Tate goes shopping alone for the first time and meets a 39 year old homeless woman named Valerie. Valerie has been on the streets for 15 years and is very kind but vulnerable. When Tate tries to wal

Once upon a time, six-year-old Tate was very excited. His mother, a young woman of 26, had trusted him with some money. This was a big deal for Tate. It was his first time going shopping alone. The fluttering feeling of excitement in his chest made every moment more exciting. While shopping, Tate's eyes fell upon a spectacle. A woman, named Valerie, but notoriously known as Tender Heart by the folks around, was holding a small, noisy Chihuahua. Despite her harsh outward circumstances of homelessness that she had been navigating since she was 15, Valerie radiated kindness but was vulnerably positioned. The 39-year-old woman, dressed in a slightly tatty Adidas hoodie, coupled with a pair of holey jeans and pink Nike shoes, stood with a purse on her shoulder. Her hair, a dirty blonde, was cut short, possibly for maintenance. The Chihuahua seemed to take an instant dislike for him, barking relentlessly at Tate. Undeterred, Tate cautiously approached the dog, causing a sweet smile to spread across Valerie's worn face. In a moment that would forever change his life, Tate reached out to pet the dog and inadvertently ended up brushing against Valerie's hand. As he did so, a fierce dizziness crept over him. When he opened his eyes, everything around him suddenly felt different. In a shocking revelation, Tate found himself looking at his own reflection, but with distinct changes. Aspiring a pink pair of Nike shoes, wearing the same holey jeans and Adidas hoodie, and wielding the same purse on his shoulder was he, holding the same Chihuahua. In disbelief, he stammered, "I'm a girl." In his panic, Tate stripped off the hoodie, shoes, and abandoned the purse with the dog still in it. Spotting Valerie, or rather his previous form across the shop, he approached him in hopes of swapping back. However, Valerie, now in Tate's body, calmly rejected his plea, advising him to enjoy life as the new 39-year-old woman she had become. Tate, now Valerie, was horrified to hear she was older than his own mother. Slowly, his memories and thoughts began to evolve, altering until he only had memories of being Valerie. The new Valerie experienced the absence of her coat, shoes, purse and even the chihuahua, and voiced out, "Why am I barefoot and where is my purse and my hoodie? Oh God! Where is my dog?" Guided by the sound of the Chihuahua's bark, she found her abandoned clothes and possessions, immediately hugged her dog after putting on these things and moved onwards. A little down the road, she caught sight of her reflection in a mirror. Her blue eyes, now lined with years of hardship and survival, filled with tears. "I'm 39 years old and I'm still homeless. 24 years of homelessness. And I'm a soft-hearted woman. People can be so cruel if only they knew what it was like." In a cozy alleyway, she settled for the night. Hiding her purse in a secret spot, she snugly fit the Chihuahua in the space between her coat and tank top. Pulling the hood tighter around her head, she drifted off to sleep, her heart heavy with the weight of being vulnerable and kind Tender Heart, devoid of any recollection of the innocent six-year-old boy named Tate who once embarked on his first shopping trip alone.