As Luck Would Have it

Mr. Logan knocked on Betsy’s bedroom door. “Betsy, I have a possible victim for you to interview.”

Betsy opens the bedroom door. “Pop, are you joking?”

“Victim for what?”

“A sex change spell. Someone must have heard about what you did for Alex.”

“I didn’t do a sex change spell for Alex. I removed extra cellular material.”

“Could you make a sex change spell?”

“Of course. I don’t know if I want to make one. The ethical issues would be enormous. Besides, I’m a very masculine woman; people would find it odd if I sold such a thing.”

“I’ll tell him to go away.” Thad went to the parlor and returned to the library less than five minutes later. “I told the man that no such potion exists.”

Alex entered the room. “I understand now. I can read people on the cellular level. Mr. Logan, would you mind if I touch your hand a second? I’ll need to find a woman and another man to be sure,” Alex said. “Mr. Logan’s chromosomes are different than mine. I have twenty-three pairs. He has twenty-two pairs and two unpaired chromosomes.”

“What about Betsy?” Mr. Logan asked.

Alex touched her hand. “The same as me. Twenty-three pairs.”

“Test. Mrs. Logan,” Mr. Logan suggested.

Alex came back to the bedroom in a minute. “Twenty-three pair. Frank’s are the same as you.”

“That means you’re female on the cellular level. You weren’t before. The healer dad talked to said that you had an extra chromosome. You had the two that females have plus the smaller one that men have. My potion made you female.”

“I’ll take you to the healer that treated it before. She removed the extra material and the boy was very angry that she became a girl. The parents were furious,” Mr. Logan said. “Alex, Betsy that she could make a potion and you could become a man again.”

“I’ll remain a woman for now,” Alex said.

“Your well-being is important to me,” Mr. Logan said.

“It won’t make you any money. An error like mine must be very rare.”

“Yes. We have a lot to think about.” Betsy put her arms around Alex. “Darling, are you all right?”

“What do you want me to do?” Alex asked. “I told you that accepted that I was sterile. I lied. I enjoy holding Cynthia. I want my own baby.”

“I don’t think you should have a baby. Alex, you have a lot of growing up to do. The extra material in your cells made it difficult for you to think. You have to accept that you\'re brighter now,” Betsy said.

“I’m afraid.”

“Alex,” Betsy wrapped her arms around her. “How do you feel?”

“Not like myself,” Alex said.

“Is that good or bad?” Betsy asked.

“I feel different. I don’t know if it is good or bad. I haven’t decided, yet.” Alex put her arms around Betsy.

“I love you. I want to spend my life with you.”

“We’ll build a house,” Alex said. “File for a divorce.”

“He’s going to claim that I wronged him.”

“You did. You slept with Mattie and me.”

“I slept with women.”

“It isn’t going to help that you\'re a dyke.”

“That makes you also a dyke.”

“I was a boy until your potion took some genetic material away. You’re going to have to help me when I go on the rag. Should I force my body to cycle or wait?”

“Wait. If you don’t cycle in a couple months, you can force it then.”

“Betsy, talk to Henry. He doesn’t want this to go in front of judge anymore than you do.”

“We can just sign something and let our lawyers see the judge.”

“That would be the best solution, but I think Henry is after blood.”

“I have no money.”

“Talk to him. Do you want me to go with you?”

“That will help?”

“Thank you for making three dresses, but I have to learn to sew. I used to buy my clothes.”

“They do sell some women clothes at the store. Sears and Roebuck has a catalog.” Betsy delivered supplies to Agnes and Mattie in the morning at Mattie’s house. “I need some patterns for a lady’s dress.”

“For you?” Mattie asked.

“For Alex. You helped her,” Betsy said.

“I’ll find some patterns that will look beautiful on a small woman,” Mattie said.

“Thank you,” said Betsy. “Alex can understand more now that she doesn’t have that extra chromosome. The extra material must cause mental deficiency. She\'s so excited about her new abilities.”

