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From: "Jeff Rose" <jsrose@ix.netcom.com>
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories,alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories.tg
Subject: RP: TG New U ch.5

Obviously, the characters and situations presented are fiction and any
resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental.  Please
feel free to post or archive with notification. Otherwise, this work
should be considered copyright 1997 Jeffrey S. Rose and no part should
be published in printed form except for review/critical analysis, or
offered for sale without consent of the author.

--

Jeffrey S Rose (jsrose@ix.netcom.com) "Lineage, social status; why
should these things matter so much? That's how grown-ups are. If
that's so, I'd be happier as a child, never growing up."
- Washuu (Tenchi-Muyo!, OAV#8, Hello Baby)

"All humans, without exception, want love. No organic or emotional, or
psychological damage can remove that need. Humans can survive, albeit
in pain, without being loved - but lock a man in a dungeon and he will
find an ant to love, or try to. The sociopath, who feels no emotions,
wishes he could love, and is driven mad by his impotence."
- Michael Finn "Callahan's Secret

New U Ch 5: Blood Music By Jeff Rose 1997 (with apologies to Greg
Bear)

So, in answer to the prayer, the one you want is there, The one you
feel inside of you
- "Shock to the System" Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Johnathan Elias

"You did what!?", Jamie cracked at the three women arrayed before him.
They were on the way down to the lab. Chris had met Jamie, Anne and
Beth halfway there. Jamie had to stop and turn up the bottom of his
jeans after nearly tripping down the stairs.  Anne steadied Jamie
while he was bent over, "You said, and I quote, '..until I absolutely
have to have that kind of support, I'll do the best I can without.',
unquote. A couple of months ago, I got back the results of some of the
lab tests we ran for your physical. I can now categorically state that
there is no trace of cancer in your body.... I couldn't have said that
then." There were tears welling up in her eyes." Dammit! I've seen
what this stuff does to people and nodular Non-Hodgekins Lymphoma is
only responsive to traditional therapies 50% of the time. Even then,
temporary remission, not cure is the best anyone else could offer
you."

Beth and Chris had taken either side of the pair and were looking
concerned. Cancer? Jamie bit his tongue before he could say anything
he'd regret. Reaching up, He took Anne's face and looked into her
troubled, eyes. He felt he'd had just been mortally offended by this
woman, but right now they both needed her strength and he also felt as
much to blame as anyone. "I know, I'm jst a little upset right now.
You did what you thought was right", was all he could think of to say.
Tilting her head down, Jamie kissed Anne's forehead. There were tears
from both of them as they hugged each other tightly. A couple of
seconds later, Chris and Beth (!) joined the support group and Jamie
knew he'd done the right thing.

