Even if Paul didn't want to say it aloud, let alone admit, Felicity could see their marriage had fallen into a rut. Having been married since they'd graduated high school, Felicity had struggled along whilst Paul had gone to college, then a University, and finally passed the bar. In those ten to twelve years, their time together had remained strong until a certain point, at which they'd gradually stopped doing a lot of things together.
At what point in their marriage it was, Felicity wasn't sure. She could hazard a guess it might have been when Paul was taken on by a large law firm. But it could have been easily when she had managed to land a well-paying, cushy job some time after that, and all without anything higher than a high school diploma. Standing in front of the microwave, thinking about this, wondering what they could to try to put the spark back in their marriage, the nearly thirty year old woman waited about a minute after the cooker had dinged before she took the TV dinner she'd been preparing out. Taking it to the kitchen table, then going to get herself a beer from the fridge, she listened as the front door opened. Wondering if maybe she should try and broach the subject of them having a child together as Paul came in, set his laptop case on the table and went to fix himself dinner.
"Probably not the best time," Felicity thought to herself as she called out, "You got your laptop back?"
"Uh huh," Paul replied in a distracted manner as he took from the freezer a TV dinner, pulled the tray from the box, cut a line down the middle of the film with a small knife from the block and popped the tray in the microwave.
From where she sat, working on her own dinner, Felicity watched the five foot eleven man. Looking gorgeous in his suit, the one thing which seemed to detract from his appearance was his hair, which was already thinning. Finding she didn't mind, Felicity grew self-conscious of her own appearance of five foot five, ginger hair, pale complexion and, at least according to her, a rather dumpy figure. When he sat down at the table, the woman explained, "I need to log onto my work's website and update a few things. Should I do that after dinner? Or will you be going straight to your office to work on a case?"
"Was going to catch the news," Paul replied in the same distracted manner as he took from the computer case a file he'd collected from his briefcase before coming in. Watching as he busied himself with whatever was in the file, Felicity sighed. Telling herself, "Another night where we do not address the problems which have begun to crop up," and turning her attention to her meal, she ate in silence.
Their meals finished, Felicity collected Paul's laptop, the only computer they had in the house. As her husband headed for the den, she headed for her office. Not as crowded with things as Paul's, as she'd only been with the company she'd gotten hired on with for a handful of years, and only started to climb the cooperate ladder, it still had a few things to indicate the little success she'd managed so far in life. Sitting down at her desk, ignoring the everything around her, Felicity pulled the laptop out of the bag. Setting it on the desk, she started to put the case on the floor, but stopped when a bunch of computer disks fell out. Hissing in agitation, she reached down to pick them up. Intending to put them back, she stopped when one in particular caught her attention. Having never heard of a programme called Chronivac, she set it aside. Wanting to check it out, she first booted up the laptop and logged onto the company website.
For the next hour or so, she worked at updating things, typing graphs and documents, and sending memos out. When she'd finished, she checked the time, and figured Paul would have come in to ask for the laptop by now. Guessing she had a bit more time to use the computer, she considered checking her emails, and instead reached for and popped the disk in marked Chronivac. Watching as it automatically installed itself then opened, she clicked on a few icons, frowned, tapped on a few others, backed out, found a disclaimer which, among a number of things, explained what the programme did. Losing herself as she explored the options, she didn't hear Paul come in until her cleared his throat.
"About done?" he asked when she gave him her full attention, and without responding, Felicity instead asked, "Where did you get this?"
With a glance at the screen, Paul frowned and inquired, "Did you download something? I don't need another virus crashing my system as bad as the last time."
Felicity, trying to keep from getting defensive, replied, "It's a disk which was in your laptop carrying case," and indicating the screen, she started to explain everything she'd read and discovered up until Paul walked in.
"Sounds like a load of hooey," Paul commented in an off-hand manner when she'd finished.
All the problems with their marriage coming to mind, struggling to keep her tone even, the woman shot back, "What if it isn't? What if it can do what it claims?" and before her husband could utter a single word, she started to lay out everything she had given considerable thought to about how their marriage had fallen into a rut and how they needed to do something before it was too late.
Paul knew exactly what Felicity was talking about. He hated admitting it, let alone saying aloud, but when they gotten married after high school, there had been more excitement, more happiness between them. Now, it seemed dull.
"We don't even have sex as much as we used to," Paul thought as he glanced at the screen and after a moment, asked, "So, what do we do about it? If this programme can do as it claims, how is it going to spice up a marriage gradually going down the tubes? Should we try and alter something about our lives? Become different people?"
She didn't know how to answer any of his questions. Looking at the screen, Felicity wondered the same thing. Toying with multiple ideas, including making herself pregnant, she clicked on a timer and suggested, "We could become animals for a short period, keeping our knowledge of who we were the whole time, of course. And when we turn back, after the timer had run its course, we could use what we learned and try to go from there."
He wasn't too keen on the idea of becoming a different species, but didn't say anything. Studying what was displayed, he suggested, "Why don't we start with staying human? We set the timer, become two different people, live those lives, and go from there."
Curious about something, seeing what Paul said made sense, as become an animal seemed about a leap as making herself pregnant, Felicity tapped a finger nail on the desk. As she mulled over the options, her husband reached over and clicked on a few things and pulled up a couple new menus. Watching as he scrolled through them, she suddenly had an idea. Swivelling her desk chair so she faced Paul, Felicity said, "Why don't we try role-reversal?"
Stopped by this, Paul enquired, "You mean like I become a woman and you become a guy?"
With a nod, Felicity answered, "Sure," and before her husband could say anything, she explained, "Think about it this way. We both see the problems in our marriage. Maybe, by making this brief switch, and walking a bit in each other's shoes, we might find a way to get out of the rut we've dug ourselves."
He didn't want to be a woman, let along Felicity, no matter how much he loved her. Yet, on the other hand, he could see she had a point. If he was female, and she was male, it might give the each a new perspective.
"If the programme does what it claims," Paul thought before he suggested, rather than Felicity becoming him and he turning into her, they each create a new person, each with a personality different from their current, and live those lives for a short while before changing back to who they originally were.
"Seems fair," Felicity hedged and turning to face the laptop, she started to reach out before an idea hit her. Glancing over at Paul, she suggested, "If we do that, how about you design the male I'm to become and I'll create the woman you will be."
Becoming a woman still didn't sit well with him. But, feeling like he was in too deep to back out, Paul considered all the different angles before he slowly nodded. Seeing the look on Felicity's face indicated she agreed, both asked how they were going to manage to switch the other's sex and gender, smiled, and, again, at the same time, put forth the idea of letting the computer scan them and create a profile before the other altered it.