*Whew* I think all the C&C has been covered, changes made, and it's all good 
to go. 

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is the creation of Naoko Takeuchi and all such rights 
belong to her. No money is being made from this fic and no such intent should 
be inferred.

*****************

Something dark, glowing, and emaciated to the point of see-through
skin,  looked down at itself and said, "Ooooohhhh... dear... I seem to
be missing  some things. Fancy those not preserving. Excuse me, miss,
you wouldn't happen  to have a robe handy, would you?"
-Bishonen Muyo OAV#1

###
Amy Lynn went to bed at around ten at night and rose with the sun and . It 
was, she had concluded some time ago, the most efficient use of her time. She 
did not waste time lying in bed, but rather immediately gathered her things 
and marched down the hall to the tub, which she filled with water. Dipping 
her finger in the water, she held it there for a moment. Roughly sixty five 
degrees, she decided. It was not yet hot enough for the ground, and therefore 
the pipes in it, to retain heat overnight. Perfect, she decided, and pulled 
off her sleepwear.

Ten minutes later, she was out and towel drying her hair. Not bothering with 
a robe, she walked back to her room and donned underclothes, a t-shirt and 
jean shorts. Returning to the bathroom, she picked up her hair brush and went 
to work on her hair.

Amy Lynn's hair was bobbed. It covered her head, didn't get in her eyes, and 
quite frankly, that's all one should expect from hair.

Normally, she would have been done in thirty seconds, but today she paused, 
and examined herself critically in the mirror. Her hair was black, but in 
bright light, it seemed to turn blue. Her face had once been described as 
"like a doll's". Her skin was pale, setting off her blue eyes. Her jaw was 
slightly square, a legacy of her father, judging by the one picture she had 
of him and the few times she had seen him after her parents' breakup.

Pulling off her shirt, she turned sideways and examined her profile in the 
mirror. She was in reasonably good shape. Walking everywhere, especially 
through snow in the winter time back in Saint Paul had seen to that, but she 
lacked the curved, yet firm tightness of Bunny. Again, she felt the 
irrational surge of jealousy.

"But then again," her rational mind pointed out, "Bunny was raised on a farm 
and as such, her figure came from simple combination of genetics and a 
lifetime of hard work that no reasonable exercise program could duplicate." 
She would never have a figure like that and there was little point in 
worrying about it.

Amy Lynn pulled her shirt back on, finished her hair and walked down the hall 
to the kitchen. The front door was open, and dishes were on the counter. On 
the table she found a note from her mother which explained that she was out 
making rounds with Doctor Jackson and would not be back until late that 
afternoon. The note also instructed her to unpack her room, the kitchen, and 
the living room. They would assemble the furniture that evening.

Amy Lynn sighed and reached for the cereal.

*****************
She had just finished breakfast when there was a knock at the door. Going to 
see who it was, she found herself face to face with Molly and Bunny. Both 
girls wore T-shirts and jeans, Molly had on sneakers, and Bunny wore work 
boots and what appeared to the same work shirt she had on yesterday. Amy Lynn 
also noted that the "machete" was actually a very large knife.

"Hey," Bunny said with a grin. "Moll and I were gonna go down to the creek an 
 do some fishin, an we thought mebbe you'd like ta come along."

"It sounds interesting, but I have to unpack. The movers arrived yesterday 
evening and the furniture needs to be assembled."

"You need some help?"

"Well, I-"

"Great!" Bunny dashed down the stairs, there was the sound of a car or truck 
door slamming and then she returned with a box of tools. "Where's the 
furniture?"

Wordlessly, Amy Lynn pointed at the stack of boxes in a group in the living 
room.

"That's furniture?" Molly asked as Bunny whipped out her knife and opened up 
one of the boxes.

"Mom likes to buy furniture that can be assembled and disassembled at will," 
Amy Lynn replied. "I think it's a habit she picked up in the Army."

"C'mon," Molly said with a grin. "Let's get ta work."

*****************
While neither Amy Lynn nor her mother were mechanically inept, Bunny's 
affinity with tools was astounding. In the space of three hours, the blond 
had already put together both couches and the large computer desk. Even now, 
she was humming to herself as she used a scredriver to put together the first 
of several bookcases. 

In her room, Molly and Amy Lynn were slowly emptying boxes.

