A Day in the Park (2)

A Day in the Park (2)

Inspired by the Role Exchanger universe created by Morpheus

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Quick Start:

         It was a beautiful spring day at Idylwood Park . . .

         An alien being with superhuman abilities to manipulate the material world . . .

         This being was especially curious about the differentiation of the people below . . .

Please see chapter 1 for the full introduction.

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“Slow down, it’s not easy to hike in heels.” Courtney was having difficulty on the crushed gravel path. “I thought we were just going to sit and drink our coffee.”

“It’s too noisy next to the street. Maybe you should have dressed for the park.” Rob wasn’t very sympathetic. Courtney insisted on dressing up for even the most casual events. She had a pretty face, a nice figure, and she knew how to use clothes and makeup to enhance her natural assets. Most of the time Rob enjoyed it, but sometimes it was a real pain in the neck. Courtney frequently kept him waiting while she primped for a ‘spur of the moment’ outing that would have gone better with jeans and sneakers. Sometimes he had to choose between leaving her behind and missing out on something fun because she wasn’t dressed yet.
Today, she was wearing a short denim skirt, a soft white cashmere top and black fashion boots. This was as close as she got to ‘dressing down’ for the outdoors. Her medium length blonde hair was carefully styled to frame her face and show off the gold hoop in each ear. A gold and diamond pendant hung just above the hint of cleavage that showed at her v-neck collar.

“Here, this is a nice spot.” Rob plopped down on a shaded picnic table with a good view of the park grounds.

“Ugh, this table is filthy!” Courtney was concerned about her clothes. “This top has to be dry-cleaned you know.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rob slid back and forth to wipe the bench with his well-worn jeans. “You can sit here and I’ll move over there.” Rob was a typical guy, happy to wear the same jeans and t-shirt every day. He kept his hair short and often sported a day’s growth of beard.

Courtney sighed. Rob wasn’t exactly a slob, but he was altogether too casual about his appearance. She often wished he’d take more interest in his clothes and his grooming. Not that she didn’t enjoy his masculine appearance (especially when they made love!) but it would be nice to see him dressed up once in a while.

The observer could sense these feelings and decided to make a change . . .

“Huh?” Rob coughed as some coffee went down the wrong way. He’d been startled by something red on his thumbnail. As he brought a napkin up to wipe his mouth he felt something hard and sharp poke through the tissue against his face. What the hell? After one last cough Rob was able to look at his hand and was stunned by what he saw. There was a long red nail on his thumb . . . and each finger . . . and his other hand too. . . Speechless, Rob twisted his hands around in front of his face, staring at his lovely red fingernails.

“Rob, what’s with your fingernails?” asked Courtney. “It looks like you’ve got nail polish on them!”

“I don’t know” Rob replied, “It just sort of appeared. Like some kind of magic – abracadabra, poof, and suddenly I have a nice manicure just like yours.” Rob’s tone changed from shocked to pleased. “It does look nice though, doesn’t it?”

Courtney couldn’t believe that Rob liked his new look. She looked down at her own hands to see if his manicure really was as nice as hers. She gasped at the sight of her plain, unpainted fingernails. They were trimmed back close to her fingertips and there was even a little dirt under some of them.

“Rob, my fingernails are gone!” Courtney was dismayed. It had been years since she had been out in public without a full set of long red nails. She stared ruefully at her hands. They seemed kind of . . . dull without any decoration.

“Wow, your nails look like mine used to. It’s like we traded somehow.” Rob said with a note of satisfaction.

“Well, it is more practical to keep them short” Courtney said slowly. It suddenly seemed like long nails were more trouble than they were worth. Why had she wasted so much time on such a little detail? “I think I got the better part of the trade” she smiled at the way Rob was admiring his new nails..

Rob looked more closely at his right index finger. “This one has a chip, I better fix it.” He reached for Courtney’s purse and pulled out the nail polish and file as though he knew exactly where to look. Then he carefully smoothed the edges of the chip and applied a new coat of polish as though he’d done it for years. Rob blew on his newly perfect nail, and then looked up at Courtney. Something about her seemed a little off.

