Mary Moo Cow only looked at Arthur for a second before turning her attention
to the waiting children. "I'm very glad to meet you, Dallin," she said to the
duck boy, who then ran in the direction of his sisters, smiling ecstatically.
"What's your name, little girl?" Mary asked in her sickeningly sweet affected voice.
"My name's D.W.," came the answer. "D-W."
"You're right, Arthur," said Suefran as she and Arthur walked away from the nursery ring. "I'm sure that's Mrs. Stiles in that costume."
"I wonder why she didn't tell us about her career change," Arthur mused.
"Well, we didn't exactly ask her, did we?" Suefran noted.
Shortly D.W. and Mrs. Read joined them, and they were on their way to the toy store.
"I wonder how she remembers you," Arthur said to Suefran. "You were acting up and being a bully when she stopped teaching us."
"That wasn't me," Suefran replied. "Uh, I mean, that wasn't the real me. I was going through a phase. I'm usually very nice."
"Yeah, right," said Arthur, grinning facetiously.
Suefran made a fist with her right hand. "Don't push me, Arthur!" she growled threateningly.
Arthur's smile disappeared. His pupils widened. It seemed to him for a moment that Sue Ellen was perfectly imitating...no, channeling...Francine.
Suefran lowered her fist when she observed Arthur's fearful expression. "Are you okay?" she asked with concern. "I wasn't really gonna hit you."
"I'm fine," said Arthur as he rounded the corner into the toy shop. "It's just for a minute there, I thought Francine had taken over your body."
"Would you believe me if I told you she has?" asked Suefran earnestly.
"No."
Arthur and D.W. quickly made their toy selections, and then Mrs. Read led the three children back to the parking lot. As they drove along, Arthur was ripping the packaging from his Martian Bunny action figure, while D.W., seated between him and Suefran, was admiring the new Princess Peach watch on her wrist. "It's a good thing Miss Cosma taught us how to tell time," she remarked.
Arthur began to wave around the green-skinned bunny toy as if it was flying, then held it in front of Suefran. "I can look into your mind," he intoned ominously. "You are hiding a deep, dark secret." Suefran giggled.
"She's in love with you," said D.W. "When are you gonna kiss her again, Arthur?"
Suefran suddenly had trouble breathing. It all came back to her...seeing Arthur and Sue Ellen kissing repeatedly at the playground...what if Arthur still had feelings for the girl?
"I'm not in love with Arthur!" she snapped at D.W.
"Arthur and Sue Ellen sitting in a tree..." D.W. began to chant.
"Shut up!" cried Suefran.
"Are you all right, Sue Ellen?" asked Arthur as he dropped the action figure into his lap. "You've been so...so hot-tempered today."
Suefran regained her composure and asked Arthur a serious question. "Arthur, how long have we known each other?"
"A little over a year," Arthur replied. "Though it feels like I've known you longer."
Suefran fell silent. It occurred to her that she had been talking like Francine, despite having Sue Ellen's outward appearance.
Mrs. Read pulled into the driveway at her house, and she and the kids were soon inside. As Arthur hurried to his room to add Martian Bunny to his Bunny League toy collection, and Mrs. Read joined her husband in the kitchen, Suefran followed D.W. into her bedroom.
D.W. jumped onto her bed and looked at her watch. "It's...11:53," she stated proudly, then flashed her timepiece at Suefran for verification.
"Yeah, that's right," the girl answered. "Very good."
"Does your arm hurt?" D.W. asked her.
"Yeah, just a little." Suefran became serious again. "D.W., do you still have the unicorn horn that I...er, Francine gave you for Christmas?"
"Yeah." D.W. leaped from her bed. "It's in my toy chest."
"Have you made any more wishes on it?" asked Suefran.
"Nope." D.W. reached into the chest and pulled out the spiral-shaped horn, which still had a phosphorescent glow about it.
"I'd like to look at it," Suefran requested.
D.W. handed her the horn. "Maybe you could wish for your arm to be better," she suggested.
As Suefran walked out of D.W.'s room, holding the unicorn horn in front of her, she deliberated over her possible courses of action. If it was good for one more wish, as she suspected and hoped, then she could use it to wish that she had her own body again. But that wouldn't affect Sue Ellen...there would be two Francines...no, she couldn't do it.
She walked into the upstairs bathroom, kicked the door closed, and held the horn aloft with her right hand. "I wish I was cured of HIV," she said.
She felt silly. Sue Ellen had made the exact same wish, but her tests had turned up positive notwithstanding. Greta had told her that unicorn magic was bound by many rules and regulations. Was there a limitation on which diseases could be cured? There was one way to find out...make a different wish, one that couldn't possibly be denied.
She decided to take D.W.'s suggestion. "I wish my arm wasn't broken."
What happened next shocked her to the very core. There was a sound like a sledgehammer crushing rocks, and the cast on her left arm was replaced with broken pieces of plaster with fragments of signatures written on them. She dropped the unicorn horn in terror.
Then she realized that it was a good thing that had happened.
