Changeday: In The Beginning free porn video

We all remember where we were on that day, the day everyone in the world switched genders except for pregnant women. Four weeks later we all switched back...except for those former men who had got pregnant in between. I was one of them. ******************** CHANGEDAY: THE BEGINNING BobH (c) 2014 - 1 - I don't need to ask if you remember you where you were on that Monday in June when it happened. Everyone in the world remembers where they were and what they were doing. How could anyone ever forget? My name - all the time then and half the time now - is Richard Amis and, after spending the afternoon with my parents, my wife Kelly and I were visiting my sister Gina and her husband Gerald at their house on the outskirts of London. It was much bigger than our flat in Hammersmith, Gerry being far more successful as a novelist than I was as a still junior reporter. It was early evening and we had gone into the back garden for drinks before dinner, basking in the early evening sun as the day slowly cooled. "So how are Mum and Dad?" asked Gina. "Much the same," I said, as I poured wine into Kelly and Gerry's glasses. "Dad's arthritis is no worse. Unfortunately, it's no better either and it's still pretty much immobilised him." I moved the wine bottle towards Gina's glass, but she covered the mouth with her other hand. "None for me, thanks," she said as I offered to pour her one. "It's not like you to turn down a drink, sis," I said, smiling. "I can't deny it," she chuckled, "but I'm going teetotal for the next nine months." "Nine months? Does that mean...?" "It's why we invited you over tonight," said Gerry, putting a protective arm around Gina's shoulders and beaming. "Congratulations, you two!" I said, going over to my sister and hugging her. "Yes, congratulations," said Kelly, kissing them both on the cheek. It had been fleeting, but I had seen the flash of hurt and envy in Kelly's eyes before she quickly masked this with a smile. Kate, her own sister, was due to give birth any day and had already checked into a maternity hospital, and now this. It seemed like everyone in our family was having babies except for us. Kelly desperately wanted children, but we had only learned last month that she was infertile. Adding to this was the fact that, like Gerry and me, Kelly and Gina had been in college together, but where Gerry and I had been just friends Kelly and Gina had also been occasional lovers. All of which made us very tight-knit, but it had to complicate Kelly's reaction. "So," I said, "would you prefer this new addition to the Baker family to be a boy or a girl?" "We don't really mind," said Gina. "So long as he or she is a healthy baby we'd be delighted with either." "I'm hoping this is the first of many," said Gerry. "I've always wanted a big family. Four or five would be ideal." "Not unless we find some way for you to have them, buster!" said Gina, giving his shoulder a playful thump. At that moment a nearby church clock began to strike the hours. It was 7pm, and the world would never be the same again. "That's strange," I said, as the third of the seven strikes sounded, "my whole body just started tingling." "Me, too," said Kelly. "And me," said Gerry, puzzled. "Well, I don't feel a thing," said Gina, looking concerned. "Are you all alright?" "I think so," said Kelly, flexing her fingers. "I just feel ...odd." "Yeah, I...whoa!" said Gerry, whose voice had suddenly gotten higher. "You're a bit old for your voice to be breaking, Ger," I said, with a chuckle. Kelly had unzipped the back of her dress and was unhooking her bra. "What are you doing?" I said, in surprise. "The strap's getting tighter and tighter, like it's going to cut me in two, but the cups seem to be getting looser. What the hell is going on?" she said, her voice deepening. Looking down, I could see the hair on my arms had disappeared, my fingers looking somehow longer, thinner, and my nails needed trimming again despite my having trimmed them just before we set off from home. "You...you're all changing!" said Gina, sounding frightened. "Kelly's getting bigger and you two are getting smaller and ...oh my God!" Gerry was clutching his chest, a look of wonder in his eyes. "I...I'm growing breasts!" That's when I knew without a doubt what was happening. "We're turning into women!" I said, awestruck and afraid, one hand checking the hair that was spreading over my collar, the other tentatively touching the breasts now noticeable beneath my own shirt. "And Kelly's becoming a man!" "This isn't possible!" said Kelly. "No, but it's happening," I said, in a quiet voice. Then we fell silent, watching each other as the changes progressed, frightened looks on all our faces. Kelly had always been tall for a woman but now she was getting even taller - wider too, as her back and shoulders broadened. By contrast, Gerry and I were both shrinking, our shoulders narrowing as our hips widened, our bottoms becoming larger, rounder, more obviously female. Gingerly, I patted my crotch, knowing before I did that my penis was almost gone. "You need to come with me and get out of that dress," said Gina, leading Kelly away. "You're about to burst its seams." How she could be so practical at a time like this I'll never know, but that was Gina for you. They went upstairs to the bedrooms and Gerry and I moved indoors to the lounge, holding up trousers now too large for us. We both went straight to the wall mirror and stared at our reflections in wonderment. The tingling was beginning to abate now, the changes slowing, our transformations almost complete. I felt sick. "I look like Gina," I said, mouth dry, and I did. We were not twins, but close to it. I was the same height and build, had long brown hair like my sister, same nose, eyes, lips, and only a slightly differently shaped face. Gina wasn't a great beauty but she was pretty enough and so, I now supposed, was I. Gerry, however, was definitely a looker. Even holding up his baggy trousers there was no disguising those curves - his breasts were definitely bigger than mine - and he was seriously cute. "You look kinda like Buffy," I said, referring to one of our favourite old TV shows, "particularly since your hair's turned blonde." "Sarah Michelle Gellar!" he said, smacking his forehead. "*That's* who I remind me of!" "And those were words I never expected to hear come out of your mouth," I said. He laughed, a musical, feminine sound, and stopped as soon as he heard himself. "What are we going to *do*, Rich?" he asked me, almost pleading. "First thing I'm going to do is sort these clothes out," I said, pulling tight the belt on my trousers and making a new hole. I then rolled the legs up until they cleared my ankles, and knotted my shirt under my breasts to provide some support - "Breasts! You've got breasts!" a voice was screaming in my head, but I supressed it, forced it down. I was *not* going to lose control of myself. Finally, I kicked off my shoes. They were too big for me now and shuffling about in oversize shoes always looks ridiculous. Gerry followed suit. As he was adjusting his belt so Kelly's mobile phone started to buzz. I fished it out of her handbag, which was sitting on the coffee table. "Yes?" I said. "Who is this?" I recognised the voice. It was Kelly's sister, Kate. "Kate?" I said, "It's me, Richard." "Richard," she said, sounding disappointed. "So you've changed too, just like everyone else." "Everyone else?" I said, puzzled. "You mean you don't know? The TV was on in my ward when it happened. You need to turn yours on, too. I haven't changed but it seems like everyone else has. They've all switched genders. Brian turned into a woman, too. I can't believe my husband is a woman. But, Kelly...how's Kelly?" "She's a man now," I said, turning on the TV. "She's upstairs