Chapter 27: Meanwhile, Back in Texas

Meanwhile, Back in Texas

Just a few day after Alice and company left for Indianapolis, Kay was in office at the Y, going over some priests' reports. There was knock on her door.

"Come in."

It was a priestess, she could not remember by name. "We have a... um... situation up front, Kay."

The goddess blinked. "What kind of situation?"

"Do you know a guy named Andy?"

"Sure. He is a janitor at Moore Genetics. Good guy. You should get to know him..."

"Alexandra."

"Of course. Too many new people."

"I understand."

"Anyway, his girlfriend, Amanda is here, and she is transformable."

"Great. Get her on the waiting list."

"Well... she's retarded."

"I think Andy told me. Down's Syndrome, right?"
"That's it," said the priestess.

"What's the problem?"

"We've never had a retarded goddess before. Is it a good idea? Someone of such limited mental ability, having all that power and sex drive?"

Kay started to speak, then stopped. "I would say yes, but I think I should get more opinions.

"Go get Jennifer. I'm going to make a conference call to Alice, Rita, and Dr. Leslie in Indianapolis."

Jennifer Braun, the English professor, had been acting as Kay's lieutenant, with Alice gone.

"Yes ma'am."

By the time Jennifer arrived, Kay had the other three on the speakerphone.

"Did Alexandra fill you in?" asked Kay.

The professor nodded. "She's going to get Amanda."

Kay raised an eyebrow. "Was that your idea or hers?"

"Hers," said Jennifer.

"Really? That's good thinking. I need to find out more about her.

"Anyway, I was just explaining the situation to our Indiana sisters."

Kay turned back to the phone. "Tell me, Leslie. What could we expect from transforming a girl with Down's Syndrome?"

There was a silence for a few seconds. "You know," said the geneticist finally. "The full effects of the serum is not completely understood. How it works differs from person to person."

"I understand. But what can you tell me for certain?" asked Kay.

"If she were to get pregnant, none of her children would have Downs. The physical characteristics of the condition won't go away. She'll still have the small eyes and large head."

"Would it cure her, mentally?"

"Now there's a question. It depends on how severe her condition is, and how the serum interacts with her DNA.

"My guess would be, not entirely. But it should help her be more mentally sharp."

At this point, Alexandra escorted in Amanda.

Amanda was short and stocky, but not as short as Kay. She had blonde hair, with long bangs that almost covered her small blue eyes. She had a large grin, and was watching Kay and Jennifer like a kid in a candy store. Kay could see why Andy liked her.

"Ladies," said Kay. "We have been joined by Miss Amanda Fine."

Amanda mumbled something softly.

Kay could not make it out. "I'm sorry, dear. Could you repeat that, a little louder."

The retarded girl repeated herself, though still barely above a whisper. "I'm Mandy."

Kay nodded. "Of course, my mistake.

"She wants to be called Mandy."

Rita's voice was heard for the first time. "I'm playing devil's advocate here.

"Do we want someone with such diminished mental abilities to have this kind of power?"

Kay didn't answer back immediately. "Alexandra, a priestess here, brought up the same question, so I've had time to give it some thought.

"The great thing about being a goddess is that it is almost impossible to get in trouble. All mistakes are forgiven by our adoring public.

"Besides, she'll have an extended family around her, watching out for her.

"After hearing your input, I've decided that we should go ahead with this transformation. It will be an experiment, and will determine whether to do this again."

"Try to document the effects for me," said Leslie, over the phone.

Alexandra held up a printout. "We have three goddesses, one priestess and one priest, here in San Antonio, who have experience working with the mentally handicapped."

Kay nodded in approval of the priestess' initiative. "Very good. They'll be able to document Mandy's cognitive development, if any."

Kay and Jennifer said their goodbyes and hung up.

Mandy, who had ignored the conversation, which was way over her head, started at the mention of her name. Were they talking about her?

Kay turned to the newest candidate. "Mandy? Would you like to join us? Become like me and Jennifer?"

Mandy mulled this over for a minute. "Oh no! You are so pretty and smart. I'm dumb and ugly."

"We can make you pretty too, Mandy."

She looked through her bangs, shyly. "You can do that?"

"We sure can."

She paused again, to wrap her head around it. "It's like Cinderella," she finally said, with a bit of awe in her voice.

"That's right. We can make you beautiful with our magic."

A grin spread across her face. "I'd like that."

Kay turned to her second-in-command. "Jennifer, will you take Mandy to the sauna?"

Jennifer nodded, and escorted Mandy out of the office.

