“Look, children, let us focus on what ta do now. Until I sleep, dis change can be undone, but only by you, Charlie. I give ta you de power over de fate o' your friends.”

From within her bosom, Mama Lavise pulled out a locket and opened it before Charlie. In it were two tiny worry dolls, one brown and in trousers and a t-shirt, the other pink and in a dress.

“Switch de dolls' clothin' ta make things as dey were. You have 'til I get home an' lay me head down. Good day, children.”

Please enjoy my submission for the November Story Challenge 2009 - The Gift, It Wasn't in the Cards.

- EKitty

Becca Lavise hated being right. She had been a reader for the last ten years of her life after it was discovered that she could read fortunes with uncanny accuracy-- even among others in the circle. This time, she was dreading the outcome of her prediction because it didn't make sense.

She had a prediction about Charlie and it wasn't clear how things might turn out. This time, it was personal, as the fortune involved Becca herself and that made her hesitate, although the cards were clear that she would be experiencing a dramatic life change in the coming week that involved Charlie and also Charlie's boyfriend, Seth.

That night after dinner, she brought the matter up with her mother who had confirmed her readings on many occasions when she had doubted herself in the past.

“Believin' ain't de same t'ing as seein', Rebecca,” Mama Lavise offered.

Suppressing a sigh, Becka looked at her mother with skepticism written clearly upon her face.

“Try an' buck it if'n ya wanna, but you done got ye'se'f in a tizzy 'bout som'n' dat can't be he'ped.”

“The cards presented themselves as Death upended, then the Empress and the Emperor to either side of Death with The Lovers atop it on its side. What can it mean? Why does it excite me and fill me with anxiety all at once?”

Mama Lavise took Becka's hand and gave her the look of comfort that only mother's can give.

“My dear, my treasure, you got not'n' ta worry 'bout. All is in de han's o' God. Believe it. Don' fight it. You jes' get a glimpse o' His plan in de cards, is all.”

Exasperated because she'd heard this all before, Becca vowed to call Charlie later that night to ask her about the reading.

First things first, Becca thought as she made her way to her room, then to the bottom drawer of her dresser.

Making certain the door was locked, she slipped out of her skirt and blouse. There was a moment of hesitation on the knobs of her drawer as her mother creaked past Becca's door on the way to her own bedroom to watch her favorite old TV shows on DVD.

Becca removed the drawer and pulled out the plastic rectangular container that held her special clothes. The clothes she gathered from the local thrift store by her home had been in need of a wash, but her wearing of them was so infrequent that they thankfully hadn't needed washing more than a couple times since bringing them home three months ago. They smelled intoxicatingly of hemp due to the hemp and wool blanket that shared the container knit by Becca's Gramma Terri who lived in the Cayman Islands.

With a huff to firm up her resolve, she took the uncomfortably undersized sports bra and pulled it down over her breasts, then adjusted them to be as comfortable as possible-— which was somewhere between discomfort and pain. She then took the Dockers and squeezed into them.

Becca looked at the mirror over the dresser and stood on her tiptoes to see more of herself. Disappointment filled her for a moment before she remembered that she needed her striped button-up shirt and her dad's fedora.

Her already short hair tucked up into the hat, she looked with a gargoyle face at the mirror to see how it all looked. She felt a twinge of pride in how much she could get away with in a pose, but knew that her high voice and ample derriá¨re were a dead giveaway-- that she could never truly 'pass' out in public. Allowing herself a canted smirk at the small victory looking back at her from the mirror, she made her way to the telephone.

“Hello Charlie,” Becca practiced in her lowest register. It sounded like a young boy.

She took her hand from the handset as the reading played through once more in her mind. She needed to know what it meant and calling Charlie might give her the answers she needed.

“Hello Charlie,” she said in her own female voice. “I was wondering if anything has come clearer to you about the reading.”

“Becca, I'm a little unsure if it meant what you said it did. I mean, how could Seth and you switch places in a relationship with me?”

“I don't know Charlie,” she lied. In her heart, she heard the echoes of her neighbors and the kids from high school whispering 'dyke', 'lesbian', 'It', 'Pat', and 'queer'.

