Don't Tell Daddy by Morpheus

submitted by admin - Jun 7, 2002

Elizabeth, an inventor, is now a housewife and mother. But in her basement workshop she designs a machine to allow people to share dreams. But she need to test it and selects her young son to help her, but...



 

Carefully Elizabeth O'Neal soldered the wire into place, then stared at what she'd been working on, trying to remember what she needed to do next. Sitting up she stretched out, then looked around the basement of her house where she'd been working.

She had her dark brown hair held back in a pony tail at the moment, so it wouldn't get in the way while she worked on her invention. Picking up the schematics, she tried to decide what she had left to do on the microwave sized device. She pulled off her goggles for a moment, setting them aside. Tiredly she rubbed at her eyes then reached over for a cigarette.

Staring at the device, she hoped that this was the one. The one that would make her famous. That would get her the credit that she desired. She'd been working towards it for years. She'd already patented several things, and had an income from that, but she wanted a bit more.

She was only 27, and already had her masters degree and had started work in a major company. She'd been a fast up and comer with great future ahead of her. That was until her husband Mark convinced her to stay home with their son Andrew for a few years.

She'd had Andy five years earlier, and had to finish her degree up while taking care of the infant son. It hadn't been easy. Then she was proud to get that engineering job, but had to quit several months afterwards, finding that her son was being neglected by her work. Now she worked at home, taking care of Andy. And of course working on her inventions in the basement, hoping that she could make something valuable and new.

Elizabeth snubbed out her cigarette, and bent back over to her nearly completed project. She'd been working on it for the last year, and was finally nearing the final stages. Hearing a loud knocking, she turned around, seeing her son Andrew tripping down the stairs, coming to see her. She grimaced, hating to be distracted from her work.

God knew that she loved her son dearly, but she wasn't sure how to handle him. She'd never been very good around children, and wasn't sure how to react to them. They made her uncomfortable. She'd also resented Andy's being born a little, and having had her promising career interrupted by him. She knew it wasn't his fault, and never let Andy see her resentment, but it was there, and she was ashamed of herself for it.

"Hi Mommy" the 5 year old said, hugging her waist.

"You know you're not supposed to interrupt Mommy while she's working" Elizabeth gently scolded her son.

"But I'm hungry"

Looking down at her watch, Elizabeth realized that it was already lunch time and she'd completely lost track of time again. Reluctantly she turned off the soldering iron, then took Andy by the hand, "Then lets get you something to eat" she said, leading him back up the stairs.

Andy joyfully chewed his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, kicking his feet back and forth under his chair. He looked up smiling at his Mommy as she sat across from taking a sip from her Diet Coke. "Mmm. Good sandwich Mommy" He said, forgetting not to talk with his mouth full.

Elizabeth finished eating up her own tuna fish sandwich, and waited for Andy to finish up his lunch. She wondered how Mark was doing at the office. Mark designed and put out software, and had earned himself a name for a game he'd recently released. They'd met and married while in college, and often joked about her doing the hardware while he did the software.

She hoped that Mark got home on time, and didn't have to work late again. She'd planned on baking chicken later for dinner. She smiled amused. He was a better cook than she was, and she'd never really cooked much until after Andy was born. She felt vaguely amused at how domestic she had gotten, and a little regretful.

"I'm done Mommy" Andy said, a little too loudly. Getting up, Elizabeth started cleaning up the mess, while Andy ran back to the living room to play with his Legos. As Elizabeth just finished wiping down the table, she heard a knock at the door and went to see who it was.

Elizabeth was pleased to see Linda Sparks from next door, who had her own 6 year old son by the hand. Linda was a young mother of 23, having had her son Sean a little early. She was a good neighbor though, and often had Andy over at her house to play with Sean. Elizabeth hoped that this was going to be another such day.

Unfortunately, Linda said that Sean wanted to come over and play with Andy. Not wanting to be a bad neighbor, Elizabeth invited them in, saying she didn't mind, as Sean ran into the living room with Andy. She felt a little disappointed, having wanted to finish up on her project, but with two kids in the house there was no way that was going to happen. But Linda had watched Andy for her enough times, and it was only fair to return the favor.

Waving good by to Linda as she went home to finish her cleaning, Elizabeth decided she might as well relax for a bit. As much as she'd be able to with two little boys screaming through the house. Looking down at the mess that was already beginning to form from the two hellions, she sighed, thinking it was going to be a long day.

Andy ran screaming after Sean, intent on tagging him, and accidentally knocking a diet Coke off of the coffee table, onto the floor. "Sorry Mommy" he screams out, not even slowing down. He giggled, as he almost caught Sean, but his slightly older friend slipped out of his grasp.

Eventually he caught up to Sean, but by then, both were bored of the game, and went to playing Legos, seeing who could build the biggest tower. Andy liked playing Legos. It was fun to build things with them, just like Mommy and Daddy did. Finally fun time ended, and Sean had to go home.

By this time, Elizabeth was greatly relieved, afraid that if their fun lasted any longer, the house would be totaled. She wondered idly if her next project should be to find a way to harness the energy of children. She smiled, thinking that would sure end any energy shortages. Tiredly, she got to work cleaning the mess left behind by the two children. "Andy" She called out sternly, "Get in here and clean up your toys. You know they don't belong on the floor"

Staring at the cigarette smoke floating around her, Elizabeth wondered when Mark would get home. Dinner was already done, and just waiting. She stared at the clock, not being able to help but think about the wasted time. She was impatient to finish up her device since if it worked, she'd make millions off of it. She wasn't about to tell Mark yet. She was saving what it was for a surprise. He only knew that her latest project had kept her in the basement for long hours.

