Bikini Beach: One Summer’s Day
By: G.K.S

Chapter 2: The Not-So-Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Dashing across the hot pavement with Heather in tow, I made my way towards the office just outside the park. My mother kept up with us easily and kept a ways behind us, not wanting to smother us out. Nevertheless, she knew she needed to be within visual range just for safety reasons obviously. We were too small to protect ourselves if someone tried to abduct us or hurt us.

Pushing our way through the turnstile and walking around to the office outside, I knocked. I would have used the intercom, however it was a couple feet above my head and I was unable to reach it. Considering I was something close to 2’10” in height, that was understandable. I was wondering whether I’d be able to turn the door knob on my own when somebody answered the door. The old woman seemed able to read minds so…not exactly as if that should surprise me.

Looking up as the door swung open, I saw Anya staring down at me from high above. I felt a little intimidated and frowned a little, but Anya smiled kindly and reached down to ruffle my hair with her hand.

“Hey kiddo, is everything okay?” she asked. I had to stand back so I could clearly see her face from such a huge height difference, without getting a kink in my neck.

“I wanna talk to the old lady.” I asked, neither politely nor rudely.

Anya didn’t look surprised, but her smile faltered a bit, “Alright, come on in. Is your mother gonna wait out here?” My mother nodded an affirmative to that and I walked through the open door, pulling Heather along with me.

“I’m thcared Kayla. Let’th go back,” she whispered in my ear. I just ignored her, although I was trying to be understanding of the feeling. I felt scared to, but did my best not to show it.

“We’re jutht gonna talk to her, okay Heather?” I said rhetorically, annoying myself with my girlish little voice.

The old woman was seated behind her desk as usual, she frowned when she saw us but didn’t have a mean expression. If anything she might look a bit annoyed by seeing us.

“Ah, what might you two be here to discuss?” she asked, staring at us vacantly.
“You already know,” I replied.

She looked a bit flustered being put on the spot like that. Then was silent for a moment before saying, “You’re upset about your transformations.”

Heather squeezed my hand, and I turned to see her looking utterly terrified. I understood, as it seemed this woman had lied to Heather and royally screwed her over.

“You dethtroyed Heather’th life,” I explained calmly, while holding Heather’s hand tightly. I was scared as well…who knows what this woman could do to us for confronting us.

The old woman looked down at her desk for a while, “I can’t do anything about that.”

“Yeth, you can!” I shouted, sounding like a temperamental toddler.

“No need to shout darling,” the old woman said with no show of emotion. She paused and then went on, “To quote Macbeth, ‘What’s done is done.’”

I narrowed my eyes, “Thurely thomething can be done.”

“No poppet, nothing can be done. The changes are permanent. For both of you.”

I could think of anything to say, then suddenly I heard crying from beside me and turned to see Heather in tears. I felt awful…I had brought her here just to be told what she already knew to be true. Heather looked so distraught, and I couldn’t help it…I started crying too. I think it was just because I saw her crying, and somehow it got me crying. I’ve seen that happen a lot in small children. Heather looked so sad and lonely when I first met her, and even now she looked so vulnerable. I did the only thing I could, I used my soft podgy little hand to help wipe tears from her eyes and then hugged her. I buried my face into her sunshine blonde hair and hugged her tightly. Crying with her, as we sat in the chair across from the old ladies desk, we rocked in each others arms and I genuinely felt truly very sad.

The old lady suddenly looked distraught and saddened as well, after a long heavy sigh she said, “I made a mistake. I’ve regretted it terribly ever since it happened. It plays over and over in my head, and I wonder again and again what I was thinking.”

Heather and I looked at her then, but we didn’t stop crying…we couldn’t have even if we tried. She looked away out of shame and continued on, “I regret it. But I cannot change it. Heather might be able to turn into an adult using other magic. But I doubt it would do her any good at this point. I can’t assist her in that regard, there’s nothing that can be done. I’ve already considered it.”

“What about the medallion, grandmother?” Anya asked, from somewhere behind our armchair.

“Anya, even if we knew where it was…it wouldn’t help. Turning Heather into a grown woman wouldn’t change anything for her. She’d still not be able to get her life back. My magic can’t do anything for her.”

“No…I wouldn’t want that,” Heather said, wiping at her eyes. Then she said between tears when she was able to get enough air, “I’ve already gotten used to this life and body of mine. Even if I hate both. Turning into someone else or going to another way of life would be to difficult for me. I don’t wanna grow up that quickly.”

