Author's note:
Per request, I'll start posting my old Cromexx Central stories here at topshelf.

This is an old six chapter story of mine I had on my old site Cromexx Central (no longer online). This story is followed by a pair of sequels. I'll just post a couple chapters at a time every other day or so, so I don't hog up the whole story board.

Ju-Ju Box

CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION TO A NEW PERSPECTIVE
by Cleo Kraft
------------
"Why can't I play too?" Kristen asked with sad blue eyes.

"Get out of here, sis," my friend Mike said pushing his little sister
out the door. "Can't you see we're in the middle of a game?"

"But you never let me play," Kristen complained as Mike closed the
door.

"She's quite a little pest sometimes," Mike said sitting down to
the table and picking up some dice.

"Yeah, I guess, but why not let her try playing a game with us once
in awhile," I asked.

"Tried that before and she started mixing up terminology," Mike said
moving some miniatures around the table. "She was talking about ju-ju
being an actual learned skill but this game doesn't have that stuff.
She's a bit weird. Ever since Aunt Toni came back from her travels
around the world, Kristen's been acting strange. For that matter,
so have her girl friends she keeps bringing over. Anyway, Aunt Toni
gave her some weird trinkets and stuff as souvenirs. I could have
had some too but I'm not into that garbage."

"Right," I said and examined the grid map.

My character was standing at the entrance of a dungeon.

"Ready to enter the dungeon?" Mike asked.

"Sure," I said watching him roll some dice.

"The grate slides open with a creek and you walk into the mist,"
he said.

Just then, the bedroom door opened.

"Sandwiches and soda?" Mikes mom asked bringing a tray into the room
and setting it down on the table.

"Hey, watch the game board," Mike complained sliding the sandwich
tray a little to one side.

"Thanks Mrs. Tiederov," I said.

"You're welcome Andrew. Anything else, just let me know," she said
backing out of the room.

Mike got up and shut the door.

"She never knocks when I have friends over," he said angrily storming
back over to the table. "Now where were we? Oh, yes. You entered the
dungeon. There are three doors. One red, one green, and one blue."

We role played for a few hours and then Mike had to excuse himself
to go deliver the afternoon newspapers on his route.

"I'll be back in a couple hours," he said. "Feel free to play video
games or whatever while I'm gone."

I sat there in his room and started playing Galaxy Space Hippies.

I didn't hear the door open but suddenly as I was on level twelve,
I felt a pair of hands cover my eyes from behind.

"Guess who?" I heard the voice of Mikes kid sister ask.

"Come on, cut it out Kristen," I said pulling her hands from my eyes.
"You made me loose a life."

I shut off the video game and turned to see what she wanted.

She stood there looking at me with her blue eyes and an innocent
smile,"Why won't you take my side for a change and force my brother
to let me play in your board games?"

"They're not board games," I corrected. "Besides, it's not for me
to say. I wish you understood. I'm not trying to be mean or anything.
It's your brother who's a little mean around you. Why don't you just
keep your distance and he won't get mad at you?"

"Aunt Toni taught me some games too," Kristen said sitting down beside
me and crossing her legs.

She smoothed her hands down to her knees along her white pants.

"What games?" I asked trying to humor her.

"It's called perspectives," she said folding her hands and unfolding
them. "Come on out to the patio. I'll show you what I'm talking about."

I followed her down the stairs and out the living room through an
open sliding door.

I walked out onto the patio after her.

Little potted plants were lined up along a tall bamboo fence.

She sat down on a wooden bench and a white cat bounded up into her
lap.

"Snowy likes this trick," Kristen said closing her eyes and gritting
her teeth. "It took me awhile to do this one but I can show you how."

A moment later Kristen slumped over into a sleep and the cat hopped
down off her lap.

The cat stood in some gravel and started pawing it.

Within a minute I saw the words "Now I'm the cat" scrawled in the
gravel.

The cat leapt up into Kristen’s lap again and then Kristen suddenly
came awake.

"I get a headache every time I do that," she said standing up. "I've
got to get some aspirin or something. I'll be right back."

She set the cat down and left the patio for a few minutes.

She came back and sat down beside me with a wink.

"How did you train your cat to do that?" I asked, still not believing
what I had seen.

