This choice: Switching the family around 1, son to mother, daughter to father • Go Back...Chapter #4Switching the family around 1, son to mother, d... by: CassieG   Once the family had finished filing into the waiting room the older gentleman produced a stack of folders and began sorting through them. "Ah, here we are, the Hawkins family. Now, I have folders for each of you with all of the details, but I'll be hitting the high points as we go. Ah, and I see our transition team is already here," he added as several men in scrubs came through a side door pushing wheel chairs. "Just take a seat in the chairs while these gentleman get you hooked up The medications the're giving you are just to help you relax before you get to surgery."
"Surgery?" Frank asked, wincing slightly as a nurse started an IV. "What do we need surgery for?"
"Well, the purpose of The Town is to evaluate how you handle a life that is radically different than the one you had before. The surgical team we've assembled has developed several innovative techniques to allow us to place you in a very different life situation. At that point, we'll be observing how your interactions change based on the changes in your environment."
"So, you're going to make us look different?" Sarah asked as the drugs started to flow. "I wouldn't mind a bit of a face lift," she said, touching the beginnings of wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. "And maybe a little bit off the middle?" she asked hopefully.
"Well, that's not quite how things will work," the older gentleman said. "You're being assigned to new lives with different roles.The surgery is designed to make sure you can fulfill those roles. We are going to be keeping you all together as a family, but you will each have a different role to play in that family than you do now. Sarah, your new name is going to be Jeremy, and the team is going to be doing quite a bit of work on you to make sure that you're ready for school in the fall. You'll be a junior in high school because we want to make sure that you have enough time to adapt before your senior year when you'll be under the most scrutiny from university scouts for a foot ball scholarship."
"You're going to turn my wife into a high school jock?" Frank blurted, attempting to stand and then falling back into the wheel chair, his eyes already starting to flutter shut under the effects of the drugs. "Who will I be married to then?"
"No one," the older man said. "It wouldn't be appropriate for a fourteen year old girl to be married to anyone. You'll be living for the next few years as Jeremy's sister, Emily."
"So my dad is going to be my new sister?" Lacy asked before her father could say more. "I always wanted a little sister..."
"No," the older man said. "Your father is going to become your daughter. You're going to be taking his place as the head of the family. The doctors have assured me that as Tom Hawkins, you'll be more than strong enough for the job they've set up for you in the oil fields. It's demanding work, and a little bit dangerous, but it pays very well and should let you provide for your family nicely."
"Does that mean that I'm....?" Mark started to ask.
"The new family matriarch, Jude," the old man said, watching as most of the family had nodded off. "But you should rest now. You'll get all the details when you wake up..."
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