Finally Mark got home, but Elizabeth found she wasn't able to get back to working in the basement that night. It was several days later before she was finally able to find time. Andy was over playing at Linda's with Sean, (Thank goodness), the house was cleaned (as much as possible with a 5 year old living there), and Mark was at work.

She tested the circuit again, but again got the wrong reading. She was sure that there was a fault somewhere, but couldn't find it. Finally after several hours troubleshooting, she found a small shorted diode, that had been causing the problem. After replacing it, she was sure that it was finished. Now, she thought, she only needed to test it.

Looking up, she realized that it was almost time for Mark to be getting off work, and for Andy to be getting back from playing with Sean. "Oh, NO" she muttered, having completely forgotten to get anything ready for dinner yet. In a rush, she ran upstairs to throw something together. Her work would have to wait till later.

The next morning, after Mark had gone to work, Elizabeth went back to her project. She made sure that everything looked good, and double checked everything. She was sure that it would work, but hadn't yet been able to test it. She hadn't told Mark about it yet, not wanting to sound ridiculous if it didn't work. She wanted to be certain first. Impatiently, she tried to think how she could test it.

She'd worked hard to make this, and was sure that it would be a big hit for entertainment. She'd been interested once hearing that people could concentrate and use biofeedback tricks to control brainwave scanners a bit, making them react to their will. She took that a bit further, designing a way to have the machine actually read images from their minds.

People would be able to download their dreams into a computer for others to see. She even figured that psychiatrists could use it to help cure patients. Once she was sure she could download the images from a persons mind into the computer, she wondered why not shift them over, projecting the patterns directly into anothers mind, so that they could see the images themselves. That would allow people to push images at each other, and interact in each others dreams. Elizabeth smiled, thinking how rich this was going to make her. And more importantly, how famous she'd be. She'd be greatly respected for such a discovery, maybe even earning a Nobel prize. She smiled at the thought. And all from her home basement.

But, she reminded herself reluctantly, she still needed to prove that it would work, and perhaps work out a few bugs. But she was pretty confident that it wouldn't need too much working out. Impatiently, she decided that Andy could help her.

She went upstairs and called Andy away from the TV. Curious, he went with his Mommy down the stairs into the basement, wondering why she was bringing him down there, when usually she didn't want him in there with her. Excited to be going though, he didn't want to ask why and make her change her mind.

"Shhhh" Elizabeth said, finger to her lips, "This is going to be a secret. Don't tell your Daddy. OK?"

Enthusiastically, Andy nodded his head. He liked secrets. He wondered what Mommy's secret was. Probably a birthday present for his Daddy, he decided.

Getting down on her knees, Elizabeth smiled at Andy saying, "When we're done, we can go out for ice cream. OK?" Again Andy nodded enthusiastically, the promise of ice cream winning him over.

After several minutes of preparation, Elizabeth sat Andy in a chair on one side of the machine, and had him lean forwards, putting his forehead against a small metal indent. Pushing her hair back, she put her own forehead against another plate on the opposite side of the machine. "Here goes nothing" she said to her son as she concentrated on an image of clowns, and flipped the machine on.

Images of ice cream danced through Andy's head as he waited for his Mommy to do whatever she was going to do. Suddenly the thing his head was against started humming, and images of a clown filled his head. He giggled, saying "Look at the clown"

Elizabeth felt a surge of triumph as Andy said this, knowing that it worked. Suddenly she smelled smoke and felt a shock go through her. She was completely disoriented, and felt a strange tugging in her very being, then she fainted.

Waking up, Elizabeth felt a throbbing in her head, almost as if she had a migraine. Within seconds though it began fading. She realized that her forehead was still against the place, and kept her eyes closed, waiting for the headache to fade. For some reason, her whole body felt slightly tingly. It must have been a circuit overload again, shocking us she decided.

Finally the headache subsided enough, that she raised her head and opened her eyes. Then she screamed.

Sitting across from her was her own face, looking at her in equal confusion. She felt immediately that she was smaller than before, and realized instantly that somehow she and Andy had traded bodies.

Hopping off the chair, she stared at the machine, praying to a God that she never believed in that it wasn't badly damaged, and that she could fix it in just a few minutes. Somehow though, she felt that it wasn't going to be that easy.

"Mommy?" Andy asked in her body, "What happened to me? I'm all big now."

"Its OK honey" she said, her voice sounding less than comforting coming from this little boys body, "I'll try to fix this."

Realizing that she couldn't see the machine very well while standing on the floor, she had to climb back on the chair to get enough elevation to reach it. Carefully she removed the top cover, and looked inside. She was sure that the diode had short circuited again, and found that a few other components seemed to be fried as well. She decided that it could be fixed up again in just a couple hours. She sighed in relief, praying that she could reverse what happened.

Obviously, she decided, the machine short circuited, giving a powers surge that somehow did more than transfer just the mental image. Somehow the surge caused a complete exchange. She stared down at her now tiny hands, then shook her head, refusing to let herself get distracted now.

She tried soldering, but found that her hands were too small to work it as easy as she usually did. This was going to take her a bit longer than planned she reluctantly admitted.

Andy stared at his Mommy in fascination, watching her examine the machine. He was confused, and very scared, but his Mommy didn't seem worried, so he clung to this, keeping himself from panicking. He looked down, seeing how far it was to the floor, and got scared again. What if he fell? He began to cry, and his Mommy came over and tried hugging him, saying "Its going to be all right"

He wiped his tears, but scratched his cheek a little with the fingernails. He looked at his hands and saw that he had fingernails just like his Mommy. Then he noticed the shiny ring on his finger and stared at it for awhile.

Andy looked down at himself, and realized that he was wearing his Mommy's clothes. He knew that his Mommy looked like him, and he had changed, but it just dawned on him exactly how he'd changed. He startled, realizing suddenly that he was a girl now. Yuck. Looking down at his Mommy, he asked "Is Daddy going to be mad?"

