Turning My Dad into Me

Helicopter

Alec had always been a helicopter parent to his daughter. He pressured her to do well -- to achieve in academics and athletics. He pushed her in gynmastics and he completely rewrote her college essays to help her get into a good school. But now, he was worried he was going to cost her everything.

She had gone off to college, and he was worried about her slipping grades. He wished he could be there to help her improve them, at least for a little bit. He had no idea the wish would swap him into her body -- at the worst possible time.

It was moments before the gynmastics team tryouts. It was the one thing he couldn’t do for her. She had spent years learning and training her body. He didn’t know how to do the moves or the routine. And if his daughter wasn’t on the gymnastics team? It would mean the end of her scholarship. And without that money, the school would be too expensive.

All he could think about was how much he messed this up.

All in the Family (Part 4)

View Part 1 of All in the Family.
View Part 2 of All in the Family.
View Part 3 of All in the Family.

Amber and her mother opened to door to see her father standing there in the body of her sister, Autumn. He had apparently been doing a bit of dress-up while they were out.

“Well, this isn’t quite what I expected when you said he was ‘doing well,’” Amber’s mom said.

“He didn’t look like this when I left,” Amber retorted, “He was just watching TV.”

“I’m exploring my new femininity,” He said, “And I’m dealing with hormones and impulses I’m just not used to.”

“We all are.” Amber scoffed, “I just hope we can all swap back soon.”

“I...don’t...want...to...” Her dad said softly.

Work-Life Balance (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Work-Life Balance.

Evan was enjoying his first day in Kim’s body, despite starting off with an argument with his daughter. As noon was approaching, he thought he’d make it up to her by making her a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. He was taken aback when instead of his daughter, he saw his own body on the floor in the living room coloring with markers.

“Honey?” Evan asked.

“Hi, Mommy! I’m hungry!” He heard his own body say.

Evan’s heart sank. She must have made a wish of her own. And that probably meant Kim was actually in their daughter’s body wandering around midtown somewhere. But if that was the case, shouldn’t she have noticed by now? Shouldn’t she be back so they could sort out this weird body swapping mess.

At least for now though, Evan was going to make a grilled cheese.

All in the Family (Part 3)

View Part 1 of All in the Family.
View Part 2 of All in the Family.

“I had no idea how much trouble you got into at school,” Amber’s mom began to lecture her, “When we get home, your father will not let you hear the end of it.”

It felt hypocritical, and Amber wasn’t having any of it. “You’re one to talk! You’ve been in my body for one day, and you were already in the principal’s office!? Plus, it takes an extra special sort of effort to do something bad enough to call me in -- you in -- whatever -- a parent in! I just hope we can get back in our bodies before you screw up my life any more than you already have!”

“I’m trying to set it right, Amber! I’ve seen your grades! And your father is in no condition to go to work considering --”

“Oh, God! He’s doing fine in Autumn’s body! You’ll see.”

All in the Family (Part 2)

View Part 1 of All in the Family.

“So, what the f*** did she do?” Amber asked from inside her mom’s body. Secretly, she was happy her mom got in trouble while they were swapped.

The principal was taken aback by this woman’s language, but he did his best to ignore it. He explained, “While, typically Amber’s behavior involves violating the dress code or smoking in the bathroom, in this case she was talking back to her teacher.”

“I was correcting a basic fact!” Amber’s mom protested from inside Amber’s body, “My degree in --”

Realizing her mom’s mistake, Amber quickly interjected with an insult, “She’s a f***in’ know-it-all. Let me straighten this s*** out at home, and maybe she can avoid detention this time?”

Quite frankly, the principal thought he had it all figured out. He assumed Amber’s mom was just a bad influence, and -- all things considered -- Amber herself was probably doing quite well in spite of it. He couldn’t have been more wrong, but at least he was satisfied in his own head. He decided to let Amber off with a warning.

All in the Family (Part 1)

Amber clutched the wheel tightly. She had avoided driving since swapping bodies with her mom as she didn’t have her license yet. However, a call from the school was forcing her to go in and meet with the principal.

What could her goodie-two-shoes mom have possibly done to get sent to the principal? Amber was in trouble all the time. She got detentions, notes sent home, and so many bad grades...but a call from the principal? Ugh.

Amber thought it should’ve been easy for her mom. After all, she had been through high school before. Amber was trying to manage life as an adult! That was much harder! Though even she had to admit that it was probably better for her than her dad and sister, who also ended up swapping bodies in this whole mixup.

And despite several near misses and a terrible parking job while being distracted by all of this running through her head, Amber did arrive safely at the school.

Two Rules

Eunice looked at her father, and quite honestly it was strange to see her own face looking back. Well, the face she had for about 30 minutes in the morning before putting on her makeup and 30 minutes at night after washing her face before going to bed.

She had a sense of annoyance in her voice when she spoke, “Remember the rules, Dad. Number one: stay home. And rule number two: Don’t open the door for anyone. Basically, no one should see me looking like ... well ... this!”

