"Yea, why did that happen?" Tabitha asked. She looked at Ricki, expecting that she would have the answer.
"I'm not sure," Ricki said thoughtfully. She rubbed her forehead, clearly trying to work something out in her mind. "I think I might know," she said a minute later.
"What?" Brenda asked.
"It must be sexually transmitted," Ricki said.
Tabitha asked, "Why do you think that?"
"I got it from the smoke downstairs," Ricki said. "That's how I transformed into a woman. Then I had sex with Brendon, and then he became Brenda."
"Wait just a minute," Tabitha interrupted, a very sour look on her face. "You had sex with your stepson?"
Ricki looked embarrassed. She quickly defended herself, however. "Yea, but--I mean it's not like--so?"
Tabitha didn't look amused. "He's still your stepson."
"I don't really think that's true anymore," Ricki responded. "Does he look like a he? For that matter, do I look like a he?"
"It's still weird," Tabitha said. "I see your point, but it's just weird." She let Ricki hear her words. She wanted Ricki to know she wasn't happy about that. "That still doesn't really explain why I changed."
"We had sex," Ricki said.
"Yea, but there wasn't any penetration," Tabitha protested.
"No?" Ricki asked coyly. "That wasn't our tongues in each other's pussies?"
"You're saying that counts?" Brenda chimed in.
"It has to," Ricki said. "There's no other possible way that the two of you would have changed."
"Yes there is," Brenda said. "You were coughing a lot before you changed. Maybe you picked them up and gave them to me, and then I gave them to her after I started coughing."
Tabitha agreed. "Yea, maybe that's right."
Ricki shook her head. "I just don't think so. I think someone would have to be directly exposed to that smoke."
"Well, whichever way," Tabitha said, "we need to figure out what to do about the two of you. No one's going to believe who you were."
"They will if we prove it to them," Ricki said, grinning like the chesire cat.