"Oh, it's no trick," she said brushing her auburn curls from her
eyes with the back of her hand. "It was really me. I became Snowy
the cat. We just switched perspectives is all. I made sure Snowy was
asleep though during the time I was in her body or else you never
know if she's let me switch back or what. You wanna try it? You wanna
be the cat?"

"Uh, no thanks," I said.

"Come on," she prodded me with an elbow. "I'll switch you right back
and no one will ever know. It'll be fun."

I tried to protest but she tugged on my sleeve and gave me her sad
eyed look.

"Oh, all right," I said shrugging. "I'll play along but I don't believe
it."

She started to pick up the white cat and then giggled.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Silly me," she said giggling. "Snowy is a girl cat. I can't switch
you like that. I know - I'll switch you with the bird."

She ran inside and brought out a bird cage.

Inside was a yellow canary.

"Mort won't mind switching places for a bit," Kristen said setting
the cage beside me on the bench. "Okay, now just close your eyes and
let me do all the switching work, okay?"

I nodded "yes" to her.

I heard a popping noise in my ears and a whoosh of air pass by.

The next thing I knew, I was sitting on a perch inside what looked
like a gigantic bird cage.

I had shrunk!

Kristen’s huge face smiled at me from outside the cage and she held
up a mirror.

I looked at my body and saw my feet were now bird claws and my arms
and hands were now wings.

I ruffled my feathers in a shudder of horror at what I saw.

I could not believe it.

I had actually traded places with the bird!

She opened the cage door and reached in.

Her pointer finger came up to rest against my breastbone and I hopped
off my perch and onto her finger.

She brought me out of the cage and up to her face.

"Good birdie," she said stroking the feathers on my back.

She brought a cracker up to my beak and I instinctively began to
eat.

When I finished she gently kissed the top of my head and brought
me over to look at my former, sleeping body.

"Want to go back now?" she asked.

I chirped an excited reply and nodded my head up and down.

"Okay, but just remember I can do this to you again," she said to
me bringing me back inside the cage.

I heard her giggle.

"What if I kept you this way?" she asked me closing the cage and
locking the little door. "Would you like that?"

She saw me nervously peck at the cage door.

"Okay, I'll turn you back," she said smiling at me. "But you do make
a cute birdie."

I flew back up to the perch and waited with eyes closed.

Once again I heard my ears pop.

Air seemed to whisk by and then I was lying down on the bench.

I sat up and opened my eyes.

To my relief, I was my normal human self again.

I shook and trembled in shock at what had happened to me.

"Kind of scary the first time, huh?" she asked patting me on the
back. "Well don't worry, you'll get over it. I'll get you some tea
or something to calm your nerves, okay?"

I nodded approval and she went back inside the house.

Snowy climbed up onto my lap and rested there, purring.

I started to wonder the extent of Kristen’s powers and if she ever
used them on her brother before.

She came back and handed me some ice tea with a lemon slice in it.

I sipped some tea and set the glass down on the bench beside me.

"Have you ever shown your brother this trick?" I asked at last.

"Nah," she said toying with her bead necklace. "He won't come near
me. I've been wanting to show him but I'd better not. Not just yet
anyway. Besides I wouldn't go and do this to anyone without their
permission first."

"Can you switch humans around like that?" I asked.

She thought about it for a moment then nodded,"I suppose so but I
never tried it before. Why? You want to switch with me and find out?"

"Well, we could try that," I nodded.

"Nah," she said shaking her head. "That would mean you'd be a girl."

She giggled and shook her head "no."

"Why not?" I asked. "I'm sure I wouldn't mind so much."

She elbowed me,"You're funny. Nah, it wouldn't be right. You're a
boy and it's best you stayed that way. Besides, you'd better be careful
what you wish for."

"No, think it over," I said. "You want to play those role playing
games like I do with your brother. This is your chance and you could
get to know him more. In return, I get to find out what it's like
being a teasing little sister. Sounds pretty interesting to me. What
do you think?"

She thought about it for a moment and said,"You know. I do want to
get to know my brother more. He just won't ever let me do anything
with him. This might not be such a bad idea but I don't know the first
thing about being Andy Smith."

"I'll teach you," I said patting her on the back. "And you teach
me what it's like to be Kristen Tiederov. I'll need to know your daily
routine, your likes and dislikes, everything."