Elizabeth felt a surge of fear. Oh God, What would Mark say when he found out she'd used her own son for a guinea pig in some experiment. He'd divorce her, at the least. Getting nervous, she kept running scenes through her mind of how he'd accept their situation, even if she'd already fixed it by the time he got home. And not a one of those scenarios were good. "Oh dear" she muttered. Staring at Andy, she decided what they'd have to do.

Don't Tell Daddy She said, trying to sound firm and authorative with her 5 year old voice. Andy looked at her confused. "We're going to have to play a game. When Daddy gets home, you'll have to pretend to be me, and I'll pretend to be you." Andy didn't look like he was getting it very well.

"Daddy will be mad if he finds out this happened" she explained to him calmly.

"But you said It was bad to lie to you and Daddy" Andy looked confused.

"I know dear, but this is different" Elizabeth paused, trying to decide how to continue. "Think if it as a game. You'll pretend to be me, and I'll pretend to be you. We'll play a trick on Daddy OK. So you can't tell Daddy about this" Andy nodded reluctantly, not thinking that this game sounded very fun. "I'll try to change us back before Daddy gets home, but if I can't, we'll have to play this game" Then Elizabeth added, trying to sound a little more optimistic, "And when we change back, we'll go get some ice cream"

Andy looked happy at this, and wiped his tears, smearing Elizabeth's makeup a bit more. She sighed, hoping she could get back to her own body as quickly as possible. "Go upstairs and watch TV for awhile, and I'll fix this" Elizabeth told him.

As Andy was walking up the stairs, he stopped, then turned around. "You said we could go for ice cream after I helped you" Elizabeth groaned.

"We'll go get some as soon as we change back, all right?" Andy nodded his agreement and went back upstairs. Elizabeth sighed in relief, thankful that Andy didn't make it any harder. If he got mad and threw a tantrum now, she wouldn't have the strength to stop him. The thought of her own son in her body, being able to hurt her sent a shiver down her spine, and urged her to get things back the way they should be as soon as possible.

Andy sat on the floor in front of the TV, feeling uncomfortable. His behind felt too big. He felt like he was sitting on a great big pillow. He crossed his arms on his chest, but found two big bumps in the way. He grabbed one, and it felt funny. He didn't like having these things on his chest. They made his chest feel fat and stick out, getting in the way. He couldn't decide what they were for, but made up his mind that they were gross, and he didn't like them.

Getting bored, he started to play with his toy trucks, rolling them around, "Vrroom" he said as he pushed the truck along the floor. After awhile this got boring too. And he couldn't get very comfortable. Everything seemed so much smaller than before, and he couldn't get used to this. Finally he started playing with his Legos, deciding to build a big wall around his trucks.

Getting up, Andy went over to the dinner table, and giggled, seeing how bigger than it he was. He grabbed the glass of juice that was on the edge, that he'd been drinking before his Mommy called him to help her. Earlier he had to stretch to get the glass. He took a deep gulp of the juice, but it didn't taste right. He finished it off anyway, not caring, then ran to the bathroom, having to go potty.

When he got to the bathroom, he saw himself in the mirror and stopped, forgetting about going potty. He saw his Mommy looking back at him, but with all her clothes wrinkled and her makeup smeared. Realizing that this was him in the mirror, he touched his face feeling it. He put his hand to the ear ring, and tugged it gently, surprised at how it felt. He stared at it in the mirror. He had a hole in his ear and it didn't hurt. He didn't feel it at all. He didn't even know he had it until he looked in the mirror.

After several minutes standing and staring, he remembered that he had to go potty. He looked at his pants, and his belt, and couldn't find how to get his pants down. He couldn't get the belt open. Finally, he went downstairs, saying "Mommy, I've got to go potty. And I can't get my pants undone"

Elizabeth stared at him, suddenly embarrassed. This was a problem that she hadn't thought about. Reluctantly, she followed him back upstairs to the bathroom. She showed him how to undo her belt and get her pants down. This was the part she hated. She had him pull down his panties and sit down on the toilet.

Andy looked down surprised, "Where's my wee wee?" He started fumbling his hands around, as if he could find it.

"Its all right" Elizabeth said, deeply embarrassed, not having planned to have this discussion about the differences between boys and girls for some time to come. Calmly she explained that was because she was a girl, and girls didn't have wee wee's like that.

Andy got curious at this, and looked down, then said innocently, "It's furry down there"

This was too much for Elizabeth to take, "Just go potty" she snapped at him, not liking where that line of questioning was going.

Andy got a look of concentration on his face as he started peeing. He thought it felt funny to pee that way, and almost giggled, but the look on his Mommy's face (actually his own) stopped him. After he was done, his Mommy showed him how to use toilet paper to dry his privates up. He giggled, thinking it was just like wiping after going poopey.

When Andy finished and left the bathroom, Elizabeth suddenly realized she had to go, and she couldn't hold it. She hopped on the toilet, but sprayed out the front, before she could stop herself. She looked down embarrassed, seeing her little boys missing wee wee.

After cleaning up the mess she made, she ran down the stairs, forgetting about how many times she'd told Andy not to run in the house. For some reason she felt like she had a lot of energy.

Andy went to his bedroom to find something to do, and was again amazed at how small everything looked to him. He saw his Sesame Street book, and opened it up to look at the pictures. His Daddy had taught him to write his own name, and he was very proud of this. Looking at the pictures, he pretended to read the book. One of the words caught his eyes, and he stared at it for a second, then understood what it meant.

Slowly he found that he could understand some of the words, and as he went through the book, it got a little easier. He read through book three times, then went on to another of his books, reading it. He was excited. He was actually reading a book, all by himself. Going through his book shelf, he pulled out all his books and sat them down on the floor, then began to go through them, one by one, overjoyed by this new ability.

