As Luck Would Have it

As Betsy continued to work on the plant, Thad tested the curse-removing product. Betsy spent most of her time at the factory. The plans were moving along better than expected. She would have two lines open at first with two men filling the bottles and someone at the end packaging it and two more lines ready if needed. There was space for more lines to be built later. There was a doorway for the carpets to be filled. Betsy was rather impressed with the factory.

As Betsy was checked the line and bottling a few potions on her own, a few boxes took flight. Only a mechanic was in the building but she couldn’t have her magic go wonky when the factory was fully staffed. The boxes fell after a few minutes, but Betsy was worried she had hoped that the sporadic magic was part of the curse but apparently it wasn’t. She would have to see Mary Jane every three months for the rest of her life.

Betsy lit a cigarette from a pack left by the workmen. She coughed as she inhaled it. She inhaled it again not allowing the fumes to bother her this time. Six more cigarettes in the box she thought as her smoked her third getting ashes on the clean floor on the factory. She decided that she didn’t want the men to smoke on the floor; it would decrease work production. A few of the older ladies at the mill smoked. She thought back then it was a wasteful habit but the fumes were relaxing her now.

“Sir, you have to hire people to staff it.” The man wasn’t going to comment on the flying boxes. Being called Sir was no longer a surprise to Betsy but an occurrence that she came to expect. If the mechanic had called her, Miss or Ma’am, she would have been surprised. Her mother called her Daniel at the factory keep the confusion to a minimum.

“I’m aware of that.” Betsy put the butt on the cigarette into the trashcan. Betsy stuffed the rest of the pack into her trousers’ pocket.

“It looks great,” the mechanic said. “Would you like me to stay on as a mechanic?”

“Sure. I could use a mechanic. Shit, I need Henry’s advice on staffing. I have to get the phone.” Betsy picked up the phone in her new office.

“Sugar, we have to talk.”

“Mum, I need you to work in the office. You have taken orders for years. You can train a girl if you prefer.” Betsy coughed into the receiver.

“I’m happy for you, but,” said her mother.

“What is the but?” asked Betsy. Frank must have died. Her mother wasn’t shouting in joy.

“Frank died. He chocked on a chicken bone. I only left him alone for two hours. I should have known. My predictions were never wrong before.”

“I only gave him two months.”

“Betsy, those were two good months and it was almost three. You gave him hope.”

“Do you want me to fly over?” Betsy lit another cigarette; she would be out soon. They were habit forming and Betsy teased Henry about his cigar smoking filling their house.

“It’s up to you, there is nothing you can do here.”

“I coule Hee Henry’s advice about now. I have no idea how to pick men to man my factory. I’ll need six men to work the equipment and another to load the carpets.”

“You could load the carpet,” Mrs. Logan said.

“I have to supervise the works. I’ll need to check product and do all that I do now on a bigger scale. I need to keep track of our sales.”

“Hire seven men. They don’t have to be witches,” Wanda said.

“The two stirring the vats must be witches or no magic goes into the potions.”

“Don’t the vat get stirred by the equipment?”

“Automatic stirring means no magic in the potion. I can stir them with my telekinesis if we don’t hire someone right away. I was planning on it anyway. I just start them and my magic will stir them all day and continue to add my magic to the mix. Pop can fill in for me if I’m not here.”

“You sound like you have a plan.”

Thad entered the building as Betsy was on the phone with her mother. “I’m going to call Henry.” Betsy put a help-wanted sign on the factory and advertised in local paper and, also, put an ad for witches in several papers. Mr. Logan screamed when he saw the starting cost.

“He’s going to give you faulty advice,” said her father.

“I don’t think so. He opened two factories while we were together. I think I can trust him when it comes to business.”

“He must hate you for what you did,” Mr. Logan said.

“He was jealous that I slept with Alex. Alex was supposed to be his lover.”

“Alex had other plans,” Mr. Logan said. “Obviously, she liked you better.”

“He’s just angry because I had two lovers and he had zero. I didn’t tell him not to look.”

“He’s very busy with his factories. You’re just managing one and pulling your hair out.”

“I have magic to worry about. He doesn’t.”

