County Fair

by: The Professor



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Rating: R Add Review Read Reviews, Last Review 07/19/18 (24) Added: 01/09/2001 Complete: yes Synopsis: A mysterious force had changed Steve's brother Lucas into Lisa. When his friend Marty becomes Marsha he decides to investigate and see whether they can be changed back. Things do not go to plan, however. Categories: Magical Transformations School Girl Stuck Keywords: School Girl

County Fair By The Professor Most of the year, I envy guys my age, growing up in cities like Omaha or Lincoln. They've got it made with concerts and big movie theaters - not little ones like the Rivoli here in Leeds - and all sorts of amusements. But every fall as the end of September rolls around, I start to feel a little sorry for them. That's because late September is when we celebrate the Carver County Fair. "Mr. Hall?" "Huh?" I looked up at Mr. Jackson, our American History teacher. There was a little smile under his bushy mustache. It was a smile of triumph, for he knew he had caught me daydreaming. "Would you like to tell the class what Fremont called Nebraska when he first visited?" "The Great American Desert," I replied, proud of my recovery. "Explain why," he commanded, a little nonplussed that I had been able to answer his question. I knew why. He was new to the school and thought just because I was the starting quarterback on the Leeds High School football team, I was just a dumb jock. Well, he was about to find out that although I had a penchant for daydreaming, I was a very smart jock. I went on to describe Fremont's early travels in what was now Nebraska and how the term he had coined referred more to the western part of the state where a treeless prairie had once existed. The forests of the eastern United States gave way to the plains not far to the west of Leeds where the rivers became more sparse, fed by more infrequent rains and the melting snows of the distant Rockies. And I watched with amusement as Mr. Jackson's disdain turned slowly to begrudging respect. "Very good, Mr. Hall," he allowed at last to the amusement of my classmates. They had seen the same little play acted out more than once in other classrooms - and not just with me as the hero. There were several of us in the class who were both talented athletes and top students. As Mr. Jackson moved on to a more promising victim, I was free to go back to my thoughts about the County Fair. As I was saying, guys in the city don't have county fairs - or if they do, they're no big thing. It's only in small towns like Leeds, Nebraska, that we get a couple of days off from school in late September just to attend the fair. For city kids, summer ends with the Labor Day weekend. There's not another significant long weekend until Thanksgiving, and in Nebraska that means mostly cold, dreary weather. But for kids in towns like Leeds, summer goes on all through September until after the County Fair. And this was going to be the best County Fair of all, I thought to myself. First, it was unusually warm for late September, so it would be like summer even at night and all the girls would be strolling around in shorts and tee-tops. And the other reason it would be the best County Fair was that this year, we were seniors! This would be the last great high school blast before the weather turned cold. Safe for the moment from Mr. Jackson's scrutiny, I though about how great the whole week would be. It was already Tuesday, and the rides were already being set up down at the new Carver County Fairgrounds. By the next day, they would be operating. Ron Cook, Kevin Foster, Andy O'Connor and I had all agreed to hang out together Wednesday night and take in the rides. We were all on the football team together and had grown up together. It would be a wild night. Then, Thursday night, we'd all take in the judging. That was the night all the art projects got judged for award ribbons. It wasn't that we were into amateur art, but several of the girls in our class had projects being judged, and it was a good idea to show up to stay on their good side. The hardest part was to pretend to be interested in their projects when we'd rather be on the rides. Friday night would be a big group date. Oh sure, some of the guys had steady girls, but most of us were a little more casual about that sort of thing. I had been dating Jennifer Doyle, a junior and a cheerleader over the summer, but it just hadn't worked out. We had split up three weeks before school. She wasn't real happy about it, but I wasn't ready to get serious about any girl just yet, with college and all just around the corner. The other guys I chummed around with were the same way, as were a number of the girls in our class. But Saturday night for the dance that marked the end of the County Fair, we'd all manage to pair off. Judy Castle wasn't exactly the girl next door - she lived about two blocks away and a couple of houses away from Ron. But she and I had been friends since the first grade, and we'd be going together. Judy and I dated every now and then when we were between steadies. We'd even do a little innocent necking whenever we did, but we both knew we'd always just be friends. That was by mutual agreement, I might add. So there it was, I thought as the class bell rang ending the period and announcing lunchtime. The next few days were all planned out - or so I thought. I had no way of knowing it, but the wheels were about to come off my plans as well as the plans of several of my friends. Unbeknownst to any of us, this would really be a County Fair we would never forget - but not for the reasons we thought. It was cool to be me. When I thought about it, I realized I had it all. I was one of the top athletes and one of the top students in my class. I was tall - about six-two - and well built, and the girls seemed to think I was reasonably good looking with my fair skin and well-trimmed brown hair and friendly blue eyes. And it didn't hurt that I was from good stock, too. My parents were comfortably well off. My father was a respected attorney and on the Leeds City Council and my mother was well-liked and came from a family that had settled in Leeds so long ago that one of the streets in town was named for them. She was involved in so many civic groups I couldn't keep count of them all. All I knew is that she was president of two of them. As I walked through the cafeteria, it was to a chorus of "Hi, Steve!" I smiled and acknowledged each of them. Yeah, I was popular, but I'm happy to say I didn't take advantage of it. I was just one of the guys. I've read stuff and watched TV shows where the jocks are real weenies who seem to split their time between ripping off girls' clothes and beating up on the shrimpy guys, but that's a real crock - at least from my experience. Maybe it's because schools in the cities are a little more stratified, with rich kids in one school and poor ones in another. Little towns like Leeds, where the population barely reaches seven thousand, aren't like that, though. We had rich kids, poor kids, and everything in between all attending the town's one high school. And for the most part, we all got along with each other -with a few exceptions. I plopped down with my heavily-laden lunch tray right next to Ron and across from Kevin and Andy. We greeted each other with the usual "heys" and gentle punches on the shoulder and slaps of the hands. "I hear you really steamed Mr. Jackson this morning," Andy chuckled. "What?" I said with a grin as I opened my milk carton. "I just answered his question." "I'll probably get the same treatment this afternoon in his class," Kevin commented while stuffing another French fry into his mouth. "He just doesn't like jocks." And he'd get the same response he got from me, I thought watching Kevin's intelligent face. He was our starting tailback although with his unruly blonde hair, he looked more like a surfer. But he was the only guy in the class who had a chance of catching Becky Marshall for valedictorian. Well, I guess I had a chance, but Kevin was a little above me in grade point. "I would have loved to have seen that," Andy said wistfully, pushing a shock of unruly red hair out of his face. Andy was the "dumb" one of our group. He only carried an A minus grade point. "Yeah," Ron agreed as he opened a third carton of milk next to me. "Steve got him good. I just wish he'd called on me." I was a little surprised he hadn't. If anybody in our group looked like the ultimate jock, it was Ron. Well muscled and six-four, with his light brown hair cut very short, Ron looked exactly like the wide receiver he was. But Ron was bright, too, just like Andy, Kevin and I. I think that - and a love of sports - was what initially attracted the four of us to each other. All of us planned on going to college together at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. And all of us wanted to be good enough to play for the Cornhuskers, but I suspected only Ron would be good enough to get very far. He was easily the best athlete of our group, and probably the best one in the school. Suddenly Andy's eyes got wide as he looked behind me. "Don't look Now Steve, but here comes Lucas." "Oh shit!" I mumbled. Into each life a little rain must fall. Lucas was my brother. More to the point, he was my asshole brother. Oh, Lucas was bright enough and personable enough - for a freshman - but he had a bit of a reckless streak in him. When he was in eighth grade, he managed to get thrown off the basketball team for painting the windows on the coach's car black. He nearly got thrown out of school entirely when he tried to hack into the school computer and wipe out everyone's grades. If my father hadn't promised to remove the modem from Lucas's computer, I think he would have been kicked out of school. But he did well in school and always made sure his pranks didn't hurt anyone, so nobody came down on him too hard - most of the time. It had been okay when we were in separate schools. The junior high was four blocks away from the high school, so I didn't have to associate with Lucas when he was in eighth grade. Now though, he was in the same school with me, and there's such a thing as guilt by association. Now every time Lucas pulled one of his stunts, everyone would be looking at me with suspicion - especially since Lucas depended upon me for mobility. I had worked the past two summers saving up enough money to have a clunker - a ten year old Ford Tempo - to drive around in. Now Lucas wanted me to be his wheels whenever he wanted to pull a stunt. Even though I always refused, I was quickly becoming an implied accomplice. "Hey, big brother!" he greeted me. At least he didn't have a food tray or he'd probably have wanted to sit with us. That just wouldn't have been cool. After all, he was a freshman. "Uh, this is the senior table," Ron said with mock seriousness. "The freshman table is over there by the garbage cans." "Don't worry," Lucas said with one of his patented disarming grins. "I'm not staying." "That's for sure," Ron said laconically. Ignoring him, Lucas looked at me. "Dave Payne and I need a ride over to the fairgrounds tonight. How about it?" "The fair doesn't open until tomorrow," I pointed out. I wasn't sure what Lucas and Dave had planned, but I was sure they were up to no good. Dave followed Lucas's lead and was about as much of a prankster as Lucas. I really didn't want to be a part of it, whatever it was. "But you said you might be going by there tonight," he pointed out. "Yeah," I admitted, "but that was to earn some money - not to get into trouble." Ron and I had talked about picking up a little folding money helping the carnies set up the rides. The shows were often a few men short, so they didn't mind hiring the older kids - those of us who at least looked eighteen - to help out. "Maybe Dave and I can get hired on, too," Lucas ventured. "You're too young," I replied with the smugness only an older brother can muster. "No ride." "Shit!" Lucas went storming off. "Talk about an asshole!" The guys chuckled, as did I. It was fun to yank Lucas's chain every now and then. Besides, like I said, I didn't want people to think I had anything to do with his stunts. Well, Dave Payne had an older brother, too - a junior. Walt Payne was just stupid enough to give them the ride they wanted. I only hoped nobody with the carnival ever found out Lucas was my brother. Andy and Kevin slipped off to