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"We're here." I pulled the big SUV into the empty spot between the beach house's legs.
The other two parking spaces were taken by a black Mercedes convertible
and a bright yellow Prius. Apparently my parents and sister had beat us
here. The three-story structure that would be our home for the week sat
overlooking the shoreline of Myrtle Beach. Identical houses, though
painted a different color, stood on either side of it. "About time," my son Joseph said with a heavy dose of sarcasm. He was
seventeen and still in the middle of resenting everything his mother and
I did for him.

"I hope my room looks out on the beach," his sister, Carrie, said. She
was fifteen and far more enthusiastic about the vacation.

"I'm sure your Aunt Lydia has probably already claimed one of those for
herself," Melanie, my wife of almost nineteen years said to Carrie. Her
crisp Manchester accent put a different emphasis on the words. "Perhaps
she'll switch with you. Right, Douglas?"

I bit down on my tongue to keep from responding immediately. My kid
sister Lydia was, to put it bluntly, a flake. She was thirty-two,
recently identifying as gay (despite spending most of her formative
years bashing homosexuals), had never held down a steady job, and spent
nearly every dime she earned from her "art" to get a new tattoo or
piercing.

"I'm sure if you ask her nicely, pumpkin," I said to Carrie. "Aunt Lydia
has a soft spot for you."

My wife and daughter went inside the house while Joseph and I unloaded
the car. I was on top of the SUV, unhooking the straps holding the
luggage carrier when I heard someone say hello to Joseph.

Leaning over, I found myself looking down at a rather attractive young
lady in a bright green bikini. She had long, copper-colored hair that
drifted down over her small shoulders and framed a pretty face wearing
dark sunglasses. The bathing suit probably wasn't designed to be
indecent, but the developed curves stuffed into it made it almost
illegal. From my vantage point, I could see right down into her uplifted
cleavage.

I glanced over at Joseph, noticing that he was in rapt appreciation of
the beauty before him. It took him a second to regain his composure
before he tried to speak.

"Uh, hi," he said. As if he weren't sure how to English properly.

"I'm Kara. Kara Beauregard," the redhead said, flashing a small smile up
at me and a huge one at Joseph. "We're staying next door." She shrugged.
"Thought I'd come over and say hello to my temporary neighbors."

My son nodded, then finally started to catch up. "I'm Joe," he said,
standing a bit taller now that the initial shock had worn off. "That's
my dad, Doug." He pointed up at me.

I frowned and looked from my firstborn to the girl. "Mr. Thomas will
do."

She smiled. "Of course. Mr. Thomas."

God, if I was nineteen again. Or not married to the love of my life.
Joseph might have inherited my large build and good looks, but he was
still wet behind the ears when it came to handling a smoking hot female
like Kara.

"Who's we?" I asked, nodding at the house beside ours.

"Right now, it's just me, my little brother Billy, and our grandmother.
My mom and dad are flying down tomorrow night. This is our first time to
Myrtle Beach."

I nodded, then looked at Joseph. "Help me get the rest of the luggage
into the house, say hello to your aunt and grandparents, then maybe you
can show Kara around the boardwalk before dinner." I felt a bit
embarrassed for having to throw my son a bone like that, but I already
knew he wasn't going to take the initiative.

"Sounds great," Kara said. "Is it okay if Billy comes with us? He's only
ten and can't stay by himself."

"What about your grandmother?"

She frowned. "She had a stroke last year. She's not able to walk or use
one of her arms very well. Billy can behave most of the time, but if
something happens, she won't be able to do much."

I looked at Joseph. "Why don't you see if Carrie wants to go, too?"

"Okay." He looked at Kara. "We'll come over in about twenty minutes."

"Sounds good." She flashed him a smile that would have made most red-
blooded American men as hard as tempered steel, then sauntered off.

We got all the bags into the house, and I made sure Joseph at least
spent five minutes in greetings with my parents and sister.

As expected, Lydia was droning on about the fight for feminism and
artistic freedom to our folks, both of whom were doing their best to be
supportive of their youngest child. Growing up, I had been instilled
with a strong work ethic and the drive to succeed at everything I did.
During my senior year of high school, I worked my butt off at a local
construction site. By the time I graduated, I knew I wanted to be a
general contractor. Thirty years later, I owned three construction
companies and had more governmental contracts than anyone I knew
personally.

I met Melanie on a trip to London when I was twenty-seven. She was a
lawyer at a small firm and her big green eyes and infectious laugh had
captured my heart in an instant. We exchanged numbers and spoke
regularly on the phone. After three more trips to see her in person, I
managed to convince her to marry me and move to America.

Joseph had been born a year later.

"Douglas," Melanie said, placing her hand on my father's arm when Lydia
stopped for a breath. "Roger just told me that he and Diane were
thinking of taking an extended trip to England this fall. He suggested
we join them."

My father was a doctor who'd been able to make some pretty good
investments over the years. He had retired from his practice at the age
of sixty, and he and my mother were always jetting off on one adventure
or another.

