Author's Note: When I wrote "Swim Date", I got several comments about how rotten I was to Sally, the young transformee that Paula met briefly on Sunday. It wasn't right, the comments said, for the Old Woman to take her memories away. Here's the whole story of Sally's transformation. Judge again, now that you have all the facts.

  

Bikini Beach - Teaching Sally

by Ellie Dauber

© 2000

  

"There's some cops out here to see you, Mitch, honey."

Mitch Hammond looked up from his desk and scowled. "Dammit, Angie, I've told you more than once to call me Mr. Hammond when we're here at the office. If old man Giselle ever finds out that we're - wait a minute - did you say 'Cops'?"

Hammond's anger at his secretary turned to fear. Did they know? "Ask - ask them to come in."

She left with a wink, and two grim looking men in dark suits came in. The taller of the two, a heavyset men in his late thirties flashed his badge. "My name is Sergeant Warrick, Mr. Hammond. This is Officer Fisk. May we ask you a few questions?"

"Certainly, Sergeant. Always happy to cooperate with the police."

"Do you own a 1998 dark blue Alero, specialty license plate 'G-U-Y-S T-O-Y'?"

"Yes, why?" He decided to try and fake them out. "It hasn't been stolen or anything?"

"No, sir, at least not as far as we know. When did you drive it last?"

"A couple of days ago; actually, yesterday morning. I noticed that it was handling a little funny Monday night, so I took it in to the garage yesterday on my way in to work."

"And where, exactly, were you driving Monday evening?"

"Over on the west side. My secretary - we had to work late - so I drove her home. We talked for a bit, then I drove back to my house. I got home about 10. You can check it with my wife."

"We have, sir. You got home about 11."

"Hey, 10, 11. It was late, and I was tired."

"We've also looked at your car, sir. There's nothing wrong with the motor or transmission. The main problem is a dent in the fender - and a little blood."

"Blood!" They knew.

"Yes, Mr. Hammond. Your car has been identified as having been involved in an accident at 7th and Woodlawn last Monday night about 10:30. The girl who was hit died this morning." He paused, frowning at Mitch, then continued. "Mitchell Hammond, I'm arresting you for the hit-and-run murder of Yaffa Detweiler."

Mitch lowered his head onto his hands as he was read his rights. He allowed himself to be handcuffed, but, as he was lead out of the office, he yelled for Angie to call his lawyer.

* * * * *

Four hours later, he was home, released on $250,000 bail. His wife, Kathy, was waiting for him at the door. "You bastard!" She looked ready to skin him alive.

"Kathy? What - I --"

"It was bad enough you were sleeping with that little slut from your office. You had to kill some poor kid coming home from her bed."

"But - but it was an accident. I didn't mean to hurt her. She just ran out into the road."

"And you, my big brave husband, were too busy trying to hide your affair that you didn't even stop to see what happened."

"But then the police would have gotten involved. There was no way to keep Ang - to keep our names out of it. I had to leave - to get home."

Kathy had a look of disgust on her face. 'He doesn't even have the sense not to mention _her_ name,' she thought. She masked her feelings and said aloud, "Well, I suppose you were trying to protect me."

"I was. Honest, I was."

"I don't like it, but you're my husband. I'll go along with whatever you say. I _will_ expect you to get rid of that secretary, though."

His body all but sagged in relief. "She's gone, gone tomorrow. There's an opening for an executive assistant in Jim Mercer's office. He asked me to recommend somebody, and it would actually be a promotion for her." He didn't mention how he was planning to have her thank him. Besides, Mercer was a newlywed, totally devoted to his wife. Mitch wouldn't be losing a secretary; he'd be gaining a spy in the offices of one of his chief rivals in the company."

Kathy could almost see the wheels turning in her husband's head. All he was concerned about was his own neck. She doubted if he even cared that a child had died. Well, that would change soon.

"Mitch, I don't want to think about what's happened any more today. Could we go out someplace, someplace where we can just relax and enjoy ourselves for a while?"

"Sure, Kathy, honey." He smiled. Kathy wasn't as pretty as Angie, but she was still a damned attractive woman. He might be able to have some fun today after all, in spite the trouble that damned kid had caused him. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, there's this place I've heard about, a water park. You remember, we met at a water park back when we were in college. Anyway, it's called 'Bikini Beach'. I saw one of there billboards just the other day."

"Sure, I've seen them." He'd fantasized about them, too. He thought of all that nubile female flesh on display for him to see. Then home and bed with Kathy. This would be a good day after all. "Okay, if you really want to go."

Kathy smiled. She knew he wouldn't be able to resist the thought of all those girls. "I'll go get our suits."

* * * * *

It was late afternoon, almost 5, by the time they got to the water park. A few women were leaving the park, some of them with children in tow. A couple of them jumped back as Mitch sped into the lot.

"Watch it, Mitch," Kathy said. "You almost hit one of those kids."

"Damn, rugrats. There's too damn many of them in the world anyway."

"That's a terrible thing to say."

"Maybe so, but it's true." He pulled into a newly vacant spot. "C'mon, let's just go in. We came here to enjoy ourselves, not to argue."

Kathy was strangely quiet as they walked to the gate. An attractive young brunette was on duty behind the counter.

"Hi," Mitch said. "How much are two tickets?"

"This is a private park," the brunette said. "We don't sell tickets. We do have a limited number of passes available, though. Since it's so late in the day, I'll sell you two one-day passes for the price of one." The price she quoted was a bit high, but Mitch was anxious to get into the park. He paid, and they walked through the gate.

"Please make sure to shower after you put your swimsuit on," the girl said as they walked by her. "It's a health department regulation."

"See you in a few minutes," Mitch said as they separated to go into the locker rooms. "As soon as I change."

"As soon as you change...," Kathy said mysteriously.

* * * * *

The locker room was like any other, rows of lockers against the walls with benches in front of them. Mitch found an empty locker and put his swim bag down next to it. In a few minutes, he was wriggling into his suit, a green loose-fitting pair of trunks. He put on a pair of matching sandals, tossed his bag in the locker, and walked towards the showers. He could see himself in a mirror near the door. He looked to be in pretty good shape for a man of 36. He could still wear clothes that he'd worn in college thanks to an hour on the exercise bike in his bedroom three or four times a week, not to mention some more "passionate" exercises as often as the opportunity presented itself.

He used some of the body soap from a dispenser next to the shower. He recognized the brand, an expensive one that he sometimes used himself. The shower had a variable head. He set it at pulse and closed his eyes, letting the water relax his body. Lord, he was tense. That stupid kid - and those cops. They had no damn business taking him through his office in handcuffs. Once he beat this thing, well, he had a friend or two downtown.

With his eyes closed, he never noticed the pink mist that rose from the shower.

Mitch didn't want to keep Kathy - or any of the other women out there - waiting, so he cut the shower short. He turned off the shower and headed for the door. The shower must have relaxed him a little too much. His whole body felt funny. His hair seemed to be sliding down towards his neck like it was getting longer. His muscles hurt as if they were stretching or shrinking, and he seemed to be walking oddly. Then he saw that the door seemed to be getting bigger. It was an old fun house illusion, but why was it happening here in a locker room?

He reached for the door, then stopped as he saw his arm. It was thin, hairless, and his hand, his fingers - they looked smaller in comparison to the doorknob, finer and more delicate. And why was there - no, it couldn't be - polish on his nails? He stopped and turned to look in a nearby mirror.

There was no sign of Mitch Hammond in the mirror. Instead, the image that Mitch saw was a young girl, maybe 12. A skinny little blonde with straight hair down past her shoulders stood there in nothing but a dark green bikini bottom and a pair of pink beach sandals. She had just the beginnings of a female figure, a roundness to the hips and butt, big brown nipples with just the tiniest swelling beneath them on her chest. Her bikini bottom lay flat at her groin; no male genitals beneath that, certainly.

The little girl did look like him, though; the same thin nose, the same green eyes. She reminded him of the way his cousin, Lynn, had looked like when she was that age. Damn, she was a pest, he remembered.

"Young lady," Mitch heard a voice behind him. He turned to see a rather matronly Old Woman standing behind him, her hands on her hips. "Young lady, I don't allow topless bathing here."

"What did you do to me?" Gad, was that his voice? It sounded so - so...girlish.

"I think that would be rather obvious." She handed Mitch a bikini top that had appeared that instant in her hand. It was a perfect match for the bottom that he was wearing. "Now, please put this on. There's someone waiting for you outside."

Mitch took the top and put it on, surprised at how easily he had done it. The Old Woman took him by the hand. He tried to pull free, but her grip was strong. She firmly led him out of the locker room.

Kathy was waiting. The Old Woman pushed Mitch to her. "Here's your daughter, Ms. Hammond."

"Daughter? What do you mean, daughter," Mitch said. "Kathy, what's going on? Tell this woman - this witch -- that I'm your husband."

Kathy had a sad look on her face. "Husband? Now, _Sally_, you know that I'm your mother. My husband, Mitch, your _father_, died three years ago in a car accident."

"That's ridiculous. I'm your husband, and you know it. Why won't you admit it and get me changed back?"

"Because, _Sally_, I don't want you changed back. Do you think I want to go through the humiliation of a trial? To have the world know that my husband, my lecherous husband, hit a little girl with his car on his way home from an evening with his mistress, and then he didn't even care enough about her to stop and see if she was all right? The police told me that if you'd stopped and tried to help her, if you'd even bothered just to call '9-1-1' on your damned cell phone, she might have lived."

"Yeah, but why this?"

"You said you had no use for kids, so what better punishment than for you to become one. Besides, if Mitch Hammond died three years ago, then he wasn't alive to kill that Yaffa Detweiler two _days_ ago. She's alive now, Sally, but she only stays alive as long as you stay a little girl."

"And how long will that be?"

