"I wish Jon and I had also swapped pants, maybe then I wouldn't be having this problem today." Linda said out loud. "Ouch! What the hell was that?" She lifts her hands out of her purse after feeling a burning sensation on the tip of her middle finger. She goes on to inspect it and finds no burning marks. Seeing as nothing was amiss after that weird sensation, she goes back to her purse and picks her phone up to call Harry.
Harry picks up "Hey (Linda) Madison, where are you? We thought you would be here and have been waiting for you to start the tournament!"
"Good morning Mr. Scott. I’m sorry to tell you but I don't think I'll be able to play anymore, my son was not feeling well and I had completely forgotten about today's event and came to the office instead, not to mention I’m also in a skirt" She explained, without revealing the whole truth. “And to go back home to change would take too long.”
"Skirt?" Harry responded, confused "I have never seen you wear a skirt Madison! Is this an excuse to not come? You know how much I've been looking forward to this."
"Never wore a skirt? What is Harry going on about?" Thought Linda. Ever since she started working for him she had to adhere to the dress code of the company. The code did let her wear pants to work but she Always hated how she looked in dress pants, so the skirts were a natural choice. "Mr. Scott, are you sure about that? You've never seen me in a..." A shiver runs through her spine. While responding to Harry, she looked down at her legs to confirm that her skirt was really there, after all why wouldn’t it be there, she remembers putting it on before leaving her bedroom, Harry must be crazy, right? That is when she saw how her legs weren't being constrained by anything, in fact they were quite spread apart, light gray shorts with a single neon green stripe on each side now covered them, going all the way down her knees.
She sat there in silence, trying to make sense of the situation. Walking back her steps in her mind, waking up... breakfast... traffic... Carla... no, there must be something wrong, she hadn't put on a pair of shorts today, she didn't even own shorts that go that low, this looked like one of Jon's gym shorts. That's it! The wish she just made had somehow become reality, that was the only plausible explanation right now. How else could she one instant go from wearing a tight skirt to these loose shorts other than magic? She felt stupid about even thinking about this possibility but at the moment nothing else made sense, especially considering what happened to her shoes, she didn’t mind using sneakers, but she still remembered them being Jon’s stuff, not hers.
"Seen you in what? Madison, are you there? Linda?" In her trying to understand the situation, she had forgotten she was on a call with her boss. "Must be the signal." Harry continued.
"Wait Mr. Scott," She exclaimed hurriedly, before he could hang up the phone "Nevermind about what I said, I will be able to play today, I'll be right there."
"Madison, look, if you didn't want to come, you could have just been honest to me, no need for excuses, I understand that this is not for everyone. You can stay at home today if you want." Harry responded
"No, really, I want to go. I don't know what I was thinking when I talked about the skirt"
Harry did not fully believe her, but decided to accept whatever she said anyways. "Well if you really do want to play you'll have to hurry, we draw the matches and you're the third one, against Samson."
"Will do. See you later Mr. Scott." With that they hang up the phone.
Now back to Jon's shorts, or should she say, her shorts. Did magic really exist? She had to try, what harm could it do? "Let's try a small thing to see if I am just imagining things" Putting down her phone inside her purse, she went on "I wish my car was a big SUV." Maybe not that small. And with a blink of an eye she was sitting now in a very large car, she could have 10 kids and it would still have enough space for the baggage.
It was real, she had not gone crazy, this changed everything! How much better could she make her life now that the world was at the tip of her fingers. She didn't know where to start, so many things to change, so many wishes. Ah, but one thing came into her mind, and it would have to be her next wish. What if her powers were temporary, she couldn't pass this opportunity.
"I wish I was 20 years younger!" She made her wish and awaited eagerly for the outcome. She didn’t mind being old, but who would pass up an opportunity to be young again? Especially with all the knowledge she had gained over the years. Oh the things she could do!
A few seconds had passed, and nothing was happening. Two minutes of waiting, still nothing. "Maybe it already worked" she thought while looking at herself using the rear view mirror. "Nothing" sighing with disappointment "Still the same old me" looking at her subtle, yet very presente wrinkles. "I guess it was just for that single moment" While still satisfied with the car of her dreams, losing the ability of changing reality dampened her mood, as it would with anyone with those kinds of powers.