"Sometimes, " Jamie thought, I'm too "clever" for my own good." When
he was twelve, Jamie worked on the Christmas pageant for the Mars Hill
Baptist Church, where his Mom was Music Director and Dad was a Deacon.
This would, like as not, be Jamie's last year in the "Children's
Choir" and he figured one last fling in the back row of the "Heavenly
Choir" wouldn't kill him. Besides, his Mom practically begged him.
(My voice had dropped the year before and I found myself to be the
closest thing they had to a bass. Conversely, because I had a three
octave range, in highschool, I wound up with the 1st Tenor slot.
Shocked the other guys, when I managed a fairly rich Baritone during
the fall Musical as Sir Evelyn Oakleigh in "Anything Goes". Even made
2nd tenor (barely) in All State Choir in my senior year. But I
digress. - Jamie) Jamie was standing there cracking wise with the boys
in the choir before rehearsal started when Mrs. Patterson came running
in. Little Donnie hadn't shown up and now they were short an Angel to
tell Joseph that Mary wasn't the immoral woman he thought. She whooped
and hollered so that Jamie was getting a little concerned. She wasn't
a young woman and seemed to be doing a rather high impact aerobics
routine. He caught his mother looking at him to do something since the
other kids seemed content to watch Mrs.  Patterson work herself into a
heart attack. Sighing, he stepped forward.  " Umm... Miz Patterson? I
could uh, you know, stand in for you til you find someone else for the
Angel." What he proposed seemed perfectly clear to him. He was willing
to act as a marker and reader so the rehearsal could go on. Just to
work out theblocking and give "Joseph" someone to bounce lines off of.
It couldn't be that hard to find another little kid to do the angel,
right?  The old bitch never bothered. She had her warm body, and
because it would cause Jamie's parents embarrassment if he made a
fuss, she knew she could control Jamie easier than any five year old.
All he could do was ask politely if she had found a new angel.  So it
went and Jamie's error ended with him being put into a white satin
baptismal gown that was tied at the waist with gold rope, fluffy wings
and a gold headband, that had a doofy tinfoil halo attached to it.
This combo was completed by the addition of black tights (At 12,
Jamie's legs were already covered in curly blond hair and he
steadfastly refused to shave them.) and a pair of white satin
slippers... and a trumpet. No one had a horn.  (Let me make something
clear now. I did not look "cute". I'd always been a "big" kid and for
the first time in my life I was thin. At 5' 10", I was 150 lbs and
carried it well on 40" shoulders and a 24" waist. I had a "credible"
mustache and long sideburns with collar length, somewhat unruly thick
blonde hair. I looked like an inverted triangle with a fuzzy yellow
knob on top. I was a little mollified when one of the guys in the
choir told me that he heard Colleen Jansen giggle and say she'd like
to "Scoop" me. Later, that turned to mortification, when I found out
"Scoop" was the local slang for .. Well, lets just say she wanted to
do something that broke, or at least bent, several comandments and I
wasn't equipped for in the first place. So sue me. I had a sheltered
childhood. - Jamie) Walking down the aisle, Jamie knew it was his own
fault he looked like a Monty Hall reject. He had dictated the rules.
He'd told Mrs. Patterson that he was willing to be the angel until she
found a suitable replacement.  She'd followed those rules. She just
didn't tell Jamie that he was, in fact, what she considered a suitable
replacement. He had made a similar mistake with Anne, Beth an Chris by
implying that it was ok to treat him if he "needed" it.  "If I'd told
them the real reason, the girls might have thought I was a nut," he
thought "but, I probably wouldn't have eyes that that'd do some anime
characters proud." As the circle broke Anne and Jamie composed
themselves and started back down the hall holding hands. Chris held
Beth back to whisper something in her ear. Beth's jaw firmed as she
nodded, and went to her room while Jamie laid his palm against the
scanplate that controlled the lock on the lab.  Anne looked at Jamie
as the plate commenced an unprecedented third run across his palm.
"Well don't look at me, it worked fine the last time I tried it."
Jamie said as he pulled his palm back and stared at it as if trying to
see the differences that had been made in his palm print. Anne placed
her palm on the plate and with a familiar sound of bolts sliding back
Jamie said, "Oh sure, for you it works." "It'll be alright Jamie.
Chris said , "Let's get your measurements first. Now strip for the
nice doctor." "Where's Beth gone to?", Anne asked as she began
gathering the tools of her trade and pulled up Jamie's file, "We'll
need her for Bloods." "The home office called." Chris stated from
behind Jamie on the scale.  The petite Asian shook her head slowly at
Anne. Adjusting the scale she began calling out figures. "Weight:
165.34 lb, Height: 5'8.5".  "Wait a minute. I'm 5' 10", and I was only
down to 185 lbs last week." Jamie stated as Chris pulled out a
measuring tape.  "Jamie, your eyes should not have changed color
either. We don't fiddle around with reconstructing DNA. Chris
explained while calling out the fact that Jamie's waist was down to
25" while his shoulder had shrunk to 38". "And this stuff." She added,
reaching up to scruff his hair., "We have no idea how you got this
from a straight New U Treatment." The poking and prodding continued.
He was then handed two cups and a magazine. When he came back (Anne
had to open the lab door for him.) Ann took the samples.  "When we
brought you back up to your room two days ago, your dimensions had not
significantly altered, you had standard male pattern baldness and you
weighed 180 lbs." Anne said, reading from the computer screen.
"Frankly, I'm at a loss." "We got problems back west too. "Jamie, put
these on and pull our back-ups. " Beth said as she walked into the
lab. She stopped in front of Anne, "Harry's missing,"she said and then
in a quieter voice, " and the Angstrom case has blue eyes."

