Maureen returned after lunch to reapply the moisturiser to Liz. She bought with her a larger loose fitting dress, underwear and a nightgown that actually fit the now much larger Liz. There were plenty of size 16 clothes in Maureen’s cupboard that she no longer wanted.
The pain from the sunburn actually eased a lot when the moisturiser was applied. Liz put on the dress Maureen had provided and was able to do chores around her house. It was interesting that she had a much greater appetite while in Maureen’s body.
….
Maureen returned home to prepare Roger’s dinner. After dinner they planned out exactly the second stage of the holiday. They decided on three nights in Madrid once the official tour had finished, then the last 10 days in Portugal with a hire car. Maureen told Roger that she would run the proposals past Liz in the morning then if Liz agreed would head in to see Meghan to explore the possibility of changing the return flight so they left from Lisbon and make accommodation bookings.
………
As the time neared 12 hours since Liz had become sunburnt Maureen, she considered who she should change into. She desired to change into her newly acquired tall young Liz body once more but at the same time knew that eventually she would have to try on the other two items of clothes that could potentially change her into a young Maureen. She wanted to get this testing of Maureen’s clothes over and done with.
Besides the red dress, Maureen had bought over a floral empire dress and a silk shirt. Both were size 14, hence Liz had chosen to try out the size 12 red dress first. She decided to try the silk shirt next.
Not wanting to remain sunburnt for any longer than necessary Liz stripped naked as her 12 hours in this body approached. She had touched the medallion to herself at precisely 8.24 am in the morning so when the clock ticked over to 8.25 pm she touched it to the silk shirt. She was pleased to feel the slight electric shock.
Within minutes her sunburn was lightening which was a good sign but the fact that her hair was turning dark alarmed her. She had never known Maureen to be anything but blonde.
Her fears proved well founded as over the next 20 minutes she turned into a 60 something year old woman with shoulder length wavy brown hair and a solid build. Liz recognised that she had become Maureen’s mother.
Liz cursed to herself. She was old, wrinkly, chubby and short. All aspects of herself that she had managed to correct. This was not what she wanted. On the positive side she was not sunburnt and would be able to change once more in the morning.
She had met Maureen’s Mum on a few occasions but had always thought of her as Mrs Martin. She tried to recall Mrs Martin proper name. She should have known but could not recall the name. Since she was sharing the woman’s body it seemed a bit impersonal to not know her name. She texted Maureen ‘What is your Mum’s name?’ but did not elaborate why.
………
Maureen got an odd question from Liz just as she was cleaning her teeth in preparation for bed. Why would she want to know Mum’s name? She texted back ‘Michelle Faith Martin. Why?’
Her only reply was ‘I’ll tell you in the morning’
………
Liz had been brief because Michelle’s fingers appeared to arthritic. Texting was harder than usual.
So her name was Michelle, Liz should have remembered that. She felt better knowing her name. At least she knew she wasn’t about to die as she slept. The true Michelle Faith was alive and still living at home on the other side of town, although when Liz had last met her she was frail and needed home help. Liz knew Michelle had been a widow for about 10 years recalling going to Mr Martin’s funeral to support her friend. Maureen usually visited her mother about once per week.
Clearly that silk shirt either belonged to Michelle or Maureen had lent it to her at some stage. All Liz could do was be fatalistic. She decided to go to bed and hopefully change soon after she woke.
…….
Maureen continued to think about things as she lay in bed. Roger tried to make a move on her but she replied with a terse “Not tonight” She had too many things on her mind.
Roger recalled the holiday in Victoria had been 17 years ago. So Maureen would have been 33. That was her ideal age for the upcoming trip. It was such a pity about the sunburn. Hopefully one of the other items of clothing she had given to Liz would give a better result. Poor Liz. That sunburn was bad. No wonder Maureen’s body had developed so many skin spots in recent years. Even now at a biological age of 46 her skin had a lot of spots. She had not taken sun safety seriously in her youth. Ironically it had taken that particular sunburn episode which Liz was going through to get Maureen to ‘Slip, Slop, Slap’
Roger was the same. His skin had a lot of sun damage as well. He even had to have some specialist treatment for sun spots. Only last winter he had to apply a cream to his neck to treat damaged skin. That cream had caused his neck to turn red and eventually blister and peel. However according to the dermatologist ‘The damage had been repaired’
Then an idea hit Maureen. Liz had mentioned that the medallion could fix fat but not sunburn. But what if the she told Roger the sunburn that Liz/Maureen was going through (Maureen did not know that Liz had since used the medallion once more) was the result of a similar cream that she was using? That would work! It would also explain why when the sunburn cleared up her skin underneath was softer and free of sunspots!
She woke Roger then and there and told him “I forgot to tell you. I’m going to use a special cream Liz has got hold of. It’s going to turn me red and it will appear that I’m sunburnt but once the skin peels off I will look younger and hopefully a lot of my sun spots will be gone”
A sleepy Roger replied “Sounds like the cream the dermatologist had me use last year”
“Exactly. Maybe it’s even the same stuff but it must be a lower dose. I only have to apply the cream once and the effects should be largely gone in a week”
“When are you getting this done?”
“Either tomorrow or Thursday. I want the effects finished before we start the trip. I met Liz’s friend who got the product for her. The results are amazing. The woman is my age but she looks as though she is in her early 30’s. Liz has just done it to herself so she’ll be hiding in her house for a few more days. Expect her to look a lot younger when you next see her”
Maureen was thrilled with her idea. Now Roger would have an explanation as to why she and Liz were about to look a whole lot younger.
Roger was just puzzled as to why Maureen had to wake him up to tell him that. She could have just told him in the morning.