Mysterious Changes - Part 12 | Chapter 1

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Neither of us thought George really expected us to find anything in the local library. We had been sent there to keep us out of harm's way. I suppose I should have objected. George was treating me like, well, like a helpless girl. I might be a girl but I didn't consider myself helpless. Still, what trouble could they get into during the day?

All our evidence indicated the trickster only roamed at night.  The research in the library was predictably dull. There was almost nothing about the Indians Native Americans as George preferred to call them. It was strange, I thought, that we lived in a country once dominated by Native American peoples, and yet we spent so little time studying them. I suppose the lack of written Native American languages had a lot to do with it.

To be fair, though, there wasn't a great deal in the library on local history after the white man came either. There was a loving history of Wheeler Foods written by Dan's excuse me, Gabby's father and privately published about five years ago. And there was a history of Carver County written by somebody back in the fifties. The only thing of interest, it told me was that Amelia Carver had three children and lived to a ripe old age.

Children.  Jeez, I hadn't thought much about that aspect of being a girl. But if Amelia Carver could have them, so could I. The thought of getting pregnant and having some come out of my. Oh my God, how did a baby come out of something that small? I mean, I knew how it happened in theory, but surely it couldn't happen to me. I wasn't big enough to, "Are you ready to blow this joint?" Judy whispered to me.  "Huh?" I wondered just how long I had been sitting there worrying about childbirth.

"Look, like I said earlier, this was a waste of time," Judy told me. "Let's go over to my house and kill some time until it's time to meet the guys for dinner."  And that's just what we did. It was actually a pleasant afternoon. Judy resisted the temptation to give me more girl lessons. Mostly, we just hung out, drinking iced tea on her patio and talking. It helped that Judy had been a friend for many years. We had always been able to talk.

That afternoon, we talked about her college plans and mine. I told her even if I remained a girl, I was thinking about becoming an attorney like my father. Judy was still thinking strongly about a career in medicine.  I have to admit, I felt normal. It was as if I had been a girl all my life instead of just two days. I wondered if our trickster friend had any idea how societies had changed. It had come from an era where women were chattel and to have careers like Judy and I were discussing, you'd have to be male even if you were white.

Sure, I still wanted to be Steve again, but every hour I was Sarah convinced me I could be a woman and have a meaningful life. I told her so.  "But I really miss football," I sighed.  "Just a minute," Judy said, jumping up from her patio chair. She was gone for only a minute, and when she returned, she had her brother's football. She tossed it to me. "Throw me a pass."  "Judy... I can't."  "Bull. My brother, Ted, and I used to play catch all the time."

"You played catch with Ted?" I gasped. Her brother was four years older than us and was a legend at Leeds High. As a quarterback, he held every major school record and was the starting quarterback for San Diego State.  Judy just smiled and started to run the length of the yard. I tried not to think about the nightmare I had experienced the night before. The football felt large in my smaller hands, but it still felt natural.

Without thinking, I set my feet and cocked my arm. When I moved my arm forward, I felt power. It wasn't the power I enjoyed as Steve, but my smoother feminine muscles were still muscles.  The ball left my hand in a nice spiral. It wasn't a long throw, but it was an accurate one right into Judy's arms. I had thrown a baseball on the midway and threw it like a girl, but baseball had never been my game. I suspect the feminine part of my body just threw it as a girl would. But a football.

I had grown up with a football in my hands. The Steve part of my mind must have known how to throw the ball.  "Well, it looks like you can still throw a decent spiral," Judy called out.  The smile on my face was the only answer I could think of. Last night's nightmare lost all of its terror in one good throw.

Judy insisted we treat the meeting at Pizza Hut as a date. "After all," she grinned, "your friend George is kind of cute. Since you're a girl now I have to find some new guy to chase after."  "Like you ever chased after me," I laughed.  Judy grabbed an outfit and we headed back to my house to get ready. I was starting to think a girl's life consisted of going on dates, getting ready for dates, or talking about dates.

But I realized Judy was just trying to get me used to the idea of dating guys one guy in particular. Before long, we were in denim skirts, sandals, and sleeveless tops that made us look like sisters. Judy was teaching me the fine points of taking care of my hair when my cell phone rang.  "Sarah, it's Ron." I could tell there was something wrong. There was terror and confusion in his voice. I looked at the clock. It was only four-thirty.

It couldn't be the trickster. It was still daylight.  "Are you all right?" I blurted out.  "I'm fine," Ron assured me. "But George isn't. The trickster got him. George is a woman now."  "But it's daylight."  "I know. We were wrong about that," he said bitterly. "Terribly wrong. George, it's Gloria now is pretty shaken up."  "Where are you?" I demanded.  "We're still out at the fairgrounds by the rock," he explained. "Gloria's too shaken up to move."

