obviously returned and was growing by leaps and
bounds. "I'm leaving here right now." He turned and headed towards
the closed door fully intent on leaving.
"I don't think that's what you really what to do, Marvin." Having
already made the Geek follow them to the room, Pete absently made a
small pass with his hand in Marvin's direction. Although the small
spell he'd just cast had worked flawlessly, Pete was still surprised
when Marvin froze in his tracks. It had been nearly thirty years -
that last night he'd seen Maleena, in fact - since the last time he'd
dared freeze anyone with that spell.
"Now that's a real good sign, Petey," remarked Jim. "That freeze
spell of yours still worked on him just like it used to." Hank nodded
his head in apparent approval. And at the same time, Chuck and Burt
were rapidly looking around the small room and hoping an attractive
woman or two would soon wander into the room unannounced.
With great ease Pete and Jim led the unresisting Marvin to a place
near the center of the small room. As he stood there - once again
perfectly still, his eyes closed - the five men made a circle around
the entranced Marvin, then clasped hands. Although they hadn't done
what they'd planned on doing in the past thirty years, the nearly rote
routine of the spell they'd cast hundreds of times while in school
came to them as easily now as it always had. Closing their eyes, they
intensely focused their concentration on the man standing in the
center of the circle.
As Pete felt the power in the circle grow increasingly stronger, he
became convinced their spell, not cast in over thirty years, was
working perfectly. Everything about the casting just felt right. It
might have been thirty years, but they'd used this particular spell
from the old book his grandmother had left him when she died with
regularity from time they'd first entered puberty until that last
night after they'd graduated from high school.
And yet, even as he felt the power of the circle ebb, Pete began
wondering if casting this spell again was such a good idea. He hadn't
had that thought since before they'd cast the spell the first time.
Perhaps he should have told the others his secret that he'd kept
hidden from them for over thirty years. And yet, if he'd told them
what he'd done, then it was unlikely they would have been here
tonight.
As the last of the power held within the circle faded, Pete slowly
opened his eyes before the others would be able to react. Even though
he'd known what to expect should the spell succeed, he still stared
toward the figure standing in the center of the circle with a renewed
sense of amazement. After thirty long years of disuse, the spell
they'd cast once more had functioned perfectly. Marvin Langer, AKA
the Geek, no longer stood at the center of the circle. As he'd been
hundreds of times before, Marvin had once again been translated by the
spell into his alter ego, the lovely Maleena Vanetra.
Pete stared at her longingly. All of those feelings for her he'd
long considered gone and forgotten had very quickly returned full
force. Maleena, even though she'd also aged the same thirty years
they all had since he'd last laid eyes on her, was still every bit as
beautiful as he remembered her. Even if it were his own selfishness
where she was concerned at the root of all their problems, Pete was
convinced he'd never be able to share her with them again. And, just
having her back with him once more, he didn't believe he'd ever be
able to take a part in anything that would change her back into Marvin
again.
The others opened their eyes.
Jim Harris smiled as he saw the final results of their combined
effort. "The spell of translation has worked perfectly again."
Hank stared at Maleena without saying a word; he didn't need to speak
for the others to know what was on his mind.
And it was also very obvious that both Chuck and Burt were extremely
pleased at finding an attractive woman in their midst once again.
"Wake up, Maleena," whispered Pete.
The woman's eyes fluttered open. She stretched out her arms and
yawned as if she might have been waking from a very long sleep. With
a casual sweep of her hand, she brushed her blond hair with the small
almost unnoticeable streaks of gray away from the front of her face.
"Hello, Petey. Long time no see," she smiled as she saw him, her
every word dripping sensuality. Maleena then looked around. "I see
the old gang's all here. I knew none of you would be able to stay
angry with me very long." Maleena smiled mischievously at Pete. "And
you were always such a naughty, naughty little boy, Petey. I assume,
since all five of you are gathered tonight to bring me back from
wherever you sent me, that you've never told any of your cohorts that
you summoned me alone several times during our senior year." Her
smile suddenly turned naughty. "But you never really needed them,
Petey; you were always so manly and simply marvelous whenever they
weren't around, lover."
"What does she mean, Pete? Just what did you think you were doing?"
asked Jim nervously. "You, of all of us, knew that ancient magic book
of your grandmother's warned us that once we, as a group, summoned her
out from another that none of us were allowed to summon her unless all
of us were present. Every time you brought her forth from Marvin by
yourself you gave her steadily increasing power over you as well as
providing her a certain level of influence over the rest of us."
Maleena winked at Jim, before grinning even more mischievously than
before. "I have more than just a certain level of influence over all
of you, as I'm sure you've already noticed by now. My Petey saw to
that," she boasted. "That is, I can influence you while I'm me, and
not locked away in the wretched male form of that geek you call Marvin
Langer."
"Just what kind of influence over us do you have?" asked Jim
nervously. But he was certain he already knew the answer.
"How could you possibly know that you were Marvin Langer?" asked Pete.
