squatted to deal with my shoes but what I saw surprised me. My shoelaces were tied tight as ever! That must have meant... My feet were smaller, that's why my shoes felt loose!
"Oh my God! It has begun!" I thought and run back to Lindsay trying to not tip over my now-too-big shoes...
We walked in silence for a few minutes, me trailing behind her by a few feet, as I tried to ignore my now ill fitting shoes. Every thing I did, I wondered if it was a side effect of the changes that place was forcing onto me. Every itch, every twitch of a muscle, everything.
I wondered if others went through this as they changed because of this process. It was so nerve-wracking. The only thing keeping me going was the knowledge that I had the stone at home. I could undo this. I could change my assigned career to anything I wanted. Sure, that would kind of defeat some of the reasoning behind my originally making the wish, but it would be better than dealing with this for the rest of my life.
I finally decided the best thing to do was to speak to this woman, my mentor. It would keep me from agonizing over every little thing my body was doing. "So, does this sort of thing happen a lot?" I asked. "I mean, guys getting changed like I am..."
"It's not common, but it's far from unheard of. And it goes both ways. Girls can become guys too, you know." Lindsay said.
"But, how is this allowed?" I asked. "I mean, prostitution is illegal. How can the center want anyone to become a prostitute. Plus, isn't it dangerous? I mean, STDs and everything."
"As far as I've been told, the center figured that prostitution was going to happen regardless of what anyone wanted, so anyone taking part in it may as well be well trained so they can be the best they are at it." Lindsay responded. "As for STDs, that's another of the unmentioned perks of the centers changes. You're going to be immune to STDs once the change is complete."
I nodded, stumbling a bit as my left foot came completely out of my shoe. I sighed, taking off the right as well and deciding to just carry them. My socks would get really dirty because of this, but it was better than tripping and falling on my face.
"Well, I guess that's one good thing..." I said, as I hurried to catch up to Lindsay. "But, how does this whole thing work? Prostitutes usually have pimps, right?" I decided there was no harm in learning more about all this, even if I had no plans to actually stay in this line of work.
"Oh yes. While you're training under me, you won't need to worry about that. You won't be working for my pimp or anything like that. You're just here to learn from me. Once you're training is done, the center will assign you to a pimp. More than likely, one who's going to have finished at roughly the same time as you."
I gulped when I heard that. It made sense that that place would train pimps as well as prostitutes, but from everything I had ever heard, pimps could be incredibly cruel.
Lindsay looked over and, apparently, saw the look on my face, and chuckled a bit. "Oh, don't worry. Most of the pimps who come out o the program are pretty good guys. After all, this is all a program to get everything running better."
"Most?" I asked.
"Well, there are a few mentors out there who are strict upholders of the old fashioned ways. But, there' the minority now. I wouldn't worry too much about it."
I nodded. "I won't." I said. After another coupe of minutes walking, I found that my pants were slowly sliding toward the ground. "Oh God... this can't be happening." I said, pulling my pants back up.
Lindsay stopped, allowing me to catch up. As I approached her, I noticed that we were the same height now. I could feel my eyes widen at this revelation. That meant that I had lost four inches already.
"Don't worry Jon. That's my building there." she said. "Let's get you inside."
She walked over to the door and inserted her key, holding the door open for me. I made my way into the building, moving awkwardly due to my now far too big pants.