Her dad sighed, “It’s okay. I get it. You have an image. And, look, I still don’t know anything about that medallion we found in the attic with your mom’s stuff or how it transformed me into your doppelganger. But I do appreciate you coming out here for her funeral. I know we haven’t spoken much since you graduated. I think -- I think that’s my fault. I’m sorry. I could’ve been a better father. And I’ll spend my time researching this, and see if there’s some way to get me back to normal.”

Eunice’s stern expression softened for just a moment. She stared at her father with a sincerity she rarely had. A smile cracked on her face, “You tried, Dad. And I love you.” And after a brief hug, she put back on her sternest face and reiterated, “But, seriously, don’t let anyone see you.”

Family Swap

“Where the hell is Sarah? I thought we were meeting as a family to discuss this?” Ryan asked his parents.

“Your sister is in her room. She’s crying. Understandably, she’s very upset about swapping into your father’s body. It’s hard for her to adjust being a different gender and older,” Maria tried to explain to her son.

“It’s hard for HER to adjust? How do you think I’m doing in your body? And yet I’m here ready to discuss what we’re going to do about this whole mess! And Dad’s here in her body doing his best. He just ran three miles to keep up with her insane fitness routine because she insists on him keeping her body fit.”

“It wasn’t so bad,” Enrique interjected, “Your sister is quite athletic and able...”

“That’s not the point, Dad! The point is that we’re all here trying to solve this problem while she’s just crying about it!”

Nice

“If it makes you feel any better, you look quite nice today, Jack.”

“Gee, thanks,” Jack said sarcastically, “I guess it feels good to know that I’m managed the skills of making a forty-something year old woman to look good enough to please my dad.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Jack’s father sighed, “It hasn’t been easy for me in your sister’s body either. It hasn’t been easy for anyone in this post-Great Shift world. I was honestly trying to relay a message from your mom. She’s having a hard time in your body, you know. She misses the woman she was. She’s glad to see you adapting well enough, and she likes seeing her old body, well, look nice.”

“Yeah, whatever, ” Jack mumbled under his breath, cracking a little bit. He did have a soft spot for his mom. But he was still a stubborn nineteen year old at heart. He just couldn’t show it, not even now that he was a forty year old woman.

Fooling Around

Alex and Lei had been dating for months, but had never been able to fool around with each other without their parents around. They figured they were both eighteen -- legally adults -- and should be allowed to do whatever they wanted; their parents, of course, disagreed. It was Lei who suggested trying magic; Alex was skeptical. But she insisted they use a body swap spell she found to swap with her parents. The spell would leave her parents in their body unaware of the changes.

Alex reluctantly agreed to try, and Lei cast the spell. He was surprised that it worked, but something went wrong. Instead of swapping with Lei’s dad, he was now in the body of her mom. Meanwhile, Lei was her own father. She suggested they still try fooling around, but Alex wasn’t sure. It would’ve been weird to be Lei’s dad, but being her mom was a bridge too far. He suggested that he and Lei swap with each other, but they tried to spell again and it didn’t work! Alex was worried he was now trapped int he body of a 50-year-old woman!

Can't Go Out Like That

“See you later, Liz,” Kent said to his daughter as he headed to the door.

“Dad, wait, you can’t go out wearing that!” Liz protested.

“Why not? It’s exactly the same outfit that you were going to wear yesterday.”

“Exactly, and you made me change.”

“Right, because you’re my daughter. But I’m a grown man. I can wear whatever I want.”

“No, you WERE a grown man,” Liz said angrily, “That is until we swapped bodies. Now you’re in MY body!”

“In which case I’ll use the same argument you tried to yesterday. I am a twenty one year old grown woman, and you can’t tell me what to do. You may have my body, but you aren’t MY family. I am not living under YOUR roof. This is MY roof. Which means I get to make the rules.”

“Your roof? I bet if we went to the bank right now they wouldn’t think it was your roof. I look like the guy who writes the checks for the mortgage.”

“...And I’m still doing the work to pay for that mortgage. Luckily, they let me work from home.”

Both Liz and her dad paused.

“We’re pretty much both screwed if we don’t swap back soon, aren’t we?” Liz finally sighed, breaking the silence.

Promised (Part 2)

Click here for Part 1.

Considering he was now in the body of his own daughter, Harold pretended to be her when he met up with her fiancé. They discussed the wedding later that day before parting ways to get ready. Harold got himself into her dress, and then a woman arrived to do his hair and makeup. It seemed normal enough until Harold overheard something about “The Great Shift.” Then a few wedding guests started arriving. The numbers were thin and he didn’t recognize anyone. Everyone started talking about a world wide body swapping phenomenon.

Harold suddenly realized he was in a tough place. He wasn’t the only one who had swapped bodies, and he had already pretended to be unswapped with his daughter’s fiancé. He was going to be stuck pretending to be his daughter for the near future. He couldn’t tell anyone the truth now. He’d have to continue this charade not only for the wedding but for the foreseeable future as well.

