Prisms of Change -- The Orange Orb

         Kelsy Morrison stared at the small, run down shop that she'd come to find on the lower north side of town. She still didn't know weather or not she should believe Marcie that prior to her visit with this 'Madam Olga', she'd been a hopeless klutz. It was hard for Kelsy to imagine the elegant dancer without thinking of her perfect graceful movements, but then, Marcie said that she hadn't been a dancer when she'd gone to Madam Olga... she'd been an accountant.

         The bell above the door tinkled softly as she entered, announcing her presence to the cluttered shop's only visible inhabitant; the red tabby lounging on the front counter. “Um, hello?” She called to the deserted looking store.

         “One moment dear,” a strong, confidant voice called in response from behind stacks of books towards the back of the shop. “Somethings take just a few extra moments.... There. Stay. The books of course, not you,” the owner of the voice finished as she emerged from behind the stacks of books. Long red hair framed a face that was neither young, nor old, and could have been anything from a middling thirty to a well preserved forty... or anything in between.

         “Um,” Kelsy said, surprised to see such a... modern looking woman in a shop named 'Madam Olga's Mystical Marvels.' Or maybe just surprised that the proprietor was not a hunch backed, hook nosed woman of eastern European descent. “Are you...”

         “Madam Olga? Please, call me Carol,” the woman said, extending a hand and shaking Kelsy's firmly. “Honestly, the name of the shop is just there to draw interest. Now, it's not often that I get such well endowed beauties as yourself coming to me... my specialty is in providing those things that nature does not take care of on it's own. So, what brings you to my doorstep Ms.?”

         “Kelsy,” she replied, blushing and pulling her light jacket a little tighter over her over large endowments. “Kelsy Morrison. Um, look, I feel kind of silly... it's just... my friend Marcie said that you could change things. That you could change the way a person lives their life.”

         “Ah, the accountant. Yes, she is living a life quite a bit different from her old one. Tell me, does she seem happy to you?”

         “Oh, very. She's always been one of the happiest people I've known. It's like dance was what she was born to do. Some people just have natural gifts... and it's like, nothing could be more perfect for them than to do what they were born to. And dancing... it's just her passion, her  thing.”

         Carol smiled, taking a seat behind the counter and clearing a space in front of herself, moving aside countless nick knacks, candle stubs and minor stones. “I'm glad to hear that. She wasn't that way when she came in last week. Oh, the passion was there to be sure, and she could tell me the names of every great dancer to grace the stage in the past fifty years, but she couldn't put two feet to the music to save her life. So, yes, in a sense, I help people match what they need to what they should have always been. Which brings me back to you dear. Nature has blessed you more than most any woman I've seen come through these doors. You're tall, thin where it matters and curved where it counts. I've not seen a finer head of natural blond hair, or more sparkling blue eyes outside of Sweden or Finland. So, what my dear is it that you are lacking? For you to be here, I can't think that nature has cursed you with a lack of intelligence, most people suffering that affliction are obliviously content to wallow in their status quo.”

         “No,” Kelsy said blushing. “It's not that I'm dumb. That really might make life easier. I worked my ass off in business school, and even harder in law school. I have a double major on my bachelors and a masters in business law. But the thing is... no one would guess it. And when I tell people, they think it's a cute joke. At my last interview, the hiring manager thought I was a stripper hired for his birthday. He made such a big deal about being embarrassed and trying to figure out which of the junior partners had hired him a stripper that by the time I convinced him it was a mistake, there was no way I could work there without everyone thinking that's what I really was. Or at least thinking that I got the job for something other than my professional skills.”

         “Ah, I think I'm beginning to understand. Nature has blessed you in ways that seem to contradict each other, and you want to choose one path, and ignore the other.”

         “I guess you could say that. I just feel like, I can't get where I want to go with the... burdens,” she said, gesturing to her impressive chest, “that nature's given me.”

         “So, is it all of your beauty you wish to rid yourself of, or merely your chest?”

         “Really, it's the chest. Though as much as I love my Nordic heritage, the blond hair and blue eyes don't go with the 'smart lawyer' that I want to project.”

         “Very well then. I think I may be able to help you.” Reaching under the counter, Carol produced a small wooden box and a large leather bound book. Flipping quickly through the old pages of the book she stopped on a blank page and pulled out an antique fountain pen. “Now, before we go any further, I need to know what you want out of life aside from freedom from your burdens. There must be more than release for the scales to balance. What would you have in place of nature's gifts?”