“You are a very close friend to me, Becca. I just don't ever see myself loving a woman when I am looking for a family. I want my own children.”

“Of course, Charlie. I know I can't offer that to you any more than I could ask you to believe that my reading will come to pass. Look, I'll-- I'll just talk with you again later, OK?”

“Oh, Becca, you are such a wonderful woman. Why you haven't found someone yet, I just don't know. I hope you are as happy as I am with Seth when you find that special someone.”

“Me too,” she said with a lump in her throat. “I need to go to bed soon. Sleep well, Charlie.”

“Sweet dreams, Becca. See you again soon.”

Becca slowly put the phone into its recharging cradle. She steeled herself against the tears, but they came anyway and she hated herself for not being able to master her feelings like her father could, having never shed a tear in her presence-- not even when he said his goodbyes before dying of pneumonia after he came back from the Gulf War.

Becca angrily tore at her shirt and pushed her slacks off and regretted stripping off her sports bra so quickly, the pain making her cry all the more.

Outside Becca's room, Mama Lavise heard the last part of the conversation and the ensuing commotion. She was no fool and had heard the neighbors' rumors a dozen times over. Her baby hurt from what she could hear, which gave her an idea of what her daughter's divination now meant. She had a lot to do tonight, so she made her way to the basement to retrieve some things she'd need, keenly aware of the sobbing going on behind her.

Becca awoke before dawn, having an uncomfortable feeling in her abdomen. She swung her legs off the bed and banged her knee on a nightstand. With a sharp inhalation between her clenched teeth, she took a step and stopped cold. Her floor was hardwood and she had compressed thick, soft carpet underfoot.

Her socks were not on. Her pajamas felt wrong.

In the dim light, she realized that her surroundings weren't those of her own room and she began to truly panic. She located a lamp on the nightstand and fumbled about for the switch.

Becca's eyes widened in surprise as she looked down at the hand that had turned on the light. Her hand was huge. It wasn't her hand. It was a white man's hand! Becca worked her mouth a few times, vacillating between the desire to scream and the wonder at having a man's body.

Rationalizing that she was dreaming, she went to the nearby bathroom and sat down. Her penis touched the rim of the seat and she shuddered at the cold and disgust of touching the inside of a toilet that wasn't her own. Looking around as her mind reeled from the sensation of urinating through a long tube, Becca noticed that the bathroom wasn't as clean as she'd have liked it. Her revulsion doubled concerning the toilet.

Feeling grossed out by the contact with the toilet and feeling unclean in general, Becca turned on the shower and got in while trying to empty her racing thoughts so that she could get clean and get out.

However, once she got in and caught a glimpse down there, she felt a bit bewildered and a bit excited. The hot, trickling water was causing sensations that she had only guessed at before now and it was having quite the effect. She quickly turned the cold up and looked for something to clean with.

Not finding any scrubbing materials that she'd deign to touch, she looked about for soap. The only visible cleaning product that wasn't shampoo was vanilla scented body wash. She used it with hands only and got as clean as she could, as quick as she could. The coarse chest hair was left alone and the downstairs areas received lots of splashing and water channeled by hand.

She was marveling at how realistic her dream felt as she shook out a slightly musty smelling bathrobe that she found on the back of the door. Donning it, she felt powerful and strongly compelled to go jumping about the house with no shirt on. She explored the house in the growing light of dawn and found it to be quite familiar. It was Seth's house! That meant that the body she was...

“My, aren't we up early?” Charlie said in a slippery way that Becca had never heard from her before. She rose from the couch in a t-shirt and panties that left not too much to the imagination since the light from the window behind her was silhouetting her figure through her shirt.

“Hello, Charlie,” Becca-turned-Seth said flatly, though she didn't intend to. The deep tones were felt in her throat and chest with each word and it made her feel like she had finally gotten what she had wished for since puberty. She started again with more confidence.

“Charlie, I--”

“No, it's OK, Seth,” Charlie said icily. “You told me that you weren't sure about us and I can give you space for that. I find it odd that you decided to do so after Becca's fortune telling crap, but hey, I'm a big girl. I'll go get my stuff together and leave.”

“Charlie. It's not like that. I'm not who I appear to be.”

