John was 45 and recently divorced after 21 years of marriage. He couldn't believe his marriage was over. He had been so blind to the truth, his wife, Robin (40) had been unfaithful. He only found out about Robin's infidelity because his sister, Judy (35) caught her at dinner with his best friend, Sam (44). They hadn't seen Judy so she watched as they enjoyed a seemingly romantic dinner, paid the bill, and left. Judy followed discreetly as they made their way to the downtown Sheraton Hotel and got a room. Judy felt bad for John but knew he had a right to know. John confronted Robin and after her initial denial, she finally came clean. John filed for divorce and thank to a good divorce lawyer and Robin's infidelity he was able to get out of the marriage without Robin taking him to the cleaners. The divorce case finalized yesterday so John wanted to get out of his new "bachelor pad" and clear his head.
He didn't really go to yard sales but he needed to furnish his new place and figured he might find a few deals here. As he browsed the tables and racks that Susan had set out he found a few things for his new place and was about to pay for his purchases and head home when something caught his eye. He had picked up a small box and looked inside to see a very old looking medallion. He thought that his daughter, Sara (20) would find this interesting since she was studying ancient cultures. John didn't see a price on the box, so he took it with him to the woman holding the yard sale and asked about it. Susan could not remember seeing this item before and did not know how it ended up in her yard sale. She looked it over and thought it must have been some of her daughter's costume jewelry. She told John she would let him have it for $1.00. John smiled and said, "I'll take it, and all of this other stuff I have here." Susan made the sale and John began loading his purchases into his truck.
As John drove home he thought of his life now that he was single at 45. He had a good relationship with both of his children, had a few good friends, a good job, and a new townhome on the edge of town. His daughter was attending the local university and his son, Brad (18) was finishing up high school and was planning to follow his lifetime dream of being a firefighter after high school. John and his children used to have lunch and dinner regularly, but things changed a little when Sara started college. She was very busy with studying and her social circle. Brad was also playing several sports so John usually only saw him at one of his games or special occasions. John understood that his kids were busy with their lives and made efforts to be available whenever they had time for him. He thought to himself, "Sometimes you just got to take what you can get."
John arrived home and unloaded his purchases. He spent a short time arranging his new purchases in his home and finally sat down with a cold beer to watch the local news. As he picked up the remote, he knock the box with the medallion off the table. As he bent down to pick it up, he noticed a slip of paper had fallen out of the box. John read the note...
"Dear Friend, You have come into possession of a true treasure! This amulet is known as the Medallion of Zulo and it has magical capabilities. I know you may scoff, but believe me it is true. I should know, for I have used it over the past months to make my life richer and happier. You can too. It is a simple device in operation: you simply place the medallion over your head, around your neck and ensure it is touching bare skin. You may then do one of the following:
- touch a worn item of clothing to the medallion. Your physical form will transform to match the form of the person who last wore the clothes.
- touch a new item of clothing to the medallion. Your own form will alter sufficiently to fit the clothing touching the medallion
- multiple items of clothing may be touched simultaneously to combine effects.
- have another person touch the medallion. The physical forms of the two people will exchange. I have no reason to suppose that this does not work with animals as well, so beware.
Note also the following:
- the medallion does not work on pregnant women.
- if the medallion is removed before the transformation completes (it usually takes 30-40 minutes), then the change may stop if possible.
- only one change is possible within a single 12 hour period. After that the medallion will not work on the same person again until those 12 hours are up.
Use it wisely!
Yours,
Charles Benjamin Wittman."
John laughed out loud at the absurdity of it all. "There is no way this ancient looking trinket could transform people into other people... is there? Maybe I'll just try it out one time to see if it works." He wondered what he had around here that would work. He decided to look through the boxes he hadn't opened yet to see if he had something he could use to test the medallion. He knew there were boxes belonging to Brad and Sara, as well as some stuff from his younger years, like his high school letterman's jacket and his military uniform. What if he could become his younger self? Or maybe he could become Brad? He shuddered when he thought, "What if all I can find is something of Sara's? Do I really want to become my own daughter?"
