Joe took the woman's hand and was lead her down th aisle. As they walked the woman explained to the little girl, "My name is Doctor Mezzner. You might remember me from the time your son Steven was transformed into Stephanie. I arranged for a certain outcome."
"What out come is that, ma'am?" Joe asked.
"More specifically the change in years," the doctor continued. "As I pointed out to Alice, the order of Zulo has other devices. As of right now, Alice is two years older, as well as all of her children and a few more changes at home have occurred."
Joe looked up and asked with genuine curiosity, "What changes would those be?"
Looking down at the girl Joe had become Dr. Mezzner retorted, "I'm not at liberty to tell you." Seeing the hurt look on the girl's face the doctor continued.
"Instead, I'm here to offer you a deal. You don't need to give an answer just yet, but one would be preferable by your twentieth birthday. I am also here personally to put you in a loving family that so desperately wants a daughter of their own."
"Why my twen....twen....twentieth birthday," Joe asked, stuttering over the word.
"Well, truth be told," Dr. Mezzner chuckled nervously. "I'll be due for retirement by then and a replacement will be sent in. I want to make sure that it's someone I've known, had contact with and nudged in the right direction. Pretty much one that is independent, open-minded and knows how to properly put the beliefs of Zulo to appropriate uses. I've known other people who've down it before me and I want to give it a try."
Joe could only nod and then ask, "So what are the names of the people who'll become my new parents?"
"Their names are Derrick and Cindy Zimmermann. I used other devices to chart the the various outcomes and all point to the fact that you'll have a very happy life with them. The only strange thing that I can't figure out is the fact that you'll be living two doors down from Alice and her family."
"Is that a problem?" Joe asked.
"No, no." Dr. Mezzner assured her. "Once we take you to the office and run our test to see that nothing has happened that would cause any problems, you'll be given over to the Zimmermann's. In a few days, maybe sooner, your memories as well as theirs will finish filling in and you'll pretty much have no memory left of your previous life."
"Pretty much," Joe asked with some hesitant in her voice.
"Well there will be the one or two dreams, but nothing to really bother you. Plus, as you start to get older and begin to think about careers, you'll also think about the order of Zulo. If you choose that path, you'll be groomed as my assistant and then one day, my replacement. If not, well I can just use the device and find another replacement, but I'm really holding out for you because of the promise you hold."
Nodding, Joe thought about her new parents. She thought about what it would like to return to the school, now as a girl. She wondered briefly about having to face the prospect of the puberty all females eventually went through. Her reverie was interrupted as Doctor Mezzner asked her something.
"Now honey, were is the medallion?"
Giving the doctor a worried look, she said in response, "I left it in the jewelry department so I wouldn't have to transform back or turn into anything else accidentally."
Leading Joe to the specified department Doctor Mezzner asked, "Now, were did you put it?"
Joe pointed to a display of cheap costume jewelry and told her, "I hid it back there after I came here after transforming in the changing rooms on the other side of the store."
The doctor pulled out a metal box from her purse and walked over to the display. Pulling out a latex glove, she put it on and reached into the back, eventually extracting the amulet. Placing it in the box and snapping it shut she turned to Joe and said, "Lets go."
Joe was escorted out to Dr. Mezzner's car and after a fifteen minutes drive realized as they pulled up in front of a building, that she was no longer in Texas. Allowing herself to be led into a building, she was shown to an office with an exam table. Pulling a metal rod out of the desk, the doctor open the box, ran the wand over the medallion and then closed the box and placed it in another drawer. Turning to her guest she said, "Please remove your clothes."
Joe, unsure of what was going on, complied and removed the coat, shoes and footed pajamas. Seeing the doctor making a come here gesture, she walked over to were she was standing next to the exam table. Looking at Joe, Dr. Mezzner than said, "The underwear to."
In pleading tone Joe asked, "Do I have to?"
The doctor merely nodded and after a minute, Joe stood completely naked. Dr. Mezzner lifted her up onto the table and then ran the metal rod over her and after a minute said, "You may get down now and get dressed."
Joe redressed and afterward asked the doctor, "What's next?"
"Well," Dr. Mezzner said as she took a seat behind the desk, opened a drawer and placed the metal wand in it, opened another drawer and pulled a stack of papers and then indicated for Joe to have a seat.
As Joe took her seat, Dr. Mezzner continued. "You are completely healthy. The next set is setting up you new life. Any thought to what you want to be called."
Joe blushed slightly and then said, "I think Lisa is a pretty name, ma'am."
"Then Lisa it is," the doctor announced. "After we fill out this paperwork, you make take one item from this drawer for being a good girl and then exiting through that door with the file I had you, you'll find your new parents waiting. Be warned, after you give them the paperwork, the new memories with begin to form and by their accounts, they've just taken their daughter, whom they've had since birth, for a check-up and booster shots."
Joe nodded and then sat in silence as Dr. Mezzner finished filling out the forms. Afterward, she pulled open a fourth drawer and said, "For being a good girl Lisa, you make select one item."
Looking in the drawer, Lisa Zimmermann eventually selected a bracelet that resembled one two girls happened to choose two years ago.
Smiling, she accepted the file from the doctor and pushing the door open found her mom and dad waiting. As she handed the paperwork to her dad, a burning sensation flashed through her butt and she thought that this was normal; after all, she did just have a booster shot. Hugging her mother, Lisa heard her father asking some questions to someone. Then turning to his wife, suggested dinner at a local restaurant. Lisa smiled and snuggled closer to her mom as the memories continued to fill in and the life of Joe Taylor disappeared.
As she was placed in a booster seat in a minivan the voice of Dr. Mezzner entered her head and said, "Remember my offer, little one. And try to enjoy life in the mean time."