Linda wasn't totally happy as she walked next door to the Drullers household. She enjoyed their family game because it gave her the chance to experience exciting lives all across town. After all, she'd given up her plans to continue beyond college when she'd gotten pregnant with Jon...and while she never regretted that...part of her had imagined that life, and enjoyed experiencing other paths for herself. She wasn't particularly eager to step into the life of Leonard Drullers. However, the rules of the game cut both ways, and that was the name she'd drawn, so here she was.
Leonard was a sweet kid, at least as far as she knew. But even Jon, who had some pretty nerdy interests, had trouble hanging out with him. It wasn't that he was overweight...or that he was a tremendous nerd...it was some of his other qualities. Or so Jon had tried to explain to her. She didn't know the half of it.
She rang the doorbell. She'd expected Leonard's mother to answer, forcing her to make some excuses to be alone with the boy. But, fortunately, Leonard himself answered, proving why this would be something of a challenge for her. When he was at school, he dressed differently. But relaxing at home, he had a Star Wars t-shirt on with some sort of food stains on it, and a pair of sweatpants. And he smelled...it was almost like a distinctive cheese.
"Mrs. Gibson...what can I do for you?" He said, politely. "My mom won't be back till later." She did come over occasionally to talk to her.
"I came to see you actually," she said, gently pushing past him. "Close the door, please," she said.
He did, confused, and turned to see her heading up the stairs. She knew the layout...the houses were not identical, but similar, having been built at the same time.
He hurried after her and caught up. "What's going on?"
"Well, it is sort of hard to explain," she said. "Here, hold this," she said, handing him her purse. He took it. She slipped off her shoes as well and started into his bedroom. He grabbed the shoes and followed her.
Leonard couldn't say he hadn't admired the Gibsons....there was that time not long ago Zoe had tried to deck him because she thought he was a peeping tom. It was true, he had been watching her...but not undressing or anything. Same with Linda Gibson...but not quite as much because she was an adult.
"Don't you ever do laundry," she commented, looking around the room at the pile of dirty clothes. "Never mind...It's fine." She slipped out of her skirt and laid it on the unmade bed.
Leonard was confused, partially because of what was going on, but partially because he'd had many fantasies about attractive women of all ages stripping in his bedroom...something that until now was not a likely scenario. "What are you doing?" He asked.
"You can turn around if you want..." Linda said, evenly. He frowned. He felt oddly...disinterested. As if Linda Gibson was suddenly not as attractive as she had been. It was a weird feeling. "This is going to be like some of those sci-fi movies you watch," she said. "But...it will be fine." She reached over and pulled his glasses off his face.
His eyesight was horrible, and he could barely see without them...that was why they were so thick. But...within a few seconds of blurriness...his eyesight started to clear. He could suddenly see as if he had perfect vision. And he could see Linda Gibson wearing his glasses. "What in the world..." he exclaimed.
"When you are in a play, you sometimes have to put on a costume," she said. "For the role. The more different the role is from your normal life, the more you have to prepare for it. Like glasses."
He didn't know what insanity this was....but he knew someone couldn't just regain perfect vision in a second.
She reached into the drawer and pulled out a pair of his briefs, and another pair of sweatpants, and began to put them on. For a brief moment, he had a view of her when she removed her own underwear and replaced it with his. Again...to his surprise, nothing. She drew the drawstring on the pants to hold them up.
She looked weird, a pair of giant ballooning sweatpants below a woman's sweater. She slipped the sweater over her head, revealing her bra, which she unhooked and put neatly on the bed before slipping on a Star Trek t-shirt. "Watch this...." she said, making her voice sound a bit squeakier.
Suddenly, her proportions seemed to expand to fill the t-shirt and the pants...as if she was wearing some kind of fat suit... "Surprise," she laughed with a Leonard-like snort.