"According to my old book, you should have never been able to find
that out. Marvin never found out he was also you; he certainly didn't
act that way."
"At first, I didn't know I was anyone other than my own lovely self."
She casually brushed her hair away from in front of her eyes. "But
after that first time you summoned me alone, I knew everything. Each
time you summoned me by yourself afterwards, I learned more and more,
Petey. None of you noticed - I wouldn't allow it - but even my own
powers grew. But you're right about Marvin; he never knew I existed.
No matter how hard I tried to break through to Marvin's consciousness
when our body was his, I never could." Maleena's smile widened. "I
could do nothing but watch, but after a few days passed I could no
longer even watch. Just think how much more I might have learned, if
the others had been as selfish as you, Petey." She turned to Jim to
answer his question. "If I so desire, I can completely control your
mind and your every action, Jimmy. I suspect that Marvin, given
sufficient cause, could at times subconsciously tap into my power.
He thought you ruined his life; he wanted to ruin yours. But you've
guessed that. And I would also expect you not to believe me until
after you've had a small demonstration; I know the perfect example."
She turned towards Chuck and Burt, who hadn't taken their eyes off her
since they'd first opened them and saw her standing in the center of
the circle. "Chuck, you've not had a lot of luck in any of your
recent relationships with women. And Burt, you've always seemed to
enjoy a little too much success conniving women into your bed." Her
smile made the other three nervous. "I think it's time for a change.
Now both of you boys listen very closely to me; I'm about to make a
few improvements in your sorry lives. From this moment on, neither of
you will any longer enjoy nor crave the company of women. Instead of
being enamored of women, you will now lust only after males, craving
only their full attention and companionship."
Chuck and Burt shook their heads. As one of their hands went to the
side of their heads, they appeared, momentarily, dizzy. When they
turned and looked at each other, each gave the other a troubled and
confused expression. As they turned towards Maleena seeking an
explanation, it was clearly obvious to the others in the room that
they now regarded Maleena with almost total disinterest. Although
neither Chuck nor Burt had been physically altered, neither of them
any longer considered Maleena an object worthy of their desire. But
why should they desire her? After all, Maleena was just a girl. And
they liked boys.
As they looked around the room, Chuck's full attention quickly landed
on and fixated on his longtime friend Jim Harris. "Hi there, Jimmy,"
he whispered, as he gazed down seductively at his shorter friend.
Jim stared at him in disbelief. "What do you think you're doing,
Chuck?" he asked feeling flustered by his friend's suddenly strange
behavior. His face flared brighter as Chuck leaned over and kissed
him softly on the cheek. "Leave me alone, Chuck," he warned his
friend.
"But Jimmy," wheedled Chuck. "We've been just friends for oh so many
years now." However, all his overly warm and inviting smile succeeded
in doing was making Jim even more uncomfortable than he'd been before.
"I just want us to be even closer friends now, Jimmy." He winked at
his friend. "I'm sure you know exactly what I mean."
"You're such a real hunk, Hank," whispered Burt in his friend's ear.
"Did anyone ever tell you that before? I can't believe I never told
you before." Burt smiled, as he looked straight into Hank's eyes and
rubbed his hands gently across his friend's chest.
Hank, as was more or less normal for him, said nothing. He just stood
there, not knowing what he should do, letting Burt continue doing
whatever he wanted to do.
Burt whispered sexily in Hank's ear again, "You must know I just adore
you big strong and silent types." He then began nibbling on Hank's
ear.
Through all Burt's advances, Hank just stood there without any visible
reaction.
"C'mon, Chuck. Just shake this shit off," pleaded Jim without much
success. "We're men; you can't do this. This strange behavior of
yours just isn't like the real you at all. Don't you remember? You
don't like other boys this way; you like girls." Jim kept trying to
fend off Chuck's wandering hands, but one of them always seemed to be
touching and exploring some new part of Jim's body. "Snap out of
this, Chuck!" he exclaimed. "Maleena did something to your mind that
just makes you think you like other boys."
Chuck stared at Jim with a hurt and very confused expression etched
across his face. "But I've always liked other boys, Jimmy sweetie,"
he said innocently. "Why do you keep insisting on telling me I don't?
I mean, shouldn't I know a lot better than you whether or not I like
other boys?"
Maleena turned and smiled at Pete. "Your friends are going to be very
busy sorting out their new feelings for each other for quite a while,
Petey." She leaned towards him and kissed his cheek. "But somehow,
this all seems so cruel. He smile turned mischievous. "Maybe I
should help them connect with themselves before we start indulging
ourselves."
"What are you talking about now, Maleena?"
"You'll see. Just watch and learn, Petey." As Maleena looked over
toward Jim and Hank, she watched with amusement as Chuck and Burt
continued clinging all over them. Of the five of them, she'd never
liked Jim or his superior attitude very much. Watching his total
discomfort at being pawed by his male friend made the scene she was
witnessing that much more enjoyable for her. "Jim and Hank," she
spoke into the air. "Now it's your turn to experience my little
demonstration. You will both respond to your fervent admirers just
as they wish you to respond to them; you will consider your actions
normal. And as a fitting reward for your assistance, they just might
become all that you've ever wished for."
