Rick looked at her suspiciously. "What kind of surprise?" he asked.
"Don't... worry... Rick," she said. "I'm... not... going... to... hurt... them. Just... teach... them... a... lesson."
Rick still wasn't sure about what Rebecca had in mind. He knew she could be vindictive, but at the same time, he was sure she wouldn't do anything to seriously hurt Diane and Harriet. Besides, he had to agree that the two had it coming after what they'd done to Rebecca. "Okay," he said, picking up his stiffened friend and carrying her back into the other room.
The girls were still sound asleep on the couch. "What now?" Rick asked.
"Put... me... down... next... to... them," Rebecca instructed, and Rick complied. "You... first... Diane," the plastic girl said, slowly bending over the sleeping brunette and placing her hand onto the girl's forehead.
Rick watched in shock, as Diane's eyes shoot open. "Wha--" was the only words that the girl managed to saw before a startling transformation came over her. Her entire body went stiff, while her arms straightened out to lay by her sides. Her eyes became fixed and she stopped moving at all. She just stay on her back staring upward..
Rebecca stood back up straight, and Rick noticed that her movements seemed to be a little less stiff. "What did you do to her?" he asked.
"What does it look like I did?" she told him, finally about to speak normally again. "I stiffened her."
"But how..."
"A side effect of my transformation, I guess," she explained. "I noticed last night while they were playing around with me, that if one of them made contact with my hands, I seemed to be able to move a little. The more contact, the more I could move. At the same time, whichever one of them touched me, seemed to move a little slower. I figured that my touch allowed me to steal some of their mobility. But it seemed to just be temporary, because after a while, I would stiffen up again."
"So, Diane will be alright after a while?"
"Sure," Rebecca grinned. "But until I decide otherwise, she's going to know what it's like to be unable to move while someone plays with her."
"What about Harriet?" Rick asked.
Sat, 20-Jan-2001 13:39:08