"Wait," she said. "How long are you planning on wanting to stay switched?
Sounds to me like you want this to be for awhile."

"Well, you do want to get to know your brother, don't you? To do
that, you've got to take over my body and be his best friend. That
means all the role playing, the track and field meets, everything,"
I explained. "It's not as easy a job as it sounds."

"Neither is being a thirteen year old girl," Kristen warned me
rubbing the front of her yellow blouse. "I'm starting to....grow
like I never grew before. You may not like being a girl."

"How will I know unless you give me a chance?" I asked. "Come on,
Kristen. We won't switch today, or even within the next week or so.
We both have to get to know each others routines and everything before
we try this. How did you learn to do these body switches anyhow?"

She held up her necklace,"Magic medallion. Aunt Toni gave me this.
I didn't know what it did until one day I sat here on the patio with
Snowy on my lap and wondered what it was like to be a cat and not
me. That's when I found out I could switch myself into other bodies.
I can't explain it because it must be the medallions magic or something
but I just learned how to control it so the cat would be asleep in
my body while I borrowed its own. Then I showed this to some of my
girlfriends and they adored it. They come over here just to spend
time in Snowy's body.

They sure love it. What did you think when you were Mort?"

"The bird?" I asked. "Well, it was a little freaky. In fact, it was
way too freaky for me. I'm glad you didn't keep me that way. I prefer
human any day to being a cat or a bird. Anyway, you say your brother
doesn't know a thing about this?"

"Nope," she said with a satisfied grin.

"Then you shouldn't tell him about it. Not yet anyway," I said petting
the cat. "First we get to know each other, then we do the switch and
I assume your life while you take over mine for awhile."

"How long is awhile?" she asked picking up Snowy from my lap and
petting her.

"I'd say at least a month or so. Could be longer if you'd like. I'm
willing to stay swapped for up to a year if you're up to it. We've
got to be convincing though. Don't want any of our families to think
something is out of the ordinary about either of us." I said.

Kristen beamed a smile at me and hugged me,"Andy, you don't know
what this means to me. Now I can finally get to know my brother without
him shooing me away all the time."

"It's entirely up to you, Kristen," I said and she released the hug.

"Okay, come on," she said taking me by the hand. "Up to my room.
I've got to start showing you stuff so you'll be familiar with my
life and everything."

She led me to her room.

It looked like the usual little girls room. Pink walls, thick pink
carpet, white canopy bed with pink frills.

She sat down on the edge of her bed and introduced me to her stuffed
animals and dolls,"This is Mindy, she's my favorite, and over here
is Henrietta the rabbit...come on, you can hold them if you want.
You need to get to know my things."

She hopped up off the bed and skipped across the room to sit on a
small stool before a dressing table and mirror.

"Mom says I'm not old enough for makeup yet but I have a whole shoebox
full that I smuggled in from my girlfriends," she sad hunching her
shoulders and giggling. "Perfumes and everything - oh, and I'll show
you how to wear it. It's easy, and my girlfriends, Tanya and Heather,
they can show you too. Oh, look at all the jewelry. Mom gave me some
of hers and this cute little jewelry box. Like the music when I open
it? Wanna try? Just open it like this. Oh, and there's a key, too.
I'll have to give you that."

She opened up a drawer and took out a box of makeup.

"This is my lipstick. Kind of takes getting used to but I'll show
you, it's easy. This is my eyeliner kit. Just look at all the shades!
Oh, and my nail polish stuff. Hey, I know, let's look at my closet."

She got up and opened the French doors to her closet.

Inside on the floor were rows and rows of little shoes.

"Okay, now, lots to choose from but you gotta keep bugging mom for
more shoes, okay? Flats are good for almost anything but you want
'em to match but I'll show you how to do that," she said and pulled
some of her dresses along the clothes rack. "Mom makes me wear one
of these to piano lessons. Oh, and here's my tennis skirt. You play
tennis?"

"No," I said. "Tried it once though."

"Well you're gonna love it," she said. "Mom makes me play tennis
every Saturday morning at the country club. Oh, lookie here! I love
this dress. Mom says red isn't my color but I still love this dress.
Okay, look - here's my boots. They're knee-highs with a hidden zipper
in the back. Oh, and sometimes I like wearing these other boots. I'm
gonna be a cowgirl some day and these are the nicest white boots mom
bought for me. Okay, now, mom won't let me wear high heels yet but
don't stop buggin' her, okay? Bug her enough and you'll eventually
get what you want."