hang out with a couple of the cheerleaders while Ron and I firmed up plans to go to the fairgrounds and get hired on. While we were talking, Judy Castle slipped into the seat across from me. Her motley collection of fruit from the serving line and her bottle of mineral water from home were signs that she was back on a diet again. I could never understand women like Judy. She had a dynamite figure - yet she spent half her life on a diet. I pointed that out to her as she sat down. "Men!" she sighed with mock seriousness as she rolled her eyes. "How do you think I keep this dynamite figure?" "Hey, whatever makes you happy," I laughed. That was the sort of relationship Judy and I had enjoyed since we were little kids. "We still on for Saturday?" She shrugged, causing her long red hair to shake. "I suppose. Unless someone better comes along." I had to smile to myself at that. Judy never seemed to be particularly serious about any guy, although she dated regularly. Judy was another one of my classmates with good grades and high ambitions. She had her sights set on being a doctor like her father, and no romantic entanglements were about to slow her down. Matt Dillon could fly into town and ask for her hand and she'd probably laugh in his face. I was pretty much the same way. I had plans to eventually be a lawyer like my father. I didn't have time for a serious relationship either. That was what made Judy and I just right for each other - in a platonic sort of way naturally. "Hey, I'm better!" Ron said. "Yeah, and you didn't ask me out," Judy returned. Not that it would have done either of them any good. Judy wasn't Ron's type any more than Ron was Judy's type. Judy didn't care to date jocks -except me - and Ron had never been too fond of redheads like Judy. But they were friends nonetheless. "Say, who are you taking to the dance?" she asked Ron. Ron shrugged. "Nobody. I'm not going." I looked at my friend in surprise. "I thought you were going to take April Mathers." "She already had a date," he replied laconically. It never ceased to amaze me that Ron could bully a two hundred plus pound linebacker into getting out of his way on the field but was so shy around girls. I knew several girls who would have gladly gone out with Ron. In a way, it was a shame Ron and Judy weren't attracted to each other. She was one of the few girls Ron accepted as just one of the guys. I guess it was because Judy, Ron and I had played together when we were young children and what sex you were didn't matter much. "Oops!" Judy said, gathering up her mostly uneaten lunch. "I forgot. I've got to see Mr. Simpson about a referral letter." "Referral for what?" I asked. "College, dummy. I've got to get my applications together." And with that she was gone. "College?" I hadn't even started working on mine yet. Besides, I was planning on going to NU. With my grades, it would be no problem. But I guessed Judy was probably applying to a lot of out of state schools, so maybe she needed to get her stuff together sooner. Well, Judy was nothing if not organized. Classes drug by that afternoon. Outside the windows, it looked like a warm summer day and I wanted to be out in it. The thought of going out to the fairgrounds and working that evening appealed to me. It was like a grand adventure in a new locale. The old fairgrounds were at the foot of Main Street, just this side of the railroad tracks. They had been there for as long as there had been county fairs, but economics had changed all of that. Wheeler Foods was the largest company in Leeds. It's a small company that private brands vegetables and meat products liked canned stew, but as far as the City Fathers of Leeds were concerned, it might as well be General Motors. Very few people have heard of it, but nearly everyone in the country used one of their products without knowing it. Anyhow, Wheeler Foods was situated next to the railroad tracks, and they wanted to expand. The problem was that the best direction to expand was right into the fairgrounds. So Dan Wheeler's dad, the current president of the company, bought the last tract of land from the old Carver farm and traded it to the county in return for the old fairgrounds. He even offered to build a new exhibit hall and set up a monument commemorating the Carver Homestead. The Carvers had been the first family to settle in the county that now bore their name. We all learned about it in Nebraska History back in junior high. Jebediah Carver, his wife, son and daughter, made the trek from Ohio just before the Civil War and set up a farm that eventually grew into a large agricultural operation. But like many families, the Carvers eventually left the farm and the county. Parcel by parcel, the farm was sold off by the heirs until only a few acres remained in family control. For some reason, the Carvers had always held onto the last few acres. Word was that when Amelia Carver, Jebediah's daughter, had eventually inherited the entire farm, she had always insisted that the few acres around a thick grove of trees near town be held by the family. And strangely enough, she demanded the land remain fallow. No crops were ever raised on the land, in spite of the presence of a gentle stream on the property. She didn't even allow hunting, often calling in the sheriff in her later years to shoo off would-be hunters. Her heirs always honored her request. But now the last of the Carvers were gone, and the land had passed on to some distant cousins back in Ohio. They had been anxious to sell the land, so Mr. Wheeler made an offer on the land that was quickly accepted. Then he proposed a land swap, offering the town the new land for the county fair while he expanded onto the old fairgrounds. It was a good deal for everyone. Since eighty percent of the people in the county lived in Leeds, the County Commissioners quickly followed the City Council's lead in approving the move, and the result of it all was a new venue for the county fair. I hadn't been out to the fairgrounds since the formal dedication just before Labor Day. That was when they dedicated the monument to the Carvers down near the grove of trees on Red Willow Creek. We had all enjoyed a fine celebration that day, with all the city and county officials and their families in attendance. Dan Wheeler's dad spoke and told everybody about the two hundred new jobs down at the plant that would be possible because of the land swap. And in general, a good time was had by all. So after school and football practice, I hurried home to grab a quick bite to eat so I could join Ron and try to get hired on setting up the rides and all. Usually, we ate as a family, but Mom was going to be busy with some of the fair exhibits put up by her various civic groups and wasn't going to be home until late. Lucas was eating at Dave Payne's house, so that just left Dad and me. Dad had a late meeting with a client, so he had come home early to eat. "I warmed up some extra meatloaf," he told me after I had changed into some work clothes for the evening. "If you want anything else, you're on your own." "Meatloaf is great," I told him, piling a couple of slabs on my plate. That, a couple of slices of bread, and a glass or two of milk were just enough to hold me. Maybe Ron and I would stop off for a burger after work - assuming we got work. Dad was just finishing up. "I know you're trying to get work tonight, so just leave the dishes in the sink. I'll get them when I get home." "Going to be late?" I asked, diving into my dinner. "Not too late," he replied. "I need to meet with Gus Travis about that work injury of his, but he doesn't get off until seven." "It's only six now," I noted. "What's the hurry?" "I've got to run by Doc Winter's clinic. She took some pictures of the monument out at the fairgrounds. I thought I'd see how they came out. See you later." I was going to have to get my ears checked, I thought to myself. I knew Doc Winter had taken a few pictures out at the monument for the official records. Photography was Doc's second love, next to the veterinary clinic. The problem was I could have sworn Dad had said "she" had the pictures. Dr. Samuel J. Winter was many things, but definitely not a "she." I must have just heard him wrong, I told myself. I picked up Ron and headed out to the fairgrounds. There was still plenty of light in the warm early evening, so the carnival should be pretty well set up before it got too dark. We could see the truck trailers emblazoned with "Midwest Rides and Attractions" emblazoned in bright red on the side. Most of them looked as if they had already been unloaded. We reported in at the small trailer that served as an office for the show. One look at our size and the manager hired us on the spot. We'd be paid in cash at the end of the night, so there'd be no annoying payroll taxes withheld. Hey, we were not quite eighteen. Why should we want Social Security tax and all that stuff taken out of our pay? Ron and I were assigned setting up the Tilt-a-Whirl. That's the ride where roundish carts open to the front twirl along on a wavy pathway. It's a fairly tame ride, but sometimes you can get them spinning fast enough to get a thrill. It's particularly fun when the mild g-forces spin you into a nice looking girl sitting next to you. It's a way to cop a feel and make it look like the spin of the cart made you do it. Marty James was working with us, and he was hurting. Marty was a big guy - nearly my size - but he was a little out of shape. What had probably appeared to the foreman to be muscle was really fat. He huffed and puffed, partially for effect, so Ron and I gave him a hand. "Thanks, guys," he said when we were given a short break before helping to set up the merry-go-round. "Man, I gotta get in shape!" "You've been saying that for years, Marty," I pointed out as I handed him a cold drink from the cooler provided for the crew. And it was true. Like most of the guys in my class, I had known Marty since I was a toddler. Our fathers were on City Council together, and we attended the same church. As long as I had known Marty, he had a tendency to be a little chubby. Like I said, he didn't appear fat - just a little on the pudgy side. He was the kind of guy who would be a wheezing fat man by the time he reached forty. "Damn!" he muttered, sniffing at one of his pits. "I'm gonna pit out this shirt." "So what's the big deal?" Ron laughed. "You have a hot date?" "As a matter of fact I do." "What?" Ron and I chorused. Marty was one of those guys who didn't date much. It wasn't that he was ugly or anything. He really wasn't a bad looking guy in spite of his weight, and I would have pegged him about average in intelligence and personality. But he was always reaching a little too high. He couldn't understand why the cheerleaders and the other hot girls in the school preferred more toned, personable guys. "So who's the unlucky girl?" I asked. He nodded. "Her." It was getting dark, so we didn't get a good look at who he was nodding at. Whoever she was, she must have had a dark complexion, for I couldn't make out her features in the evening shade of a nearby refreshment stand that was being built. I could make out her figure though - small, slim and well-shaped, framed by coils of dark hair. "Jeez, Marty, you hit the jackpot," Ron commented. "She looks okay." "She looks more than okay," I said, noting the gleam of white teeth as she smiled in the dim light. "Who is she?" "She works for the carnival," Marty explained. "I met her over by the manager's trailer. She's hot for me too, guys. She's a fortuneteller." "So did she look in her crystal ball and tell you you were going to get lucky tonight?" Ron quipped. "Something like that," Marty replied. "We just started talking and she asked me back to her trailer after work. Of course I said yes." "Of course," we agreed. With that we started back to work, but as I dropped the Cola can into the trash, I couldn't help but think she was staring at me from the shadows. I could almost feel her dark eyes looking all the way into my soul, and I could swear I saw the flash of white teeth. I shook my head. I had to be imagining it. Marty called it quits about an hour later, collecting his pay and heading off to meet the friendly fortuneteller. I hoped he wouldn't have a heart attack when he got to her. As out of shape as he was, he was still huffing when he left with his money. Ron and I were kept on for a little longer, but by nine, everything was pretty