Kathy handed Mitch - handed Sally - the two passes that Mitch had bought. She looked at them closely. He hadn't before, just taken them and handed them to Kathy to keep in her purse. In neat letters, the passes read "Lifetime Passes; Not Returnable or Transferable".

"That's right, _Sally_, Kathy said. 'Lifetime Pass', your lifetime _and_ Yaffa's. I came over while you were still in jail and made all the arrangements."

"No!" she screamed. "It can't be - _I_ can't be." Sally threw the passes down as tears filled her eyes. She panicked and ran past the two women into the park.

She saw children, little children, in a play area off to her left as she ran. Mitch had never had much use for kids. Now, as Sally, he was scarcely older than they were. She had a crazy thought about stopping, about going in to join them. 'It looks like fun,' she thought, and a part of her really wanted to do it. No! That would be giving up, giving in to what had happened; giving up on ever being a man again. She kept running, looking back to see if anyone was chasing after her.

She wasn't watching where she was going and suddenly bumped into something -- no, into someone. Whoever it was had braced herself and just stood there, while Sally fell to the ground from the impact.

"Are you okay, missie?" Sally looked up to see a tall, slender woman about twenty, her dark blonde hair tied into a ponytail behind her. She wore a red sleeveless T-shirt over her swimsuit, with the Bikini Beach logo and the word "Lifeguard" printed on the shirt. She bent over and offered a hand to help Sally up.

"I -- I guess so. I'm sorry." Sally took the woman's hand and was pulled back onto her feet. The woman was cute, very cute, in a down home sort of way, with a nice figure that the damp T-shirt only served to emphasize. Mitch would have enjoyed the view, especially when she bent over. For some reason, Sally found herself feeling a little inadequate.

"I'm Elizabeth Nelson, Liz to my friends. Are you a new member? I don't recall seeing you here before."

"I'm S-Sally Hammond. I'm new -- I'm new everywhere." Sally began to cry again.

Liz nodded as if from experience and put a hand on Sally's shoulder. "It's okay, Sally. It's okay." Without realizing what she was doing, Sally let herself be gathered into Liz's arms and held while she cried for a short time.

She felt, well, safe in Liz's arms, protected.

After a while, Sally wasn't sure how long, she stopped and wiped her eyes with her hands. "I feel -- better, I guess." She reluctantly let go of Liz. "I'm sorry if I kept you from anything."

"That's okay, Sally. I sort of needed a hug, too." Liz straightened up. "You're a little old for the kiddy rides over there." She pointed back the way Sally had come. How about I show you where the Junior Lifeguard Academy is? That's the part of the park for, umm, kids your age. There may not be many around now. It's almost supper time, but maybe a little swim will help get your mind off your troubles."

"As if anything could." But Sally found that she _was_ interested. Mitch loved to swim. He'd been on teams in both high school and college, and still swam laps at the Y every so often. Sally let Liz lead her to this "Academy", whatever it was.

The academy turned out to be a long pool off ahead to the left. When they came close enough, Sally could see a bunch of dumb kids playing on different things, walking across holding on to some kind of overhead netting, sliding down cables, there were even a couple on one of those artificial climbing wall. As she and Liz walked towards the pool, Sally saw one kid fall from about two-thirds of the way up the wall into the deep water of the pool. Much as she hated to admit it, the place looked like fun.

Liz pointed to a girl about her own age sitting in a low lifeguard tower near the pool. "That's Vicki, she's on duty here. I have to talk to her for a bit. Why don't you go over and swim till I'm done?" She gave Sally a little push in the direction of the pool.

Sally wandered over to the edge of the pool and sat down. She stared down at her toes dangling down into the water. Damn, they even had nail polish on them.

This was crazy. She was Mitch Hammond, a man in his thirties. How could she be sitting here in the body of a - a what - a twelve year old that everyone thought was Mitch's daughter? She felt her eyes beginning to fill with tears again.

Splash! A wave of water seemed to shoot out to the pool and hit Sally in the face. "Hey," she said. "Who did that?"

"I guess I did." The voice came from near the center of the pool.

Sally wiped the water out of her eyes and looked in the direction of the voice. A freckle-faced redhead grinned back at her. "I made it almost to the top of the mountain climb, and, when I started to fall, I decided to see how big a cannonball I could do." The redhead started paddling over towards Sally. "I'm Shayne. Sorry if I got you wet."

"It - it's okay, I guess," Sally said. "I'm, uh, Sally." She was suddenly embarrassed. Would this kid realize that she was really talking to some weirdly transformed man? "If I'm going to sit by a pool, I guess I should expect to get wet." She stared across at the climbing wall. It was a good thirty feet to the top. "How high did you get, anyway?"

"I was looking at the twenty-eight foot line when my hand slipped. Pretty good, huhn?"

"I suppose..."

"And you can do better?"

Sally was relieved to have the subject change, and she - or he - never _could_

Resist a challenge. "Yeah, I think, I can."

"Okay, then. Let's go over and see what you can do." The girl paddled her arms and moved back towards the center of the pool, giving Sally room to dive in.

"Here I come." Sally stood and tried to dive. Her mind remembered how to dive, but her body wasn't up to the level of those memories. She did a rather clumsy belly-flop and came back up to the surface sputtering and spitting water.

Shayne was laughing at her. "I hope you can climb better than you can dive." She turned and began swimming towards the wall.

"I slipped, that's all," Sally said starting after her. She had the same problem swimming as she had with the dive. Mitch knew how to swim, but this wasn't Mitch's body anymore. If nothing else, her arms were a lot weaker than they had been. She got to the wall, but it took a lot longer than she'd expected.

Shayne was waiting for her, treading water and trying not to giggle. "Finally," she said. "Still want to try it?"

Sally looked at the wall. It was cement - or something that looked like cement, with a rubberized coating over the roughness; a slab about fifteen feet wide that rose some thirty feet out of the water. There were irregular hand- and footholds starting below the water level and going up the entire length of the slab. The slab was painted with foot wide bands in different colors. Big black numbers at every fifth band showed how far a climber had gotten.

"Just put your hands and feet in the holes and start climbing," Shayne said. "If you feel yourself falling, just push away from the wall. The water here's nice and deep. Just in case you _do_ make it to the top, there are little gold rings up there. Bring one down, and you can trade it for a soda or an ice cream."

"I'll bring down one for each of us," Sally said, partly trying to convince herself. Whatever the magic had done to her, she was still Mitch Hammond, and no wall built for a bunch of lousy kids was going to get the best of her. She repeated the thought to herself several times, never realizing that she was thinking of herself as a girl now.

Sally made it up to the thirteen-foot line before her hand slipped and she fell backwards, hitting the water butt first. "So where's the ring," Shayne said when Sally surfaced.

"Very funny. Just wait here. I'll get you one."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

In each of her next five tries, Sally managed to get up a bit higher. She was past the twenty-foot mark, now, but that seemed to be her limit. She was straining to reach up for a handhold at the twenty-five foot level, when she heard a voice above her to the right.

"I got the rings. Let's go get that ice cream." It was Shayne, looking down from the top of the slab. She was smiling, two rings on her index finger.

Sally felt her face redden. "I don't need help from some damn kid." She pushed herself away from the wall, hitting the water a moment later. She was swimming away before she surfaced. As she reached the other side, she could hear the other girl shouting for her to come back.

Liz was waiting for her as Sally climbed out of the pool. "Don't you think that you were a little rough on her? Shayne was just trying to be your friend."

"I - I don't care. She didn't have to rub my nose in - in what I've become."

"Oh, my poor Sally. All she was trying to do was to be your friend. You need one - you really do."

"Yeah, but I - I just can't cope with what's happened to me. I need to be alone with this."

"I think I understand," Liz said. "Don't look so surprised; you're not the only one who's been changed by those showers."

"Are you..."

Liz smiled. "_That_ would be telling. Look, I'll explain to her that your pride was hurt. She's a good kid, and I think she'll understand. But _you're_ going to have to come back here and apologize to her in person on Saturday. Okay?"

"I guess. Tell her - tell her I'll be back tomorrow like you said, and, well, that she - tell her she owes me an ice cream." Sally ran back towards the main gate to look for Kathy. She looked back after a moment and saw Liz talking to the redhead. The girl looked in her direction and waved. Despite herself, Sally waved back.

* * * * *

Kathy was waiting for her by the entrance, sitting in a folding chair and drinking a soda. "I thought you'd be coming back soon? Did you have a good time, Sally? Make any new little friends?"

"You're crazy, Kathy. Magic or not, you can't get away with this. People are going to know that I'm missing."

"No they won't, Sally. You'll be here where you always were, a twelve-year-old girl being raised by her poor, widowed mother." She glared at Sally for a moment. "Get used to it, _Sally_. Mitch is gone, and he isn't coming back. Now go get dressed."

"In what? My clothes will never fit me now."

"Think so? Go in and check."

Sally sighed and went into the Locker Room. She stripped, tossing her wet suit onto the bench. She opened the door to the locker where Mitch had put his clothes and pulled out her towel, now changed from green to a pretty pink pastel. When she began drying her body, as Mitch always had, by rubbing the towel briskly against her skin, the roughness of the towel almost hurt her. She stopped rubbing and began patting herself dry as she had seen Kathy do in the past.

She tried not to look at herself as she dried her body.

When she looked closely into the locker again, Sally saw that Mitch's male underwear was gone, replaced by "Panties!" she said in amazement holding up a pair of girl's cotton briefs covered with lots of tiny pink roses. A matching tee was next to them, with a small knotted pink fabric rose at the base of each of the two spaghetti straps.

She stepped into the panties and pulled them up around her hips. The cotton didn't feel that different from a pair of men's briefs, although she was conscious of the lack of anything like Mitch's comfortable "bulge" in the front. The tee wasn't that different, either. Then Sally felt the roughness of the material against her chest. "Now what," she said aloud.