"I should hurry now, I don't want to make them wait for me any more than they have now." She states, as she starts up the car, realizing she had spent way too much time still in the garage.
Getting to the court was surprisingly simple, the roads were mostly empty since she was going against the flow, and, thanks to her new car, she could reach even higher speeds without realizing how fast she was really going. Being used to the same car for almost a decade now, this was something she seldom enjoyed, as pushing an old car too far would inevitably lead to some kind of damage. Before too long, she was already looking for a spot to park near the court.
Grabbing her purse and getting out of the car, Linda started to hear coworkers moaning loudly as one would while playing tennis "I hope I'm not too late" She remarked while hearing another moan, followed by a striking sound "I'm starting to see why Carla did not want to go to this event"
After reaching the court, she could see who was playing. It was Harry against Craig, the eldest of the office, and he was looking like he was about to fall over dead, his face tomato red, and heavy panting. strike Harry hits back the ball to the other side of the field, and scores, finally ending Joe's misery. He cheers with a clumsy jump, and is received by the claps of his employees. Looking back to the stands, he is surprised to see Linda there. "Linda, by the way we talked on the phone, it seemed that you would be here very late."
"Haha, I guess I did some magic to get here in time." She says, awkwardly laughing.
"Come here, let me show you around, your game is after this one, we should have time." Harry says, putting an arm over her shoulders, wetting her with all of his built up sweat.
They take a walk through the court, Harry showing Linda the facilities. "Right down this hallway are the bathrooms, ladies to the left, or should I say, Lindas to the left." He jokes with her with a small flirting tone. You see, ever since he got this manager position he had a crush on Linda. He is barely 30 and has a thing for older women, and the way she took care of herself, her image, how dependable and helpful she always was, and how she composed herself, all added to her already inviting looks. He knew she had kids, that didn't scare him away like most guys his age, it only made him try harder to get her attention, some kind of primal paternal instinct to show the woman you vye for how good you can take care of her spawn.
Linda on the other hand, did not share the same feelings as he had for her, despite having been divorced for 5 years now, she was not looking for a partner, she had other plans in mind, taking care of her children took priority over love conquests. Sure, he was a fit young man, had a lovable labrador personality and had already cemented himself with a great career. But to her, she could never see him as anything but a ward/son. She was almost 20 years his elder, old enough to be his mother, it would be wrong for her to love him in any way but a maternal love. Nevertheless, Harry would not give up on his path to win Linda over.
They walked and talked, not noticing the time passing and were interrupted suddenly "I SAID LINDA, YOU'RE NEXT" Shouted Sully, the chosen chair umpire, due to his lack of fitness and desire to exert himself. Startled, she walked down the stands to take her place in the field, against Dennis, known by the whole office as Harry's bootlicker.
Walking to the field, Linda starts to crouch down with her legs together, to pick up the racket on the ground. "Oh right. I'm wearing shorts," she muttered to herself "No need to crouch like this." Nevertheless she continued the motion. Standing back up, and with her newfound leg freedom, she takes a ready stance, her legs spread apart, torso bent down, but with no bent knees, putting her ass in full display for her other coworkers. Which for some strange reason, were surprisingly more focused on the game than usual. As one of two women in the office, she often dealt with unwanted attention, but today seemed different.
These wardrobe changes, while initially annoying, have turned out to be a blessing in her daily life, maybe this wasn't so bad after all, even if it was a little unsettling, she thought, remembering that this change wasn't just limited to her. Harkening back to her wish earlier today: "I wish Jon and I had also swapped pants, maybe then I wouldn't be having this problem today." Did this also change Jon’s clothes? It should have. Based on her wording, Jon must be wearing a skirt now. Concerned for her son, she couldn't help but to worry about his current situation. But right now there wasn’t much she could do, she just hoped her son wouldn’t be having a hard time dealing with her skirt.