Alexandra looked at Kay. "You've worked with the mentally challenged before."

The head goddess nodded. "My younger brother has Downs. His is much more severe than Mandy's. He is in a group home right now."

"Do the others know?"

"It's never come up. And I didn't want to influence the others, by telling them right now."

The priestess nodded. "That makes sense."

After Alice had left for Indianapolis, Kay realized that she had been way too generous with her; letting her pick who would go with her. She took most of the original eight, leaving her just Angela, the pharmacist, Jennifer, the professor, and Andrea, one of the former whores.

Andrea Price was nice enough, but not very bright. She did have an incredible sex drive, even for a goddess. If there was a party, Andrea was there to set if off with a bang.;

Dr. Jennifer Braun turned out to be an able second-in-command, taking Alice's place. She wasn't much for making plans, but her knowledge in almost all subjects, helped in the implementation of Kay's plans. She was also good at seeing that all orders were carried out promptly and well.

Of all the people Alice left behind, the most useful was Lisa, the immune camerawoman. Once she had gone through the initiation, Kay took her under her wing. She laid out her complete plan to Lisa. Only Alice knew as much. Lisa full embraced the objectives, and worked with Kay to fully convert San Antonio.

Kay had been so open with her, because she was concerned about the hostile local media. The newspaper, and radio and TV stations had all been running stories of the Shiny Ladies using hypnosis or brainwashing to recruit new believers.

After the three ministers visited, and were immediately converted, the rest of the religious community kept their distance physically. But they increased their attacks through the media.

Kay's offer to meet her slanderers at any place or time, was largely ignored.

Lisa advised Kay that the media loved nothing more than a good controversy. As long as her opponents kept up their attacks, the negative press was not going away.

The easiest way to stem this tide of negativity was to convert the media over to their side.

The first target was the city's main newspaper, the San Antonio Star. They had been the Ladies' harshest critic, and had been trying to get a phone interview for weeks.

Kay called up the head editor, Andrew Black, and made arrangements for an interview. She wanted to take place in the newsroom, and wanted Lindsey Farnham to do the interview. She also wanted Andrew, and the paper's publisher to be present.

Seeing that this interview was such a coup, the editor agreed.

Ms. Farnham had been one of the Ladies' staunchest critics. She said in her column, that they were nothing more than sex objects. Their religion was setting the feminist movement back thirty years. She was an open lesbian, and feminist.

Andrew Black was an old school journalist, who worked his way up from paperboy to head editor. He was in his sixties and had been in the newspaper business for over fifty years.

The publisher, Edith Finch, was the fourth generation publisher of the Star. The paper had been bought by a chain fifteen years before. But they kept her on as publisher. She grew up watching her father run the paper, and had been running it herself for over forty years.

Ten minutes before the appointed time of one am, four black SUV's pulled up in front of the Star Building, in downtown San Antonio. Out of the third car exited Kay, Jennifer, Lisa, and another priestess, named Diane. The same number came out of the other vehicles, totaling eight goddesses, six priestesses, and two priests.

For the first time, the goddesses walked in public naked. No cloak or toga to cover them.

There was a fair amount of foot traffic on the sidewalk. About half of them fell to their knees and cried out, "The goddess! The goddess is here!" The other half froze in their track in surprise and awe.

The goddesses just smiled at the worshippers, both old and new, and walked up the front steps of the Star Building.

Behind them, the majority of the sidewalk crowd followed them inside.

The professionally dressed young receptionist sat gaping in stunned silence, as Kay approached.

"My name is Kay Prisk. I have an interview scheduled with Lindsey Farnham."

The receptionist just sat, staring. It took about half a minute, for what Kay said to register. "Huh? Oh! Yes. Seventh Floor."

Kay and Lisa walked up to the elevators. All the others stopped in front of the receptionist's desk.

Jennifer held up her hands. "Attention, Ladies. You all know your assignments.

"We are going to be here for only two hours. So no screwing around until all the women in your area are tested, and all immunes are identified. Your priest will keep track of time."

While Jennifer was talking, Diane determined that the receptionist was engaged, but not married. She spat on a strip, and it came up negative for her being transformable.

The six remaining goddess/priest pairs walked up to the elevators, and waited for the cars to arrive.

The crowd from the street tried to follow them, but Jennifer blocked them. "I'm sorry, my friends. This is as far as you go."

The small mob moaned in disappointment.

"All men and married women, go about what you were doing. You can visit us a the North San Antonio YMCA.

"Any single women, wait here."