“I’ll add magic to the mix when you aren’t able to be here.”

“Thanks, Pop.” Betsy hugged him. “I’m sorry about Frank.”

“Mom is taking care of it. We’ll have the funeral Saturday.”

“We still make our deliveries as normal.”

“The man running the Boston route was stealing from us. I’ll be back doing Boston for awhile.”

“Sorry. We’re never going to get that new product started.”

“We will. Have faith.”

“Frank died. If he got his life together, he would have been the one opening the factory.”

“I tried to reason with him for years.”

Betsy kept her voice down; she didn\'t want any of the workmen knowing she wasn\'t a man. “This is his. I’m your daughter. I should have married and never stepped foot outside my house. Pop, why?” Betsy felt like she had to be strong like a man now that Frank was gone. No one was ever going to see her as weak and feminine again.

“You’re up to the responsibility. He wasn’t.”

“Did you think that woulwould be giving it to your daughter?”

“I did give it to you.”

“That isn’t what I\'m asking.”

Thad spoke near a whisper. “I have three women making my deliveries. I never thought I would be doing that. I might hire two women to do the Boston route. When I started hiring salesman, I didn’t think I would have a single woman working for me. If you asked me five years ago, if I would had my daughter run the factory, I would have said no.”

“That’s honest.”

“Who would think that women would be selling sex aids? This is a new century.”

“No one but my closest friends and family even know I’m a woman. The men that I hire will think I’m a man. I don’t know if I can handle the shame if someone slips and tells one of the new people that I wasn’t always a man.”

The tall thin man looked at his daughter smoking a cigarette. “No one will give out your secret.”

“You\'ll find someone to take over the Boston route.”

“I put an ad in the Globe. It says flying time and a good commission.”

“Many people won’t take a job on commission.”

“Since the factory is out in the boondocks I’m paying for the flying time. Most people don’t do that. If I say how much my saleswomen make in a day, people would see it as an exaggeration.”

“The man on the Boston route was an idiot. He made a large one day profit when he could have made more over the long haul.”

“Nobody else pays ten percent.”

“Nobody else needs witches. Pop, you’ll find someone.”

“I want to make this new potion. It could improve countless lives. Look what it has done for Alex and you.”

After closing the door so no one would overhear, Betsy called up Henry after her father left. “Henry, I’ll be interviewing to fill my factory in the morning. What should I look for in employees?”

“People that are honest and have good work records,” Henry said.

“I handle very expensive and dangerous potions,” Betsy said. “You make cloth, rugs, and shoes.”

“It’s the same,” Henry said. “Would you like me to come over?”

“I would love that. Do you hate me?”

“No. I couldn’t be too civil at the divorce. You did sleep with two women.”

“Thanks for giving them male names.”

“Dan, you have really come into your own. Managing a company worth more than all my companies combined.”

“I doubt that.”

“You sell a sex potion at three and a quarter a bottle and you can’t keep it on the shelves.”

“What do you know about that?”

“My new boyfriend suggested I use it. I had to get Mattie to sell it to me personally.”

“Did it work?”

“It was as good as it was when I was twenty. It was worth every penny.”

“So you’re cheating on me.”

“I didn’t date him until after you started divorce proceeding and you can’t prove otherwise. I don’t want to ruin you.”

“I believe you.”

“Good luck with your company. Did you ask your mother if I still strangle you?”

“How could you? We’ll be divorced in a few months.”

“I still care about you.”

“I care about you, too.”

Betsy could believe over a hundred men tracked through the snow to get a job. They all stood in line and waited to fill out applications in the freezing rain. Betsy walked down the line and only sensed magic in two or three of them. Betsy had always believed that magic was a common phenomenon growing up in a town where most of the villagers where witches.

Betsy remembered that Cynthia’s first birthday was in a week and she hadn’t planned a party for the child. Annabel was certain to do it; Annabel liked doing things like arranging children’s parties.

Between interviewing applicants for the factory jobs, Betsy went to visit Mary Jane. Betsy knew that Mary Jane would judge her for wearing her hair in a man’s style and men’s shirtsleeves and trousers. Betsy looked at her 9½ men’s shoes on her feet. Mary Jane was going to let her have it for dressing like a man.

