Introduction: This story is the fourth and final story in a series within a series. The overall series is the “Cynthia Chronicles”. This story is directly connected to “Simoné and the Second Time Around”, “Marti and the Doppelganger”, and Marti and the Doppelganger – a Follow Up”. Several of the stories in the Cynthia Chronicles left some unanswered questions. In “Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling” two of the antagonists are regressed to childhood. Now we will learn what happened to them. In “Randi and the College Professor” Randi and Frank Deere adopt Betty, a bit of a rogue witch. Betty was regressed to early childhood, but she kept her powers. As it turns out, Betty was a real blessing. We also learn a bit more about Cindy’s first born who is the first new wizard in probably close to a thousand years. Then there is a question that has been floated about. What about death?

Cindy finally realizes that things with Martin and Joann are not quite what she thought they were. She knew something was bothering Martin. Now I all comes out.
 

“Martin, I need your help upstairs. Could you give me about 30 minutes?”

Martin turned to see his mother at the entry of the media room. They were watching a recent release of a popular movie. Martin didn’t really like it that much. There was too much destruction and mayhem for his taste. “Sure, Mom, I’ll be right there.”

He arrived upstairs to find his mother sitting on the edge of the bed. She was patting a place next to her.

“What do you need help with?”

“I need help being a better mother. Let’s talk about it. Sit next to me,” she said, again indicating the spot on the bed.

Martin sat and looked up at his mother. He could see tears in her eyes. Something was very wrong.

“Have we been bad parents? Have we ever done anything but love you and your brothers and sisters? I know we aren’t your and Joann’s real parents, but we’ve tried to be fair. It was a bit tough going from having no children, to having one, and suddenly having three. I thought we did a pretty good job.”

“Mom, you’ve been great. When Gramma and Grandpa couldn’t take care of us, we were so lucky that you and dad were there. Donald has been a cool brother, and Sydney has been a great sister. We were very lucky.”

“You’ve been awful quiet of late, and retreating a lot to your bedroom. Is there something wrong? Is there something you would like to talk about?”

“Er, like what?”

“How long have you known about where you came from, about what happened?”

“You mean about before, what we did to Aunt Bobbie and the others?”

Cindy nodded.

“We’ve known for a long time. We were very wrong about what we did, especially me. All of you were very kind to us. I imagine His Wisdom and the rest could have come down much harder on us than they did. I do wonder sometimes why they did to me what they did. I probably deserved to have my magic taken away, but being a boy sucks. I never wanted to be a boy before. It was just a disguise, a pretty good one, at that.

“I think the irony of the whole thing is that Joann got exactly what she wanted. As far back as I could remember I had known that Jim was a girl inside. When I discovered I had magic powers, I tried to help her, but I didn’t know how. Our childhood was not very good, and we ran away when we were 18. We lived together as sisters, but it was difficult for him to appear to be female.

“He was a pretty good golfer in high school, and he started hustling golfers at the municipal courses. I was able to get us new identifications. We moved around a lot. I learned how to change our appearances so that we wouldn’t be identified as the same hustlers that ripped off players at a previous course. Then a guy said Jim should go pro. He backed Jim, and Jim made it through the Nationwide Tour and Q school. Suddenly, we were making good money. One of our goals had been to get enough money so that we could retire. Jim would get his SRS, some facial surgery and we would live as sisters.

“Then we got greedy. I had discovered that I had levitation powers. Jim had not been winning on the tour, and hadn’t really been very close. He could make the cut, collect a modest check, and move on to the next tournament. We realized that just a stroke here and there could make a huge difference, and boy did it.

“I became Jimmy Baldwin, and the rest, as they say, was history. That’s when I found out Aunt Bobbie was a witch. I was in my ‘Margot’ mode. We were in a restroom at a club, and they were out of towels. She didn’t realize I was there, and she dried her hands. I felt the magic. That explained everything about why she was so good. She cheated, just like we were cheating. We couldn’t afford to be discovered, so we tried to scare her off the tour. As you know, we didn’t think things out very well. We had no idea what we were up against.”

“Wow, I wish you had told us some of this before. Something bothers me, and that is why I never realized what you were going through. Your Aunt Bobbie and I have the ability to sense when there is a conflict between someone’s sex and gender. We have never felt anything like that from you, nor did we sense anything about your sister. We weren’t really sure when it might happen, but we always felt the gender vs. sex thing might surface.

“His Wisdom has done many transformations over the years where he changed someone’s gender as well as sex; however, your transformations were supposed to be punishment. Now it appears as if you got the worst end of the deal, and I am beginning to think that your punishment has gone far enough.”

Cindy was trying to think about how to approach The Wizard about making some corrections. She was startled out of her thoughts by a knock on the bedroom door. It was Joann. “Mom, His Wisdom is downstairs and he wants to know if he may come up to talk to Martin, and you and me.”

‘That was certainly well timed’, Cindy thought. “Send him up.”

“Mom, I hate being a boy. It hasn’t been too bad up to this point, but if I could do anything to convince His Wisdom to change things, I would do it. I’m going to start changing real soon, and I am scared I might end up looking like Jim did before.”