well set up. Both of us felt good. It had been physical work and the money we now shoved in our wallets would come in handy. We were about to leave, our money collected, when I heard a small, high voice call from the shadows, "S...Steve?" I looked around and saw the outline of a girl. She was young - no more than thirteen or fourteen - but I didn't recognize her. It was funny, because as she tentatively stepped from the shadows, I could see she was really cute and looked just a little bit familiar. She was probably a freshman, I thought, and I was under the impression that I had already taken note of all the cute freshman girls, but somehow I had missed her. Still, as I said, she looked a little familiar, with her blue eyes that sparkled once she moved out into the light and her long, light brown hair. She was dressed in a feminine pink tee with a neckline low enough to display growing breasts, and her legs were well displayed in a very short khaki mini. As she nervously approached me, she seemed to wobble a little bit, perched on those wedge sandals that are like a casual high heel. Her makeup and jewelry were as sophisticated as their equivalents on girls in my class, giving her a more mature look. Along with the mature appearance, there was a shadow of something else - confusion, I thought. It was as if she knew something was wrong. I began to realize the sparkle in her eye was light reflecting tears. "Steve?" she said again, a quaver in her voice. "Yeah," I replied, a little alarmed by the look of fear and disorientation on her face. "I'm sorry, but I don't know your name..." "Oh Steve!" she exclaimed, her voice wavering. "It's me... Lucas!" With that, she broke into a sob and threw herself against me. It was probably the last thing in the world I expected to hear - and the most incredible. While the girl did look faintly like my brother, I didn't believe for an instant what she had just said. Still, I instinctively put an arm around me. What guy wouldn't when a hot looking girl wrapped herself around his body? But I knew there was no way this attractive creature could be my brother. I sensed one of Lucas's devilish pranks coming up, and I was determined not to fall for it. Ron sensed the same thing. As I stood there holding the sobbing girl, he calmly said, "Gee, Steve, I didn't know your brother was a transvestite." That brought a grin to my face, but the girl had her head buried too far in my chest to see it. Now from past experience, I knew that when Lucas plans a stunt, the best thing to do is pretend to go along with it until I could figure out where he was going with it - although this particular prank seemed almost too much to use that tactic. Surely Lucas had to know that there was no way in the world that I would believe this girl's assertion that she was somehow my brother. I supposed I was expected to believe that my brother had been made up to look like a girl. If that was his expectation, I thought, he would soon be disappointed, because while he had undoubtedly chosen her because of a faint resemblance to him, there was no way that the person in my arms could have been a boy made up to look like a girl. The curves and swells of her small body -smaller than Lucas's I might add - were very obviously feminine, and I was a little embarrassed to note that she was making me hard. "You want to tell me what this is all about?" I asked softly. The sobbing stopped for a moment. She looked up at me, hope emerging from her tear-filled eyes. "You mean... you mean you believe me?" I gently pushed her away from me, careful not to appear to reject her or overbalance her on her wedges. "I didn't say I believed you yet," I clarified. "Tell me what this is all about first and then I'll decide if I believe you or not." She closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them, she nodded and said, "I guess that's fair. Look, Steve, I've seen that look in your eyes before. I know you're just stringing me along. But let me tell you what happened. Then maybe you'll believe me." "I doubt it," I told her, "but you can try." "You know Dave and I were going to be here tonight," she began. "We got here a couple of hours ago. Dave's older brother dropped us off. Mostly we just wanted to look around. You know - figure out if there were any good rides this year and look over the booths and figure out which games we had a chance of beating." That was innocent enough. I had often done the same thing with my friends when I was too young to work setting up the show. I nodded. "Then we spotted the fortuneteller's booth. It was already set up just in front of the trailers." Again I nodded. I had noticed it myself earlier and figured that was where Marty was now - trying his best to get laid. Now her face reddened a little. "We suddenly thought it would be neat to snag her crystal ball. You know those things are neat." I had an uncomfortable little twinge. Lucas actually did think they were neat. He had a couple of crystal balls - paperweights actually - in his room and often liked to hold them up to the light to watch the colors shift along the surface. "There was nobody in the booth," she went on. "Or at least I didn't think there was. Dave was pretty nervous about the whole thing. He stood lookout while I scooped the ball up off a table in the back of the booth. Some lookout he was. She got in from the other side. I didn't even see an entrance there. But you should have seen her. She's Indian - American Indian, I mean. Long dark hair. Good looking." Again I felt a little uncomfortable. I had seen the fortuneteller and she did indeed look like the girl's description. Still, the best lies are laced with elements of the truth. Ask any politician. "She grabbed me. Then she accused me of trying to take her crystal ball. The next thing I know she's chanting something. It sounded like what the Indians are saying to each other in those ceremonies in the movies. You know what I mean. It's almost like a song. The next thing I know my body feels weird. It didn't exactly hurt, but it was like the feeling you get when you have a muscle spasm and things start moving around without any conscious control. It's like your arm last spring..." I nodded. The previous spring I had pinched a nerve in my throwing arm. For a few days, I seemed to lack complete control over my arm. It was curious that Lucas would tell the girl that particular story to make her identity sound more credible. "So my body started changing while she held on. God, you should have seen the grin on her face. It was like an animal. What's the word I'm looking for?" "Feral," I told her. She thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, that's the word. It was a feral grin. I tried to break free, but I couldn't. She wasn't that big and I should have been able to break away, but I couldn't. It was as if she was sapping my strength as she held me. I could feel everything shifting inside me - bones, organs, skin hair, everything." "Where was Dave in all of this?" Ron asked. I looked at him strangely, realizing he was actually getting caught up in the story. "The pussy ran off," she muttered. Then, surprisingly, she gave a little laugh. "That's good. Who am I calling a pussy? Look at me." I had to admit, she even talked a little like Lucas. The inflections were similar for one thing. And Lucas had a habit of calling people pussies and worse. But I knew that she was just playing along with Lucas. She had to be. After all, it was completely impossible for a person's sex to be changed that way. It had to be. "Okay, great story," I said loudly so that Lucas could hear me if he was hiding in the shadows. "You've had your fun, Lucas, but we aren't buying it." I was talking loudly enough to be heard all over the place, sure that Lucas was lurking behind a tree or a parked car. "Damn it, Steve, weren't you listening?" she practically wailed. "It's me! I'm your brother." "So okay," I laughed, "you're a great actress, whoever you are. Now run along." Her look of anger and frustration turned to one of fear. "You... you aren't going to leave me out here, are you?" I wanted to leave her there, but it wasn't a good idea. Leeds was a quiet little town, but bad things could happen in quiet little towns, too. That might be especially true if one of the rougher carnival workers spotted her cute little body and decided to see what he could get away with. "All right," I sighed. "I'll give you a ride back into town." The fairgrounds were just on the edge of town, so we didn't have far to go. In spite of my insistence that she tell me where she lived, she just wanted to be dropped off at my house. I supposed she was going to meet Lucas there later. Dave's older brother was probably picking them up. The girl rode silently in the back seat. I thought I heard her whimpering every now and then, but I wasn't sure, and I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of asking her what was wrong. I looked over at Ron who was examining something. "What's that?" "It's a purse," Ron said. "She must have dropped it while getting in the car. I thought I'd find out who she was. It must be hers. But it's funny she didn't ask about it. It was just lying on the ground over by where we first saw her." "Give me that!" she demanded when she heard what we were talking about. "Not just yet," Ron told her as he rummaged around in her purse. "I want to know who you really are." He extracted an ID, looked at it in the light of the street lamps on Main Street, and began to frown. "What's wrong?" I asked him. Silently, he passed the ID to me. We were stopped at a traffic light, so I had a moment to study the ID. It was a standard ID issued by Leeds High School to all students. The picture on it was certainly the girl in the back seat. I froze as I looked at the name on the card: Lisa Ann Hall. I handed the ID back to Ron. "It's a fake." "Are you sure?" Ron asked. "What's wrong with you? You don't really think someone changed my brother into a girl, do you? I'll tell you what's happened. Lucas and Dave probably got into the office and made up this ID for their little girlfriend." I looked back at the sullen girl in the back seat. "It isn't going to work, sweetheart." "Fuck you!" she said, dabbing her eyes with her hand, causing her makeup to run. "No time," I told her. "We're home - my home that is." Ron said goodnight and headed off for his house a couple of blocks away. He had said he wanted to walk or he would be stiff in the morning from our workout at the carnival. When he was gone, I looked at the girl. "This is where we part company," I told her. "It's not too late though. If you'll just tell me where you live, I'll drop you off." "Fuck you." "You already said that." "Then bite my ass." Before I could think of a snappy comeback, she turned and headed for the house. The front door was unlocked, and before I could stop her, she was inside. I was right behind her though. The next few moments changed my entire view of reality. Up until then, I was convinced that my brother was playing an elaborate prank with the help of a willing and talented young actress. I had shown my determination to not fall for the stunt. But there are two people in the world I knew who hated Lucas's pranks more than I did - our parents. And the two of them were waiting for us when I rushed in the door after the strange girl. By chance, my mother was in the entryway when we walked in. She had just gotten back home herself, and my father was standing there talking to her. "Lisa, what's wrong?" my mother asked with concern upon seeing the girl's makeup-streaked face. I don't know who was more shocked - me or the girl. She skidded to a stop in front of Mother and asked, "What did you just call me?" Mother laughed. "Why Lisa, of course. What else should I call you?" Lucas, I thought. She should call him - her - Lucas. No, that wasn't right. There was no way on Earth that my mother would have played along with a prank like the one I thought Lucas was pulling. My eyes tracked over to the family portrait hanging on the entryway wall. There were Mom and Dad, smiling in acknowledgement of their bountiful lives. There I was, trying to look older than the fifteen years I had achieved at the time the picture was taken, and there was...Lucas? No, there was Lisa in the picture. There was a girl, ten or eleven at the time, her long hair looking almost more blonde than brown, a smile on her face as she stood there in