Betsy glanced in a mirror in the men\'s room before leaving the plant. No one would see a woman in men\'s clothes. Betsy smiled at the handsome young man in the mirror as she fixed her tie and collar.

“Betsy, I see you did something about the facial hair.”

“Could you do me a favor? Another healer and a magic sniffer say I’m clean of magic and I would like a your opinion.” Betsy continued to use the same deep masculine voice that she used at the plant. She doubted that she could sound feminine if she tried.

“Sure.” Mary Jane touched her hand. “No magic.”

“I took a spell a months ago and it hasn’t worn off. I was wondering if it was permanent.”

“What did you do?”

“I made a potion for a friend and tested it on myself; it cleared up the problem I was having with facial hair, but it did nothing for her. I’m having sporadic magic again. Alex says that my hormone levels are fluctuating again.”

Betsy hoped that Mary Jane did judge her too harshly. The last time, Betsy had saw Mary Jane wearing men’s clothes she was hostile to her; the lack of hostility frightened Betsy. Betsy knew that she looked much more manly this time. She might have taken a potion that removed the facial hair and restore her feminine curves, but she was more masculine in her ma. Si. Since Jack insulted her, she perfected her manner so no one would see a woman except in the bedroom.

“I’ll give you another shot, but please don’t test any potions on yourself,” Mary Jane said. “You’re due for another shot anyway.”

“Thanks.”

“I don’t understand there is no lingering magic on you.”

“The ugliness was a curse. I’m hoping to market a curse remover that I discovered soon.”

“Most people with curses are willing to try anything.”

“Exactly.”

“If it works on your victims, you can test it and locate the active ingredient.”

“I hope so. It tastes terrible.”

“How is your daughter?”

“Henry has custody. He used the fact that I wanted to sleep with a woman against me. All right, it was two women. They’re now friends and probably laughing behind my back.”

“Two women?”

Betsy nodded.

Mary Jane prepared the shot and told Betsy to drop her trousers. “I’m afraid you migrowgrow a beard again. Betsy, I’m sorry.”

Betsy flew back to factory and saw two more men about jobs. She couldn’t understand why there was a line for interviews; obviously, it wasn’t for the job requiring witchcraft. She had more than eight people for the jobs before the day was done and told the other men to leave.

The bottles were being boxed and placed on the floor. Betsy could help the salespeople in the morning get their orders. She left a message for her father to have everyone fly to the factory every morning and night. Logan Product line had six different items to be packaged. The machines weren’t rinsed between runs so the products had to be of similar composition.

Paul came to the factory as Betsy was doing final checks before starting the following Monday. “Hello, Betsy. So this is what you left the Magic and Hobby Shop for?”

“I start production in the morning.”

“Mattie told me. She delivers to the magic shop.”

“So what do you think?” Betsy took out a cigarette and gave Paul one.

“Allow me.” Paul lit it. “I didn’t think that you smoked.”

“I didn’t. It has been a stressful week.” Betsy took a puff.

“You’re going to need more lines.”

“We have two glamour potions and three aphrodisiacs and a general purpose love potion.”

“The male stamina potion. You better be increasing production on that. We can’t keep it on the shelves. We see the same customers every week.”

“You laughed at my father’s line.”

“That was before that potion came to market.”

“Paul, I didn’t expect my life to work out this way. Thanks for coming over and wishing me luck.”

“You’re welcome. No hard feelings. Betsy, you shouldn’t dress like a man.”

“I’ll have a beard in a few weeks. The men I’m hiring are calling me Mr. Logan.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The treatment I have for sporadic magic gives my body male characteristics. I counteracted it and boxes flew all over the factory. I can’t run a factory if objects are taking flight. We do what we have to do.”

“You can use wax or shave.”

\"Shaving or waxing won\'t change what people see when they look at me. I look in the mirror and I see a man.” Betsy knew that no one saw a woman when they looked at her.

“Then, I shan\'t call you, Betsy.”

“Tell Mattie that the name is Daniel if you see her before I do. I\'m afraid that I\'ll need to live the rest of my life as a man.”

“Danny, you can. You looked like a normal man the day we met.”

“You stared at me.”