I remembered my own disorientation when I was changed. "Can't you get away from the rock?"  "Don't worry. We're about twenty yards from it. I got Gloria over under the trees. I'm pretty sure we're far enough away. I must have dragged her over here when, well maybe you'd better come out here and I'll tell you the whole story."

"We're on our way!"  Lisa and Dave were just coming up the walk, hand in hand, as Judy and I rushed from the house. "What's the hurry?" Dave and Lisa asked together.  They were part of all of this, too, I thought. "Just get in the car. We'll explain on the way."  Judy drove and explained what was happening to Lisa and Dave while I called Ron back and kept him on the line.

He was shaken up so badly that I was really worried about him. To make matters worse, the sun was getting lower and lower in the sky. Once again, we had underestimated the trickster, and another of our number had paid the price. We had assumed the creature couldn't attack in daylight, but we had been wrong. We had also assumed that it wouldn't change anyone except those of us whose fathers were in a position to free it.

Again, we were wrong. I wanted Ron away from that thing before it changed him as well. I was just starting to come to grips with my feelings for him. The last thing in the world I needed now was to have Ron changed into a girl, too.

There was no one near the monument when we got there. Everyone was staying around the rides and exhibits, the isolated location of the monument of interest to no one, it seemed. The evening shadows were drawing longer, spreading out from the copse of nearby trees. Ron and... Gloria were under the trees in the shade safely out of sight from passersby.

George had made a very attractive woman. He had been a decent enough-looking guy, but as a woman, his sharp male Indian features had taken on a softer, more exotic look. Gloria's hair was the color of midnight, black and gleaming softly in the dim light of the glade. As with the rest of us, her clothing had been changed as well, leaving her in tight jeans and a T-top that revealed very large and shapely breasts.

She looked exhausted, unable to move from the spot near where she had been transformed.  Ron was cradling Gloria's head, and for just the slightest moment, I felt a little twinge of jealousy. I pushed the uncharitable thought to the back of my head and asked, "What happened?"  Ron shook his head. "Neither of us knows for sure. We were examining the rock when I slipped and accidentally touched it. You know it's funny. I'm usually more sure-footed than that."

"I suspect the trickster caused you to slip," Gloria offered in a melodious, feminine alto. "It wouldn't have taken much for something with its talent."  "Anyhow, that's the last thing I remember until I was looking down at, Gloria here."  "Apparently I'm Gloria Brown now according to my driver's license," Gloria explained with a nod at her purse. "The funny thing is I don't remember ever being anyone else."  She was like Doc Winter, I realized, and our parents and teachers and everyone else older than us.

As far as she knew, she had always been Gloria Brown. "What do you remember?" I asked her.  She shrugged weakly. "I just remember Ron slipping on the rock and me reaching out to grab him. When I looked at him, his features were wrong. They were Indian like mine. I touched him and felt a tingle. Then I felt weak. I must have passed out. The next thing I remember, Ron was bringing me to."  "But you thought you were Gloria all that time?" Judy asked.  "Yeah. It's weird. I remember everything just as Ron does except when it comes to me.

Until he told me, I thought I had always been Gloria Sue Brown. I still find it hard to believe that I used to be male." Her eyes narrowed. "Now tell me the truth. Was I really male?"  We all assured her that she had been male. I wondered who had the better deal Gloria and Doc Winter who had no idea that they had ever been anyone else or the rest of us who remembered our male lives.

Sure, it was tough on those of us who would really rather be their old male selves, but I for one would have hated to lose all my real memories. For example, I might never play football again, but not for a moment would I ever want to lose my memories of gridiron victories.  "The rest of the guys are on their way," Ron explained. "Gloria found out how to defeat the trickster. They're gathering what we need."  "But we haven't much time," Gloria cautioned. "What we need to do has to be done within an hour of sundown."  I looked over my shoulder.

It was hard to see where the sun was through the thick trees, but I estimated it was only fifteen minutes until the sun was officially down.  "Will this mean we get our male lives back?" Lisa asked. Why was it that I thought she didn't sound completely pleased with that prospect?  "You bet," Gloria said with a weak grin. "I called that shaman friend of mine while you were on your way over. He did all the research for us.

Now all we have to do is follow his instructions."  Marsha, Gabby, Alicia, and Kevin all showed up together. Kevin was carrying one of the biggest sledgehammers I had ever seen. Even with his football honed muscles, he seemed to be struggling with it.

