Jim was in the kitchen, staring at the Gender Gem. He'd been doing this for about an hour, but nothing had happened to him. He was beginning to wonder if the wizard who'd sold it to him from the strange store in the mall that was sometimes there and sometimes not.. Jim didn't know anything about the wizard or why he'd shown up, or why the store would suddenly turn into something else as soon as you walked out. He'd been to the store twice before, got magical things that were really magical, and had fun with them until they stopped working.
The wizard at the store had told him to look into the gem and that his gender would be switched. It would last for 12 hours and then wear off. He stressed to Jim that it would switch his gender, and may or may not switch his sex. Which Jim had initially took to mean that it would make him a girl who thought like a guy. The wizard said no, it didn't work like that, the whole gender thing was a spectrum and not binary and hadn't he read any gender theory books? What did they teach at college?
Being a girl was something that Jim was curious about. He was sure that he didn't want to stay a girl, so the gem should be perfect. Jim figured that whatever the gem did to him, he could handle it for 12 hours. If it turned him into a girl, he could see what his law student girlfriend Sharon thought about having a girlfriend. Just for a little while.
Sharon was in her third year of law school and Jim hardly saw her anymore, even though they shared a townhouse together. Jim worked a low level tech support job, that paid the rent on the house. Sharon still lived at home, but her parent's were cool about her sleeping over whenever she wanted and she'd practically moved in.
But when he did see Sharon, she was always talking about law school or her internship at her uncle's law firm.
A night of sexual experimentation might really juice things up.
Except he'd been looking at the gem for almost two hours. Sharon was supposed to come over after her classes. They were going to go to a movie and then she'd have to go to bed to get up early and go to her study group.
Sure enough, Jim heard Sharon's key in the door. His idea of meeting Sharon at the door as a woman was dashed.
"Honey, I'm home." Sharon said. It was a little ironic joke that she didn't seem to get tired of. "What's for dinner?"
"Haven't started yet." JIm called, "Though I'm in the kitchen. Did you want to get chinese and then hit a movie?"
Sharon entered the kitchen. Jim had to repeat his question because Sharon was listening to some kind of pop music on her MP3 player. (Taylor Swift, if you can believe it.) "I don't know. I'm really bushed. What if we just stay in and watch what the hell is that?"
"It's from the spells r us store."
"Oh Jeez." said Sharon, who remembered the last two times Jim had brought something home from that store. Lactating from six enormous D-Cup breasts was not something she'd forget, even if it had only been temporary.
"Don't worry," said Jim, "It doesn't work."
Sharon put her books down on the kitchen table next to the Gem. She picked it up. "What's it supposed to do?"
"It's called the Gender Gem. You look into it and it changes your gender."
"Pretty." said Sharon. She held the gem up to her eye and looked up at the kitchen light through it. "I think it is just green glass, but it looks like a kaleidoscope. You can see... what is that, letters?" The light shining through the gem caused green spots of light to sparkle.
Jim was about to reply when the Gem suddenly started glowing green and shot out a bright light.
Look into the light through the gem! Jim thought. Why didn't I think of that?
From Sharon's perspective, it was as if the Gem had suddenly grown and encompassed her. She was inside the gem and surrounded by reflections of herself. As she moved, she could see her reflection; although there seemed to be subtle differences. In some, she seemed to have short hair. In some, she seemed to have a beard. In front of her was the other side of the gem. She passed through with something like a falling sensation.
From Jim's perspective, it seemed like the whole world went dark except for the gem. Sharon seemed to change shape in the light of the gem. After less than a few seconds, the lights changed back and Sharon was standing there holding the gem. Except Sharon had changed.
Fri Nov 06 20:17:48 2015