“You won’t have to worry about that, Margot.” They turned to see the Wizard at the bedroom door. “I think we can fix things, pretty quickly.

“The two of you have learned a lot, haven’t you?

“I was thinking about letting this run out a bit further, but I don’t think it’s necessary any longer. So, what do we do with you? Joann, you may go first.”

“Please, don’t change me back. I couldn’t go back to being him.

“But if I did change you back, you could become a great golfer. You could be one of the best.”

“I don’t want to be a golfer. I want to be a school teacher like Betty does. I don’t hate golf, but I abused the sport. I don’t deserve to be able to play like that.” She looked up to see her Aunt Bobbie come into the room and quietly sit.

“Aunt Bobbie, Margot and I did a terrible thing. You should have won that other Masters. We saw your shot was going to be short, but had a chance to stay in the fringe. I told Margot to push it.” Joann started to cry.

“Let’s not have any more tears,” The Wizard said. “I went back and reviewed that shot when I realized that you might have influenced it. It would not have stayed on the green, regardless. Many years ago, before I ever paid any attention to golf, I looked into Bobbie’s future. It didn’t matter what she did, the ball was going to end up in Rae’s Creek. The other thing I saw was that she was going to win two years later. I wasn’t aware then what you two girls had been up to.”

“Your Wisdom, you keep calling us girls. I’m a girl, and I know Martin’s a girl inside, but Martin’s still a boy.”

“No Martin, rather Margot, is a girl and always has been. I must say that was one of my best disguises. I learned it from Old Mombi. That’s a great spell.

“Cindy, call Myrna and put her on the speaker.”

It took only a few seconds to make the call. “Myrna, His Wisdom is here, and we are talking to Margot and Joann about the past. You’re on the speaker.”

“Oh goody, does that mean it’s time to spill the beans?”

“It does, Myrna,” The Wizard chuckled.

“Everyone, Margot is XwXw. She has always been a girl and witch.

“So, Your Wisdom, you’re going to fix things?”

“Momentarily.”

“Well, I wish I could be there to see her at the reveal. Send me a picture. Maybe we can get over there next week. Hug Margot and Joann, and the rest for us. She is going to be so pretty. I’ve got to go. Avery’s grandmother is coming over and we are cooking kosher this week. We’ve a lot of work to do. Mazal tov.

“Ohmygod,” Cindy said to no one in particular, “I feel so stupid. That’s what Donald was telling me, and I just wasn’t paying attention.” She turned to The Wizard.

“I am such an idiot. You and Donald both said it. Of course, there’s no conflict. Martin is still Margot. Physiologically and psychologically, she’s a girl. She’s not transgendered. She just appears to be a boy superficially. That has been her punishment.

“You just disabled her magic to reinforce the illusion.”

“Very good, Cindy. We didn’t want Margot to really lose her magic. We just wanted her to learn what a great responsibility she had.

“Okay, where were we. Oh yes, Margot. Margot, you need to sit down. This might be a bit unsettling, but it won’t take any time at all. Half of this stuff is illusion, anyway.”

Margot sat on the bed next to her mother. Cindy kissed her and pulled her to her. The changes were subtle, but noticeable. Her facial features became a bit finer, her skull narrowed a bit, and her brow ridge, what little there was, disappeared. Then her shoulders narrowed, and at the same time her hips broadened just a little. There was just a hint of the breasts she would have in a few years. She had become a very pretty girl, soon to be a woman, who looked a lot like her sister. She was a bit taller, and always would be.

Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she gave a little gasp. Her hand tracked to the juncture of her thighs and a smile spread across her face. “It’s gone. All that stuff’s gone. I’m a girl, again.”

“… and, a very pretty one at that,” her mother replied. “We need to do something about your hair. What sort of style would you like?”

“Joann, get that magazine we were looking at yesterday. Remember the soccer player who was modeling those outfits?”

“Yeah, I’ll get it.”

Joann returned very quickly with the magazine. Margot showed the picture to her mother. “That’s what I want. Joann and I were talking about it yesterday.” The style was short, but very appropriate for the athletic model. It was very feminine.

“Well it might be a bit adult, but I think with a few adjustments it might look very nice on you. What do you think, Your Wisdom?”

“I think that’s the one.”

As a boy, her hair had been a bit long. She had already been starting to make a statement. Now it quickly became a bit longer. Cindy made a few comments, and The Wizard made the adjustments. As far as Cindy was concerned, it was perfect. Margot agreed.

Of course, all of her clothing had changed, too. Everything fitted perfectly.

“I think it’s time for the reveal,” Cindy said as she looked her daughter over.

Donald turned to see his new sister and mother followed by the others. He paused the movie.

“Children, it’s time for you to meet Margot.”

They turned, and looked at the finally revealed girl. They started cheering in unison, before rushing to her for a group embrace. Sometimes children are far more aware of the situations than their parents give them credit for. They had known for a long time.

Time flies when you’re having fun. Young Donald Brewer, a wizard in training, and Cynthia Anderson are celebrating their 14th birthdays. It is a major celebration, and it’s a great time for all involved. There has never been much made of it; however, Donald and Cynthia were born at the same time as the Blue Moon rose on Hallowe’en. There’s probably some significance to this, but then again, maybe there isn’t.