Tom heard his phone ringing in the kitchen. That’s where Michael was. He couldn’t face Michael again at the moment. He let it ring. He couldn’t answer it anyway. Not with his current voice.
Michael called out “Do you want me to answer?” He looked at the phone
“Just leave it” Michael heard the voice of Kerry from the bedroom.
But Michael saw the caller ID as ‘Kate’
He picked up the phone and answered “Hi Kate”
“Tom?” The two brothers used to have similar voices
“No Michael. Tom doesn’t want to answer because of his voice”
“I just wanted to report we’ve had success. The socks will still work. The problem was the shoes Tom used. If he wears the socks the previous change will resume. If he then puts on a different pair of his shoes he will become himself once more. We’ll be home soon and explain properly”
Tom had heard Michael talking and had come out of his room. He was angry to see his brother had answered the phone when he had expressly asked him not to. ”Who was it?”
“Kate. She says they had success. Evidently the socks should still work but don’t use the same shoes as last night. They were the problem apparently. The other girls are on the way home but they are going to stop off and buy you some lipsticks on the way” The last sentence was a blatant lie intended to rile his brother once more.
“Seriously now. Did Kate actually say they had success?”
“Yes. They are on their way home. Only the lipstick part was a lie”
“So I just need to put the socks back on again?”
“That’s what Kate suggested”
“Fuck it! I’m not waiting any longer” Tom returned to the bedroom.