I assumed he had gotten it from his father's hardware store. Alicia and Gabby, now far weaker as girls, were together carrying a large metal rod, beveled at one end. It appeared to be some sort of chisel. Marsha was huffing as well, but I realized that was just from her weaker muscles and out-of-shape body.  "Jeez, I'm surprised your dad had that stuff in stock," Ron called out to them.

"Farmers use them for just what we're about to do," Kevin explained as he dropped the sledgehammer. It hit the ground with a heavy thump that we could feel through our shoes.  "And what's that?" I asked.  "We're going to crack the rock in half," Ron explained. "That will force the trickster back into the Spirit World. When it goes, all its magic will be nullified."  "Are you sure about that?" I asked a question of Gloria.

She seemed to be gaining strength as she nodded confidently.  "But I thought we discussed that the reason the trickster was able to get free at all was the fact that the stream had eroded the rock."  "It's trying to get free," Gloria explained. "But it can't. If the rock had been bigger, it might have been trapped forever, but rocks around here are soft and wear down easily. If we don't break the rock, it will just get slowly stronger and cause just that much more damage.

By breaking the rock, it goes back where it belongs and we become the people we were meant to be."  "But why didn't the original Omahas think of that?" I pressed.  "Maybe they did," Gloria answered. "But remember, they didn't have modern tools. They couldn't split the rock."  "But what if they "  Anger flashed in Gloria's eyes. "Look, Sarah, who's the expert on Indian mythology you or me?"  The question hurt, and there was something about what she had said that didn't sound right, but I couldn't figure out just what it was.

I looked around and could see in each of my transformed friend's eyes the hope of returning to previous lives. Except for Alicia, they were anxious to get on with what had to be done.  "Okay," I sighed. "Let's get it done."  I had no other option. If I had told everyone that breaking the rock just didn't feel right, I'd garnered nothing but scorn. I looked at each of them. Marsha and Gabby were the most anxious to return to their male lives, I realized.

Marsha's weight problem could be more easily coped with as a male. Gabby would be restored as the male heir to Wheeler Foods instead of the potential bride to a manager that I'm sure her father would prefer known chauvinist that he was.  Lisa looked less certain. I saw her sneak a look at Dave. I never in a million years would have guessed that my younger brother would prefer to be a girl, but I think that was what was going through her mind.

As for Alicia, I knew she had no desire to return to her male body, but there was no way that she was going to admit that in front of the whole group.  And what about me? Well, I had come to realize that I could be a girl forever if I had to be, but I was still Steve in the deepest part of my being. If there was a way back to being male, I wanted to take it. If Gloria was right, we'd never wear makeup or heels or...  But what was wrong? What was nagging at me?  Kevin, Dave, and Ron had positioned the chisel under Gloria's direction. It wasn't easy.

Gloria had told them that the trickster didn't like metal, so it wouldn't transfer to them through the chisel. But that meant someone would have to lean over the rock and hold the chisel at the same time. Dave wasn't large enough to do that, and Ron was the strongest of the guys, so he needed to swing the sledgehammer. So Kevin arched himself up over the rock, holding onto the chisel while Dave held onto him to keep him from toppling onto the rock. Ron was ready to swing the sledgehammer and...  "Wait!"  My cry stopped Ron in his backswing.

All eyes turned to me. I had only a few seconds to try to figure out what was wrong. I looked at each of them, my eyes finally resting on Gloria.  "What is it Now Sarah?" she asked in an exasperated tone.  It came to me at last. "What did you say about, the mythology?" I asked her as respectfully as I could.  "You know what I said," she replied. "I told you I was the expert on Indian mythology."  Indian.  I used the word most of us did. But George didn't refer to his people as Indian.

To him, they were "Native Americans," and it was the only expression he used. Gloria used the word Indian when referring to the myths and when she was describing how Ron looked when the trickster inhabited his body.  "We were wrong about the trickster, weren't we?" I began as Gloria's brows knitted. "It can come out in the day just not in direct sunlight.

It came out into Ron, changed George into Gloria."  "So you all have told me," Gloria said, doing her best to sound bored.  "But that isn't all it did, is it, Gloria?"  "What are you talking about?"  "It's not in the rock, is it Gloria?" I asked, convinced that I was right. "It changed you all right, and then it leapt into you, Gloria."

"That's crazy!" she laughed a little nervously, I thought. "I'm the one telling you how to send that thing home and get back to normal. I want to get back to normal myself."  "Why?" I asked, approaching her. "By your own admission, you don't remember ever being male. Why should it matter to you at all?"  "Come on, Hall!" Gabby called. "What is this woman's intuition? Let the guys do their job and get us back to being men again."