"Sounds good," I said to her. "I know it's been a while since we visited
your parents. Maybe we can spend a little time with them while we're
there."

We got settled in, Lydia agreeing to switch rooms with Carrie. Joseph
and his sister left with Kara and Billy, who was the complete opposite
of his sister. Where she was gorgeous and polite, he was rude and
extremely overweight.

While they were gone, the five of us sat on the deck outside talking.
Mother made the mistake of mentioning Lydia's girlfriend, which resulted
in my father snorting in a derisive manner and rolling his eyes. Roger
Thomas had nothing against homosexuals, he just firmly refused to
believe that one of his children could be one.

"It's always the new, edgy thing with you. Isn't it?" He said to Lydia.
"First the tattoos and piercings. Then shaving half your hair off and
joining that damned artists' commune in Michigan. Now you're a lesbian
feminist fighting against 'the Man'. What's next? Transsexual? Are you
going to decide that you're really a guy?"

"Roger," my mother said sharply. "This really isn't the time."

He rolled his eyes again. "It's never the right time is it? I don't know
where we went wrong with her, but it's too bad she couldn't be more like
Douglas."

Lydia jumped to her feet, knocking over her glass of wine. "Well, I'm
sorry I couldn't be more like Mr. Perfect. I guess he managed to get all
the greatness and left nothing for me." She put her palm on my father's
chest. "Maybe if you'd wanted me to be more like Douglas, perhaps you
should have treated me like you did him."

Melanie had hopped up as well, trying to keep the spilled alcohol from
running off the table. She hated the way my family could go from being
perfectly fine to shouting at each other. Particularly my father and
sister.

"Look," I said standing up. "We all came here for a vacation away from
the stress of our normal lives. How about we just try to put ourselves
in each other's shoes for once." I shook my head as I looked at my
father and sister. "Every time we get together, you two ..."

A wave of dizziness splashed over me as the world around pitched
violently to the right. I floundered my arms for balance, but darkness
overcame me before I hit the deck.

I felt someone lightly shaking my shoulder, tugging me back to
consciousness.

"Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

Joseph? Joseph was trying to bring me around? How long had I been passed
out?"

I slowly peeled my eyes open to see my son looming over me. Vertigo was
taking its time releasing my brain, but I had still returned to
awareness enough that I could hear the sounds of screams coming from all
around me.

I fought against the nausea and slowly sat up, looking around.

The first thing I noticed was that I wasn't on the deck of the beach
house. Instead, I was several blocks away, sitting on the soft sand next
to the sidewalk that ran along the Strip. Several cars had crashed into
buildings and light posts, and everyone around seemed to be either
screaming, staring around blankly, or grabbing themselves with shocked
expressions.

Joseph placed his hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asked again.

I nodded, turning away from the pandemonium to look at him.

"I ... I think so." Only the voice that came out of my mouth was
definitely not mine. "What the hell?"

"Kara, what's wrong?"

Kara? I looked down to see what seemed to be a huge amount of cleavage
wrapped in a green bikini looking back at me. Just beyond my
disturbingly large bust were a pair of shapely legs I had been admiring
only a few hours earlier. The dainty toes poking out of the sandals on
my feet were painted a light pink shade.

"Oh shit," I said, wincing again at the soft, feminine voice. "This is
way too much."

Joseph nodded, glancing around at the commotion. I noticed his hand
remained firmly planted on my shoulder. Almost possessively. Then he
looked behind me. "Carrie and Billy are waking up."

I shrugged his hand off my shoulder and turned around. My daughter and
Kara's brother were sitting up, rubbing at their heads and blinking with
confusion. They looked down at themselves for a few moments, Billy
poking at his bulging gut. Carrie's hands cupped her smallish breasts
beneath the tank top, her head shaking back and forth. Then her eyes
locked onto mine and she jumped to her feet.

"You!" She screamed, pointing at me. "Give me back my body!"

Joseph got to his feet, moving between me and his sister. Or what he
thought was his sister. "Carrie," he said. "Calm down."

"I'm not Carrie, jerk!" she shouted. "I'm Kara!"

I climbed to my feet, trying not to be too put off by the way the body I
was in wanted to move. There weren't enough muscles in places I was used
to, and far too much jiggling in others. Although, I did have to admit
that, other than a slight residual headache, I felt better than I've
felt in years.

Joseph turned and looked at me, then to the street. Several people were
mimicking Carrie, or Kara as it were, accosting others and demanding
they give back their bodies. His mouth dropped open slightly and, after
a few seconds, looked at the body of his little sister. "You're Kara?"
His gaze went back to me. "Then who are you?"

I sighed, bringing my arms up to cross them over my chest to provide
some type of modesty. I wasn't a fan of the way he kept trying to look
at the barely-covered mounds. "I'm Dad," I said. "Douglas."

His eyes nearly widened enough to fall out of their sockets. "Dad?" he
said in a voice laden with shock and dismay.

"Oh, Douglas," the boy behind Carrie/Kara said in a familiar British
accent. "What happened to us?"

All three of us turned to look at him. Carrie/Kara knelt down beside
him. "You're not Billy, are you?"