with Gina at the moment, and Gina's still a woman." "Still a woman...? But why, why me and her?" I tuned the TV to the BBC 24 hour news channel where stunned looking reporters were trying to deal with the situation. The presenters were a middle-aged woman in an oversized man's suit and a young man, incongruously clad in a dress and wearing female make-up. With the biggest story in history breaking while they were on-air no one had taken the time to change. "Rich?" said Kate. "I said, why me and her? Why were we spared." As she asked the question, so the penny dropped. "She only told us this evening that she's pregnant," I said. "My God, Kate, that's it! You weren't changed because you're both pregnant - and I'll bet no other pregnant woman was changed either!" "Is that Kate?" asked a deep, male voice. I turned and when I caught sight of him I gasped. It was Kelly, and as a man she was a six foot three inch tall Greek god. She was so gorgeous it took my breath away and I felt myself going weak at the knees. "Yes," I gulped, passing Kelly the phone so she could speak to her sister. Kelly was wearing a bathrobe, flip-flops, and shorts, the only clothes Gina would have found to fit her since she was bigger as a man than Gerry was. Kelly took the phone from me and I glanced over at Gerry, who was staring at her slack-jawed. Only then did it occur to me to wonder why two hitherto heterosexual males were practically drooling at the sight of the man before us. Okay, so he was beyond hot and super sexy but why...wait! Why was I thinking of him..her..him that way at all? "Eyes front!" I said to Gerry, who tore his gaze away from Kelly and gave me a dazed look. "Wha..?" he said. "Whatever happened to us didn't just change our bodies," I said, "We'd never have looked at any man this way an hour ago, however gorgeous." "Yeah, but, damn!" said Gerry, staring hungrily at Kelly again. "TV" I said, steering him into a chair. "We need to find out what's happening out there." What was happening was predictable. First reports arriving from other parts of the world showed there had already been a small amount of violence and looting in some western cities but things were mainly calm with most of their populations still being in shock. In those parts of the world where women were considered less equal to men than in the West reports were beginning to come in of deaths and the start of major civil unrest. More ominously, some of those places had gone 'dark' and cut off all communication with the outside world. We could only guess what was going on in Saudi Arabia, for instance. Reports from closer to home soon confirmed my speculation about pregnant women, and some of the oddities of the changes we had undergone were becoming clearer. We had not just switched gender but had also somehow shuffled our genes, with traits emerging from our family gene pools that we hadn't previously exhibited, hence Gerry now being blonde. More intriguingly, some people who had suffered physical infirmity before were now whole again with the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, and the lame walking tall. Some, but far from all. Doubtless we'd figure out why in the weeks and months to come. Gerry and I got both a surprise and a vision of what was to come when the TV station switched to a new news presenter. Dark-haired, pretty and immaculately made up, but looking slightly ill at ease, the on-screen text bar identified her as 'Georgina Carson'. "Hey, that must be George Carson," said Gerry, "but what's with the make-up and the name change?" That was quick. It had only been about forty minutes since the change and already it was happening. "They're trying to reassure us by presenting us with 'business as usual'," I said. "That means female newsreaders who wear make-up and have women's names. I bet we're going to see more of this with people adopting the names and presenting themselves in accord with their new genders. This has been a huge shock. Everyone will want things back to normal - or at least looking that way - as soon as possible. Guess we'll be calling you Geraldine soon." "Yeah, right, 'Rachel'," he replied with a dry chuckle. Having now got off the phone with her sister, Kelly sat down on the couch next to me and put her arm around my slender shoulders. "You okay, babe?" she asked, in her now rich, sexy baritone. "As much as any of us are," I said, sighing, and putting my head on her muscular shoulder. "Kate told me the phone system is overloading with the number of people trying to contact friends and relatives, so I guess we're not going to get a call through to your parents. I wonder how they're doing?" "Probably as freaked out as the rest of us," I said. "We should go over and see them tomorrow, when things have calmed down a bit." "Look, it's the Prime Minister!" said Gerry, pointing at the TV. "At least, that's who they're saying it is." I understood his uncertainty. The homely-looking woman on the screen bore little resemblance to the man we were familiar with. They had taken the time to dress her in a skirt suit that fitted and no attempt had been made to femme her up with make-up or jewellery, but it was still difficult to see the PM in her. However, when she began to speak there was no mistaking that familiar tone and cadence despite the voice being higher. "At 7pm local time we experienced what we now have confirmation was a global event. These are extraordinary circumstances without precedent in recorded history and I know there is a lot of fear out there. We don't know how it happened or what it means, but it cannot be allowed to affect public order and the running of the country. For tonight we would ask you to stay in your homes and not use the phone system unless it is absolutely necessary, so that emergency services can deal with problems arising from the event and police can restore order in those areas where some have regrettably reacted with rioting and other criminal activity. Tomorrow, we would ask that you all return to work and carry out your jobs as normal." She said some other stuff after this, but that was the important bit. "You'll stay here in the guest room tonight, of course," said Gerry, glancing over at us, his eyes lingering on Kelly. "I guess so," I said, as Kelly gave my shoulders a reassuring squeeze. Gina reappeared and eyed Gerry and me appraisingly. "We need to get you two sorted out next," she said. "What do you mean, 'sorted out'?" said Gerry suspiciously. "I mean you can't go around dressed like that," she replied. "So, come on; brother first, then husband." "Go ahead, hon," said Kelly. Somewhat reluctantly, I followed Gina upstairs to her bedroom. "Okay," she said when we were inside, "take all your clothes off." I did as she asked and she studied my naked body thoughtfully. "God, it's weird seeing you like this, even weirder than seeing Kelly as a guy," she said. "You look so much like me it's spooky, but that also means my clothes should fit you. Fortunately, I have plenty I can lend you." From a drawer, she took a plain white bra and pants set. "Put these on," she ordered, so I did. Putting a bra on rather than taking one off was a new experience for me, but I fumbled my way through it with some assistance from my sister, who adjusted my breasts in the cups - and boy was it weird feeling her hands on that unfamiliar flesh that was now a part of me. Standing there in my bra and panties, seeing the dazed-looking woman staring back at me from the mirror, was when the enormity of what had happened finally hit me. To my surprise, I started to sob. Without saying a word, Gina took me in her arms and held me while I cried, the tears rolling down my cheeks. "How do you do it?" I asked, between sobs. "How do you stay so calm even when something as huge as this has happened?" "Someone has