“That's pretty much what you said last night. Whoever you talked to on the phone for half an hour last night must have the key to what you are looking for because I haven't seen any sign that you are serious about us, no matter how sweet you are. I mean, I can't throw myself at you any more than I have and you just keep me at--”

Becca rushed forward, which scared Charlie until she saw the tears falling and the obvious longing in Becca's/Seth's eyes. They kissed fiercely, Charlie believing that she was finally getting through; Becca hardly understanding what had happened, but unable to keep herself from the opportunity.

“Time ta wake up sleepy one.”

“Mmmmmmm,” Seth groaned in a light, lovely voice as he stretched. Feeling a couple of largish orbs pulling at the skin on his chest was a new sensation and would take some getting used to. Never mind that he was freezing and was therefore suffering from a slightly painful case of THO.

He laughed lightly when he thought of the possibility that Becca might wake up with his usual morning 'problem'.

When he finished stretching, he looked up at Mrs. Lavise. Her eyes were yellow and bloodshot and her careworn face seemed older than yesterday by twenty years.

“Are you all right?” he asked with slight alarm.

“Sure t'ing. But it's not me you should be worryin' on. By your laughter, I am guessin' dat you are t'inkin' 'bout my Rebecca. I'm t'inkin' on her too, yah. Get on up an' le's go pay her a visit. She might just be needin' a clue.”

“Ummm, Mrs. Lavise? I didn't tell you about something because I thought it was going to take care of itself. I think that Charlie is still over at my place, even though I told her that we were through. Becca's cards helped convince me that it was time to let her go.”

“You silly, idiotic man. It's a good t'ing you are now a woman or I'd slap some sense inta ya, hmm?

“Let us go now, before dey wake. Becca has been pinin' for dat woman for jus' 'bout five years now an' if we can make dis work, I may yet have grandchildren.”

“Did I hear that right?” Seth asked incredulously as he got dressed in Becca's most provocative outfit; a dress that was sleeveless, but otherwise nun-approved. “Becca's been after the girl that I've been going out with for over two months?”

“An' you have been lyin' ta Charlie for two mont's, Mistah Pride. Who harbors de greater sin, now? Let us get movin' 'fore dey wake.”

Breaking the kiss reluctantly, Becca looked into Charlie's eyes and saw the confusion there as Charlie raised a hand to her own lips.

“Seth, you have never kissed me like that before. It was-- perfect. Does this mean you've changed your mind about us?”

“I'm not certain what it means, Charlie. All I know is that I love you with all my heart.”

Charlie backed away and fell into a sitting position on the couch, clearly shaken.

“You-- You love me?”

“Yes, I have for at least three or four years now.”

“Seth, we met only six months past when you started working at Waveform Tech. How could you have --”

“I don't know how it happened Charlie. I'm fairly certain my mother had a hand in it, but if it is what I think she did, it is not only permanent, but also needed a willing spirit to perform the switch. Somehow, Seth must have wanted this, ah, 'gift' as much as I did.”

Charlie gathered the blankets on the couch about her like a shield and shook her head slowly while tears began to form.

“It can't be true. Your accent-- Becca?”

“It is I,” Becca said in Seth's low register, though Charlie was now certain that it was indeed Becca.

A light knock at the door made both of them start. The door opened shortly afterwards, with Becca's face peering in and smiling sheepishly at seeing the two already up.

“Mind if we come in?” Seth-turned-Becca asked cheerfully.

An echoing voice boomed from behind Seth, “Get in wit' you and stop playin' de fool!”

“Looking good Becca,” Seth observed with a girly bounce that caused more jiggles than it should.

“Didn't you bother to even put on a bra, Seth? God, I'm going to need therapy unless we come up with new names and the two of you put on bras,” Becca bitched.

“You can call me--”

“No. Stop right there,” Charlie ordered. “I want to talk to Mama Lavise.”

“You go right on ahead, Charlie dear,” Mama Lavise prompted.

“How did you do this? Why did you do this? Becca didn't even seem to know.”

“It is simple. I gave 'em a gift born o' love. Love for dat person who is inside should also match de love for de one on de outside, but for these two, it ain't always been so. I helped to end deir sufferin', you see.”

