*** Inspired by, and based on, a Lovingly Modified magazine cover by femur ***

"I'm telling you Fred, I'm really at my wits end and don't know what to do. I don't understand why she did it, nor where she's gone, but if she doesn't turn up before next Wednesday I'm history"! I don't know why I had let him talk me into coming here today. It had been a long shift and I was tired and not really in the mood for idle chit chat. It wasn't even like he was my friend or anything. He was only a work colleague, and one who had always been a bit of a moaner if the truth was known. Still, I had to confess to having some sympathy for him at the moment, despite it all. It's not everyday that you get married to a rich heiress and then return from honeymoon without her, so I let my better nature get the best of me and here I was! Tom Ryder was already on his fifth bottle of beer, and it was export quality as well, and he was showing signs of being the worse for wear. I yawned - I was fast catching up with him. He had already been through this whole thing once and I was beginning to regret agreeing to meet him after work for a drink at Chilli's, my favourite watering hole. I was starting to get bored and anyway, I had my own problems. The car plant that we worked for was shutting down this week and although Tom seemed to be set up I was struggling to find work, along with the hundreds of others that were joining me. I decided to indulge, just this once more. "Well you must have done something to upset her. I mean, I know women are mad and everything, especially Suzy, but no girl would walk out on a two-week marriage without reason, especially after she had gone against her father's wishes and risked being disinherited just to be with you!" I exclaimed, exasperated. He glowered at me for a moment and I wondered whether I had gone too far in talking about his wife in such a way but then he cursed, and his invective was aimed at Suzy's father. "Yeah, and wouldn't that old bastard just love to say 'I told you so', and 'I said it would never last' he said bitterly, mimicking his father-in-law's voice and signalling to a nearby waiter to bring him another beer. I was a little startled at his outburst. Although Tom was a moaner, as I've already mentioned, I hadn't thought that he would have felt so strongly about Suzy's father. In fact, I seem to remember him saying before the honeymoon, that he hadn't even met him. I looked at him for a moment, thinking that he seemed different somehow, although I couldn't quite place what it was, and that seemed to shake him a little and he calmed down. "But you know her Fred, " Tom continued, "most people thought that she was a bit flighty and I'm certain that she was enjoying all the attention from those Italians in the hotel at our honeymoon in Venice". Flighty! Well I suppose that was true all right, although I didn't really know her at all. I had once tried to tell Tom that he was most probably just a distraction for her and was most likely just another way of getting back at her father, but he wouldn't have it. Truth told, I don't really know whether he thought that it would ever truly last and was probably drawn into the marriage by the thoughts of experiencing a little of the 'old money' wealth that Suzy's family had in abundance. I wasn't going to indulge him now though. "Well don't you forget that it's that same old bastard that is taking you into the family business next week, even if it is just to keep Suzy happy. Are you sure he doesn't know about her disappearance?" I asked him, as I looked around for my jacket. I wanted to wrap this up and go home before Tom got paralytic, and I ended being his nursemaid for the night. "No - I'm sure that she hasn't gone running back home, else I would have heard about it by now. For all Suzy's sweetness she still has a stubborn streak and would never have given 'daddy' the satisfaction of being proved right". Well, I didn't know about the being sweet and all, because from the stories that I'd heard she was just a spoilt brat, but I didn't want to upset him by telling him that, I just wanted out of here! "Well I've got an early start tomorrow Tom, some of us still have to go job-hunting and, as much as I'd like to, I can't stick around much longer. Why don't you go home - she might have left a message for you" I said, putting a friendly arm around his shoulder and helping him to stand. "Yeah - well maybe you're right, and maybe I am being a little self-indulgent but if Suzy doesn't come back then I'll most probably be joining you soon". He was still sitting there with a full beer when I left, promising that he'd follow me in a few moments, and that was the last that I saw of him until I got a call two days later, the night before my last day at the plant, "Fred" he had said on hearing my voice, "I need to see you. Something weird has happened and I need someone to talk it over with, and you're my best friend". Best friend - wow! I didn't know about that, because I certainly didn't regard him as a friend at all - just an acquaintance. The guy MUST be desperate! "Well, I don't know - I don't think I'm really in the mood to go out and I'm sure I wouldn't be very good company. Besides - where have you been the last two days" I replied, and then regretted asking him, knowing that the question would