Beth Smith, RIP and “The Cruise and the Idol”

Our dear friend, Beth Smith, known on DeviantART as ms969, passed away this past Saturday, February 1.  Her partner of 40 years let me know of Beth’s passing.  Beth’s dART page can still be found here:  www.deviantart.com/ms969

I’ve been told Beth wanted me to continue her dART site.  Not sure what direction she wanted things to go in.  If any of her WATCHers are reading this, please let me know what you’d like to see on that site.

Beth shared my interest in transformations, and was definitely a follower on my blog.  I wrote a short story just for her that, when I find it, I will share with everyone.

I really only knew Beth for over a year, but I feel lucky to have known her for that long.  I read her stories on shrinking Supergirl and enjoyed them.

When I take over her dART site, I will let everyone know.

For now, this is a short story I wrote for Beth back in November. I thought I’d share it with everyone in the hopes that they’d like it:

THE CRUISE AND THE IDOL

It had come as a complete surprise when Beth learned she had won the cruise. An entire month on the S.S. South Pacific. At first, she and Cherry weren’t sure they wanted to accept it. But they looked the contest up online and discovered it was legitimate. What’s more, the liner was very friendly and accommodating to the LGBTQ community. So, the two lovers packed their bags, loaded up on sunscreen and lots and LOTS of Dramamine! It took them a couple of days to get their sea legs. But they soon found themselves sailing around some of the most beautiful and exotic islands imaginable. They were allowed to go ashore on some of them. And, hear the end of the first week, the ship’s theater performed the play South Pacific. The audience was encouraged to sing along to “There Is Nothing Like A Dame,” and Beth and Cherry agreed that Nellie Forbush was VERY cute! 

The meals were exquisite, catering to every taste and diet imaginable. 

But the most interesting thing to happen came during a stop at one island, when husband-and-wife couple of explorers boarded with an idol they had found. The idol consisted of two human figures bonded to a large gem. The explorers, each with weathered features that made them look even more impressive, gave a lecture about the idol and their adventures. They then had the idol locked away in the ships safe and most of the passengers soon went to bed.

Beth and Cherry climbed into bed and turned out the light. When they fell asleep, they both dreamed about the idol, and both envisioned the gem glowing, its light filling their stateroom.

Beth was awakened the next morning by someone running down the corridor and a little girl shouting something. There were screams from many voices. Putting a robe on (and it was very ill-fitting), Beth stepped into the corridor (and they were unsteady steps, as if Beth were losing her balance) just in time to see her fellow passenger, Mrs. Whitestone, run by her stark naked! She had a big grin on her face and her breasts were bouncing as she ran by. Behind her, also running, was her daughter, Susie.

“Susie, get back here!” SAID Susie. “Come back with my body, right now!”

“No!” said Mrs. Whetstone. “I like how your boobies feel when I run!”

Beth was confused by this, and more confused when she saw Mr. and Mrs. Rayner come down the corridor. Mr. Raynor, who had always seemed like a “man’s man” was crying hard. His wife seemed to be trying to comfort him, saying “Don’t worry, honey, we’ll find out how to fix this.”

Then Beth heard a strange barking and scratching at a door. She opened it, and the actress who had played Nellie Forbush came out. She was naked on all fours. Behind her came a little Pekingese, whimpering and, apparently, trying to walk on its hind legs.

Beth returned to her stateroom and closed the door.

“What’s going on?” someone asked. The voice sounded familiar, but it wasn’t Cherry.

“I don’t know,” said Beth. But her voice sounded funny. And she noticed her field of vision was higher than normal. She turned to talk to whoever had spoken before, but no words could come out.

And then she screamed, as did Cherry. Because Beth found herself looking at herself, and Cherry was looking at herself.

They had switched bodies.

“Here,” said Beth, taking off the robe which was too small for Cherry’s body. Then, she looked around and grabbed and donned Cherry’s robe. They left the room.

“Please, everyone, stay calm,” said the husband explorer. But he looked as if he were uncertain about his body, and Beth realized it was the wife in the husband’s body. Beth looked around the lecture room and saw everyone looking sad, scared, some people giggling childishly, and assorted animals trying to adjust to their new, non-human bodies.

“What happened is, the ship sailed under an intersection of ley lines, powerful forces of magic. They activated the idol and caused everyone sharing a room to switch bodies.”

“We’ve examined the idol, and it looks like the process will be reversed tomorrow morning,” said the “woman.” 

“Take things easy today, and you’ll be back to normal tomorrow.”

Beth and Cherry returned to their stateroom. They literally disrobed and spent several minutes studying themselves.

“Well, what do you want to do?” Cherry asked.

Beth smiled and said “You know how sometimes during our pillow talk, we wonder how we taste to each other?”

They locked the door to their room and spent that day conducting their own explorations.

THE END