to," she said, gently smoothing my hair, "and how I cope is by being that someone." I didn't really understand this, but I was certainly grateful for it. After a bit, she returned to her wardrobe and selected a blouse and a pair of slacks for me to wear. "These will do you for now," she said, "since I doubt if you're ready for a dress yet." "'Yet'?" I said, taking the clothes from her. "You think I'm going to start wearing dresses?" "I'm sure you will eventually," she said, smiling, "when you've had time to get used to the change. I'm sure most of you will." "Yeah, well, we'll see," I said, donning the clothing. "Do you have some spare shoes? Nothing with a high heel, of course...." When I came down the stairs I found Kelly and Gerry sitting together on the sofa. She had a powerful arm around his now slender shoulders. I know she was just comforting him, but seeing them like that I felt a stab of jealousy. When she caught sight of me, Kelly leapt to her feet and came over to me. She grasped my shoulders and gazed into my eyes. "You look good," she said, "hot, in fact. Is it wrong that I find you attractive like this?" "It would be worse if you didn't," I replied, at once both reassured and uncomfortable, which was a very strange feeling. "Your turn, Gerry," said Gina, who had descended the stairs behind me. "Good," he said, getting up from the sofa, "being in these oversized things isn't very comfortable." When they had gone upstairs, Kelly did something I was not expecting and would not have said I was ready for. Lifting my chin, she leaned in and kissed me. It was a gentle kiss that turned into a full-on passionate kiss, those stronger arms crushing my small body against hers, and I quickly became very, very aroused. It also must have gone on longer than I realised because it only ended when we were brought back to reality by someone giving a theatrical cough behind us. It was Gerry. When I saw him standing there next to Gina my jaw dropped because he was dressed in short-skirted dress, dark pantyhose, and three inch heels. "What the fuck, Gerry?" I said. "What has happened to us has happened," he said, "so I figured 'in for a penny, in for a pound'. I mean, why not? Do you like it, Kelly?" "You look very nice," she replied politely, though there was a hunger in her eyes that suggested she thought he looked a lot more than just 'nice'. "You're going to need new names as well," said Gina. "I don't," said Kelly, "my name works for a man or a woman." "Rich and I already decided on ours," said Gerry - or maybe that should be 'Geri', "and it's Rachel and Geraldine." "'Rachel'," said Kelly, smiling down at me. "I like it." We had been joking around rather than actually choosing names, but what the hell: 'Rachel' was as good as any other name. The evening passed pretty much without incident after that, and we spent most of it watching news reports on TV. This was the biggest event in human history, so naturally it preempted all other programming. In the UK it had been 7pm when it happened, 2pm on the US East Coast, 11am on the West Coast, and 5am in eastern Australia where most people had still been asleep when the change occurred. Thanks to the International Dateline it had also been Tuesday rather than Monday, of course. Hell of a thing to go to bed one gender and wake up the other. I caught Geri staring at Kelly more often than I would've liked, however. Gina was either oblivious to this or chose to ignore it - I wasn't sure which. I didn't make a fuss because this was a bizarre situation we all found ourselves in and we'd all been thrown off-balance by it. Perhaps things would look different in the morning. When Kelly and I retired to the guest room for the night we'd no sooner closed the door behind us than we were in each other's arms, tearing our clothes off. The sex that followed was raw, passionate, and long. It was also the best sex I had ever had. Afterwards, lying sated in Kelly's arms, my head resting on her ...no, *his* mighty chest, my thoughts were racing. I had just made love to a man, as a woman, and I was totally fine with it. It should feel weird and I should be freaked out, but I wasn't. I just wanted more. And before the night was over I got it, too. - 2 - I woke to confusion the next morning, momentarily startled to find myself in bed with a man, before memories of yesterday and awareness of my altered body kicked in. Sighing, I relaxed and snuggled up to Kelly, who was already awake. I was a woman, a heterosexual woman. One day that would probably feel entirely unremarkable, but not today. "This is the first day of our new world," said Kelly. "This is when it gets real and we start to discover how our transformation is going to change things. On a personal level, the first change for me is going to involve finding something to wear. I'm a bigger man than either you or Geri were so the clothes you arrived here in aren't going to be of any use." As it happened Gina, my ever-practical sister, had already sorted something out for us by the time we got up and made our way down to breakfast in borrowed bathrobes. "These should fit you, Kelly," she said, holding up a large men's suit and a pair of shoes - there was a shirt, underpants and socks on a nearby chair. "Yes, I think you're right," he said, holding the suit against his body, "where on earth did you get this stuff?" "Our next door neighbour," she replied. "I swapped one of my outfits for it. And I've got another couple for you to choose from, Rachel." She indicated two outfits; one with slacks, and one with a skirt. Remembering how Kelly had looked at Geri last night, I opted for the skirt. "I'll expect those clothes back when you've bought some of your own," she said. "Clothes shopping is going to be a priority for both of us," said Kelly. "That suit you got for me will let me go to work today, but it's also the only clothing I've got that fits me." "Actually, you're about the same size now as your boss," I said, "maybe you can talk him into giving you his wardrobe." Kelly was p.a. to John Strauss, owner of Strauss Marketing. "Not a bad idea," said Kelly, rubbing his chin, and frowning as he realised he now had stubble to deal with. "Umm, do you have any disposible razors in your bathroom, Gina?" Breakfast was just the three of us since Geri, keeping the sort of hours only a novelist could, usually slept away the morning and wrote into the early hours. I can't say I was unhappy about her absence. Her blatant flirting with Kelly last night had been really getting under my skin. Gina seemed a bit more subdued than usual, but then with the three of us having switched genders on her I can't say I was surprised. This was going to be as hard for those who hadn't been transformed as for those of us who had. We all had a lot of processing to do. After we'd eaten, Kelly headed for the local tube station leaving me our car, which I needed to get around for my job. I phoned my editor, Jill, and an unfamiliar male voice answered. When we'd established who we each were, he told me not to come into the office. "I'd only be sending you straight back out again," he said. "There's only one story today, and it's the same story all around the world. We need to cover every aspect of this thing we can, so I want you to get an interview with that brother-in-law of yours, the one who's a Reverend." "Brian?" I said. He was my other brother-in-law, the husband of Kelly's sister Kate. "That's the one. We need a few quotes from a churchman for the religious angle, and TV news have already pulled in the big guys. You know the sort of thing we need: 'is this an act of God, and if so what does it mean', stuff like that." "OK," I said. "Great! The sooner you can send your copy in the better." I suppose it says something about the human spirit and our ability to adapt to