As a bus rolled by with a movie advertisement, an idea of who I would like to be for a while came to mind. Almost instantly, my body starting feeling odd and began stretching and twisting. In a matter of moments, I was an exact duplicate of Patrick Stewart, just in very badly and tightly fitting clothing. "Wow," I said, listening to my changed voice.
Karyn just stared at me. "Patrick Stewart?" she asked faintly.
"Well, I always thought he was a cool actor," I said defensively, feeling the top of my head. I grinned and looked down at her. "What, don't you like him, too?"
Karyn looked dubious. "You're weird."
"It's not my fault! You started not wanting me to be me and my mind started wandering." I looked down as a seam gave way in my t-shirt. "I'm going to need better fitting clothes."
"But, Patrick Stewart?" Karyn shook her head. "No way."
Suddenly I found I could want to be my old self again, and didn't want to be Patrick Stewart any more, so quickly changed back. "Whew! Stop doing that!"
Karyn giggled. "Sorry. It's kind of fun, really." She grinned. "I guess if I just didn't want you to be human, you'd be a bird again, unless I didn't want you to be a bird, either, then what would you become?"
"I dunno," I muttered, a little flustered. "Maybe a jungle cat."
"Uh-huh." Karyn tilted her head. "How about something different?"
"Uh, Karyn... I really don't think this is a good idea..."
"I really don't want you to be male anymore."
I groaned and held my head. Suddenly, I didn't like being a boy. I didn't exactly dislike it, but I certainly did not like it any more. "But, I don't want to be a girl!" I didn't change, but I felt pretty unhappy and confused. I knew I ought to want to stay being a boy, but I just couldn't.
Karyn sniffed. "And why not? Do you think it's that bad?"
"Well... no."
"Besides, I'm not going to stop until I see who you end up being. Come on, don't you have a favorite actress?"
"Not that I want to be!" I rubbed my head. I was feeling thoroughly uncomfortable now. I really wanted to change into something or someone else.
"Uh-huh. Haven't you ever been curious at all about what it was like? Or maybe what you would have been like if your mom had had a daughter and not a son?"
"Well..." I could feel my thoughts starting to fumble in that direction. I didn't exactly want to, but anything to get rid of the stress and unhappiness I was feeling. Already I felt my body shifting and changing in very strange ways as an image slowly came to mind...