Then came horrible realization. "Titties! Her new body was entering puberty. She lifted the shirt and saw again that her nipples were darker and much larger than Mitch's had been. She knew that were tender because she was beginning to "blossom", as they used to say, into womanhood. The slight puffiness under each nipples even suggested that she might already be needing a training bra. "Darn! It just gets weirder and weirder."

She saw what looked like Mitch's shirt and slacks were still on the hooks where he had left them. "Aha, so she's _not_ infallible." Sally reached for the blouse only to find that the man's white dress shirt was now a girl's off-white blouse with a ruffled collar. She put it on slowly, struggling just a little with buttons that were on the wrong side. The pants were no better. "Darn!" she said on finding that the male navy slacks were now a pair of light blue capri pants with lace trim on the pockets. She slipped into the pants pulling them over her hips to fasten snuggly at her narrowed waist.

When Sally looked in the bottom of the locker, she found that Mitch's dark oxfords and black socks had been replaced somehow by white sneakers with pastel blue laces and a pair short pale blue socks with a white lace trim on the sides. "Even the socks," she giggled and sat down to put them on.

* * * * *

"I'm ready to get out of here," Sally said as she came out of the locker room.

Kathy was talking to the woman who had sold them the passes. "I'm talking to this lady, right now, Sally. Why don't you go sit over there, and I'll be with you in a minute."

"Uh - okay, Kathy," Sally said automatically, surprising herself. She desperately wanted to get out of there. Why didn't she argue? She walked over to where Kathy had pointed and sat down to try and figure things out.

Kathy watched her with an upraised eyebrow, then turned back to Anya and said quietly, "Is he...she going to act like a girl from now on?"

"Not yet. You kind of caught her by surprise, and she reacted automatically. Keep treating her like the child she's become, though, and she'll fit more and more into the role."

"But, like you said, it will take time."

"Yes, but I also said that there _are_ ways to speed up the transition."

"I know, and I'll keep them in mind. Thanks for doing this."

"No problem. Don't forget to bring her back tomorrow and Sunday. She's still got a lot to learn."

"I won't. See you tomorrow." Kathy turned and walked over to where Sally was waiting. She was sitting quietly in a beach chair, her hands on her lap, her legs crossed at the ankles and tucked under the chair. 'Just like any other young girl,' Kathy thought.

"Okay, I'm ready now," Kathy said, motioning towards the entrance. Sally stood up and joined her.

They walked together into the parking lot, but, when they approached the car, Sally broke away and began to walk towards the driver's side. "Where do you think you're going?" Kathy asked.

"To drive us home. I always drive, you know that."

"No, _Sally_, I drive home. After all, how many twelve year olds even know how to drive?"

"Yeah, but..."

"But nothing." Her eyebrows narrowed. "Get in the car, young lady."

"Y - Yes, ma'am," Sally said automatically. She wanted to protest, to argue that she could still drive the car, but she felt a fear, now. More than that, she felt a compulsion to obey. She lowered her head and walked over to the passenger side of the car. The door was unlocked, so she just climbed in and fastened the seatbelt.

Kathy got in behind the wheel and started the car. She glanced over to see Sally sitting quietly, looking down at her hands on her lap. 'Better and better,' she thought.

"Listen," she said to Sally as they were heading home. "I really don't feel like cooking tonight. How about we stop for burgers?"

"Burgers sound okay, I guess," Sally said. "But could we take them home to eat? I really don't think I'm up to being with any more people today."

"Fair enough." She saw a Wendy's up ahead and pulled into the drive-through. "What do you want to eat?"

"Double beef, biggie fries, and a biggie coke." Mitch had always had a fairly good appetite.

"That's a bit much for a little thing like you, don't you think?"

"But I'm hungry." Her voice had a feminine whine to it, now.

"You're not that hungry. You don't expect me to buy you food that you can't eat, do you?"

"I guess not, Kathy."

"I think you're entirely too familiar in your speech, young lady. I want the respect that a child should show to an adult." She stared directly at Sally, an angry glint in her eyes. "From now on, Sally, you will address me as...'Ma'am', like you did at the park. Yes, I think, from now on, you'll end every sentence you speak to me that way."

"What! I know what I look like, but I'm still your husband."

"No, you're not, and you _never_ will be again."

"But, Kathy..."

"Who?" She raised her hand as if she were about to slap the young girl. "Who am I?"

"Please...Ma'am, please don't hurt me." Sally blurted out the word without thinking. Her eyes opened wide in surprise as she realized what she'd just said. She lowered her head and began to sob.

Kathy smiled as she pulled up to the outdoor menu to order. "Chicken salad, low fat French dressing, and a medium diet coke for me, and a cheeseburger 'kid's meal' with a coke for my _daughter_." She turned to look hard at Sally. "Is that all right with you, dear?"

"Yes...yes, ma'am." Sally had tears in her eyes as she said it.

Kathy smiled as she drove on to the window to pay and to pick up the food. Another piece of Mitch's male arrogance was gone, hopefully for good.

* * * * *

They ate as soon as they got to the house. Kathy had been right. Sally just barely finished the smaller meal that she had been given. She drank the last of her coke and leaned back in her chair. "I think I'm full."

"What? What did you say?"

Sally looked a little surprised. "Oh, umm, I think I'm full, Ma'am."

"That's better. Here, throw out the trash, then head upstairs and hang up your wet suit and towel."

Sally's response was more automatic, although she didn't seem to notice. "Yes, Ma'am." She collected the wrappers, napkins, and paper cups, and threw them all in the garbage can near the sink. Then she picked up her wet things and headed up stairs.

Kathy sat back in her chair enjoying a little piece of leftover pie from the night before. "This is working out perfectly," she said thinking aloud. "Mitch is turning more and more into a little girl inside."

"Kathy!" The shout came from upstairs. Kathy had an idea what to expect, so she walked unhurriedly up to the master bedroom.

Sally was standing just inside the room, still staring in amazement. "My clothes, the exercise bike, they're all gone."

"Of course, they are, dear. This isn't your room any more." She took Sally's hand and led her to the guest bedroom just down the hall. "This is your room."

"What -- but." Sally opened the door. The room now longer had the comfortable brown tones that it had had before. The walls were a pale blue with a couple of large Back Street Boys posters where the landscape paintings had been. The windows had matching dark blue ruffled curtains.

The bedspread was white now with patterns of roses quilted into it. A large white piece of fabric stretched from the wall about three feet above the top of the bed to touch the ceiling just above the foot of it. The effect made it look as if it were a canopy bed.

There were some stuffed animals, a cat, a blue mouse, and a dragon near the pillows. The dresser was white, too, and there was a small tray of cosmetics on the top. Next to the tray was a small wooden jewelry box with several necklaces visible in the top drawer. A large wooden framed mirror, also painted white, hung on the wall above the dresser. In the corner, where a small table had been, was a child's desk, also white. There were papers and a couple of magazines on the desk. A bookshelf on the wall above the desk was almost filled with books. There was a row of dolls on the top shelf, though.

The closet door was partially opened. Sally could see dresses and blouses hanging most of the way across. The bottom of the closet was filled with shoes, some of them with low heels. Sally saw a girl's nightgown and robe hanging on hooks on the closet door.

"Isn't it sweet, Sally? This is the sort of room that any girl your age would just love."

"But I sleep with you in the other bedroom -- Ma'am."

"Sally, you're much too old to be sleeping with me. You have this nice room of your own." She smiled and looked at the confused girl. "Now you go hang up your suit and towel in the bathroom. Then I want you to stay up here and read quietly for a while. If you're a good girl, you can come down and watch some TV later on."

"I -- but -- yes, Ma'am." Sally walked slowly to the bathroom next to her bedroom, her head bowed in defeat and confusion.

Kathy followed her in and watched her hang up the wet things on the shower rod. Mitch had been just over six feet tall and could have reached the rod easily. Sally was about four foot ten and had to stretch to reach it. When she stretched, Kathy noticed the curve of her hips and the narrowness of her waist, something she hadn't really noticed before. The overall transformation had distracted her from these details. 'My little girl is growing up,' she thought.

Kathy looked around the bathroom to see if there had been any other changes. She saw some conditioners and lotions in a tray on the edge of the bathtub. None of them had been there before. There was also a new blue toothbrush in the holder by the sink. And one more thing.

"Here, Sally," Kathy said walking over to Sally who was just finishing getting her swimsuit over the shower rod. "You probably didn't have any of this at the park, and I know how girls just _love_ it."

"What?" Sally turned around just in time for something to spray into her face. She coughed and spat out the foul tasting liquid.

"Love's Baby Soft, honey. It's such a pretty perfume." Kathy put down the atomizer and smiled at her daughter. 'Yes,' she thought, 'her daughter. The child Mitch hadn't wanted and, so, had become.' Aloud, she said, "there, now you smell so pretty. You just stay up here and read for a while, okay."

Kathy turned and walked out of the bathroom and back downstairs. She was afraid that, if she'd stayed there any longer, she would have started to laugh. Mitch - no, she corrected herself - Sally looked so surprised when Kathy had spayed the perfume on her. Now she was going to sit up there in her little girl's room, wearing her little girl's clothes and her little girl's perfume, reading a little girl's book. It was brainwashing of the highest order.

* * * * *

Sally watched Kathy leave. She still couldn't believe everything that happened. She'd left the house this morning, a grown man in a suit smelling of Old Spice. Now she was a twelve-year old girl in a blouse and capri pants wearing Love's Baby Soft perfume.

She began to cry. She wanted to run downstairs and confront Kathy, to force her to take her back to that place and get her changed back to her real self. She wiped her eyes and began to walk purposefully towards the steps, but she suddenly stopped. She - she couldn't bring herself to go downstairs, not when she'd been specifically told not to.