“Then why come here?” the old lady asked, shocked.

“I hate my life! I want my old life back,” she said.

“Even if we had the medallion Anya mentioned, we couldn’t use your clothes from your previous life because the magic erased them. And you just said you wouldn’t want to be turned into an adult simply for the sake of being an adult.”

“No, if I can’t have my old life and body back…then I’m not interethted in anything else. I’ve already adapted to my new life and body. I hate my…my…mother; Wife…I don’t even see her as being my wife anymore. Not even ex-wife for that matter. I hate my mother. Let’th jutht leave it at that. Taking revenge at thith point wouldn’t help me or make me feel better. Then I’d just be without a mother to take care of me. Aside from the horrible thing she’th done, thee hath done her betht to uphold her promithe of being a loving mommy.”

Heather paused, and remained silent for a while…as if thinking over everything she had said before adding, “I hate her, but that feeling ithn’t ath thtrong ath it uthed to be. Thee take’th care of me. I can tell thee’th come to love me ath her daughter. Doing thomething to hurt her wouldn’t make me feel good. I’d feel sad for hurting my…my mother. I can’t think of her any differently, not after this long of a thpan of time.” Heather suddenly seemed tired from all the talking. She leaned her head on my shoulder and stopped crying.

“What about you, Ryan?” the old woman asked.

“I don’t know how I feel. I’m more worried for Heather than anything,” I said. With that I stood in the seat of the chair, and hopped down to the floor. I took Heather’s hand and helped her down, then, together we walked hand in hand towards the door. I smiled at Anya as we left. She smiled back, but it was a very sad smile.

-~-

Anya watched the two small children leave and then turned back to her grandmother, “Couldn’t you have done something for them? Maybe the SRU wizard?”

“No Anya…I can’t undo my own magic. Neither can the SRU wizard. I’m at my wits end, I don’t know what to do or how to help them. Ryan is adapting, I don’t think she wants to go back to being Ryan. She’ll probably get used to it in time. Heather on the other hand, I don’t know what we can do to help her. We can’t give her the life and body she used to have back to her.”

“But-,” Anya was interrupted by her grandmother, “No. If we want to help them we’ll have to find another way. A non-magical solution to be sure.”

Anya looked thoughtful for a moment, “This might sound strange. But maybe we could give them a job here at the park? If we can make them feel useful, they might not be so upset over their ages.”

Her grandmother suddenly looked very thoughtful, “By George Anya, you might actually be right! I hadn’t thought of anything like that.”

“But what would we have them do?”

Anya looked thoughtful for a moment, “Well, it’d have to be something that they can do taking into consideration their speech, height and strength.”

“Maybe we could have Vicki talk to them. She’s dealt with the being turned into a girl ordeal…I mean, she might be able to help them deal with the age difference too,” Grandmother suggested.

Anya grinned, “Yes. They definitely need a supportive environment. And they could use all the friends they can get. They need to feel useful and more independent. But we also have set limitations…they are three years old after all, regardless of how old they used to be.”

Anya walked over and sat in the chair that the girls had been sitting in earlier. She looked thoughtful for a moment before making a decision of some sort, “Good. Let’s discuss this with their mothers,” Anya then paused a moment, “I feel like we can’t just let Heather’s mother get away with what she did.”

Anya’s Grandmother looked thoughtful a moment, “Right, BUT we can’t take her away from Heather. Besides, Heather said it herself; she has come to love her wife slash recent mother even though she hates her to some extent, for what she did to Heather.”

Anya frowned, “Yes, but we can’t just let get away with doing something like that. Perhaps we could just teach her a lesson? A non-permanent one.”

The grandmother didn’t know whether to smile or to frown, “Maybe we should show her what it’s like to live a couple days in Heather’s shoes.”

“Grandmother, we can’t turn Heather into an adult. Not only would she not want it, but we just aren’t capable,” Anya reminded.

“No, who said anything about changing Heather?”

Anya looked confused, but suddenly a grin started to show the white of her front teeth, “How do you think Heather would like having a twin sister for a few days?”

The old woman looked at her granddaughter and suddenly laughed with genuine amusement, “Good idea. I don’t think Heather would mind at all. Let’s go have a word with Kayla’s mother.”

With that, the old woman and her granddaughter got to their feet and set off into the park.

