Sarah's Perfect Lover

Wednesday.

So there I was. Standing there in my kitchen, staring across the countertop, looking at what HAD to be a real, honest-to-god genie. I mean, despite everything that my head told me was possible, or IMpossible, a freaking humanoid body had just appeared out of nowhere. I wasn't dreaming. I wasn't under some kind of spell. It was just... there. All I had done was start cleaning an old, tarnished, silver jewelry box I had found in the basement when all hell had broken loose, ending at the present moment.

Why did I think she was a genie? Well, from the combination of what I had just seen and how she was dressed, it was pretty clear. My first thoughts were how strange it was that she looked so much like the depictions one often saw in books or on TV. I guess all of that mythology was based on a good amount of fact. No, she didn't look like Barbara Eden from "I Dream of Genie", or even the DirectTV girl. But she was darned cute. Long dark hair, nice curvaceous body, and a face anyone could love.

"So, Lenny, what will it be?" she said to me. Her tone of voice indicated happiness, playfulness, and what sounded like a wee bit of mischief.

"You'll forgive me if I find this a little unbelievable?" I said with a chuckle.

"Entirely normal. We have been around for uncountable centuries, and each time we emerge we always seem to encounter a totally different attitude towards our appearance."

"Are there more than one of you in there?

"Oh, no! I just meant 'we' as a species. But we also do refer to ourselves that way, even when *I* am just referring to myself. Sorry if that's a little confusing."

"Well I'd say that's about the LEAST confusing thing going on here!"

She giggled and seemed to appreciate my attitude. My scientific side was starting to get very curious about this once in a lifetime opportunity. "Can you tell me more about you and your 'species'?"

"Yes, we could. But that's not how this works. Our task here is to help you with something you need or want, and then we return to our realm."

"You mean in that little box?"

"Well, it might look like a little box to you, but it's really a portal to our realm. When you summoned me it acted to transport us here to you."

"There's really so much us humans don't know, isn't there?"

"You have no idea." She gave a cute little smile and proceeded, "So, again, Lenny, what can we do for you?"

"Wow, I just don't know where to begin!" I said. "Money... power... it's just not something that pops right out of my head!"

"That's understandable." She paused briefly. "May we touch you for a moment?"

I didn't see why not, so I nodded my head. She stepped over and lightly placed her finger on my forehead, then closed her eyes. I watched her intently, and I could see her eyes darting back and forth beneath the lids, almost like she was in REM sleep mode. I also saw her lips move a little... as though something she was seeing was amusing to her. Then she removed her finger and opened her eyes as she backed away from me.

"Thank you for allowing us to delve into your mind. If you are interested, we can tell you what it is you desire most of all."

Of course I was stunned. I didn't realize that that's what she intended to do, but then I realized that she probably felt she was performing me a service. I also realized that if I was honest with myself, I KNEW what it was I wanted.

"OK... hit me!"

"Her name is Sarah, isn't it?" she said as she gave a coy little smile.

She had hit it right on the head. I had fostered a crush on Sarah for over a year. She lived across the courtyard from me, and I'd first seen her coming and going from time to time. Sometimes we'd run into each other and chat. For the last few months, I'd been going over to her place to chat, watch TV, or for small parties and such. She was sweet, funny, and cute as hell. We were definitely friends, but I would have loved more. And given that I knew she didn't have a boyfriend at the time, I had tried. However, the first time I had suggested that we do something "date-like", she let me know that she wasn't interested in pursuing that course with me. Friends was fine, but JUST friends. I would have to live with that. Of course, that didn't stop her from being the object of pretty much every fantasy I had.

I turned back to my guest. "You really have that trick down well!"

"It's a skill we have," she said as she gave a little shrug of her shoulders.

"So, like, you just make her fall in love with me or something?"

She gave a deep sigh and started to slowly pace around my kitchen.

"No Lenny, it's a little more complicated than that. It probably doesn't HAVE to be more complicated, but, there are rules to be followed. We know, we know, it seems strange to you. It does to us, too. Things could be easy and straightforward, but the rules must be followed, even though they take what could be a straight line between two points and turn it into a tangled, rambling mess."

