Chapter 17

This went on for the entire period that Mom was away. When she returned, she took one look at the two of us and knew something was up. I don't know how she knew; but that night after everyone else was asleep; she came into my room and shut the door. She sat on the edge of the bed;

"I know something is going on between you and your brother; I can tell that you're treating each other differently. I'm afraid to ask what it is, but I have to know."

"Mom, there's only one way to put this; we are in love with each other and want to spend the rest of our lives together."

Before she could burst into tears or start yelling at me. I tried to explain.

"Mom; before you say anything I have something that I want to tell you; something that you're going to find impossible to believe."

"Ok, you have my full attention."

"Mom, do you remember the morning when I was in ninth grade and I fainted in the bathroom while I was getting ready for school?"

"Yes, I remember, go on."

"The reason I fainted was because up until that morning I was an old man, lying in a hospital bed in the year 2012. In fact I wasn't just any old man, I was Jack. We had all screwed up our lives so much that at that point, I was dying of heart failure after living a life of drugs, Anne was a drunk, living in a trailer park and you and Dad were already dead. I asked God for another chance to make things right, and when I died, I woke up in Anne's body. You can imagine the shock I had trying to go to the bathroom and finding out I was a girl. Everything I've done since then has been to try to change our lives for the better."