The chubby boy shook his head, then pointed at me. "I'm his wife. Her
wife." She stomped her foot, a trait she had when something was vexing
her. "Douglas' wife. Joseph's mum."

"We need to get back to the house," I said, choosing to look at my son
rather than the pre-pubescent boy that talked like my wife or the girl
in the driver's seat of my daughter's body. "It looks like whatever
happened didn't just happen to us. We need to find out if it was just
the Strip, the whole city, or ... worse."

The walk back to the beach house took longer than I expected. In
addition to the people running around in various stages of panic, I was
fighting this strange, unfamiliar body. A few blocks into the journey,
Kara closed the distance to walk beside me.

"I hope this is only temporary," she said in a low voice. "But until we
get it fixed, can I give you some advice? You've got hips, boobs, and an
ass now. Just let them do the work and it will be much better." She
shrugged. "Believe me, when everything grew in all at once, it took me a
while to move normally, too."

"Thanks," I said, biting my tongue to say something negative. Right now,
I had to hope that the strange incident was not only isolated, but being
investigated by the Powers That Be.

The four of us climbed the stairs to the door of the house and went
inside. The place was eerily silent, except for the unnerving sound of a
droning tone coming from the living room. I rushed through the doorway
to see myself, my parents, Melanie, and Lydia all huddled together on
the sofa, staring at the television.

The screen had an image that read "Emergency Broadcast. Please Stand
By." Those five words sent a bucket of ice water swirling through my
veins. This was obviously much bigger than Myrtle Beach.

The quintet on the sofa turned to look at us as we came into the room.
Melanie hopped to her feet and grabbed Carrie/Kara.

"Who are you?" she asked, leaning down to peer into the young girl's
eyes. "That's my body." Oh god, I thought. Carrie's in her mother.

"I'm Kara," Carrie's mouth replied. When Melanie's eyes widened, my
daughter's head nodded at me and the boy holding my hand. "Your dad got
mine, and your mom is in Billy's."

The stares being directed at me made my face grow hot. I released the
hand in mine and covered my chest again. "Did you all switch, too?" I
asked. "Because Joseph apparently didn't."

My head nodded. "I'm in my son's body." Eyes I'd seen only in pictures
and reflections looked at the four of us before focusing on me. "I'm
sorry, Douglas." Tears began to spill out down my cheeks.

I almost started crying myself. "It's okay, Mom." Then I looked at the
rest of them. Lydia looked like she was about to throw up. But the way
she was sitting, with her leg crossed over her knee and a slight lean to
her side, I had a good idea who was riding around in my sister's skull.
"Dad?"

The head gleaming with over a dozen shiny bits of metal nodded once.
"Unfortunately, it would seem that your sister and I have traded
places." He shook his head. "I'm not going to try to attempt to explain
how this could have possibly happened. However, despite the randomness
that the switches seemed to have occurred, I can only guess we swapped
because we were touching when it happened."

I nodded, then turned to my mother. Or at least, the person who looked
like my mother. "Constance," she said, giving the barest hint of a
smile. "Constance Beauregard."

"Gramma?" Carrie/Kara said before rushing over to drop to her knees
before the woman who'd birthed me. "Gramma, is it really you?"

My mother's head nodded. "Yes, Kara. It's me." Her eyes came up to look
at the boy standing there looking completely lost. "Billy?"

The teen shook her head. "That's the wife of the man who got my body.
Melanie Thomas." Then she jumped to her feet, whipping her head around.
"Wait. Then where is Billy? Everyone is here, right?"

The woman next to her, put her hand on the girl's arm. "Not everyone,
dear." She frowned. "I'm not here."

I remained behind with my wife, Lydia, my father, my mother, and Joseph
while Kara/Carrie and her grandmother went next door. They returned a
few minutes later with wet eyes and trembling bodies.

"He's dead," Kara's grandmother said. "Perhaps the shock of what
happened caused my body to have another stroke." She wiped away the
streams of tears running down her cheeks. "I hope ... I hope it was
painless."

Just then, the television came to life. The Emergency Broadcast screen
was replaced by an uncomfortable-looking man who might be in his late
fifties. However, the teletype at the bottom of the screen read "Anita
Johansson." I recognized the name from hearing some of my guys talk
during break time. Apparently, she was this super-hot television anchor
who'd parlayed a modeling career into a successful stab at journalism.

Now, she looked like the kind of guy who spent his days at a dive bar,
drinking Scotch straight.

"Good afternoon," the former beauty pageant winner said in a gruff,
scratchy voice. "By now, I'm sure everyone in America has discovered
that something completely ... unprecedented has occurred. The
authorities are referring to it as the Great Shift. Right now, details
are sketchy, but it is assumed that nearly 93 percent of the world's
population has switched bodies with someone."

I looked over at Joseph. Talk about winning the lottery. Looks like my
son was one of the lucky seven percent.

"Right now, martial law has been declared in almost every country.
Elected leaders are no longer in their proper bodies and until such time
as the true identities of the people who are supposed to be in charge
can be assessed, the highest ranking official not affected by this Great
Shift will maintain order."

