"Jim, why does my voice sound ..." She paused as her hand touched her face.
"My face!" She rubbed her fingertips across her cheek. "It's like things aren't where they're supposed to be, as if someone rearranged everything."
Jim could see a look of concern in her lustrous dark eyes that was threatening to turn to panic. "Jim, what's happened to me?" There was an edge to her voice that scared him. She started to sit up, but Jim's hands on her shoulders forced her to lie still.
"Easy, honey," Jim soothed her. "It's okay. Trust me. There's nothing to worry about." The last thing he wanted was to upset his girl. At the same time, he could hardly wait to see what lay beneath the bed clothes. "I'll explain it all." I think
Some of the fright left her eyes, but Jim could see that she was still far from calm. Where to start? "You remember how you felt funny at the party?"
The sheets rustled as Sharon nodded her head slowly.
"Well, you weren't sick. It was this ring." Jim held her hand up to show her the magic circlet.
"And you remember that really busty woman that Rick was drooling over all night?"
Sharon nodded again.
"Well, she was the proprietor of the shop where I bought this ring. I thought it was really weird at the time, because when she sold it to me she said she'd give me a really good price if I invited her to the party. I figured it couldn't hurt anything, so I let her come. But as the evening progressed, I could see her getting better looking while you were actually shrinking."
The fear in Sharon's eyes was being replaced by a look of skepticism.
"I know it sounds weird, but it's true. Once I noticed it, it became really obvious. Shoot, by the time I brought you up here, you'd actually lost at least two inches. Remember how baggy your clothes were?"
Sharon considered. "Well, yeah, I do remember having trouble keeping the front of my dress closed. It kept flapping open. And I thought you seemed taller when you helped me to bed, but I figured it was too many strawberry daquiris. You mean this shopkeeper was somehow stealing body mass from me?"
"Not just body mass, Babe. She was extracting your femininity. By the time I figured out what was happening, there wasn't much left of you. And it was all my fault because of this ring. I can't describe how scared I was that I might not be able to get you back." Although he said it just to make himself look good, Jim was surprised to realize how true that was. Apparently, Sharon heard the sincerity in his voice, because she smiled at him tenderly. With her newly restructured appearance, that smile practically lit up the room.
"Well, if this ring is causing problems, get rid of it." Sharon held her hand out to Jim so he could remove the offensive annulet. He...
Tue Oct 5 18:30:18 1999