Jim suddenly stopped trying to escape from Chuck. As he let Chuck
kiss his lips, he felt good about it. Without taking the time to
examine his feelings or consider what he was doing, his newly
energized and aggressive body quickly took control of this situation
away from Chuck. Jim kissed his friend with a growing passion that
he'd never once felt for any of those silly girls, who'd constantly
thrown themselves at him.
At the same time, Hank began responding in a similar way to Burt's
continued presence. He pulled his friend closer to him, then leaned
into him. As he kissed Burt's eagerly waiting lips, he felt a fiery
passion unlike anything he'd ever felt before growing within him.
Thoroughly enjoying how incredible he now felt, Hank realized he'd
missed so much in his life. Right then and there, Hank decided Burt
would be his; he would never allow Burt any chance of getting away
from him.
Maleena turned back and grinned at Pete, who didn't really want to
believe what he was watching. "Don't you see, Petey? All of the
other boys in your little clique are now having lots of fun." Her
grin once again turned naughty. "But I really don't think they should
be having all the fun. Do you?" Pete absently shook his head. "Then
what are you waiting for, lover?" she asked. "Kiss me, my pretty
Petey."
Pete quickly leaned over and kissed Maleena with every bit of pent up
passion he hadn't been able to share with a woman for the last thirty
years - that night so long ago they'd all agreed Maleena had to be
banished forever. That long ago night had also been - unknown to any
of his friends - the last time he'd kissed Maleena like this.
And now, she was back.
When Pete's full senses finally returned to him, he didn't exactly
remember where he was. As he looked down and saw he was holding
Maleena in his arms again, he suddenly recalled everything. They were
at his thirty-year high school reunion; they were also in a small room
just off from the main hall of the host hotel. And in this very room,
he and his friends had negated the spell they'd cast thirty years
earlier that had bound Maleena Vanetra within Marvin Langer forever.
But forever had lasted only thirty years. And as Pete held Maleena
tightly in his arms, he realized he never wanted to let loose of her
again. He would never let her get away from him again.
"Wasn't that just so much fun, Petey?" said Maleena. "You know, it
really seems that's been far too long since the last time we were
together like this. Maybe a little later, you can go rent us a room
for the night. Then we can have some proper fun," she grinned.
"What about the others?" asked Pete.
"What about them?" snapped Maleena without concern.
"They'll be very angry with us if you leave here with me."
"No, they won't, Petey. Whatever makes you think they have a need to
be angry with us?" Her mischievous grin made Pete nervous. "After
all, they have no need of me any longer; they have each other now."
As Pete looked over in the direction where he'd last seen his friends,
he had a strange sinking feeling he wasn't going to like what he saw.
But seeing Jim and Hank apparently unaltered made him feel better,
even though their backs were toward him. And, although he couldn't
see either of them, it was plainly obvious that Chuck and Burt were
still very intimately entangled with Jim and Hank.
Pete didn't like what Maleena had done to their minds. But how could
he complain about it? If he did, he risked losing her again. Or she
just might make him believe everything was still as it had always
been. "Are they all right?" he asked Maleena.
Maleena grinned back at him. "Why don't you just ask them that for
yourself, lover?"
"Are you guys all right over there?" he asked, not knowing what to
expect.
Jim and Hank looked back over their shoulders at Pete. "We're just
fine," they both commented at once, sounding very annoyed at being
interrupted. "Now go back to your own girl and leave us alone." Pete
had been surprised Hank had spoken; it wasn't like him at all. But
both of them quickly turned their attentions back to Chuck and Burt,
eagerly resuming whatever they'd been doing before Pete's unwelcome
interruption.
Pete looked questioningly at Maleena, then back at his friends again.
Something wasn't right about this. "What about Burt and Chuck?" he
asked nervously. "Are the two of you also all right?"
Once again, Jim and Hank turned angrily towards their friend. "Didn't
we just tell you to leave us alone?" snapped Jim.
"But its okay, Jimmy," replied Chuck reassuringly, although something
about his voice sounded odd.
"You really can't blame Pete for thinking about us, Hank. He just
wants to make sure that Chuck and I are all right," added Burt, whose
voice also sounded strangely different.
But as soon as Chuck and Burt stepped out from behind Jim and Hank,
Pete's mouth dropped open in stunned surprise. "Is that really you
guys?" he asked, seeing a pretty woman with shoulder-length red hair
with streaks of gray slide her arm about Jim, while an equally
attractive willowy brunette did the same with Hank. Looking back at
Pete, they both seemed confused by his question.
"Of course, it's me, Pete," replied the redhead, who, if she had been
Chuck once, must have shrunk by better than a foot in height since
he'd last seen him.
