The afternoon passed uneventfully for Ty. He wanted to be with Lisa, but he spent several hours reading to keep his mind off her. After Mark got home, June called everyone to dinner. The dinner conversation was entirely ordinary, until June said something to Mark about Ty having helped her get her work done faster. Ty hadn't been paying much attention, and did a double-take. Was June really going to tell Mark about being transformed into a phone app?
Apparently Mark hadn't been paying close attention either. He said, "That's nice, dear." A moment passed, and he said, "Wait, what was that! What did Ty do?"
When June had helped Ty with the situation where he'd first turned Lisa into an app, and she's refused to be turned back, they hadn't told Mark about it. It wasn't that Ty especially wanted to keep it secret from Mark, but it didn't seem like there was any reason Mark needed to know. Was June going to tell Mark all about it now?
June started explaining being turned into an app, to get direct access to her accounting data, and to be able to do her work more quickly. To Ty's relief, she didn't mention Lisa at all. Mark was quite shocked by June's description. Dustin looked rather surprised too, but said nothing.
"Do you mean to tell me," Mark said, "that Ty turned you into a phone app? Without asking us?"
"Oh, no," June said. "Ty and I discussed it, and I asked him to do it."
"What if something had gone wrong?" Mark asked. "That seems really dangerous! What if Ty hadn't been able to turn you back? I'd just have a phone app for a wife, and Dustin and Ty would just have a phone app for a mother?"
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before doing it," June said. "I didn't think it was dangerous, because Ty already had experience doing this transformation."
Oh no, thought Ty. Now there's no way to avoid dragging Lisa into it.
Mark asked, "What do you mean, he already had experience? How is that possible?"
Ty said, "Dad, I'd already done the same thing with Lisa. It was an experiment, and there were a few surprises, but it went OK. Mom actually helped me solve one of the issues that arose."
"And you did this to your mother," Mark said, "knowing that there had been issues when you did it to Lisa?" Mark was starting to get angry.
June said, "Don't get angry with Ty. He and I went over this in detail, and made sure nothing would go wrong. He stayed with me the whole time, just in case. And he did it at MY request."
Mark did seem to calm down a little. "Well, I don't like hearing that you are up to dangerous things without asking me."
"I'm sorry, Mark," June said. "I didn't think it was that big a deal."
Mark turned to Ty. "I suppose that there's nothing I can do, but I am very upset with you."
Ty looked down, feeling terrible. He hadn't considered that such a thing was possible, to do something his mother asked, and to wind up in trouble with his father.
"Mark, please don't be upset with Ty," June said. "Remember, he did it at my request. The responsibility is mine."
Mark considered for a moment. "OK, you're right," he said, "but I'm concerned that both of you showed poor judgement."
June said, "I'll accept that I should have discussed it with you first, but I asked Ty to do it, and he asked me several times whether I was sure. He went to considerable effort to make sure I knew what I was getting into. If there was bad judgement, that, too, was all mine, and not Ty's."
Mark looked to Ty again. "Your mother is right. I shouldn't blame your judgement. From what she says, you actually did act responsibly, in the face of a perhaps questionable demand from a parent. I'm sorry I got angry with you."
"That's OK, dad," Ty said.
"So there weren't any problems with this... transformation?" Mark asked.
"No, it went fine. Better than expected, really," June sajd. "I got about a week's worth of work done in about 45 minutes while I was an app. That seemed too good to be true, so after I transformed back to human, I spent several hours spot-checking some of the work, and it all was good. I want to do my work this way again... if you don't mind. This could let me take on more clients, which would make us more money."
"Well, you're right that it seems too good to be true," Mark said. "Ty, are you sure this is safe? That no harm will come to your mother by doing this?"
"Pretty sure, dad," Ty said. "I'll keep close watch on her the next few times, before she starts doing it entirely on her own."
Mark sputtered. "On her own?"
"Yes," Ty said. "She now has the ability to do that herself." And some other things, he thought, but didn't bring that up.
"I'm..." Mark started, then paused. "This is a lot to take in. June, I love you, and my only concern is for your safety. Please don't do this if you have the slightest doubt about coming out of it OK."
"Oh, Mark, I love you too! And I wouldn't!" June said. "I wouldn't have done it at all, if Ty hadn't already proven it worked."
Mark said, "Ty, do you think it was a good idea experimenting like this on Lisa? What if something had gone wrong?"
"Dad, I only did transformed Lisa after explaining what I was going to do, and making sure she was OK with it. We were both confident that I would be able to transform her back, and I was even more confident before I did it to mom."
"OK," said Mark. "I'll have to take your word for it, since I don't have any idea what limits your powers have, if any."
Ty said, "Dad, I would never do anything to mom, or you, or Dustin, if I thought it could harm you. I'm sorry about what I did to Dustin before, but at the time, I didn't know."
"Water under the bridge," Dustin said. "Forget about it. You already apologized, and fixed what you did. I was very angry at the time, but I've forgiven you."
"Before we drop the subject entirely," Mark said. "Please tell me what doing that is like. I can't even imagine."
June tried to explain how she felt as an app, though she somehat... understated... the aspect of getting pleasure from accomplishing the tasks she was set.