She sighed and scratched at the heavy stubble under her chin and down
her neck. "Folks, this is a nightmare for everyone. If you're one of the
ones who are still themselves, please help assist the affected around
you. If you are in a body that's not yours, please try to find the
rightful owner so proper identification can be made. We can get this
sorted out. If we all remain calm and work together."

The screen went back to the EBS place holder. However, a new script had
been added at the bottom reading. "Local Identification Centers will be
operational within twenty-four hours. Please remain calm and indoors
until the location and times of the centers is announced."

Kara's grandmother tried to call for an ambulance to pick up her dead
body, but all the circuits were busy. We decided as a group to remain in
the one house together, just in case something new was reported.

Dinner was hotdogs and hamburgers cooked on the grill and washed down
with diet soda. No one really had much of an appetite. Except for my
wife. Apparently, Billy's body was used to eating mass quantities and
didn't give a damn who was currently living in it. She ate a hamburger
and three hotdogs before bursting into tears and running out of the
room.

Sleeping arrangements were also a bit of a contention. I wanted to sleep
in the same bed as Melanie, but Kara didn't want her body in bed with
her brother. Carrie didn't mind that the older girl was planning on
spending the night with her body beside my mother's. Joseph merely shook
his head and said that he planned on crashing on the living room floor,
offering his own bed to whomever wanted it.

In the end, Kara and her grandmother slept in the room that was supposed
to be Joseph's. My father took Lydia's room, claiming that since her
stuff was in there, it just made sense. Lydia agreed and took my
parent's room. My mother was a bit upset that her husband wanted to
sleep alone, but my wife convinced her it was probably because the
thought of the bodies of his adult children sharing a bed was too weird
for him to process.

She ended up in Carrie's room.

The rest of us grabbed blankets and pillows to make a huge pile on the
living room floor. Kara had been nice enough to go back to her house to
grab some clothing for me and my wife. She didn't want her grandmother
to have to deal with seeing her own lifeless body again.

I went into one of the bathrooms when I could finally hold off no
longer. Luckily, I'd been married long enough to have watched my wife
pee nearly a thousand times, so I knew what to do. However, the
knowledge wasn't enough to counter the oddness of feeling wet between my
legs and the rough sensation of paper being dragged across my crotch.

When I was done, I quickly slipped into the clothes Kara had provided.
The panties and yoga pants went on without issue, and I deliberately
didn't look at myself as I removed the bikini top and slipped into the
sports bra and t-shirt. Six hours previously, I might have been tempted
to sneak as many looks as I could at the nubile teenaged body of the
girl next door.

Now, I felt like an even bigger pervert since I was in it.

Melanie was dressed in a pair of baggy nylon shorts and a Superman tee
that almost didn't cover her big belly. The look she gave me when I
emerged from the bathroom was one-part sadness, and one-part jealousy.
I'm sure she was wondering, at least on some level, why she didn't get
the redhead's body.

Joseph's eyes started to look me over as I walked toward the couch. Then
he shuddered and turned his gaze elsewhere. I wanted to laugh. After all
that had transpired since the Great Shift, he was still unable to
remember that the hot girl before him was really his dad.

Melanie had helped Carrie with getting ready for bed while I was trying
not to ogle myself. Her long blonde hair was much thicker than Carrie's
had been and required a great deal of brushing to avoid tangles.

The four of us, three still feeling a bit out of place, gathered
together on the floor and sat in silence, occasionally glancing over at
the television. Before long, I noticed Melanie's eyes getting heavy and
she rolled over onto her side, beginning to snore like the piglet she
now resembled. Carrie lasted a few minutes longer, but eventually she,
too, drifted off to dreamland.

"Dad?" Joseph said quietly once his mom and sister were asleep. "What
if they can't fix this?"

I didn't answer immediately. The same question had been nagging at me
since Anita's news report. I had the sneaking suspicion that our new
situation was going to be permanent. Or, if not permanent, a long time
in repairing.

"I guess we'll find a way to adapt, son." It felt weird to hear the
sultry voice in my throat call him "son". I tried to smile. "The
important part is that we are all together and we know where and who we
all are. I have a feeling that there are a lot of people in bodies they
don't know. With strangers who are in the same boat."

He nodded and then went back to staring silently at the television.

Having nothing more to say, I rolled over onto my side, aware of how the
motion made my breasts feel. Would it be the end of the world if I was
stuck in this body for the rest of my life? I pondered the pros and cons
of suddenly being young again, albeit a female this time. I didn't get
far in my musings before sleep claimed me.

The next morning, I was awakened by someone stepping on my leg.

"Ow!" I yelped, sitting upright and pushing the mess of red hair out of
my face.

"Sorry," Melanie said as she sat down next to me. "I still can't seem to
get the gist of this ... body."

I nodded and put my arm around her, trying to ignore the way she
stiffened at my touch. Did she recoil because of who she was now? Or
because of who I was?