Elizabeth found it hard getting back to work. The tools were all too big to work with, and her hands felt so clumsy compared to her own. She was having a hard time even reaching everything. For some reason, she felt hyperactive, then realized it was because of her little boys body. She had a hard time concentrating because of this, and was easily distracted. She kept having to remind herself to concentrate. Staring down at her notes, she had a hard time making out some of her own words.

She struggled with that and the schematics, finding them hard to read. She kept having to catch herself and keep her attention on what she was doing. After she started sounding one word out aloud, Elizabeth realized that something was wrong.

Going to Andy's room, she opened the door, and was surprised to see him sitting cross legged on the floor, reading his books. He looked up smiling, "Look Mommy, I can READ" he sounded very excited. "I can't wait to show Sean" he continued on.

"NO!" Elizabeth cried out, then forced herself to calm down and continue. "You can't tell him. You can't tell anyone. Remember the game. Its not just with Daddy" She was horrified. If Andy told people, they would just think she'd gone insane. And even if they did believe him, what would people think. That she experimented on her own son. If anyone found out, she'd be humiliated. After another minute, she managed to convince him that he couldn't tell anyone what had happened, and that he'd have to pretend to be her.

By lunch time, Elizabeth could barely read anything, which left her very confused, and horrified. Especially when she found Andy reading a National Geographic. Somehow, she was losing her reading ability, and Andy was gaining it. This scared her to no end.

She was ashamed to finally ask Andy to read her notes for her. He was happy to show off his newfound reading ability, which left her feeling humiliated, being read to by her own 5 year old son.

Finally lunchtime arrived, and Elizabeth felt starved. Going to the kitchen, she could barely even reach the counter. She had to pull up a chair to get things together to make herself a sandwich. When she was done, she and Andy sat in silence both eating. She took a sip of her diet Coke and grimaced. That stuff tasted terrible. She didn't drink it for the taste, but it was never this bad.

She realized that she was using her sons tongue, so things would taste different for her. Reluctantly, she drank some juice instead, and found that she really liked the sweet taste. She pointed out to Andy that when Daddy got home, he'd have to drink diet Coke instead of the sugary juice he was drinking. He nodded agreement, not liking it though. Then as an afterthought, she reminded him that he'd have to call his Daddy Mark when he got home. She really hoped that wouldn't be necessary.

Staring at the schematics again, Elizabeth was about to scream. They didn't make any sense to her at all. And she was only able to tell the letters apart in her notes, and wasn't able to read anything but the most simple. She tested herself against one of Andy's childrens books, and found that she could still read that, though only barely. And the way she was going, not for much longer.

She tried to calculate how long she'd been like this, and how much longer until she'd lose everything. Unfortunately, she found her math skills similarly eroded. On a hunch, she gave Andy a math problem, and asked him to do it. He didn't seem able to at first, but after a few minutes he was able to work it out. It wan't a very difficult one, but one a bit beyond any 5 year old. Elizabeth was getting more frightened, realizing how much she was losing.

Andy on the other hand found it neat to be able to do math. He wrote simple math problems down on paper and tried to solve them, then moved on to harder ones. Elizabeth watched this jealously, horrified that they'd be stuck this way. She wondered what else she was losing, not noticing her own slightly diminished vocabulary, or several new words beginning to creep into Andy's.

A short while later, there was a knock on the door. Linda and Sean smiled when the door was opened. "Hi Andy" Sean yelled, running into the door to what he thought was his playmate. Linda looked at Andy rather oddly for a few seconds, making him remember that his Mommy's makeup was smeared on his face.

"Do you mind of Sean plays with Andy over here for a little while?" Linda asked Andy. He realized that she thought he was his Mommy. Remembering what he was told, he pretended he was too. Since Sean always played over, Andy nodded his head yes. He thought this was going to be fun. He didn't see Elizabeth violently shaking her head no, as Linda went back to her own house.

Sean grabbed who he thought was Andy and drug Elizabeth to Andy's room to play. She grunted, unhappy to be forced to pretend to be Andy for a while, until she could get rid of Sean.

Andy watched disappointed, his best friend not even recognizing him. He wanted to play too, but remembered what his Mommy had told him about having to pretend to be her. He went and looked in the mirror, and saw again how bad his clothes and makeup were. His Mommy would never look that bed. He decided he'd have to change his clothes, and clean the makeup off, but he wasn't sure how. He was about to go ask his Mommy for help, but realized he couldn't do that with Sean. Finally, he decided that he'd figure it out for himself.

At first Elizabeth tried to discourage Sean, and make him want to go home. But once Sean started playing with the Legos, her own interest in building new and better things took over as she tried to out do Sean. Almost against her will, she found herself having fun, and laughing with Sean.

Some time later, they grew bored of Legos finally, and went outside to play on the swing set, and Elizabeth had become so engrossed in playing with Sean, that she completely forgot about her wanting to get him to go home. She couldn't believe she was having so much fun, just running around and doing whatever felt natural. She hadn't been able to do that since she was a small girl, and even than not as often as she would have liked.

This was a welcome change for her, as she found herself not being forced to clean something up or distract her from what she was doing. She barely noticed the time she spent so much attention on playing.

Andy went to his Mommy's bathroom, and found the stuff she used to wash the makeup off her face. He'd seen her do it lots of times, so he carefully mimicked her actions. Several minutes later, he stared in the mirror at the clean face, and smiled.

Next were the clothes. The ones he was wearing were badly wrinkled and crumpled because of his crawling around on the floor, and they looked messy. Remembering how he was shown, he took the pants off, then his shirt. He stared at his reflection in the mirror, seeing his Mommy standing there in her bra and panties. He put his hands to his breasts, realizing that was what they were called. He hadn't even remembered he'd had them for a little while. That was funny.

