Henry was first to wake. He watched his young wife asleep beside him. The first thing he noticed were the large diamond studs in her ears. That pleased Henry. Those diamonds had been in his ears when he had gone to bed last night. That meant they had swapped back ears.
If they had swapped back ears then they should have swapped necks. Henry's finger felt his own neck. It was smooth.. but...no there was a bump... an Adam's apple. That shouldn't be there if they had swapped necks!
If they didn't swap necks then what had they swapped? Henry could certainly remember Alicia giving him a drink last night. They had agreed to swap necks but he hadn't actually seen Alicia make the drink. Something must be swapped, but what?
He immediately felt his own body. He did not have breasts. His arms were his own and to his relief, Mister Marvellous was still there. Puzzled he slipped out of bed, went to the bathroom and checked his reflection. He examined himself. His feet, legs, groin, stomach, chest arms, face and hair were all his own. He was still short but he had expected that.
He re-examined his neck. It did look different. It was hairless and well he did have an Adam's apple but it wasn't very prominent. This wasn't his neck but the change wasn't very noticeable at all. This was good. This swap was much less obvious than he had feared. No doubt one of the 'Less obvious' changes the witch had referred to.
He walked back to the bedroom. His mood was good. Maybe Alicia might be up for some morning sex? He slipped back into bed beside the sexy woman in her silky lilac nightgown, snuggled up against her and whispered in her ear "Good morning se...." Henry stopped mid sentence. The voice coming out of his mouth had been Alicia's!
Alicia turned her head and her eye's popped open "Henry?" she enquired. That one word in a deep masculine voice was enough that both immediately knew what had happened. They had swapped necks. The physical changes were not particularly obvious but it seemed they had swapped voices as well. "My voice!"
"We've swapped voices" Henry stated the obvious.
"Do I sound like that? I always thought my voice was deeper" Alicia enquired.
"Well it certainly is now" answered Henry in his melodious voice.
"I sound like a little girl"
"No not anymore. You sound like a man. I'm the one who sounds like a sexy young woman. This isn't good"
"It could be fun. We could do karaoke"
"We were going to go shopping and rent a car. We can't do that now"
"Why not?"
"Because you sound like a man and I sound like a woman"
"I'll just speak in a higher octave..... How's this?"
"You sound like a transsexual"
"Well how about you try an make that voice as deep as you can. Speak from the bottom of your throat"
Henry tried "How does this sound?"
"Hmm like you are under water. But a girl under water"
For the next half hour they sat on the bed and practised talking. Henry did manage to make his voice deeper, perhaps to the tone of a teenage boy but to do so he had to concentrate hard. He still thought Alicia sounded like a drag queen when she spoke in what she called her 'high' voice.
"Well I'm getting hungry" said Alicia. "I'm going to have a shower and get breakfast anyway. If we just use the buffet we shouldn't need to talk to anyone. Do you want to join me?" Henry did.
An hour later they were back in the room. They had managed breakfast without drawing attention to themselves. I was an eye opener to both of them as to how few words were needed to communicate. "See that wasn't so bad was it?" said Alicia as soon as the door was closed.
"I admit you were right. You can stay silent for longer than 10 minutes" Henry had worn a polo shirt to breakfast having decided that the small Adam's apple he now had was sufficient so that visually his neck looked normal. Alicia had told him she always had this small protuberance on her neck, funny that Henry had never noticed it, maybe that was because his eyes would always drift to some larger protuberances juts a bit lower.
"So we should still go shopping. We need to get our disguises for when other parts get swapped. The swaps are only going to get more obvious from now on" Alicia had a silk scarf wrapped around her neck. That hid the Adam's apple Henry once possessed. It was a lot larger and more obvious than the one he now had.
"I never realised my voice was so authoritative. When you make a suggestion it sounds so confident"
'That's one of the reasons you make such a good CEO. Everyone listens to you"
"Well if we are going to go shopping we need a car. You will have to use that CEO voice ring Thrifty. Use my account and get a car bought out here"
"So we are going shopping?"
"Like you so convincingly said. Our changes going forward are only going to get more obvious. Here's my account number. We might want to find some remote locations, so I suggest a large 4 wheel drive. Let's have it until the end of our stay"
"I'm not sure. Maybe we should get a convertible" Alicia had a big smile on her face. "You don't sound as authoritative as usual"
"That's because I have your little girl voice. Go on. Order a four wheel drive to get here as quickly as possible" Henry found it hard to believe that he finished that statement with a very girlish giggle. Had he inherited some of Alicia's speech patterns as well?
Alicia was good on the phone. The franchise had a Toyota Land-cruiser available immediately. She ordered it to be delivered to the resort within the hour. An extra fee was involved but they were not exactly short of money. Henry was impressed that Alicia made the decision herself without his approval (which he would have given). She really did sound very authoritative.
40 minutes later reception rang to say that their car had arrived.