Within A few minutes later, the television screen jumped back to the
national news channel from the previous day. The older man Anita
Johansson had Shifted into reappeared. However, the scruffy beard was
shaved smooth and his dirty, thinning hair had been washed, conditioned,
and styled with Hollywood precision. The stained clothing replaced with
a perfectly-fitting gray suit.

"Good morning, America. We apologize for taking so long to come back on
the air. As I'm sure you can imagine, the scene here in the studio, as
well as the country, has been a bit chaotic." She flashed a practiced
smile, and I noticed someone had done a hell of a whitening job on the
slightly crooked teeth.

"In a few minutes, the locations of your local Identification Center
will flow across the bottom of your screen. Please bring whatever
documentation or information you have that can corroborate your former
identity. If possible, please try to have the person who you Shifted
with accompany you. The National Guard has been mobilized to help
process identities and maintain order. We will continue to bring you
updates as they become available."

We waited as the image went to a blue screen with the silhouette of
South Carolina superimposed upon it. A few minutes later, cities and
addressed started scrolling from the bottom to the top.

"The Pavilion," I said when the name appeared. "That's just down the
street. We can walk it."

We roused the rest of the house to let them know the latest news. Kara
and her grandmother wanted to go immediately, but my mother urged them
to slow down.

"We should probably eat something and get properly dressed before going
down there. There's bound to be quite a long line and I, for one, don't
want to be standing in it hungry and in my pajamas."

Then the door at the end of the hallway slammed open and my father
appeared, followed by Lydia. He marched away from her as fast as the
shorter legs would carry him, but my sister wasn't about to let him get
away. Her face, which needed shaving, was bright red with fury.

"What the hell, Dad? You can't just make changes because you want to.
That's still my body, you know!"

We all turned to look at the commotion. My father entered the kitchen
and grabbed a mug from the counter. He filled it to the top with coffee
before turning around. Sometime between retiring for the night and
getting up this morning, he had removed every bit of metal from his
face. The eyebrow bars, the nose ring, the double lip piercings, and
every hoop in his ears was gone.

Lydia marched over and towered above him. "What do you think you were
doing?"

He sighed and put the mug down on the counter before getting up into his
daughter's face. "I took all that disgusting crap out. At least, the
pieces I could remove on my own." He shook his head. "I mean, Jesus
Christ, Lydia. You had your clit and labia pierced, too?"

Carrie snickered, but a stern look from her grandfather silenced her
quickly.

He gestured at the ornate designs running up and down his slender,
hairless arms. "I probably will just have to learn to live with this,
but every one of those damn piercings is getting removed as soon as
possible."

"You can't do that," she whined. Which was eerie, coming from the mouth
of the man who had always seemed like an unshakable force for most of my
life. "That's my body you're screwing with."

"Not anymore," he said, taking another sip of the java. "You had
probably better get used to the new you. You're going to be in there for
a while."

"You don't think they'll find a way to Shift us back?" Constance asked
from her seat at the dining table.

My father shook her head. "Very doubtful. First of all, they might not
know how it happened. Even if they do, they might not know how to
reverse it." He frowned, making Lydia's face look like it was about to
start crying. "Plus, I think it's too late to put everyone back where
they belong. If it has a proximity feature, as I suspect, then people
who Shifted because they were near to each other are probably now far
apart." He paused, looking away from his wife's former face. "Some of
the Shiftees are dead."

The group's mood, uplifted by the earlier announcement from the
television, took a nosedive.

We agreed to leave for the Pavilion in approximately two hours, in order
to give everyone time to eat, get dressed, and write down all their
personal information for the one who'd ended up in their body.

I was out on the deck, watching the tide come in on the mostly-deserted
beach. Given the circumstances of the past twenty-four hours, I wasn't
surprised to see that splashing in the surf or lounging in the sun had
lost their appeal for now.

"Hey," Kara said as she came through the door. "Can we, uh, go for a
walk?"

I looked at her for a moment. She was wearing a dark blue tank top and
khaki shorts I remembered Carrie buying specifically for this trip. I
was still in the yoga pants and tee I'd slept in. Kara had informed me
earlier that, other than similar items to sleep in, she had only packed
skirts, dresses, and bathing suits.

"Sure," I said slowly as I stood up. "Lead the way."

We went down the steps to the edge of the dunes, then walked around
until we were under the carport of the house next door. When we stopped
walking, I gave her a dubious look.

"This is all very ... secretive," I said.

"I just needed to talk to someone who isn't losing their mind over the
Shift."

"Oh? And you think that would be me?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I mean, other than the obvious issues with being
jammed into a body that's not yours, you've managed to remain calm and
rational. Everyone else..."

"They're having a harder time?"

She nodded again. "Your dad and sister are about to kill each other.
Your mom hasn't really said a lot since we all identified ourselves.
Carrie has been super sweet with trying to help me adjust to her body,
but she's freaking out over suddenly being old and her mom."

"Melanie's not that old," I protested. "She's only forty-five."

"Yeah? And now your fifteen-year-old daughter has to deal with losing
thirty years. I mean, at least I only got five years younger. That's a
manageable difference."