After landing her carpet, Alex met them down at the deli near the magic shop. “Betsy shouldn’t have to make me clothes. She has her potions to bottle.”

Mattie said, “Woman get a raw deal in this world. Men vote, run all the businesses, hold government office, make the laws. You should return to the man I met at the bank.”

“I can’t put faulty information back into my genetic makeup. I’m healer. I’m not able to give people genetic deformities.”

“I never though of it that way,” Mattie said.

“If someone had diabetes and I cured them of it, I couldn’t give it back to them. I had extraneous information in my cells. There is nothing I can do to put it back,” Alex said.

“Alex removed some faulty information in her genes and accidentally lost six inches of height,” Mattie explained to Agnes. “Alex, I guess things are more interconnected than we expected.”

“Now I understand why all your clothes are too big,” Agnes said.

“In every direction, if it was just hemming it wouldn’t so difficult,” Alex said. “It doesn’t help that I’m hopeless with a needle. Betsy made me three dresses or I would be going around in clothes twice my size.”

“I’ll have some more clothes for you by tonight,” Betsy said. “Alex, the first store on your schedule is in Vermont. You better get moving.”

Mattie said, “Pete is going to quit. He’s going to think this is a women’s job.”

“We haven’t been told if a man or woman is taking over the Boston route,” Agnes said. “No insult to Peter. I just think they are more female witches.”

“I’ll see you ladies later,” Betsy said. “I have to go back to making more so you ladies can sell it.”

“They think it’s funny that a little old lady like me is selling male stamina formula,” Agnes said. “I got my first few sales through shock factor alone.”

Betsy looked at her pocket watch. “The stores open in less than forty-five minutes. You women can talk after the stores are shut for the day. I’ll still be making potion.” Betsy took her carpet and left to see Henry.

Henry had left the house by then. She called each factory until she found Henry. “I need to see you about divorce.”

“How am I going to divorce you?”

“I show up as I am and no judge won’t annul.”

“That makes our daughter illegitimate.”

“We can sign an agreement that no money exchanges hands and that we share custody.”

“I get sole custody. You were cheating on me. I have always been faithful to you.”

“You have me over a barrel. You get custody of Cynthia. When do you want to meet with our attorneys and get an agreement signed to present to the judge?”

“Next Tuesday.”

Betsy went back to his parents’ house and started work. Pop arrived around lunch and told Betsy to taste the curse-removing potion. “It’s tolerable but I’m not a good judge. Ask Alex when she gets home.”

“I had Mom taste it and Peter. They said it was acceptable.”

“Go with it. I’m going to see Henry about a divorce next Tuesday. I can’t believe I’m nervous.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“Henry wants sole custody of Cynthia.”

“Don’t fight him on it. You’re sleeping with two women.”

“I know I wronged him. Why do I feel like the one wronged?”

“Because it hurts.”

“I’ll start promoting the cure for curses and have to administer it myself until we know the shelf life or it is has any side effects. At this time it’s for only physical curses. We don’t know if it can cure curses effecting the soul, timed curses or behavioral curses.”

“We can test it. Start advertising as soon as you have someone to take over the Boston route.”

“I’m training a man now.”

“At least, Peter won’t be the only man in the air.”

“You better get to work. Wed mod more potion than ever.”

“We need a factory. I can only do so much with telekinesis. I’m filling ten bottles at a time as it is.”

“I’ll see an industrial engineer tomorrow and make plans to renovate a factory. We have more than enough money to do it. You can be my plant manager after we get start

“Deal.” Betsy found herself talking to the industrial engineer, going over blueprints, and selecting a site. Bright and early Tuesday, Betsy put on her skirt and blouse then met with the lawyer Mattie found her at the Dunstable courthouse. Henry was sitting with his lawyer.

“So are we agreed?”
finafinally am appreciating you now that we\'re getting a divorce. My father is opening a factory and guess who has to do all the grudge work?”

“You slept with Matt and Alex. You brought this on yourself.”

