Anonymous - She!

"What would I do without you two?" he said. "Those sons-of-bitches

…"

"Don't talk about them, daddy. I don't even want to think about them ever again."

"Sure, honey," he said, kissing her on the top of the head. "Hungry?"

"Starved!" we both said.

"You're okay now, sis?" Billy said as Phil released us and we turned to the table.

She smiled. "Yeah."

"Then let's wrestle after dinner. Okay?" Marshall said brightly.

"Naw," she said, frowning a little. Both boys looked downcast. "I'd just beat you too bad." Their heads came up as one, smiles spreading.

"Oh, yeah? How much you want to bet?"

"How about a thousand dollars?" she said.

"I'll bet a thousand thousand," Marshall said. It was all right now.

Though I had done it before in different, and probably much more demanding, circumstances, walking into the home room class the first day was terrible. I didn't know where I was going but, I quickly found, few other people did either, even if they had attended the year before and knew the school.

My flared blue skirt and blouse with the moderate white heels seemed to fit right in with the other girls' clothes. I was still embarrassed by the attention I got from both the girls (a mixture of interest and jealousy) and the boys (unrestrained youthful lust).

We listened to announcements on the intercom system almost the first thing, the principal announcing an assembly for the next day and welcoming everyone to the school with wishes for a "great" year.

The class hushed as the teacher gave us an outline of the English class and told us about the heavy writing load expected. The book was over 500 pages long and, he said, would consume much of our time for the year. Discussion was graded high priority.

He assigned lockers in the hallway outside the room and dismissed us.

The bell rang and I asked one of the girls where the biology rooms were. Becky led me to the hallway, turning into a chemistry room as I went down the hallway to the right number. This was a repeat of the English class with another book and demands for a great deal of work.

History was next with a pile of small books instead of one extremely large one. I was surprised when a hand touched my shoulder.

"Hi," Will said from beside me. "Are you a senior?"

"Yeah. Hi."

"You looked younger."

I held up my finger in front of my lips. "Don't tell." He grinned.

The teacher was very gruff and businesslike. Again he told of multiple major papers and weekly tests including current affairs.

Will walked with me to my locker to deposit the books I'd collected and barely balanced now. Then he led me to the lunchroom. The food wasn't anything special but it was filling. We sat in the sunlight in the courtyard nearby after we finished.

"Where are you going next?" he asked.

"Psychology. Room 220."

"Really? Me too. When the bell rings, I'll walk with you." I smiled. It was nice to have a friend to help you in a new place.

We compared schedules then and found that he had zoology instead of biology. He had English the second period. He and I were together again for Calculus after psychology. And he had Latin instead of French.

"Did you finish the book?" I asked.

"Yeah, last night."

"What did you think?" I knew what I thought. It was overly romanticized, it dealt only with humans leaving out the rest of the world, and it gave the characters almost no credit for learning anything in all their past lives. It also demanded there would be several of them instead of just a single unique individual like me.

"It was a little limited, I thought."

"Limited?"

"Sure. If you could change into anybody, you should be able to change into anything as well. Why not? You'd learn a lot more from being another animal than from just being another person. Right?"

"That's what I thought, too," I said with a smile. He was good. Smart.

"Not only that, but it seemed like the characters couldn't do anything with all eight of them being together. Like they were all stupid." He sputtered to a stop. "Like I know," he said, looking at his hands in his lap a little nervously.

I was suddenly very glad he hadn't asked me first. I had a suspicion he was not just what he appeared to be. It sent a strange shiver up my back.

Our psychology teacher was an old friend, Miss Taylor, the counselor who was also one of the psychology teachers. I said hello as I passed her and she smiled hugely.

Another large book and promises of more heavy assignments. Will walked with me to Calculus. This course, since I didn't seem to have a head for mathematics, was going to be difficult. Still another large book and promises of daily assignments, weekly quizzes, and a tough midterm and final. It was all getting a little numbing.

The teacher seemed nice enough but looked like a bookish man who would really enjoy Calculus. That wasn't a compliment.

I split with Will then as he went to his Latin class and I went to French. The French class provided two pleasant surprises – Becky came and sat next to me, and the French teacher was a petite 23-year-old with a heavy French accent who started out the class by saying, "Bon Jour". She smiled wonderfully and her tiny body was perfectly fitted to the smallwaisted dress she wore.

I silently bet that she was high on the interest list for every male teacher in the building.

The day ended with two reading assignments, a set of math problems, and a simple writing assignment. I had a feeling I was lucky and was sure of it as Will joined me at my locker, two away from Becky, and we all walked in the same direction home.

Becky's house was nearest the school and she asked if I'd study with her sometimes. I readily agreed if for nothing but to share in what she was learning as well as my own classes. Will walked me to my door, his home somewhere beyond.

"I'd like to walk you home every night," he said. "But football practices start tomorrow and I'll be busy."

"You play football?" I asked.

"Uh huh. I got tabbed for quarterback this year," he said modestly.

"I'll watch sometimes," I said. "Games. You know."

"I hope so," he said. "They're mostly Friday nights and I'm going to need somebody to cheer for me."

"I will." I smiled and thanked him for carrying my books before he started back down the sidewalk with a big smile.

"Sue?" Minni said as we lay in each other's arms that night.

"Uh huh," I responded tiredly. All this new was tiring and I was exhausted from the day and the two hours of homework after dinner.

"You told me all the things you've been," she said. I nodded against the pillow. "You've been almost everything." I nodded again. "Would you

…" she stopped, nervous against my neck. "You were a man, right?"

"Yes, Minni. Several times."

"Were you a very wonderful man?"

"I have a choice of how I will appear to others. I've chosen to be many kinds of man."

She breathed heavily. "Were you ever a gladiator?"

"No. Not a gladiator," I said with a smile, seeing where the conversation was going. "But I was a warrior."

"A very handsome, strong warrior, I'll bet."

"Yes." I knew what she wanted now.

She let the silence of the bedroom, bathed in the waning light of the almost full moon, drag on for a long time.

"Minni? Would you like me to be a warrior for you?"

"Can you?"

I felt my body change then to Vasili's features. Leaning toward her, I watched her tiny hand come to my massive chest. Vasili had been a tribal chief in what would one day be the Ukraine – a chief who had won his leadership by force of heavy weapons and an ability to tell exactly what the rangy Cossack ponies were going to do even before they did them.

I'd worn my long straight blond hair in broad braids originally but now that wasn't possible. Vasili's women had found him irresistible and had borne him more children than any of the other chieftains, a source of tribal pride. That had been a combination of kindness (very unusual) and understanding mixed with a good measure of satisfying sex.