“If I wasn’t for my magic, I would have thought the man was the natural you and the woman was the illusion.”

“Frank, my brother, teased me about it for weeks when I used a one-day spell to vote in his place. He said that I was a better man than he was.”

“You are.”

“Were. He died this week.” Betsy handed Paul another cigarette.

Paul lit the cigarette. “You have my condolences.”

“My father and mother don’t want me to stop work on their factory to go to the wake. This factory is their dream; they don’t want me to stop getting it operational because Frank didn’t have the decency to wait to die until it was up and running.”

“Your parents have their priorities straight.”

“I understand though. Why lose their dream due to Frank’s untimely death?”

“See you around.”

“I’ll stop by your store and we can talk.”

“Come by anytime.”

Betsy looked at herself in a mirror at her parents’ house. Betsy wondered what she was going to tell Alex. Alex told her that her hormone levels were fluctuating but she didn’t want to think about the price of treatment.

“Alex, we have to talk.” Betsy touched her shoulder.

“What is it?” Alex asked.

“I’m going to dress like a man from now on. I had an episode of sporadic magic.”

“You’ll need a man’s name,” Alex said. “You could use a name that begins with an E.”

“I’m using Daniel. I told the men at the factory my first name. I was tired of being called Mr. Logan by men older than I. I can change my stationary. I should do it now before the factory is running. I didn’t think about the ramifications of having another shot until later. Paul visited and told me that I should just live as a man if I\'m going to dress as one. I hate that I’ll have to do this the rest of mfe.”fe.” Betsy looked in the mirror again. Daniel had come to mind as she thought about needing a male name before. It meant, “God is my judge.”

She had whiskers and they were darker than before. Mary Jane had fixed her new shot to have more male hormone; she knew that Betsy’s body would react much faster than a mundane’s body. Betsy was furious as she saw the dark hair on her chin and on the sides of her face only a day later. At this rate, she would be shaving in less than a week. She feared that she would have the hard straight body of a man long before her next appointment. No wonder Mary Jane said that she was sorry.

The day had come to open the factory to open. Well, the factory was opening Monday morning. Betsy combed her short hair and looked in the mirror at her face. Her beard was rather thick and unkempt looking. She looked like a man that hadn’t shaved in over a day; she needed to look clean-shaven at work. Businessmen didn’t grow a beard. “Pop, I need you to teach me to shave.”

“Just take a razor and do it,” her father said.
ust ust show me.”

“Betsy, ask your healer if there is another way. You did have this much hair last time you were treated.”

“Help me. I can’t go to work looking like something the cat dragged in. As I shave, my face will become coarse and manlier looking. I see a man in the mirror as it is.”

“And you want that.”

“Help me make shaving lotion and use a razor. I don’t want to cut myself.”

“It isn’t so hard.”

“I can’t have the barber shave me every morning. I do have to get to work early.”

“Many men have the barber shave them each morning.”

“Just show me. Pop, I know the changes in me are frightening. People came here looking for a long term sex change spell.”

“You could make one.” Thad mixed up a shaving lotion and took his razor from the cabinet.

“I could. I don’t know if I should.” Betsy put the lotion on her face and picked up the razor.

“Daniel, people are going to continue to ask for it. You should sell the people what they wan
“
“I’ll make one on my next day off and talk to Mary Jane about taking it.” Betsy stopped talking to concentrate on using the razor; it felt odd to be shaving, again. She washed the remaining lotion off her face and touched her face; it felt smooth. “Not too bad. I didn’t cut myself. Pop, what am I?”

“My child. Daniel, you’ll survive this.”

“You called me Betsy earlier in the conversation.”

“I made a mistake. You want to be treated as a man. I should call you by a man’s name.”

“I want to be your Betsy. Dad, I never told you that my name was Daniel.”

“Mom told me that the men at work were calling you that.”

“The men at work call me Danny as if it’s some kind of insult.”

“You’re young.”

“Daniel?” She touched her face. “Do I act like a man? Can I pull this off?”

“You don’t act like a woman; you never have. You’ll get through this. You’re a strong person.”

“Just like that I’m a man. I’m going to need a double mastectomy. I don’t know a surgeon and how much it’s going to cost.”