"Wait," I said. "You're twenty?"

She shook her head. "No, Douglas. You're twenty."

"Gramma seems to be okay. I mean, she's sad that Billy died, but also
happy to be in a body ten years younger that works properly and is in
good health." She looked into my eyes for a moment before continuing.
"The biggest issue is your wife. As you said, she was only forty-five.
And she looked very good for a woman her age with kids."

"Now she's a ... err, your little brother."

"I don't think she's coping. Not really. I think she's just going along.
When your father stated that he figured we were stuck, I thought she was
going to throw up."

"I'm sure she'll come around soon," I said. Though something in the back
of my mind whispered otherwise. "I mean, she's ten again. Once she's
through puberty and loses the baby fat, I think she'll be okay."

"It's not baby fat, Douglas. Billy has ... had a glandular problem. He's
been big all his life, no matter what type of diet our folks had him on.
When he was diagnosed last year, they just decided to let him be happy.
You know, since he was going to be fat anyway."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. I loved my wife dearly, even in her
new body. However, I also knew she could be very vain. If she found out
that she was destined to grow up to be an overweight man, regardless of
how much she exercised or watched what she ate, she was not going to
take it well.

I sighed. It was weird hearing such logical observations coming out of
the mouth of my teenaged daughter. The deepest thing I could recall
Carrie saying recently was an argument on why one particular actor was
better than another in a particular role. "You've raised some good
points. I guess we'll have to see how things go as time progresses."

"Oh, and I wanted to give you these. I just figured you'd prefer if I
did it privately." She reached into the back pocket of her shorts and
handed me a small, plastic case. "They're birth control pills."

I laughed and handed them back. "That's okay, Kara. I don't plan on
having sex in your body. At least not anytime in the foreseeable
future."

She shook her head, refusing to accept the case. "I don't plan on you
having sex in my body either, Douglas. However, unless the Shift
changed something in my cycle, you are less than a week from your
period. The pills help with the cramping. Which, I'm afraid to say, is
really painful."

I felt the color drain out of my face. I'd been so smug about knowing
how to wipe after peeing and figuring out how to put on a bra, I hadn't
given any thought to the fact that I was in the body of a fertile young
woman. Periods and their related problems had been the last thing on my
mind. "What about ... protection?"

She smirked. It was something I'd never seen Carrie do and it made her
youthful face light up with amusement.

"Since I'm sure you're not talking about a condom or diaphragm, I'm
going to assure you that I always travel prepared for things to start
early. There are pads, liners, and tampons upstairs."

I nodded, dreading having to get Melanie teach me how everything was
supposed to work. "Thanks," I said. "We should probably head back so we
can go get ourselves straightened out. At least, legally."

We returned along the same path we'd used before. However, when we
emerged from between the hedges separating the two yards, I saw Melanie
standing on the deck above. Her eyes stared at us as something unhappy
drifted across her chubby cheeks. Then she turned around and went back
inside.

The line to get processed was almost two blocks long, though it moved
quicker than I would have expected. Our group didn't talk much as we
waited, though Melanie complained more than once about being way too
hot. Billy's body had more insulation than she was used to.

After standing in the hot, summer sun for nearly an hour, it was our
turn to go inside the gigantic tent set up in the parking lot of the
closed amusement park. We were led to a table staffed by a young woman
in her late twenties with dark brown hair tucked under a military cap.
She wore fatigue pants and a grey t-shirt with the National Guard logo
on the left chest. A computer monitor and keyboard were on the table
before her.

"Next," she called out.

Kara and I were at the front of our group, so we went first.

"Full name, current residence, and social security number if you know
it."

"Douglas Matthew Thomas," I said. Then I gave her my current address and
my social.

Her fingers flew over the keyboard. She turned the monitor so I could
see the screen. There, in full-color, was the same picture on my
driver's license. "That you?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. At least, it was." I tried to smile at my own gallows
humor.

She chuckled softly. "I get you. Really. This Great Shift thing has been
hell on everyone." Her fingers resumed dancing on the keyboard. "Do you
know who you are now?"

Kara stepped forward to stand beside me. "Kara Marie Beauregard. I don't
recall my social security number though."

"Current residence and date of birth, then?"

Kara provided the additional information and the image from her driver's
license appeared next to mine. The soldier studied the dates and facts
for a moment before typing again. "Twenty-eight years," she said cutting
her eyes at me for a second before looking at the screen again. "It's
like having to do your whole life over."

I arched a brow. "Did you end up in someone younger than you were?" I
asked.

She smirked and nodded. "Yeah. I switched with that one over there." She
lifted one hand and pointed at another processing table. The female
soldier sitting behind it, helping process my parents, was the spitting
image of the one helping us.

For a second, I wasn't sure what I was seeing. Then Kara caught on
first.

"Twins," she said, grinning.

The solder nodded, continuing her task. "Yeah. I used to be older by
five minutes. Now she's acting like she's the more mature one now."

"How did you know you Shifted," I asked. "I mean, you guys look exactly
the same."

