After a moment, Ty shrugged to himself. Why not? He’s got plenty of time to kill, and he might as well spice things up by sticking with this family a bit longer.
He walked up to the table where the family was seated again. The family had mostly finished their lunch before merging together, and all that were left was half of a burger for Alex, and some fries.
The family was trying to adjust themselves so that the kid’s hands could help feed each other. Alex took a moment to reach his hand to pet Buster, who didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the family’s transformation. The dog stood next to them, panting enthusiastically at the food scraps on the table.
“So, uh, how do we do this?”, asked Suzie, looking down at the food in open wrappers still on the table. “We’re feeding Alex, right?”
“Looks like you’ll have to work together,” said Helen. “Okay. Suzie, Alex, go put your hands on one different side of the burger.”
Due to his invisibility, Ty was able to watch the family right up close by sitting on the other side of the table. For a group of people who just got merged as one, the family’s body seem to be quite coordinated with each other, though the two elder kids still fumbled as they tried picking up the burger from the table. Helen helped give some instructions, and the two teens moved it slowly towards Alex’s mouth. Eventually, they nearly mashed the burger against Alex’s nose, which made their mother and Suzie laugh.
Though each family member could only control some parts of their one body, they all shared each other’s sense of touch, even if it was weaker in some parts.
“Hey, I think I can taste Alex’s burgers a little,” said Suzie, as Alex munched on the burger (with a bit of sauce on his glasses). It was less like tasting food with her own tongue, and more like hallucinating a flavor. Though it was a very faint sensation, it was still noticeable.
“Good thing I can’t feel your mouth chewing,” she quipped. Alex grunted in agreement as he swallowed, when he paused and asked, “Hey, are you tasting potatoes?”
Helen did notice a faint flavor of ketchup and salted tomatoes, and she looked down. Below her, Billy and Katie were picking up fries with each of their lone hands, and they had fun trying to reach over and place them into each other’s mouths. Helen smiled. Even like this, her youngest kids were still enjoying themselves.
“Weird,” remarked Alex. “Hey…so if I got boobs, does that mean I’m a girl now?”
“I guess that depends on what I am, Alex,” quipped Frank from below their body. He was too full to eat. Actually, he wasn’t too sure how he can still eat food. With how the family was seated, Frank was right at the edge of the bench, using his tongue to scroll down the screen of his iPhone that his kids placed in front of him. Strangely, the other family members did feel the touch of Frank’s tongue, and it gave off a little of the odd tingles that they felt before.
“Mommy, I’m feeling it again,” said Billy, as the rest of the family took notice.
“Uh, Daddy?”, Katie asked. “Why do we suddenly feel nice when you get touched?”
Alex coughed out a bit of his burger out. He and Suzie glanced at their mother, who seemed to be trying to crunch out a good quick answer in her head.
“Um, well…” Frank uttered. “It’s because…”
“That’s how it sometimes feels when you touch your private parts,” said Helen. “And your daddy just turned into our private parts.”
The teens bent their heads over and eyed each other awkwardly. The two younger kids tried to make sense of this. Billy opened his mouth.
“So Daddy’s really a penis now?”
“NO.” Suzie immediately shut herself after blurting out. “…I think. Seriously, Dad, what are you now?”
“Maybe he’s both a dick and a vagina?”, Alex suggested, which made the other two heads quite red again, and made Frank chortle. “I mean, his neck, and then he’s got a mouth.”
“That’s fucked up.” (“Suzie!”, her mother scolded).
“We’re in one body and I have talking boobs now, how is this not gross?”
Billy giggled as Suzie tried to stop Alex from explaining his ideas on how they’ll have to go to the bathroom together. Across the table, Ty was laughing from the surreal sit-com that was happening right in front of him. This was definitely not something he’d see from his foster family.
“So, it feels that way when we grow up and touch there?”, Katie asked.
“Well, yes,” said Frank. “Y’know, you can touch me again now if you want. It does feel good for a reason.”
“Can we not, Dad?”, Suzie complained. She quickly grabbed Billy’s hand before he could reach down, much to Billy’s annoyance.
“Okay okay, you can touch me later Katie.” Frank replied. “Hey, are we full? I feel like we’re all full right now.”
“Yeah, I am,” Alex remarked, as he took one last little bite from the burger. “Maybe it’s because we have the same stomach now.”
Ty kept watching as each of the kid’s hands took some napkins on the table and wiped themselves. For a family this big and messed up, they got along pretty okay; better than the one he could ever remember having. Despite the transformation, it still struck the teenager as one of the stranger things about this family.
Funny, thought Ty. I don’t even know this family’s last name.
Ty made a wish to himself. Instantly, the name ‘Palmer’ resonated in his head.
The Palmer family looked like they were about to head off, and one of their hands took Buster’s leash as they walked towards the car, while also holding the fanny pack that Helen once wore around her waist.
Ty remembered the family saying something about going to Aunt Kathy’s house, then to a zoo. He could transform them here again, but a house sounded like a better place for the Palmers to explore themselves more. Plus, there’s that zoo they’re going to visit the day after.
Part of Ty thought he should really move on to someone else, but something made him want to stick around this family longer. Besides, he’s got quite some ideas on how to change them, starting with figuring out their proper genitals.
The invisible teen got up, and followed them to their car. As he walked, he looked over at the diner, and saw that the patrons inside only gave the family curious glances before going back to their meals.