In the past, as a child or even over the preceding week when Idressed up, there was a mixture of forbidden thrill and magic in theact. Here it was hus...le and bustle, joking and bumping. The ritual oftransformation was changed into a utilitarian act."You're up now."I was shaken out of my reverie and stood up. Letting the other fourprecede me I listened to the applause, slowly counted to five and thentried to walk. I stumbled on my heels and barely caught myself before Ifell onto the stage. The. Civil servants of the Bavarian state government maintain the hut and its surroundings, and give guided tours to any hikers who happen by. Nailed to a post out front is a faded wooden plaque explaining, in six languages, that this was reputed to be the home of the fabled "Wechselhexe," or Change Witch."Sir, could you kindly tell me what that's all about?"The tour guide slowly shook his head at the young American tourist's question. "My dear fellow, the Brothers Grimm never wrote that particular. .. The interesting part is they aren't human. I wrongly assumed if anyone is going to follow me it would be Stacy Summers. She's smart as a whip and I'm sure after the way the bear ran away and the horses behaved when I arrived to deliver Ben's message to Jennifer, she discerned I was the cause of the previous problems with the bear and horses. No, it's this strange looking dog - I'm hot on Ben's trail and he's hot on my trail. No problem, I will just turn and confront him.I turn, let him catch. As I moved away she turned her head to me, our lips were nearly touching, and our eyes met. There was no rejection, and our lips joined in a soft and warm kiss. The breath from our noses caressed against each others cheeks. She responded with a passion, and my hands went to her head and held her. Our lips and tongues began a wet and probing exploration of each other as we exchanged that first kiss, as if we had been held back and were now free to express our affection. Without breaking lip.