THREE

"I'm kind of surprised you went along with your grandmother," said Cole as they waited for Grams and Leo to return.

"Oh, we really didn't have much of a choice," said Piper. "Once Gram's gets her mind set on something there's just no changing it. She'll go and look around and when she finds out there's nothing she can do about it she'll forget about it."

"Assuming she does decide there's nothing she can do about it," said Phoebe. "You know how she can be. She thinks she can fix anything."

"Well, I'm not sure there's much she can do about this," said Piper. "It's been, what, 40 or 50 years since she went to high school? People change over that amount of time. And it's not likely she's going to be able change that especially in the couple of days she's going to be here. She'll just have to accept the fact that her friend isn't the person she was when they went to high school."

"Piper's right," said Cole. "People change as their life experiences change. After that much time she'll be a lot different from what she used to be. We all are. I'm certainly not the same person I was 50 years ago. Your grandmother will probably realize that as soon as she sees her friend. You'll see. When she and Leo get back here she'll have it completely out of her system."

Just then someone began to orb into the manor. It took no time at all for the others to realize that it was Leo and Grams. They seemed to be having an argument.

"Penny, you know you can't do anything," Leo was saying. "You're dead. What happens with the living is no longer your concern."

"Balderdash," Grams replied. "That's not the Geraldine Porter I knew in high school. I can't believe she's changed that much. She was always so warm and caring. That woman is nothing like the girl I went to school with. I have to do something about it."

"Uh, Grams," said Piper, "are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, what do you think you can do about it? I know this has been pointed out to like a gazillion times but you're dead. And you're only going to be here a couple of days."

"I don't know," said Grams. "But I have to do something. That's not the Geraldine I knew."

"Well, she's probably changed," said Phoebe. "People do change over time, you know."

"Not that much," said Grams. "Do you know what she's going to do? She's going to have that building torn down so she can build a shopping mall. And those poor children have no place to go. They're going to be evicted on January 1st. That's no way to start the New Year."

"That's no way to start any time of the year," said Paige. "But people end up on the street all the time. You can't save them all."

"They're just a symptom," protested Grams. "The Geraldine I knew would never put people out on the street like that. Especially not people with no place to go. She was just a hair from living like that herself. She always swore she'd do whatever she could to help anyone who needed it."

"Well, obviously that's something that happened in the past," said Piper. "She probably doesn't even remember that time of her life. She is one of the richest women in San Francisco after all."

"That's it," said Grams.

"What's it?" Leo questioned.

"She's simply forgotten where she came from," said Grams, a smile crossing her face. "If we could remind her of how she grew up I just know she won't throw those people out into the street. And she can make good on that promise she made to herself all those years ago."

"Oh, sure, no problem," said Phoebe. "Just remind her of where she came from. And just how do you do that? You can't exactly drop by for chat with her."

"That's the problem," said Grams thoughtfully. "We have to figure out a way to remind her of her past. And we don't have a whole lot of time to do it."

"Uh, excuse me?" Piper questioned. "We? What's this we stuff?"

"Well, I can't do it by myself," said Grams. "After all, you keep pointing out that I'm dead. I'm going to need your help on this."

"Grams, we can't help you," said Phoebe. "In the first place, we don't even know this Geraldine. And it's not like we can drop in and see her any more than you can."

"Well, I'm going to need your help," said Grams. "Look, I've never asked you girls for anything. . . ."

"Yeah, right," said Piper. "Now that's something I never thought I'd ever hear you say. You've never asked us for anything? Where do you want me to start?"

"Okay, so I've asked for some things from time to time," said Grams. "The point is that Geraldine is an innocent and you're supposed to help the innocent. So in a way this is as much your purview as it is mine."

"I don't think that's exactly what 'help the innocent' is supposed to mean," said Leo. "They're witches, not social workers."

"Speak for yourself," said Paige.

"You know what I mean," said Leo. "You're supposed to protect the innocent from evil and demons. That's why you have your powers. This isn't exactly demonic in nature."

"And how do you know that?" Grams persisted. "How do you know this isn't demonically inspired? Can you state unequivocally that no demon has been behind the changes in her?"

"No, of course not," said Leo. "Many demons work covertly, you know that."

"Then it is possible that a demon is behind this," Grams announced triumphantly.

"Or more likely," said Piper, "she's just changed over the years like everyone does. Honestly, Grams, not everything bad has to be demonically inspired. People do bad things all the time with no help from demons whatsoever."

"She's right," said Cole. "While a lot of evil is perpetrated by demons, humans are just as capable of coming up with evil all on their own. You can't attribute every single evil act to demons."

"Well, that may be," said Grams, "but I have to do something. I can't just sit back and watch as Geraldine throws her life away. She could be doing so much more especially with her wealth. There has to be a way to reignite that spark of humanity she had as a young girl."

"I'm not sure how you can do that especially with the limited amount of time you have," said Phoebe. "It's not like you can just walk into her penthouse apartment and have a chat with her."

"Maybe she can," said Paige thoughtfully.

""What are you talking about?" Piper asked suspiciously. "You're not thinking of anything crazy are you?"

"Define crazy," said Paige, smiling suggestively.