her pale blue dress... Oh shit. "Yes, what's wrong, sweetheart?" my father asked with a slight glance in my direction to see if she had been crying because of something I had said or done. "I...I..." she began. I didn't know what was going on, but enough had happened to convince me that the unhappy girl before me was what had become of my brother. Yet for some reason, our parents noticed nothing strange. I had to come up with an answer for them before "Lisa" said something wrong. "She had an argument with her boyfriend," I explained quickly. The girl who had been Lucas turned on me in a heartbeat, and I thought I was going to be subjected to another of her foul-mouthed tirades. But then she saw the desperate look in my eyes and realized that while she and I might remember a person named Lucas, our parents knew only of Lisa. "Yes, that's it," she said in a small voice as I gave a quiet sigh of relief. "Oh, Lisa," our mother said, putting a comforting arm around the girl. I couldn't help but note that when Lucas had left for the fairgrounds, he was a good three inches taller than Mom. Now he was shorter by at least that same amount. "Don't worry. I'm sure you and Dave will work it out. He's such a nice boy." I saw the fear in the girl's eyes as she realized that my parents thought her friend Dave was now her boyfriend. The obvious question in her mind was how many other people thought that - and did Dave now think he was her boyfriend? "Uh...yeah, Mom," she said, gently moving away from Mom's comforting arm. "I need to go to bed now. I'll be fine; don't worry." I realized she just needed to get up to her room and away from our parents. They apparently had no way of knowing that they were freaking both of us out. Neither of us had expected what we saw and heard when we walked in the door. "I'll check up on her," I volunteered, following the girl who had been my brother up the stairs. I'm sure our parents thought we were both acting a little weird. If only they knew, but apparently they had no idea what had happened. As far as they were concerned, they had always had a daughter named Lisa. There was no Lucas - never had been. I found my new sister sitting in a nearly catatonic state on the bed in her room. I suppose I should have expected the room that had been Lucas's to be changed, but it just hadn't crossed my mind. I was too worried about my brother to think about that. It must have been mind- blowing for her to throw open the door of her room and find that everything she remembered - every trophy or memento - had been changed or removed. "Holy shit!" I said softly. Everything was feminine. Every corner of the room announced that a girl lived there. An open closet door showed a rack of girl's clothing, with pair after pair of girl's shoes spread across the floor. Instead of a tall chest of drawers, there was a lower set now supplemented by a vanity. The colors were soft pastels - the walls a cream color and the drapes a slightly lemon shade. I suppose it could have been worse. Everything could have been pink. "So now you believe me," the girl on the bed mumbled, her lower lip trembling as if she were about to cry again. "I believe you, Lucas," I replied, sitting next to her on the bed. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you before, but this is... well, it's pretty unbelievable." "I guess I can't blame you," she said softly. "If somebody else told me this had happened to them, I wouldn't believe them either. I really don't believe it myself." "Maybe it will wear off," I offered lamely. She looked at me with sad eyes. "I don't think so." She fell back on the bed, hair spilling over the covers and her small breasts shifting beneath her tee. I couldn't help myself - I was staring at her. Her smooth legs wrapped in fine nylon, her widening hips, her slim waist, her small but pronounced breasts, and her attractive face and hair were worth looking at. Even if she had been my brother, it was hard to think of her as my new sister. "Steve, what am I going to do?" "Tell me again what happened." This time as she told me about the Indian fortuneteller and the transformation, I listened more closely. After all, this time I believed her. There was one important addition to the story though, but I had to ask her about it first. "Did she say anything - anything at all when she changed you?" She thought for a moment. She was sitting up Now closing her eyes to try to remember the details. "Yeah, she did. When she caught me, she said something. It sounded like 'walking talking.' Then she grabbed me even tighter. She just laughed and chanted while I...I...changed. Then, when it was over, she left. I was too stunned to stop her. The... change didn't exactly hurt, but it takes a lot out of you. But just before she left, she said something like 'tell your father to let me go.' I don't know what she meant. It didn't seem to make any sense." It didn't make any sense to me either. Walking, talking? What could that mean? And as for the part about our father, that meant nothing to me. It was crazy. Everything was crazy. An Indian fortuneteller changes my brother into a girl - then babbles something about walking and talking and demands that my father let her go. It didn't make any sense at all. "S...Steve?" "Yeah, Lucas." "What am I gonna do? I don't want to be a girl." How was I to respond to that? There were still tears in her eyes and her lower lip was trembling. She looked as if she was about to curl up into a little ball and die. I hadn't seen Lucas even cry since I accidentally hit him in the head with a baseball when he was ten. But this slip of a girl he had become looked ready to burst into tears if I said the wrong thing. "We'll have to find a way to get you changed back," I told... her. It was hard to think of Lucas as a guy any more. All the pronouns were changing in my head. I supposed if we couldn't find a way to change her back that I would have to start calling her Lisa. I must have said the right thing, I thought. There was actually a little look of hope in her eyes. "Do... do you think she would change me back?" "Sure," I said confidently, although I didn't feel confident. "We'll go over there in the morning before school and demand that she change you back. Remember, Dad's on the City Council. We've got some leverage." "Let's go now," Lucas suggested brightly. "I think I know which trailer is hers. It's the one that says 'Madame Laura' on the side." In a frighteningly feminine gesture, she swept the long hair out of her face and grabbed her purse. "We can't tonight," I told her, grimacing as the sad, tortured look returned to her face and her shoulders slumped. "Why not?" "It's almost eleven," I pointed out. "I don't think Mom and Dad would let me out of the house this late on a school night. They're certainly not going to let my little sister out that late." I regretted calling her that as I did it, but I had to say it. If it were possible for her to look more abject, I don't know how she would have accomplished it. By calling her my little sister, I had driven home her new status. She knew in that moment - maybe for the first time - that the freedom she had enjoyed as a male had just been seriously curtailed. If she remained female, she'd be subjected to earlier curfews and expected to conform to the usual female norms. "I don't think I can stand to wait until tomorrow," she said, barely above a whisper. "If I do, I'll have to get ready for bed and..." I knew where she was going with that. She'd have to see herself naked. She'd have to acknowledge her growing breasts and the void between her legs. If she had to go to the bathroom, it would involve sitting to pee. She'd have to dress herself in something soft and feminine and go to bed with the knowledge of who and what she was. "You can do it," I assured her. "But what if she won't change me back?" "Then you'll just have to be a girl. At least our parents think you've always been a girl. Maybe Ron and I are the only ones who know you used to be a guy. Maybe it's because we were fairly close to you when you transformed. Maybe everybody in your class remembers you as a girl." I knew that was an unsettling thought to her, but it was probably even more unsettling to think about going to school and having all her classmates realize she had been changed. I had no way of knowing who would remember Lucas and who would not, but at least my theory sounded more palatable to her than being made fun of by her friends. "If you're right, then Dave will know," she pointed out. "He was there tonight." "Dave's your best friend," I reminded her. "If anybody is sympathetic to your...situation, it should be Dave." "Maybe you're right," she finally sighed. "I'll just go to bed and try to get some rest." "Good idea," I agreed, getting up from the bed. "I'll see you in the morning. Get up about an hour early and we'll go down to the fairgrounds." As I started for the door, she called after me, "Steve?" I stopped and turned, surprised by the quickness of her small form as she leaped from the bed and threw her arms around me. "Thanks, Steve." Uncomfortably I put my arm around her. She seemed so small and frail compared to the broad, developing shoulders I remembered on Lucas. "That's what brothers are for." I got ready for bed myself, avoiding the bathroom I shared with Lucas so that she would have the time to examine herself without interference. I knew that would be what she would do. I didn't know if Lucas had ever seen a naked girl before, and she wouldn't miss what was hopefully her only opportunity to do so. I was almost ready to turn out the lights when I remembered something I should have remembered earlier, but the furor surrounding my brother's transformation had pushed all other thoughts from my mind. Marty had a date with the fortuneteller. Of course there was no reason to assume that she would change him into a girl. After all, she had caught Lucas trying to steal her crystal ball and punished him. Marty was a whole different situation, wasn't he? It was very late. Our parents had already gone to bed, and I had heard the door to Lucas's room close as well. I imagined the same scenario was in play at Marty's house. I couldn't call him without pissing off his parents. Besides, like me, he was a senior. His parents might have cut him a little slack about what time to be home. He might still be out with the fortuneteller. Well, I thought as I drifted off to sleep, like Lucas's situation, it would just have to wait until morning. I was awakened the next morning by a feminine yelp - or scream. I wasn't sure which. I jumped out of bed, thinking at first it was my mother. Then as I reached the door, I remembered what had happened to Lucas. I threw open the door to her room and was greeted by another scream. She was standing there with a white nightie at her feet. She was wearing nothing but a pair of white panties, her small breasts exposed. In a gesture so feminine that I think it shocked both of us, she threw her hands over her breasts. "What's the idea of barging in here?" she asked angrily. "Sorry!" I quickly turned my back. "I heard you screaming." "Oh, yeah," she said, a little chagrinned. "I just forgot what had happened when I woke up. I looked down at myself and screamed before I realized what was wrong." That was understandable. I probably would have done the same thin, I realized. "I'm sorry, Lucas. I just wasn't thinking." "It's okay," she sighed, and I heard the soft rustle of clothes. "You can turn around now." When I did, I saw she was wearing a light cotton robe. It was peach colored, and I had to admit she looked damned cute in it. If she remained a girl, she'd be a real heart-breaker someday. "And maybe you'd better call me Lisa," she suggested. "The rents might not understand if you start calling me Lucas." "Okay...Lisa." I hadn't thought about our parents. Had they heard us? No, I didn't think so. It sounded as if Dad was in the shower and Mom must already be downstairs fixing breakfast. Both of our parents were early risers. Even given that Lucas...er...Lisa and I had gotten up an hour earlier than usual, we still hadn't beaten them up. In fact, Dad was usually gone before we even rolled out of bed. "I really should take a shower," Lisa mused. "We need to get out to the fairgrounds," I pointed out. "You can shower later." "No, I'm going to take one now," she said decisively. "Well, no arguing with a woman," I reckoned. For