"Sorry, but his room's being redecorated at the moment. Can it wait?"
"Yeah, sure!" Noah said. If he couldn't remember what it was Jeff had borrowed, it couldn't be that important. Jeff tried to make Noah insist, but that was beyond his abilities. Despairing and mentally exhausted, Jeff gave up - he just couldn't think of anything more he could do.
"Is that all? Sorry, Noah, but there's something I really need to do."
"Oh- sorry to interrupt! See you!"
"Goodbye, Noah." Ruth closed the door.
Noah started his walk back to the bus stop. Ruth was acting kind of strange... Still, that wasn't important. He could keep the singlet! When he saw Jeff, he'd have to do something for the guy - he wanted to be his friend. As he continued to walk, he tried to remember what he could about his surprisingly awesome almost-stepbrother.
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Ruth closed the door.
She couldn't believe she'd finally made the decision. The real singlet had arrived weeks ago, but she'd kept putting off giving it to Noah and getting her son back. At first she'd justified it with Jeff's happiness - checking his status on the Chronivac, she knew he was enjoying being Noah's singlet. But that wasn't the real reason she hadn't brought him back...
She loved her son - of course she did. But he was such a pain - and being without him was so freeing. She had so much free time! She didn't feel constantly under pressure - even when Jeff barely came out of his room, he was so demanding, she'd barely had any time to herself. But ever since she'd changed him, she'd been able to just focus on herself... She'd become so happy, she didn't want it to end.
Also... She hated to think this, but... She didn't really like Jeff. She loved him, of course - but getting to know Noah, she'd begun to realize how much she disliked her son, especially compared to a boy as wonderful as him. Noah was friendly, athletic, intelligent and independent. Jeff wasn't any of those things - try to have an adult conversation with him, and you feel like you were talking to a child.
Jeff... She loved him, of course. But, being completely honest with herself, the idea of never seeing him again as anything other than an item of clothing was more appealing than the idea of having to put up with him again.
It wasn't like she'd be depriving the world of anything. When Jeff had been gone for a few weeks, she'd realized with surprise that no-one seemed to miss him. After she'd called the school to tell them he'd be gone, not a single person had called her to see where he was; she'd checked his phone for messages - nothing. Probably Noah liked him now more than anyone else did, and it was because of something he hadn't done voluntarily. And he liked him more as a piece of clothing than as a brother.
Recently, she'd started looking at the Chronivac again. At first, she'd pretended to herself that she was just curious - wondering what this incredible machine could do. But really she was looking for a way she could make things stay like this. And she'd found it.
Among the various options available with any transformation was a little tick-box marked "Reality Change". If she ticked it... The world would be as if Jeff, her son, had never existed. Much the same, then. Only she would remember (and even that could be changed if she wanted to). Initially, she'd resisted the idea of leaving him like this. Of course she'd turn her son back eventually. But being asked by Noah like that, being forced to make a choice... it was clear what choice she wanted to make.
She sat down at the computer, clicking on the Chronivac icon - the window popped up, showing Jeff's status; she started to change his settings, first "Reality Change", but then others...
She wasn't going to just leave him. She loved him - she truly did - and she cared about his welfare. She was going to make absolutely sure he was happy, and weeks of checking the programs advanced settings had given her a few ideas...