* * *

"Well," Dani said to no one in particular, "I may look like my old
self, but I'll be a few months before I can get back to my old pace."
She stepped off the stair master with wobbly legs. Still, being able
to do five minutes on the thing was a big achievement compared to
having to be carried up stairs as had been the norm for the month
preceding the treatment.  Satisfied and sweaty, she walked back to her
room, picked up some fresh clothes and made her way to the bathroom.
Closing the door, she stripped out of her exercise outfit and started
the tub. Waiting for the water to come to temperature, she looked at
the figure in the mirror.  This couldn't be Danielle Bridget Angstrom.
She was 17 years old, 5' 9" and practically bedridden. Her hands and
legs had been mottled red from poor circulation; a common side effect
of red cell destroying chemo and radiation treatments. Only a few
wisps of baby fine hair adorned her head, when it wasn't covered.  The
girl in the mirror was five years younger ("At least!", she thought
remembering how loose her old bras had felt this morning.), 5' 7" ,
and had flawless skin and hair!  "A little too much of that last." she
said to herself, seeing her legs. "Crap, I just shaved yesterday. Dr.
Howe said It'd grow back fast til I filled back out to my true age,
but I didn't think she meant everywhere." and so, mumbling about the
curly blonde hair on her legs, Dani grabbed some shaving cream from
the medicine cabinet, and a Lay Bic before climbing into the warm tub.

* * *
Harry waited in his hotel room for the Michael to come and pick up
what he paid for. By now the office would have made calls to his house
and the lodge in Aspen he said he was going to. He took along pull on
the beer in his and got up when he heard someone knock.  "No maid
service today!", He called in what didn't sound like a natural voice
even to him.  "Ah, but this is opportunity calling. I do not think you
should wait for it to knock twice." Harry opened the door quickly and
ushered the thin man in the dark business suit in..  "Let me introduce
you to my associate, Leonard.", another much larger man Carrying a
briefcase stepped in. Leonard had been squeezed into a suit of similar
quality to the Michael's, but where Michael looks ready for a nice
tea, Leonard looks like a gorilla stuffed in a suit. Leonard closed
the door as he entered, put the briefcase on the small table in the
room.  He carefully helped Michael get seated then took up a position
at the door.  "You enjoyed your stay here?" Michael asked cordially.
"The service is fine, but frankly, I've been too nervous to see so
much as the main street parade. Beer?" Michael shook his head with a
smile. "Too bad. This will likely be the last time you will be able to
see Disneyland. Your double called yesterday to let me know the
arrangements you made for him in Colorado were most enjoyable. I trust
you had no problems registering here" "No, the ID and credit cards you
gave me are impeccable." "Excellent. You have ..?" Harry opened the
drawer of his dresser and pulled out a large loose-leaf binder and a
small CD hardcase. Opening the case he displayed four gold CDs, "Here
it is, The basic construction guidelines for the nanites and my own
program for defining DNA. I even threw a copy of the matrixes I
redefined as an example. Uhm, your people are going to need a copy of
the HGP data to do anything though." Michael glanced a the gold CDs
with their hand written labels, then leafed through the binder. "Yes,
that should be no problem." He opened the briefcase, which was filled
with cash and bearer bonds and turned it to face Harry. " Two million
I believe was the agreed amount." Harry licked his lips and reached to
inspect his prize. Before his slightly shaking hands could to pick up
the top bundle of bills, Michael slammed the lid violently down.
"Before we complete this transaction, our employers have some
questions about the methods used to disrupt operations at New U."
Harry now pulled the rooms other chair out and sat. He had expected
Michael's bosses (and his now from the sound of it) would not be
completely happy with his solution to their request.  "Did you not
understand what you were contracted to do?" "Your bosses wanted me to
disrupt New U's operations long enough for them to be able to take
advantage of the information I'm delivering now. I have honored that
contract to the letter.", "Too defensive, Harry thought, "Back it down
a bit." "Still when I reported your accomplishment, creative as it is,
the whole board was upset. Arranged placements at the coroner's office
had to be paid off without their having to do anything. Never a good
precedent to set, and of course without the ability to leak reports
from an official channel, publicizing this tragedy without exposing us
needlessly, is virtually out of our hands. " "More to the point, some
of our employers felt that, at best the 'disruption' you've arranged
will not give us the time we need to completely replicate New U's
results unassisted. Some even suggested that these," He gestured at
the discs and binder, "may not even be usable product." Harry
swallowed, "You're not suggesting ...?" He started as he felt two
massive hands grip his shoulders lightly from behind.  Michael smiled
again. "Me? No I have every confidence in you. We just need your
assistance to get our R&D people up to speed. We're even willing to
offer an additiona million for your inconvenience ... Should the
board's fears prove unfounded, as I'm sure they will." Michael rose
and put the discs and binder in his briefcase and started for the
door. "I'll just carry these for you. Leonard, please help Mr.
Selznick check out. I'll wait in the car."