"The unaffected didn't pass out. Only the ones who Shifted did. Plus,
there's this." She stopped typing to lift the bottom of her tee. A scar
ran along her abdomen near the top of her government-issue pants. "She
had an appendectomy when we were eleven."

As I pondered the notion that I could have swapped with Lydia instead of
Kara, the soldier asked for the information on the body Kara had Shifted
into. I gave her Carrie's name and social. The screen changed, with
Kara's picture moving to where mine had been and Carrie's high school
photo appearing in its place. A few moments later, the woman stabbed her
finger on one last button.

"Done," she said. Beside her, a printer began to shake and hum. The
piece of paper that slid out onto the tray had a picture of the old me
and an image of my new appearance. There was a bar code inked across the
bottom. "Okay, in about five weeks or so, you'll get a new ID card in
the mail at your residence on file. It will look like a smaller version
of that." Her tone turned slightly serious. "That card will be the only
accepted legal form of identification for you. Your old driver's
license, or hers, is now invalid. If you lose your ID card, you'll have
to go through processing again. Got it?"

We both nodded. She then turned and handed Kara her new identity. "Good
luck," she said.

"Hey, one question?"

The soldier arched a brow. "Yeah?"

"What about the government? Did everyone Shift?"

She glanced around, then lowered her voice. "I haven't heard anything
official. But some of the others said they heard the President is
missing. Apparently, some Chinese schoolgirl on a tour of the White
House landed in his body. Took them a while to find a translator. They
also said the Veep was across town with his mistress when it happened. I
guess he's laying low for now so he doesn't have to reveal he was
banging some washed-up porn star on the sly."

I sighed. If it was a pain for the average person to get their new
identities sorted out, how much worse could it be for the people in
power? The last thing the world needed was some lunatic with nuclear
launch codes.

Back at the beach house, I took a long shower to wash off the sweat and
grime. At first, I was hesitant to touch the more private parts of
Kara's body. Then I remembered what my father had said and figured that
accepting that there was nothing wrong with touching myself would help
speed up the acclimation process. However, I kept my soaping antics
completely PG and worked on simply getting clean.

When I emerged from the bathroom, I found Melanie sitting on the edge of
the bed. She pointed at a bag in a nearby chair. The top of the satchel
was open.

"Your little girlfriend brought you some more clothes," she said with a
bit of spite. Then she held up a pair of black lace thong panties. "Are
you going to model these for her later?"

I stomped over and snatched the undergarments from her meaty little
fist. "What the hell is wrong with you, Mels? Are you seriously getting
jealous? Of Kara?"

She crossed her arms over her chest, revealing the little man boobs
beneath her shirt. "I've noticed you two becoming rather chummy today."
She shook her head. "Is it because she looks like Carrie now? Are you
lusting after your own daughter? You pervert."

My hand came up all on its own and struck her across one of her flabby
jaws. The sound was a gunshot in the room. Her eyes widened and her hand
flew up to cradle the glowing red spot on her cheek.

"I'm sorry," I said, sitting down on the bed. "I shouldn't have done
that."

She glared at me, still holding her face.

"I'm a fish out of water here, Melanie. Just like you. Like the rest of
us. Even Joseph. He might not have been directly affected, but he's
dealing with the aftermath of having his entire family in completely
different bodies." I sighed. "Kara lost her brother, and probably her
parents. Their plane would have been airborne when the Shift happened. I
think her trying to help me adjust to being her is her way of coping
with it all."

Slowly, my wife lowered her hand. The imprint of where I'd stuck her was
definitely visible on her pasty white face.

"You know what I see, Douglas? I see you enjoying your time with her
while I have to be stuck in this ugly, disgusting blob of a boy." She
hiccupped, tears beginning to run down her face. "I'm going to have to
spend the rest of my life in this person. I remember how rough puberty
was on Joseph and I'm not looking forward to going through that again
from this side of it. Plus, how are we going to work?"

I gave her a strange look. "I still own my companies. Once things
settle, people will start building again. Until then, we have enough
saved to last a few years. You might be in the body of a little boy, but
you still know how to practice law, right?"

She sighed. "No, Douglas. How are we going to work? You and me? It will
be years before I'm old enough to do anything sexual. And even then, I'm
not gay. Or, I guess I am, since I'm apparently still attracted to men."

I thought about how I'd seen her little boy eyes staring at my mother
during breakfast. It had been the same way she looked at me when she
wanted us to lock ourselves in the bedroom for the day. As for me, I
hadn't given any consideration about my possible sexual orientation. I
mean, I still found Melanie's body attractive, but the moment I
remembered it was my daughter in it, any desire wilted like a raisin in
the sun.

"I don't know, Mels. I just don't know." I reached out for her, but she
slipped off the bed and away from my touch.

"I don't either," she said, stopping at the door. "I guess we'll have to
decide when we get home."

