School

School

Adam awoke to a feeling of life-threatening vertigo, but mercifully it faded almost as quickly as it began. His mind panicked again almost immediately when he realized that he couldn’t move. The alarm was blaring at him to wake up, but he couldn’t roll over or reach out for it. And then a moment later, he was rolling over, and he was reaching for the alarm - but it was like his body was acting automatically, ignoring his wishes.

Adam’s vision was blurred, but he was quite certain that the alarm was not his own - nor was the nightstand or the lamp. Somehow his fingers found the right button and silenced the harsh noise, even though he didn’t think he had done it.

He had to pee. Urgently. His body rose, driven by the same urge, and moved from the unfamiliar blurry bedroom to the unfamiliar blurry bathroom. Again there was vertigo - just a touch. Something was wrong about how he walked: his perspective was off. No matter. He pulled his underwear down, sat on the toilet, and relieved himself.

He wasn’t even sure, at this point, whether he was controlling his body or not. It seemed to be doing the things he wanted it to - or perhaps he seemed to want it to do the things it was doing. It was only when he finished peeing and wiped himself that he realized that he didn’t have a penis.

The rest of Fiona’s morning routine went just as uneventfully, as far as she was concerned. Adam, on the other hand, came to realize that he was a guest in his daughter’s body. Was this the opportunity of which Dr. Sykora had spoken? Had he somehow done this to them? People had always joked that Dr. Sykora was a mad scientist, but that was all in fun, right? There’s no such thing, really. And yet, here he was.

It seemed like he should have found the experience terrifying - being trapped, unable to speak, unable to exercise any control. But it wasn’t. It seemed like everything “his” body was doing was right - exactly what he wanted it to do. As an experiment he tried to exert control - drop the toothbrush, turn off the faucet - but found that he couldn’t.

The shower could have been awkward. The feeling of rubbing soapy hands all over his daughter’s chest and between her legs was, if Adam had allowed himself to face it, equal parts exciting and shameful. Fortunately, Adam was well practiced at suppressing uncomfortable feelings about Fiona. And when she swallowed a pill from the Friday slot of what was unmistakably birth control packaging, he assumed that she was taking them for acne or something to do with her periods.

Once Fiona put her contacts in, Adam could see clearly. Shortly after that, she was dressed and off to the bus station with a granola bar and box of orange juice, and then off to school.

During Japanese class, Fiona was eager and engaged, constantly raising her hand, and taking notes in immaculate detail.