“What do you think, Becca?” Charlie shot at her boyfriend's body with her long-time friend within.

“I really can't say. It's all so new. If it means that you and I have a chance at happiness, then I don't think I could go back, because I know that when I am in there, you and I can never be together. I'll need time to adjust, but I want to try.”

“And how about you, giggles and jiggles?” Charlie asked in an accusatory fashion.

“I've wanted this my whole life. I couldn't be happier.”

“What of Becca's reputation around here for being-- forgive me Becca-- queer? How will you two handle work?”

“I haven't heard any rumors concerning Becca, but I think that she won't have that reputation for very long. I know a hunk from our work who ran into Becca at the company Fourth of July party that you brought her to. They don't know anything about her and asked me to ask you about her when we started going out. I have had a crush on him since I figured out that I like only men a few weeks ago. Now I'm a shoo-in!”

“And you were going to tell me-- when?” Charlie demanded.

“Look, children, let us focus on what ta do now. Until I sleep, dis change can be undone, but only by you, Charlie. I give ta you de power over de fate o' your friends.”

From within her bosom, Mama Lavise pulled out a locket and opened it before Charlie. In it were two tiny worry dolls, one brown and in trousers and a t-shirt, the other pink and in a dress.

“Switch de dolls' clothin' ta make things as dey were. You have 'til I get home an' lay me head down. Good day, children.”

With that, Mama Lavise quietly left, the silence of her departure growing with each breath of the three.

Becca couldn't wait any longer.

“What's your middle name Seth?”

“Seth is my middle name. My first name is, was David. My friends liked the name 'Seth' better in my freshman year of high school, so I have used it ever since.”

“Dave. I like it. I always pictured my male self as being black. The name I was going with was Vincent, but I don't think that fits the new me, for some reason.”

“I was thinking about calling my new self Venus.”

“You do and I will kick your ass to Compton, California as a pilgrimage and right on back here to Charleston,” Becca-turned-David growled.

“Does that mean Serena is also out?”

Both Dave and Charlie glowered at Seth.

“OK, how about Sherri?”

“That's not as bad,” Dave offered.

“Sherri it is then. What do you think, Charlie?”

Charlie was staring at the matchstick figurines and the tiny clothes on them. She wanted to be with Seth. He made it clear that he didn't want to be with her. She thought over her friendship with Becca. They certainly got along (in)famously, but the whole lesbian thing truly was a factor in Charlie's keeping Becca at arm's length. Now that's changed.

She wondered as she looked up at Dave, whether she could love a woman in a man's body. She certainly had no problem with physical attraction, but knowing it was Becca in there...

“The time will be up soon, Charlie. Mama looked tired,” Dave reminded softly.

“I like Sherri,” she half-whispered in response.

“Thank you for this, Charlie,” Sherri bubbled while rushing forward for a hug. “I want to keep being your friend for as long as you'll have me.”

“Are you kidding? I look at you and see my friend, Becca. You're my ex-boyfriend inside Becca's body and I'm supposed to be OK with this? The best I can say is that I'm willing to try.”

Sherri blithely took the answer for an affirmative response and smiled wistfully at the future that lay ahead of her.

“What of me, Charlie? Is it wrong to love you from behind these eyes instead of those? Do you not find me more desirable in this body?”

“That is going to take more time than I thought. I just don't know,” Charlie said with waning conviction as she touched her lips again.

“Can we take it slow... Dave?”

Before Dave could answer, Charlie practically jumped off the couch, throwing the figures in the locket upon the place where she'd just been sitting. The three of them looked down and saw that the clothing had now changed on the two, the brown one with a dress on and the pink one with a shirt and trousers on. They all looked at one another, but each of them had a blank face.

“Did you switch--”

“No!”

“I'm still in here.”

“Me too.”

Charlie reached down and picked them up gingerly. She examined the locket and the figurines and gave a low whistle.

“I don't think I'll ever think twice about magic again,” Charlie swore.

“Hey Dave? Does this mean I can read fortunes now?”

“Just as long as you don't lie with a man, you should be able to. You know, for however long that may last.”

“...”

“...”

“That's not fair!”