"W-What happened to me," stuttered Jeff's now 10-year-old mother. "I'm..." She looked at her shrunken body and loose clothes in disbelief. "...a girl again."
Feeling frantic, Jeff knew he had to act fast. It would be a nightmare if his mother caught him using the Chronivac on her. He quickly checked his mother's settings and noticed that there was an option to alter reality. He figured that was worth a try and activated the emitter to change reality.
For a moment, it felt as if the whole world twisted a bit. It was an odd sensation. The feeling reminded Jeff of visiting his optometrist and having a new lens flipped in front of his eye.
When he was able to focus again, he saw his sister, Emily, standing where she had been moments ago, looking exactly the same. Next to her, was the 10-year-old girl who used to be his mother. Karen was her name, but, of course, Jeff had never called her that. Her clothes now fit her perfectly, and all of the confusion and worry had disappeared from her face.
Emily turned to Jeff's former mom and quite calmly said, "Hey, Karen. Could I borrow that blue sweater of yours. I want to wear it when I go to the movies with Angie later."
"Again?" moaned Karen. "Jeez! Why don't you just ask Dad to buy one for you too."
"Come on, this is the best part about being twins," said Emily. "We get to share each other's clothes."
"Yeah, but it seems like I'm the one who's always doing the sharing."
Emily gave her a pouty, puppy-dog look.
Karen sighed, "Fine, wear the sweater. You might as well keep it in your drawer. You wear it more than I do."
"Thank you!" said Emily, who embraced Karen in a big hug. Emily then ran past Jeff to her room, which Jeff suspected was now their shared room. Emily barely even noticed him.
Jeff cautiously walked into the kitchen, making sure to keep the emitter out of sight.
When Karen saw him, she said, "Hey, Jeff, I was just looking for you. Could you help me with my math homework? I can't figure out how you're supposed to add fractions, and it's, like, due tomorrow."
"Um," said Jeff, feeling stunned. His mother was now asking him for help with her 5th grade homework. "Sure, I guess."
"Thank you so much," she said. "You're the bestest brother ever. Do I tell you that enough?"
"Yeah, sure," said Jeff. It was all too weird. His mother was now his little sister, and she was acting as if that was how things had always been. He sat down to help her with her fractions, but all the while as they worked on the numbers, Jeff kept looking over at her in fascination. All of her features were familiar. Jeff had seen them his whole life. She was definitely still the same woman as his mother, only much younger. If he did not know better, he would have guessed that the girl sitting next to him was actually his mother's long lost daughter. He figured that she and Emily were fraternal twins now, as they were certainly not identical.
Once they had finished with Karen's homework, she said, "I think I got it now... I hope."
"I'm sure you do," said Jeff. "I hope I explained it well enough."
"Well, I suppose so. I understand it better now, at least. It's too bad," said Karen. "I wish mom was still alive. Angie's mom is always helping her with this stuff, and Angie seems to get all of this stuff right away."
"Oh," said Jeff. Mentally, he was a bit taken aback by the thought of having only one parent now. "Well, there's really not much we can do about that. You'll just have to rely on me and Dad."
"Yeah," said Karen. "It's weird. Sometimes, I imagine what it would be like to be a mother. You know? To have my own kids. Kinda funny, huh?"
"Not really," said Jeff. After all, up until a few minutes ago, that was exactly what she had been.
After a moment of reflection, Karen stood up and announced, "All right, I'm going to see Janie. Tell Dad I'll be back for dinner. Bye."
"Bye," said Jeff. He sat back and watched as Karen ran off to see one of her girl friends. It was amazing to think that the Chronivac had even created social relationships for her. Jeff just shook his head as he though of his mother running off gleefully to play with some 10-year-old girl.
Now that both sisters were gone, Jeff had a moment to consider the enormity of what had just happened. He had completely altered his life and the lives of everyone in his family. His father was now a widower, and his sister now had a twin: his former mother.
Deep down inside, he knew that he had to set things right again, but he was hesitant. For one thing, he was worried about accidentally making things worse by trying to change them again. He wanted to be a little more skilled with the Chronivac before he tried changing reality back to normal. Also, though he was reluctant to admit it, he felt curious about this new life he had created for them all. Part of him just wanted to experience his transformed family for a little while to see what living like this was like.
Jeff held the Chronivac emitter up before him and considered what to do next. Would he try to change things back to normal? Would he leave things as they were for a little while? Might he even try to make some more changes?