circumstances that little more than twelve hours after the most life-changing event any of us were ever likely to experience it was already 'business as usual'. But not yet for everyone. A little later, while driving to the meeting I'd arranged with Brian, I paid close attention to all those I saw on the street. There were far fewer people out and about than usual but since every last one of them had been a person of the opposite gender just last night every last one of them was of interest. Most people were wearing trousers, but there were a few new women already out and about in dresses and skirts. I stopped at a traffic light at one point and was surprised to see a beautiful young woman in high heels, full make-up, and a very revealing dress stride confidently over the crossing in front of me, flashing me a dazzling smile as she did so. It was one of those "d'oh" moments when a penny drops. Most of us would come to terms with what had happened to us and adapt to our altered bodies because we didn't really have any other choice, but there were going to be a small number of people like this girl who were *delighted* by what had happened and who eagerly embraced it. I couldn't know for sure of course, but she was almost certainly someone who had always wanted to be a girl. For her and those like her this must be a dream come true. Brian Jarvis and I had been friends since we were children, and it was one more weird experience to add to so many others that at first I didn't recognize him. Brian was a six-foot-six tall great, bearded bear of a man, who'd been on both his university rugby and wrestling teams, so it came as a shock to see the slightly built woman who greeted me at the door to the rectory at St. Mary's wearing oversized religious garments that had been inexpertly gathered in. "Brian?" I asked, uncertainly. "Is that really you?" "I'm afraid so," she replied, smiling, "and since you look so much like Gina, you must be Richard. Are you going to stand there with your mouth open, or are you coming in?" "Oh, yeah, sorry," I said, entering the rectory, "only it was a bit of a shock seeing you like that. I mean look at you! You've lost a foot in height, and what has to be a vast amount of weight!" "I'm almost exactly half the person I was yesterday," she confirmed. "You're the first person I've met who's lost that much body mass. In fact I still can't believe it *is* you. When did we meet?" "On our first day of school as five year olds at Mafeking Road Infants," she replied with a chuckle, "when something you ate disagreed with you and you threw up all over Mary Tomlinson. I thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever seen." "She never let me forget it all through school, either," I said, ruefully. "Sorry I doubted it was you." "No, it was a reasonable precaution. If the change can be as dramatic as it was in my case then I'm sure there are those out there claiming to be people they're not, Rich." "I'm going by 'Rachel' now." "Really? Hmmm. I hadn't given it much thought yet, but if we're already adopting new, gender-appropriate names I suppose I'll need one, too. In which case 'Brionny' is pretty close to my male name." "So where were you when it happened?" I asked. "Visiting Kate in the maternity hospital. She was the only one on her ward who hadn't given birth yet. I was just getting up to leave when I felt the tingling that was the start of it. I heard later that the shock of seeing their visitors, mothers who had not long given birth, and the medical staff changing gender before their eyes caused a couple of women in another ward to go into premature labour. Kate didn't hear about them until later and so, ironically, despite being in a maternity hospital she didn't make the connection about pregnant women being unaffected until she rang you. The doctors and nurses were magnificent and recovered quickly. Their first concern was the nursing mothers who had suddenly become men and so were no longer able to feed their babies." "Is Kate OK?" "So far, yes. Of course she wasn't happy when I said I still had to leave her to prepare for the evening service, but I felt that on that night above all others my congregation would need me. So I swapped clothes with a small woman who had become a large man and headed for St. Mary's. Given all the confusion, it's fortunate that I could walk there from the hospital. I also needed some time alone to absorb the enormity of my own transformation since I could hardly minister to others if I hadn't got at least the start of a grip on it. I have to say that standing naked in front of a mirror for the first time and seeing this tiny female stranger staring back at me was deeply unsettling." "What happens when Kate has her baby? It must be due any day now." "It is. The bishop has granted me a month's leave for when it does. He's assigned another vicar to cover for me during that time. Kate and I haven't yet had an opportunity to discuss what my becoming a woman means for us as a couple, of course. Tea?" "Yes, thank you, I'd love a cup." While Brionny - calling my old friend that was going to take a bit of getting used to - went into the kitchen to brew a pot of tea, I settled into an armchair in the rectory's small lounge, marvelling as I always did at the range of books on her shelves. Brian had always been fascinated by science and had never seen a conflict between this and his faith. In fact he regarded science as revelation, each new discovery offering more insight into God's creation. To him, now her, evolution stood not in opposition to God's word, but was in fact evidence of God in action. "So," she said, when she returned carrying a tea tray, "not even a day since becoming a woman and you're already wearing a skirt." "Until I can shop for clothes I had to take what Gina was prepared to lend me," I said, defensively. Then I saw she was grinning. After all these years she could *still* wind me up. Brionny took the chair opposite me and poured our teas while I set up my recorder. "Before we get started," she said, "can I ask you a personal question?" "Of course you can." "Good, because this is very personal. Now that you're a woman, do you find yourself fancying men? Only last night I had some ..ah..erotic dreams featuring myself, as a woman, having passionate sex with a man." She looked very uncomfortable telling me this, and avoided making eye contact while doing so. "Yes," I said, "only last night I didn't dream of having sex with a handsome man; I actually *had* sex with a handsome man. Several times." "Wow, really?" she said, eyes wide. "Kelly?" "Yep. He's an absolutely gorgeous man." "So it appears we've gone from being heterosexual men to heterosexual women?" "Seems that way, yes." "It's a relief to have that confirmed. Right, let's start the interview." I turned on the recorder. "Interview with the Reverend Brionny Jarvis by Rachel Amis, conducted the day after everyone changed gender," I said, beginning the interview. "I suppose the obvious first question is: why? If you believe this was God's doing - and I'm sure you do - why did He do this?" "What happened to the world last night was God speaking to us in a very loud voice, of that I have no doubt," replied Brionny, "but we're going to be debating just what it was He was saying for a long time to come. Whatever its meaning, it's already had one very noticeable effect. Most people in this country are like you, Rachel, calling themselves Christian yet only ever setting foot inside a church for weddings and funerals. Monday evening services at St. Mary's usually attract no more than two or three people. There were over a hundred at last night's service. I couldn't give them the answers I know they wanted, but I could assure them that what had happened to them - to all of us - was part of God's plan." "It