Getting Ghoulish
Miko / M A Davis

 Ranma walked into the Nekohanten, his stomach growling.
Standing on the counter was one of the banes of his existence,
Shampoo's grandmother Cologne.  The old woman, impossibly
short and wrinkled, with huge eyes and long white hair, glanced up
as he entered.

 "Hello," she said.  "How may I help you?"

 "Hey, old ghoul," Ranma said.

 The woman frowned.  "Is that any way to address one of
your elders?" she growled.  Her staff swung out to rap Ranma on
the head, but he dodged it easily.  She swung again, and again he
dodged.

 The woman laughed suddenly.  "I see it will take a little
more than than that to teach you a lesson!" she said.  Leaping forward,
staff raised, she yelled, "Joketsuzoku special attack!  The 'Take Me
Away' Whirl!"

 Ranma had never seen this manuever before.  He was sent
flying out the door and into the alley across the street.  He climbed
out of the garbage, cursing.

 "All right, ghoul!" he yelled, kicking the Nekohanten door
in.  "That was uncalled for!  If you want to get physical, then let's
go!"

 The old woman laughed.  "My pleasure, boy," she said.  For
the next thirty seconds, the two traded blows, their hands (and the
woman's staff) moving so quickly that they couldn't be seen.
Finally the ghoul hopped up onto the counter, her eyes going wide.

 "You're good, boy," she said.  "I'm impressed.  What did
you say your name was?"

 Ranma frowned.  "You know who I am, old ghoul!"

 A voice called out from the kitchen.  "Son-In-Law!  Is that
you?"  As a twin of the the old woman hopped out to the
counter, the first began to laugh, deep in her throat.

 :"Oh ho ho!  So this is your future Son-In-Law, Cologne?  I
should have guessed!  Oh, yes, he's the one for Shampoo, all right!"

 Ranma stared from one ghoul to the other.  They were
identical in every detail.  "Two?" he said, stupefied.  "There are
two of you?"

 "Forgive my manners, Son-In-Law," Cologne said.  "I'd like
you to meet my twin sister... Calgon."

FINI


Gomen.  I saw her name misspelled, and I couldn't help myself....

"I'm Miko.... sorry about this."


"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather a scornful tone, "it
means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many
different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master -- that's
all."

(Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking-Glass)

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