Curious to see what they looked like without the bra on, he fumbled with it for several minutes before he managed to slip it off. Wow, he thought, they sure look different from his old chest. These ones stuck out, and his nipples were really big. After satisfying his curiosity, Andy put the bra back on, finding that much easier than he had taking it off. It seemed almost familiar when he slipped it back on.

Going to his Mommy's closet, he saw that there weren't any more pants. He was sure she had more, but didn't know if they were in another drawer or in the laundry. Reluctantly, he put a skirt on, grimacing at how much he looked like a girl. Only girls wore skirts, but he reminded himself, he was a girl now. Finally he put on another long sleeved blouse.

Sitting down, he absently slipped a pair of his mothers flats onto his feet instead of the tennis shoes he had been wearing. He barely noticed, though, only picking them up since they felt right somehow. Again he looked in the mirror, and remembered his Mommy always wore makeup around the house. Remembering that he was supposed to pretend to be his Mommy, he reluctantly started to put new makeup on.

The first time was a mess, and he had to wipe it all off again. Trying it again, it was better, but still didn't look right. After a third try, he admired the makeup job in the mirror, thinking that it looked just like how his Mommy usually had her makeup. He licked his lips, thinking the fresh lipstick on them tasted different. It was sort of like wearing chapstick on his lips he decided.

He felt proud that he had managed all this without any help. He wanted to go show his Mommy and started to walk out to show her. Several steps outside the bathroom door, he stepped into a pile of Legos, and nearly tripped. Looking down, he was unhappy to see that he had broken some of them. He picked up one of the bending pieces that was his favorite, and stared at its being broken.

Since he was pretending to be his Mommy, and he was upset by his broken toy, he went and stuck his head out the door, shouting "Get in here and clean up your mess right this instant. You know your toys don't belong on the floor". He sounded just like she had the many times she'd had to say it. He thought the look on his Mommy's face was funny, as she got very embarrassed having to be reminded of something so simple, by her own son.

Satisfied, he sat down on the couch, not wanting to mess the clothes up again. He wanted to go out and play, but couldn't with Sean being here. Since he was supposed to pretend to be his Mom, (he was beginning to find it odd thinking of her as Mommy), he tried to remember what she did. Looking over, he saw a book she'd been reading.

Picking it up, he saw a woman and a guy kissing on the cover. He scrunched his nose in distaste. Yuck. Curious though, he started to read.

Quickly, Elizabeth threw the Legos back into the box they belonged in. She felt embarrassed having to be reminded to do that by her own son. But she'd been having so much fun, she'd forgotten all about them. So that's how come little boys are so messy she decided.

What had really gotten to her though was the way she had responded when Andy had yelled at her. She had frozen for a second, feeling that this voice had authority, and that she would have to do what it said. That scared her.

Linda came over to pick Sean back up. "Can Andy come over to our house for dinner?" Sean eagerly asked his mom.

After thinking about it for a second, Linda said "Sure, I don't see why not" Elizabeth felt a little trapped, actually wanting to go over and keep playing with Sean, but not wanting to leave Andy alone, or the machine broken.

As she struggled with that, Andy spoke up, "Go ahead, have fun" She glared at him for a second, and he looked at her innocently. So she went over to Andy's house, just remembering that she hadn't cooked anything for dinner, and hoping that Andy would be all right until his Daddy got home.

Andy was only pretending to be his Mom when Linda wanted Andy to go over, and hadn't thought things through when he said yes. As his Mom went out the door, he began to get a little nervous. Then he realized that it was going to be dinner time soon, and his Dad would be home. And dinner wasn't cooked.

He was getting a little worried, then noticed the cook books on the kitchen shelf and got an idea. He'd watched his Mom cook dinner sometimes, and sometimes, and since he could read now, he'd be able to read the cook books. The more he thought about it, the more the idea appealed to him. Since he was supposed to pretend to be his Mom, he would have to cook dinner too.

As he was getting everything the book called for to make the dinner he'd decided on, he started to feel a little fidgety and nervous. Ignoring it, he kept gathering the things he'd need.

Andy had looked through the cook book for something that would be easy for him to make, and especially for something that he wanted to eat. This was made more difficult since there weren't any hamburgers in the freezer. Finally he'd decided on what he was going to cook and went to work, even though it wasn't his favorite dinner. It did look easy.

It wasn't as easy as he thought it would be, but he was careful to do exactly what the book said. He felt excited to actually be cooking, and wanted to do a good job. Finally he finished, and proudly looked at the hamburger casserole, not having realized that the hamburger could have been made into paddies like he'd originally wanted. He was happy though that he had finished it.

Hearing his Dad come into the driveway, Andy hurried to finish setting the table. He decided that pretending to be Mom was a lot of work, and wasn't sure he liked that. He wanted to get back to being himself. Taking the game seriously, he was diligent in making sure that everything at the table looked right, just like his Mom would have.

Elizabeth couldn't get back into playing with Sean completely, being distracted with worry about Andy. She kept thinking of everything that could go wrong, and of how Mark might react. Sean noticed her distraction, but only became more determined to get her to have fun.

She did find it interesting to sit back while someone else did the cooking since she never really liked doing it anyway. She found that Linda was a pretty attentive mother, and seemed to have an easy relationship with her own son, that Elizabeth somehow envied. At first she had to keep reminding herself not to call Linda by her name, but to call her Mrs. Sparks instead. It got easier and easier though, and she even began to start thinking of her as Mrs. Sparks rather than as Linda.

While playing with Sean, he started going off, talking about some cartoon show that she knew Andy watched, but never bothered to watch herself. The show sounded interesting to her now for some reason, and without quite realizing it, she began to "remember" things about the show. This confused her a bit since she'd never seen it, but she clearly knew things about it, and almost remembered seeing bits and pieces of it. This left her slightly confused, but she didn't dwell on it, getting distracted by something else.

