FICTION

CINDERELLA II (Continued from TVia No. 79)

Geraldine, Wisc.

Nobody was home when I got there; a note on the table said that everybody had gone over to the home of one of Step-mother's cronies. I don't suppose it was a coincidence that the crony was also a member of the Committee For Planning The Big Bash. I considered calling them

after all, they might be planning something drastic and I didn't know how long things might hold up. For all I knew, old Wendell might have organized this part too. I almost screamed with laughter though when I found out that the meeting, although originally informally called in fact to determine the identity, etc., of last night's mystery guest, had turned into a manhunt. It seems Prince Charming had disappeared.

After listening to Step-mother's declaration that, "We just don't know when we're coming home and all . . . "I hung up. I had a sneaking sus- picion I knew where the Prince was and I walked out into the back yard towards the gate leading to Wendell's place.

My attention was distracted by the presence of a guest in our swimming pool. There was a girl lying along the edge of the pool, sunning herself in the late afternoon sun — a reasonably fake performance under the cir- cumstances, I thought, and I walked over and stood beside her, looking down. She heard me approaching and sat up suddenly, hastily hauling the front of her bathing suit up. “Oh! Hello. I didn't hear you come in do you mind?" She asked, pointing to herself and the pool. "It looked so inviting I just couldn't resist the temptation to come over."

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