The realization of her need to obey that order scared her even more than she already was. She began to cry again. She turned, ran back to her room, and threw herself across the bed. She cried for several minutes, clutching the large stuffed cat as if for moral support.

Sally finally cried herself out. She sat up on the bed and wiped her hands on her sleeve. "Good old, Sly Boots," she said looking down at the stuffed cat that she was still holding. "You always did make me..." Sally froze. What was she saying?

Somehow she remembered getting the cat as a ninth birthday present. Yes, she looked at the back and saw the names of six girls, all done in the precise handwriting of young children. The names seemed familiar somehow, though she didn't remember knowing any of them. Yes, they were all at the party that day.

No! She jumped up and threw the cat onto the bed. Three years ago, she'd been Mitch Hammond. This was crazy. She seemed to have two sets of memories, Mitch's and Sally's. Sally's were very vague, just bits and pieces, but she could feel them getting stronger.

Sally felt her stomach churn. She sat down and took deep breaths. It seemed to work, and she felt calmer. She thought about going down stairs again, this time pleading to be returned to normal. No! The compulsion to stay upstairs was still too strong.

She walked over to the desk and took a look at the books in the shelves above it. There were a couple of books of poetry, some series called Sweetwater High, a couple of creepy looking books about vampires or witches or something, and two Nancy Drew paperbacks - was she still around? She took one of the Nancy Drews and lay back down on the bed.

Kathy came up a couple of hours later and found her daughter - her _daughter_, she loved the sound of that - and found her daughter asleep. The book was open, but Sally was using it for a pillow.

Kathy gently pulled the book away and put it back on the desk, using a folded scrap of paper for a bookmark. She tried to wake Sally, but the young girl was just too sleepy from all that had happened. Kathy managed to get her blouse and pants, shoes and socks off. It was a warm night, so she just put Sally to bed in her undies. She tucked the girl in, kissed her gently on the forehead, and left. Once she was downstairs, she poured herself a scotch to celebrate the apparent success of her plan.

* * * * *

"Where the heck am I," Sally said as she woke up. "This is some kid's room."

Then she remembered what had happened the day before. A hand shot down to her groin. Nothing. At least nothing that she had wanted to find. Instead of Mitch's male equipment, preferably hard with one of those early morning erections, all that was under her - her panty was a feminine slit covered by a few soft tufts of hair. "It - it wasn't a dream. I'm a girl."

Even getting out of bed was different. Sally's shorter legs didn't reach the ground when she put them over the side of the bed. Mitch's had. She climbed out of bed and walked over to get the bathrobe hanging on the closet door. From force of long habit, she rubbed her chin and cheeks, checking to see how badly she needed a shave. Her face was soft, smooth, and totally hairless. "First good thing to come from this," she said with a smile. "Not much, though."

Kathy was already having breakfast when Sally came down. She looked up from her paper. "Morning, Sally. How did you sleep?"

"Okay, I guess...Ma'am, considering what's happened to me."

"You'll get used to it. Help yourself to some breakfast."

"Is there any coffee left, Ma'am?"

"Yes, but none for you. You're a growing girl."

"Give me a break, Ma'am. Just a little coffee. You know how much I need that first cup...Ma'am."

Kathy had a full cup next to her plate. She handed it to Sally. "Before I make you a cup, try some of mine."

"Thank you, Ma'am." Sally took it reluctantly. Mitch liked his coffee black with just one sugar. Kathy drank hers with milk and two diet sweeteners. Still, it was better than no coffee at all. She took a long sip - and almost gagged. "Eeyeww! That's so bitter."

"I thought so. You're not used to coffee anymore, honey. Have some milk to wash out the taste." Kathy took back the cup and took a drink. 'Not bitter at all,' she thought. 'Except to a twelve year old whose body was no longer familiar with the taste of coffee.'

Sally poured herself a glass of milk. She took a couple of swallows to try and get rid of the lingering coffee taste. How could she have ever liked that stuff? She looked around to see what else to have. Bread - no, she didn't feel like toast. She saw a box of something called Apple Jacks on the table. She sliced a banana into a bowl, added the cereal, and poured in some more milk. She took a taste - not bad, not bad at all - and settled in to eat.

After breakfast, Sally rinsed her dirty dishes and put them in the dishwasher. Then she walked into the living room and turned on the TV. The commentators on ESPN were going over the action of last night's baseball games. Mitch was a diehard Twins fan, but even their sweep of a doubleheader just bored Sally. She started channel surfing, stopping eventually on the Pokomon show. Those little things were soo cute. She curled up in the chair and watched the action.

She was still watching TV, a show called Pinky and the Brain, almost an hour later when Kathy came in. "Turn off the set and get your swim stuff, honey. We're heading back to Bikini Beach."

Sally jumped out of the chair. "Does this mean that you've changed your mind. You're going to make them turn me back? Umm, Ma'am."

"Nothing of the kind, _Sally_. It means that it's a lovely day, and, since we have _lifetime_ passes, I thought we'd put them to use." She put a nasty emphasis on the word "lifetime", grinning at Sally as she said it. "Now, scoot. I want to leave in twenty minutes, and you still have to dress."

"But..." After what had happened to her yesterday, Bikini Beach was the last place Sally wanted to be - unless it was to change back, and Kathy had already refused to consider that idea."

"Go, and be quick about it." Kathy was determined not to let any of Mitch's masculine arrogance resurface. Sally was coming along nicely, acting more and more like the young girl she was.

"Yes...Ma'am." Sally turned and headed upstairs. She stopped at the bathroom. Her suit was dry, so she pulled the two pieces down from the towel bar and wrapped them in a fresh towel. Her towel from yesterday was dry, but used, and went into a hamper in a corner.

Back in her room, she stripped down. Her dirty underwear went into another hamper near the closer. Sally tried not think about her new body as she walked over to the dresser, but the sensation of cool air on her skin, especially on her nipples, was _very_ distracting. She reached into a drawer and pulled out a pair of yellow panties and a matching girl's undershirt. She put the shirt on first to try to stop the tingling at her nipples, then wriggled into the panties.

Sally pulled a kelly green tee out of another drawer. (She never noticed that she seemed to know what was in each drawer.) Now for pants. No, she had a pair of shorts - there they were - that would look really cute with this top, baby blue with green lace shamrocks embroidered on the back pockets and at the bottom of each leg. She stepped into the shorts and pulled them up past her waist and fastened them at her narrow waist.

The shorts were tight, accentuating the nubile roundness of her hips and butt. They also showed off the curve of her leg. She turned this way and that, admiring herself in the mirror. "I am definitely cute," she said. Then she realized what she was saying - what she was thinking. She shivered and took off the slacks, throwing on a loose pair of jeans instead.

She pulled on the sandals from the day before, grabbed her swimsuit and towel, and headed downstairs. Kathy was waiting at the bottom of the steps looking at her watch. "Thirty seconds to spare, honey. Okay, let's go."

They rode to the park in silence. Kathy was enjoying driving, something she seldom did when Mitch was in the car. Sally was trying to understand what was going on inside her. It was so - so darn hard. Darn it, she couldn't even curse any more. A lot of her was still Mitch, and she was wanted to act the way he would. But there was something - someone else in there, too. Sally. And she wanted to act the way _she_ wanted to act.

As long as Mitch kept watch, there wasn't much Sally could do, but Mitch couldn't keep watch all the time. When he was tired or not paying attention, Sally was quick to act. She sighed and resolved to just pay more attention. It wouldn't be easy, but she was determined to try.

"We're here," Kathy said. Sally looked up. They were just pulling into the lot at Bikini Beach. Kathy parked the car, and they headed for the gate. Another woman was on duty. Kathy showed the two passes, and they headed in.

Sally started towards the Men's Locker Room, but Kathy took her hand firmly. "No, honey. _Girl's_ go this way." Still holding Sally by the wrist, she walked into the Women's Locker Room.

They found a pair of empty lockers near one another and began changing. Sally watched Kathy undress. Mitch might have enjoyed watching her baring herself, seeing it as a possible prelude to sex. Sally just looked at Kathy's pretty outfit, especially her underclothes and found herself wondering when she might be able to wear such things. She shook her head. 'Get out of there, Sally.' She turned away and began changing her own clothes.

When they were both changed, they headed for the showers. Sally shuddered the instant the water touched her. "Relax, honey," Kathy said. "It's already done all it's going to."

"Yes, Ma'am. It's just..." She turned around, making sure that she had gotten wet all over. She put her hands under the stream of water and splashed a little on her face. She turned the water off and walked back to get her towel. As she walked, she concentrated on her body. It didn't feel any different. She didn't look any different either. Sally didn't know if she should be happy or sad about that.

Liz was passing by as Kathy and Sally came out of the Locker Room. "Hi, Sally. Glad to see that you came back."

Kathy looked at the young woman. "You know my daughter?"

"Sure, we met yesterday over by the Junior Lifeguard Academy. It's the area for kids around her age." She stuck out her hand. "I'm Liz, by the way, Liz Nelson. I'm head lifeguard, and I teach the swimming classes."

"Pleased to meet you, Liz." Kathy shook her hand. "I'm Kathy Hammond, Sally's mother. We just bought lifetime passes yesterday."

"Lifetime." Liz looked closely at both Kathy and Sally. "Well, welcome to the family. As a matter of fact, I'm on my way over to teach a swim class. You're welcome to join in, Sally. You might enjoy it; swimming is a great way to get to know what your body can do."

"Okay." Sally felt happy for the excuse to be with this friendly woman again.

"Have a good time, honey," Kathy said. "I'll be over in one of the hammocks by the Tiki Hut, if you need me for anything."

"Thanks, Ma'am," Sally said, following Liz towards the class.

About a dozen kids, aged nine to twelve, were standing or sitting along the edge of the pool across from the climbing wall. When they saw them coming, a few started yelling for others to join them. Liz blew a whistle hanging from a string around her neck, and two kids from the climbing wall and several others Sally hadn't noticed before swam over to the group.