“Are you feeling alright?” Rob asked. “You look kind of pale.” He watched Courtney’s face lost most of its color and realized that her makeup had disappeared. She looked kind of plain, especially since Rob seldom saw her without it. There was also something different about her eyebrows, they looked thick and bushy. Rob was puzzled, how could Courtney’s face be changing like this? There was even a trace of stubble on her cheeks and chin!

“Rob, are you wearing lipstick?” Courtney asked. She could hardly believe her eyes as she watched Rob’s face change. Soon he had thin arched brows, eye shadow, mascara, and deep red lips. It was like watching him get a complete makeover in just a couple of minutes. What’s more, Courtney was almost certain that it was a copy of her own look.

Rob licked his lips experimentally and felt the waxy coat of lipstick. He knew on one level that this was crazy, yet it also felt familiar, like an old memory brought back to mind. Rob found a small mirror in his – no, Courtney’s – purse and eagerly inspected his pretty face. There was no trace of a beard, just an expertly made up face, classically feminine without looking trashy. As he looked in the mirror he was further surprised, and pleased, to see that his hair had turned blonde and grown out to a fashionable length.

“Well, what do you think of my new look?”

Courtney’s first thought was that Rob looked ridiculous, but before she spoke she realized that the colors looked good on his creamy complexion. He really was pretty with his face framed by his blonde hair (when had he had time to grow it out like that?).

“Rob, you’re beautiful. It makes me hot just to look at you.” Whoa, was that what she really meant to say?
Courtney felt a surge of attraction as she thought about how nice it would feel to kiss Rob on his ruby lips and stick her tongue down his throat. Rob practically glowed when he heard the compliment. He tossed his hair back over one shoulder, waving the gold hoops in his ears and then played shyly with the pendant hanging from his neck. He knew this would draw Courtney’s attention to his soft white top and excite her even further. He paused for just a moment as he realized that Courtney’s hair had all but disappeared, leaving her with little more than a buzz cut. Rob started to say something snide about bald headed women, but then he remembered how her ‘scruffy’ look always got him turned on. The short hair went perfectly with her razor stubble and the chest hair that peeked out of her tank top.

Courtney drained the last of her coffee, stood up, and gave Rob one of ‘those’ looks. “Let’s go home.”

Rob was also feeling the mood and rose eagerly from the picnic table, taking care not to snag his nylons or to reveal the erection that was straining against the satin panties under his short denim skirt.

“Don’t forget your purse.” Courtney reminded him. Rob slung the brown leather bag over his shoulder and shuddered a little to think of leaving it behind. He’d be lost without his makeup!

Rob saw that he was already several strides behind and he stumbled a little as his heels slipped on the gravel path. “Slow down Courtney, it’s not easy to walk in these heels!”

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“Make it pop, son!” Josh and his Dad were tossing a baseball back and forth. This was Josh’s third year of little league and he was able to put some zing on his throws. Dad wasn’t taking it easy either, since Josh had to be able handle hard throws and short hops to play first base. They were having a good time, talking a little trash but also praising especially hard throws or good catches.

“Boys! Can’t they be a little quieter?” Jenny rolled her eyes and brought a smile to Mom’s face. Jenny was only a year older than Josh but infinitely superior (in her mind) in maturity and intellect. Mom and Jenny had spread a blanket under a welcoming maple tree. Jenny was re-reading a favorite Harry Potter book and Mom had a romance novel.

“Men have a lot of energy to burn up. Baseball is one of their less objectionable activities” Mom replied, with a look that said she tended to agree with Jenny.

Josh was too busy concentrating on the ball to take notice of the girls on their blanket. But if he had been asked, he would have sneered at the idea of wasting a sunny day with a dumb book. Dad was old enough to understand the value of an education, but a romance novel? What a waste of good brain cells!

The observer could sense these attitudes and decided to make another exchange . . .

Dad was distracted momentarily by some sort of blue flash. When he turned back to the game his next throw looked rather awkward. His arm was too stiff and he released the ball at he wrong point so that it went high in the air and fell short of where Josh was standing. Josh hesitantly moved forward with his glove held straight up. He was close enough to make a catch, but misjudged the ball and it fell just in front of him.

“Pretty lame throw!” The blue flash had caught Mom’s attention and she looked up in time to see the ball drop. “I could do better than that!” Mom wondered for a moment why she had said such a thing, but a new sense of confidence made her feel sure that she really could do better.

