"When you, or at least your bottom half, started to change, did you have a fever?" Joseph asked.
"No," Jon replied truthfully. Even through the rock, and not a sex-change disease, had changed him, he didn't have a fever when it happened.
"Did you have any strange feelings?" Joseph then asked.
"No, one minute I felt normal and then the change hit me," Jon explained. "It all happened pretty quickly and I don't remember any of it. Of course, I felt strange afterwards. I still do. These clothes feel strange. Even my voice seems strange. The whole thing is strange. Why do you ask?"
"I'm afraid I may have caught it," Joseph explained. "I don't have a fever or anything, but I have a strange feeling in my chest, like it's trying to expand."
"Just a minute," Jon said, then he turned away from Joseph, raised his hand to his mouth, coughed, and nearly jumped when he heard the sound of his new voice. But he also whispered, "I wish I knew of any diseases Joseph has right now."
"Maybe it's just a cold in your chest," Jon suggested after turning back to Joseph. This, of course, was the diagnosis the stone had provided.
"I hope you're right," said Joseph. "I want to stay as I am. I don't want any girl parts, and I sure don't want to become sexless like Sarah or Brad."
"Brad, from the football team?" Jon asked with amazement.
"Yeah, both of them. No cock, no balls, no pussy, no breasts, no body hair, nothing. Their personalities even went flat -- so flat they don't seem to mind being sexless. No sex organs, no sex drive, I guess."
"How do you know this?" Jon asked.
"I see Brad in Gym class," Joseph explained. "Jennifer sees Sarah the same way, but anyone can tell."
"How?" Jon asked immediately.
"They're just smaller and weaker and flatter than they used to be. Brad's off the football team and Sarah's off cheerleading. Neither of 'em can pass the fitness test anymore. So, are you going to keep dressing like that?"
"Like what?" asked Jon, who suddenly found himself on the defensive.
"Like in pants that look like a boy's, except for the fit," Joseph explained. "It looks kind of dykey, you know."
"Why, how should I dress? I'm wearing girls' panties, you know," Jon responded even more defensively. He definitely resented Joseph's new line of questioning.