Plaster rubble, metal pins, and screws were strewn across the bathroom floor to the left of her. She started to brush the dust and chunks off of her left arm. The throbbing pain had disappeared. To her surprise, the surface of her once-broken arm had the color and tone of healthy skin, as if it had never lost contact with the sun. There were no scars, or bruises, or pins sticking out.
She bent her left arm and wiggled her fingers. They worked perfectly. The wish had succeeded.
Moments later, Mrs. Read gasped in fear when she saw Sue Ellen standing in front of the upstairs bathroom door, waving her cast-free left arm in the air and smiling triumphantly.
----
"I've never seen anything like this," remarked Dr. Leach, a dog woman who was examining X-rays of Suefran's left arm. "It's completely healed. Not only that, but it looks like it was never broken."
"It's a miracle," said Mrs. Armstrong as she gazed at the girl she believed to be her daughter, who sat bare-chested on an examination table. "A bona-fide miracle."
"There were pins in your arm," the doctor said to Suefran. "What happened to them?"
"They, er, fell out," the girl replied.
"I don't know what to say." Dr. Leach stared at the X-rays in amazement. "If I were you, I'd walk out of here and buy a lottery ticket."
Suefran grabbed the undershirt lying next to her and pulled it over her upper body with both hands. Having two functioning arms would temporarily alleviate the inconvenience of being in Sue Ellen's body, she thought, but it still didn't address the long-term issues.
----
As soon as she had returned to the Armstrong residence, Suefran made a call to the Frensky apartment and was notified that Francine was at Arthur's house. She ran there as fast as she could; when she entered, she saw a large number of children gathered in the living room, most of them sitting on the floor. They included Arthur, D.W., Fransue (still wearing the blue dress), Beat, Binky, Fern, George, Alan, Prunella, Marina, and a boy Suefran had never seen before. He was a dark-complexioned bear boy, about the same age as the other children, clad in a shirt with colorful patterns on it.
When Fransue saw that Suefran wasn't wearing her cast, she jumped to her feet and stared in disbelieving shock. "Y-your cast!" she exclaimed. "Where is it? What are you doing? Put it back on!"
"My arm's all better," said Suefran, bending her left arm and wiggling her fingers to demonstrate.
"You're crazy!" Fransue roared indignantly. "I'm calling your mother...I mean, my mother."
As she rushed to the phone, Suefran strolled casually into the living room, where the other kids had stood up and were gazing at her castless arm in amazement--all except for the blind Marina and the new boy.
"My name's Fr...uh, Sue Ellen," she said to him in a friendly voice.
The dark-skinned boy stood and held out his hand in greeting.
"My name is Adil Faruk," he said in halting English. "I am from Turkey."
(To be continued...)
"What's your name, little girl?" Mary asked in her sickeningly sweet affected voice.
"My name's D.W.," came the answer. "D-W."
"You're right, Arthur," said Suefran as she and Arthur walked away from the nursery ring. "I'm sure that's Mrs. Stiles in that costume."
"I wonder why she didn't tell us about her career change," Arthur mused.
"Well, we didn't exactly ask her, did we?" Suefran noted.
Shortly D.W. and Mrs. Read joined them, and they were on their way to the toy store.
"I wonder how she remembers you," Arthur said to Suefran. "You were acting up and being a bully when she stopped teaching us."
"That wasn't me," Suefran replied. "Uh, I mean, that wasn't the real me. I was going through a phase. I'm usually very nice."
"Yeah, right," said Arthur, grinning facetiously.
Suefran made a fist with her right hand. "Don't push me, Arthur!" she growled threateningly.
Arthur's smile disappeared. His pupils widened. It seemed to him for a moment that Sue Ellen was perfectly imitating...no, channeling...Francine.
Suefran lowered her fist when she observed Arthur's fearful expression. "Are you okay?" she asked with concern. "I wasn't really gonna hit you."
"I'm fine," said Arthur as he rounded the corner into the toy shop. "It's just for a minute there, I thought Francine had taken over your body."
"Would you believe me if I told you she has?" asked Suefran earnestly.
"No."
Arthur and D.W. quickly made their toy selections, and then Mrs. Read led the three children back to the parking lot. As they drove along, Arthur was ripping the packaging from his Martian Bunny action figure, while D.W., seated between him and Suefran, was admiring the new Princess Peach watch on her wrist. "It's a good thing Miss Cosma taught us how to tell time," she remarked.
Arthur began to wave around the green-skinned bunny toy as if it was flying, then held it in front of Suefran. "I can look into your mind," he intoned ominously. "You are hiding a deep, dark secret." Suefran giggled.
"She's in love with you," said D.W. "When are you gonna kiss her again, Arthur?"
Suefran suddenly had trouble breathing. It all came back to her...seeing Arthur and Sue Ellen kissing repeatedly at the playground...what if Arthur still had feelings for the girl?
"I'm not in love with Arthur!" she snapped at D.W.
"Arthur and Sue Ellen sitting in a tree..." D.W. began to chant.
"Shut up!" cried Suefran.
"Are you all right, Sue Ellen?" asked Arthur as he dropped the action figure into his lap. "You've been so...so hot-tempered today."