"All right, all right," Liz said, raising her hands. "Before we start, I want to introduce you to a new member of the class, Sally Hammond."

A few of the kids shouted "Hello" to Sally. She was uncertain how to answer, so she just smiled and made a slight wave of her hand. She looked around but didn't see the redheaded girl from the day before - what _was_ her name - oh, yeah, Shayne. Mitch had always felt uncomfortable around kids, having no interest in whatever they were doing. Now as Sally, she was even more uncertain. Would they recognize her as a transformed man? Would they laugh at her? Would they like her? Like her? Where had _that_ come from?

"Okay," Liz said, blowing the whistle again. "Let's get started. Line up along the side here and ease yourselves into the pool with the ones already in."

The girls formed a single line along the side of the pool and sat down. Sally walked over and sat down at the end. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Shayne sitting down next to her. "Hi," Sally said. "I'm sorry about yesterday."

"Shhh! We'll talk later. Liz likes quiet in her class."

Liz blew her whistle. "Okay, girls. Everybody into the pool."

The girls all eased themselves over the edge and down into the water. The pool was shallow enough that they could stand. For most of them, the water was somewhere between their waists and their shoulders. For Sally, it came to the middle of her chest. She had a strange sensation that she suddenly realized was the cooler water against her nipples.

She didn't have time to think about it, though, as Liz had the girls all lean into the water and blow bubbles. It was a step, Sally remembered, in teaching them the proper breathing technique for the crawl stroke. She leaned forward with the rest, trying not to giggle when the bubbles tickled her nose.

For the next two hours, Liz put the girls through their paces: breathing, the crawl stroke, kicking. Sally used it as a way of getting used to her new body. By the end of the class, she was doing an almost passable crawl. It was a long way from the form that had gotten Mitch fourth place in the All-State championships his junior year of college, but it was a start.

"Okay," Liz said, clapping her hands. "That was pretty good. You guys practice during the week, and we'll see how well you do next Saturday. Same Bat - same time, same place. Next week, we'll split you into teams and have some races."

She left, as did some of the other girls in the class. "How about some lunch," Shayne said. She held up the two rings. "Dessert is on me."

"I don't have any money," Sally said.

"Where's your mom - or whatever adult you came with?"

"She's over at the Tiki Hut, but I don't know where it is."

"I do, and we can have lunch right there. C'mon." She took Sally by the hand and led her down the path towards the Hut.

The Tiki Hut was a large, grass thatched structure set among coconut palms. It was open on three sides with tables and chairs. The fourth side was the restaurant, a grill selling burgers, franks, and a range of sandwiches and salads. It looked very "Gilligan's Islandish", but the smells had both girls' mouths watering as they came close.

Sally looked around. Kathy was nowhere to be seen. On a hunch, Sally went over to the cashier, a pretty black woman in her twenties, wearing a wrap around skirt and a staff tee and sitting at a table near the entrance. "Excuse me, Ma'am. I'm looking for my, umm, mother. She's --"

"Are you Sally Hammond?" the woman said.

"Yes, Ma'am. Why?"

"Your mother said you'd probably be coming by. She said to tell you that she decided to go look around the park. She'll meet you back at the Locker Room at six. She _also_ said to tell you that she paid for your lunch. Just go back and order whatever you like."

"Thank you, Ma'am. I will." She turned to Shayne. "Let's go see what smells so good back there."

They headed back to the grill. Between the smells and the exercise of the swimming class, they were both starved. Burgers, french fried sweet potatoes, and cokes took care of most of it. They traded the two rings for two dishes of ice cream that took care of the rest. Afterwards, they found a couple of hammocks between two pairs of palm trees near the volleyball court. They lay back talking about nothing in particular until they both dozed off.

The sound of a volleyball game woke them sometime later. Sally glanced at one of the clocks at the Tiki Hut. It was almost 3. "Want to go back to the Academy?" she asked Shayne.

"Nah. We're here. Let's see what sort of rides they have over this way. The girls headed for the Tahiti twister. Sally screamed as loudly as Shayne as they slid through the darkened tubes. And giggled as loudly when they splashed into the pool at the bottom. After the first time, they tried several variations, racing down with one of them in each tube, sliding down so close together that Sally felt Shayne's feet on her shoulders, and going down head first.

After that they played in the Tropical Waves pool. They swam into some of the larger waves, trying to "body surf" them for as long as they could. When they tired of that, they sat for a while in the narrow end, letting the smaller waves break over them and giggling at the reactions of the younger children.

They moved on. They tried the Wild Luau Raft Ride, holding tightly as it bounced and turned against the rocks on the long slide into the waiting pool. A mother and her six-year old daughter were on the ride with them. As they were getting off, Sally asked the woman for the time. It was about 5:30.

"I've got to go," Sally said. "The lady at the Tiki Hut said my mother expected me back by six."

"Aw, I wanted to go again."

"So go. There's no reason we both have to suffer because I have to leave."

"Will you be here tomorrow?"

"I think so. At least, I don't know that we have anything else planned. I'll try to meet you by the Locker Room at noon, okay?"

"Umm, make it the Academy. That way, I won't have to hang around the Locker Room waiting for you. I can get some swim practice in."

"Sounds good. See you tomorrow."

"Okay, bye, Sally."

Sally waved and hurried back towards the Locker Room. As she walked, she thought about the day she'd had. Shayne was a great kid who seemed to totally accept who she was now. Was now? Sally recalled her actions during the day. Most of the time, she and Shayne had been acting in pretty much the same way, like the two twelve year olds that they were. "I was distracted," she said to herself. "I didn't pay attention, so I acted like a kid." Then she giggled. "Still it _was_ a lot of fun."

She resolved to watch herself more closely, especially now that she would be home with Kathy. Kathy seemed to be enjoying treating her like a kid. Well, she knew what was going on, now, and Kathy would have a harder time of it.

Kathy was nowhere in sight when Sally reached the Locker Rooms. She decided to change, rather than wait. She started to walk towards the Men's Locker Room, then caught herself. "At least, I still have _that_ right," she said. She smiled and headed to the Women's Locker Room.

There were a number of females inside, everything from twins about four with their mother to one elderly woman. One or two looked up when Sally walked in, but everyone ignored her as just another girl. What annoyed Sally was that she found herself thinking the same way.

There were two stunning girls in their early twenties not too far from Sally. They were giggling about something as they peeled themselves out of two very skimpy bikinis. They put on a wonderful show, their naked bodies on display for several minutes, while they seemed to be deciding what -- if anything -- to wear. Mitch would have been hard as -- what was that expression -- Chinese algebra, and he'd have gone over to see if these two babes were willing to help him do something about it. Sally's only reaction was to look down at her as yet undeveloped body and sigh. 'Someday,' a voice seemed to say in her mind. 'Someday, _I'll_ look that good.'

It was not a thought that she wanted to have.

She forced herself to look away and hurried into her clothes. She left the Locker Room and had just taken a seat in one of the nearby beach chairs when Kathy came over to her. "Very good, honey. You're not only here, but you've changed clothes already." She looked at her watch. "And it's still almost ten minutes to six. Are you ready to leave?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

Once they were on the way home, Sally asked, "Um, Ma'am, are we going back to the park tomorrow?"

"I suppose so. Why?"

"Well, Shayne, she's this girl that I met yesterday, we spent the whole day together today. I had a lot of fun, and we sort of agreed to meet tomorrow at noon over at the Junior Lifeguard Academy, that's the area for kids, and well, spend the afternoon together. So, is it okay if we go back to the park tomorrow? Is it, Ma'am?"

Kathy almost laughed. The words just seemed to spill out of Sally, and there wasn't even the slightest trace of Mitch in them. For all intents and purposes, there was only an excited twelve-year old in the car with her. "All right, dear, all right. Unless the weather's bad, we'll go back to the park tomorrow. I wouldn't want to disappoint you and your new little friend."

"Great," Sally said. "Thanks, Mom, umm, ah, Ma'am." Oh, Lord. What was she saying? It was bad enough gushing about Shayne the way she had. That had just been a minor mistake, but calling Kathy "Mom". What was happening to her? And had Kathy noticed?

Sally's response caught Kathy by surprise. This was too good to be true. She decided to pretend not to notice. "You're welcome, dear." There, that should keep her off balance.

They were home a few minutes later. Sally went upstairs to hang up her wet suit and towel, while Kathy started supper. She filled a pot with water and put it on the stove to boil. While she waited she took a cooked chicken breast from the fridge and began slicing it into long thin strips. When the water boiled, she added a small box of spaghetti.

Sally was down again almost at once. "Can I help with dinner? Ma'am?" She paused to make sure that she didn't slip and say "Mom" again. That was all she needed, to start thinking of Kathy as her mother instead of her wife. It was a good thing that Kathy hadn't noticed the slip in the car. Or had she?

"Certainly, dear. Get a bowl and shred some lettuce into it. I'm making a cold chicken salad with pasta. Once that's done, cut up three carrots, a red onion, and a green pepper into slices about the same size as I'm cutting this chicken - do you see?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Mitch hated salads; "rabbit food", he called it. Sally found that she didn't share his opinion. It sounded good. Besides, it was fun to help in the kitchen. Useful, too, for when she had her own home - aww, why was she going and thinking like that again? She resolved to be even more alert for mental slips like that around the kitchen.

By the time she had the vegetables ready, Sally was actually smiling, proud of her contribution to the meal.

Kathy had her set the table and get out the iced tea and the salad dressing, while she mixed the now cooked spaghetti with the vegetables and chicken. With a "Taa Dah!" she brought the salad to the table and motioned for Sally to sit down.

