(Originally added by Fitzroy Clement)
The green aura appeared, disappeared, and reappeared again before before finally fading into the book, which Stephen then promptly shut.
"Well, my curiosity is sated."
"What the hell was that thing?"
"I don't know, Alison, but I don't like it."
"Alison? My name's Alan." Alan looked down just to check that nothing was out of place. He looked like the same boy he was a second ago. He sighed in relief.
"Now what kind of parent would I be if I named my only daughter Alan?"
"You have a daughter, but it isn't me. Oh god mom, the book didn't affect your memories did it?"
"Mom? I'm your father for Pete's Sake! Are you stoned or something?"
"Calm down, honey." Janet stepped forward to console him. "The book obviously did something weird to make us lose our perspectives on things if both you and Ally can't remember your relationships. Your name is Stephanie Donaldson and your middle management in insurance. I'm Janet Donaldson after I gave up my maiden name. I stay at home. Our kids over there are Ally and Marvin. You gave birth to Ally and I gave birth to Marvin via donated sperm."
"They might be our adopted kids, Gene, but we're definitely not lesbians! You're a man, I'm a man. The only girl here is Alison." Stephen let go of his husband and walked into a corner.
"I don't see that at all!" piped up Alan suddenly. "My memories are of being a jock named Alan, having a little brother named Marvin, a mom named Stephanie who stays at home and a father named Gene who works in insurance. What about you, Marvin?"
"My name's not Marvin, it's Megan. And I only remember you as my older sister who's a star tennis player and gymnast, but I do remember our parents being the same as you described. I remember being a middle school girl who's going to turn thirteen next month. Let's just hope you all remember that." However Megan/Marvin looked, her face was obviously a little scared.
Stephen thought. "OK, so let's all get this straight. I think I'm a man named Stephen but you all think I'm Stephanie. You're Gene, but you think of yourself as Janet. Alison thinks of herself as a jock boy named Alan, and Marvin thinks he's a twelve year old girl named Megan."
Everyone shook their heads in confused agreement.
"OK, so this means that the book, whatever it is, altered our perceptions differently for each of us. We each see things a little differently from one another, but we don't know which is the right perception. Everybody take any kind of identification."
Stephen reached for his wallet and found his picture and identification to be that of his given name, Stephen Donaldson. His DOB, gender, height, weight and otherwise were all correct.
Janet reached for her purse, but remembered that she left it in the car. However, she did have a tattoo on her right thigh from when she first got engaged that said Janet Hearts Stephanie. She lifted her leg and showed it to her wife, who only in his mind saw it as Gene Hearts Stephen.
"It says Gene loves Stephen, love."
Janet lifted up her thigh behind her to look, but saw the exact opposite.
Alan reached for his school identification from last semester, as did Megan for hers. Both ID's confirmed to themselves that they were indeed Alan Donaldson and Megan Donaldson, but when they showed their ID's to each other, Megan saw Alan's picture as that of a smiling photogenic blonde girl named Alison Donaldson and Alan saw Megan's picture as that of a gangly, somewhat nerdy middle-school boy named Marvin Donaldson.
"Mom, our ID's don't prove anything. We each see something different" whined Megan
"I'm not your mom!" barked Stephen. "Would you look at her thigh for me. What does it say, Marvin?"
"My name's Megan" she huffed, then looked down at her father's right thigh.
"It says Gene Hearts Stephanie, mom."
Both parents shouted "What are talking about?" in unison.
Alan stepped forward and confirmed that he saw it as Gene Hearts Stephanie too.
"I think it's a little weird that a guy would get a heart tattoo" said Alan. "Maybe our dad really is our mom, and since mom seems so aggressive, she might really be our dad."
"Your mother has ALWAYS been a little bitchy" said Janet. "That's why I started dating her in the first place. She's wasn't a wallflower like other girls and is opinionated and is never boring." Janet smiled at Stephanie, hoping that their mutual love and affection could cross this strange memory barrier.
"I remember things differently, but we're wasting our time. Should I look in the book and try and change this or what? It couldn't hurt to try it again."
"Oh honey, let's just go back to the car, and we'll settle this tomorrow."
"Kids, what do you think?" asked Stephen.