The next day, Jon's little brother, Mikey, shook him awake.
"Jon, Jon, wake up!" he shouted. "Today's the day!"
"Huh?" Jon asked, still groggy, "What day?"
Mikey sighed. "You remember," he said with exasperation, "the day you and Karyn were going to take me to the water park?"
"Right," Jon said, and dragged himself out of bed.
A few hours later, Jon was at the water park with his friend, Karyn, his goth sister Zoe, her friend Athena, and his little brother Mikey. There was a large sign advertising a new attraction, the "Swapper Slide". Mikey was practically beside himself with excitement at the prospect of a new waterslide. "Can we go? Can we go?" he begged.
Jon rolled his eyes and said "Fine, I guess so."
The new slide didn't look particularly impressive. It just looked like two spiral slides winding around each other from the top of the platform, sort of like a double helix. The two slides both emptied out into a shallow pool; a small group of people were standing around watching, but nobody seemed to be riding it at the moment.
Jon, Karyn, Mikey, Zoe, and Athena climbed the long staircase to the top of the slide. An attendant sat in a chair at the top, waiting. He was an older man, with long gray hair and a scraggly beard, and he was wearing a bathrobe over his lifeguard outfit. Jon asked the attendant, "So, what's so special about this ride?"
The older man smiled wryly, and said "It's magical, that's what!"
Jon said "What do you mean?"
The man explained. "You have to ride down in pairs. When you both get to the bottom, you'll swap. Isn't that cool?"
Jon was confused. "You mean, like, you swap places? That's it?"
The man nodded. "Maybe! Try it and see. Who wants to go first?"
Karyn said "Jon, why don't you and I go first, and we'll wait for Mikey at the bottom?"
"Sure," said Jon, but the old man stopped him.
"Remember, you have to go in pairs. There are five of you," he said.
Zoe said "Can Mikey ride on my lap?"
The man considered for a moment. "I don't think that will work. One of you should wait for someone else to come... oh, here comes someone now!"
An attractive black woman in a one-piece swimsuit was coming up the steps.
"Okay," said Jon, and he and Karyn hopped onto the slides and rode down.
The slide seemed mundane, even boring. It was so dull that Jon lost focus and sort of zoned out until he hit the water at the bottom with a splash. He stood up, wiping the water out of his face, and found himself holding a long strand of blond hair. He looked at Karyn, who was standing next to him, and they both gasped. Instead of her long blonde locks, Karyn's head sported short brown hair exactly like Jon's - and Jon's hair was long and blonde! The slide had swapped their hair! Jon was dimly aware of the sound of cameras clicking, but didn't have much time before he heard two splashes as Mikey and Athena came splashing out into the pool...