keep the conversation going. "I'll tell you later, when me meet. It's too complicated to go into now. Meet me at Chilli's at eight and I'll tell you everything" he said, and then hung up, just adding to the mystery of all this. Well, I had fallen into that one and didn't have the heart to refuse to go so, sure enough, there I was at Chilli's at the appointed time with two cold beers at the ready for when he walked in. I soon saw him searching for me amongst the crowd and when he saw where I was, he walked over, all smiles and looking great. It was the last thing that I expected after seeing the state that he was in two days ago, and I sat back to listen to what he had to say, marvelling at how animated he was. "Well what do you think?" he said, running his hands up and down his body in a most uncharacteristic fashion. "What do I think - what do I think about what?" I asked, wondering where this was going. "Well, about me dummy. Don't you think I look about five years younger!" he said as he turned his face from side to side so that I could get a better look at him. I didn't quite like him calling me 'dummy' - it was a bit to familiar for my liking but as I looked at him I had to admit that he did, indeed, look younger. Now I knew what it was that I had spotted when he walked in. He looked about twenty pounds lighter and all the strain he had showed during the last week or so had vanished completely. "Okay, I suppose you do, but calm down a bit will you," I said, trying to play this down a little. He was being over demonstrative and we were attracting stares from the other tables and that was something I just didn't like. "I'm sorry Fred, it's just that I think I've found the answer to all my prayers and the future has never looked brighter - that is, if I can just remove the one last cloud that remains on my horizon". "Is Suzy back then?" I asked, leaning forward slightly, hoping that this was the reason for his good mood. "Not exactly Fred" he said ambiguously. "Not exactly - what does that mean? So shoot Tom. Are you going to let me in on what's been going on, or am I going to have to guess everything?" I said sarcastically, although it went completely over his head. "You remember two nights ago - yeah - well I got home eventually, at about eight o'clock - hey, same time as now right - and was about to open a beer from the cooler when I heard a knock on the door..". He paused for effect and took another sip of his beer before continuing. "It was certainly unusual for me to get a caller of any kind, much less one at that time of night, so I opened the door a crack to see my neighbour, holding a large parcel and a note. Apparently, these had been sent from the hotel that we had stayed in and had some of Suzy's belongings. They had found them in another room". "In another room - what do they mean in another room! I thought you had brought all her things back with you after she'd disappeared"! "Yeah - I had. I had brought back everything that she had left except what she was wearing or carrying with her. That was what was in the parcel. They knew it was her stuff because of her driving license and things, that were in her purse, so they returned it to me". "And wasn't there any explanation about what her things should be doing in someone else's room, or any indication of where she might have been"? "Well, I rang the hotel the next day and they said that the room had belonged to a young couple and their baby child, a boy. It seems that the wife had left with her baby the day before, after some sort of fall-out with her husband. It was obvious that the inference was that Suzy had been having a fling with the man and the wife had found out about it and had stormed out, taking the baby with her". "And Suzy had stayed there with the man I suppose". "It seems that way, although that isn't the strangest thing. With the details that the hotel gave me, I managed to track down the husband. He didn't want to tell me anything at first, because it seemed like he had made up with his wife and wanted to forget about his little, shall we say, transgression. I managed to make him see sense when I told that I could make his life a misery by constantly bugging him and his wife if he didn't tell me where Suzy had gone, and that was when he opened up to me and admitted that he honestly didn't know. He did admit however, that he slept with her that night but when he woke in the morning she had gone". "Oh right! Well that's very sad but it still doesn't explain why you're looking so much younger" I said, hoping that he would eventually get to the point. "Just hold your horses - I'm getting to that. When I pushed him again he told me that Suzy had disappeared all right, there was no doubt about that, but where she had been sleeping was a baby boy, just a few months old, lying right next to him on the bed". "But I thought that you said the wife had taken the child with her!" I exclaimed. "I did, but listen - what was stranger was that this boy was the spitting image of their other child. Of course, he rang and apologised to his wife and then checked that she still had the child with her, just to make sure that he was all right. She did and they were both amazed at the miracle that had happened as they saw it, and had put right a wrong that they had never recovered from". I was starting