         “I know it sounds...  cliché I guess, but I want a job. I want a job that recognizes me for my talents, not my body. I want a job where people don't treat me like just another woman, but treat me like... I don't know... like just another co-worker. It's so hard to try to fit in when all the men are staring at your chest and half the women in the industry are rampant feminists. I just want to be accepted for what I can do, not what's in my bra.”

         “I see,” Carol said, making small notations. “And what is it you do now?”

         “The same thing that I've done since I started pre-law. I'm bar tending. At least that way I can put a solid piece of oak between myself and the groping hands, and the tips pay the bills. But... I want to be so much more than that.”

         “Yes... yes, I can help you with that. Let me explain what's in the box. I dare not touch it myself, the temptation would be too great. Inside the box you will find a small orange orb, a piece of crystal that refracts your life. When you touch it, think of the pieces of your life that you want to leave behind. The breasts, the hair,  the blue eyes. All the phisical bits. Leave it behind. And when you've thought of all of the things you want to leave behind, I want you to think of a word. Imagine that word as a ribbon, and tie it around the package of everything you're leaving behind. Then, I want you to do that again with your job and your social life. Wrap up the way people treat you at the bar, the way people form shallow relationships with you for nothing more than your body, all of that an put a bow on it. When you leave today, you'll have left behind the keys for someone else to pick up those  pieces of your life. They cannot receive your gifts until you also take out a gift. Once I've arranged the portion that you are to receive, I'll call you back to pick it up. When you have what you are to gain, and they have your gifts, you will both return home, and go to sleep. The next day, you will wake to a new world in which only those who have touched the orb know that anything was ever different. Can you accept that?”

         “Yes,” Kelsy said, a new hope filling her voice. “Yes I can,” she said as she opened the box and laid her fingers on the orb within.





         Dropping the dusting cloth she'd been scouring the living room table with, Amanda Hastings pulled her buzzing cell phone from a pocket and flipped it open. “Hello?”

         “Amanda,” a vaguely familiar voice asked from the other end of the line.

         “Speaking, who is this?”

         “It's Carol, from Madam Olga's. I think I may have found what you're looking for, but the price is steep. Are you still interested?”

         Sitting down, Amanda allowed her hand to brush briefly across her barely there breasts as her breath froze in her throat. “You've found breasts that would compete with the ones my husband sees every day? Breasts that might finally draw his attention back to me?”

         “Yes, breasts and more. But, as I said, the price is steep.”

         “I don't care. I've been suffering this sexless marriage for nearly three years. I'll pay anything.”

         “Well, that's just it Amanda. It's not you who will ultimately pay this price. You'll need to send Thomas down, he's the one who has the price that's been asked.”

         “But... I don't understand. You said that I would have to place something in the orb in order to pull anything out.”

         “And you will, there must always be balances. But, before I make you any promises, I need to talk to Thomas. If he's not willing to pay the price for your chest...”

         “He'll pay it,” Amber said with hard determination. “I know he will.”



         Hours later, Thomas Hastings looked nervously around the run down buildings that bordered the shop he'd come to. It wasn't his first visit to Madam Olga's, though Amber didn't know that, and he intended to keep it that way. When Amber had called him at work, he'd been in the middle of finalizing contracts for two of X-Plicit's newest stars, and wading through the fine print with a pair of starlets who's bra size exceeded their combined IQ had taken all the patience he'd had.

         Had he been less frazzled by Candy Cummings (not a stage name amazingly enough) and her constant attempts to negotiate more money by seducing him, he might have given away his excitement when Amber called to 'convince' him to visit a strange mystic in a run down part of town. As is, he felt that his exasperated tone had conveyed just what he'd hoped it would.

         For the past five years he'd managed to stay married to Amber, but each year it got harder and harder for him to ignore his inner drive. The fact that Amber had an aggressive and insatiable sexual appetite only made matters worse. That, and the fact that a jealous actress had gone running to Amber to tell her that she'd seen him looking at her lustily when he'd had to go by the set to get paperwork taken care of. The fact that he'd been staring at her male co-star Ivan had completely escaped Tracy, who, for the past several months had been delighting in teasing Amber about how she wasn't 'woman enough' for him.

         As if any woman could be 'woman enough' for what he wanted. Still, no matter how hard he'd tried to put Tracy off, he'd found her taking every opportunity to 'drop in' on him at work... usually half dressed and fresh off the set smelling of sex. Or worse, she'd drop in at home, often bringing some forgotten item from the office or on an 'errand' from someone in upper management that she always seemed to be available for. It had to stop.

         “Carol,” he called over the ringing of the bell as he entered her shop. “Amber called me at work, said that you needed to see me?”

         “Yes Thomas,” Carol said, a trace of sadness clinging to her voice. “Thomas, I'm so glad you were willing to come after last time.”