* * *

Jamie was a little disgruntled about the jeans Beth had lent them.
They were tight around the waist, but nowhere near as tight as he
thought they should be, and loose (thank goodness) in the hips.
Collecting the CDs Beth requested from the storage locker, he went up
stairs, rubbing his chest.  ".. and then it hit me that Chris had been
saying all along that Jamie's Blood Music was different." "Beg pardon,
Beth?", Jamie interrupted, handing over the discs.  "Listen to this."
she said and Jamie huddled in with the girls gathered at the terminal
to hear the strains of his DNA turned to music via the program Chris
had written. After a few seconds Jamie turned to Chris.  He was
familiar with the Blood Music of all four of them. Chris and he were
working on combining his, Chis', Beth's and Anne's theme into a single
piece of music for Anne's Christmas present under the title "The
Harmony of One".  "Have you been tweaking the program? Sounds like
it's in a different register and the theme has changed I think." Chris
shook her head, "I was beginning to think I should ask you the after
your treatment. Beth is tone deaf and I couldn't mention it to Anne
and the computer swears it's the right file." "Now, let's put your
ears to the test.", Beth said, placing one of the CDs in the machine.
She scanned the files, "Ok, here it is." The tune was similar, but to
Jamie's and Chris' ears but definitely not the same. Anne nodded and
said, "Right, do we have all Jamie's files to run a complete
analysis?" "Looks like it .", Beth said, "I've got Pam and Jerry
combing through the system at New U to see if Harry's left any more
little surpises.  We'll need the mini-cray to get a complete breakdown
on what's been done to Jamie .. and Dani. Her files show 'fixes'
similar to Jamie's." Beth continued to stare at the files she was
pulling up from the backups to compare with the altered In the
meantime, Chris , what's the chances of us cooking some SOUP just in
case? I don't know about the rest of you, but I want to keep this as
far away from the home office as possible." "Look I'll admit I could
eat a horse," Jamie said , "but doesn't feeding our faces come second
to .." "Not soup you eat Jamie, S-O-U-P, 'Super Oxygenated Umber
Plasm'." Chris explained then to Beth. "Beth came up with the name.
Mixing the base compounds in the cooker shouldn't be any problem, but
we'll have to improvise a tank." "Anne, Chris and I will be a while
processing all these samples from Jamie and he did have a point. It's
nearly twelve and while I've got the munchies, he hasn't had anything
but IVs for the past few days. Why don't the two of you fix us all
some lunch?"

