Jessica sat down on the library chair, exhausted from the physical and psychological strain of hauling around her two hundred pound body. When she got home, she promised herself, she'd have some ice cream. She glanced at the piece of paper on the desk.
To my new friend,
You’re not happy with you are, are you? Here's a game to make a change in your life. Have fun! I know I did! Your new friend.
Huh, she thought. Is this some kind of a joke?
The words "no, this isn't a joke" appeared on the paper.
Jessica started.
She read further down on the paper.
1. If you were a boy, would your handwriting be sloppy?
What kind of question was this? But Jessica decided to play along, more as a way of putting off studying than anything else/
"My handwriting would be firm, clear, masculine and completely legible" Jessica wrote. And the handwriting on the page was firm and clear, different from Jessica's usual hen scratchings.
2. If you were a boy, would you like pink?
No.
3. If you were a boy, would your hair be straight or curly?
Jessica had always liked curly hair, so she wrote curly. She felt an itching on the top of her head.
4. If you were a boy, what would your favorite color be?
What a strange question, Jessica thought. She had read somewhere that boys tended to like blue, so she wrote "blue." The pen's ink changed from reddish-pink to blue.
5. If you were a boy, what color would your hair be and how would you wear it?
Brown, Jessica wrote, short and low maintenance. She hated fussing with her hair. She felt more tingling on her scalp as her hair withdrew into her scalp.
6. If you were a boy, what kind of skin color would you have?
OK, Jessica smiled, it's just a silly game anyway. "Dark black" she wrote. Her fair skin darkened to an inky black.
7. If you were a boy, would you play sports?,
Ugh, Jessica thought. The jocks were so mean to her. She wrote "I would be in good shape and work out regularly, but I wouldn't play organized sports." The fat on her body began to change to muscle.
8. If you were a boy, what kind of clothes would you wear?
Jessica had often envied how quickly boys could get dressed. "Jeans and tee shirts, most of the time" she wrote. Her stretch pants changed to men's jeans and her blouse to a t-shirt.
9. If you were a boy, would you get piercings and wear jewelry?
Jessica always thought jewelry looked silly on guys, so she wrote no.
10. If you were a boy, what kind of activities would you engage in?
"I would be engaged in various political movements, and have lots of friends in the same movements, like environmentalism and human rights." Jessica had always wanted to do that, but had been too shy and afraid of people.
11. If you were a boy, would you shave?
Yes, but I might grow facial hair later.
12. If you were a boy, what size would your penis be?
Jessica nearly burst out laughing--what kind of question was that? But she decided to play along. She didn't have a clear idea of what was considered appropriate so she wrote "Bigger than average, but not so big as to be grotesque or seriously inconvenient." She felt something growing in her new pants, straining the confines of her still-feminine underwear.
13. Boxers or briefs?
Boxers, Jessica wrote hurriedly. She felt her panties readjust, to give her new organ the room it needed.
14. If you were a boy, would you be into girls?
Yes, Jessica wrote, but I wouldn't be homophobic. Suddenly the girls in the library looked more attractive, and he felt his new organ stir.
15. If you were a boy, how intelligent would you be on a scale of one to ten, one being very stupid and ten being among the top 1% in intelligence?
Ten, Jessica wrote. Oddly, he didn't feel that different. That was because she was already very intelligent, but had never been given the chance to use it.
16. If you were a boy, how athletic would you be, one being paralytic and ten being Olympic-caliber?
Eight, Jessica wrote--he wanted to be strong and agile, but he didn't want athletics at the center of his life.
17. If you were a boy, how old would you be, how tall would you be, and how much would you weigh?
Screw high school, Jessica thought. "I would be 22 years old, 6'2" and one hundred eighty pounds. I am enrolled in college, and am just re-visiting high school to say hi to some of my old teachers." His body continued adjusting.
18. If you were a boy, how many siblings would you have?
Jessica snorted in derision. "If?" came in a deep chuckle from his throat. "I would have one sister, ten years younger than me, named Phoenecia. She looks up to her big brother."
19. If you were a boy, would you have a girlfriend?
Jessica had very little experience with romance, but was eager to learn. "Yes, her name is Monique, she is very pretty but not skinny at all, nice and curvy. We love each other very much, and love to make love, but neither one of us is ready for marriage and children yet. We're very careful to use precautions."
20. Now that you are a boy, what is your name?
My name is Malcolm, my parents named me after Malcolm X.
“If you want to have a happy life as a boy, pass this on to the next person. Boy or Girl, don't matter.”
Malcolm stood up, stretching his powerful body and looking around for who would be a good person for the note.