Dinner was fun for her, though she hated how high the table seemed to her. She had already felt so small when standing next to Linda, but felt even smaller sitting in the now too large chair. She liked dinner though, Linda having cooked pork chops for them. For some reason though, the green beans, which she normally liked made her stomach squeamish. She knew that Andy hated beans, but was startled to realize that she now had the same dislike.

After dinner, they went back to Sean's bedroom, to continue playing, while Mrs. Sparks cleaned up from dinner.

Sitting down at the dinner table, Andy took a bite of the casserole, and was pleased that it tasted good. His Dad sat across from him, happily taking a bite, then looking up smiling, "You know honey, this stuff is good. Even better than what you usually cook"

Andy felt proud. His Dad had told him he cooked even better than his Mom, and this was only his first time cooking. He smiled as he took another bite, thinking how interesting this was. He still felt a bit nervous and jittery, but had been ignoring it. Every once in a while, he started to fidget a little with something in his hands. He didn't really notice it too much though.

After eating, Andy sat back in his chair, feeling full. He was surprised at how much he'd eaten since he couldn't eat that much before. While staring at the empty plate, trying to remember how his Mom cleaned everything after dinner, his Dad pulled out a cigarette and lit it, blowing the smoke into the air.

For some reason, that action caught Andy's eye. His Dad looked over at him, smiling then held the pack of cigarettes out to him. Andy was confused, not sure what to do. Then he remembered that his Mom had told him that he'd have to do what she did and pretend to be here. And she always smoked a cigarette after dinner. Anyways, it didn't look hard at all, so he reached for a cigarette.

He held it between his fingers just like he'd seen his Mom do it, then held it up to his lips. His Dad carefully held the lighter in front of him, and Andy bent over slightly so that the end of the cigarette could be lit.

Taking a deep suck from the cigarette, Andy was surprised at the smoke going into his lungs, not knowing what it would feel like. He coughed for a few second, while his Dad looked at him a little worried across the table. Feeling slightly embarrassed at this Andy took another puff on the cigarette, thinking how easy his Mom had made it look. This time he was ready for it and didn't have any problems.

Blowing the smoke back out, he looked at it, a little surprised. This was neat, he decided. The smoke tasted kind of funny, but it wasn't really bad tasting. He took several more puffs on the cigarette, getting more comfortable with it, and within a short time, was smoking as if he'd done it for years, which the body had been. He also noticed that the nervousness he'd been feeling was gone, and he was starting to feel a little good.

When he was finished with the cigarette, Andy was almost sorry it was done. It had been different, and kind of interesting to smoke a cigarette. He snubbed it out in the ash tray, and remembered that he'd have to clean up. Fortunately, his Dad helped him clean up the mess like he helped his Mom every night.

After cleaning everything, Andy went to the living room with his Dad, who bent over kissing him on his cheek before they sat down on the couch. He picked up the romance novel he'd started reading earlier, and tried getting into it. It hadn't made a lot of sense to him at first, but he was beginning to understand it a little more. Reaching over for his diet Coke, he took a sip, while pulling his legs up onto the couch, getting comfortable, without realizing it was the same position his Mom always curled up to read in.

Elizabeth yawned, feeling a bit tired as Mrs. Sparks led her back to her own house. She could have gotten back perfectly fine on her own since it was only next door, but Mrs. Sparks didn't want to take any chances.

Walking in the house, she saw that Andy was sitting on the couch, curled up reading. Again she felt a surge of jealousy, knowing that she had lost that ability. She saw Mark sitting on the other end of the couch, flipping through channels. She wanted to rush over to him and hug him, explaining everything that had happened but she didn't dare do that. Seeing that everything seemed to be all right, and that Andy had apparently succeeded in his charade, she went over and hugged Mark.

Mark picked her up and set her on the couch next to them. She looked over at her former body, and was startled to notice that Andy was reading a romance. He was a bit young for that, and too innocent she was sure, but there was nothing she could do about it with the current situation.

Looking back at Mark, she felt impressed by how big he was, getting an impression that he would protect her and take care of her. That felt slightly odd, but somehow very comforting to her. She looked at him, calling him Mark didn't seem right. He seemed to have an aura of authority about him, and the name Mark didn't feel quite right for some reason. She thought about it for a while, then was chilled by the realization that she'd started thinking of him as Daddy. She wondered horribly if thinking of Andy as "Mommy" would be next.

Finally Daddy, Mark she stubbornly reminded herself, started talking to Andy, talking about his day at work. Elizabeth listened in carefully, but it all seemed so boring, and most of it didn't make any sense to her. She realized that she couldn't understand what a lot of the words he was using meant. She looked over at Andy, who nodded a couple of times, as if he understood. She really began to get worried.

She was trying to think how she could get her machine fixed, when she realized that she couldn't remember how it even worked. She struggled, and remembered vague bits, but no real details or theories. Sadly she had to conclude that she'd lost most of her education. Yawning again, Mark picked her up, and carried her to bed. She protested at first, but was quietly put into Andy's bed. She tried to stay awake, but found herself drifting off anyway. Her last thoughts were idly wondering how Andy would sleep.

Andy stayed up late, fascinated by the book. He began to realize some things about how adults behave, and why. He was still rather confused, but it was becoming a bit clearer. Finally, he put the book down and was going to bed. He started heading to his own room at first, but as he looked at the door, he remembered that his Mom would be sleeping in his bed. That would mean he'd have to sleep in his Mom's bed.

Going to his parents bedroom, he began to get undressed. His Dad came in, and hugged him from behind. He didn't know why, but it felt good. As he turned around, his Dad kissed him on the lips, and instinctively he responded. After a few seconds, they pulled away, with Andy standing there still confused.

