Chapter #5"One down, four to go." by: Unknown Michael Anderson lounged on the couch, beer in hand.
The TV was on - football, of course - but he'd turned the sound off. He wanted to enjoy the silence.
He glanced down at the coffee table where sat, carefully arranged in ascending order by size, five small, smooth stones.
He gestured toward the stones with the beer. "Cheers," he said, and took a swig.
* * *
"...who else wants to try?" Mike had asked. It was too easy.
'Me me!" the twins cried in unison. Seconds later their empty clothing was settling onto the seats of the chairs they had just occupied.
"No thanks," said Robbie, getting up to leave. The moment he turned his back, Tessa glowed and vanished, never knowing what had happened to her. A second later later, Robbie followed, his clothing spread out across the floor, carried by the momentum of his previous movement. A small, round stone rolled out of the sleeve of his shirt and disappeared under the refrigerator.
Mike blew on the end of the transformation device like a gunfighter from an old Western and holstered the device in his pocket.
Then he went about collecting his family, moving the fridge to get to Robbie. Then he collected their abandoned clothing, pausing only to examine disapprovingly the shockingly skimpy underwear that Tessa seemed to think was appropriate for everyday wear, and dumped it down the laundry chute.
And then he got a beer.
* * *
They were completely inanimate, of course, indistinguishable from actual stones in every aspect short of their slightly odd appearance. He could do whatever he liked and they'd never know the difference. As if to emphasize this point, he scooped them up and held his hand over the goldfish bowl on the end table, allowing his grip to loosen slightly:
Plunk! Clever Robbie.
Plunk! Bright Kimmy.
Plunk! Stout Billy.
Plunk! Pretty Tessa.
Plunk! And dear, lovely Debbie.
Arthur the goldfish wiggled nervously as members of the Anderson family came to rest at the bottom of his bowl.
Mike smiled.
Ah, sweet silence....
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