"What a strange question, Pete," said the brunette. "Just how long
have you known Chuck and me?" asked Burt. "I mean, who else would we
be if we weren't us?"
"But you're both women."
"No, we're not. That's not possible," they replied in annoyed unison.
"We're just a couple of guys," said Burt. "Other than liking other
guys, we're no different than you."
"But if you must know," mused Chuck, "of late, I've been thinking I'd
really like to be a woman if I only could."
"You have? So have I, Chuck," sighed Burt. "Wouldn't us being women
be really nice? I mean, we'd never have to worry about anybody giving
us a really bad time about us liking other guys again."
Chuck and Burt sighed as one, then turned and looked at one other.
"What's happened to you, Burt!" exclaimed Chuck in surprise. "You
look just like a woman now!"
"But you look just like a woman too, Chuck," replied Burt with equal
surprise. "But I just love your brand new look, Chuck. Your red hair
is just so beautiful."
"Me too, Burt. That is, I like your new look too. It's really quite
becoming, you know. You're very beautiful and sexy."
Pete wondered if Burt and Chuck were still actually the guys they'd
earlier claimed they were or the totally attractive women they now
appeared to be. Given what their spell had always done with Marvin,
Pete had no doubts about Maleena's ability to completely alter his
friends' genders, while allowing them to believe they were still male.
Maleena stepped between Burt and Chuck. "Would the two of you like
to see your pretty new selves?"
"Oh yes," they gushed in unison. "Please, let us see what we look
like, Maleena."
As Maleena looked at the wall opposite the door, she simply whispered,
"Mirror." Almost instantly a mirrored surface covered the entire
wall.
In obvious delight, Burt and Chuck ohh'ed and ahh'ed as they looked
themselves over in the mirror. While both of them remained the age
they'd been as they'd arrived at the reunion, they now possessed
decidedly different, very feminine, frames. They had become quite
attractive; they might have been considered great beauties in their
youth, if only they'd been born and raised female. They were also
attired in fashionable, although somewhat conservative, evening gowns.
Chuck, who had been several inches taller than Jim before, was now at
least a foot shorter than his partner. The hair he'd always kept
closely cropped had become a striking mass of shoulder-length red
curls intermixed with an occasional streaks of gray. His brown eyes
had turned an exceptionally attractive green. In appearance, he had
become physically quite attractive; men would definitely take notice
of him now. And his new breasts seemed to be just the right size for
his now smaller female frame; they were more or less the average size
for a woman his age.
And Burt, who had been about the same height as Hank before, now stood
about head shorter. His lengthened brunette hair barely covered his
ears, but it was a definite improvement over his thinning and
predominantly gray hair. Easily, Burt was as physically attractive
as Chuck. He was still tall, but he was also quite lean, although
some people might have considered him skinny. His dark eyes had
turned a pleasing gray. And his breasts, neither too big nor too
small on his new frame, appeared to be nearly the same size as those
hanging so proudly from Chuck's chest.
"If either of you dislike something about your new looks, then let me
know," said Maleena, interrupting their thoughts. "I can always
return your bodies to the same shapes they had before."
"Oh no," squealed Burt. "You can't do that."
"Please don't change us back," pleaded Chuck.
"We really like these bodies," said Burt and Chuck in unison.
"And we also like their bodies just the way are now," grunted Jim and
Hank, obviously annoyed that someone would even consider taking their
vastly improved and sensual bodies away from them. Pete wondered if
either of them even noticed anything different about their friends.
"You know something, Chuck," smiled Burt. "Looking this way now means
we'll never again have to worry about any of those other guys we know
telling us we should like women."
"You're absolutely right, Burt. This is so absolutely wonderful,"
agreed Chuck. "Not only that, but now we won't even have to think of
them or call them 'other' guys; now, they can be just guys."
Maleena smiled as she joined them in front of the mirror. But her
wide smile rapidly faded as she glanced at her reflection in the
mirror. Being the first time she'd seen herself since her release,
she was appalled by what she saw. Although she'd thought she would
still be eighteen, she, like all the others in the room, was
approaching that unenviable half-century mark. Her blond hair was
streaked with strands of gray that, had she been looking at some other
woman, would have barely been noticeable. She eyed her breasts with
growing disgust; they were no longer as firm and full as she
remembered them being. Nor was her matured figure anywhere near as
shapely and curvy, as it had been the last time.
"Did you do something wrong? What's happened to me?" she snapped at
Pete. A thought crossed her mind. "Just how long has it been since
you last allowed me my freedom from that geek's male body?"
"We did everything right. Nothing's happened to you, Maleena,"
replied Pete. "We've all just grown older since the last time -
that's all. Aging is one of life's little inevitabilities. Thirty
years have passed since that night I last saw you, Maleena."
"Thirty years?" She glared at Pete angrily. "How could you have
kept me trapped in that wretched male carcass known as Marvin Langer
for the past thirty years? How could you have done something like
that to me, Petey? I thought you loved me."
