Jennifer Johnson's arrival at the Armbruster Estate did not go unnoticed. Indeed, it would be very difficult not to miss the hot pink hat and feather boa, the skintight light lavender dress, or the well-proportioned thirty-eight-year-old woman wearing it. Yes, even though she was past her prime, Jennifer could still turn heads. Her entire manner oozed confidence; her passage sent ripples of tension through the attendees.
All of them had come for the party. To turn down Mrs. Helen Armbruster was to snub a very powerful woman. Not that it was hard to accept. Helen was considered one of the top hostesses in the state. An invitation was an honor and you took it if you were fortunate enough to get one.
However, most of the assembled revelers had secretly come to watch the duel between Jennifer and their host. Everyone knew Jennifer was trolling for Eric, Helen's "little boy".
Helen had had him when she was nearly forty. Her wealthy husband devastated her by dying of cancer some six years later. Her only son was all that remained of her beloved husband. Eric Armbruster, now twenty, could be just as bullheaded as his mother. Perhaps, both being Taurus' accounted for it.
Jennifer seemed to get a perverse kick in driving her fiancé's mother into a rage. She strutted through the entry hall, her long blond hair flowing behind her. She was quickly met by Helen. The old woman's eyes were blazing and her face was twisted with anger.
"I do not remember YOU being invited."
"Eric invited me," Jennifer replied sweetly.
"This is MY home and I say you leave now!" the old woman barked.
"It'll be MY house soon enough, old bat. One more year and Eric'll come into his inheritance," Jennifer thought to herself. She had the upper hand. "Eric," she said in an icy voice, "told me to come. This is HIS party, unless he lied to me." The 5'9" woman smiled down at the smaller woman and added, "But I don't think he'd lie to me. I'm not the one trying to keep him in diapers. He's a man. MY man."
Helen's features reddened and she gritted her teeth. "I thought you'd say something like that, you little golddigger." She hissed then in a louder voice, "ERIC!!!!"
"Yes Mother?" Eric slid through the silent crowd to stand beside his mother.
"Did you invite HER?"
"Yes," Eric said, his voice trembling slightly. The gathered crowd sucked in their breath, waiting. Helen had specifically asked him not to. She hoped he'd be over his schoolboy crush on the much older Jennifer. It had been quite a shock when two days ago, he announced his intentions to marry the bitch.
"Why did you do so against my wishes?"
"I..." Eric paused, his rugged youthful features looked ill at ease. Jennifer prodded him with her eyes to continue. She was sick of Helen's interference and demanded that he stand up to the old hag. He bolstered his courage. Maybe with this large a crowd, his mother wouldn't do anything. "I love Jennifer and I wanna marry her."
"Come on, Granny," Jennifer said smugly, "Don't be such a sourpuss. I'll be a great wife to Eric."
"Granny eh?" Helen asked and laughed. "I think that can be arranged."
"Mother no," Eric squeaked out, his breath came quicker and his face showed panic.
"Yes, Eric, you may have her," Helen said. Surprise and disbelief ran through the crowd. Helen Armbruster was giving up? But before the full truth could sink in, the old woman produced a small leather pouch. Undoing the cord holding it closed, she took out a pinch of some brownish powder and flung it at Jennifer.
"What's this?" Jennifer asked stopping in her celebration of victory. "How dare she mess up my new dress," she thought as she tried to wipe the fine powder off it.
By way of an answer, the old woman started murmuring something in a strange language. All the while, she seemed to emit an eerie green glow. Eyes though were torn from Helen as Jennifer screamed. The younger woman looked down at her chest with horror as her large once proud breasts started to shrink then flatten out to nothing. The once skintight dress hung loose on her. Arms and legs shortened as well. Shapely curves were lost as newfound youth tightened its grip. Rump and tummy became slightly rounder as her hair retreated.
"Now, Eric, say hello to your daughter Jenny." Helen pulled out a Polaroid camera and took a picture. Then announced to her invited guests, "Come along and let's celebrate the new addition to my family."
Little Jenny screeched and lunged for the old hag but he intercepted the little girl.
"Please," he softly said
"I'll... I'll..." Jenny began to struggle with tears in her eyes but the much larger Eric wouldn't let her go.
"Eric," his mother said, "Please have Jenny
change into something more appropriate." With that, she headed
into the crowd to mingle. Jenny just plopped onto the floor and
vented her frustrations while Eric wondered how a four-year-old
daughter would affect his social life at college.