At that exact moment another breaking news story appeared on the television. The newscaster reported that there would, over the next week or so, be a period of “re-registration.” Basically it was going to mean that everyone would need to have their driver’s license pictures re-taken and re-issued to match what they now looked like. More importantly, however, it would allow for all former males to legally change their names with no hassle, if they wanted to do so. It would not be required, but it was being encouraged.
“I guess that answers your question, Pam,” I sad.
“Not really,” she said. “Are you going to change your name or not?” Then she turned to Scott and asked, “What about you?” Then she looked at Carl and said, “And you?”
“Gee, I don’t know,” Carl answered. “I don’t like the sound of ‘Carla’ that much. Or ‘Carol.’ Or anything else close to ‘Carl’ that I can think of.”
Scott shrugged his shoulders. “I guess I’ll have to think about it. Doesn’t sound like I need to decide right this minute,” he said.
“Yea, same here,” I echoed his thoughts.
“Ugh,” Pam groaned. “You guys are so indecisive.”
Joyce began laughing. “What do you mean, ‘guys?’ They aren’t ‘guys’ anymore,” she said.
“To me they still are,” said Pam. “Their faces haven’t changed. They don’t have fully grown breasts either.”
“Yea, but they don’t have what makes a guy a guy,” said Rachel. “And you just called them ‘sisters.’”
“I’ll call them ‘guys’ as long as I want to, thank you very much,” Pam shot back in a pouty tone of voice.
“Just better leave her alone,” I said. “She’s having a pout.”
“Shut up,” she muttered as she shot me a dirty look.
“Trust me,” I said. “When I make a decision, you’ll know about it.”
I really hadn’t considered changing my name. On one hand, it could be interesting. But I still didn’t feel especially different. I mean, obviously I was about to look drastically different but I didn’t feel like a different person and so I didn’t think a different name was necessary. I supposed I could switch from “Joseph” to “Josephine,” but people would still call me “Joe.” Just maybe without the “E” at the end. It just didn’t seem important right now.