that, she threw a pillow at me. "Rat!" I went back to my room and got dressed. I'd shower later at school. One of the advantages of being on the football team was that I had access to the locker room. I was a little unsettled, though. When I had talked with Lukas the night before, she had acted as I would have expected anyone in her position to act. She was frightened and confused, but she still sounded like Lucas. By morning, though, something about her had changed. Oh, she still remembered who she had been, but she was starting to act like a girl. First, she had covered her breasts. Well, I supposed that was natural enough. She was probably embarrassed to have them. Then she had decided to take a shower. While Lucas wasn't exactly one of the unclean, he would never have put off our mission just to take a shower. And finally, when I had insulted her, all she did was throw a pillow and call me a rat. A rat! The old Lucas would have tried to pound on me while calling me names that would make a pimp blush. Maybe there was something about her transformation that transcended the physical. I knew from my studies that the body uses sleep time to sort and file the experiences of the day in the mind. Perhaps the experience of being a girl, complete with the new balance of chemicals running through her mind, were causing her to be more like the girl she appeared to be. Or maybe it was just part of the spell. Or then again, maybe she was just flipping out. Well, whatever the reason, we needed to get out to the fairgrounds and find that fortuneteller. "You're up early," Mom said as I rushed into the kitchen. "Yeah," I agreed, grabbing a box of cereal, a bagel and some cream cheese. Mom was just finishing her coffee, but she stayed at the table to talk with me. She said it was the only time of the day she got to talk to me alone. "Did I hear you and your sister arguing?" I grimaced. It was so difficult to have her refer to her as my sister. It seemed somehow sad that she didn't even remember Lucas. "No," I replied, pouring a large orange juice for myself. "I just told her we needed to hurry this morning." After a moment's thought I added, "There's an assembly at school." That should be enough to keep her from being too curious, I thought. Otherwise she'd ask as dozen questions about where we were going so early in the morning. That was, assuming it was still early in the morning when we left. Lisa's shower looked to be a long project. Fortunately I had ducked in and out of the bathroom before she got in there. It was going to be a pain in the butt sharing a bathroom with a girl. There was another reason to get her changed back to normal as soon as possible. The doorbell rang suddenly. "Get that please, Steve," Mom said. "I'm still in my robe and I don't even have any makeup on." I shook my head. What was it with women and makeup? I'd never understand. As I opened the door, I saw a woman I had never seen before. She was fairly tall and about forty. She was attractive for an older woman, although not what I would call beautiful. Her hair was a dark but vibrant brown, pulled back into a loose ponytail. She wore a white lab coat over her dress with the words "Winter Veterinary Clinic" emblazoned on the pocket. "Hi, Steve," she said with a bright smile that made her look even more attractive. "I was going to give these pictures..." She thrust a packet into my hand. "...to your father last night, but I got called out to the Henderson farm to treat a sick horse. Just tell him these are his copies. I developed them for him. I got some great shots. I even took a couple in the evening when it was all lit up." "Uh...sure." "Hi, Doc," my mother called from the kitchen door. "Hi, Linda," the woman mother called Doc replied with a smile. Doc? She smiled again. "Well, I'd better get to work. Nice to see you again, Steve. I'll talk to you later, Linda." She wiggled her fingers in a classically feminine goodbye and turned to get back to the Ford Explorer I knew Doc Winter drove. I just stood there in the doorway, watching her go. It wasn't just that I was following the motions of an attractive woman. It was that I was following the motions of an attractive woman who shouldn't have existed. Doc Winter was a man - or should have been. He should have been a guy about six three in height, balding, and somewhat angular. Doc was divorced with no kids and considered by my mother's single friends to be something of a catch. Or at least he had been. And either this Doc Winter was a very good actress or she had no idea she had ever been anyone else except the person she now was. Was this going to happen to Lisa? Would she forget who she had been and start to act more and more like a girl? I hoped not. I had too many good memories (and a few bad ones) of my brother that I would rather not lose - or have Lisa lose. And speaking of Lisa, she came bounding down the stairs, hair bouncing as she did. To my surprise, she wore a denim skirt, sandals, and a rather revealing white top. She even had a bracelet, necklace, and a couple of rings on. And she was wearing makeup. It wasn't a lot - just a little eye shadow and lipstick, but it was makeup. She noticed my open mouth. "Look, bro, I've got to play the part, don't I? What if we don't find the fortuneteller and everyone remembers me as a girl?" "I suppose," I said with a shrug, although I suspected there was more to her appearance than that. "Are you sure you want to be changed back?" "More than anything," she replied. "Look, I can't explain why I'm thinking the way I'm thinking. I know it doesn't make any sense to my male side either. In some ways, that makes it all the worse. I feel as if there's another person inside me pulling all the switches. Up in my room I wanted to call you a... Well, let's just say I wanted to call you something worse than a rat. But it just didn't seem like a good idea." "Can you say cocksucker?" I asked seriously. "Sure," she replied. "Cocksucker. See? There's nothing magical keeping me from saying it. It just when I had the opportunity to call you something, 'rat' seemed about right and cocksucker seems not right. So are we going?" "Don't you want something to eat?" Lucas had an appetite greater than my considerable one, but Lisa shook her head. "Let's go," she said heading for the door. "I want to find that fortuneteller and get back to normal." I had been so intent on getting Lisa back to normal that I hadn't considered how carnival shows operated. Since their crews had worked late into the evening getting set up, not much was going on in the early morning light. A few people were moving around, but for the most part, there was no activity. On the other hand, that was probably a good thing. It meant the fortuneteller was probably in her trailer. As we approached the trailer, I began to feel my confidence draining. Usually I got what I wanted when I tried. I was smart, reasonably good looking and athletic. I came from a good family that was locally prominent and I had a predictably bright future, so most people could be convinced to see things my way. But as I knocked on the trailer door, I began to realize I just might be out of my element. The fortuneteller was capable of magic - something I hadn't realized even existed. Not only was there a danger that she wouldn't turn Lisa back into Lucas, but there was the distinct possibility that she might do something to me as well. I decided the best course of action was humility. Bluster wouldn't help in this matter. The door opened slowly and cautiously. Peering out was a woman, but not an Indian. The woman was blonde, but there were enough dark roots to indicate that she certainly wasn't a natural blonde. Her hair was brushed but not carefully, as if she had been up for a while but hadn't expected visitors. I estimated her age to be about thirty, and she wasn't unattractive, but she did have the look of a woman who had not had a particularly easy life. She was wearing a robe which she bundled more tightly around her when she saw me. "Yeah, what do you want? It's a little early to have your fortune told." Her voice was a little sultry. I could imagine that when she was fully awake and dolled up, she was probably quite attractive and looked every bit the part of a fortuneteller. "Uh...sorry to bother you," I said quickly. "We were looking for the other fortuneteller - the Indian one." She frowned. "What Indian? You kids been smoking the funny stuff? There's barely enough business in these little towns for me, let alone another fortuneteller." "But there was an Indian woman in your booth last night," Lisa insisted. "She said - " "And what the hell were you doing in my booth last night?" the fortuneteller demanded. "And what was this Indian doing there?" "Maybe we made a mistake," I said in a placating tone. "I guess everybody just assumed she was the fortuneteller. Maybe she does something else with the show. Do you know who she might be? She's a attractive woman, long dark hair, Indian ancestry..." "Look, kid, there's nobody like that with the show, and I've been here three years so I'd know if there was. You kids look like she owes you money." "Something like that," Lisa mumbled. "Are you sure you can't help us? We'd really appreciate it." That last statement came out sounding like a forlorn little girl trying to get someone to help her find her doll. Either it was a great act or Lisa was becoming more girlish than I could have ever imagined. I prayed it was just an act. "About the only thing I could do is tell your fortune," she grinned. "For whatever good that would do." "Thanks anyway," I said. "Sorry to have bothered you." "Now what?" Lisa sighed dejectedly as the trailer door closed. "Let's check with the carnival office," I suggested. "Maybe this Indian was just pretending to be the fortuneteller. The office may know who she is." But that didn't do any good either. The show manager said there was no one with the show to match the description we gave him. He also told us that Wanda - the blonde fortuneteller - had last been seen going for a walk about sundown, so anyone who saw her go could have known it was safe to be snooping around her booth. So it could have been anyone. "Steve, I'm getting scared again," Lisa said, clutching my arm as we walked back to my car. "What am I going to do? I can't go to school like... like this!" I felt very badly for her. I had promised to help her and she had depended on me. But nothing had come of it. When I got to school, I'd talk to Marty since he had a date with the supposed fortuneteller. That is, if Marty was still Marty. I had a bad feeling that he and Lisa were in the same fix. "Maybe it won't be so bad," I told Lisa. "Maybe everybody remembers you as Lisa - just like our parents." "Maybe," she admitted, but I could see that she didn't really believe it. We drove silently to school. I could see Lisa turning paler as we approached the parking lot. I think I had more respect for my sibling than I ever had before. She had agreed to tough it out and go to school as a girl. I wondered if I would have the same resolve if I were in her shoes. "Do you want me to go with you to your first class?" I asked her. She shook her head. "I gotta do this by myself." We were standing just out the school. A few of the guys and even some of the girls had looked at her strangely, although Ms Patterson, the Freshman English teacher had cheerfully greeted her with a "Good morning, Lisa" on her way into the building. I put my arm around her tiny waist and said, "Good luck, sis." "Thanks. I'll need it." I thought about Lisa all through first period. I wondered how she was getting along. But I had something else to wonder about by second period. Marty was supposed to be in that class with me, but his seat was empty. It was Mr. Rustin's math class, and he hated it whenever anyone cut class. Viewing the empty seat, he challenged the class, "Does anyone know where Ms James is this morning?" There was a soft gasp from some of the class members, and a little whispering. Most looked confused, but I knew at once what was going on. Marty James didn't exist anymore, but a quick look at Ron told me that I was the only one in the room that had any inkling of what had actually happened to him. Judy started to say, "Mr. Rustin, do you mean Mart - " "She's sick today!" I blurted out. Judy looked at me as if I had just lost my mind. Well it was too late to stop now so I continued, "I talked to her