Summer came and school had been out for a couple weeks when Mr. Marsh suggested taking the girls to the park one Saturday afternoon. Geri, Beth, and Evvie were playing on the playground equipment having a good time. It had not dawned on him that his wife, Evette, would join their daughter and the next door neighbor witch girl on the playground.

After an hour, Geri said to Evvie, “Mr. Marsh keeps looking at the dog run.”

Evvie pouted. “You're right.” She walked over to the bench he was sitting on and took her barrette out of her hair. She grew back into adulthood.

“You don't have to...” Mr. Marsh started to say when Evette reached into her large purse and pulled out a dog collar.

“Yes, I did,” she said as she gave him a kiss. Afterward, she fastened the collar around his neck and he shrank down into a dog. He immediately started toward the dog run until his leash stopped. He turned to look at her with puppy dog eyes. “That's no fair,” she joked as she jogged with him to the run.

Geri hopped on a swing next to Beth. “Mr. Marsh, I mean, Laddy is in the dog run.”

“He is?” Beth said. She jumped off the swing and ran to her mother just outside the dog run.

Geri looked around and walked away from the playground. She headed down a path that went down a hill into a little valley where a wading pool sat. She sat down on a bench and mumbled a few arcane words. People standing at the edge of the pool, group by group, left the area and no one came to fill their space. Momentarily a young woman approached her carefully.

“Miss?”

“Yes, Sharon Ellen Bates?”

“Oh, good. You must be the one from my dreams.”

“I am. Are you sure this is what you want?”

Sharon turned and looked at the wading pool and at the sky above it. “More than anything.”

Geri mumbles some more arcane words and a round stone platform appeared in the center of the pool. It seemed weather worn as if it had always been there. “Take your pose on the pedestal.”

“Actually, I was wondering if I could look like a mermaid.”

“Certainly.”

Ms Bates waded across the poll and climbed up onto the stone block. She knelt down and arched her back, raising her torso on her arms, her fingers sitting on the edge of the pedastal. As she opened her mouth into a circular shape she felt herself stiffen. Her legs fused and trailed behind her, she lifted then backwards and they stopped moving.

Geri stood at the edge of the pool speaking more words of power. As she finished the incantation as the woman named Sharon was now a mermaid, her tail raised behind her and her torso raised up on as well forming a sort of U-shape. A moment passed before a stream of water started flowing out of her mouth.

“What do you think?” Geri said before turning around.

Seated on the bench was Prudence, head witch of the area. “Well done. I like the scaling effect in the stone.”

“Thanks,” Geri said sitting down beside Prudence. “To what do I owe this visit.”

“Do you know what today is?”

“Oh, it's my witch anniversary.”

“Yep, and seeing as you seem a little bigger than the last time I saw you, it appears you are going to remain a girl, and eventually a woman, till your dying day.”

“I hope that isn't soon.”

“Shouldn't be. How is Esmerelda?”

“I turned her into a doll last year. She seems to like being played with.”

“I bet she doesn't. Or wouldn't if she wasn't a doll.”

“What does that mean?”

“By turning her into a doll and presumably playing with her with other dolls she has probably been flooded with doll nature. So she likes being a doll because she is a doll. But if she were returned to her cranky old self, she would be mortified by the thought she had had fun being a doll.”

“So I should turn her back to normal? You said that was up to me.”

“And it is. Don't fret about it. You'll know when she is ready to be restored.”

“If you say so.” Geri said with a thought. “Was there something else? Seems like you could have just sent me an anniversary card.”

“Kids today don't appreciate receiving cards,” Prudence joked.

“I'm not a kid,” she said before adding, “mostly.”

“Yes, mostly.” Prudence stood up. “Well, I don't want to keep you from your adopted family longer than is necessary. But you are so fascinating. You did that magic there out in broad daylight. Witches usually do their magic in secret. Try not to reveal magic to the world too much.”

“Is that bad?”

“I don't know. But it is certainly against tradition, much like yourself.” With that she turned as walked in a direction that would take her away from the dog run.

“Bye,” Geri said softly when Prudence was several hundred feet away. People were in the wading pool. Some were fascinated by the mermaid fountain, others oblivious to the new pool feature. “I'll be back for you in a year,” she whispered to the statue before heading up the hill toward the dog run.