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He slept fitfully and ate breakfast with Tiffany in the morning. She tried a couple times to talk to him, but he wasn't ready to talk yet. He had too much on his mind, and was still too full of fear of both her and the possibility that he might be trapped in this body forever.

Is there any chance of patching things up with Mary? he wondered, but quickly dismissed that thought. After the way I attacked her there's no way she'll take me back. Hell, I wouldn't take me back after that! What the hell was I thinking?!

As was his habit, he sat in front of the TV since he didn't have anything else to do. He could lose himself in the show, but he couldn't completely stop his thoughts. He fazed out for a bit and said, "Oh come on, how stupid can you get?!" when he saw what was on. It was another of those stupid sitcoms he hated so much. He changed the channel a few times until he found something he liked and settled back into the couch. Then his thoughts moved away from the show as he realized his reaction was totally different to what it used to be.

Didn't Mary always get on my case for cussing at the TV when one of those shows came on? And I really haven't felt much anger at all except at myself. Usually I encounter a dozen things that piss me off during the day. Is it just because I'm cooped up here, and what happened at the house, or... he thought, but ruthlessly cut that thought off.

He managed to lose himself in the show again, but his thoughts often returned to how differently he seemed to be reacting. He was so lost in those thoughts he didn't notice Tiffany come home, this time with Sarah. Tiffany said they were eating dinner at Sarah's apartment. He glanced over at them and nodded, and turned back to his show. He still didn't know how to act around his s...daughter.

They went through another of those weird portal things and were gone for a little while. When they got back Tiffany walked over and turned off the TV. "Get your shoes on, it's time to go." she said. He grunted something about missing the end of his show and put his shoes on. He followed them out to Tiffany's car. He didn't look at Sarah, knowing he wouldn't like what he saw. I'm sure she hates her old man by now. If I can even be called that anymore. he thought.

To his surprise, she asked him how he was doing on the drive over. He shrugged, not sure how to answer that, and looked out the window. She can't really be worried about me, can she? he thought. He tried to figure out what she expected of him, or any of them did, for that matter. No matter how he looked at it, though, he couldn't figure them out. Considering all those weird powers they have, I wonder why they didn't just kill me. They as much as said they could do it without leaving any evidence. And it's not like anyone would recognize me anymore, anyway.

Tiffany asked Sarah something, and they started talking. He tuned them out, until he heard something that really caught his interest. "What do you mean, magic getting stronger?" he asked, thinking this might give him some clue to how they could do all this. And maybe even how he could change back on his own!

They seemed to have forgotten he was there, as they took a moment to reply. "Apparently magic was suppressed, or dormant or something, for a long time. Now it's coming back. Eventually everyone will have magical abilities like we do." Tiffany said.

"Even me?" George asked hopefully.

He saw Tiffany glance at him in the rear-view mirror and she said, "Sure." He sat back and thought about that, What kind of abilities might I get? Could I change back on my own, and what would I do then? I've already lost my home and family. And if I don't change back soon, my job. What a mess!

The conversation that started up when they arrived at Sarah's apartment was full of surprises for George. First they were talking about identification for Sarah, something he hadn't considered. Obviously she wouldn't be able to use her old ID looking so different, but it sounded like they had that well in hand. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

Erica also said something about most people having no trouble believing that Sarah and Sean were the same person, which seemed odd. It's obvious that they couldn't be the same person, if not for magic! But Mary believed it, too, didn't she? he thought. The waters were muddied further when Tiffany mentioned something about a curse from Venus. But then Erica said something that really shocked him!

"What?!" he exclaimed, startling all of them, when Erica said something about Sarah throwing herself in front of Michael to protect him. That doesn't sound like something my weakling son would do! he thought.

"I just said that Mike wouldn't have handled being a girl as well." Erica replied in obvious confusion.

"No, you said that Sarah jumped in front of Mike! What did you mean by that?!" he replied.

"Just what I said. They were running back through the portal to get away from Venus when she got angry. Jill was already through, and Mike was about to go through when Venus tried to blast him with her curse. Sarah jumped in front of him and got blasted instead and they were both knocked through the portal by the blast." Erica said. "You'd know that if you'd stuck around when we were telling Mary all this."

"Sarah did that?!" he said in shock. Then, "She must have known what was going to happen then, somehow, right?" Sarah never stood up to anybody! She must have known what was coming...

Sarah shook her head and backed away, "No, I thought I was going to die." she said.

He looked closely at her, but couldn't see any sign of deceit. "You really did?" he asked. Sarah nodded and he muttered, "I can't believe it!"

Sean was always such a wuss! Could he really have done something like that? Was I wrong about him all along? he thought, unconsciously repeating, "I can't believe it!" as he absently sat on the couch.

He wasn't aware that everyone but Erica had left the room until she sat beside him and grabbed his shoulder, turning him towards her. "Can't believe what?!" she growled.

He realized she'd said something else before that, but he'd missed it. He shook his head and sheepishly said, "Sorry, what were you saying?" as he looked up at her. He really didn't like having to look up at everyone.

"I said, what's going on?! You were scaring Sarah!" Erica said, nearly yelling it in his face.

George ducked his face and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I just couldn't believe that Sean would do something like that. I always thought he was too much of a coward to sacrifice himself for someone else like that."

"That's Sarah!" Erica growled. Even without a knife in her hands she could be very frightening when she wanted to be.

He feebly protested, "But she was Sean at the time it happened..."

"No! She was always Sarah! That's the whole point! Sean was just a mask she wore to please you and your wife, and everyone else, for that matter. She was always a girl." Erica replied.

"But you want to marry her." he said.

"Yes." Erica said.

"So you're a lesbian?" he asked. This whole situation is so confusing! he thought.

"No. Yes, I don't know! I was never attracted to girls before, but I am to her. I don't know what I am! But what does it really matter? I love her and want to spend the rest of my life with her. And she feels the same way. Isn't that what's important?" Erica said. At least I'm not the only one who's confused. George thought.

Remembering what he'd been taught by his parents and in church he said, "But it's a sin to change your body or to be with someone of the same gender as yourself."

Erica rolled her eyes, "I should have known you'd bring religion into this. It's always the same thing! Instead of coming up with a logical argument for why something shouldn't be, you just say it's a sin! Or that it's written in the bible, so it must be true! Can't you think for yourself?!"

"Of course I can think for myself!" he replied angrily.

"Oh really? Then tell me why it's a bad thing for two people of the same gender to be together? Without using the bible!" Erica said.

He was drawing a blank at first and said, "You can't have children!"

"Oh, what a surprise!" Erica said, grinning. "The old procreation argument! Tell me something Kelly, do we have a shortage of people?"

What's that got to do with anything? he wondered, but just said, "Uh, no."

"In actual fact, don't we have a surplus of people? Don't we have an overpopulation problem on this planet?" Erica asked.

George mumbled, "Well, yes, but...."

Erica interrupted before he could finish speaking, "So how is it a bad thing for two people to marry who can't have children when we already have too many?"

He couldn't answer that one, so she continued, "Let me give you a few more things to think about. The only place where same sex relationships is mentioned in the bible it specifies two men, there's nothing in the bible about lesbians. Also, there's nothing in the bible that says you can't change your body. In fact, we do it all the time. Tattoos, piercings, removing tonsils or appendix, and so on. And one more thing. If you thought Sarah was such a coward, presumably just because she wanted to be a girl and didn't fight back against her own father despite being very small when you started beating her, then you really don't know your daughter at all. And that's your loss." Then she stood and walked into the kitchen, leaving him alone.

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To Be Continued…

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« Venus Cursed! - Chapter 93 »