could be aliens," I said, mischievously. "Even if it was, any such creatures would be part of His creation and so part of His plan," said Brionny, treating my suggestion seriously, "they would be but the tools He used to execute it." "So no idea what His message might be?" "I suspect there was more than one purpose to this event. It could be that the Lord lost patience with how all too many men, all too many *societies*, treat the women of this world and so He decided to put the shoe on the other foot, as it were. It could also be that he really doesn't like men having tattoos." "Huh? What are you talking about?" She rolled up her sleeve. Where once there had been a very impressive image of the Archangel Gabriel, acquired while at a seminary after a dare that may well have involved alcohol, there was now only clear, unmarked skin. "I phoned around a few friends who had ink," she said, gazing at her exposed forearm, "and no one with tattoos before we all switched genders had any afterwards. If this holds true across the world - and I see no reason why it wouldn't - it means that the only people who still have tattoos are pregnant women. For the first time in thousands of years, there's not a single man with a tattoo on the entire planet. Imagine that." "Wow, that's a really bizarre thing to contemplate," I said. "Of course, a lot of people are going to rush right out and get new ink. Tattoo artists are going to make a killing." "The tattoos going away..." said Brionny, rolling her sleeve down and looking thoughtful, "it's almost as if our bodies were partially renewed when they were transformed." "Partially?" "Yes. I still seem to have the same fillings in my teeth as before, though fortunately they shrank in size along with my teeth and mouth. It would've been painful if they hadn't. As to the limits of that renewal, one of my parishioners is an old soldier who was missing a leg and part of a finger. When I saw him - now her - in church last night the leg was still missing but the finger restored. So relatively minor physical damage gets reversed while major damage doesn't. Also, foreign material such as fillings remain in the body while ink doesn't. I wonder what it can mean?" "No ideas?" "None. I can't know God's will any more than any other mortal can. As always, the deaths of innocents will be hard to accept, yet accept them I must." "What are you talking about?" "All those babies whose mothers have switched genders and so can no longer breast feed. In advanced societies we've developed formula that can even be used to feed newborns, and there's always the option of animal milk - did you know that orphanages in France used to keep goats on hand to suckle babies left at their doors? Our societies will mostly manage and there will be few infant deaths, but in other, poorer parts of the world that won't be the case. Inevitably, thousands of innocent babies will die who wouldn't have if their mothers had stayed female. These are the sorts of things that test your faith." "How do you handle something like that?" I asked, genuinely curious. "The same way you handle the age-old question of why God allows evil to exist in the world at all. You accept that it's part of some greater plan, a plan that only He understands. If you have faith you will accept this." We spent another half hour discussing the philosophical and metaphysical implications of the global transformation and then it was time to leave. I wanted to extract an article from the interview and to get it to my editor as quickly as possible. I hadn't yet checked in with my parents and given how quiet it was on the streets this was the perfect time to visit them. ust as soon as the article was written. The writing went well - it doesn't always - and by early afternoon I'd fired it off. I followed up with a phone call. "Jill?" I said, "this is Rich...ah, Rachel Amis. Did you get the piece?" "Yeah, and it looks fine. Oh, and it's 'Jack' now, not Jill." "Fair enough. What's the front page headline going to be?" "DAY OF CHANGE." "Oh," I said. "You don't like it?" "The morning papers already used THE DAY THE WORLD CHANGED, and several variations of that. We ought to have something a bit, well, punchier." "What would you suggest?" "How about CHANGE DAY? It's shorter and snappier." "Hmmm. I like it. Thanks, Rachel." Jack wasn't the only one who liked it. I couldn't know it yet, of course, but that term - often with the two words run together - would gradually spread and eventually become the main name for the day throughout the English- speaking world. It would be my one claim to fame. On my way to our parents' house I picked up Gina. My own transformation was hard enough, but I had a feeling that seeing them gender-swapped was going to be weird beyond words. Having my sister with me, my very much untransformed sister, could only help. Having recognised the sound of my car engine, our parents were already waiting as Gina and I started up the path to their front door. For a second or so we just stared at each other, then Mum was rushing down the path and wrapping his arms around me. "How are you holding up?" he asked me. "As well as can be expected," I said. "It helps that we're all in this together." He looked like my Uncle Keith, Mum's brother, but Dad didn't resemble any woman in our family. She had held back, but now came down the path as well, looking me up and down, then nodding at Gina. "You could almost be twins," she said, approvingly. "Yeah, but look at you!" I said as we went inside. "It's the breasts, isn't it?" "Partly," I said, because - and I never imagined this was something I'd ever think about my father - Dad did have impressively large breasts, "but more because you're walking." "Almost as much of a miracle as the transformation," he said, twirling around. "The arthritis has gone and I can walk again without having to struggle along at a snail's pace with a walking stick or use my wheelchair." "That's wonderful!" said Gina. "I could probably run too, if these things didn't keep getting in the way," said Dad, indicating her breasts. "We'll get you a sports bra," said Mum, "along with some regular ones since you can't get into mine." "I see you've exchanged wardrobes," I said. Mum was in one of Dad's suits, while Dad was wearing Mum's favourite blouse'n' slacks combination. "Fortunately, we're the right size to do so," said Mum, "except for your father being more blessed in the breast department than I used to be, of course. That blouse is more stretched across her bust than it should be. Speaking of which, I recognise those clothes you're wearing. They're Gina's, aren't they?" "Just a few things I lent her, Mum," said Gina. "Yes, well, I was the same size as you girls so I have a whole bunch of clothes I can give you while still having plenty left for your father." While Mum went upstairs to sort me out stuff from his wardrobe, Dad made us all coffee. "It really is great to see you up and about, Dad," said Gina a little later when we were all sat at the kitchen table, sipping our coffees. "Yeah, best part of this whole thing," she said, "well, that and the sex." I almost spit my coffee out. "Dad!!" "So you and Kelly didn't...?" said Mum. "Well, yeah, but you and Dad...." "Me and Dad what?" said Mum. "I know we seem ancient to you but we're still in our forties." OK so he had me there, but no one likes to think about their parents having sex. I particularly didn't want to imagine them at it now they had swapped genders. "You're awfully quiet, Gina," said Mum. "Yeah, well, unlike you three I didn't have sex last night and I don't know when I will again." "What do you mean?" "You all know I'm bi, so I thought I'd be able to handle this better than most women in my situation. But when Geri and I were cuddling in bed last night and I tried to fondle