They no longer have electric collars and are permitted to associate with 'civilian' schoolmates. Stage Two also lasts a month; Stage Three is a follow...up until they are eighteen or graduated from high school. They will be operated on to become fully-functioning females in a sexual sense, possibly, no, *probably,* given the uterine and ovarian implants I mentioned before. Poor dears, they'll have to become used to menstrual periods a lot later in life than most of us!" She smiled ruefully. "They. .. an old woman at the cash desk took my money and I asked for 10 cigarettes and a box of matches... I made my way up the dim lot stair and at the top was the gents and ladies toilets... I quickly opened the gents door and headed for a cubicle for some toilet roll.. on doing so a couple of men who were at the urinals were quickly shuffling about and I had no idea what they were up to.on entering the cinema I could hardly see... my eyes adjusting quickly I noticed the back row was full of old. You will not depart until you have done so, no matter how long you wait.”“Wait,” John thought furiously, “you’re saying that you’ll kill me as my Challenge Task, then raise me from the dead?”He was aghast at the concept.The Patriarch shook its head. “I’ll not kill you, though you will die. And it’s not I who raise you. You’ll return of your own volition, or not. That is up to you.”“What kind of fucked up test is this?” John blurted.An unmistakable self-satisfied tone crept into the Patriarch’s. An inch I can see, but that is a good four inches intwo days. What is happening?"Ricky reached up and felt his blonde locks. They now were down to hisshoulders at the sides, and longer at the back. "I dunno. Do you thinkthe river is doing it? It says it is curing me." Curing you? You mean like it cured the bear cub? But there is nothingwrong with you," she said. "Is there?The conversation ended when Wayne drove up in his pickup truck. Rickyfinished his plate and took it over to the wash basin.