Sent You Away~ Water Sports

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003399" TEXT="#080000" background="03fc8c00erkjxk.jpg"> <div> <B>Fourth in the " Sent You Away" series.</B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#0066CC" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#99CCFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Smiles, Tears, & Happy Endings</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFF99" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#CC0000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>  |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Smiles, Tears, Happy Endings"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id196.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Little Of Each..."><U>A Little Of Each...</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id197.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Murder On The Campaign Express"><U>Murder On The Campaign Express</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id200.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sent You Away A Good Year For the Roses"><U>Sent You Away~ A Good Year For the Roses</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id201.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sent You Away All You Can Be"><U>Sent You Away~ All You Can Be</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id202.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sent You AwayLet Me See What Spring Is L"><U>Sent You Away~Let Me See What Spring Is Like</U></A>   |   <B>Sent You Away~ Water Sports</B>   |   <A HREF="id204.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sent You Away Blood of Kings"><U>Sent You Away~ Blood of Kings</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id205.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sent You AwaySilence Is Golden"><U>Sent You Away~Silence Is Golden</U></A></div> <div> Sent You Away~ Water Sports</div> <div> When Michelle (cat@hiley.demon.co.uk) wrote "Personal Assistant’s </div> <div> Plan/West Wing Assistant's Game" she speculated that Donna had </div> <div> disposed of Mandy, hiding her body so effectively that nobody even noticed she’d gone. Separately, Shelley (kuebsr@yahoo.com) wrote "Does Anyone Really Miss Her?" in which Donna managed to enlist Mandy in the Israeli Army. We obviously saw this the same way. A writing partnership was born. </div> <bR> <div> The Sent You Away series is a number of little fun ficlets, by </div> <div> Shelley or Michelle, each with a basic premise. How did Donna dispose of Mandy? Motive? She might have several, but love for the Dimpled One is probably reason enough. </div> <bR> <div> By the way, these stories are pro-Donna. We both adore her, and our </div> <div> sympathies are very much with her in this. </div> <bR> <div> "I sent you away, oh Mandy." - Barry Manilow.</div> <bR> <div> Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine and they never will be. That's </div> <div> probably for the best. The story is mine though. If you want to </div> <div> archive, please ask.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Sent You Away: Four</div> <div> Water Sports</div> <div> by Shelley</div> <div> kuebsr@yahoo.com</div> <bR> <bR> <div> I can’t say I was ever really that interested in science. It just never appealed to me. You either love science or you hate it. That’s the way it goes. So I didn’t really pay very much attention when the guys from some super-secret government science lab called to set up a meeting with Josh. They were so super secret they wouldn’t even give me their names. At first, I just figured they were paranoid science geeks.</div> <bR> <div> If I hadn’t needed to interrupt the meeting to tell Josh that there was an emergency and he needed to go to Leo’s office right away, I never would have heard them talking about the “the experiment”. Thank God for government emergencies. And scientists who are suckers for a short skirt and high heels.</div> <bR> <div> Josh didn’t take them seriously, but I did. It took me two dinners to get the information I needed. Three more to convince them to let me participate in the experiment. They seemed worried that I would let their secret out. Little did they know I had as good a reason to keep this hidden as they did.</div> <bR> <div> Genetic manipulation, in and of itself, was taboo, but the kind of experiment these guys were talking about---it was amazing. I couldn’t believe such a thing was even possible. All of the sudden, I developed a much deeper interest in science.</div> <bR> <div> It wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be to get Mandy to the lab. I just told her I was going there on an errand that Josh didn’t want her to know about. It almost made me feel guilty, how easy she was to trick.</div> <bR> <div> Once we got to the facility, the geeks took over. At first Mandy fought. They were a bit reticent to take her on. So I told her what the experiment was all about. Then I told them that if they backed out, she would tell the world. After that they were a little less reticent.</div> <bR> <div> The experiment was flawless. It actually went much better than I thought it would. It’s really amazing, the things that science can do. Within a week of the procedure, the gills had started to form. Within a month, the tail was completely in place. It was amazing.</div> <div> Mandy was the world’s first lab-created mermaid.</div> <bR> <div> She didn’t laugh when I bought her a tape of ‘The Little Mermaid’ and tried to teach her the words to ‘Under The Sea’. Apparently, becoming half fish did nothing to improve her sense of humor.</div> <bR> <div> If only I’d been willing to let them set her free in the ocean like they wanted to. But I couldn’t take a chance. If she ever managed to flag down a fisherman, well it could be a bit of a PR problem. </div> <bR> <div> Frankly, I think my solution works fine. It really is the best thing for everything. Even if I do have to sneak back into the west wing once a week and dump twenty pounds of fish through a hole in the floor.</div> <bR> <div> Sam was right. That pool under the Press Room really did come in handy.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>