In a daze, he went to the bathroom and cleaned his makeup off, remembering somehow that it would make a mess on the pillow if he didn't. Crawling into bed next to his Dad, he tried going to sleep. "Good night honey" his Dad said next to him, as he began to sleep.

Some time later, Andy woke up, feeling someone holding one of his breasts, rubbing it. He layed still, enjoying the feeling. His nipples were beginning to harden, and his groin started to feel kind of wet. He looked over, seeing Mark, (Dad, he reminded himself) rubbing him while still asleep. Andy wasn't sure what to do, and it felt good, so he just stayed there, enjoying the feelings, until Mark rolled over to the other side, still asleep.

Slightly disappointed, Andy rolled over himself, trying to get back to sleep, but the thought of those good feelings kept going through his head.

The next morning, Andy woke up to Mark getting up and going to work. He turned over, and tried to stay in bed for awhile. Eventually though he made himself get up. Looking over, he saw his Mom's robe, and slipped it on, knowing that she always wore that in the mornings. After going to the bathroom, he went out to the living room, where Mark was just getting ready to go out the door.

Mark went to the kitchen instead, then came back handing Andy a cup of coffee, saying "You look like you could use it." Not wanting Mark to think anything was wrong, Andy took a sip of the coffee, and was surprised when it tasted good. Mark smiled at Andy, then bent over and kissed Andy on the cheek as he went by, saying "Have a good day honey" to Andy as he left.

Andy stared at the cup of coffee in his hands, and took another sip. Sitting at the kitchen table, he drank coffee and read the paper instead of his normal breakfast of cereal. For some reason, this felt right.

After finishing the cup, he put it into the dish washer, and went to his parents bathroom, to take a bath. As he turned the faucet, he remembered that his Mom usually took showers, not baths. He smiled, thinking that he was an adult now and could take a shower too. After taking off the robe, panties and bra, he hopped into the shower, started washing.

He was a bit surprised at the feel of the water against his breasts, which left him slightly excited. He ignored the urge to rub them, and finished up, so that he could get out. Carefully he dried himself off, and even used his Mom's hair drier, somehow knowing that he should. He sat for some time, brushing his hair, thinking how relaxing it was.

Finally he started to get dressed. He took his time, actually finding his Mom's other pants. He just seemed to know what drawer they'd be in. After getting himself dressed, he remembered the makeup, and started putting that on, doing a perfect job the first time. He looked at his reflection proudly, knowing that if no one knew, they'd never guess that he wasn't his Mom.

Finally his Mom got up, and came out wearing his pajamas. Going to the kitchen, she pulled up a chair and poured herself a cup of coffee as he watched. Taking a sip of it, she twisted her face, "Yuck" she muttered to herself. She looked down at the cup in front of her, obviously thinking that there was something wrong with that coffee.

Smiling, Andy said "This is probably what you want" and put a bowl of cereal on the table. Reluctantly she hopped onto the chair, looking at it. She looked up at him as if he were crazy, but took a bit. She apparently enjoyed it because she took another bite, and another.

Andy took the cup of coffee his Mom had poured, and took a drink of it himself, finding that it tasted just fine. He sat at the table, crossing his legs and drinking the coffee. When his Mom looked up, she was startled to see this, at how easily he seemed to slide into her own habits. Looking down at the bowl of cereal she'd been wolfing down, she realized she'd been doing the same.

Afterwards they talked, with his Mom telling Andy about different ideas to fix things back the way they were. As he listened, he realized that most of them were rather ridiculous and impossible. Her suggestions were a bit more fantasy and imagination that workable reality. Listening to the way she was talking, he was surprised to notice that she was talking just like a 5 year old, apparently without even realizing it. Carefully he started to review his own behavior, and realized he'd been using words that he'd never have used the day before. He'd been understanding things like he hadn't before. Then it hit him exactly what was happening to them.

Andy was trying to think about what they could do to change back, but his Mom kept walking around, distracting him. On a whim, he turned the TV on, putting it on the cartoon show he usually watched in the mornings. His Mom's eyes saw the TV and it drew her to it. Without seeming to realize it, she plopped down in front of the TV, attention focused on the show. Sadly Andy smiled, hoping that they could change back.

While his Mom was watching the TV, Andy took the chance to go into the basement to look at the device. He sat on his Mom's stool, with the schematics in his hands, looking down at the device. He was only slightly surprised to find that he could understand them, and started to trace out what was wrong. Absently, his hands reached for the pack of cigarettes his Mom had left next to the device from the day before, and put one of them to his lips. He hadn't even realized he was doing it until he lit it and sucked in. Then in startlement, he blew the smoke out, amazed that he'd done that and not really even thought about it. Almost as if it were a long habit or something.

He kept smoking the cigarette, finding it relaxing, and staring at the device. Finally he found that there was only several resisters and a diode that were fried, and that he could probably fix it in a little while. He went looking through some of his Mom's boxes and found the parts he'd need.

Hearing something upstairs, Andy quickly went up, forgetting about the cigarette between his fingers. He saw his Mom at the door, with Linda and Sean. His Mom's eyes went down to his hand, surprised to see the cigarette there, then glared at him for a second.

"OH, Elizabeth", Linda said to Andy, "Can you watch Sean again for me this morning, I've got to go pick up a friend and give her a ride to work, and I don't want to bring Sean along"

"Sure" Andy said, "We'd be happy to have him here" He noticed that his Mom seemed almost pleased to hear that, and several minutes later was running through the house with Sean. Looking at the beginning mess, he realized how messy he'd been. He hoped they could change back before it was time to clean the mess so that he wouldn't get stuck doing it like he had the day before.

