"Now, dear," Mrs. Madison said, "it's not really that bad, when you think about it. The doctor says there'll be some discomfort, but you're still going to get out of the worst parts of being a girl. There's no mess of fluids or days of cramps involved, and no fluids also means no having to bother with tampons or pads."
She began to gently rub her new daughter's back as she continued. "And if you ever do decide to have children, you'll be the envy of any normal woman; the birthing process is the same as your monthly cycle, and all you have to do is keep the egg warm in an incubator until it's ready to hatch. Compared to human pregnancy, that's a walk in the park."
"I don't want to have kids!" Mikey wailed. "I'm a boy! I'm not supposed to be a mom! And I'm not supposed to lay eggs like some kind of freak!"
"Oh, Mikey," her mother said, smoothing down her tousled hair, "you're not a freak. Lots of people go through changes, and some of them are even stranger than yours. But nobody who's worth listening to thinks any less of them for it. You remember when your Aunt Kate first turned into a squirrel-woman? She was afraid that people would freak out at her new appearance. For the longest time, she was afraid she'd lose everything just because she looked different, but that never happened. Most people aren't as shallow as that. The only person who can make you feel like a freak is you."
Mrs. Madison held her child tight. "And you don't have to have children unless you want to," she said. "But...well, I'm sure that seems pretty awful now, but in a few years, after you've had some time to adjust, it may not sound so disgusting. Don't feel you need to be a mother just because you're a girl, dear, but don't write off something that could make you happy just because you think you're not 'supposed' to do it, either."
Sitting in Civics class, Jon absent-mindedly doodled in her notebook. One of the minor perks of being this small, she'd discovered, was that there was no way the teacher could tell she wasn't taking notes on the miniscule pages unless he felt like engaging in a full-blown inspection of her work. But still, nice as it was, she couldn't wait for the afternoon to be over.