Betsy decided that it was better Henry masculinized the names. She didn’t want the lawyers thinking she was a dyke. “I suppose it doesn’t matter that you refused to sleep with me.”

“Lots of people have sexless marriages,” said Henry’s lawyer, “that doesn’t excuse you from fornicating with two men.”

The lawyer whispered to him. “Are you sure you want custody of the kid? It’s probably not even yours.”

“She looks like me. I believe she’s mine.”

“Are we agreed?” Betsy’s lawyer asked.

“I don’t have much choice. No money changes hands.”

“Agreed,” Henry’s lawyer said. “If we bring this to court, you would lose. I rather we rather not have to have Matt and Alex subpoenaed.”

“I agree,” said Betsy.

“We wait five months and we see the judge,” Betsy’s lawyer said. Betsy thanked her lawyer and returning to bottling. She dreaded the thought of hiring a staff to man the factory.

“How did it go?” Mom asked her.

“He had me over a barrel and he knew it.” Betsy filled bottles telekinetically. “At least, he made it sound like I slept with two men instead of two women.”

“I suppose you should be thankful for that.”

“He isn’t interested in my money.”

“Don’t worry. Logan’s Products has all the y. Yy. You get paid a small salary.”

“I know that Alex makes more than I do.”

Alex looked at Betsy as she climbed into. “D. “Don’t you laugh. I have to do this again five months from now.”

“I haven’t seen my sister since I have dropped the excess material. All she has from me is letters. I kept wondering if I should use that one day sex change potion that you used when I visit her.”

“Alex, she knows from the letter your handwriting has changed. Your mental facilities have changed. You have even comment on how much easier things are now. We removed excess genetic material. We don’t know what was on that gene. All we know is that it didn’t have a mate.”

“What happened to me?”

“The information on that gene is gone. If you took a sex change spell, there is no guarantee you’ll look the same. I can practically guarantee that you won’t.” Betsy put her arm around her. “Alex, you have to tell her.”

“I removed a deformity. I didn’t do anything morally wrong, why do I feel like she\'s going to look down on me?”

“Alex, you always have to be a healer.”

“Your brother taught me not to be.”

“There are some people you just can’t heal.” Betsy kissed Alex and moved her hands over Alex’s little body. “Henry’s lawyer made me feel like a two bit whore. He had the nerve to suggest that Cynthia wasn’t his.”

“Alex, how can you act so natural?”

“I’m me. It must be part of the personality change that your father warned me about.”

“You seem so at home with your new body.”

“I’m not. I hate getting on ladders. The men at the shops offer to help me put things on top shelves, not that I dislike the attention. It’s nice that men smile at me.”

“I could never allow a man to do anything for me.”

“That makes us different. Betsy, don’t be jealous; if we were all the same, it would be a boring world.” Alex put her arms around Betsy. “Hold me. Tell me that you love me.”

“Alex, I love you.” Betsy put her head on the pillow and placed arms around Alex.

“Betsy, I need you so much.” Alex wept in her arms. “Will you come to my sister’s house with me? I don’t want her to think I did this because I want to be a girl. I wanted an adult body like everyone else. She needs to understand that I had a medical condition.”

Betsy sat on Alex’s carpet with her on the next Sunday morning. “Alex, just tell the carpet your sister’s address.”

“I feel like I did something wrong.”

“I helped you cure your mental deficiency; the sex change was a side effect. I brought the spell book with me. It explains the condition and the potion to make to correct such a condition. If anyone needs a sex change potion, it would be I. I want to wear pants at the factory and grow a beard.”

“You could try to undo what that potion did tu.” u.”

“Why? I don’t have sporadic magic and I don’t need to stop cycling for birth control reasons.”

“Betsy, you look like a school teacher.” Alex was dressed in a plain light beige blouse and a dark brown skirt. She was wearing a bone colored sweater and women’s work boots. Neither was wearing jewelry. “I doubt I look better.”

“You look like a working girl.”

“I want to look like a working girl. I just don’t want to look poor.”