Andy took another puff from the cigarette, then put it out in the ash tray on the dinner table. He wanted to go back down and finish things off, but decided that he'd have to keep an eye on Sean and his Mom, to make sure that too big of a mess wasn't made. He had to ask them to quiet down since it was beginning to give him a headache, and got a glare from his Mom in response, though they did get a little quieter.

Eventually they went outside playing on the swing set, and Andy started cleaning up some of the mess left behind. While he was at it, he started to go through and clean up a few other things around the house as they attracted his notice. There wasn't much that needed cleaning though. Finally he was free to finish up the device.

He went back down stairs, and was pleased that he seemed to know how to work the soldering iron, and how to solder. Carefully he began to remove and replace the burnt out parts, then checking to make sure things were good. When he was done, he stared at it, realizing that just because he'd fixed device, didn't mean they could duplicate the power surge that caused this. Going back upstairs, he tried to work on that.

Elizabeth was having the time of her life, just cutting loose and playing, without worrying about any responsibilities for once. It had been a long time since her own childhood, and she hadn't been allowed to play very much then either since her parents believed little girls should mostly play indoors, and not do anything to get themselves dirty or messed up. So for her, this was a chance to finally cut loose.

She'd been slightly shocked to see Andy smoking, but after thinking about it, found that it wasn't that odd for some reason and put it out of her mind, forgetting about it. She wondered briefly what Andy was doing inside, but then Sean touched her saying "Tag, you're it", and she ran giggling after him, forgetting about it.

At lunch time, Andy made some sandwiches, and called the two little boys in to eat. He poured a glass of milk for each of them, but had a glass of diet Coke for himself. He was sure that he'd figured it out, and that it wouldn't take long to control the power surge, but wanted to wait until after lunch before he started working on it.

After cleaning up from lunch, the two little boys went back outside playing, while Andy cleaned up. He looked out the window, and smiled, seeing them having fun. Going back down to the basement, he realized that he was having fun too. It was exciting to make things, finding and fixing problems. It gave him a satisfaction of accomplishment, sort of like when he'd built a really big Lego tower that he was proud of. But thinking about it, this was much better.

Lighting himself another cigarette, Andy blew the smoke off to the side, then went to work.

Andy finally finished what he was sure would solve the power problem, and should change them back to normal. But Sean was still playing around, and they couldn't do anything with him nearby. Noticing what time it was, Andy saw that he needed to start cooking dinner since his Mom wasn't going to be able to. He was a little relieved at that, wanting to do the cooking himself.

In the kitchen cooking, Andy was pleased to find another dinner that he could cook up in the book, and began to start. Several times his Mom and Sean came in asking things, and he found it funny that his Mom always called him Mommy when Sean was around. Once she even did it when Sean was in another room, apparently having it just slip out. And he started calling her Andy, knowing that they couldn't tell Sean the truth.

He was proud of figuring out the problem so that they could change back, and couldn't wait to tell Andy, formerly his Mom.

Finally Mark got home from work, and Andy sent Sean back to his own home so they could eat dinner. His Mom took a bite of the dinner he'd prepared, and looked up a bit surprised, suddenly realizing that he'd cooked dinner while she'd been playing, and that it come out very well.

Again Mark complimented Andy on the dinner, and he felt proud of his achievement. When they were done eating, Andy lit himself a cigarette, enjoying the brief look of startlement on his old face as he blew the smoke out.

His Mom got up and went to his room, while he sat enjoying the cigarette, then started cleaning up. While putting the dishes into the dishwasher, he started thinking how much he was beginning to like this. He was big and could do things like read and do math and cook. He had to clean things up too, but it made him feel good to take care of things. He decided that he liked the responsibility, and actually making a difference around the house.

He decided that he wanted to stay this way. Then feeling guilty, he remembered his Mom, now stuck as him. He didn't want to do that to her, stealing her life. He wasn't sure he wanted to stay a woman, but he had liked it so far. Thinking about it, he decided that if he went back, he'd lose the ability to read and the other things, which he didn't want, but if he worked hard, he'd be able to learn them all on his own. The idea kind of appealed to him, though he'd rather not have to go through all that work.

He decided he'd have to talk to his Mom about changing back, letting her know that they could when she was ready.

A short while later, he found time to pull her aside, so that Mark wouldn't hear them. When he told her that he'd fixed the machine, she looked a little surprised that he could do it. Then she got excited. After they went down to the basement, she stopped, hesitating. She looked thoughtful, making Andy a little curious. Finally she said, "No. I don't wanna go back" Startling Andy. "I like playing, an don't wanna have to clean up and do lots of chores. I never got to have fun anymore. I don't wanna change back. I wanna stay like this"

Andy stood back, stunned. He smiled, unable to believe this. He could stay like this, as an adult. They both stood, staring at each other, then agreeing to stay. "Then from now on," Andy told his Mom, "you'll have to call me Mommy, and treat me like I really was, and I'll have to remember to call you Andy, and treat you as if you were my son"

Elizabeth nodded, understanding, saying "All right. Mommy". They'd have to take over each others lives completely, not letting anyone know.

"All right then," Andy said, shaking his old bodies hand while smiling, "Don't tell Daddy."

Andy removed one of the cards from the device, and set it off to the side in a corner of the basement, just in case he ever needed it again. He hid the card in another location, just so that there weren't any accidents.

While the new Andy was upstairs playing, the new Elizabeth cleaned up the work area in the basement, and began to have some ideas of her own for new inventions. Enough time for that later she reminded herself.

She began to think about that book she'd been reading, and now that she was beginning to understand what it was about, began to blush. She began to make plans for that night, deciding that it was time for her to learn about that first hand with her new husband.

One month later, the new Elizabeth was happy to tell her son Andy, that he was going to have a new brother or sister to play with.

The End