"I did love you, Maleena," he admitted. "And I suppose I still do; I
guess I always will."
"You've stolen my youth away from me," she snarled.
"This was never truly your life, Maleena; it was always Marvin's
life," replied Pete. "He was the one born into it; you are only he
transfigured by some ancient mystic spell."
"And what the hell has Marvin done with his last thirty years?" asked
Maleena. "I'll tell you what he's done - absolutely nothing. Look at
him! You can tell he's wasted everything."
"Perhaps, you're right, Maleena," said Pete. "But it doesn't make any
real difference now. There's absolutely nothing that can be done
about it now, Maleena. The last thirty years have passed and are now
gone forever. None of us can ever get any younger, Maleena."
Maleena grinned wickedly at Pete. "On the other hand, maybe some of
us will soon be getting younger, Petey." She leaned over and kissed
him. And soon thereafter, Pete had again, quite willingly, totally
succumbed to her impassioned embrace. He, as were all the others, was
quickly captured by her spell.
*****
Maleena regained her senses first. As she looked at herself in the
mirror, she felt wonderful and smiled at the vast improvement of her
reflected image. "Some of us very definitely can get younger again,
Petey." With overwhelming joy and satisfaction, she watched every
move her reflection - now restored to her former eighteen-year-old
form - in the mirror.
She was very pleased at once more being what she considered her true
age. She'd been eighteen the last time they'd summoned her; didn't
she deserve to be eighteen still? She was even more pleased with her
breasts. Not only had they once again returned to their previous
fullness and firmness, but even better - obviously the result of some
esoteric change in what men now considered attractive - her breasts
had blossomed several sizes past the size they'd been before. Her
newly restored girlish figure was once again shapely and pleasingly
curved - just as it had always been. And her blond hair was once
more soft and luxurious without a single trace of that horrid gray
she'd seen earlier.
She liked this image of herself she saw reflected in the mirror. And,
even if her returned youth hadn't been totally without cost, it had
actually cost her absolutely nothing.
"What do you think of me now, Petey?" she asked. "Am I as beautiful
now as when we were dating in school? Do you have anything to say
about the return of my youth and good looks?"
"Eh? What did you say?" replied Pete, shaking his head and stumbling
over every word. "You need to speak up; I can't hear you." Pete
shook his head again. He couldn't understand why he had trouble
hearing Maleena all of a sudden. But his mind kept wandering; he had
trouble concentrating on anything for very long. And, if that weren't
enough, his back and his knees ached.
When Pete saw his reflection in the mirror, he gasped in horrified
disbelief. "What have you done to me, girlie?" he asked, his voice
cracking. What little hair now remained on his head had turned snow
white. He also appeared several years older than his grandfather had
before he'd passed on.
Maleena smiled back at him. "Isn't it obvious? You took thirty years
of my life away from me, Petey. You kept me locked away inside that
miserable geek Marvin Langer. You brought me back older than I should
have been; it seemed only fair that I should replace those lost thirty
years you'd stolen with an equivalent number of years taken from your
life span. My body is once again a youthful eighteen, Petey." She
smiled at him. "And your body... well, you can consider yourself
really old now, gramps. I think you should go sit down for awhile
before you fall down and hurt yourself."
"You know, that sounds like a really good idea, girlie," replied Pete.
There was something else he wanted to say to this pretty girl, who
looked so familiar, but he just couldn't remember what it was at the
moment. "I do feel all flushed... kind of dizzy... and really tired."
As he wandered towards the corner of the room, a large easy chair
suddenly appeared out of thin air. Only a few seconds after sitting
down in the comfortable chair, Pete was lightly snoring.
"Sweet dreams, Petey," smiled Maleena. "All right, Chuck and Burt,
it's time for both of you to wake up."
Chuck and Burt slowly began to stir. As they pulled away from Jim
and Hank, they stared at their friends in stunned disbelief. Jim and
Hank had also aged as Pete had.
"They've suddenly become so old," said Chuck.
"What could have possibly happened to them?" asked Burt.
Maleena smiled at them. "You need never worry about them again; they
are no longer of any consequence to you." Identical chairs to the one
in which Pete was comfortably sleeping suddenly appeared on either
side of him. Slowly and very carefully, Jim and Hank made their ways
over to the comfortable chairs and sat down. Without saying another
word, the two of them had, just as Pete had done, fallen fast asleep.
"Why would we want to worry about them?" asked a puzzled Chuck.
"Just who wants to worry about old geezers like them anyway?" asked
Burt.
"Burt! You've become young again!" exclaimed Chuck. "How'd you do
it? Somehow you've become a teenager again. You've also become
really pretty."
"But so have you, Chuck. You don't look a day over eighteen." After
Burt cupped one his breasts again, he smiled. "Can you believe this?
It even seems that my boobs, just like yours, have swollen even larger
than they were before."
"I know," sighed Chuck, as he cradled one of his own newly enlarged
breasts. "This feels so great. Isn't this all just so wonderful?"