-~-

Anya let her magic and instincts guide her to where Kayla and her mother were. She finally saw them near the old fashioned swimming hole…which was more or less a small lake that people could swim in. It looked like a lake, but it was actually more or less all artificial, even the water was cleaned and chlorinated to protect against bacteria and water-borne micro organisms.

Strutting up to the two, Anya smiled, “I think I might know how to get Heather some justice, without blowing it out of proportion, or causing excessive or long term damage.”

Kayla looked up at Anya with an uncertain look. However it was Kayla’s mother who spoke first, “Kayla told me what happened to that poor little girl. Or…at least she wasn’t such a little girl at one time. Which makes it all the sadder now.”

Anya looked sad for a moment, “Yes, poor Heather wasn’t treated very nice. Not that she’s being abused now, but I think this would be a good lesson for Heather’s mother to learn. Heather herself might also benefit from it, at least then she’ll know that her mother knows a little about what it’s like.”

Kayla said nothing, but looked down at her bare foot and absent mindedly smiled, wondering what Anya had in mind.

“Mrs. Dunlap, what do you say about the idea of having a sleepover for two of Kayla’s new friends for this weekend?” Anya inquired.

Things were about to get interesting.

-~-

“Heather, it’s time to go to the park,” Penny called to her daughter, who was upstairs taking a mid —morning nap.

She then bustled about getting some beach towels and the necessary sun screen, lotions and various other items she’d need for a day at Bikini Beach with her darling daughter Heather. She privately smiled to herself, remembering who heather used to be and then aloud said, “I like him so much better this way.”

She had moments of regret, Heather seemed so sad and resentful…although she was showing vast signs of improvement over the past couple months. She seemed to be opening up to her mother’s love, and that warmed Penny’s heart greatly, also helping to relieve some of the regret and stress she felt over what she had done to her husband who was now her baby girl named Heather.

Soon she heard Heather’s light and somewhat clumsy footsteps coming down the stairs and Penny smiled to herself. Heather just looked at Penny with an uncertain gaze when she came into view.

“Aww, how’s my baby doing?” Penny asked.

“I’m doing good, Mommy.”

“That’s nice dear. But remember, ‘good’ is incorrect grammar. You should use the word ‘well’ when speaking in that context and usage.”

Heather just nodded in affirmation, and Penny secretly wondered whether Heather understood what she had just been told. Penny suddenly got an idea, and bent down so she was eye level with Heather; carefully, she tickled Heather under her chin and smiled when she got a genuine laugh and smile of affection in return. Picking Heather up, she kissed her daughter on the forehead and Heather kissed her on the cheek in return. She almost never did that, but it truly warmed Penny’s heart to think that perhaps Heather wouldn’t hate her new mother forever. If that was the case, the guilt for her as a mother would be unbearable.

Penny sighed for a moment, “Heather, if I could take back what I did to you. I’d do it in a heart beat. I know I totally and unrealistically over-reacted to the situation a year ago. I am so and I really do love you,” Penny said sincerely. Heather just kissed her mother on the cheek in response.

It was all true for Penny of course. Especially since the magic that transformed her husband into Heather had also given Penny memories of carrying her baby girl for 9 months, and then painfully giving birth to her. Despite the fact that it didn’t really happen…or did it? Didn’t the old woman say that the magic re-wrote history or some such? Penny smiled, because regardless of whether it actually happened, her memories were just as real to her as if it had actually happened. Penny did truly and deeply love her daughter. The love was real, regardless of whether the memories were or not.

“I just wish I could do something to make it up to you. I understand that what I did to you was very wrong. Heather…I really do love you, you know.”

“It’th not fair that you get to thtay an adult, and keep your life while I lotht mine,” Heather replied, a mixture of anger and resentment clouding at the affection from just a moment ago.

“I know sweetie, and I’m so sorry for that. I’d do anything to make up to you.” Penny replied, feeling that she truly meant that. Nevertheless, Heather didn’t believe her.

‘You say that now only because you’ve gotten what you wanted.’ Heather thought to herself.

“I am sorry baby, I really am,” Penny told her daughter, getting teary eyed.

“Then why’d you do it?” Heather asked her highly concerted mother. Penny closed her eyes for a minute, and when she opened them again she responded with, “I don’t know honey. I-It was a spur of the moment sort of thing.”