I kept staring at her and listening intently as she continued her little bit of venting.

"We THINK that the rules were put in place to inject a little bit of the unknown into whatever we are trying to accomplish. We can set things up to go in a general direction, but random actions and random twists of fate can bend the outcomes. Sometimes things turn out exactly as we thought, sometimes better, sometimes worse. We're telling you all that because we want you to know that nothing is a 'done deal' here. You take a little bit of risk as part of the experience."

"Uhhhhhh... but I mean, like, how bad can things get?"

"Sorry, but there's really no way of knowing. You have to understand, we're not going to try to trick you or anything. We'll set things out on a proper course that will be clear for you to see, but we can't guarantee that everything will go exactly to plan, right?"

I understood what she was saying, and it didn't sound like one of those Twilight Zone stories where someone wishes for a million dollars, it shows up in their bank account, and then the IRS comes and tosses them in jail for tax evasion. She seemed to want to be genuinely helpful.

"Okay, so how do we do this, then?"

"Well, this may seem strange to you, but we don't really know exactly how. Once you decide that that is what you want to have, then we summon the solution from the realm." She paused to let that sink in. "So, is that what you want?"

I considered things for a few seconds, and realized that the prospect of having Sarah in my life was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"Yes, let's do it."

With that, she made some interesting arm movements, whispered something too softly for me to hear, and then crossed her arms over her body, closed her eyes, and bowed her head. She remained like that for about ten seconds. Just about the time I was ready to say something, another box appeared on the countertop, and she came out of whatever trance she was in. The box had some very ornate designs and some kind of writing that I'd never be able to decipher.

"Ah, very interesting!" she said. "I haven't seen this one for a while!"

"Should I be worried?"

"No, I think this actually has a pretty good chance of giving you what you want without too much trouble... or danger."

I just stared at her and moved my hands in a "well let's have it" kind of motion. She opened the box to reveal a small vial of clear liquid. She instructed me to go get a small pin and clean it thoroughly, which I did. Then she told me to prick the end of my finger to extract a few drops of blood. She removed the cap on the vial and had me hold my finger over it until a drop fell into the vial, instantly giving it a red hue. She recapped it and held it up for me to see.

"Place this in something that you get Sarah to drink. It doesn't matter how much of it she drinks, as long as it's at least a sip or two. Keep it cold until you use it."

"And that's it? Once she drinks it she's in love with me?"

"No, silly, listen carefully. She doesn't just 'fall in love' with you. What this does is change aspects of YOU to become her perfect lover and perfect mate. Then she will be deeply in love with you because you are the perfect person for her. She will never cheat on you or anything like that because she won't WANT to. She will be totally devoted to you."

"What does 'change aspects" mean? You mean I'm going to LOOK different or ACT different as I become her perfect mate?"

"Both! Whatever it takes, and it will happen each night over a period of just a few days."

"But what about my other friends, and my family? What are they going to think about my actual body changing?"

"Ha! That's the beauty of this! They won't notice at all. Neither will Sarah. As you change, everything that happens will be as if it had ALWAYS been that way. Records, photos, whatever. They will all change along with you. YOU will know what's happening, and YOU will know what's changed, but you'll also be okay about it. What I mean is, even if she wanted you to be three feet tall, you'd accept that as part of this and feel good about it. Get it?"

I was just staring at her. "So... I'm actually going to... start looking... differently... than I do now? For real? And no matter how I change to match her desires, I'm going to feel okay about it?"

"Now you got it! But there's a bit more." Could I be any more confused than I was now?

"Because SHE is going to be devoted to you, for the rest of her life, it would be devastating to her if you ever decided to leave her." I started to protest that I would never do that. She interrupted me. "Now, now! Listen! I know you don't think that would happen, but after many years, who knows, right? So we just take care of it now. As you change into her perfect mate, and as she becomes totally devoted to you, so will YOU become totally devoted to HER. It's only fair. And! As a bonus... some aspects of Sarah will change to also better fit YOUR vision of an ideal mate. I know you think she's great now, but there might be a few things you'd like to be a little different. They will happen each night over a period of a few days."