Chuck and Burt looked each other over carefully. Both of them now
appeared to be about eighteen years old. Their new youthful forms
were also exceptionally female. Chuck's red hair and Burt's brunette
locks now flowed over the shoulders and down to the tops of buttocks.
Their middle-aged waists had pulled in several inches, their skins,
having regained their youthful flexibility, had smoothed, and their
breasts - just as Maleena's had done - had blossomed into a larger
pair of firm and full ripe melons.
Both of them now wore sleeveless tight-fitting T-shirts with plunging
necklines that revealed alpine-scaled cleavage. Their overstretched
T-shirts threatened to explode if they dared move the wrong muscle.
And the tiny micro-skirts they wore barely covered anything. Chuck
and Burt now possessed long slinky feminine legs. And each of them
paced back and forth with graceful ease in their new shoes with the
five-inch heels; it almost seemed as if they'd always worn them.
"How are you boys feeling now?" asked Maleena.
"Just fantastic," purred Chuck, as he ran his hands through his curly
red hair.
"I've never felt better," added Burt with a winsome sigh, as he once
again cradled one of his large breasts.
"Should I assume that neither of you mind looking even younger than
before nor more like pretty girls?"
"Of course not," replied both of them quickly.
"Our new looks are even better than before. They're just perfect,"
whispered Chuck. "I feel so incredibly sexy now."
"And now that we've become so much younger and ever so much
prettier..." began Burt.
"Don't forget about our bigger, more sensitive, boobs," interrupted
Chuck.
"...I'm sure we'll be able to find a lot more boys who'll like us
now," concluded Burt.
"Boys really like pretty girls with big boobs," added Chuck helpfully.
Maleena simply smiled at them. These two transformed men would serve
as passable girl friends for the time being. Once she got tired of
having them around or hearing their tiresome prattle - three, but
certainly no more than four, months from now at the very most - she'd
just cast a couple of simple spells and be done with them forever.
With the greatest ease she could make them want to run off with the
first man they saw. She could make them want to become their
dutifully doting wives. Or she could decrease their intelligences -
something they would no longer need, although neither of them had ever
used much of what they'd possessed very often - several points. And
she could then heighten their sexual appetites an equal number of
notches in compensation for diminishing their intelligences.
But if she were feeling overly generous the day she ridded herself of
them, she could always fix things so their bodies would only age
physically a single day for every year they lived. The remaining days
of that year would be simply transferred to their husbands, aging them
that much quicker. Relative to their slowing increasing ages, they
would widow fairly fast. But if she used the spell she had in mind,
they would never be allowed to stay unmarried for very long. Even
their pregnancies would run their normal nine-month course with no
one ever noticing that they physically aged only about eighteen hours
or so from conception until birth. They'd produce several score of
children between them, yet still be quite young when their bodies
finally ran out of eggs for their mates to fertilize.
Of course, she could always change her mind later. She didn't really
need to worry about what she'd do with them for at least the next
couple of months. They might even - unlikely as it currently seemed -
prove useful to keep around. But first, there was a little something
else that needed to be taken care of. "I think you boys should have
new names."
"Why?" asked Burt. In a huff, he placed his hands on his hips and
snarled at Maleena, "Just what the hell's wrong with Burt."
"And I don't see anything wrong with my name either." Chuck sighed
softly as he fondled one of his ample breasts again. "All my friends
know me as Chuck."
"Its simple, boys. Those names no longer suit you."
"They're perfectly good names."
"You're absolutely right about that, Burt. I see no good reason we
can't continue to be called Burt and Chuck."
"That settles that once and for all, Maleena." Chuck nodded his full
agreement. "There's nothing you can say that will ever make us want
to change our names." Burt casually swept his brunette hair out from
in front of his face, then crossed his arms below his breasts. "I'm
Burt, and he's Chuck ... and that's all there is to that."
"If that's what you want, I don't intend to argue with you about it."
Maleena paused for a moment. "But I don't want either of you to come
whining to me and telling me I should have warned you."
"Warned us?" asked Burt, his arms falling to his sides.
"Warned us about what?" asked Chuck anxiously.
Maleena grinned. She could have easily cast a small spell giving them
new names without retaining any knowledge of their old ones, but there
wasn't much fun in that. She wanted them to want new names; the more
they wanted them, the quicker they'd accept them. "Why about all the
boys, of course," her grin widened. "How many boys will think you're
strange when you tell them your names are Burt and Chuck? You know
how boys are; they probably won't want to go out with you if they
think you're strange."
"They won't, will they?" Chuck sounded worried.
"Why not?" asked Burt. "That isn't fair. We're perfectly normal
guys."
"We've got to do something about this quickly, Burt."
"But what can we do, Chuck?"
"It's as obvious as that pert little nose on your face - we need new
names. And since we appear to be girls, we need girl names now."
"But what sort of girl names can we give ourselves? Have you got
any ideas?"
