Mom picked up the second piece of paper. "Brad." She announced. Lucas laughed while Brad cheered.
"I get to gwow up!" He shouted.
"Not necessarily" Dad corrected.
I looked at him. "What do you mean? I'm swapping with Brad, so he will be older. I know I'm not an adult yet, but he will grow up a lot."
Dad scratched his chin. "Is that what you thought we were picking for?" He looked at mom confused.
She smiled at him. "Honey I love you, but you aren't the best at explaining things."
"Why didn't you say anything then?"
She shrugged. "Personally, I think it's cute." She then turned back to the rest of us. "Larry has made the offer to several families. We don't know all of them very well since he had to cast a pretty wide net to find enough people to create a sample pool for his tests. Since the swapping is irreversible at this time, they want to test the effects of new bodies in various types of swaps. Age, sex, race, all of these things can change be changed during a swap and Larry's company wants to test how the mind adapts to those changes." She reached over and pinched Brad's nose. "They would also like to see if younger minds are more adaptable so you two will be perfect. "
My heart beat quickly. I had no idea how I would be changed. "When will we do this?"
Dad answered quickly. "First thing in the morning. Larry says don't eat after midnight so we will celebrate our new fortune and family with a big breakfast on the way home."
The rest of the night was a blur. David's sleep was restless and he got in a daze as he got ready. Brad was more or less asleep as they carried him in the Swap Facility at 6 a.m. there were many families in the waiting room. Some were probably there waiting for siblings or parents like Mariah and Lucas. Others were potential new bodies for David.
He observed his possible futures. There were a couple of guys talking. Both handsome, muscular and close to his own age. One was white like him while the other was black. While the first would probably improve his life at school, the other would open him up to a whole world of bigotry he wasn't use to being subjected to.
On the worse options there was an old man reading a newspaper. He hoped no one was being swapped with him, they would loose years. That guy looked ready to kick the bucket in a few months. Then there was a little girl in pig tails. She didn't look much older than Brad. For all he knew either of those could be his future as well.
It was then that the daze began to lift and David started paying attention. It wasn't long before they had someone come out to call the first swaps