         “I know things last time weren't really your fault Carol,” he said gently. “It just made it difficult for me to come back around.”

         “Well, I think I might have a way to make things up to you a bit today. But the price, as always, is a little steep.”

         “I have my own price for coming back, Carol, don't forget that.”

         “I know,” Carol said sadly. “I haven't forgotten. I think I can deliver on your price this time. Are you sure that it's still what you want though?”

         “More than anything. It's been been too many years, and I can't do it any more. I can't live like this anymore. Give it all to someone else, I can't do it anymore.”

         “All right then Thomas,” Carol said pulling the wooden box out of the counter and placing it on the counter top. “You already know how it works, in this case, you put it all in one package... most especially the job. I have the package you're to pick up already within the orb, once you've left yours, I'll give you the key.”

         “Finally,” Thomas said, laying his fingers on the orb and watching the glow build within for what he hoped was the final time in his life.



         “So, Amber,” Carol said a short hour later, “Are you ready to prepare your own package, and receive what you've been asking for?”

         “Yes, more than anything. You told me I'd have to leave a few things behind. What will those things be?”

         “Does it matter?” Carol asked, saddened most by how eager Amber was to receive something so... trivial. For Thomas... and Kelsy even, she understood. Each of them was looking to change their life, change what fate had given them in the hopes of finding happiness. But Amber... here was a woman who wanted only the material and the physical, and thought those things would bring her the happiness she longed for from other sources. Of all of them, Carol expected that Amber would be the one returning.

         “Well, no, not really. You know I would give anything.”

         “Very well. Place your fingers on the orb, and think of each thing as I name it to you. I want you  to think of your dark hair and it's short cut... think of your tan skin and chocolate eyes. I want you to think on your petite frame and how truly short you are at five foot three. And of course, I want you to think on the small, barely there breasts you've been given by mother nature. Wrap all of those things up in a bow and give it a name...”



         The next day, Amber Morrison woke feeling better than she could ever remember feeling. Brushing her long blond locks out of her face, she smiled as she let a delicate hand trail over her ample breasts. Never again would she endure the taunts of those strumpets, teasing her for her for her under developed chest.

         Rolling over, she stretched her long legs, arching her back and stretching her broad shoulders. At five foot ten, she would tower over the diminutive figure sleeping next to her, but that was just one more part of her improved figure that she could revel in. Of course, it all went with her sparkling blue eyes and strong Nordic heritage she'd taken on. Every part of her body felt super charged, stronger, more powerful... and more able to get her what she wanted most...

         Reaching out with long manicured nails, she began to run her hands through her lover's hair, hoping to stir the slumbering figure into what could be the most pleasurable morning of her life... so far.

         

         Kelsy woke to the feeling of hands running through her short dark hair and her wife's powerful legs wrapping around her. For a moment, everything felt normal, like it was natural to be woken each morning by the ravishing buxom blond running hands through her hair. It felt natural to stare up at those sparkling blue blue eyes and smile as she ran her own delicate fingers across the other woman's engorged nipples.

         It wasn't until she found her nose inches from a familiar birthmark on Amber's left breast that recent events penetrated Kelsy's sleep fogged mind. Amber's breasts that had, until yesterday, been her own. “Um... Amber?” Kelsy said

         “Yes honey,” the blond purred. “Do you like them?” She said, cupping her new endowments for Kelsy's viewing pleasure. “I told you yesterday, everything is going to be different now. No more coming home to a skinny little wife after you have such a ... hard.... day at work staring at all those porn set pinups. Now, you have your own busty sex goddess to come home to.”

         “But, Amber..”

         “Shhh... not another word,” Amber said, thrusting her now impressive chest into Kelsy's face. “There are more useful things for you to do with that tongue of yours...”



         Across town, Thomas woke much later in the day, still feeling tired at nearly noon. For the first time in years, he woke alone. Taking a deep breath of free air, he grabbed one of the pairs of tight jeans in the closet and pulled a thin white t-shirt over his powerfully muscled frame.

         Standing in the elevator to the bottom floor of his apartment, he felt the familiar weight of eyes locked onto his backside. This, of course, was nothing new. For years in his old life, Thomas had grown accustomed to women admiring his form. What surprised him, however, was the feeling he got from it. Rather than the usual sense of dread that came with the awkward feeling of feminine eyes undressing him, and the fear of how he would rebuff the advances of a woman he had no interest in he felt an inner thrill of excitement. Turning to glance over his shoulder he let his eyes wander down every curve of the athletic brunette in her tight sports bra and jogging shorts. While her breasts came nowhere close to the size he was accustomed to seeing on the porn sets at his old job, something about the slim, powerfully athletic build appealed to him.