“I’m sure Mary Jane can recommend one.”

“I hear stories about surgeons not using clean instruments or washing their hands. Healers know about hygiene; surgeons don’t.”

“Maybe you don’t need to go under a knife.”

“I’m not looking forward to the pain.”

“Ask Alex. Maybe, she can remove the fat without cutting you.”

Betsy’s father knocked on the door a few minutes later. “We need to talk about your curse removing potion. I only left a trace of glamour so the consumer could believe it was glamour, but nothing that would make every head turn on the street.”

Betsy scratched her head as her father said that we needed to find someone cursed to test it on. Betsy sighed. “You and Mom didn’t let me go to the funeral. You said that get the factory running was more important than saying good-bye to my brother.”

“It is. My mother and I weren’t going to lose our dream because Frank didn’t find a convenient time to kick the bucket. Daniel, we can’t stop our lives for a funeral. ‘Let the dead, bury the dead.’ We now need someone new to test potion on.”

“Sad, but true. Maybe we can invite one of his drinking buddies over to test its affect. Billy Parker teased me as a kid. Let’s invite him over to test our potion.”

“No one would waste their money to curse one of them.” Pop pulled out some weeds.

“Billy Parker, he started drinking suddenly. Hst hst his job and moved back home with his parents after he became a drunk. We could tempt him with five dollars.”

“Billy Parker, he was promoted over the manager’s son. The son must have cursed him. I’m sure he\'s cursed. He didn’t drink a drop until after he got that promotion. Great choice, Dad.” Betsy waved her hand like catching flies. “Why five, we could do it on two?”

“Yes, but why appear cheap?”

Betsy went over Billy Parker’s house on Saturday morning. An older womame tme to the door, “How can help you?”

“I’m Frank’s brother, Daniel. I would like to talk to Billy about my brother.”

“Frank said you were cursed.”

“I was cured.”

“How did you find the cure?”

“We don’t know. Maybe Billy saw something or Frank could have told him something. It’s really important that I speak to him.”

“Anything to help, sir.”

Betsy looked at the man with acme-scarred face, the uncombed greasy hair and prematurely lined skin. “My father and I would like to talk to you about my brother,” Betsy said.

Billy asked as headed toward Logan farmhouse. “You aren’t going to give me any of your father’s toad potion.”

“We wouldn’t do that. You were Frank’s best chum. Come up. Let’s have a few drink together and reminiscence.”

“No toad potion.”

“No, an anti-toad potion. I would like you to drink the stuff that cured me.”

“What did you look like before taking this potion?”

“Hideous times five.”

“You were Betsy; Frank doesn’t have a brother?” Billy scrunched up his face like eating a lemon. He was probably recalling Betsy’s single fuzzy eyebrow, lumpy nose, fleshy eyelids or any of Betsy’s less appealing features or, Heaven Forbid, the whole hideous package.

“I’m afraid so.”

“I used to tease you that you wanted to be a boy. Now look at you.”

Betsy put a hand on her waist. “I’m opening a factory. What are you doing with your life?”

Thad invited Billy into the house and directed him to the kitchen table while Betsy brewed a mug of her potion. The oak kitchen table had seen better dayer per parents had all this money and they still pumped water into their kitchen sink and had an outhouse. Betsy wanted to introduce them to indoor plumbing.

After it steeped for ten minutes, Betsy handed Billy the mug. “Drink up.”

“This won’t make me a girl.”

“No,” Thad said. “I’ll take the first sip if it makes you feel better.”

“Frank said that Daniel and his lady love were Betsy and her boyfriend when you were first going at it. Why should I trust anything that comes out of this house?”

“Alex has always been a lady. I get a shot four times a year to treat my sporadic magic; it makes me look like a man. I have no potion that can make a man until a woman. Frank drinks too much to know what goes on it this house.”

“I trust that the potion is safe.” Billy made a sour face as he emptied the mug. “That stuff tasted awful and I’ve drank some pretty awful stuff in my day, but that takes the cake.”

“Pop, make a note that we have to work on the taste.” Betsy said.

“So am I gorgeous?” Billy asked.