"Who's the guy?" Molly asked, studying an eight by ten framed photo. In it, a 
photo of Doctor Anderson and a handsome man with a shock of white hair 
smiling for the camera.

"My dad," Amy Lynn replied, taking the frame from Molly. "He and Mom divorced 
when I was five because he was gay. This is the only picture I have of 
him-Mom destroyed the others and fought like mad to limit his visitation 
rights." Amy Lynn ran a finger over the image. "I've seen him only three 
times in the last ten years and the last time was almost six years ago."

"I'm sorry," Molly said, more out of feeling the need to say something than 
anything else.

"Sometimes, I wish things could be different. I love them both, but Mom goes 
into hysterics if I so much as mention him." Amy Lynn took the frame and 
placed it up on the shelf of her closet and closed the door. For a moment, 
she stayed like that, and then sighed and turned to face Molly. "What else is 
in that box?"

*****************
By one, the trio had finished unpacking and placed the furniture more or less 
where Amy Lynn thought her mother would want them. Mrs. Anderson was a 
creature of habit, and the second story apartment was similar in terms of 
layout from their condo back in Saint Paul.

"C'mon," Bunny said. "Let's go fishing."

And so, having no way to gracefully refuse, Amy Lynn left a note for her 
mother and followed Bunny and Molly down the steps to where a Great Dane-the 
same Great Dane that Amy Lynn had seen at the general store yesterday-sat 
beside an old pickup truck that had to be a good twenty or thirty years old. 
The maker's logo was written across the grille in dirt-covered chrome and the 
truck's colors were red and patches of primer gray. The back window had 
several stickers on it, but she could see what they said. A dirty pink rabbit 
hung from the rearveiw mirror.

Bunny placed the toolbox into the back and rubbed the dog's head. "This is 
Luna," the blonde said to Amy Lynn. "Luna, this is Amy Lynn."

Luna held out her paw, which after a moment, Amy Lynn shook.

"Creepy, aint it?" Molly whispered as Luna clambered up the rear wheel and 
into the truck bed. "Sometimes I swear that dog understands everything we 
say."

"All aboard," Bunny said as she got in. Molly and Amy Lynn got in on the 
other side. Molly in the middle, Amy Lynn by the window. Immeditly, she began 
to feel around for the seatbelt.

"You have a driver's license?" Amy Lynn asked as Bunny turned the key in the 
ignition and the engine growled to life. 

Bunny grinned cheerfully. "Nope." She stomped on the clutch and shoved the 
shift backwards, forcing Amy Lynn to grab whatever she could to keep from 
flying forward and banging her head on the dashboard. "No seatbelts, either," 
she continued, seeing Amy Lynn now franticly looking around. "Pa cut them 
out. Said we didn't need 'em." Wrenching the wheel, she swerved the truck 
onto the road, shifted again to the sound of the transmission grinding  and 
floored the accelerator.

*****************
Bunny's driving skill seemed to be best described as "Pick a direction and 
try not to hit anything. Oh, and use of the brake is forbidden." For fifteen 
minutes, the truck bounced, rattled and jerked across the fields. Several 
times, at least during the time when Amy Lynn could still think through the 
fog of sheer terror, the wheels actually left the surface of the Earth as 
Bunny steered it one-handed over the grassy fields at speeds better suited 
for high-speed aircraft. The entire trip, she kept up a stream of chatter 
about anything and everything. Livestock, produce, even the weather, 
Occasionally, she would gesture with one or both hands, even looking away 
from the windshield, but always looking back and grabbing the wheel just in 
time, it seemed, to avert disaster.  Finally, she brought the truck to a 
screeching halt at the top of a small hill.

"We're here!" Bunny said and turned to look at her passengers. 

Molly looked slightly queasy, but Amy Lynn was sitting stiffly, her face 
white as a sheet and an expression of sheer terror on her face. Her hands 
were white knuckled as they held onto the edge of the seat in a death grip.

"Amy Lynn?" Molly asked, touching her arm. With a shriek, Amy Lynn jumped, 
slamming her head into the roof and then grabbing it in pain.

"Where...the hell...did you learn to drive?" Amy Lynn said between clenched 
teeth as she gripped her head as though if she didn't, it would crack open 
like an oyster.

"Pa taught me. 'Course, I don't drive recklessly like he does."

Amy Lynn let out a whimper.