last night. It's the flu." By now everyone in the class - even Ron - was looking at me as if I was a candidate for my very own rubber room. "Well, her mother needs to call and let the office know," Mr. Rustin said sternly. "If you talk to her again, Mr. Hall, tell her that." "I will, sir." After class, several of my fellow students grouped around me. "Just what were you babbling about in there?" Judy wanted to know. "I know," Kevin chimed in. "I talked to my sister after first period. She's in class with Steve's brother, only Lucas is a girl." "What?" everyone seemed to say at once. "You mean that girl last night... that was a no-shitter?" Ron asked. I nodded. "It was a no-shitter." Between Ron and I, we filled in our friends in the few minutes between classes. Most of them, of course, didn't want to believe us, but Mr. Rustin's reference to Ms James gave them little choice. "So what are you going to do now?" Judy asked as the group broke up heading for their next classes. "I'm going to check on my... sister after the next class and go over to Marty's house." "Then I'm coming with you," Judy told me. I was in no position to argue with her. Besides, I really didn't want to face the new Marty all by myself. It turned out Lisa wanted to go, too. Her morning had gone about as well as it could have under the circumstances. As it turned out, all of her fellow students believed her, but only because Dave Payne verified her story and - more importantly - every one of her teachers remembered her as Lisa Ann Hall. They were strangely accepting of her story. Maybe it was because they had been raised on Harry Potter books and the prospect of magic didn't seem so alien to them. "So what do you think about being a girl?" Judy asked Lisa when we were in the car and on our way to Marty's house. Lisa was sitting next to me, and from the corner of my eye, I could see her considering the question. "It's strange," she said at last. "I feel so small and weak. I'd rather be a guy again, but if I have to be...like this, I guess I can stand it." It took a lot for her to say that, I realized. Again, I felt very proud of her. She was taking it like a... I almost said taking it like a man. Obviously, that was the wrong way to look at it. But she was taking it in stride. Good for her, I thought. I wondered if she realized that in her own way she was exhibiting strengths Lucas never had. All the shades were drawn at Marty's house. His parents weren't home; I was sure of that. They both commuted to suburban Omaha about forty miles away. But I was pretty sure Marty was inside -or the person who used to be Marty. I knocked on the door. I could hear a television playing, but suddenly it went silent. I knocked again, but there was still no response. "Come on, Marty!" I yelled. "I know you're in there and I know what happened to you. Open up." Admittedly, I wasn't positive about what had happened to Marty, but I was starting to see a pattern. At last, a feminine voice from inside called, "Marty's not here. Go away." "Sorry, pal. We're not leaving. Now let us in and maybe we can help." I sensed Marty's reluctance. There was silence from inside the house, and I could imagine Marty - or the girl who used to be Marty - standing by the door uncertain as to whether or not to open the door. I felt a sense of relief as the lock clicked and the door slowly opened. Marty remained behind the door where we couldn't see him - or if my suspicions were right, her. "Nobody can help," that forlorn feminine voice sobbed. All three of us stepped into the house, quiet and sober as if entering a hospital room to see a critically ill patient. I suppose in a way, that was pretty much what we were doing. The room was dark, but there was sufficient light to see what had happened. The girl who had been Marty was wearing a robe which she clutched closely to herself. If I looked carefully at her face, I could almost see Marty there. But the newly-feminized face and the light brown hair were the only remnants of the Marty I knew. And even the hair had more body and was now shoulder length. As for the rest of her body, like the Marty I knew, she was a little overweight. She wasn't exactly fat, but where Marty's extra pounds could be mistaken for muscles at a distance, her newly widened hips and large breasts made her look like one of those women in an old European painting. But there was nothing wrong with her that the loss of a few pounds wouldn't fix, I thought. Then I chastised myself for the thought. This was Marty, after all, no matter what my eyes told me. Judy was dumbstruck. She had seen what had happened to Lisa of course, but Lisa was handling things pretty well. Marty looked like a wreck. "How did it happen, Marty?" I asked her. "It's Marsha now," she said, nearly crying. "That's what it says on my driver's license. And it says the same thing on my school ID. And it's what my parents call me..." It was too much for her. She slumped onto the living room couch and bawled. Judy rushed to her side and put an arm around her. To my surprise, Lisa rushed to her other side and did the same thing. We let her cry. There seemed to be nothing else we could do. Aware that I was by magical means the only guy in the room, I sat down and tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. My stomach was growling loudly, though. I hadn't eaten anything since my early breakfast. Of course the same was probably true for Lisa and Judy, but they didn't seem to mind as much. I guess I just had that much more body to maintain. When the crying subsided, I leaned forward and asked, "How did this happen to you?" She shook her head. "You wouldn't believe me." It was Lisa who convinced her. "Look, Marsha, do you remember Steve's brother, Lucas?" "S...sure." "Well take a look at me. I'm Lucas - or at least I used to be." Marty's mouth flew open. "You, too? How...how many others?" "As far as I know just the two of us," Lisa answered. I thought about mentioning Doc Winter but kept still. It wasn't the time or place - misery really doesn't like company all that much. "At least you got a nice looking body," Marty pointed out. "Look at me - I'm Miss Piggy." Lisa patted her hand. "Nonsense. You could really be very nice looking. All you need is a little exercise." So I wasn't the only one who thought that. Marsha - like Marty - wasn't bad looking. All she needed was to tone up her body a little bit and she'd be a good-looking girl. How many times had I told Marty he needed to exercise more? It seemed as if he had become his female counterpart in every way imaginable - including his refusal to exercise. The results had been roughly the same. He had gone from being flabby Marty to pudgy Marsha. When I thought about it, Lucas had also been turned into a very likely female equivalent. She was slim and attractive - the product of our parents' genetic heritage and Lucas's regimen of exercise that Lisa seemed to have inherited. It was a small sample, but I suspected if anyone else got changed, we'd find no white guys becoming black girls or homely guys becoming Miss America contestants. They say nature abhors a vacuum. I was beginning to suspect nature also abhorred radical changes, and maybe even magic had to conform to that. Of course, a sex change might be viewed as being pretty radical, but at its basic level, it was really just a switch at the chromosome level. So once our mysterious Indian woman flipped a guy's chromosomes, nature or time or God or whatever took over to make that switch seem normal. But if that was the case, why did some of us remember the way things originally were? It seemed as if age was a factor. Our parents and our teachers accepted the changes by not recognizing them. Doc Winter, for example, acted as if she had always been a woman. Our parents remembered only Lisa just as Marty's parents remembered Marsha. Our teachers had no idea things had changed. But my classmates remembered Marty and Lucas, and Marsha and Lisa knew they had been changed. Why? "Come on, Marsha," Lisa urged. "Tell us what happened." In a halting voice barely able to hold back more tears, Marsha told us her story... Marty had been in a great mood when he left us. He had cash in his pocket and a date with an exotically attractive girl. He couldn't believe his luck. She had actually come on to him! He had been hanging around outside the carnival's business office waiting to be assigned a job when she had come out of nowhere. There were better looking guys standing around, but she walked right up to him. She told him she really liked the AC/DC T-shirt he was wearing, although strangely, she had no idea what it referred to. She introduced herself as the fortuneteller with the carnival. They had struck up a conversation, and the next thing Marty knew, the girl was asking him out on a date. She seemed disappointed that he couldn't go with her right then, but he told her he had committed to work for awhile. She brightened though when he suggested they meet later. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, if you could accept that somebody like Marty would be able to pick up with a hot chick from the carnival just like that. Either she hadn't given him her name or he had forgotten it. That had seemed a little odd to Marty, but he just figured he find out what it was when they got together. She had seemed genuinely happy to see him, and the two of them had stolen away from the carnival. "I know a nice, quiet place where we can be alone," she had told him in a sultry voice. It was starting to sound better and better. Marty would have been happy meeting her over Cokes at the Dairy Queen, but being alone with her seemed even better. They had ended up out on Red Willow Creek, just upstream from the monument. The girl seemed in a hurry, but to Marty it appeared that what she was hurrying to do was going to be fine with him. He was lying there as she loosened his clothing. She had a wide smile on her face as she straddled him... Marsha lowered her head. "I...I can't talk about it." I peered at her. "Look, Marsha, if you ever want to be Marty again, you'd better tell us everything. We want to find that woman and make her change you and Lisa back. Something you're holding back might be just the clue we need." Marsha considered that for a moment. "All right," she said hesitantly, "but please don't repeat this to anyone. Please!" We all promised we would keep quiet. "She... she had my pants down and my T-shirt off. But she was still dressed. I thought maybe she was going to give me a... you know." "A blow job." To my surprise, it was Judy who had prompted that. Marsha nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, that's it. But I guess that was too much to hope for. She snuggled up next to me. She wrapped her hand around my tool, so I thought I was in for a hand job. I mean, it wasn't as good as a blow job, but what the hell? "She had... a touch that almost sent me over the edge. I had never felt like that before. My body started tingling. At first it felt good. It sort of started between my legs, and I just thought... well, you know what I thought. But when it spread through my whole body, I sort of got panicky. And then she started laughing. I tried to grab her and make her stop laughing, but she got up and moved away, still laughing. "I looked down to see what she was laughing about. I had changed. I was lying there on the ground with a pink T-shirt and a bra sitting next to me. I had tits! I had these big, fat tits, and I was wearing shorts, but they were down around my knees. My dick felt funny, so I reached down and... it wasn't there! I was kind of...well, wet and sticky, and I felt like I was..." "Aroused," Judy filled in. Marsha's face became bright red. "Yeah." "Did she say anything to you?" I asked, changing the subject for Marsha's benefit. "Yeah, but I didn't understand any of it. She sort of chanted in something like Indian talk. The just before she left me, she told me to tell my father to let her go. I couldn't understand what she meant. "I tried to get up and follow her, but it was like I was drunk or something. I couldn't even move much. And then I finally stood up and saw everything she did to me. I was a girl! I was a... a..." With that she broke down into massive sobs again. There was nothing we could do but let her cry. At least she had Judy and Lisa to hold onto. When Marty - or rather Marsha - finally stopped crying, Judy patted her hand and said, "Come