The Lion of Farside by John Dalmas

I swallowed and told her I’d never thought about it.

“Well then, have you ever wanted to be in bed with a pretty woman?”

I couldn’t more’n nod. Frank and me’d been to see the Linzler sisters a couple times, on their farm outside Salem; they charge two dollars. And I screwed Maudie Hodge a few times in her daddy’s hayloft. Wearing a French safe, except the first time with Maudie. I didn’t want to have to marry anyone, surely not Maudie Hodge, and you couldn’t know but what the Linzler sisters might have the clap, or worse. None of them were really pretty; nowhere near as pretty as Varia. Of course, they didn’t drop whole litters of strange, smiling little kids, either.

Anyway she took me by the hand and we walked out of the house together, her transparent in the moonlight. And somehow I didn’t have my pajamas on, but my regular pants and shirt, and my barn boots. Which about three-quarters decided me I was still dreaming. I’ve looked back on that night more times than I’d care to count, and I’m still not sure.

When we got to her house, another her was waiting on the back porch, this second Varia not transparent at all. She wore what looked like the same shirt, plaid flannel. The first Varia stepped up to the second Varia and they melted right into one another, while I found myself taking off my barn boots. Then, chuckling like she does, she opened the storm door. And the hinge squeaked, making me start like someone waking up.

And there I was, really on her porch, like I’d sleepwalked there. I mean really on her porch. No way was this a dream any longer. “You didn’t eat your pie,” she said softly, and chuckled again. I walked through that door like I was bewitched—I couldn’t have stayed out any more than I could have flown by flapping my arms—and she closed it behind us. Then, in the kitchen, she put her arms around me and kissed me like nothing I ever imagined, and led me by the hand into her bedroom.

“Curtis,” she said softly, “since Will died, you’re the strongest of the Macurdies, and you’re smarter than Will. A lot smarter; you have no idea yet how smart, how able. Perhaps you never will. Although your uncle was more intelligent than people gave him credit for, and a nice nice man. I became very fond of him.”

I only about half heard what she was saying, because she was unbuttoning my shirt while she talked. “You’ll give us fine children, Curtis. More than fine. They’ll be pleased about that.” They? I thought. Then she kissed me again, and stepped back and smiled at me. “Will and I did have children, you know. The ones you saw in the pictures this morning.”

I stared at her. She knew all right, just like I figured. Then she stepped around behind me and pulled off my shirt, put her arms around me and unbuckled my belt—and felt around inside while she kissed my back. Now she knew what I didn’t—how I sized up with Will. I couldn’t hardly breathe, and my knees like to have buckled. When she’d finished undressing me, she shucked out of Will’s old shirt, and I’d never seen anything like her. So sweet and pretty, it made my throat hurt just to look. Then she pulled me onto the bed, and after that—no way could I describe what it was like. Between times, she told me she wanted me to marry her. I told her that’s what I wanted, too. At least part of me did, no doubt of that, but I wasn’t so sure about the rest of me, and I guess she knew what I was thinking, because she said there wasn’t any hurry. Then she chuckled again and said next week would be soon enough, and started wriggling around on top of me and eating my face.

After another hour or so, I washed up and got dressed, and the transparent Varia led me back home. I was worried that someone would see us, but she said there wasn’t any danger of that. That’s the first I ever knew of invisibility spells.