her breasts, she froze up. It seems she didn't just become a woman; she became one who's totally straight." "Oh, Gina," I said, putting a comforting arm around her shoulder. "She was very apologetic and embarrassed, and we tried to talk it out, but that was a long and very awkward night." When we left a couple of hours later I dropped Gina off at her house before continuing on to my own. She invited me in but I declined - I was still mad at Geri over her serious flirting with Kelly last night and I didn't want to see her. When I'd left our house twenty four hours ago I was a man. Now I was returning to it as a woman. What a difference a day had made! I busied myself by emptying our wardrobes of things neither Kelly nor I could use because of our different sizes as men and women and bundled them into black plasic sacks. For now these could be stored in the attic. We'd worry about what to do with them later. I hung up the clothes Mum had donated then stared at them thoughtfully. A bit old-fashioned of course given the age difference but they would do for now. Kelly got home that evening a lot later than usual. He was laden with bags of male clothing. I rushed over to him and he held me tight as we kissed. I couldn't get over just how good that felt. "You wouldn't believe what it's like out there," he told me later, "you'd think shops were giving clothes away by the volume they're shifting. Some of them have been stripped bare." "Makes sense," I said, "where people can swap clothes with their spouse they're going to do so, but in the case of single people or couples like us there's a lot of demand for new wardrobes from those who need them right now." "Yeah, it'll level off in a week or two," said Kelly, "but for now this is a fascinating time to be in marketing." "Speaking of which, what does John look like as a woman?" "She's going by 'Joanne' now," said Kelly, pulling out his phone and scrolling up a photo he had taken of his boss, "and she looks like this." I let out a low whistle. "Wow, she's gorgeous!" I said. "Great looking guy becomes great looking woman. It doesn't seem fair, somehow. So did you ask her about her male clothing?" "Yes, most of these are hers. That's why I'm so late. We went back to her place after work for me to pick them up and I stayed for a few drinks." "A few?" I said, frowning. "You're awfully late back if it was just a few." "I could hardly take her clothes then just turn and leave, now could I?" he protested. "Be reasonable, Rache." I was trying, but I couldn't help feeling suspicious and jealous. God, was this what being married to such a sexy man was going to be like? If so I was going to drive myself crazy. I needed to control my emotions so that didn't happen because I was sure I had nothing to worry about. I was wrong. - 3 - Four weeks to the day since everything changed, and once again the four of us found ourselves at a dinner party at Geri and Gina's, but the atmosphere between us was very different. In our terribly English way we were all trying to pretend it wasn't and that nothing had changed, hence the dinner party. We'd finished eating, and Kelly was holding forth on marketing trends over the past few weeks. "After the initial surge, clothing sales settled back into their pre-Changeday levels," he explained, "save for skirts and dresses which are still down, though recovering." "Not every former man has come around to them yet," I said, "and some are still in complete denial and holding on to their trousers." "Exactly!" said Kelly. "The big sales slump was in cosmetics, of course. They saw an almost complete collapse." "Makes sense," said Gina. "Yeah, the big companies thought they could be looking at the death of their industry, hence the free make-up classes and starter kits at giveaway prices that they came out with a few days into this. They needed to tempt as many former men into embracing make-up as they could, as fast as they could." "It worked with us," said Geri, nodding at me. She and I were both wearing evening dresses and full make-up. "They were virtually giving it away, and curiosity got the better of me," I said. This was true. It was also true that Geri and I had been trying to outdo each other since we became women. Knowing we were coming here tonight there was no way I was letting her top me for Kelly's attention however much she fluttered her false lashes at him. "It's funny," said Gina, looking thoughtful, "how quickly we've fallen into traditional forms of gender presentation. Remember our gender studies class in college, Kell? Back then we'd have expected something like Changeday to be used as an opportunity for a radical reassessment, but that just hasn't happened." "Because powerful forces didn't want it to," said Kelly. "It's not just the cosmetics companies and all the money they were going to lose if we didn't adopt the traditional binary of gender expression, but also governments who were terrified of disorder and desperate for 'stability'. And to them stability means the status quo. Remember how soon after the change TV news presenters had switched to 'gender appropriate' clothing, and how quick the Prime Minister was to appear in public in a skirt? They were already setting an example of how they wanted things to be before any of us had had time to even consider there might be alternatives." "I think they were right to do so," I said. "I agree with them about stability and us all getting back to 'normality' as soon as we could. If I'm a woman then I think I should look and dress like a woman. I've embraced my femininity, and Kelly is happy that I have." "I can't deny it," he said, sliding an arm around my waist and smiling down at me. "How are Kate and Brionny and their baby doing?" asked Geri, abruptly changing the subject and pulling Kelly's gaze from me to her. "Pretty good," said Kelly, "though Brionny was a bit moody when we visited them to meet our new nephew. She was experiencing her first ever period and it was affecting her more than I think she'd expected it to." "That's when you girls are really going to have to get to grips with being female," chuckled Gina, looking pointedly at Geri and me, "and any day now." So Geri hadn't had her first period yet either. Interesting. It was four weeks since Changeday so it had to be imminent for both of us. I was really apprehensive about it for some reason. As it had four weeks earlier, a nearby church clock began to strike the hours at 7pm. We looked at each other, every one of us remembering that day when the world changed. As the third of the seven strikes sounded, Kelly leapt from his chair, looking startled. "My whole body just started tingling," he said, wide-eyed. We all knew what that meant. "You can't be changing!" I protested. "I don't feel a thing." "Neither do I," said Geri. "But he's getting smaller!" said Gina. There was no denying the evidence of our eyes. Kelly was shrinking, his broad back contracting and muscles fading as his hips broadened, his hair grew longer, and breasts emerged from his chest. Within a few minutes Kelly had again become the woman she used to be. "But if she's the only one who changed....." said Gina, frowning. "It means everyone else here is pregnant," I said, finishing the thought for her, my mouth suddenly dry. We turned to face Geri, who was looking imploringly at Kelly. Oh no, they couldn't have...! One look at Kelly's face was enough to tell me they had. "I can explain...," said Kelly, looking stricken. "What's to explain," I said, coldly. "The change we went through...the desires it unleashed were stronger than I was. I'm sorry, Rache, truly I am. I never wanted to hurt you, or Gina." I was about to reply when Kelly's phone rang. "You should get that," I said, not wanting to say anything else to her. Gina was glaring at Geri, who in turn was looking