on, we need to get you ready for school." The color drained from Marsha's face. "I can't go to school like... like this." "I don't see that you have much choice," Judy told her. "Your parents and your teachers aren't going to excuse you from school without a good reason." "And having my sex changed isn't a good reason?" "Look, Marsha," Lisa told her. "It happened to me, too. Don't worry. Everybody at school will be cool about it. They were with me." "And tonight," I added, "the guys and I will hunt that fortuneteller or whatever she is down and make her change you guys back." Judy turned to me and frowned. "Do you think that's wise, Steve? She can change you guys as easily as she could change Marsha and Lisa." I had thought about that, but I had also thought about what I considered to be reasonable precautions. "We'll work in pairs, and we'll have a girl with us so we don't have to touch her. It seems she needs to touch someone to change them." "You can't be sure of that," Judy cautioned. "What if she changes the girls into guys?" I really hadn't thought about that, but I just shrugged. "At this point, we can't be too sure of anything, can we? But if we don't do something to find her, it's going to be Lisa and Marsha forever." "I suppose you're right," she admitted, turning her attention to Marsha. Judy did a terrific job on Marsha. When she and Lisa led Marsha back into the living room, I would have challenged anyone to suspect that Marsha hadn't been a girl all her life. She was undeniably a little on the hefty side, but a soft white blouse and tailored khaki slacks gave her a well-groomed look. Her hair they had left long, cascading over her shoulders to frame her face and give it character. She wore wedge sandals which made her a little taller, causing her to just look big and not particularly heavy. For makeup, they had gone with a subtle look to reduce any particular feature and give her a more sophisticated look. Okay, so everything Judy did to her didn't change the fact that she was overweight, but I still had to admit she looked pretty good. I had dated worse - lots worse. "Marsha you look... great!" She looked at me shyly. "Do you really think so?" "I'll walk you to class myself," I told her. She gave me a smile that made her look as if she had been a girl all her life. I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable, but I tried to hide it. As we drove back to school, Judy drilled Marsha with girl stuff - how to walk, how to talk - that sort of thing. I even caught Lisa listening to her as well. Then I noticed there was a subtle change in Lisa's makeup. Apparently Marsha hadn't been the only one Judy had worked on. "You seem to be really getting into this girl thing," I told her quietly. It was meant lightly, but she looked at me seriously. "I might as well," she said. "I may be one for the next eighty years or so." "We'll find her and make her change you back," I replied confidently, and I really did believe that we would. Leeds wasn't a big city. The Indian woman couldn't hide out forever. We'd find her and figure out some way to make her change Marsha and Lisa back into guys. She patted my arm. "You're a good big brother." I smiled at that. I just wish she hadn't said it so sadly. When we got back to school, I was relieved to see Ron had bagged up some lunch for us. We all gratefully dug in. It was only school cafeteria food, but it tasted great on an empty stomach. Then I escorted Marsha to her first afternoon class. It was a class we shared - as did Ron and Judy - so we were able to cushion the impact for Marsha. Naturally everyone was curious. Lucas's transformation into Lisa was now well known throughout the school, so Marty's transformation into Marsha was accepted quickly. Oh, there were curious stares and a couple of questions, but Marsha managed to tell her story before the teacher came in for class. By the time school ended, we had put together a team of intrepid classmates who were willing to help us hunt down the Indian woman. Ron, Judy and I would form one team, while Kevin, Andy, and Marsha would form another. Dave and Lisa had enlisted another of their classmates to help as well. While the nine of us had made it our only goal to find the Indian woman, most of our other friends had agreed to keep their eyes open and tell us if they saw her. I noticed all of them were planning to attend the fair in groups. With one exception. I mentioned earlier that Dan Wheeler's father ran Wheeler foods. Dan was a decent enough guy for a rich kid, but he could be rather full of himself at times. He was built like an athlete - probably in part because of an athletic father (his dad had played football for Nebraska in college) and in part because of the fully equipped gym in his parents' palatial (for a small town) house. Tall, blond and good- looking, he pretty much had his choice of girls around town. His current favorite was Misty Dunn, one of the cheerleaders. We were just getting organized for our quest when Dan and Misty walked up. "Gonna join us, Dannie?" Ron called out. Everyone knew Ron and Dan didn't particularly like each other. Dan had made a play for Ron's older sister the previous year. Ron's sister was a real looker, and even though she was a year older than us, Dan made a play for her - until Ron stepped in and explained to Dan what would happen to him if he didn't back off. It was well known that Dan dated only girls who spread their legs for him, and Dan was never hurting for dates. Maybe money really did talk. His current girl, Misty, had a reputation of putting out like an ATM. "I done it with Dunn" had been a locker room joke since our junior year. Hell, I had even done it with Dunn. "Naw," Dan drawled, giving Misty a theatrical squeeze. "We've got other plans. I think you guys have been watching too much Buffy." "What? You don't believe what's going on?" Lisa challenged him. "Oh, I believe it," Dan said with a patronizing smile. "I just think the best way to avoid it is stay away from Indian fortunetellers." He looked at Misty with a leer. "I already know what our future is going to be. Besides, Lisa, I've got to say, what she did to you was an improvement. You, too, Marsha." Lisa flushed. I think if she had still been Lucas, she would have jumped him - even though he was a lot bigger than Lucas had been. Marsha just looked stricken. "Dan honey," Misty interrupted in her best breathless voice, "if we're gonna go to the fair, I need to get ready." Apparently the jeans she had painted on her buxom body that morning weren't appropriate for the fair. "Let's go." "Sorry I can't stay and chat," Dan said, the leer bigger than ever. "Gotta go." "Prick," Ron mumbled as the pair strolled away. "I'd like to introduce him to a certain Indian woman," Marsha added. Be careful what you wish for, I thought to myself. This Indian woman was dangerous. We had taken every possible precaution, but I was still worried that we really didn't know what we were dealing with - or why she was changing our friends. "We'll all go into the fairgrounds together," I told our group. "We'll meet at the entrance at six. That will give everyone a chance to eat and get settled. Remember, no matter what, no guy should touch her. Whatever it is that she does seems to be transmitted by touch. Let the girl in your team do any touching that's required. All we want to do is find her and try to reason with her. If she won't listen to reason, a girl should try to restrain her until help arrives." Every team had at least one cell phone. Once we found the Indian woman, all teams would be notified. I felt good. We were organized and fired up. I felt the same rush I always felt before a football game. We were going to find that Indian bitch and show her she could screw around with us. Lisa and I tried to be a few minutes early in the parking lot, but we were actually the last ones there. When we were still out of earshot, I asked her, "Did I see you holding Dave Payne's hand when we met earlier?" I watched her as her skin flushed and her eyes got a little wide. "I don't know why we did that. It just sort of... happened." "You know you may end up being a girl from here on," I pointed out. "Don't start something you don't want to finish." "Oh? Is my big brother going to protect me?" "Well, that's what big brothers are for, little sister." "Rat." I chuckled, but deep down, I was worried. Lucas had been Lisa for slightly less than a day, but every time I saw her, she seemed to be acting more and more as if she had been a girl her entire life. If was a little uncanny. How long would it be before she was more Lisa than Lucas? I was afraid that in some ways, she already was. Everybody was on time to start our search. Most people were still home eating dinner before attending the fair. That would mean we would have a fair amount of time to search before the crowds got too big. We split up into our prearranged teams. Kevin, Andy and Marsha would go check out the exhibits while Lisa, Dave, and their friend Randy checked out the booths on the midway. Judy, Ron and I would check out the area around the rides. We'd meet back at the entrance to the fair every hour and switch beats. For the most part, it was as if everything was normal. If our fellow students, aware of the transformations suffered by Lisa and Marsha, were nervous about their own safety, they didn't seem to be showing it. True, they were mostly in groups, but that was pretty natural. The usual lighthearted fun enjoyed by fairgoers as far back as I could remember was happening all around us. In the twilight, the bright swirling lights on the carnival rides danced and twinkled in the unusually warm evening air. Like most of the people we saw we were wearing shorts. It lifted our spirits to be wearing them, for it meant that the chill of fall was still far away. It felt even better than a midsummer evening, for in spite of the warm weather, the humidity that plagues Midwestern summers had abated. What a perfect night to be ruined by our Indian friend, I thought. But if we could stop her from further mischief, it would be worth it. Besides, if we got Marsha and Lisa changed back that night, there was still plenty of time left to enjoy the fair. We strolled up and down among the rides for an hour, but no one matching the description of the Indian woman could be found. Oh, there were Indians at the fair. There were a couple of Indian reservations less than an hour away, but none of the Indians fit the description of our mysterious foe. "Maybe we should give up," Ron suggested, looking longingly at some of the rides. "I don't think she's going to turn up." What is it about life that the minute you say something isn't going to happen, it does? Well, I suppose technically speaking, she didn't turn up, but then again... We spotted Misty Dunn running through the crowd. Unlike the people around her, there was no smile on her face. She was crying, and the look in her eyes was one of pure terror. "Houston, we have a problem," Ron muttered. "Misty!" Judy called out, running to the distraught girl's side. Judy barely got to Misty's side before the girl collapsed in her arms. "What's wrong? What happened?" "It's Dan!" she cried. "The Indian! You said he was a girl!" "Whoa, slow down," I told her. "You're not making any sense. Dan saw the Indian girl?" She shook her head, and I could almost see the tears spraying from her eyes, like water off a shaking dog's back. "No! Hurry!" She forced herself out of Judy's arms, and stumbling back toward the attractions. While Judy and I ran after her, Ron called the other groups and alerted them. Cell phones are wonderful things, I thought as I ran after Misty. It was a shame she had been so rattled she had never thought to use hers or Dan's. It might have saved a lot of time. Misty led us to a row of attractions just off the midway. The show hadn't been able to string the amusements all in a row, and a few of the less popular ones were off the main path. We were headed right for one called Test Your Strength, and I realized why that attraction is often not in a heavily traveled area. The attraction consists of a bell atop a high pole. A ringer on a slide will ring the bell - if the contestant can lever it high enough by striking the end of a plank with a padded mallet. It's harder than it looks, because the springs beneath the plank absorb most of the impact of the mallet. I don't think I've ever gotten it all the