The rest of the morning went by pretty quietly. Jon napped until lunchtime, then spent the rest of the afternoon reading and trying to remember if children's circadian rhythms were supposed to be like that. Zoe listened to some music, trying to ignore the oddness of having the little girl who was his older brother walk in naked, steal a shirt, and use it as a dress, and then hung out on the Internet, where nobody knew or cared that he'd changed sex overnight. Mikey spent the entire morning except for lunch playing video games and trying not to think about whether or not she found boys attractive. And Ken busied herself around the house, doing various things and wondering what was going to happen when Tina got home.
It was around four-thirty that there was a knock at the door. Ken looked around to make sure that the children were out of sight, then peered through the peephole in the front door. "Hey, Jon!" she called. "It's Karyn."
The little girl came rushing downstairs, eager to see her friend, but somewhat apprehensive about the future of their friendship. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door.
Karyn smiled. An eight-year-old girl dressed in an oversized band T-shirt wasn't something you saw every day, but maybe she was a cousin of Jon's or something. "Hello," she said. "Is Jon here?"
Jon nodded. "Hi, Karyn." Karyn looked confused for a moment. "Do I know you?" she asked, then gasped. "Wait, Jon?"
The little girl nodded. "Why don't you come in, and I'll tell you all about it." Karyn stepped inside, and Jon shut the door.
One explanation later, Karyn shook her head in amazement. "That's...that's something," she said. "I just can't picture you growing up as a woman."
"Join the club," Jon said. "But...well, I'm stuck this way, so I'm trying to accept it as best as I can at this point."
Karyn nodded. "That's very admirable of you. But...it's going to be rough being nine years older than you. I mean, you're my best friend in the entire world, Jon. I can't imagine going off to college without you."
Jon nodded. "I know," she said. "On the one hand, I'm grateful for nine years in which to get used to this, but...really, this whole 'being a kid again' thing is the worst part of the whole thing." She didn't feel the need to mention that she might not have gone to college anyway, since she wasn't sure the military would even take her now, and anyway, school was just one facet of their friendship that would be affected by the age gap.
They continued discussing this until Tina arrived home from work. There were the usual afternoon greetings, and then the Madison family prepared for its discussion on how to fit back into society. Karyn got up to Leave, but Jon grabbed her and led her into the living room. "C'mon," she said. "This affects you, too."
"Alright," Tina said, when everyone was settled. "We're going to talk about our plans for getting life back to some semblance of normal. We're going to discuss everything thoroughly, and address every problem raised before any wishes are made. Any questions to start with?"
Ken nodded. "I made a list," she said. "Lessee...okay. Jon: do you want to go back to high school as a child prodigy, or do you want to be a second-grader like all the other eight-year-olds? Mikey: how would you prefer we explain your tail? Tina: are you a man living with major hormone problems, or a woman with an entirely new and unique medical condition that leaves you functionally male? It can't be only cosmetic, because I want our kids to actually be ours. Everybody: names. None of ours are gender-neutral, do you want new ones? Any other suggestions?"
Karyn nodded. "I..." she began, then flushed red. Jon put a tiny hand on her shoulder, and she continued. "Jon is my best friend," she said, "and one of my only really close friends. We're afraid that our new age difference might cause problems with our friendship. So..." She flushed again, then shook herself out of it. "So I'm thinking that I might want to be eight again, too."
"Well," Tina said. "Looks like we do have a lot to talk about. Anybody else?"
