Tom stayed in the bedroom. He didn’t want to face Michael again. Initially he just smothered his face in the pillow and screamed. Of course it was a woman’s scream that came out and unfortunately it drew Michael to the door.
“Are you alright in there”
“What do you bloody well think! Of course I’m not! I’ve turned into a woman for God’s sake!”
“You’ve been a woman since last night. Why the screaming?”
“Because thanks to your advice, it’s got worse! Now I’ve got Kerry’s face!”
Michael partially opened the door “Do you mind if I come in?”
“Why? So you can laugh at me?”
“I didn’t mean to make things worse. I only passed on what Kate told me. She just told me that the shoes were the problem”
“You said the socks would work”
“Kate said the socks still worked. That’s all I told you” Michael put emphasis on the word still. “I didn’t tell you to try things out. Kate and Kerry are on their way back” Michael opened the door and stepped into the room. Tom didn’t try to hide. He looked directly at Michael. Michael gazed back “Hell! You are Kerry! What did you do?”
“I put the socks back on. The changes progressed further. I was hoping they would regress”
“You look like Kerry with short hair. No way would anyone recognise you anymore”
“I’m very aware of that. The face even came with make-up. I’m assuming you knew Kerry wore cherry flavoured lipstick?” Tom’s anger had dissipated. Michael hadn’t actually told him to put the socks on. He had made that decision himself. Or should that be herself now?
Michael couldn’t help himself. He moved close to Tom and stared at the face. The face he had fallen in love with and married. He vowed not to tease Tom any longer.