Promised

Last night Harold went to bed looking forward to his daughter’s wedding. She had been nervous about something going wrong, and he promised that he would do everything in his power to make sure things went smoothly. Of course, he never expected to wake up the next morning in his daughter’s body.

He opened up her phone and had the camera face himself, shocked that he now had his daughter’s face. Then he tried to call his own number but got no response. He had promised her nothing would go wrong, and he figured if that meant him having to go through the ceremony as her, then so be it. He could figure out how to swap back to his own body later...

Act Parental

“That device of yours is absolutely crazy,” Rachel told her boyfriend, “I still can’t believe we swapped bodies with my parents! And that I’m my own dad!”

“That’s not even the weirdest part.” Todd said from the body of Rachel’s mom, “They don’t even realize anything. Your dad has your body and thinks he’s you, and your mom has my body and thinks she’s me.”

Rachel went white for a second, “Then we need to go and act parental. You know what you and I were planning to do for the first time tonight.”

Todd realized exactly what Rachel was talking about. The two college students had certainly held their hormones in for a long time.

“Not a problem. You know how much I’m afraid of your parents. I’ll go in with a simple threat that I know what they’re planning. They’ll be way to scared to go through with it.”

“I hope so.” Rachel paused again, “Do you think the device will be recharged by morning?”

“I hope so,” Todd replied, “I don’t want to be stuck in your mom’s body for one second longer than I have to be.”

Reception

When Claire and Adam got married, the wedding was beautiful, but the reception was ruined when The Great Shift struck halfway through. Ted ended up in Claire’s body, his own daughter’s body! And it seemed everyone was looking to him for advice.

“According to what a few of you have been telling me,” He addressed the group, “The news is saying this is widespread, worldwide. Fortunately, we’re not the only ones stuck in the wrong bodies. But we also need to look out for each other. We need to account for everyone who is supposed to be here. I know Adam, who is now in the body of the flower girl Anna, is making a list of all the guests and keeping track of who is who. The person I’m most worried about is Claire. Obviously, I am in her body, but she doesn’t seem to be here among the guests anymore. She does know where to find us, so I hope she thinks to come here and meet us if she can.”

Ted then stepped aside and took a deep breath. This was certainly the last thing he wanted to worry about today, and he certainly didn’t feel comfortable being in his own daughter’s body. He had to stay strong for the sake of everyone else, but it was anything but easy!

Independence (Part 2)

Click here for Part 1.

Joel heard a commotion in the halls that told him he wasn’t the only one who had just swapped into someone else’s body. A frantic woman wearing a skirt just as short as his entered the dorm room.

“Jessica?” The woman asked, “Did it happen to you too?”

“Yeah,” Joel admitted, “So I’m not actually Jessica.”

“It’s so weird, right? I mean, just about everyone is now someone else. We’re still going to go hit the bar though; a lot of us are pretty curious about how widespread this thing is. You in?”

“I think I should at least change first...”

“Come on, girl. You look good.”

Joel blushed. He looked at himself in the mirror again. He realized he couldn’t tell Jessica what to do and what to wear anymore, and this woman was right; her body looked great in this outfit. And he felt great in it too! It was still weird in a lot of ways, but he figured he could suck it up for the night and go out like this.

“Alright,” He sighed, “I’m with you. Let’s go.”

Independence

Ever since she left for college, Joel missed his daughter dearly. He thought about calling her on a daily basis, but he held himself back, telling himself that she needed her space and independence. It was on one of those days when he was thinking of her that a bright light shone into his room. The next thing he knew, he was on her campus and in her dorm room. Then there was the most striking thing: he was in her body! As he looked in the mirror, he was sure shocked by the fact that he was now his own daughter, but he was even more shocked by her outfit.

“What the heck was Jessica thinking?” He thought aloud, “Was she really going out like this? Does she really own something like this?”

He started to regret not calling her when he had those impulses. Maybe if he had, she wouldn’t even consider wearing something like this! After all, it couldn’t have hurt to remind her that her father cared about things like this!

The Boss

Ever since the Great Shift swapped him into the body of his own daughter, Max was having trouble commanding respect at the company he ran. He tried pretty hard, but he was sure the guys that worked for him just saw him as a pretty young girl fresh out of high school instead of the boss that had been in charge for years. He contemplated his options. Maybe it was time to hand the family business onto his daughter. He had always planned on doing so, and he knew she was smart enough to do it. Now that she had his body, he was sure the guys would take her seriously too. Of course, it would be weird when she finally did retire; she’d probably end up giving it right back to him. It was a weird thought, but the Great Shift had made the whole world sort of weird.

Fine with Me

“So, I still, like, don’t understand and stuff.” Mark told Todd, “Why would our daughters want to steal our lame middle aged bodies?”

“Booze, I guess?”

“Doesn’t booze seem kinda gross to you now? And isn’t it weird how hot guys seem kinda awesome? And for that matter, we’ve totally been talking like them.”

“I guess stuff was left behind in the transfer and junk. But I really can’t complain about being young again...I mean, if they want to be us and let us be them, that’s fine with me.”