With that Penny carried her daughter and their bags out the door, and for once in a what seemed all of history, mother and daughter smiled warmly at each other out of genuine affection, looking forward to some fun in the soon for the afternoon.

-~-

Heather rode in the backseat of her mother’s station wagon, listening to her mother humming along with some tune on the radio. Heather didn’t hate her mother for what she had done anymore. She just wished her mother could know what it’s like to have your life and body stolen away from you. She just wished her mother could feel her pain and understand…not for reasons of revenge, but just so she could understand what it’s like for Heather on a day to day basis. It’s so painful, the only person who knew what it was like was Kayla. But Kayla’s understanding of the issue wouldn’t help ease the resentment between Heather and her mother.

As her mother carried her into the women’s locker room, after they swiped through the turnstile, Heather thought she noticed Anya wink at her from the ticket booth as she had walked past.

Once in the locker room, they stripped their clothes revealing the bathing suits they had put on underneath for convenience. As per regulations, Penny took her daughters hand as they made their way to the showers.

Heather and her mother found an empty shower stall and closed the curtain behind them. Flipping on the water they rinsed off…Heather noticed her mother seemed to be enjoying it a lot more than usual.

“Wow, it really tingles today.” Penny exclaimed with her eyes closed.

Heather suddenly realized that her mother was changing and hopped down out of her arms, startled. She looked worriedly down at herself to see if she was going through a transformation too, but was relieved to see that she wasn’t. The same however could not be said for her mother.

“Mommy! You’re changing!” Heather said, pointing.

Penny suddenly opened her eyes, to the same sort of event that Heather and Kayla both witnessed. Which of course was to watch the shower handle grow higher and higher, as she herself shrank.

Heather looked shocked; Penny on the other hand just had a surreal expression on her face as if she didn’t really understand what was happening. Heather giggled, but not in a cruel way; as her mother shrank and started to become slightly rounded on her arms and legs…a sign of baby fat. Heather was absolutely amazed to see her mother turn into...an exact replica of her. Her mother had just turned into what could very well be her identical twin sister. When it was all said and done, another Heather stood opposite of the original wearing a red one-piece. Penny had been wearing a two-piece bikini before. It contrasted to Heather’s blue one-piece suit.

“You did thith to get even didn’t you?” Penny asked angrily.

“NO! How could I do thomething like thith. I don’t know why thith happened to you,” Heather replied exasperated.
Suddenly someone pulled the curtain back in a quick graceful movement. Both girls turned to see Anya standing there with an indulgent smile.

“Actually Penny, I’m the one responsible for this little occurrence.”

“Why?!” Penny asked, looking absolutely bewildered.

“Don’t worry, it’s just for the weekend. I thought it’d do you some good to see how things are for Heather every day. You’ll both be staying the weekend with Kayla and her mother,” Anya replied calmly, as she reached into the shower and turned the water off.

With a gleam in her eye Heather suddenly focused her little blue eyes onto her new sister and in a mocking tone said, “Oh my goth, you’re so cute’thy wuthy!”

“I’m your mother, don’t talk to me that way!” Penny said with a great deal of agitation.

“No you’re not! You’re my wife and now you’re my thithter,” Heather said, trying to pronounce ‘sister’ correctly.

Heather then turned, and grabbed her mother’s tiny hand with her own, and laughingly winked at Kayla. She pulled Penny along behind her as they ran out of the locker room to find Kayla’s mother. Kayla’s mother was standing just outside the locker room door, and smiled when she saw the new arrival.

“I jutht can’t believe this,” Penny whispered, as if talking to no one other than herself.

However, Heather did hear, and rather angrily said, “Can’t believe what, poppet? That your whole fucking life just vanished before your eye’th? Mutht hurt to have no control over what happen’th to you.”

Watching this was surreal for Kayla, as she watched she was surprised that Heather was swearing. I mean, to hear those words come out of her mouth. It just seemed rather strange.

Suddenly Heather grinned wickedly, “Well Penny, now it’th time for you to experienth a day as my twin. We’re gonna have so much fun!”

To Be Continued.

~Author Shoutouts~

PS- (I’m gonna get rid of the terrible lisp next chapter. I’m getting just as sick of writing it as most of you are of reading it. Lol. )

PSS- A big thanks to; stanman63, Barbara Lynn Terry, Visitor (haha, anonymity at its best!) and Kirri for their wonderful comments/reviews on Part I! Kudos to all of you! :-)