Suefran regained her composure and asked Arthur a serious question. "Arthur, how long have we known each other?"
"A little over a year," Arthur replied. "Though it feels like I've known you longer."
Suefran fell silent. It occurred to her that she had been talking like Francine, despite having Sue Ellen's outward appearance.
Mrs. Read pulled into the driveway at her house, and she and the kids were soon inside. As Arthur hurried to his room to add Martian Bunny to his Bunny League toy collection, and Mrs. Read joined her husband in the kitchen, Suefran followed D.W. into her bedroom.
D.W. jumped onto her bed and looked at her watch. "It's...11:53," she stated proudly, then flashed her timepiece at Suefran for verification.
"Yeah, that's right," the girl answered. "Very good."
"Does your arm hurt?" D.W. asked her.
"Yeah, just a little." Suefran became serious again. "D.W., do you still have the unicorn horn that I...er, Francine gave you for Christmas?"
"Yeah." D.W. leaped from her bed. "It's in my toy chest."
"Have you made any more wishes on it?" asked Suefran.
"Nope." D.W. reached into the chest and pulled out the spiral-shaped horn, which still had a phosphorescent glow about it.
"I'd like to look at it," Suefran requested.
D.W. handed her the horn. "Maybe you could wish for your arm to be better," she suggested.
As Suefran walked out of D.W.'s room, holding the unicorn horn in front of her, she deliberated over her possible courses of action. If it was good for one more wish, as she suspected and hoped, then she could use it to wish that she had her own body again. But that wouldn't affect Sue Ellen...there would be two Francines...no, she couldn't do it.
She walked into the upstairs bathroom, kicked the door closed, and held the horn aloft with her right hand. "I wish I was cured of HIV," she said.
She felt silly. Sue Ellen had made the exact same wish, but her tests had turned up positive notwithstanding. Greta had told her that unicorn magic was bound by many rules and regulations. Was there a limitation on which diseases could be cured? There was one way to find out...make a different wish, one that couldn't possibly be denied.
She decided to take D.W.'s suggestion. "I wish my arm wasn't broken."
What happened next shocked her to the very core. There was a sound like a sledgehammer crushing rocks, and the cast on her left arm was replaced with broken pieces of plaster with fragments of signatures written on them. She dropped the unicorn horn in terror.
Then she realized that it was a good thing that had happened.
Plaster rubble, metal pins, and screws were strewn across the bathroom floor to the left of her. She started to brush the dust and chunks off of her left arm. The throbbing pain had disappeared. To her surprise, the surface of her once-broken arm had the color and tone of healthy skin, as if it had never lost contact with the sun. There were no scars, or bruises, or pins sticking out.
She bent her left arm and wiggled her fingers. They worked perfectly. The wish had succeeded.
Moments later, Mrs. Read gasped in fear when she saw Sue Ellen standing in front of the upstairs bathroom door, waving her cast-free left arm in the air and smiling triumphantly.
----
"I've never seen anything like this," remarked Dr. Leach, a dog woman who was examining X-rays of Suefran's left arm. "It's completely healed. Not only that, but it looks like it was never broken."
"It's a miracle," said Mrs. Armstrong as she gazed at the girl she believed to be her daughter, who sat bare-chested on an examination table. "A bona-fide miracle."
"There were pins in your arm," the doctor said to Suefran. "What happened to them?"
"They, er, fell out," the girl replied.
"I don't know what to say." Dr. Leach stared at the X-rays in amazement. "If I were you, I'd walk out of here and buy a lottery ticket."
Suefran grabbed the undershirt lying next to her and pulled it over her upper body with both hands. Having two functioning arms would temporarily alleviate the inconvenience of being in Sue Ellen's body, she thought, but it still didn't address the long-term issues.
----
As soon as she had returned to the Armstrong residence, Suefran made a call to the Frensky apartment and was notified that Francine was at Arthur's house. She ran there as fast as she could; when she entered, she saw a large number of children gathered in the living room, most of them sitting on the floor. They included Arthur, D.W., Fransue (still wearing the blue dress), Beat, Binky, Fern, George, Alan, Prunella, Marina, and a boy Suefran had never seen before. He was a dark-complexioned bear boy, about the same age as the other children, clad in a shirt with colorful patterns on it.
When Fransue saw that Suefran wasn't wearing her cast, she jumped to her feet and stared in disbelieving shock. "Y-your cast!" she exclaimed. "Where is it? What are you doing? Put it back on!"
"My arm's all better," said Suefran, bending her left arm and wiggling her fingers to demonstrate.
"You're crazy!" Fransue roared indignantly. "I'm calling your mother...I mean, my mother."
As she rushed to the phone, Suefran strolled casually into the living room, where the other kids had stood up and were gazing at her castless arm in amazement--all except for the blind Marina and the new boy.
"My name's Fr...uh, Sue Ellen," she said to him in a friendly voice.
The dark-skinned boy stood and held out his hand in greeting.
"My name is Adil Faruk," he said in halting English. "I am from Turkey."
(To be continued...)
