“Well, Eve?” the priest asked politely.
“I... I do, of course,” answered Eve with a smile.
It was her experiences as an amateur actress in all those old high school theatrical productions she'd been
involved in as a teen that saved her at this critical juncture. The show must go on! Despite the sudden flood
of new memories and the firm knowledge that she was someone else – the best man, actually! – Eve was still
able to maintain her composure and perfectly play the role of the blushing young bride.
Indeed, Eve still was the blushing young bride. She still retained her own identity and all her memories of
growing up as a little girl, then meeting Paul and falling in love, and winding up here at the altar on this
special day. She just knew now, in addition to everything else, that she was really Timothy Sherman... and
that twenty-four years ago, Paul's stupid magic spell had really worked, giving Tim this whole new life. Eve
remembered becoming trapped in that old woman's life and then... dying! She had actually died and... and...
had she gone to heaven? Then she must have somehow been reborn as Eve Jones. The recollection of having
actually died was particularly painful. She couldn't bring herself to dwell on that, but she knew it had
really taken place. But the bit about the afterlife – had that really happened? That part seemed fuzzy and
almost dreamlike.
Still, she had memories of concrete certainty of having been Timothy Sherman for fifteen years. Then somehow
she died, and became reincarnated as Eve Jones for the next twenty-four years.
But if Tim had been reincarnated as her... then who was the best man standing on the other side of Paul?
The rest of the ceremony went off flawlessly. Only the most meticulously penetrating observant would have
caught the occasional odd glances from the bride towards the best man. Eve knew that had been her body for
fifteen years. It was so much older now. And who was inside it? It had to be the old woman whose life Eve had
been living when she died. But she was a 'he' then... although a he living the life of a she... it was all so
confusing, but Eve knew it had really happened.
However, Eve also knew she was now Eve Jones. And this was her wedding day! So, a bit reluctantly, Eve decided
to file away this sudden epiphany for rational analysis at a later date. She simply went back to being Eve
Jones and enjoyed her wedding ceremony, the reception and dinner that followed, and the dance which followed
that late into the night.
It was just an hour or so before dawn by the time Eve and Paul bid farewell to their wedding guests and
retired to their hotel suite. The happy couple, exhausted by the day's events (and more than a little
inebriated from the copious amounts of champagne they'd consumed), made the mutual decision to consummate
their marriage later, after some much needed sleep.
Paul simply stripped to his underwear, collapsed heavily on the bed, and almost instantly began snoring.
Eve however carefully removed her wedding attire and then stood naked in front of the bathroom room for a good
long while. She was a beautiful young woman. Not just physically, but deep down inside. Yes, she had been a
boy named Tim for fifteen years. But she had been Eve for that plus nine years. There was more “Eve” in her
now than “Tim.”
Her mind raced back to a Philosophy of Feminism class she'd taken in college. A quote from Simone de Beauvoir.
“One is not born a woman, but becomes one,” Eve whispered softly to her reflection in the mirror.
But there was still the matter of Truth. Eve had once been Tim – Paul's best friend. Surely Paul had the right
to know that. And then there was the matter of the current Tim. Evidently, some poor old woman had been ripped
away from her life and magically brainwashed into becoming Tim Sherman. That seemed all wrong. Whoever or
whatever the new “Tim” was, didn't he/she have the right to know the truth about all this? And perhaps, even
after all these years, Paul still had the spellbook – the means to... to do what? Eve didn't particularly want
to give up her happy life and become either version of Tim... the current middle-aged one or the adolescent
version she remembered being. But things were still all mixed up. Something needed to be corrected, even if
Eve couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was.
What else was it Simone de Beauvoir had said?
“I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for Truth,” said Eve. “and Truth
rewarded me.”
Paul had to know the truth. And then together, the two of them would tell “Tim” the truth.
Quite probably, Paul no longer had the spellbook after all these years. Certainly, Eve had never caught a
glimpse of it amongst Paul's many, cluttered belongings. So likely, it was a moot point whether or not
anything could be “done” about their situation. But Eve's rock-solid moral compass demanded she share the
truth with Paul first thing in the morning.
How does Paul react the next day?