Ty woke up, went through his morning routine, and went down to the kitchen. He noticed, while walking by, that the laundry room once again contained the washer and dryer, though he didn't stop to inspect the control panels, he didn't expect that June would have wanted to stay in machine form, non-running, through the night.
He was surprised that June and Mark weren't already in the kitchen, but they arrived shortly thereafter. "Good morning," he said. "How was your, um...?"
"Absolutely amazing," said Mark. "Thank you for all the changes you made to me, and for giving June back her merging capability!"
"I agree," said June. "And I'm glad you gave Mark the abilities he needs to keep up with my transformations!"
"Did you encounter any problems?" he asked.
"No problems," said Mark, and June nodded. "Everything was fine."
"Well, I'm glad to hear that," Ty said. "And now, I hope I'm done thinking about my parents' sex lives for a while."
Mark laughed. "We might want some more changes at some point in the future, Ty, but I'm pretty sure that you won't need to concern yourself about that in the near term."
June said, "I know you'd rather think about Lisa, and I imagine that you're excited that her grounding is nearly over."
"Yes, that's almost all I can think about," Ty said. "Though it wasn't completely terrible that you two gave me a bit of distraction from that.
"I do have a couple of requests for you," Ty continued. "Now that I'm old enough to do it, would you mind taking me to the DMV to get a learner's permit? I studied their online guide, and I am sure I can pass the written test."
"I'll be happy to take you to the DMV," June said. "Thanks to you, I do have a bit more time on my hands lately, at least until I find more clients. Why don't we plan to go after school this afternoon?"
"Gee, that will be great!" Ty exclaimed. "Thank you!"
About that time, Dustin walked in, and greeted everyone.
"Now just to be clear," Mark said, "we're happy to help you get your license, and I think I can spend time with you in the car, teaching you. Probably June can too." June nodded. "But just as we didn't buy Dustin a car, we're not planning to buy you one. We'll let you use our cars at times, though."
"That's fine, Dad! Thank you!" Ty said, "And thank you too, Mom! That brings us to another question I have for you."
"What's that?" June asked.
"When you bought me a cell phone, and thanks again for doing that, I offered to 'get' it my way, to save you money. I'd like you to think about whether I could do that to 'get' a car for Dustin, and once I'm licensed, one for myself."
Dustin was astounded. "Oh, thank you Ty!" he said. "You're the best brother ever!"
"Hold on, Dustin!" Ty said. "I _am_ offering, but it's contingent on what Mom and Dad think."
June looked at Mark, who shrugged. "Off the top of my head, I don't see any obvious reason not to let you do that," June said, "but why don't you let Mark and I talk it over, and get back to you in a few days."
"Sure, Mom, that's fine." Ty said. "And I have one more car-related question, but this time about a transformation."
Mark looked intrigued. "A car related transformation? Are you going to turn my old, beat-up Honda into a muscle car?"
"I wouldn't be opposed to doing something like that, for either of you," Ty said. "I think I've told you before that I'm happy to do things for you, as long as they don't hurt anyone, and I don't see how upgrading your cars would. So certainly you can think about that, and let me know. But what I was going to ask... Well, I don't think there's any subtle way to ask this, so I'll just come straight out with it, so please don't be too shocked, and please don't jump to any hasty answer.
"Lisa does have a driver's license, though she doesn't have her own car either. And I'll offer her parents to 'get' her a car too, if they're OK with it. But in the mean time... Well, you know that Lisa and I have experimented a bit with somewhat... exotic... transformations. Not being able to see her this week has given me a lot of time to think up more of those to try in the future.
"But while I don't think there's any safety issue with the transformation I'm going to ask you about it, it does seem kind of like a 'big deal', so I thought rather than just doing it, that I ought to make sure you won't get upset about it."
"Thank you for asking us," June said. "Whatever transformation you're asking permission for, I promise that we will consider carefully, and not jump to conclusions." Mark nodded in agreement. "So go ahead and tell us what you want to do."
"Mom, Dad, if Lisa and her parents are willing, on the weekend I want to transform myself..." Ty paused. "into a car for her to drive."
June, Mark, and Dustin all looked stunned.
"That's definitely quite a transformation," Mark said. "Your mother and I will talk it over. Are you certain you can do that, and then transform yourself back safely?"
"Pretty sure," Ty said. "Lisa and I have done other exotic transformations, and they've worked out OK. Given that this is basically just a physical transformation, unlike, for instance, turning a person into a mobile app, I'm confident that there won't be problems."
"What happens if, while in car form, you get into an auto accident?" June asked.
"I did think about that," Ty said. "In automobile form, I'd experience some pain from that, but it wouldn't cause me any serious harm. I'd still be able to transform back into my normal human form, with no injuries. But I'd also be able to use my power to repair my damaged automobile form, if for some reason I didn't want to transform back to human right away. Honestly I'm more worried about Lisa's safety, but she wouldn't be any less safe driving me than any other car."
"You've given us a lot to think, and talk, about," Mark said. "My inclination is to agree both to your 'getting' cars for Dustin and yourself, and to your transformation plan. But we're not going to give you permission right now, since we do want to talk it over. Please give us a day or two to make some decisions."
"Sure, that's fine," Ty said. "Thank you for being even being willing to consider the transformation idea. Honestly, that seemed so extreme even to me that I thought you might shoot that one down immediately."
"It definitely does seem extreme," June said, "and clearly merits further thought. But having already been the beneficiaries of some of your tranformations, I don't think Mark or I would just turn your requests down without further consideration.
June said, "Now, if we're done discussing automotive and transformation topics for the moment, why don't we eat some breakfast?"