"And I take it that Sarah won't realize that she's changing?"

"Now you're getting it! Just as with changes to YOU, it will be like those changes had ALWAYS been part of her. YOU will know she's changed, but nobody else will." She paused and took a couple of long breaths. "So, what do you think?"

"I guess I'm just a little overwhelmed by it all, but if it works as you said, then everything should be fine."

She looked at me for a few seconds, nodded her head to the side a little and raised her eyebrows, and again waited for a few seconds. Finally I realized what she was doing.

"Thank you," I told her.

"You're welcome, Lenny! It is time for us to return to the realm. You will never see us again. But we can't have humans knowing all about us. So when we leave, you will forget that we were even here. You will remember everything we've told you about how to use this liquid and what it does, but you won't remember how you got it. You will just accept the fact that you DO have it. We wish you the best of luck!"

With that, I saw both her and the silver jewelry box start to twinkle. There was a flash of light and I stood looking at the vial of red liquid on the counter. This was going to be great. Sarah was finally going to be mine. I had no idea why I knew what I had to do, but it didn't matter. I knew it was going to work. I guess I, myself, might be in for a few changes. But if she wanted me to be a little taller or a little more muscular, who was I to complain? This was gonna be good!

* * * * *

Thursday.

I was so excited I almost couldn't control myself! Everything was working out exactly as I had planned. I had invited Sarah over for some TV and chat, and successfully managed to get her to drink the contents of the vial along with some wine she was sipping on. Well, not the ENTIRE vial. I had figured that, just in case it got spilled or something, I would only use half of it. I somehow remembered that only a few sips were needed, so saving the other half seemed like a good precaution.

Now I just needed to watch for the changes. I knew that it was supposed to take a few days for things to work, but I guess a part of me was hoping that maybe something would make itself evident right away. But, in the four hours she was there, I didn't notice anything at all. A part of me thought that maybe the whole thing was a scam, but I decided to withhold judgement at least until the next day.

As was the case anytime we were together, the hours went by far too quickly, and it was time for her to go. We said our goodnights the same way we always did -- with a friendly hug.

"Oh, Lenny, I forgot to tell you!" she said. "I'm going to be out of town from tomorrow morning until Saturday evening. Taking advantage of the three-day weekend do go visit some friends up north. Could you maybe keep an eye on Felix for me?" Felix was her cat. I wasn't a big cat fan, but I was happy to help her out.

"Of course! Like you have to ask."

"Here ya go!" she said as she handed me the key to her apartment. With that, we hugged again, and she departed.

Whoa! The next couple nights were supposed to be making changes to bring us together, and she wasn't even going to be in town! Arrgghh! I honestly didn't know if that would make a difference, but I was certainly planning on watching all of this happening each day. Now, here it was Thursday, and I wasn't going to even see her until late Saturday. All I could do was let it all play out.

* * * * *

Friday.

I rolled out of bed the next morning and wasn't even thinking about what had happened the previous evening. I suddenly remembered it all and was thrilled that I might start to see some changes in Sarah's attitude today. Oh, but wait... Sarah was leaving town this morning. She might already be gone! I decided maybe I could catch her before she took off.

I ran into the main room, pulling on some shorts as I went, threw on a tee shirt, walked into some flip flops near the door, and ran across the way to her apartment. After a few knocks and bell rings, it was clear she was already gone. Damn! Then, through the door, I heard a very faint sound of a cat doing its "meow" thing. That reminded me of my duties for the next couple of days.

I walked back over to my place, grabbed Sarah's keys, and made my way back to her place to check on the crazy cat. He seemed fine enough -- just in need of a food and water refill. He had never been that friendly of a cat, so he wasn't really interested in trying get some attention from me. He turned his attention to the food bowl and pretended I wasn't there. Easy enough.

I was about to walk out the door, and I was passing by a little table where Sarah had some of her framed photos on display. Just various friends and family pictures. I had been through them all before on previous visits. There was one that I had always enjoyed looking at. It was a photo of her from a few months earlier, with her sitting on a lounge chair. She had been on the Florida beach, and she just looked so gorgeous and relaxed. Looking at that photo always made me wish she had invited me to go on that trip with her. Oh, how romantic that would have been.