“You don’t. Your clothes are clean and ly wly worn. I’ll tell your sister that you work for my father and live with my family.”

“She doesn’t need to know you\'re going through a divorce.”

“I’ll just tell her I’m separated from my husband if she asked. I’m working for my dad that is all she needs to know. Does she have witchcraft? I hate to explain magic to a mundane.”

“Yes, she’s my sister. Her husband and children have magic, too. She’s fourteen years older than I so don’t feel bad when we meet her grown children.”

“Witches. I might want to hire her children when I staff my factory.”

“I don’t think that is a good idea. It’s best if we keep a low profile.”

Alex knocked on her sister’s door. “Emily, I know that it’s almost Thanksgiving and I have only written.” Alex hugged her sister.

“Miss, who are you?” Emily asked as she pulled away from the other woman.

“I’m your sister, Alex, and I’m wog fog for Betsy’s parents. I told you that in a letter.”

“Alex,” the woman said. “Come in; Donald is still at work.”

“How are the boys?”

“Charlie started working at the factory last spring. He claims that his boss is taking advantage of him because he\'s a witch. Charlie is over a friend’s house; he\'s too big to spend Sunday with his family. Matthew, David and Donny are in the garden. I’ll introduce your friend to them,” Emily said.

“I’m Betsy from Alex’s letters.” Betsy hugged y bry briefly. “I brought the spell book I used to heal Alex. She had a rare genetic condition that caused physical and mental retardation.”

“We can look at the books in the garden.” Emily walked Betsy and Alex to the garden. The two older boys were harvesting the last of the vegetables in the small fenced in garden. The youngest was watching. “Sit down on the bench. I know it isn’t much but you give up space to live close to the city.”

“It’s very nice,” Betsy said. “Emily, I know thisveryvery awkward. I treated Alex for a medical condition. It’s explained here. I marked the page.”

Emily read what Betsy marked in the spell book. “You’ve had extra genetic material.”

“The potion that I made would have done nothing if she had forty-six chromosomes. Since she had an extra, it changed everything about her as explained here.” Betsy pointed out the passages.

“I feel like everything is easier now. I don’t forget things. It’s wonderful,” Alex said.

“People treated you as a man,” Emily said.

“They treated me as a boy. I was never treated as a man. The other tellers always helped me so I would be on the penny. Mr. Baker allowed me special privileges at my job because I’m a healer. He allowed me to make errors that would meant termination for other employees.”

“Alex, is this what you were suffering from?” Emily asked.

“I didn’t want to believe that I was mentally deficient. I always looked for spells to heal sexual immaturity.”

Betsy laughed. “My father used to sell a sex change spell. He dropped it because it wasn’t selling as well as his other products. I adapted it so it would only change a man into a woman.”

Alex covered her mouth as she laughed.

Emily took her sister’s hand away from her face. “You don’t have to hide anymore. Your face moves normally now. What happened when you took the potion?”

“Nothing to me,” said Alex, looking at her feet.


“That’s when I knew we were barking up the wrong tree,” explained Betsy.

“I’ve had a facial hair problem since puberty. The potion cured it. My friend, Mattie, thought it didn’t work of Alex because the spell was probably designed not to work on children. My father told me that wasn’t the case. My father spoke to five healers before he found an answer.”

“It’s listed in the mental retardation section of the book,” Alex said. “I’m glad that I’m now physical and mental mature. Betsy says that if I feel uncomfortable as a woman that she will find me a potion turn me into a man.”

Betsy said, “Alex wouldn’t be the same man.”

“The extra material is gone. I would be a different man. I accept myself the way I am,” Alex said.

The boys came to the bench. “Hello, Miss,” one of the boys said.

“This is your aunt, Alex,” Emily said.

“We heard her talk. A man doesn’t become a woman.”

“I looked like a boy,” Alex said. “I had a deformity. Betsy made a spell to correct it. Allow the boys to read it.”