*****************
"Feeling better?" Molly asked as she took the canteen of water from Amy Lynn.

"Yes,"�Amy Lynn replied as she leaned against the side of the truck. The two 
girls were sitting side by side on the ground. "I'm glad you had you had 
those headache pills with you." Nearby, Bunny knelt in the dirt beside bush, 
digging with a trowel.

"Oh, I carry them everywhere," Molly replied. "Especially when I go fishing 
with her. Bunny's a good person, but she tends ta drive like she's in that 
car on Knight Rider. Still, you won't find a better friend anywhere."

"How can she drive like that?"

"Around here, you learn to drive as soon as your feet can reach the pedals, 
and as long as you don't hit anything or anyone, nobody cares," Molly replied 
with a shrug. "Personally, I prefer to stick with my dirt bike. Think you can 
stand?"

"Yes," Amy Lynn replied as she stood on shaky legs.

"Hey, guys!" Bunny called. "I found some worms, we got bait!"

"Don't worry," Molly said. "You get used to her driving eventually." Together 
they walked over to where Bunny was waiting.

They spent the rest of the afternoon fishing. No fish were caught, but Amy 
Lynn did get a rather nasty sunburn and a stern lecture from her mother about 
skin care.

*****************
Molly proved to be correct and as the days became weeks, Amy Lynn got used to 
Bunny's haphazard driving. Often, the trip was just into town, and the two 
girls spent time in the general store, listening to the town's old men argue 
and swap stories as they sat on front porch. She even got to meet Rayelene 
Hino, daughter of the county judge, who lived with her grandather, who was t
he preacher at the local church.

Rayelene's grandfather was a tiny man, scarely over five feet tall, but he 
had a boisterous laugh, and you couldn't help but like him. He and Amy Lynn 
spent several hours one day debating theology. A debate he won, much to Amy's 
chagrin.

Rayelene, on the other hand, was intense as the heat from a raging fire, 
which tended to set teeth on edge, especially Bunny's. According to Molly, 
the two depised each other with an almost unholy passion and whenever they 
were together, you could cut the tension with a knife. Rayelene knew the 
Bible backwards and forwards, more, it seemed, out of a desire to prove 
something rather then any particular article of faith.

Current odds were three to one that Raylene and Bunny would come to blows by 
Christmas and five to one that Bunny would use her knife.

More interesting to Amy Lynn, however, were the rumors of a blond-haired 
woman who roamed the woods near the lake whenever the moon was in the night 
sky accompanied by a black-haired wolf, searching for something. When she 
asked Molly and Bunny about it, however, neither one could tell her anything. 
Later, when Amy Lynn gave it some thought, she realized Bunny had looked a 
little worried and even uncomfortable. The next day, however, a heat wave 
struck and Amy Lynn forgot all about it.

Several weeks later, school started and Juuban Hollow's forty-five or so 
children, ranging in age from six to seventeen gathered in the school house, 
a dilapidated scructure on a hill west of town. It was a single room and ran 
by Miss Haruna, a tall, imposing woman whose manner was almost as intense as 
Rayelene's.

After Amy Lynn, two new students were introduced. One was Mina, a hyper, 
energetic blond girl who's hair was tied with a red ribbon. In several ways, 
she reminded Amy Lynn of Bunny. The second student was Lita, a tall, 
amazon-like girl who looked as though she could lift the schoolhouse off it's 
foundation if she felt like it.

Once Mina and Lita had taken their seats, Miss Haruna got down to bisinuess. 
"The state says that this year, those of you who are aged fourteen through 
seventeen have to study the life cycle of plants and animals. The folks over 
at Black Mountain Plantation have agreed to let us use their facilities as 
part of this. So, in two weeks class will meet two days a week at Black 
Mountain where you will tend and care for a small herd of sheep, twenty four 
head of cattle, and a small, one acre field of various plants, including 
cotton. At the end of the school year, I expect each of you to tell the class 
what you learned." A few groans and complaints were heard throughout the 
room. "I know most of you have have spent your lives raising plants and 
animals which is why I expect A's all around as you will help the others with 
what you know. Any questions? No? Good. Open your math books and turn to page 
fifty-one."

As Amy Lynn did so, she noticed two things.

The books had been printed nearly forty years ago.

They would be studying Long Division.

"Oh, no..." Amy Lynn whispered.

