Simon decided to try just a small change. After all, he'd called friends over to share the new game - what if it turned
out to be a piece of crap? He kicked off his shoes and socks and sat cross-legged in the big chair, the manual in one hand.
He changed the age to 16 and pressed the submit button. And waited.
And waited.
All he felt was a small sensation like an insect bite or tingling pressure on his skin.
"Oh, man, what a rip," he said under his breath. "I don't feel any dif-" His complaint was cut short by a pounding on the
back door. Three loud knocks, then 2, then three again. "OK Ed, I'm coming. Keep your pants on!" Simon shouted.
He stood up and was unsteady for a moment. Something WAS a little different, but he couldn't place it. Shrugging, he ambled
to the kitchen door, knowing that his best bud, Ed Carlin, and Ed's 12-year-old cousin, Heather, would be on the other side
of the door. The three of them were the only ones who shared the 'secret' knock he'd just heard.
Simon had to try twice before he got hold of the knob.
"Hi, guys," he began, "um, aboout what I told you on the phone ...."
"Holy sh*t Simon, is that you?" Ed blurted out.
Simon now realized that Ed's voice was coming from - below - his best bud's head only came up to the middle of Simon's
chest. Heather stared, mouth wide open.
Simon stopped and looked down at himself. He knew his voice hadn't sounded any different, and he didn't - feel - any
different, but it had worked - something had happened! He saw aat least 5 inches of bare shin sticking out from beneath his
pants' bottom hem, and just now noticed that there was a gap between his shirt and the waist of the pants.
"Dude, you must've shot up about 7, 8 inches," Ed said excitedly. "What'd you do, dude?"
"Um, I set the game for 16," Simon said. "Guess I'm gonna be what my Dad calls a 'late bloomer,' cause I don't seem to have
changed any other way than to have, um, shot up. Kinda cool, I guess, but I was hoping for something a little more."
"Si-mon," Heather admonished,"This is just too, too cool! You mean we can, like, be any age and stuff we want?"
"Um, yeah, I guess," Simon replied. "There's all kinds of settings on the game. C'mon in and check it out. He barely
noticed that Heather purposely brushed against him as she passed giggling as she did so.
Simon loped back in to the living room, where Ed and Heather were already switching from screen to screen on the computer.
"So, what do you guys want to try?" Simon asked.
"I know, we can make it a real game," Heather said. "We can each make a whole list of changes and burn them onto a CD. I
bet we can tie it in the to the program and set up a random access connection. Then we won't know until it happens, and we
can take turns guessing what happened! C'mon, guys, it'll be fun!"
Simon and Ed had long ago learned not to argue with Heather. Simon pulled out a blank CD and dropped it into the burner.
"Rule one, no peeking. Rule two,ladies first," Heather said.
Ed retreated to the seat next to Simon on the couch. "Si-my-man, I can't really believe it. You look so cool. I'm gonna
choose 16, too, and then we can see who's gonna be the biggest dude when we get to high school."
"Well, I guess you're gonna beat me there, bud," Simon answered. "All I got was taller and maybe a little heavier. Heck, my
clothes still sorta fit. Sh*t, I hope I can figure out some way to use this thing to make me look more like the other guys
when I'm really 16 - I don't want to be just a big kid when everyone else is scoring, know whut I mean? I mean -" here he
dropped to a soft whisper - "I don't even have any hair, ya know, - down there - yet. In just checked when you guys were
fooling with the game. That's what I'm going to choose - I need to know when that's gonna happen so I can start planning
NOW, ya know whut I mean?" Ed nodded as sagely as any 13-year-old could. He knew better than to tell Simon that he already
had begun developing. At least, better than to mention it now - he didn't want to piss off Simon and lose a chance at the
game.
Heather signalled that she was done, and Ed moved to the keyboard.
Simon stood up and stretched. He was getting used to the longer limbs he now sported. Heather came over. She looked so
short to Simon now.
"Ooh, Simon, if this really, truly works, I can really, really show up that bratty Debbie Simmons at my party next week!"
Heather cooed.
"Mm-hmm" Simon muttered. He was trying to get a list of what he wanted to put on the CD together in his mind. Seeing what
Heather would be like in a few years was right near the top.
"OK, dude, you're up," Ed announced.
After Simon had finished, the three of them did rounds of 'one potato, two potato' to determine who would go first. Heather
won.
"Cross your fingers, guys, I'm going to run this like a random access music thingie," Heather said. She HAD won the class
prize in computers three years rtunning, so the boys had no reason to protest. "I'm ... OK, there - that should do it, I
guess. Now I can bring up three windows at once and buffer 3 random choices in from the CD so the execute commands all
happen at once. That way we won't take all afternoon playin' around one at a time, OK? Now, let's all stand over, um,
here."
All three stood in a line in front of the computer desk.
"Um, Simon, I can't reach. You've got the longest reach now, so switch places with me and lean over and press this button
here, OK?" Heather asked.
Simon did as he was asked. They heard the whir of the CD starting up, then the screen blinked on, off, then back to life
again and a slight glow enveloped them, followed by a sharp, short tingle.
"Whoa, like what was that all about?" Simon said loudly. His voice was still pitched at a pre-teen level. He looked down at
himself and didn't see any other apparent changes - the same amount of bare leg sticking out as before, until a long tress
of hair swung into view. "Huh?" He reached both hands up to his head. His hair had grown about a foot! It hung past his
shoulders and curtained down over his eyes until he brushed it to the side. In less than 2 seconds the following all took
place: "What a stupid change," he thought, and was about to turn when he felt something -- odd -- where he had never, ever
felt anything before. "What the hell?" He reached one hand around to the small of his back and gingerly poked two fingers
under his waistband. "Ow. Damn. What is that?" followed by a realization that his fingers, in an inverted 'V', were
grasping a stiff, soft, bushy ... tail!
"Oh, sh*t," came from Simon's side. "I got -- small! I'm like my freakin' little brother!" That was Ed, who, as Simon
turned, saw he'd dropped at least two feet and probably 7 or 8 years - he looked like a little kid playing dress-up, the
open reont of his collar hangin down in an loose loop, the sleeves of his shirt touching the floor, his pants crumpled in a
pile at his feet. "This ain't funny, dude! Who would pick this?" Simon couldn't help grinning at the pouty look on his
pudgy-faced friend. Ed craned his neck up, amazed at how far away Simon's face was now, at least what could be seen of it
through the long locks of hair that flowed down from Simon's scalp.
Then he realized he coudn't see Heather.
"Ed, shut up for a minute. Yeah, it's pretty dumb, but what happened to Heather? C'mon, man, step aside!" Simon, meaning
only to move Ed to the side, batted him so hard on the shoulder that he fell down, tangled in his clothing.
But Ed didn't make a peep when he saw what Simon had revealed.
There, spread on the carpet, were Heather's clothes - but just her clothes. Simon reacted quickly, forgetting about the
uncomfortable pressure his tightly enclosed new tail was giving him. He grabbed and brushed the girl's outfit to the side.
There, curled up almost in a ball, was a naked child. No, even younger than a child. As the boys watched, the form grew
smaller and then more undefined. Paler -- smaller -- rounder -- smaller -- until, very quickly, too quickly, all that
marked where it had been was a large damp spot on the light tan carpet.
Ed, still on the floor, spoke first.
"I -- I --didn't mean to, dude." His voice was hesitant and tremulous. Simon thought he was about to cry. "I thought it'd
be funny to put in a zero - you know, just to see if it would work - I n-n-never thought it would ...." His voice trailed
off.