"No, I don't. I was hoping you might have a few." At almost the same
instant, Chuck and Burt turned towards Maleena. "Have you got any
ideas what girl names we call ourselves?"
"I was beginning to think you'd never ask me," replied Maleena with a
widening grin. Turning to Chuck, she gently placed her hand on his
forehead. "Your name is Cherry Ann Wells. No one knows you by any
other name."
Burt smiled at his friend. "You've got a really nice name, Cherry
Ann. And with all your gorgeous red hair it just fits you so
perfectly."
"Thanks, Burt. I like my name too; I've always liked it," replied
Cherry Ann. "I also think it's a lot better than..." He suddenly
looked and felt a little confused. "Well, it's a lot better name
for me than whatever my name used to be."
Burt wondered what his friend Cherry Ann had meant; his name had been
Cherry Ann for as long as he'd known him. "But what about me,
Maleena?" he asked with a hint of a whine. "Isn't it my turn now?
I want to have a new name; it should be something nice like Cherry
Ann's. Please tell me what my name is. Please. Pretty please.
What's my name going to be, Maleena?"
With a smile Maleena placed her hand across Burt's forehead. "Your
name is Bambi Jeanne Adler. No one knows you as by any other name."
"I think that's just the perfect name for you, Bambi Jeanne," said
his good friend Cherry Ann.
"I know, Cherry Ann. But I've always loved having such a hot and
sexy sounding name." Unexpectedly, Bambi began giggling, which didn't
seem to bother him in the slightest. It was almost as if just being
named Bambi made it perfectly acceptable to giggle uncontrollably.
"Can we go out and find some guys to party with now, Maleena?" asked
Cherry, as Bambi continued his giggling.
"I don't see why not, boys?" she replied. "It should be a lot of fun.
I need a little fun right now. And I haven't had this much fun in
almost thirty years."
Bambi and Cherry gave their girlfriend a questioning glance. What
she'd just said about not having a lot of fun in thirty years couldn't
possibly be right. Their good friend Maleena was only eighteen just
like them. Both of them quickly rejected the totally inane
possibility of Maleena being any near as old as thirty. She'd
obviously been mistaken; neither of them would consider the matter
further.
"What about those old geezers sleeping over there?" asked Cherry.
"We can't go out partying and leave them here all alone," agreed
Bambi, suddenly sounding extremely disappointed. "All of them are
just so old. They could hurt themselves just trying to stand up or
walk."
"You don't have to worry about those three gentlemen, Cherry and
Bambi." With a knowing smile, Maleena looked over at the elderly
and peacefully slumbering Pete, Jim, and Hank. "They'll be perfectly
all right just where they are for now."
"Okay. Then let's go party," chorused Cherry and Bambi gleefully.
Without any further comment about or show of concern for their former
friends, they bounded sexily out the door.
"Why don't the two of us play a little game tonight," said one of them
as they left the room. "Whichever of us comes back with the cutest
boy wins."
*****
Maleena yawned as she watched the early morning news on the television
in their rented room. She'd never liked watching this particular
morning news program, but none of the other channels on the set were
working. And this anchorperson, an overbearing young woman, seemed
like such a totally pretentious bitch.
As her thoughts turned to the young man at the desk when they'd
checked into this place last night, Maleena couldn't keep from
smiling. The young man had been so pre-occupied with staring at the
buxom breasts of her and her two "girl" friends that they hadn't had
to pay a cent for this room. Bambi and Cherry had flirted shamelessly
with him, with the result that every time he came near one of them the
klutz had slipped on something and nearly fallen on his face. He'd
still been manning the desk, when they'd returned with the two young
men Bambi and Cherry had picked up somewhere. But seeing that one of
them had returned alone must have made him think he could be getting
lucky Maleena had thought - it was too bad he hadn't tried something.
Even Bambi and Cherry had been more amusing than she'd anticipated.
As playful as the two boys had been in public, they'd become very
anxious and nervous once they'd returned with their guys in tow. To
the complete surprise of their young men, they'd suddenly turned coy
and extremely shy inside their room. Neither of them wanted to
undress in front of the boys. Obviously they were worried that their
boy toys would too soon discover that they, despite their totally
feminine outward appearances, were also boys where it counted.
But Maleena had thought she'd surmised the cause of their hesitancy.
She'd told them not to worry about anything and just let everything
come naturally. Then she'd told them to either strip or send the
boys home.
Not wanting to disappoint the boys or send them home, they'd less than
eagerly striped. But until that moment when they became so excited
following the simple discovery that their genitals were every bit as
female as the rest of their bodies, Maleena hadn't an inkling that
Bambi and Cherry hadn't known. And once they'd decided the boys
weren't going to consider them strange or weird, they'd become so loud
and boisterous that they'd kept her awake most of the night.
Maleena was certain each of them would still consider themselves male
when they awoke later in the morning. But even so, she wondered just
how many "male" thoughts might still remain in her new "girl" friends'
heads.