* * *

"Well that settles that."Anne said returning to the kitchen. "Mr.
Angstrom will be flying over this weekend with Dani." "Who's Dani?",
Jamie asked around the a bite of his third sandwich.  Despite
everything going on he certainly hadn't lost his appetite. He
suppressed a small belch and leaned back as his full stomach radiated
a warm lethargy through his body.  Anne started putting cold cuts back
on the platter since Jamie seemed finished demolishing it as quickly
as she could lay them down. "She had cancer like you, only she was
much further along. Her father used to be a big financier until he
retired after his second marriage. By the time he came to us, Dani was
so far along that all the CDS could do was prolong her pain." "So
what, 'daddy' bribed you into doing a full treatment?" Jamie asked and
realized just how much sarcasm he'd allowed to slip through. He pumped
his t-shirt like a bellows to increase the air flow around his chest
"He tried to, but the cancer was so well distributed through her body,
we were afraid to use it." Anne was slipping into a lecturing mode,
distancing herself from the tone of Jamie's inquiry and observing him
curiously.  "You see, the full treatment attacks foreign cells and
uses them to build more nanites. That gave us two problems. Dani
didn't have a lot of body mass to spare at that point. Also, nanites,
like any animate thing generate heat. Not a lot individually, but the
billions that would be working on her could've pushed her temperature
beyond her ability to withstand. " "We had a rat in similar condition
that we tried it out on. In two hours we had a dead rat that was
perfectly cooked from the inside out.  Then Beth was watching 'The
Abyss' on HBO and found the solution. The oxygenated emulsion that Ed
Harris used for deep diving." Jaime's mind clicked and he giggled.
"What she needed was some home made SOUP?" Anne nodded, "Yep, Beth got
together with an old friend at MIT who worked on the stuff in real
life and together they came up with a formula that could not only be
used to regulate Dani's temperature, but gave the her and the nanites
enough building materials to keep her alive. Hypnotism allowed her to
relax enough to accept breathing the fluid instead of air." "Jamie,
are you feeling alright? You look flushed, you're squirming in your
chair and that's the fourth time in as many minutes I've seen you
playing with your t-shirt."

Jamie looked at Anne sleepily. "I guess I could use a nap after eating
all that.", he said, getting up and yawning. "Why don't you take the
tray down to Chris and Beth. I'll just grab 40 on the couch. Its not
like you need me for anything other more tests, right?" Anne was half
tempted to suggest he rest on the exam table in the lab, but knew he
would refuse. Instead, she guided him to his room and told him to keep
the baby monitor on in case he needed anything. She could send Chris
up to keep an eye on him and she could use hiscomputer to set up a
SOUP tank as easily as down there.

"Yes, mommy," Jamie teased as Anne turned to go back down. He was too
tired to change the sheets on his bed and didn't think he could take
the heat anyway so he drew the covers up over the bed. He'd just laid
down when he noticed his skin was glistening and his shirt and Beth's
jeans were starting to soak through. Running his hand across his arm
revealed the "sweat" to be sticky. Alarms began going off in his head
as he lifted the arm to his nose. The faint rancid smell, reminiscent
of the gagging stench that engulfed his shower earlier, caused the
alarms to scream shrilly.  Jamie tried to scream himself, but the best
his pumping lungs could produce was a softly whispered "Help! It's
happening again!", and even that came in fits and starts as the
nanites in Jamie's system shut down his vocal cords for
reconstruction. His attempt to jump out of bed and run to the lab was
cut short by grinding pain emanating from his hips, shoulders, then
every joint in his body.  He collapsed wetly back into his bed. Unable
even to whimper in pain, Jamie lay there as the creeping lethargy that
had been pushing Jamie to sleep began wiping his senses out. It
started as a loss of sensation in the tips of his toes and fingers. It
spread with a slothful pace inward, leaving only a warmth that held
those parts in a gentle floating state of forgetfulness. Jamie's
logical side thought briefly of experiments with sensory deprivation
(Then the emotional side began beating it fiercely about the head and
shoulders with a live halibut and it quieted down.) as the roaring in
his ears quieted and a dim film enclosed his vision. Just when he
thought the darkness and silence would last forever and maybe he'd
died after all, the dreams started.  Jamie embraced the dreams with
open arms. In every one of them the same music played, if only in the
distance. Jamie McGowan slept to the soft strains of his blood's
music.