to get drawn into this tale now and took another sip of beer as Tom continued. "You see, they originally had twins but one of them died soon after the birth. They thought that this was God's way of easing their loss and of bringing them back together again, so the husband returned home with the new baby and gave no further thought to Suzy until I rang". "But that still doesn't explain Suzy's vanishing act". Tom felt inside his pocket and produced a tarnished looking necklace that had a representation of a small cherub at its centre. "This was in her belongings. It was something she picked up one day at a local market. I found out it has strange powers. I took it out of that parcel that night, and accidentally brushed it against the clothes she had left that were in there with it. About twenty minutes later Suzy was back and sitting in our bedroom again". "Suzy!" I snorted, "are you telling me that the medallion was magic or something, and that it somehow brought her back to you"? "Well yes and no, I suppose. Yes, it was magic, and no, it didn't bring Suzy back - it changed me into her. I tell you Fred, and I swear by all that's holy, that medallion changed me into my errant wife. That was why I haven't been at work the past two days, I couldn't show up on the line looking like her now, could I"? "But Suzy - what happened to her, and how did you change back?" I exclaimed, not knowing which question to ask next! "I'm not sure, but if she had this medallion, and she somehow touched it to something belonging to that baby boy - well, what do you think"? I was horrified - was he trying to tell me that somehow, Suzy had been transformed into that baby boy? I had no doubt that he believed what he had described had really happened to him, and that he thought he knew what had happened to Suzy, but how could such a thing be possible! I took another mouthful of beer, never taking my eyes from him for a second, as he continued. "I know that you'll probably think I'm mad, and if I was in your shoes then I'd probably think the same, but it really happened Fred, and that's why I appear so much younger now. Let me explain. I correctly reasoned that it must have been the medallion that changed me, and I guessed that because I had touched it with Suzy's clothing then it turned me into a version of her. What I didn't know was whether the change was permanent or not, and if not then how long would it take me to change back. Well I tried there and then of course, using a shirt that I had taken off earlier, but nothing happened. I can tell you Fred, I had a few nervous hours until I figured it out - I didn't relish the prospect of living out the rest of my days as a woman"! I didn't know what to say, so I just did the sensible thing and ordered two more beers as I saw Tom examine his empty bottle. "Anyway, as I said. There I was, thinking that I was stuck as a woman and I had a few worrying hours that's for sure, but when I tried it again, later the next morning with a piece of my own clothing, I found that I started changing back again. It seems like it needs more than just a few hours before you can use it on yourself again, but after that it seems fine! The thing is Fred, the clothing that I used was old, it was something that I hadn't been able to fit into for years"! "Oh, so that's why you look so unfashionably fashionable today" I mocked him, but had to admit I couldn't see any way that he could have lost so much weight, or how he could have appeared to be so much younger, by anything that I was aware of! I began to see where he was leading now, or so I thought! "Oh these! Well I can soon buy some new clothes, once I've replenished by bank account" he said, looking down at himself. "So you managed to change back. Why can't you rescue Suzy and change her back as well"? "Well, although I know how the medallion works I can't be totally sure that the baby boy is really her, and there's no way that a small baby could tell me. Besides, even if it was then I'm sure that cramming all those years of her life into a baby's smaller brain would have erased a lot of what made her Suzy. Would it be fair to change her back"? There was no way I could answer that so once again, I just sat there while Tom continued. "But enough about Suzy - this is where you come in". "Me!" What's this got to do with me?" I asked, finding my voice and wondering how this conversation had suddenly shifted towards myself. For the first time since I had set eyes on him this evening he went quiet, in the way that somebody will do when they are breaking bad news to you. This didn't last too long though and I sunk to new levels of embarrassment as he went down onto one knee and took hold of my hand, seemingly forgetting the fact that we were in a crowded bar. "I don't quite know how to say this Fred, but would you - would you consent to be my wife"? I can honestly say that what ever else I had expected to hear it wasn't that. Words were beyond me at first, and I don't think that I shall ever forget the look of impish amusement on Tom's face as he watched my jaw hit the table. Nor will I forget the looks of those at other tables nearby, or at least those within earshot who had caught what was said. I can remember mumbling something like "Christ Tom, what i

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