Kim and Greg could hear Howard talking on his phone on the other side of the curtain. They milled about awkwardly backstage, not sure what to do. Greg pointed toward the stage. "I'm going to go sit out there while we wait."
Kim nodded in acknowledgement. "Okay, I'll come with." She joined Greg as they walked out onto the dark stage, down the stairs, and sat at a cocktail table close to the stage. They looked up to the stage and waited for Howard to finish his calls.
After about fifteen minutes, Howard slipped his phone into a pocket in his sequin jacket and stepped off the small stage toward Greg and Kim. "I reached out to some friends in the area and nobody knows how Marvin does the trick. Most assumed it was done similar to how I guessed. If Martin ever revealed his secret to anyone, they're either denying having any knowledge or they're not someone I know."
Greg and Kim were clearly disappointed by the news, but Howard continued. "However, my friend Jonny recommended I try to call Marvin at The Magic Castle. Not sure why I hadn't thought of that. It's too early for his showtime, so he's not likely there yet, but anyone who's not a local resident almost always stays at the Magic Castle Hotel next door. I gave them a call and they rang his room. There was no answer, but I left a message. I also called The Magic Castle itself. He wasn't there, but I left a message there too."
Greg looked up at Howard. "So what do we do now?"
Howard looked at Greg and Kim for a moment and exhaled. "If I hear back, I'll call you. Until we hear from Marvin, I'm afraid there's not much else that I can do."
Greg and Kim looked at each other, unsure what to do next. They felt helpless as the transformation slowly continued to progress up their bodies.
Howard could see they looked distressed. "Look, I know you might be worried that once this transformation rises above your necks, you might not be able to have your bodies split in two and have your parts swapped, but that might not be the case. If you let the transformation complete and swap your bodies completely, Marvin could swap your legs back when he's back in town."
Greg was confused. "So I'd look like Kim from the waist up and have my own legs again?"
Kim's eyes opened wide as she realized what Howard proposed. "Yeah, but that could restart the transition again. You'd slowly change back to yourself!" Kim sighed in relief. "So we can change back!"
"Oh, that's a relief!" said Greg with a smile. "So we've got the transition happening until sometime tonight, tomorrow we'd have an awkward day of swapped bodies, and then after Marvin gets back on Monday he can restart the process before we drive home and we'd hopefully finish changing back before work on Tuesday."
Howard smiled. "Unless Marvin calls back and is willing to walk me through his trick, I think that's the best option." Howard raised an eyebrow. "Hey, why don't you two come over to my 8 PM show tonight? Premium table tickets on me."
Kim and Greg stood up. "Really?" answered Kim excitedly. She looked at Greg. "Can we go?"
Greg smiled. "I was planning to take you out to a nice anniversary dinner, but we can go to the show after."
"It's your anniversary?" Howard laughed. "Well this is certainly going to be a memorable one for you! I'll make sure you've got champagne on your table. In fact, I'll set you up for dinner at Joe Mariano's Italian restaurant in my hotel on me. Joe's an old pal of mine and owes me some favors. Let's say dinner at 6 PM."
"Oh wow, really?" Kim looked at Greg with exhilaration.
Greg put his arm around Kim's shoulder. "You don't have to do all that! You've been so helpful already."
"No, no," Howard insisted. "What you two are going through is truly fascinating. I'm genuinely interested in seeing how it plays out and helping you get back to normal." He chuckled. "Besides, being able to pester Marvin about this screw-up for years will be totally worth it."
Greg shook Howard's hand. "Thank you so much!"
"My pleasure." Howard looked at his watch. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get over there for rehearsal. It's not so much for me, but to make sure that the tech crew knows their cues. Sometimes I swear that monkeys could do a better job, but I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist. Anyway, I'll see you tonight." Howard waved slightly and hurried out of the theater toward the hotel exit.
Greg turned to Kim after watching Howard leave. "He was nice."
"Yeah! Dinner and a show on him? That's great!" Kim was clearly excited for this evening.
"I meant reaching out to his friends and trying to get in touch with Marvin. It's such a relief that even if we change totally, we can still change back after." Greg chuckled. "I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't think of that."
"Neither did I," Kim admitted. "I was so concerned with trying to stop the change before it reached our heads that I didn't even consider changing back after it was done. I didn't even think about how another change might also work its way up our bodies the same way."
Greg shrugged. "I suppose that might explain why Marvin didn't change us back right away and didn't keep us around after the show. He must have known that it wasn't necessarily permanent."
"I figured that he was too focused on trying to catch his flight that he forgot."
"Well, now that our crisis is over, what should we do?" asked Greg.
Kim took his hand. "Let's go up to the room and see where we stand with these changes. I'd also like to fix this bra. It's really tight."
Greg could see the outline of Kim's bra beneath her blouse and there were obvious bulges of flesh puffing out above and below the band around her chest. Her blouse was also becoming noticeably tighter as well. "Yeah. If we're going to go to this fancy restaurant and show tonight, maybe we should splurge and buy some better fitting clothing first."
Kim nodded. "Maybe. Let's go up and see what we've got to work with."
They walked together to the elevator and headed back to their room. Back in the room, Kim wasted no time taking her blouse off and unhooking her bra. She immediately exhaled in relief.