But suddenly the current story being related by that obnoxious news
anchor had captured her complete and undivided attention.
"Three elderly gentlemen were taken into protective custody early this
morning after apparently attempting to crash the thirty-year reunion
of Forrester High School." The picture now on the screen showed the
three old men Pete, Jim, and Hank had become being led away from the
beach hotel by the local police. "These three men all appear to be
octogenarians. In addition, all of them appear very confused by their
surroundings and what's happening to them. A hotel official believes
these men may have simply wandered away from one of the nearby
convalescent facilities, but there has been no confirmation of this
from either the local authorities or the convalescent homes.
"None of these elderly men - probably a direct consequence of their
advanced age - seem to have a firm grip on reality. This was readily
apparent when one of the elderly gentlemen, claiming his name was Pete
Wistral, argued vehemently with police that he and his friends were
not actually old men at all.
"According to the alleged Mr. Wistral, the three men were attending
the Forrester High reunion. While they were there, they'd somehow had
several years of their lives stolen away by an evil sorceress named
Maleena Vanetra, who had herself earlier in the evening been a male
named Marvin Langer from their graduating that they'd nicknamed the
Geek." The woman shook her head. "That is to say, according to Mr.
Wistral's highly improbable story, Maleena had actually been Marvin
up until he and his friends had cast some kind of magic spell on
Marvin that transformed him into Maleena." The woman's eyebrow raised
slightly and her lip curled into a wry little grin. She was obviously
annoyed with this story; she wondered who was responsible for writing
this kind of fantasy tripe for her newscast. But being the competent
professional she thought she was, she continued reading the copy she'd
been handed.
"This evil sorceress then allegedly transformed two of his friends,
Burt Adler and Chuck Wells, into women, who, while Maleena was busily
stealing Mr. Wistral's youth, must have stolen the youth of his other
friends Jim Harris and Hank Bartlett.
"According to authorities at the scene, Mr. Wistral, if that
truly is the elderly gentleman's name, was taken downtown to
Karlintooner-Elmfuddlebunnie Memorial Sanitarium for a complete
set of psychiatric tests and further evaluation.
"The other elderly gentlemen, who would only - or perhaps could only -
confirm their given names as Jim and Hank, had no additional comments
to make concerning Mr. Wistral's utterly fantastic yarn. As police
escorted them away from the hotel, they seemed very confused. Jim
and Hank were also taken to the sanitarium for observation.
"In case some of you may be worried, none of the three elderly
gentleman are considered dangerous - except to themselves, perhaps -
at this time.
"The people in charge of the Forrester High School Reunion have told
this reporter that Pete Wistral, Jim Harris, and Hank Bartlett are
actually names of students in the graduating class having its thirty
year reunion. But all of them were quick to point out that these
elderly gentleman couldn't possibly be the same people - every member
of the class would be more or less the same age; they should all be
around forty-eight years old, give or take a year. And these men were
easily somewhere between the ages of seventy-eight and eighty-eight."
As Bob Tompkins' senior yearbook picture captioned with his name
appeared on the television screen, the woman continued with her story.
"Bob Tompkins, captain of the only Forrester Woodcutters football team
to ever win the state championship, told this reporter he had spoken
with the real Pete Wistral earlier in the evening. According to Mr.
Tompkins, there was no way the old gentleman taken into custody
claiming to be Pete Wistral could possibly be him.
"However, the names Marvin Langer, Burt Adler, and Chuck Wells given
by the alleged Pete Wistral were not recognized by anyone in
attendance at the reunion.
"A Forrester High spokesman, reached early this morning and speaking
to us on the strictest guarantee of anonymity, told this reporter
there had never been any Forrester High students with those names in
the long history of the school.
"These three alleged friends of Mr. Wistral are currently being
considered nothing more than derivative products of Mr. Wistral's
highly imaginative and obviously deluded state of mind.
"But even more oddly, the name Maleena Vanetra was curiously listed
among "those still missing" on reunion flyers distributed well in
advance of the reunion. That seems strange for someone who, according
to Mr. Wistral, was supposedly a man up until a few hours ago.
"However, no one at the reunion remembered anyone with that name
having attended school with them. Some of the people we spoke with
mentioned the real Pete Wistral dating an attractive blond girl named
Mariah or Marcia or something similar, who wasn't a Forrester student,
but there appears to be no real connection between that girl and the
elusive Maleena Vanetra.
"The same school official I spoke with earlier also confirmed that no
one named Maleena Vanetra had ever been a student at Forrester High.
"Local authorities are currently searching for Pete Wistral, Jim
Harris, and Hank Bartlett, who had all been in attendance at the
reunion earlier in the evening for routine questioning. None of
them have as yet been located.
"You must admit this is a most unusual story," said the woman,
thinking it was nothing more than some far-fetched fanciful flight
of fantasy by one of her field workers. "We'll have more details
about this most peculiar state of affairs when, and if, they become
available."
THE END