“It slipped out of my hand” Dad looked at he ground, embarrassed by his weak effort.

“I would have caught that ball, It was just an easy popup.” Jenny chimed in. She didn’t notice the looks she got from the rest of her family. She had always found baseball boring and distasteful. They were surprised that she even knew what a popup was.

“I couldn’t see the ball” Josh said plaintively. He peered around nearsightedly, seeming to have trouble finding the ball which was only 10 or 12 feet away.

“Maybe you should borrow my glasses?” Jenny picked up the glasses that she had put down while reading and handed them to Josh. “I don’t need them anymore.”

Josh looked at the pale pink frames and opened his mouth to object, but then shrugged and put them on. He was immediately able to see the ball and picked it up daintily, using his knees rather than bending over.

“I just needed my glasses” Josh said and tossed the ball back to Dad. His throw was even more anemic than Dad’s, but it was almost on line and should have been an easy catch. He was startled when Dad let out a squeal and frantically shielded his face. The ball glanced weakly off his shoulder and dropped on the ground.

“I wasn’t ready!” Dad pouted.

Josh and Dad exchanged a few more erratic tosses, but it was clear to both of them that they had ‘lost it’. Josh felt kind of embarassed, he couldn’t understand how someone could forget how to throw a ball. His arm felt kind of sore and it seemed kind of thin when he massaged the aching muscle. It felt like the first time out in the spring after not throwing all winter. Josh’s shame quickly dissipated and after a few minutes he no longer even cared very much. In fact, he now saw that baseball was kind of silly and couldn’t remember why he had been so obsessed with it. He knew he wasn’t going to go to any more practices, let alone put on that dumb looking uniform and play in front of people. Dad was going through similar mental and physical changes and no longer felt like playing. He picked up the ball one last time and with a nod to Josh went back to the picnic table.

“Let me have that glove and I’ll show you how it’s done.” Mom took the ball from Dad, put on the glove, and walked out to play catch with Josh. She had watched the two of them for a few minutes, cringing at their poor performance and certain that she could help Josh do better. She had been puzzled at first as she had never been interested in baseball before, but today it seemed fascinating and she had some ideas that she wanted to try with Josh to help him become a better player. She stretched and flexed a couple of times, loosening up her newly enlarged muscles. It was subtle, but she now had very impressive arms for a woman, hard and well defined.

“I’m tired of baseball.” Josh said, joining Dad at the picnic table. He was surprised that Mom wanted to play, but he really detested baseball with all the silly starting and stopping and running around.

“I’ll play.” Jenny took the glove that Josh had put down and trotted out to where Mom was waiting. Jenny was perhaps the most puzzled. She knew that just a few minutes earlier she had found baseball disgustingly boring, but she also knew that she wanted to play more than anything in the world, maybe she could be the first girl in the major leagues! She quickly forgot her doubts as she deftly scooped the throws from Mom and fired the ball back.

Josh watched for a few minutes, astonished at how good his Mom was. He never knew she could play so well! And Jenny could really throw. She definitely didn’t throw like a girl. In fact she threw every bit as well as he did. Or as well as he used to . . .

“Hey, Dad, it’s like we traded or something. Jenny and Mom are good at baseball and we aren’t!” Josh wasn’t sure if he wanted to complain or express relief. He did know that he felt different and it was kind of creepy to suddenly change without explanation. What else might change? He pushed his new glasses up and shuddered a little. He certainly didn’t want to start acting like Jenny!

“You’re right Josh. It is some sort of exchange.” Dad looked up from his romance novel. “I know that I never used to like this kind of book, but today it’s fascinating. And I’m kind of glad, I certainly don’t have any interest in running around chasing a ball all afternoon.” Dad didn’t say so to Josh, but the romance novel stirred up his emotions and made him feel kind of warm inside. He hoped that there would be some ‘bodice ripping’ later after Josh and Jenny were safely in bed. He could hardly wait to feel his wife’s strong arms holding him tight. . .

“I know what you mean, Dad. I’d much rather relax with a good book than get all sweaty with some dumb sports game.” Josh picked up his Harry potter book and was soon engrossed in the adventures of the young wizard.

“Atta girl! Make it pop!” Mom yelled encouragement to Jenny. With her coaching, Jenny could be the best first baseman in Little League. Maybe she could even get a College scholarship!

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