* * *
"Damn, Harry's god.", Beth said staring into the screen. "Resetting
the treatment sequences to be practically identical is one thing, but
he rewrote both their genetic codes from the ground up.  "I don't
think we're going to get much from Jamie's blood samples.  Chris said
handing over the printouts to Beth. "His HCTs, neophyles ,everything
checks normal on the cell counts, but his hormone levels are all over
the chart. Which, if I remember correctly is fairly standard. At least
it was for us. Maybe Anne could see somthing... And what makes you so
sure Harry did this?" "Thanks," Beth glanced at the numbers and
flicked the sheets with her finger. "Besides the fact he never
reported back to work after his vacation, these. There are no
indications of anything but benign mutations.  Chris, the treatment
programs for Dani were very different in application, yet the changed
programs take advantage of that ", she began scanning the sheets in a
more determined manner, "Where are nanite counts?" "Third page."
"Uh-huh, right. There are S-XII groomers still active Jamie's system.
Our version of his treatment had them at dormant levels unless
triggered by an abnormal DNA sequence. We can't do a full DNA
reconstruction until Pam and Jerry clear the mini-cray for use. It'd
take our machine a month of sundays to crunch. What about the skin
samples, do we have the chromosome scans yet?" "Should be done in a
sec". Chris said and got on the elevator. "I'll check on them ok?"
"I'd be kind of surprised if the only major change he made was to
shrink Jamie and change his eye color." Beth said to herself as the
lab door opened and Anne walked in with the baby monitor, a tray of
cold cuts and sodas. "Where's Jamie?" she asked, glancing over.  "He
ate three sandwiches and gulped down two Pepsis before deciding he
needed to sleep it off. I figured to send Chris up to keep an eye on
him and work on the computer." "Cool Beans!" Chris said jumping off
the elevator. She tossed some papers at Beth and headed for the door.
I haven't babysat for .. God! 44 years! I hope the rates have gone up
since then." "Sorry, just room and board for now." Anne said. "Give a
holler when you get there, I left the monitor on." Beth listened to
the last with only half an ear. She was looking at Jamie's chromosome
pairs and a very obvious anomaly was staring back at her. She shuffled
through several similar (but note quite the same) samples and issued a
low whistle. "Now I know what the S-XII's are up to." "Those are from
Jamie?", Anne asked.  "Yipper. Did you call Angstrom?" Beth asked
handing the collection of reports to Anne. She purposefully placed the
chromosome scans on the bottom.  Anne sat down at the counter and
began looking them over. "Oh yes, I've arranged for them to arrive
8:30 Saturday night, United Airlines flight 675, gate 2." Beth's green
eyes narrowed as she sat thinking. Anne was still making her way
methodically through the stack of papers. Harry's version of the
Jamie's treatment patched several safety subroutines from Dani's
program into the S-XIIs. She thought, then her eyes widened as Anne
reached the Chromosome Scans and muttered , "What have we done." The
scans were of the most basic sort. They simply showed the chromosomes
in order for each cell dissected. Jamie had several samples that
looked absolutely normal, but several came out with final groupings of
"XX" or even "XXY".  Chris' voice came over the monitor. "Guys, grab
everything you might need for samples. STAT!" She didn't sound at all
well.

Anne and Beth burst through the door to Jamie's room to find Chris
bent over, patiently wiping Jamie's face, but it was obvious that as
fast as she could clear one section of the stinking reddish brown
substance.  Jamie was laying covered from head to toe in the stuff,
his clothes clinging wetly to his body. It was clear the change was
progressing much more quickly than previously.  "He's in REM sleep,
but I can't wake him up.", Chris said continuing to work on his face.
"This stff looks and smells like SOUP. It evaporates quickly but he's
sweating so much of it." "He must be using it to dissipate excess
waste and heat." Beth had already begun cutting away at Jamie's
clothes, revealing the extent of what was in progress. Pealing away
his shirt, she heard Anne gasp at the sight of his rapidly thinning
arms and shoulders. Under the damp gel surrounding Jamie's chest she
could see his nipples had grown and the plum-sized swelling beneath
them. Anne began sobbing and Beth knew she was going to be no help for
a while. Beth sighed and started on the jeans she'd lent Jamie
earlier.