Greg took off his suit coat and felt his chest. "How long were we down there? 45 minutes? An hour? There's definite change here."
"Almost an hour, I think." Kim took her bra off and faced Greg. Her waist was as wide and hairy as Greg's waist had been yesterday. The torso width and chest hair extended up just above her nipples. Below the nipples was what appeared to be male pectoral muscles and typical male areolas, but there was an odd mound of flesh above the transition line which was what remained of her breasts. She felt her stomach and stroked her body hair as she experienced the new sensation.
Greg looked at Kim's chest. "If the transition line has now gone above your nipples, that means I must now have yours." Greg pulled his polo shirt over his head and looked down at his body. He had Kim's narrow waist and hairless chest. He now had definite breasts extending from his chest with Kim's former nipples and areolas. The breasts disappeared just above this point and what was left of his hairy chest was visible. Cupping his new breasts, he jiggled them slightly and smiled at the feeling. Rubbing a finger on his nipple, he looked at Kim. "Wow, these are really sensitive! I mean, I knew they were, but I've never felt something like this before."
Kim ran a finger around her nipples and looked back at Greg. "Yeah, that's different. It's not doing much for me. Just little tips of flesh now. So weird!"
Greg looked at his arms. "I don't think my arms have started to change yet."
Kim checked her own arms. "Yeah, these feel familiar. Do you suppose my nail polish will also transfer?"
Greg thought for a moment as he looked at his body. "Hair and nails are technically dead tissue, right? Our toenails swapped and you got my leg hair, so I suppose the nail polish will also swap."
"Yeah, but our clothes also swapped when our legs swapped, but no clothes have swapped as the transition has worked its way up our bodies."
"My guess would be that the parts done below the waist included the attached clothing, but everything after that is just our living flesh and anything attached like hair." Greg looked at his fingernails. "I suppose the nail polish will transfer too because the hair did. If we had tattoos, those would also transfer. When our teeth swap, you'll get my fillings. Sorry."
Kim held up her left hand. "Will our wedding rings swap or is my ring finger going to be strangled when it expands to your size and is still wearing my ring?"
Greg looked at his own wedding band on his left hand. "I haven't taken this off since we were married, but maybe we should take these off for a little while. We don't want your ring to get stuck on my big hand and cut off circulation. I'd hate for my ring to fall off and get lost."
"Yeah, best to play it safe." Kim twisted her ring and pulled it out to her fingertip. "Even though I'm not wearing the ring, we're still married and I still love you."
Greg also pulled his ring off and held it pinched between his thumb and ring finger. "Always and forever."
Kim collected the rings. "I'll hide them in my toiletry bag. If housekeeping decides to ignore the door hanger and come in, I don't think they'll look in there."
After hiding the rings in the bathroom, she returned and started looking through her suitcase. "I can keep wearing the skirt, but the band of the bra was getting very tight around my chest. My blouse was also not a great fit. I'm not sure I've got anything packed here that will fit me once I get your broad shoulders. Those are probably only a few hours away."
"You know, I hadn't even considered what we'll wear to dinner tonight," Greg confessed. "If dinner is at 6, the show is at 8, and we probably won't be back until 10, that means we'll literally be up to our necks with changes by the time we're done. Maybe we should tell Howard we're going to stay here and order room service tonight." Greg cupped his developing breasts. "I mean look at me. I can't exactly go out like this."
Kim held her chin in her hand as she considered a solution. "Maybe you can. Other than broad and hairy shoulders and your hairy arms, you could definitely pass for a woman below the neck. We're not sure when our arms will swap or how fast, but assuming they change before your shoulders, you'll probably appear to be a complete woman below the neck and I'll be a guy. Why don't we just lean into that?"
Greg furrowed his brow. "Are you saying I should cross-dress?"
"Is it really cross-dressing if you've got the body?" Kim countered. "Maybe we can find a costume store and get you a long wig."
Greg shook his head. "Woah, woah. Stop right there. You want me to go out dressed like a woman wearing a wig?"
"Yeah, I think it would work," Kim insisted. "We'll give you a close shave and I'll do your makeup."
Greg rolled his eyes at the thought.
Kim continued. "You can wear my dress. It will show off your figure. Nobody would question that you were a woman."
"...until they get a look at my face," Greg complained.
"Look, worst case scenario they think you're transgender. Which, I suppose, you technically are tonight." Kim let Greg think about it for a moment before continuing. "We're in Reno. Nobody knows us here. It's not like you're going to run into a co-worker. Take this chance and live it up! Besides, tonight is our anniversary. I don't want to spend it in this dingy hotel room eating some leftover buffet food that room service dumps at our door."
Greg sat on the bed with his hands on his lap. He looked down at them silently. After a moment, he rubbed his hands on his pants and looked up at Kim. "Okay, we can try it."
Kim was excited that she'd get to go out and bounced a bit before sitting next to Greg on the bed. "Yay! Thank you!"
"Except," Greg added, "if we get me dressed up and I look foolish, the whole thing is off."
"Oh, totally," Kim agreed. "That's fine."
Greg looked over at Kim. "So I suppose we need to find a place with a wig, huh?"
"Yes, that shouldn't be hard to find." Kim grabbed her phone and started googling costume shops.