* * * * *

After dinner, they went in to relax and watch TV. One of the cable channels was showing SOMEWHERE IN TIME. Kathy had been a fan of it for years, but Mitch had always thought of it as a "chick flick". Now Sally discovered the film. She oohed and aahed over the beautiful old style clothing everyone wore after Christopher Reeve went into the past, especially the women's dresses. As Reeve slowly won Jane Seymour's heart, she sighed and snuggled up next to Kathy. Kathy smiled maternally and put her arm over Sally's shoulders.

Sally realized what she was doing, but it seemed so natural to be reacting to the movie the way she was. The story was just so romantic. She felt a tingling below her stomach and her titties felt a little warm. When Reeves accidentally was drawn back to the present, she felt a tear running down her cheek.

The movie ended with Reeve trying to find his way back to his love in the past. "Does he make it, Mo - Ma'am? Does he get back to her?" Sally knew it was just a movie, but for some reason, it seemed important to her.

Kathy reached down and stroked her hair. "They never made a sequel, honey. A lot of people who like the movie would also like to think that he did. What do you think?"

"I - I hope he did. He - he loved her so much, and she loved him, too."

"People who love somebody don't always get to be with that person. Maybe they should, but it doesn't always work out. Sometimes, the other person really doesn't love them back."

"You're talking about me - about the way I was - aren't you, Ma'am?"

"Yes, honey, I guess I am. You certainly didn't seem to love me the way Chris Reeve loved Jane Seymour in that movie."

"I - I know, Ma'am. It didn't seem wrong at the time, but I'm - I'm not sure now. Everything - everything seems so different now. It really confuses me."

"You're a smart girl. I'm sure that you'll figure everything out eventually." She looked at her watch. "Right now, it's almost 10:30. Why don't you go upstairs and get ready for bed. You can read for a while, just put on a nightgown first. Don't fall asleep over the book like you did last night, either, okay?"

"Okay, Mo-ma'am." Sally kissed Kathy on the cheek and headed up to bed. "Good night."

As she walked up the steps, she thought about what she'd just done. Mitch had kissed Kathy like that more than once. It was a simple sign of affection. Heck, sometimes he even did it as a salve to his conscience when he'd been out with Angie.

That kiss just now hadn't been the same thing at all. The last time she'd felt the way she did kissing Kathy a moment ago was three months before. Mitch had flown to Chicago on a business trip and had taken a couple of extra days to visit his mother at the family home downstate.

Darn! Now she was starting to think of Kathy as her mother. She closed her eyes and thought of Mitch's mother. 'Grandma,' said a voice in his head. Sally shivered and ran the rest of the way to her room. Maybe Nancy Drew could distract her from this crazy situation that seemed to be getting worse and worse by the minute.

Up in her room, Sally took off the tee and her jeans. Her nipples felt as sensitive as they had this morning. She looked down. Two tiny bulges were apparent under her undershirt. She touched them gently and found herself smiling. 'I'm growing up," she thought. 'I finally need a training bra.'

Her eyes widened in horror. "What am I thinking? Am I actually glad to be getting titties?" She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. "I'm a man. Underneath all this, I - am - still - a - man." She spoke the words slowly, deliberately, trying to convince herself that it was true.

She tossed the dirty clothes into the hamper and took the nightie down from the hook on the door. She put it over her head and wriggled into it. The sensations as it slid down her body were surprisingly pleasant, but she tried not to get distracted. She picked up the Nancy Drew. "At least I still like mysteries," she said. She climbed up onto the bed and began reading.

After a time, Sally began to yawn. She looked down and realized that she was reading the same page for the second time. "Bedtime," she said. She stuck the bookmark into the book and put it on the table next to the bed. She turned out the light, then climbed under the covers. When Kathy checked on her, Sally was sound asleep, but she was clutching the stuffed cat, Sly Boots, to her, using it as an extra pillow.

* * * * *

"Wake up, honey. It's after 9."

Sally stirred at the sound of Kathy's voice. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes with her fists. "Good morning, Mama, umm ah, Ma'am." Darn, darn, darn! She's slipped again. It was getting natural to call Kathy "Mom".

"Did you sleep well?"

"I guess, so." She vaguely remembered some sort of dream. She was running through a field in a flowered dress, a very pretty dress, chasing something. A butterfly. Yes, she was chasing a butterfly. But even as she tried to remember the dream, it faded from her mind until there was nothing left but the memory of having had a pleasant dream.

"Well, get up, sleepy head. After we have breakfast and read the paper, I've got some work that you can help me with."

Sally remembered her agreement to meet Shayne. "Aren't we going to go to Bikini Beach? You promised we'd go. I told Shayne that I'd meet her at noon. You promised."

Kathy smiled at the little girl whine in Sally's voice. "I know. I know. We have plenty of time to get some housework done and still get to the park in time for you to meet your friend. Now, hurry up and get dressed."

Sally started getting out of bed. "Umm, Ma'am. One more thing before you go."

"Yes, honey. What is it?"

"It's, umm, my - my chest." Now that she'd brought the subject up, Sally didn't know how to proceed. She wasn't even sure why she _had_ brought it up, but something made her continue. "I - I'm getting -- it feels sensitive there, and they - they're growing, well, just a little."

Kathy choked, then stifled an urge to giggle. She walked over to Sally. "Raise your arms and let me help take off your nightie." Sally did as she was told. Kathy had her sit on the bed and gently lift her undershirt.

She looked closely. Yes, the areolas around each nipple were large and dark, and there _was_ a small swelling behind each one. Kathy gently touched the nascent breasts. Sally shivered a little, saying, "Oh, oh my. It tickles."

Sally was delighted and scared at the same time. What could be more female than growing breasts. The part of her that was still Mitch was horrified at the thought. The part that was Sally was delighted. And both were amazed at the feelings that shot through her young body from Kathy's gentle touch.

"Do you still want to meet your friend, what's her name, Shayne, at noon."

"Yes. I have to. I promised."

"Well, today's Sunday, and the malls won't be opening till noon or 1 PM. We can wait till tomorrow, I guess, but we'll have to go shopping for some very soon, say tomorrow evening. _You_, my girl, are ready for a training bra."

"I am! Oh, wow! Wait till I tell Shayne." She blurted it out before she could even think of what she was saying. What _was_ she saying? Why the heck was she so happy about this?

Kathy went over and fished around in one of the dresser drawers. "In the meantime, I want you to wear this." She pulled out a blue two-piece suit and tossed it to Sally. "Wear it instead of undies. Just be sure to take something to change into for when we leave the park tonight." She started to leave. "Now, hurry up. And bring down that hamper with your dirty clothes. We're doing the laundry this morning."

Sally quickly changed from her underwear to the bathing suit. She tossed the dirty clothes, including her nightie into the hamper. Then she went searching in her closet. She was feeling so incredibly feminine that she couldn't think of wearing any sort of slacks. She searched through the clothes and pulled out a pale blue dress with long, flowing sleeves and a full, frilly skirt.

She stepped into it, pulled it up around her body, and put her arms into the long sleeves. As she reached down to button it, Sally was thinking of her new breasts behind the row of tiny pearl buttons. In her mind, she was picturing all sorts of lovely, womanly breasts in all manners of brassiere. Mitch had been something of a breast man, but Sally wasn't picturing these breasts with any sort of lust. She was thinking of her own new breasts, and what they'd - what she'd look like in a few years. The tingle she felt was anticipation. It scared her silly even as it thrilled her beyond belief.

She tossed on a pair of sandals and hurried of to her morning toilet. After she washed and brushed her teeth, she reached out for the perfume. The last time, Kathy had snuck up on her. This time it was her own mind that did the sneaking. She sprayed herself with the fragrance almost before she realized what she was doing. She wrapped the spare undies that she'd brought with her in a fresh towel and headed down for breakfast. She turned back and fetched the hamper from her room, stopping to throw in the two dirty towels from her bathroom. It was a little tricky, but she managed to get the hamper and the towel with her undies downstairs.

Kathy was in the kitchen mixing pancake batter. She looked at Sally critically. "That outfit may be a little too fancy for the park, honey. It's _definitely_ too fancy for housework."

"But..."

"No buts. I'll tell you what. Take off the dress and hang it carefully in the hall closet. You just can wear a pair of jeans and a top while we do the housework - you _did_ bring the hamper down, didn't you?"

"Yes, Ma'am, but what about my dress?"

"You can change into it after we're finished and wear it to the park. Okay?"

"Okay, Ma'am. I guess the dress is a little to fancy for doing the laundry."

"Not unless you're Donna Reed, it is. Never mind. It's a 60s TV joke. Now how many pancakes do you want?"

* * * * *

They ate breakfast, with Sally rinsing off the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher afterwards. She put in the cleaning solution and started the dishwasher. Then she changed as Kathy had suggested, while Kathy stripped the beds and brought down the dirty linen and towels. They did the bed linen first, sorting the dirty clothes while it washed.

When the linen was washed, they put in another load. Kathy put the wet linen in a basket, rather than into the dryer. "I like to dry bed linen on the line, if I can. It smells and feels so much better that way."

Kathy put a load of colored clothes into the washer, and they headed into the backyard to hang up the linens. Sally actually found herself enjoying the housework. It was a warm sunny day. There was a simple pleasure, somehow, to standing with the sun on her face, wrestling with the wind to pin a wet sheet to the clothesline.

They got inside just in time to transfer the colored load to the dryer and put in a load of whites. "Why don't we put this stuff on the line, too?" Sally asked Kathy.

"First of all, honey, there isn't enough room on the line for all of the clothes we're going to do today. It's quicker, too. And the clothes will be dry in time for us to fold them and take them upstairs this morning."

They spent the next hour doing the clothes, sorting, loading, and folding. Sally found that she got a certain satisfaction out of getting the work done. There was something calming, too, about just sitting and folding. Neither Kathy or Sally said a word to the other, but Sally felt closer to Mama - to Kathy. Maybe it was the sharing of "womanly" duties, maybe it was the continuing effect of the spell. Sally felt more comfortable sitting there as a young girl with Kathy. She thought very hard about why that was, while they were folding. All she could decide was that she just _felt_ more comfortable now.