Anyway...as I was looking at her, something seemed different. I fairly quickly realized that her hair, which was normally cut into a blonde "bob", had turned darker than before... it actually looked to be more of a brown than a blonde. And instead of being cut well above her shoulders, it was down almost touching her neck. I mean, I had always preferred gals with long, dark hair, but the fact that Sarah had short blonde hair didn't make me fantasize about her any less.

Wow. Was this change the result of the liquid she drank? I mean, what other explanation was there? I KNEW she had the short, blonde hair for the entire time I'd known her, including when she was on that Florida trip. Yet, here it was, staring me in the face... longer, darker hair than before. And even though the change only happened last night, the whole world had changed, without knowing it, to reflect that she had ALWAYS had that kind of hair. I was able to confirm that fact by looking at a couple other shots that she was in, all of which showed the same longer, darker hair. This was truly amazing. It was freaking working!

I locked up and walked back over to my place. I hadn't locked the door, and as I entered I was greeted with a boisterous...

"Hey dude!"

It was my friend Johny. He had moved out of town a couple years ago, but he always made it a habit to drop in on me when he got back to town.

"I didn't know you were coming in this weekend?!" I queried.

"Yeah, figured I'd come visit you and the other guys for the long weekend. Figured I'd surprise you."

"No problemo. You know you're always welcome."

Johny was one of my longtime friends. We went back all the way through elementary school. He was almost like a little brother to me. In fact, sometimes I referred to him that way.

"Well, settle in little bro. It may be a long weekend for you, but *I* actually have to get some work done today, so I'm gonna get cleaned up and head out of here. You still have your key, right?"

"Yep, don't worry Len, I'll take care of myself."

With that, I headed back to the bedroom to clean up and get prepped for work. I went through my normal routine. As I stepped into the shower, something seemed a little off. When I reached up to adjust the shower head, it seemed as though it had moved much higher on the wall. That was ridiculous. Right? I quickly finished up and exited. As I bellied up to the sink to start my shave, I noticed that EVERYTHING seemed higher. And my hair had gotten lighter! What the heck?

I was shorter. There was no doubt about it. I grabbed the yard stick out of the closet, used a pencil to make a little mark on the wall, and measured myself. Indeed, my 6' 0" frame had shrunk FOUR INCHES. I was now 5' 8". And I then also remembered that *I* was going to be changing to better reflect Sarah's perfect mate. She obviously didn't like her guys tall at all. I mean, she was only about 5' 5" or so... So I guessed that something closer to my new height just worked better for her. And whereas I preferred darker hair, I guess she preferred blondes, because my hair was now a sandy color that was well on it's way to being blonde. And like hers had done, mine had grown a few inches longer. I guess she was into the shaggy look. Damn though if it wasn't all really happening!

And Johny hadn't noticed a thing! Just like I remembered, nobody else had any idea that I hadn't ALWAYS been 5' 8" or that I hadn't ALWAYS had sandy colored hair. But what about my clothes? I quickly checked my jeans and discovered that my jeans had also changed size. I normally wore 32" waist and 34" length. NOW however, they were all 30" in both waist and length. I had apparently also lost some belly! Putting them on confirmed that they fit great, and checking my other clothes, they all matched as well. My underwear were a size smaller, and my shirts had gone down from "larges" to "mediums". This was absolutely wild!

I went back towards the kitchen and stopped in front of a photo that I had taken with my last girlfriend a couple of years earlier. As I'm sure you can guess, she and I were now about the same height (I had previously towered over her), and my hair was indeed that sandyish color. Holy cow. I grabbed my wallet off the kitchen table and yanked out my driver's license. The world was indeed changing. My photo reflected the "new me", and the height and weight also accurately indicated my new shortness and trimness.

The last thing I noticed before leaving for work was that my work shoes, basically plain brown loafers, had shrunk from my normal size 11's down to 9's. Even the flip flops I had worn over to Sarah's earlier had been smaller, I just hadn't noticed it at the time. Crazy!