Ultragreen -4- No One Would Know

When George had left, Shel emerged from under the tarp and retrieved her old clothes. “I hope these still fit,” she muttered. They seemed like someone else’s clothes, especially the underwear, but they did fit. The blue slacks and buff-colored button-down shirt were the school uniform, needing only the blue and gold tie and brown (grades 7-9) or blue (10-12) blazer.

Shel tied the laces on the non-uniform sneakers and slipped on a watch, noting the time. “We still have two hours before Saturday check-in,” she said aloud. “Wish I had a mirror down here….” It occurred to her that wishing for a mirror sounded rather girly and she blushed. “Well, I need to see if I look enough like me to pass at roll call,” she muttered defensively.

She didn’t think of herself as a girl but she no longer felt quite right as a boy, either. Things had moved quickly and she sought a distraction.

She checked the room to see if they were leaving anything behind that they would need back at the school. It was a twenty minute walk to the gates so they needed to leave in about an hour and a half. But first Shel needed to reassure herself that no one would know that something had happened to Sheldon.

That’s why she wanted a mirror. Right. She really didn’t want to have to explain to anyone what had happened. The idea of telling anyone that she had accidentally turned herself into a girl in an effort to gain superpowers was almost terrifying.

But if she didn’t look too different…. And seriously, shouldn’t she still look like Sheldon while wearing Sheldon’s clothes?

She found the journals and logs George had been using to guide their experiments and sighed. Her reading and math problems at school were even worse when it came to stuff that did not have to be endured. She opened one and stared at the chicken scratches inside. That her good friend could make any sense at all of such a mess amazed her.

She frowned. Or maybe George had made a mistake? She sniffed and her lower lip trembled. How would she ever know? But maybe the process could be reversed? Still sniffing and trying not to cry, she headed up the stairs to the first floor of the mansion.

The building had once belonged to the Thibodeaux (tibb-uh-doze) family, after whom the town of Thibido (tee-bee-doo) had been named (sort of). Three stories tall (plus basement) it had 29 rooms, including two kitchens, and was maintained by the city according to terms of a trust and lease. Twice a month gardeners came to care for the lawn and once a month, a crew cleaned the interior and did any repairs needed.

The gardening crew had welcomed the volunteer help of two students from the academy after George’s research suggested that Alison Thibodeaux Vassilyev (last resident of the house) had actually been the superheroine Ultragirl.

George might be a whiz at reading and calculation but it had been Sheldon who had acquired keys to the house and its basement. And he hadn’t even stolen them. Well, not really. He’d just borrowed them, had copies made, and returned them before they were noticed as missing. After that, sneaking into the laboratory for a few hours on Saturdays had become a weekend routine.

Climbing the stairs, she paused for a moment to rub at her chest. It itched. In fact, she sort of itched everywhere. Sheldon’s clothes fit well enough but she could not get over the subliminal thought that they weren’t her clothes. Rolling her eyes in exasperation, she continued upward emerging in the first floor kitchen.

The hallway off the dining room had a mirror but it was pretty dark that deep into the house. And George was probably using the large first floor bathroom with its skylight and mirror to get cleaned up. So she took the narrow kitchen stairs up to the master suite on the second floor.

The whole house was mothballed, in effect. Most of the appliances and furniture had been removed or stored away and others covered in linen dust cloths. Paintings, wall and floor coverings, and things like china and silverware had been moved to storage on the third floor. The huge master suite lay almost empty but light came in from the north-facing balcony through small gaps in the heavy drapes and a huge mirror hung on the wall beside the door to the bath.

Shel approached it carefully, a little afraid of what she might see. George had been dumbstruck by her after all and it might not have been just the change from boy to girl. She stepped in front of the mirror and examined her reflection.

And there stood Sheldon looking much like himself. She stared. Same wide oval face. Same short wavy hair with every color of red, auburn and ginger possible. Did her mouth look… plumper? Her nose tipped up a little more? Hard to say. Her skin did seem smoother, almost certainly….

She looked at the fit of her clothes, Sheldon’s clothes. Had her shoulders always been so narrow? She nodded. Yes, they had, it had been something Sheldon had hoped would be corrected as he grew. Now, what?