*****************
Black Mountain Plantation was a huge estate that covered most of the county 
east of Juuban Hollow. The main house, was in fact the mansion Amy Lynn had 
seen when she and her mother first arrived in town. The owner, Ms Abagail 
Beryldane, was a recluse and her four managers did most of the work. 

Amy Lynn sighed and pulled on her work gloves. The brown leather was shiny, 
having been purchased the previous day from Molly's mother. Amy Lynn wearing 
one of Bunny's work shirts, old jeans and a pair of work boots with paper in 
the toes to make them fit. The boots had been left in the clinic by a 
previous paitent. For a moment she reflected that the only thing of hers that 
she was wearing was her jeans, underwear, and socks.

The students, about twelve or so in all trudged along the dirt path towards 
the large brown field. Green sprouts could be seen forming rows in the brown 
dirt.

At one edge, Ms Haruna stood with a man dressed in a white, button-down 
shirt, and kahkis. His white hair was tied back in a ponytail and his smile 
was friendly.

"Class I want you to meet Michael White. He's-" she broke off as Amy Lynn 
gasped and then loudly exclaimed one word.

"Dad?"

*****************
Father and daughter stood at the edge of the field that Black Mountain had 
loaned to the students, watching them move through the rows as plantation 
employees described each of the plants and how to care for them. One or two 
of the workers made Amy Lynn nervous in the way they moved, like they were 
shells wrapped around something...else.

"Amy Lynn...I'm sorry, if I had known you were coming to Juuban Hollow, I 
would've called, come by...done...something."

"It's okay, Dad. Mom wouldn't have come if she knew you were here. We got to 
see each other again. That's what's important, right?"

Michael smiled. "Right. How are things?"

"Good...great...actually," Amy Lynn lied. "I've made a few friends and Juuban 
Hollow is very different from Saint Paul. I just wish it wasn't so hot." She 
stared out at the field for a few moments and then sighed. "Why does Mom hate 
you so much?" It was abrupt, but the question had been weighing on Amy Lynn's 
mind for years, ever since she was old enough to understand what 
homosexuality was.

"Because she doesn't understand. Janice has a very simple view of things. I 
think it's because she was raised here in Juuban Hollow. Homosexuality is a 
strange word to these people. Some have probably never even heard of it."

"But Mom's a scientist. A doctor. She's supposed to veiw everyone eqaully."

Micheal laughed softly. "Janice never let her predjuices and opinions get in 
the way of doing her job. I think that's why I liked her so much in the first 
place. I remember when you were about three, a few years before I 
discovered...what I was. I took you and a picnic lunch down to the Emergency 
Room where she was on duty. As she was getting ready to go off duty, the 
doors opened and an ambulance crew rushed in bearing Leslie McDaniels, the 
president of the local chapter of the Gay and Lesbian support group, who was 
bleeding to death. Right then and there, Janice dropped everything to tend to 
her. Without her skill, McDaniels would have died right there in the lobby of 
the ER. That's when you turned to me and said 'Daddy, I want to be a doctor 
when I grow up.'"

"I don't remember that," Amy Lynn said softly. "All I remember is the 
fighting and then you left."

"I know," Michael said he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "I'd give 
anything to change that, but I can't."

Another man dressed in a blue shirt and khakis walked up to them. He had 
short, blond hair, a pointed chin and the coldest eyes Amy Lynn had ever 
seen. It was as though there was nothing behind those blue orbs. "This is 
Jeddadiah Wright," Michael said. "He's currently in charge of the 
Plantation's permanent work force. Jed, this my daughter, Amy Lynn."

"A pleasure," Jeddadiah said perfucntorily. His handshake was very stiff. 
"Her teacher, while pleased that she has been reunited with her father, would 
like it if she began her project."

"Of course." Michael gave his daughter a hug. "I'll drive you home tonight, 
and talk to your mother. Maybe we can work something out."

"I'd like that." Amy Lynn said softly and walked back towards her friends.

"You're fooling yourself," Jeddadiah said. "Once we find Empreya's trinket, 
the Queen will slaughter her and the rest of the humans like pigs. You really 
think
you can save her?"

"Shut up, Jeddite," Malachite snarled.

*************
Steve "Komodo" T.
                     ***
Today's Fortune Cookie: (Or: Helping People Out)
*grabs a shotgun* Live free or die!
...
*pumps the shotgun* I said "Live free or die"!
...
*takes aim* I don't think you're living free enough!
-The Fool, Avalon Forum
www.avalonhigh.com

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