at her feet, unable to face her spouse. "Look, this isn't a good time," said Kelly, into her phone, "could you...what? I...no. Oh, shit. No, no, but this really, really isn't a good time. I promise I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Sorry." She turned off her phone and stared at it, looking numb. "That was Joanne," she said. "She didn't change back, either." There was only one reason for Kelly to be the first person Joanne rang. "Her, too?" I said, almost unable to process what was happening. "Rachel, I...." "No," I said, slamming my hand down on the table, "not another word. I have to get out of here." I grabbed our car keys from the table and rushed out. By the time Kelly followed after me and reached the front door I was already pulling away from the kerb. Kelly had been unfaithful and I was pregnant. I wasn't sure which of those two facts I was most shocked by. Since becoming a woman I'd considered pregnancy as an academic possibility, of course, but I wasn't actually expecting to get pregnant so I was totally unprepared for the shock of finding out I was. At first I had no idea where I was headed and drove around in a daze, looking at those on the streets rushing to get to their homes, the women mostly dressed in oversized male clothing and struggling to hold their trousers up, the men mainly in undersized female clothing that was stretched across their bodies and ready to split. After twenty minutes or so of this I decided on a destination. Mum greeted me at their door, once again a woman. "You as well?" she said, looking surprised. "Huh?" "You'd better come in, Rachel." In the living room Dad got up from the sofa to greet me. "You're...you're still a woman!" I said, as we hugged. "You, too," she said. "Looks like we're both going to be mothers. There are many experiences I hoped we'd one day share when you were a child, but having a baby wasn't one of them." "But how? I mean...at your age...." "Again, we're still only in our forties," said Mum, with a long sigh. "I'd gone through menopause and we're the same age, so we just kind of assumed that your father's body would be post-menopausal, too. We were wrong. And I'm guessing since Kelly was infertile as a woman you assumed she also was as a man and so never even considered taking precautions." "Pretty much," I admitted. "Probably wouldn't have worried about it in the first week or so anyway," said Dad, "I mean everyone we've discussed it with has admitted they pretty much threw caution to the wind back then. It was like a sort of collective madness, and I'm not sure any of us were in control of our libidos." I thought back to my own behaviour and realised she was right. Did that mean I should cut Kelly some slack and be more understanding? I was mad at her, but I needed to talk this out with someone other than my parents. "I have to go," I said, leaping to my feet. "So soon?" said Mum. "But you only just got here." "I know, but there's someone I need to see. Are you going to be alright? Now that you're both women, I mean?" "Oh, I think so," said Mum, sliding an arm around Dad's waist and smiling at him. "We were pretty adventurous in our youth, so I think we'll adapt to this just fine." Wow, I hadn't seen that coming. All I could think about as I got into my car and drove away was how much better my parents seemed to be dealing with this whole situation than their children were. "So you're pregnant?" said Brian when I arrived at the rectory. He was preparing for the evening service and was once again the six-foot-six tall great, bearded bear of a man he used to be, down to the tattoo on his arm of the Archangel Gabriel. "Yeah, and I'm not alone. So's my father and so's Geri." "Geri? But Gina was never male, so how...?" "Kelly," I said. "Ouch." "Gina's pretty unhappy with them, too. Kelly also got her boss pregnant." "Wow. I'm not sure whether to be impressed or appalled." "Yeah. They say they couldn't help themselves, blamed it on the transformation, but you didn't find a man and get yourself knocked up. You remained faithful to Kate." "I did," said Brian, "and it's one of the hardest things I've had to do. The whole time I was Brionny I was hornier than I've ever been before in my life." "So you're saying that explains things and I should forgive them?" "You know it's my professional duty to always urge forgiveness," he replied. "If it helps, you're not alone. I've been dealing with calls all evening from parishioners who stayed female and have realised they're pregnant. The number impregnated by someone other than their spouse is not small. In fact, did you listen to the news on your way over?" "No, why?" "Based on early reports coming in to them from across the country, the government has estimated that up to a third of those men who became women of childbearing age are now pregnant. They're saying they'll have to greatly increase spending so that maternity services aren't overwhelmed." "That was fast," I said. "Is it that large a number?" "It really is. I went online, looked up details from the last census, and did a few quick calculations. The population of the UK currently stands at sixty-three million. If we take 'child-bearing age' as referring to females between say their mid-teens and early-forties, that's twenty one percent of the population, or about thirteen and a quarter million. The birth rate presently stands at seven hundred thousand per annum, which means that about one in nineteen of those women have babies in any given year. One in three of the same size group of men is now pregnant, which is more than six times as many, so we've got one monster of a baby boom on the way. And there's more." "There is?" I said, my mind still reeling from the figures he'd laid out. "Yes, assuming government estimates of those now pregnant are correct, those numbers represent a seismic demographic shift. Instead of the population having roughly equal numbers of men and women, it would now be fifty seven percent female and only forty three percent male. That's the sort of imbalance you usually only see after a major war." "Speaking of which, how's Kate?" I asked. "Kevin," he replied, "Kate had said that would've been her name if she changed, and now she has." "Where is she, I mean he?" "Visiting his friend Sue, who he wet-nursed for when Sue became a man on Changeday two days after giving birth. Now Sue needs to return the favour. We were having trouble deciding on a name for our son; but it looks like it's a name for a daughter we have to find now." "And your wife being a man...?" "It's going to be difficult," he said, "but then it wasn't easy for Kate when her husband was a woman. Honestly? It's too soon yet to know how we're going to cope, but God doesn't give us trials that are beyond us." "For your sakes, I hope He hasn't this time." It was almost ten o'clock when I got back to Geri and Gina's house. I'd phoned ahead so I knew Kelly was still there. What I didn't know was what I was going to say to her. Gina answered the door and led me through to the kitchen, where Geri and Kelly were sitting at the table, nursing mugs of tea and carefully not looking at each other. "We've been doing a lot of talking while you were gone," said Gina as she and I took our seats, "and hammered a few things out. Firstly, we agreed that Geri, Kelly, and Joanne are not entirely responsible for their actions. On the news they're calling it a 'hormonal surge', a kind of collective madness that infected everyone who was transformed at first and impaired their judgment." "I felt it, as well," I said. "I've never been hornier or more sex-obsessed in my life. So I agree; we cut them some slack." "Good, but then the question becomes: where do we go from here?" said Gina. "We're friends. We've been friends for a long time, since before we all got married. I don't