They took everything upstairs. It was harder than Sally expected, since she still wasn't used to the fact that she didn't have Mitch's strength anymore. "I think that we'd better wait till tonight to put the clothes away, honey," Kathy said looking at her watch. "It's almost 11:30, and I know how much you want to meet Shayne on time."

Sally started unbuttoning her jeans. "Okay, Ma'am. Just let me put that dress back on."

"Why don't you just leave those jeans on? You're just going to take whatever you wear off as soon as you get to the park."

"Aw, but I wanted to show Shayne how nice I looked in this pretty dress."

"How would she see it, honey? You'll hang it up in a locker as soon as we get to the park?" Kathy loved hearing Sally whine. Was this "Macho Mitch" talking?

"Aww, but..."

"Oh, all right, but hurry."

"Thank you, Mama. Thank you." Sally ran and got into her dress. She wriggled into it and ran to join Kathy at the car. "I'll button it in the car, while you drive," she said.

* * * * *

They got to Bikini Beach about 11:50. Sally barely waited until the car was parked and the motor off before she jumped out. "I'll meet you in the Locker Room at six, Ma'am." She all but sprinted for the gate.

Sally ran through the gate, but she didn't go to the Locker Room. Instead she headed down the path towards the Lifeguard Academy. She could see Shayne up ahead and yelled to get her attention.

"Hi, Sally," Shayne said, turning at the sound of her name. "Oooh, that's a pretty dress. You aren't planning to swim in it, are you?"

"No, silly. I just wanted to show it to you." She stuck her arms out and spun around slowly, so Shayne would get the full effect. "C'mon to the Locker Room with me, while I change. I've got great news."

Shayne followed Sally back to the Women's Locker Room. "Okay," she said as Sally wriggled out of the dress and carefully hung it in a locker. "What's the great news?"

"My, umm, Mama's going to let me get a training bra. We're going to go shopping for some tomorrow." Sally realized with some surprise that she was actually happy about the prospect. 'At least, I won't have to worry any more about how sensitive my titties feel,' she thought, but she knew that it was a young girl's excitement about having breasts, not Mitch's relief about not being bothered that she was feeling.

"Neat. My Mom said she was going to let me get one in a couple months for when school starts. That is, unless I start to need one sooner, of course."

"Also neat." Sally felt genuinely happy for her friend. It was an experience that they could both share. "I'll tell you all about it -- what it's like and everything -- and I'll show you the new bra, too, when I see you next time."

"Cool. Now let's get out of here and go swimming."

The pair headed over to the Junior Lifeguard Academy and spent about thirty minutes swimming laps, practicing the stroke/kick combination they had learned the day before. Then they tried the wall again.

"Well, it took you long enough," Shayne taunted. She was sitting on top of the wall, her legs dangling over the side.

Sally pulled herself up the last foot to the top of the wall. "Hey, I got here, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but I got here first. It kind of makes up for you beating me when we raced those two times."

"What can I say? I'm a champ - that is, my Dad was a champion swimmer. I guess some of it rubbed off on me."

"Well, before you gloat too much, how about we go get some lunch? I'm starved."

"Sounds good. Race you to the other side of the pool."

"Okay. Loser pays for the sodas." Shayne started to climb over the side.

"Ready...Set..." Sally pushed herself away from the wall. She shouted "Go!" just before she hit the water. Shayne scrambled after her, but Sally had too much of a head start. She was sitting on the side of the pool by the time Shayne reached it.

"No fair," she said splashing Sally.

"Okay, _I'll_ buy the sodas, then."

"In that case, I accept." Shayne climbed out of the water. "Hey, we're not going to have to go looking for your Mom again, are we?"

"No. This time I'm prepared." Sally reached into the side of her bikini bottom and pulled a small plastic bag out of a pocket inside the swim suit. The bag had a five dollar bill and several coins inside with a rubber band wrapped around it to keep them dry. "Do you want to go to the Tiki Hut again for lunch?"

"Let's go to the Port Landing today," Shayne suggested. Sally agreed, and they headed up the path towards the "Wild River" area.

The Landing was on a dock overlooking the Old Man River tube ride. They bought lunch and went over to one of the verandas to eat.

"So, what do you think your boyfriend will think about you getting a bra?" Shayne said, munching on a sweet potato french fry.

"B-boy friend? What do you mean?" Sally sputtered on the diet coke she was drinking.

"You know, boy - friend. Don't you have one?"

Oh, Lord. Did Shayne realize what she was asking? "Uhh, no."

"Isn't there some boy that you like, that you'd want to have as a boy friend?"

Sally felt trapped. She had to say something. Shayne might get suspicious -- or worse. "Well...there is one boy I know. His name's - his name's Mitch."

"Oooh, what's he like?"

Sally thought back to how she'd - he'd look when he was thirteen. "He's tall, a little on the skinny side, with curly dark brown hair. He's pretty good in sports. He was one of the stars on the Little League last season. He's smart, too. He got almost straight As last --"

"Who cares about that. What's he look like - his face I mean. Is he cute?"

Sally closed her eyes and tried to remember the grade school graduation picture her grandmother - no, her _mother_ still had on the mantle back in Illinois. "He's got a square face with big green eyes. There's a smear of freckles on his face, over his nose and like that. And he has a big, happy, kind of lopsided grin on him a lot of the time."

Sally smiled at the memory. She - he had been cute.

"I think somebody's got a crush on this Mitch."

Sally felt her face redden. She was suddenly aware of a vague sort of pleasant tingling in her - her titties and down in her groin. She opened her eyes wide. She was actually getting turned on by her younger male self.

"No, no. He's - just a boy I knew...know."

"Yeah, right, girl. What do you think _he'll_ think when he sees you're getting a figure?"

"I think he'd be surprised," she said honestly. "But I - I don't know if I'll ever see him again."

"What's the matter? You have a fight or something?"

"No, nothing like that. He just - he's not here right now." Sally couldn't bring herself to even hint that Mitch might be gone. Even if it might be true, the thought, even as a lie about a boy moving away, was more than she wanted to think about. She felt tears welling in her eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sally. I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories."

"It's okay. Well, it's not okay, but talking to you about it makes me feel a little better."

"Anytime, Sally. After all, that what's friends are for."

"Friends? Yeah, I guess we are." She smiled a little. "I like that."

"Me, too, but it's gonna cost you."

"What do you mean?"

"This," Shayne said. She grabbed a small handful of Sally's fries and popped them into her mouth.

"Hey!" Sally said, but then she giggled.

So did Shayne. "Now that _that's_ settled, what say we trade these rings in for some ice cream?"

They each got a cup of ice cream and headed out to sit on one of the verandas along the river, watching people floating by inside inner-tubes. Shayne waved to one or two, people that she said she knew.

They finished the ice cream and tossed cups and spoons into the trash. "What now," Sally asked.

"As long as we're here, and since we shouldn't do any swimming right after we ate, let's go on this tube ride."

"Doesn't that count as 'swimming'?"

"Heck, no. Look at how gentle the water is. The river's just a big circle; pumps or something push the water around. You could take a baby on it."

"I guess." The walked over to one of the stopping points along the river. There were three or four tubes sitting just out of the water. They picked up two and waded out into the waist deep water.

"Just sit down in the tube and let the current take you from there," Shayne did just that, floating quickly away.

"Hey, wait for me!" Sally shouted and sat in her own tube. Shayne had a bit of a head start, but Sally paddled a little and caught up with her.

The current was strong, but not very fast. It took them almost an hour to make the full circle of the river. They decided to go on something fast next, so they beached their tubes near the Gold Rush Slide and rode the twisting chute squealing and giggling the entire way down. They enjoyed it so much that they went on it several times. In between, they splashed in the pool at the bottom of the ride, watching people coming into the water from the body slide and the raft ride. They tried both of these rides as well and enjoyed the differences in the three types of ride.

After a while, they walked over to the Old Swimming Hole and sunbathed for a while on its bank. The late afternoon sun was warm, and they both slept for a short time. When they woke, they went into the water to rinse the sand off their bodies. They sat in the shallow water, watching other people swimming.

"I wanted to ask you," Shayne said. "Where'd you get that dress?"

"The dress? I - umm, don't remember."

"Oh, c'mon. You wear it here to show it to me, and you don't remember where you bought it. Give me a break."

"Oh, umm, Stephanson's, over in the Lynnwood Mall."

"I know the store. My Mom took me there for my Bat Mitzvah dress. They've got nice stuff."

"Yeah, I think so, too." Kathy shopped at Stephanson's on occasion, and Sally had guessed that her dress might have come from there. A quiet voice in the back of her mind surprised her by saying that it had.

"Maybe we can go shopping together some time. Yeah, your mom or mine can drive us to Lynnwood Mall and just leave us there for the day. You interested?"

"I, umm, I guess. I think I'd rather swim, though." Mitch had never liked shopping, but now a part of Sally's mind wanted to go. 'Fight it," she thought, but her heart really wasn't in it.

"Okay. We go the first _rainy_ day. You can't swim in the rain. Any sort of real storm, and they shut this place down."

"Come with me tomorrow." Sally blurted out the idea before she could stop herself.

"What do you mean?"

"My Mama's gonna take me shopping for training bras tomorrow. Maybe you can come along."

"Great idea. I'll ask my Mom. Hey, maybe she'll let me get a bra now, too."

"It sure won't hurt to ask. I'll talk to Mom before we leave today."

"Great, and I'll talk to mine." They hugged and climbed out of the water. "Now let's try those rope swings."

Sally and Shayne were still playing on the rope swing, when they heard the announcement over the loudspeaker that it was "6 PM, and the park will be closing in a half hour."