Melanie avoided me after that. In fact, most of us began to hang around
with only one or two of the others. Kara and I spent a lot of time
together. Sometimes Carrie or Joseph joined us. My parents and Kara's
grandmother formed a little trio that sat around talking about who knew
what. Once or twice, I saw my mother touch Lydia on the leg with my
hand. A simple, innocent gesture. For now. The thought of my parents
having sex in my and Lydia's bodies made me nauseated. Of course, the
way Constance was behaving as well turned the pairing into a three-some.

Lydia spent a lot of time by herself. Which was probably a good thing. I
had discovered she had snuck off one evening to a tattoo parlor on the
Strip that had reopened. She came back with three new inked artworks on
her arms.

At first, my father had threatened to beat her for doing it. Then she
reminded him that it was he who claimed we were never getting our old
bodies back. Since his body was now hers, she would do with it what she
pleased.

True to her prediction, Kat's period arrived six days after the Shift.

I awoke that morning feeling as if someone had beat me repeatedly across
the abdomen and back. Thankfully, the constant contractions killed any
appetite I might have had since there was no way I could get out of bed,
much less walk across the house.

Kat brought me some chicken broth that evening, and some Midol.
Afterwards, she rubbed my back for more than an hour to ease the worst
of the cramps.

"The first day is always the worst," she said. "If you don't take the
pills, the first day lasts more than one."

I found her concern and care for my condition sweet and comforting.
However, it only served to further drive a wedge between me and Melanie.
When my attempts to reassure her that there was nothing romantic between
Kara and I went nowhere, I decided that she could just get over it or
die mad.

The cellular network came back online four days after the Shift. Of
course, many people had jumped into a body that didn't have access to
their phone. A lot more, however, swapped with someone in their house or
neighborhood.

I called my company's team leaders, checking to see how they'd weathered
the event. Three of them had Shifted with their wives, one with his
eleven-year-old daughter, and one with his son's fiancée. Two of the
calls were answered by strangers who had no idea where their bodies'
original owners had ended up.

Kara was able, after a really long day, to get through to someone at the
airline who had kept their own body. They confirmed, after triple
checking their logs, that her parent's plane had landed safely after the
Shift. However, when the passengers had been put through the
identification process, her folks' names had not come up.

"It's possible they were infantized," the lady on the phone said.

"Infantized?" Kara asked. She had the phone on speaker mode so we could
both hear the call.

"Yes. It seems that adults who Shifted into children under two years of
age cannot remember anything about who they were. One of the doctors
here thinks the under-developed brain of someone that young cannot hold
a lifetime of memories." The lady sounded extremely apologetic. "I'm
afraid that there were about a dozen infants on that flight, so the
likelihood of your parents Shifting into one of them is pretty good."

Kara only cried for a few minutes. She'd already resigned herself that
her parents were already dead. Now that they might be alive, even if
they were babies, eased some of that pain.

"I guess I really am on my own now," she said as she wiped her cheeks.

Fifteen days after the Great Shift, our mis-matched tribe decided it was
time to abandon the beach house. Not so much because the owners wanted
us out, but because we had reached a point where we needed to get away
from each other.

My parents decided to return home to Michigan. Despite being a tattooed,
thirty-year-old woman, my father wanted to start practicing medicine
again. Since his license had never been revoked, and the Identity Card
would prove who he really was, he would be able to pick up as if he'd
never stopped. My mother said that she was considering taking up golf.
Now that she had a more athletic body.

Not surprisingly, Constance decided to go with them.

Lydia left in the middle of the night. The next morning, we found a note
that read, "Hate you all. Never want to see you again."

Joseph, Melanie, Carrie, and I were heading back to Northern Virginia. I
invited Kara to come with us, despite knowing that Melanie would be dead
set against it.

"Thanks for the offer, Douglas," she said. "But I think I'm going to
strike out on my own for a while. I've pretty much been taking care of
Billy and Gramma for the past two years, maybe it's time for me to
finally go to college."

"That's understandable," I said, forcing a smile I didn't feel on my
face. "Still, you've got the address. Stop by anytime. You're always
welcome."

She cut her eyes over to the rear of the house. Melanie sat in one of
the lounge chairs, looking at the ocean. Joseph and Carrie were inside
getting the last of our things ready to be loaded into the car.

"Somehow, I doubt that," she said.

"You are. I know Carrie would be happy to have you visit as much as you
wanted. Probably Joseph, too."

"What about you?" she asked.

I stared down at her for a few minutes, then nodded. "Me, too."

She laughed and pulled her sunglasses down over her eyes. After another
couple of seconds, she rose up on her tiptoes and placed a kiss on my
mouth. Then she dropped back down and grinned. "Maybe I'll look you up
in three years."

"Don't wait that long," I said. Then a did a little pose. "After all,
have you seen how hot I am?"

"I have, girl. I really have." She started walking backward toward the
carport of the other house. "Bye ... Kara."

"Bye."

I took one last look around the area. The normal sounds of the beach had
finally started to return and life was beginning to get back to normal.

Or as normal as they could be after the Great Shift.

This story was generated by user zach3.

Images were generated with OpenAI's AI system, DALL·E 2, or uploaded by the user.

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