“It might be a little hard for them to understand,” Emily said. “I’m having trouble understand all it says about cellular structure and chromosomes.”

“Tell the boys that all people are suppose to have forty-six chromosomes and I had forty-seven. The potion removed the unmatched chromosome. That chromosome was the male sex chromosome. I have felt the cellular information in a few men and women by touching their hand. Men have a smaller chromosome and the larger one and women have two larger ones. I had the pair that women have plus a copy of the male chromosome. The potion rid me of the unmatched chromosome. Removing a matched chromosome would have been much harder to manage and if the wrong one was selected, I would have died.”

“I understand that part,” Emily said. “Boys, are there anymore squash? The first frost is any day.”

\"Nothing,” the youngest boy said.

“Help me light the oven,” Emily said. “Betsy, can you cut the squash so we can cook it.”

“Sure,” Betsy said.

“What do you ladies do?” one of the boys asked.

“I bottle potion,” Betsy asked. “I’m building a factory.”

“Women don’t run factories,” the oldest boy said.

“They can do anything they want,” Emily said.

“I’m not running a factory,” said Betsy. “I plan to hire someone to run it. All I’m doing right now is talking to draftsmen.”

“Betsy, what kind of potion do you sell?”

“Glamour and love potions,” Betsy said. “Alex is one of our salesladies. My brother would run it but he rather drink himself to death.”

“Betsy, don’t tell my sister about your brother’s drinking problem,” Alex said.

“You must have written her about it.” Betsy cut and seeded the squash from the garden. “What does Donald do?”

“He manages a store,” Emily said.

\"It’s Sunday. No stores are open today.”

“He has paperwork to do and he has to get the store ready for the week ahead. The owner has another larger store to manage. Donald should be home anytime. “I’ “I’m done.” Betsy put the squash halves on the large cooking tray. “Would you rather I seasoned them now or after they are cooked?”

“Once they are cooked.”

“I brought cheese, bread and fruit,” Betsy said.

“We have enough food. I went to the butcher yesterday. I had him cut me up a chicken. We don’t have enough for guests.”

“I’ll manage on the squash and cheese,” Betsy said.

“I can never buy enough food with four boys,” Emily said. “I made four loafs of bread this morning. I doubt there’s one left.”

“I brought two loaves. We can’t expect you to have brought extra food and the bakeries aren’t open on Sunday.”

“A few are.”

“Only in the morning,” Alex said. “Emily, I don’t want you to hate me because I’m a woman.”

“I don’t understand one thing. You were with a man when you thought you were a man. Now, you’re a woman and you’re with a woman. You got it all wrong.”

“He saw me as a boy. I couldn’t approach a woman the way I was. Bill approached me. He brought me dinner and enjoyed my company. It was a nice situation until he kicked me out to find another boy.”

“A man kept you,” said Emily.

“I had a job the whole time. Bill had a nice apartment and brought me nice things. I won’t argue that I liked the expensive clothes and the nice restaurants. Who doesn’t want to be spoilt? I had the mind of a child. I didn’t understand.”

“Children understand that men don’t sleep with other men.”

“I enjoyed the three years that I spent with him. I don’t regret it. He showed me love when other people wouldn’t look at me.”

“You now introduce me to a woman that is more manly than Bill. She walks and talks like a man. She holds herself like she’s in authority.”

“I won’t have you insult Betsy,” Alex said.

“I don’t have to be a man to be confident and self-assured,” Betsy said. “I won’t make excuses for the way I am. I was an ugly child. Someone wasn’t happy with the reading my mother gave her and had a gypsy curse my mother who was carrying me at the time. When Alex healed my brother, my father offered some of the potion I made to cure me. After he had a normal face, I think he became more interested in having a normal adult body.”

“Betsy, thank you for treating my brother,” said Emily. “I’m sorry if I offended you.”

“Turn the burner on and put the chicken in a pot after I clean it.” Emily turned on the water and cleaned the chicken under running water. “I have some canned vegetables if you think we need more food.”

“There should be plenty,” Betsy said.