way to the top, although Ron did - once. The reason it isn't in a high traffic area is that no guy wants everyone to be watching while he gets the ringer no higher than a spot marked "Weakling" along the pole. It's an attraction that usually does better when there isn't a crowd around to watch. Sitting on the ground next to the attraction was a very attractive girl. She wasn't sitting very ladylike, her beautiful legs spread in a revealing manner. She was blond and well built, wearing a tight-fitting pink minidress and pink strappy sandals. Her legs were bare but well tanned, as were her bare shoulders - or what I could see of them past the long blond hair. She looked up at me with haunted blue eyes - eyes that looked somehow vaguely familiar even on her unfamiliar face. I took a chance, but I was pretty sure I was right. "Dan?" "Probably Danielle now," she replied, barely above a breathy whisper. She nodded at a small pink purse beside her. "I haven't had the guts to look in it yet." "God, I'm sorry, Dan," I said as Judy, Ron and Misty grouped around. "Which way did she run off?" The new girl laughed nervously. "She? It wasn't a she; it was a he." "What?" We helped her to her feet and listened to her story as the others of our group met up with us. "We were just minding our own business," our formerly male friend began. "You know we rode a few rides and had a few laughs. Then we decided to get a couple of Cokes." She stopped for a moment to adjust her bra. Apparently the weight of her new breasts was uncomfortable. I had to admit, she had a very nice set inside that bra. I tried not to make it obvious that I was looking. "Let me help," Judy suggested. I think she was afraid Dan was going to accidentally pop one of her new breasts out of the cup and over the top of the low-cut dress. I have to admit a small part of me was hoping that might happen. When Judy worked on the bra, Dan let out a small sight of relief. "Thanks. How do girls put up with...these?" No one answered her question, so she continued, "So anyway, Misty spotted this Test Your Strength thing. She wanted one of the teddy bears they have for a prize. I figured I didn't have much of a shot at winning, but what the hell. I'm - or I was - in pretty good shape." I saw more than one of our number biting his or her tongue. It could be argued that Dan was still in pretty good shape. "There was this Indian guy running the thing," she went on. Then she looked right at me. "I thought you said it was an Indian girl - some sort of fortuneteller. This guy was tall with one of those wrinkled faces that look like parchment. And he had a gray ponytail." "Maybe there's more than one of them," Lisa suggested. That seemed to satisfy Dan, so she went back to her story. "Anyhow, he handed me the mallet. But it's funny; he took my arm when he did. I felt kind of funny. He said something about walking that I didn't understand. Then he let go. Misty was yelling something at me. I guess she saw what was happening before I did. I was just concentrating on using the mallet. But it's funny... the mallet started feeling heavier while I held it. I swung it toward the plank and kept thinking how weak I felt. "The ringer didn't go very far. Just up to the second sign." I looked up at the second sign and suppressed a grim smile. The sign said "Girly Girl". "Yeah, so go ahead and laugh," Dan sighed. "It is sort of funny, I guess. "So then the Indian guy says something I can't figure out. It was something about telling my father to let him go. I thought maybe he worked for my father or something. Then I looked down and saw everything changing..." She uttered a little sob as she looked down at herself. "Dan which way did he go?" I pressed. She lifted a slender hand and pointed with a long pink nail. "Toward the midway." There were plenty of people to take care of Misty and our feminized friend. There was no time to waste. We had no luck finding the Indian woman, and I wasn't going to tarry while this Indian man got away. I jumped to my feet and started running for the midway. I didn't have to turn around to know that Ron and Judy were right behind me. I have replayed the events that took place after I left Dan a thousand times in my mind. I read somewhere that bravery is stupidity in a noble cause. I tend to believe that, because that night I did some of the bravest and stupidest things I will probably ever do in my life - something that would change my life forever. Perhaps I can be forgiven for my stupidity - and my bravery. At six two and in good physical shape, I had seldom experienced anything to be afraid of. Caution was not exactly my strong suit. On the football field, I'd think nothing of tucking the football and plowing ahead for a few yards. Off the football field, I never exactly picked fights, but when they came my way I didn't shirk from them - and I usually won. A good student, good athlete, and a good-looking guy, I could usually expect things to go my way. So when I saw an Indian fitting Dan's description standing there on the midway watching me, I never for a moment considered that he wasn't really the prey - I was. Would I have spotted him if he hadn't been so obvious? I don't really know. There are a lot of Indians in Nebraska, so I might have overlooked him. Then again, maybe not. Most of the other Indians at the fair were there with friends and family enjoying an evening outing. Not the guy I was looking at. And just so I'd have no doubts about who he was, he gave me a toothy grin, almost challenging me to go after him. "Steve, wait!" Judy called. I knew why she was concerned. The Indian's touch might change me into a girl as it had my brother and my friends. But I had no intention of touching him. I had heard Ron on the phone, relaying our position to the rest of the group. All I had to do was keep the Indian in sight. Then, when our group ran him to ground, circling him like a pack of wolves, we'd demand that he change our transformed friends back into themselves - their real selves. But of course we had formulated that plan when we thought we were looking for an Indian girl. The big man I was following would probably be harder to convince. But I had faith in the plan. I saw the Indian run past a ticket taker and into the House of Mystery. That attraction was a third rate funhouse mounted on the inside of a truck trailer. It was the same one the show had brought the year before. It consisted of dark, winding corridors and slanted floors. There were a few mirrors and flashing lights along the way designed to disorient patrons, but that was about all. I started to go after the Indian, but Ron yelled, "No, just wait, Steve, he's trapped now. We can get him when he comes out." It made good sense, so I relaxed a little as more of our group gathered. In just a few minutes, he would have to exit. There was no place to hide inside for very long. But as the minutes went by, I began to worry. Then I saw him - or thought I did. A man was exiting who looked somewhat like our Indian. He was tall, weathered, and had a gray ponytail. But he wasn't an Indian - not even close. The ponytail was blonde and his skin was as pale as could be. The pale man we were watching appeared dazed, as if the shoddy little funhouse had completely disoriented him. But could it still be our man? Had he used his transformative powers to change himself so he was no longer an Indian? Had he already done so to change into a man after pretending to be a female fortuneteller? I couldn't be sure. "Stop right there!" Ron yelled at him as he climbed down the funhouse stairs. The man looked at Ron as if unsure of what to do. But although he was a fairly large man, Ron was larger. He decided it would be best to do what Ron told him. "Who are you?" I demanded, catching up to Ron as he stood in the pale man's path. "Me?" the man asked. "I'm Josh Wade. I run the Test Your Strength attraction. Why?" "Why aren't you there now?" Judy demanded. The question seemed to puzzle him. "I don't know. I should be, I suppose. I'd better get back there. I thought it was earlier..." And still mumbling - mostly to himself - the man started to slowly walk away. Ron started to stop him, but I told him, "Let him go." "Why?" "Call it a hunch. Let's wait here." Yeah, I had a hunch all right. Our magical friend wasn't a shape shifter; he was a body swapper. He had hopped into the carney's body just as he had hopped into the fortuneteller's body the night before. It was amazing how quickly my mind accepted the possibility of a being who could change bodies like most of us changed clothing, but I suppose when you've seen your friends and your brother transformed into the other sex, you become more accepting of things like body swapping. We had visited the right fortuneteller that morning, but the creature we sought was no longer in her. Now he had hopped again to avoid capture. Whatever he was, he had leaped into someone else. But who? I suspected whoever he became, he would take on the features of an Indian. That was his one weakness. Of course, there were many people of Indian descent around Leeds, but our quarry would be a loner. He or she would have no family or friends around, and that improved our odds. Or so I thought. We waited ten minutes, watching as people entered and exited the House of Mystery. We saw no one who looked even slightly like an Indian. Andy, Kevin and Marsha had stayed with Dan and Misty, but the rest of us were now waiting impatiently for our Indian in whatever guise he had assumed. "Maybe he got away while we were waiting for the other guy," Ron suggested. I shook my head. "I didn't see an Indian come out before him, did you?" "No," Ron admitted. "Well I'm gonna check that place out," I said at last. "You'd better not," Judy warned. "Let me go. He can't change me into something I already am." "But maybe he can change you into something else," I pointed out. "I doubt it," she said. "And I'm willing to take the chance." I think that's one of the many reasons I've always liked Judy. Like me, she exuded supreme confidence. Intelligent, attractive, and athletic, she thought like I did. If things had gone differently, we might have eventually ended up as more than friends. Ah well, I guess we'll never know... We decided both of us would enter the House of Mystery. Judy would be in front of me under the assumption that if the... whatever it was... was still in there, it would be always ahead of us. We'd find whomever it had become and try to herd it out the exit where the rest of our number would be waiting. We didn't want it hurt. We wanted to reason with it and find out what it wanted and what was required to change our friends back into their normal selves. If we discovered it still inside the House of Mystery, we'd talk to it, get it to see reason. It was very dark inside. During the day, light seeped in through tiny cracks in the black-painted surface, but at night, there was only darkness inside. I stumbled into Judy more than once, but as we had agreed, she was taking it slowly. There were curses from the other patrons behind us who thought we were moving too slowly. To let them by, we flattened against a wall and let the crowd pass. Apparently ten or so people had all come in together, for once we had let them by, we could hear none of the phony frightened screams or hear the movement of feet on the uneven wooden floor. I wasn't holding onto Judy, and I'm not sure if it would have made any difference if I had been. I like to think that it wouldn't have mattered. Besides, she was only a step ahead of me and we were about half way down the darkened passageway. There didn't seem to be any reason to hold onto her. But while I was following her as closely as possible, something had calculated the space between us. As Judy passed by, a hand must have shot out of the darkness. I felt something warm and small like a child's hand grip my bare leg. At first, I thought it was just a small child who had gotten lost from his or her family, but the intensity of the grip was too great to be just a helpless child. Shocked by the unexpected touch, I tried to pull away, nearly losing my balance as the grip proved stronger than I could imagine. I tried to call out to Judy, but something had paralyzed my vocal chords. I began to realize as my blood seemed to freeze that it wasn't just my vocal chords that were paralyzed; I couldn't move. "Wakan," a high voice droned. It sounded like the voice of