* * *

Jamie stepped into the great ballroom, studying the Rococo
architecture with interest. The orchestra played a melody that hung at
the back of his head and drew his gaze down to the mass of humanity
below. The ball had already started and he knew he was expected to
make an appearance.  "Sooner begun, sooner done.", He said, though why
he was here in this monkey suit escaped him. Large crowds of people in
social settings always made him nervous. He made his way slowly to the
floor which was awash with all the people he'd ever met. Matt and Sue
reeled by him with the ease and grace that came from truly knowing
your partner. It was something he'd hoped to experience, knowing he
never would and envying those who had. He nodded to them and their
course across the floor shifted to intersect him.  "Glad to see you
made it .", Matt said as his face spun by. The couple broke briefly to
gather Jamie into their embrace. Sue looked him over, "Jamie, you look
marvelous! Have you lost weight?" "A bit.", Sue, as always had a
casual glow of life that was only enhanced by the stunning gown she
wore. "Matt, you better keep an eye on her." " 'A Nod's as good as a
wink.' At least I don't have to worry about you Jamie." "Oh?" Sue
turned his face up (?) to hers. "Of course silly, everyone knows
you're taken for the evening. She's waiting for you." "But you'v got
to find her.", Matt added, disengaging from Jamie as he and Sue
continued the dance leaving him to continue the search.  He saw a lot
of people in that timeless place. Some he remembered fondly, Like Miss
Barbara, who used to babysit him (she made the most wonderful
"gillcheese" sandwiches) and her husband Mr. Barry. Joy Hubbard, who
was the fixation of his first crush on an older woman. She was still
17, and gave Jamie one dance before bending over to give him a kiss on
the cheek and send him on his way. There was Kevin Rath, who played
with him in kindergarten. Jamie was bemused to watch the five year old
waltzing with his first steady girlfriend, Heather Kinnison.  Other's
were distant memories of people. His Great Grandpa McGown had died
before Jamie was even five. The kid who smashed the macaroni necklace
he made for his mother in kindergarten was there, carrying drinks. The
little girl at Camp Wo-Me-To who pinkie-swore with him to write was
also there.  The Orchestra was led by (oddly enough, considering she's
tone-deaf)Beth. Her red hair swayed in a seductive manner as she kept
time that reminded Jamie he was dreaming.  Anne and Chris were
represented as well. Chris pirouetted wildly about the room in the
throes of some tune heard only by her. Anne made a game of his finding
her flickering visage though and when Jamie finally caught hold of her
she only hugged him in a maternal way, blushed and told him how proud
she was of him and that SHE was waiting at the refreshment table.  The
only constant in all the meetings were that he automatically assumed
the age and manner of the person he was at the time, growing or
shrinking as required. Finally, Jamie made his way through the crowd
on the floor having failed to meet only one person that stood out in
his life.  "Hello Jamie." "Rose?", Jamie turned from the punch bowel
and looked down at the pixy face and just enough overweight frame of
the woman who taught him his ability to judge women sucked
righteously. "Are you ..?" he strted while thinking desperately, "God
please, I can't live through this again!" Her dark eyes twinkled
merrily and she smiled at the misunderstanding.  "No, I didn't want
you remember?", Rose said taking the cup from Jamie's hand and placing
it on the table. "But I can introduce you to her if you like." Rose
took his hand and began to lead him to the end of the table where a
young girl in a very pretty party dress stood delicately. Jamie's
heart leapt to his throat in an agony of longing as Rose placed his
hand around the little girl's.  "Jamie McGowan, meet your daughter.",
Rose said, smiling that huge smile that haunted his worst nightmares
and backed away, melting into the dance behind them.  Jamie glanced
back down as the little girl changed. She grew from age five to
fourteen and as she did her chestnut hair became blonde, pulled back
into a french braid that he knew ran down to the middle of her back.
Her dark brown eyes turned a deep sea green as her face lengthened,
pushing cheekbones up and dress became an appropriately mature, yet
innocent thing of silk and velvet that hinted at the woman ready to
come into her own.  Jamie could feel himself changing as he had for
the other meetings he'd made here, but he ignored it steadfastly and
instead, feasted on the sight of his daughter. "Jen- Jennifer. ..?"
"I've waited so long to do this!", She cried and hugged Jamie. His own
tears sprang unbidden and he clutched the girl to his bosom. Then they
talked of the future and danced and shared what seemed an eternal
moment.  It ended all too quickly.  "Remember, I'm waiting for you."
She whispered as the ballroom began to break up around them and the
darkness drew on Jamie. "I will be yours.  Just believe in others.
Believe in Daddy. I love you Mommy!  As the darkness claimed Jaime
again he realized he'd spent the entire time with his daughter to be
as a woman.

End Ch 5 Jeff Rose copyright 1997









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