         “Hi,” he said, putting on his most charming smile. “I'm Thomas,”

         “I'm Heidi,” the brunette said with a shy smile. “I think I live about three doors down from you.”

         “Well Heidi,” he said. “I don't know how I've let myself live here this long without saying hello before, but if you've got time to join me for lunch, I think I can make up for that mistake.”

         “Sure... I've got time...”



         Walking into the office, only an hour or so late, Kelsy tried to figure out what she'd tell her boss if he asked for an explanation of why she was late. Somehow, she didn't think 'I was busy getting fucked by a sex starved blond with my old breasts' would cut it. That, and the fact that even though things in this new world she'd woken to made it seem almost normal for her to be married to the blond vixen, she still wasn't quite sure how she'd fit in with the rest of this new world.

         “Hey Kelsy,” her boss, Rick called from the door to her office. “Glad you could make it in today. Amber keep you back?”

         “Well, um,” she started.

         “Ha, I knew it. Lord knows if I was married to a hot piece of ass like Amber I'd have a hard time making it in on time every day. Look, I was just going over the new hire paperwork on the girls you signed yesterday, that's some top notch work you put together. So, I was talking it over with Bruce, and we were wondering if you could handle a special assignment?”

         “Sure,” Kelsy said, smiling that for once, someone wanted to give her work for something she had done... rather than tripping over themselves as they struggled to keep their eyes off her body.

         “We had in mind to set you up as our new talent recruiter in addition to keeping you on as our general legal council. We'd like to go ahead and have you audition the new girls, get the paper in line and deliver the ones you think are worth it to our production team. I know it's adding a ton of extra work, but, if you're willing to take it on, we're willing to set you up with your own personal assistant.”

         “Well,” Kelsy said smiling from ear to ear, “When you make an offer like that... I don't know how I can refuse.”

         “Great,” Rick said as he leaned out of the office for a moment. “Tracy, why don't you come on in and tell your new boss how much you appreciate him giving you a chance to work behind the cameras instead of in front of them?”

         “Oh, I'll make sure she knows,” Tracy said, strutting into the office on her towering six inch heals and shaking her silicone filled breasts with every step. “After all, I'm sure Kelsy can appreciate that I really only got into porn to fund my degree... of course,” She continued as she took a seat in her new boss's lap. “I'm sure Kelsy won't mind if I still do a little... work.. around the office.”

         Laughing, Rick turned to leave the office. “I'm sure you two have a lot to 'discuss', so, I'll leave you alone. Just remember... we meet with the distribution company at two this afternoon...”





         “Carol, there's something about this I just don't understand,” Amber said, pacing up and down the house, cell phone glued to her ear. “I thought Thomas was trading away his job so I could get bigger boobs... but... how did I wind up married to this... Kelsy chick? She looks like... like a younger version of me almost...”

         On the other end of the line, Carol spun the dial on the safe containing the orb beneath the counter and turned to the book that cataloged its contents. “It was part of Thomas' price for giving up his job. As much as he respected you, he said he never loved you the way he should have. And, the fact that he was gay didn't help.”

         “WHAT!?” Amber cried in shock. “Gay? No, that's not possible... I was married to Thomas for five years... I would have known.”

         “Of course... but Thomas was like a lot of gay men... he married not because he was attracted to you, or because he loved you, but because you were close good friends and he felt safe with you. It gave him a 'normal' life when he lacked the confidence to be different. But, he didn't want to be trapped in a loveless marriage anymore...and honestly, he didn't want to be gay anymore either. So, in our new world, Thomas is a straight man, still as stunningly handsome as always, but trapped in a life of shallow relationships and one night stands, much like the life Kelsy used to live. In this case though, I think it's a life Thomas can find contentment and happiness in. And Kelsy, in taking on his job, and his marriage to you, became a lesbian. You see, the scales all have to balance at the end of the day.”

         “So... Thomas wasn't really staring at those busty porn stars all day long? He really wasn't under constant temptation to stray... and I didn't really need to take on these monster breasts just to keep his eyes on me instead of them?”

         “No... although, if you're considering trading them back just remember something... Thomas might not have been paying attention to the big breasts thrust his way at every turn... but Kelsy is a different story now.”

         “Oh no...” Amber sighed, sinking to sit on the floor. “So now what do I do Carol?”

         “Oh, I don't know,” Carol said smiling. “I think, if you put your mind to it, you'll come up with some way to keep Kelsy wrapped around your finger. And of course, if you find that you do need more help... you know where I am.”