"Why is it closing so early?" Sally said.

"I don't know. Probably for the same reason they make the malls all close early on Sunday."

"Well, we'd better go change then."

"I don't have to change. I came in a beach robe, and my Mom said I can wear it home if I'm not too wet." She stuck her tongue out at Sally as if taunting her, then smiled (and giggled) to show that she was just joking.

"Okay, but I'm going in to put on that dress."

They headed to the Women's Locker Room. There was a line because more women were changing clothes than there was comfortable room for. The choices were to wait or to change clothes in a cramped space. Most women chose to wait, especially since it was only for a few minutes.

The two girls finally got their turn. "I'd like to keep you company," Shayne said. "But there's still a line out there." She took a robe from one of the lockers and wrapped it around herself. "See you outside, Sally."

"Okay." Sally had gotten as far as her underwear. She put on the tee gently, trying not to hurt her sensitive nipples and stepped into the panties. Maybe she was being overly cautious, but she'd never grown breasts before.

As she dressed, Sally glanced quickly around her. It was the same as yesterday. She was surrounded by attractive women, all in various states of undress. The problem was that, mostly, she was just noticing how pretty their clothes were. She did notice their figures, especially the breasts of several women, but all she did was wonder if her own new breasts would look as nice.

Worst of all, it didn't seem to bother her as much as it had yesterday. She couldn't seem to remember how she _should_ be reacting if she were really just Mitch under a spell.

Trying not to think about it, she carefully removed her dress from the locker and stepped into it. She pulled it up, sliding her arms into the sleeves, and began to button it. Then, of all things, she fumbled a little with the buttons. It still seemed like they were on the wrong side.

She glanced up and noticed another girl, maybe sixteen or seventeen, looking at her oddly. Sally found herself feeling suddenly shy. The way the other girl was looking at her, Sally felt as if the girl knew that she was really a man. Had she been found out? Was this another "whatever-the-Old-Lady-was"? Fearful, she went back to the task of closing the row of tiny pearl buttons.

She finished just in time to see the girl walking over to her. The strange girl leaned close and whispered, "Don't worry. You'll get the hang of it by the time you change back."

The shock of being found out panicked Sally, and she began to sob. "I'm...I'm not changing back. My wife decided she'd rather have a demure daughter than a lecherous husband. She...she bought me a lifetime pass." Sally looked down at her body for a moment, then back up at the other girl. "The worst of it is, that I'm finding that I enjoy this new body." Oh, Lord, had she really said that? Was it true? "I'm even starting to forget what it was like being a man."

The other girl shuddered and put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I -- I didn't know. I'm sorry."

Sally looked up at her. "Thanks. I guess I'll have to get used to it. Kathy, that's my wife, says the pass isn't returnable or refundable. I can't ever change back. I'm even starting to think to think of her as my mother instead of my wife."

She shrugged, surprised at easily she had just said what she had been thinking. "I guess I'm feeling a little better. Or maybe it doesn't bother me as much as it did."

The girl shuddered again and left. Sally slipped on her sandals. She wrapped her still damp suit in her towel and went out to find Shayne, so she could introduce her to Kathy.

* * * * *

Shayne was waiting by the door. "I'm done. Let's go."

"Go where, honey?" Sally spun around. Kathy had come over and was now standing beside her and Shayne. "So," Kathy said. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your new friend?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Shayne, this is my, um, mother, Mrs. Hammond."

"Hi, Mrs. Hammond. I'm Shayne Detweiler."

Kathy and Sally both stared at Shayne. "Detweiler," Sally said.

"Yeah, why?"

"Do you have a cousin or somebody named Yaffa in your family?" Kathy was almost afraid to ask, certain somehow of what the answer would be.

"Me. I'm Yaffa Detweiler. It's my gramma's name. She was a Holocaust survivor. I never liked it; it sounds so _old_. Yaffa means 'pretty' in Hebrew. Shayne -- well, Shaynah, actually, means the same thing in Yiddish. It's a traditional nickname, so I use it instead." She stopped and looked at Sally and Kathy not understanding the expressions of surprise, almost horror, on their faces. "Why? What's the matter, Sally?"

Sally felt something churning furiously in her stomach. Her friend, the girl who had accepted her without any questions, who had eased what looked like a permanent transition to a new life, was the girl that she -- as Mitch -- had killed without a second thought. She bit down on her lip to keep from screaming and ran off, tears streaming down her face. She clutched at her stomach as the churning worsened.

* * * * *

One of the staff found Sally about a half an hour later. She was sitting under a tree near the fence, partly hidden by some bushes, staring at the docked paddleboats. It looked like she'd spent most of the time crying. The staffer used a cell phone to call Anya. She contacted her Grandmother and Kathy, who were also searching parts of the part.

Kathy may not have been the closest, but she got to Sally first. She knelt down next to her daughter and put her arms around the young girl. Sally looked up to see who it was. She rested her head on Kathy's shoulder and started sobbing again.

Kathy hugged Sally to her tightly with one arm. With the other, she stroked the girl's hair, trying to calm her as one would a frightened animal or a much smaller child. "It's all, right, honey; it's all right," she repeated and repeated, rocking gently back and forth.

"No, Ma'am -- Mama. It isn't." Sally knew what she was saying. It seemed right to call Kathy "Mama". More than that, it felt -- well, comforting. "It isn't all right. I -- I killed Shayne."

"No, honey. No, you didn't. She's here, alive. In fact, she's out looking for you right now."

"Is -- she here? Nearby, I mean."

"No, my dear, she isn't." It was the Old Woman. "She's down by the Tiki Hut at the moment. I thought she might not understand some of what you would say when we found you. She is very concerned about you, though."

Oh, I'm glad she's alive and my friend and all. Only, how can we be friends when I know what I did to her?"

"You didn't do anything to her," Anya said as she came over and sat down on the grass next to Kathy. "Somebody named Mitch Hammond did. Only things have changed, and, now, it never happened."

"Yes, it did. It happened. You -- you just made it _un_happen, but that still doesn't change that fact that I -- I did it."

Kathy put her hands on Sally's shoulders. "_You_ didn't do it, honey. Mitch did. Look at how hard you're taking all of this. I don't think that Sally Hammond -- that's who _you_ are, honey -- could even _think_ of doing what Mitch did to Shayne."

Sally looked up at Kathy, tears in her eyes. "Mama, was I - was Mitch really such a bas - such a bad person?"

Kathy looked at the girl and tried to smile. She felt tears in her own eyes. "You remember everything he ever did or thought. Look back into those memories and make your own decision."

Sally closed her eyes. She thought of the way Mitch had felt about his marriage, how little he had regarded either Kathy or Angie. They were just something there when he needed sex. She thought of the way he had felt about kids, and how he'd fought with Kathy about their having one. And worse, she thought of how little remorse he had felt about killing Yaffa - Shayne. Shayne was her best friend, the only real friend she had since the change. And she - he - Mitch had killed her and just driven off. He didn't give it a second thought except for how to get any blood off the fender. "Mitch, you...you Bastard!" she screamed, tears running down her cheeks, and a look of sheer hatred on her face.

She closed her eyes again and felt Kathy's - No! Felt _Mama's_ arms around her, pulling her close and comforting her. "It's all right, honey," Kathy said, rocking gently back and forth. "It's all right."

Sally knew what she had to do. She opened her eyes and took a deep breath. "He's going away, Mama." She moved back away from Kathy, so she could better see the woman's face.

"What - what do you mean?"

"Mitch is still here; still inside me. Only, he's not in charge any more. I still remember everything about his life, but, now, it's like he was somebody else. He's somebody I knew, not somebody I was."

"Sally, what are you talking about."

"I'm talking about being your daughter, not because of some spell, but because I _want_ to be. Mitch is somebody I knew, but he wasn't very memorable, was he?"

"Not in any positive sense," Kathy said cautiously.

"Then I don't expect that I'll be remembering very much of him." She looked up at Anya and the Old Woman. "Will I?"

"Not if you don't want to, dear." She looked at Kathy. "And neither will your mother, I should think."

"What," Kathy said. "Why should I forget?"

"Because if you don't, if you still remember who Sally once _was_, how can you give her the love that she deserves now?"

Kathy nodded. The older woman was right. Sally would need her, and she couldn't be there for Sally, if she still thought of it being Mitch in that body. "Okay, do it."

"It's done." The woman said "Sally's memories of Mitch will fade in the next day or so, until she remembers him only as the father she lost just after her ninth birthday. Your memories will fade to match hers. He'll be the husband, who died when a drunk driver ran a red light three years ago. The good husband, I might add, since the accident happened before he started cheating on you."

Sally closed her eyes. Already she was having trouble picturing Mitch. She opened them and ran over to hug the Old Woman. "Thank you," she said.

"You're entirely welcome, dear." She suddenly had two small brass rings in her hand. "Now, why don't you and your friend, Shayne, go have an ice cream on me? Better hurry, though. We only kept the park open so we could look for you."

Sally took the rings and ran off to find Shayne. She had to explain why she'd run off so unexpectedly. There were things to talk about: going shopping tomorrow, clothes and boys and what they would be doing together for the rest of the Summer. Anyone could tell that long years of friendship lay ahead for the two of them.

Kathy looked at the Old Woman in surprise. "What..."

"It didn't work out exactly as you expected, did it?"

"No, I - I wanted to punish Mitch. Instead..."

"Instead, Mitch is gone forever, a life was restored, and you have the loving daughter that you always wanted. Isn't that a better ending?"

"I guess."

"Certainly, my dear. The happy endings are always better." She smiled. "Even if I have to help arrange them."

  

Copyright, Ellie Dauber, 2000

This may be copied to any free site. Elrod, Paul, and the new FictionMania, you have my explicit permission to post it if you wish.

  

  

  

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