“Pop, get him the gentleman a mirror,” Betsy said.

“I should have brought a hand mirror down first,” her father said as he got up from his seat.

“So Danny, what do you think?” Billy asked.

“Your worry lines are gone and your acme scars are disappearing. Time will tell,” Betsy smiled.

Thad handed Billy a mirror; Billy admired himself. “Not bad. If you can do something about the taste, you could market this stuff. Will it fade over time?”

“Yes, two to six months,” Betsy stated.

“Wonderful, but you’re going to cut yourself out of the market. Glamour sells because it fades faster.”

“Thank you for your time,” Thad said.

“You gave me a glamour potion that won’t fade in a day. I should be thanking you. I’ll see myself out.” Billy left the house with a swing in his step.

Betsy combed her nearly collar length hair. It was much too long to wear at a factory. “Pop, I’m going to a barber. I can’t run a factory looking like I’m from the backwoods.”

“You look fine.”

“I know how I look. I told myself to take it one day at a time but my mind is dreading the future.”

“Go. You have to run the factory starting Monday.”

Betsy sat on the carpet. She thought about making potion to make herself permanently male, but she promised Mary Jane that she wouldn’t take any potions. She would talk to Mary Jane about it on her next visit. It was that or a double mastectomy and that sounded painful. Betsy watched her hair fall to the ground as the barber cut it.

“New job,” the barber asked.

“I just opened a factory. I can’t look worse than my employees. I don’t need a shave today. I shaved last night.”

“It won’t hurt to shave again,” the barber said.

Betsy shuttered at the thought; her face was starting to look as coarse as Henry’s. She felt like she had a lump in her throat; it was like she wanted to cry but couldn’t. Betsy looked at herself in the mirror and tipped the barber. What did Mary Jane put in that shot? The hair on her arms was getting darker and the musculature looked different. She was turning into a man right before her eyes. She rolled up her sleeve and that was definitely the forearm of a man.

“Good luck with your factory.”

“Thank you.” Betsy walked to the closest drug store. She found stuff to increase the bustline but nothing to shrink it. It didn’t matter; she promised Mary Jane no potions; more importantly, she couldn’t have her sporadic magic killing another person because she couldn’t wait until her next appointment. Betsy flew back to the house remember to make a list of her concerns to ask Mary Jane at her next visit. Betsy took off her shirt and looked at the muscles in her arm.

The feminine fat was gone and it was the solid arm of a workingman. The muscularity could be seen under the dark hair of her arm. The bluish veins were more visible the ever before. Mary Jane gave her a potion that was giving her the physical characteristics of a man. She was certain that her legs and other large muscles looked the same way. An Adam’s apple had formed in her throat; Betsy was certain that Mary Jane was laughing at her. If it were like the potion she had created for Alex, it wouldn’t affect her sex organs only secondary sexual characteristics. Her bosom might shrink a little but it would still remain.

Mrs. Parker came over a few hours later. “How dare you experiment on my son?”

“He gulped that stuff down faster than I could have told him no.”

“You set him up.”

“He wasn’t the first to take it. Myself and a friend have already taken that potion without ill effects.”

“Then, why aren’t you marketing it?”

“As your son pointed out, it tastes pretty awful. Have you noticed any behavior changes in Billy?”

“He hasn’t touched a drink all day.”

“Ma’am, do you think we should market this stuff?”

“As what?”

“Curse remover. Join me at the kitchen table. Would you like some tea?”

“Your father makes potions. I’m not drinking anything in this house.”

“Let’s sit in the parlor.”

“Billy has never been cursed.” Mrs. Parker sat on the sofa.

Betsy smiled at the older woman. “My father and I believe he may have cursed by a man that he was chosen for a job over. Remember when he had that job managing the grocery down the street.”

“Of course.”

“Did you find it odd that your son that never touched a drop of alcohol was drinking like a fish less than a week later.”

“How dare you imply that my son was cursed and I didn’t know anything about it?” Mrs. Parker stormed out of the house.

Betsy went down to the basement where her father was working on his potions. “It works on behavioral curses too.”

“I’ll have to get it bottled and sold at the house. I’ll tell a few of my distributors that we’re selling curse remover at the house.”