The next few hours sort of flew by for Ben who sort of zoned out. He didn’t want to acknowledge the body he was in but every time he adjusted in his chair, he’d feel something that would remind him that he was now in his mom’s body. Even the smallest sensations felt strange as his clothes felt a bit tighter than his regular clothes and he could smell a whiff of the perfume his mother had on. Everyone else seemed to be living it up and enjoying their new bodies while Ben just sat there. At a certain point, Ben was snapped out of his daze as he heard his father’s voice speak to him.
“Ready to go, dear?” Ben heard his father ask him as it took a minute to realize that he was talking to him. Additionally, it took another minute to recall that the man standing in front of him wasn’t his dad. In the context of the Body Exchange, it was his grandma who was in front of him but in the context of his new life it was his husband standing in front of him.
“Oh uhhh yeah,” Ben replied, speaking in his new voice for the first time. Hearing his higher pitched voice was a bit disorienting. For the first time, Ben stood up in his new body and immediately realized that things were now much different than before. Everything around him seemed much larger but Ben could feel how his body’s fat was in different locations than he was used to. Elma smiled to her grandson, knowing how he felt about this tradition as in the back of her mind she wanted to give him a positive experience. She reached her hand out and Ben took it as the two began to walk towards the front door to grab their jackets. With each step, Ben could hear his mother’s shoes click but what he couldn’t get over was how much his body jiggled with each step. Amanda had been wearing a bra but to Ben it felt like his breasts were swinging freely.
“Howard kids! We’re leaving!” Elma called out as the sentence made her laugh a little. One by one, each of the kids’ bodies arrived at the front door and slipped into their jackets for the cool autumn weather. Along with the kids arriving, Kurt and Elma’s bodies arrived to let everyone out and say goodbye. Both Tiffany and Amanda had swapped previously with either Kurt or Elma but this was the first time they’d be one of them together. Immediately, they started to act like them, pulling out all of their classic sayings that they’d spew whenever they’d say goodbye.
“Be good my grandbabies! Granny loves you!” Amanda immediately said, pulling a play directly out of Elma’s playbook.
“Grandpa loves you guys more!” Tiffany replied, both trying to outdo Amanda’s act but also using Kurt’s favorite response to what Amanda had just said. With that, the new elderly couple waved goodbye as the family exited the house. It was strange leaving Kurt and Elma’s place in new bodies but that was just how Thanksgiving always went with the Howards.
Ben’s first instinct when getting in the car with everyone was to sit in the back. Before he could get to the back door, he was immediately passed by everyone who were racing to the car. This was the first time that Ben had seen his body moving on its own and it was pretty strange as this all felt incredibly real.
“About to get in the back seat?” Elma asked as she came around from behind Ben.
“Uhhh yeah. I guess mom never sits in the back,” Ben replied as Elma laughed.
“You mean YOU never sit in the back.” Elma soon hopped in the driver’s seat as Ben took a second to realize he was the last one to get in the car.
