Ty and June found themselves back in the laundry room. Ty set down the empty laundry basket, and waved his hand, unmaking the special alarm clock.
June looked wistfully at the dryer and washing machine. They had both been part of her, and it had been amazing, but being both of the machines, and human, all at the same time, had been a bit overwhelming. She thought about the effects that it had had on her, and that Ty had seen her in that state, and had to deal with her, and was quite embarrassed again. "I must have made a huge mess on the sofa," she said to Ty. "I'd better try to clean that up, and hope Mark doesn't notice." She opened the door.
"I already cleaned that up," Ty said. "Before I took you to Jupiter. Everything should be OK now."
"Oh, thank you, Ty," June said, and kissed his cheek. "You're so thoughtful. I'm going to go change my clothes."
"So am I," Ty said. "But before we do that, I need to make some changes to you."
"Changes?"
"Yes, Mom." Ty said. "I'm taking away your ability to merge the laundry machines into your human form. I'll leave you your ability to transform into the washer or dryer, but only one at a time."
"Oh, Ty, please don't do that!" June begged. "I'll be more careful!"
"We can talk about it later," Ty said, "but I think it was just too much of a problem. Even before you merged _both_ machines into your human form, while you were only merged with the dryer, you were too preoccupied. You really couldn't handle being both the dryer and human very well. You were... for want of a better term... ditzy. Not at all like your normal self, always on top of things, always in control."
"Ty, I just need more practice. I'm sure I can master it."
"Maybe," said Ty. "But we don't have time to discuss it now. I don't like taking away any of your abilities, but it's for your own good." He waved his hand, and June felt herself... shrink... just a bit.
"OK, Ty," she said, sadly. "I'm disappointed, but I understand that you're doing it to protect me."
"Cheer up," he told her. "You can still enjoy being the washer or drier, just one at a time, and in the machine form."
"Yes, Ty," she said, not sounding very convinced.
They both headed for the stairs. As they ascended, they heard the garage door open. "That must be Mark, now," June said.
Ty quickly changed his clothes, to something just a bit dresser, for his dinner with Lisa and her parents, then went back downstairs to the living room. Mark was already sitting in his recliner. "Hello, Ty," Mark said. "Is your mother...?"
Mark probably is asking whether June is currently the washer or dryer, Ty thought. And he probably doesn't know about her merged human-machine form. "She's upstairs changing her clothes," Ty said. He was quite surprised to see a brief look of disappointment cross Mark's face. "I expect that she'll join us shortly."
Ty sat on the sofa, and the two waited patiently until they heard June on the stairs. "Hello, Mark," she said, as she entered the room. Mark stood, and the two kissed. Ty couldn't help noticing that it was a real kiss, not the perfunctory sort he so often saw between them. Not that he wanted to think about his parents kissing.
Ty thought June always looked nice, but when she dressed up... 'Wow, you're beautiful, Mom!"
"Thank you, Ty," June said. "You and Mark look pretty sharp, as well."
Dustin came downstairs, and greeted them too. June told him, "Mark and I are taking Ty to Lisa's house, and we'll visit with her parents for a few minutes before we come back. Dinner will be later than usual. I prepared everything this afternoon, and will just have to heat it when we get back."
"That's fine, Mom," Dustin said. "I'm in no huge hurry. Take your time."
Ty was once again struck by how much better his family all got along, than before he'd gained and demonstrated his powers. The one thing he'd asked of them was to treat each other with more respect, and it seemed that they all really had taken that to heart, and that they were all happier. And it didn't seem like any of them were afraid of him any longer, which made him very happy.
He thought again about the strange dinner conversation yesterday, when it had seemed that Mark was unhappy about, perhaps even disgusted by, June's transformation into the clothes dryer, even though she had checked it with him in advance. He still didn't understand what had been going on, but there had been no trace of it this morning, or now.
Mark looked at his watch. "We'll leave in about ten minutes," he said. Dustin turned on the TV, while Mark, June, and Ty briefly discussed work and school.