want this to destroy those friendships." "Neither do I," I said, "and I have an idea...." - 4 - I won't lie and say the next few days were easy, because they weren't. Even having accepted our spouses hadn't been entirely in their right minds at the time of their infidelity, it still hurt and our relationships still needed to be repaired. Kelly and I had taken it slowly at first, but last night I had allowed her back in the marital bed and we had made love. Yes, I was a predominantly heterosexual woman, but unlike Geri it turned out I was open to sex with another woman. I would still have preferred to be in the arms of the male Kelly, but it was nice. Today was the day we would see if my idea was going to work, and late morning found us driving to our appointment at the clinic attached to the maternity hospital and listening to a special news report on the car radio. Predictably, in those hardline religious societies where women were second class citizens with few rights, this was seen as a return to normality, the whole episode declared a test God had subjected the faithful to. Those who were now pregnant women had failed the test, and having to live out their lives as women was their punishment. This interpretation of the event was deemed so self-evident, particularly since it conferred divine approval on those who had resisted temptation and been rewarded with the restoration of their manhood, that it was immediately accepted across those regions of the planet. "Fucking misogynistic bastards!" fumed Kelly, when the news report ended. "Sadly, they were only ever going to see it that way," I said. My big idea, that I'd managed to get everyone to agree to, was that we should form our own ante-natal class. This was an almost impossible situation for everyone and I wanted us to bond and to forge a group relationship. I was pretty sure we were all going to need each other in the months ahead, and to that end Gina and I had agreed to lay aside our hurt and anger. The nurse took out a ballpoint pen, raised her clipboard, and faced us. "Right," she said, "I have all your names, but I just need to make a record of who the father and/or birthing partner is in each case. So, taking it from the left..." "Rachel Amis," I said. "And the father?" "Kelly Amis," said Kelly, "her wife". "OK, and the next?" said the nurse, jotting Kelly's name down next to mine. "Joanne Strauss," said Joanne. "And the father?" "That would be me again," said Kelly. The nurse frowned at Kelly, then entered her name next to Joanne's. "OK, next?" she said. "Geraldine Baker," said Geri. "And the father?" "Umm, me again," said Kelly. The nurse stopped writing and peered over her clipboard at Gina and Dad. "Them as well?" she said. "What? Oh, no," said Kelly. "That's my sister-in-law and my father-in-law." "Good to know," said the nurse, looking relieved but impressed. And who could blame her? Thanks to the woman before her, three people who would otherwise be men were now pregnant females. That was a notable enough achievement for a member of her gender. Being responsible for *five* people who would otherwise be men now being pregnant females would have just been showing off. "Right, next?" she said. "Gina Baker," replied Gina. "And the father?" "That's me," said Geri, raising her hand. The nurse let out a long, soulful sigh. That was what did it for the rest of us. We all burst out laughing, the nurse too, all of us realising the absurdity of our situation. Five weeks ago it would have seemed impossible, yet here we all were. That laughter was good, and it was healing. It helped wash away the bitterness of the past few weeks and started us on the road back to being the friends we had been. I hadn't heard from Brian since the night of the second Changeday - the 'Changebackday' as some were calling it - so I was surprised to see him waiting for us at the entrance to our block of flats when we got back that afternoon. He looked unhappy. "Brian?" I said. "What's wrong?" "I'll tell you when we're inside," he replied. And a few minutes later, over coffee, he did. "A crisis of faith," he said. "'For better for worse, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others...'" "I don't..." I began. "Those vows are sacred to me," he said, cutting me off, "I don't take them lightly. It's why I resisted temptation when I was a woman. It also helped that neither Kate nor I were sexually attracted to our own gender. That isn't the case now we're both men." "What are you saying?" said Kelly. "He's gay," said Brian. "Your brother is gay." "Ah," I said, "now I understand why you quoted your marriage vows." "Yes. I support gay marriage, but I don't want to be in one. Yet I also believe in the sanctity of my vows: 'for better for worse'." The doorbell rang. "I'll get it," said Kelly. She returned a few seconds later with a man dressed in jeans and a T-shirt who I didn't recognise. Tall, bearded, and with very hairy arms, he looked like a less muscular version of Brian. "Who's this?" I asked. "This is Kevin," said Kelly, "my brother. When Brian took off he knew this is where he'd come." "Hi," he said. "I don't think I'm ever going to get used to having to introduce myself to people I've known for years." "Where's the baby?" asked Brian. "I left her with Sue," said Kevin, "don't worry, hon." Brian winced at that 'hon'. "Don't," he said. "God, I wish I hadn't told you I was gay," said Kevin, looking hurt. "It was easier when we were both women and neither was attracted to the other," said Brian. "Why? Why was it easier? Do you think because I'm gay I'm going to force myself on you?" "No, it's just..." "Just what? We were celibate as two women, and I'm expecting us to be celibate now we're two men, hard as it's going to be." "You're horny as hell, aren't you?" said Kelly. "Like you wouldn't believe. I want to have sex with another man so badly it's almost painful." "It's your first transformation," said Kelly, sympathetically, "the initial hormonal surge. If you were going to cheat on Brian at all it would be in the next couple of weeks." "I won't," he said, "I have more self-control than that." "I wish I'd had," said Kelly. - 5 - The majority view was that everyone - pregnant women excepted - had been transformed on Changeday, restored to normal four weeks later, and that was that. There was however a minority view that everyone would be transformed yet again four weeks later. The truth was that we couldn't know until that time came around again, of course, which is why we four once again found ourselves at Geri and Gina's house on that Monday evening, playing cards at the kitchen table. It was almost seven so we were watching the clock and watching Kelly while we played. She was the only one of us not pregnant and so the only one of us, if any, who would switch genders. We weren't expecting anything to occur, but what did or didn't happen to her at seven o'clock would tell us once and for all how the world was going to be from this point on. "I can't go," I said, dropping a penny into the pot. "Then I win," said Gina, laying down the five of clubs that had been stopping the rest of us from laying down our own cards. We tossed pennies in the pot in the number of our remaining cards, and Gina added these to the small pile before her. We were playing Hearts, and she was taking us to the cleaners. The church clock began to strike the hours, and all eyes were on Kelly. As the third of the seven strikes sounded, she let out a long sigh. "It's happening again," she said, "the tingling...." Though no more expecting anything to happen than the rest of us, she had taken the precaution of wearing loose clothing and no bra, so she was able to expand into them without needing to strip off again. And expand she did. Growing taller, broader- backed, and more ripped, as male Kelly