She quickly ran across the room and opened up her dresser drawer.

"These are my tights and stockings," she said holding up some examples.
"Oh, and my bathing suits are in this drawer too. You know how to
swim?"

I nodded.

"Good, then you'll love these swimsuits," she said giggling. "Mom
won't let me wear a bikini yet but I don't mind. These one piece
suits are so silky and soft....you're gonna love 'em. This turquoise
and white one is my favorite. I'll show you how to hang dry it too.
You got to take care of my stuff but I'll show you. It's easy."

She closed the drawer and opened another one above it.

"These are my panties," she said with a nervous giggle. She held
up a bra. "This is my training bra. Mom says I'll outgrow it pretty
fast so that's another thing you gotta remember to bug her about.
You're gonna love the stores mom takes me to."

She closed the drawer and opened another one above it.

"Here's my socks. These ones are bobby socks," she said holding up
a pair of small white socks. "I have all kinds of socks. See the
flowered ones? Cute huh? Okay, let's look in the top drawer."

She opened the top drawer and pulled out some pants.

"I gotta reorganize my stuff," she said. "Mom want's my panties in
the top drawer but I keep my shorts and pants there. Okay, come back
over to the dressing table."

She shut the top drawer and walked quickly back to sit down on her
stool again.

She handed me a brush.

"I got long hair," she said. "You're gonna have to learn how to brush
it. Go on, try brushing my hair."

I hesitated for a moment,"You really think this is necessary?"

"Come on, I don't bite," she said smiling at me through the mirror.
"Just be gentle with it 'cause it snags."

I started brushing her hair.

She grabbed my hand,"That's too rough. Like this."

She showed me.

"Okay, I think I got it," I said brushing her hair in long, slow
strokes.

"Right, now you try it on yourself," she suggested.

I turned the brush around and tried brushing my own hair, which was
much shorter, so the effect was lost immediately.

"Almost," she said. "Now you sit here and I'll show you."

I sat down and she began to show me how to brush my hair.

"You can do clips, bobby pins, or even pony tails," she said. "and
I'll show you all of 'em. Okay, now let's go look in the bathroom."

I followed her.

"You have your own bathroom?" I asked. "Aren't you a little spoiled?"

"Well mom didn't want me sharing with Mike so I got the room with
a bathroom," she explained. "Besides, girls take longer than boys to
get ready."

She put some boxes on the counter.

"This is my bubble bath," she said and I laughed. "No, don't laugh.
It's not for kids, it's for women. There's body moistener in it. You
don't know what you're missing. Okay, and here is some hair remover.
I don't need it yet but mom buys it for me anyway for when I will.
These are my tampons but I'll explain that to you later. Anyway, what
do you think? Pretty quick tour. I think you'll be ready to take over
my life really soon, Andy, what do you think?"

"Sounds good to me," I said scratching the back of my neck. "Um,
I better get back to Mikes room and play videogames or something before
he comes back and finds me talking to you in your room or anything.
I'll invite you over to my place tomorrow to meet my sister, Jenny,
then I can give you some information about my life. Sound okay?"

"Sounds just wonderful," she said hugging me about the waist.

"Okay, come on, none of that," I said gently urging her away from
me. "I'll be in Mikes room, okay?"

"Okay," she said waving at me as I walked out. "Just our little secret,
okay?"

"You got it, Kristen," I said turning.

She winked at me and I smiled back.

Then I hurried back into Mikes room and started playing video games
again.

Mike came back from his paper route and hurried up to his room.

"Okay, hey, are you on level fourteen?" he asked surprised.

"Yeah," I said and shut off the game. "Okay, back to role playing,
right?"

"Okay," he said taking his seat at the table. "Let's see. You
were in the Elf's Passageway and you found the staff of illumination."

"I remember now," I said rolling some dice just for the heck of it.
"Hey, has your sister ever shown you a magic trick or anything?"

"Nope," Mike said looking over at me with raised eyebrows. "Has she
been bothering you? Just tell me and I'll sock her one. I told her
not to bug my guests."

"If you were a little more considerate of her feelings, she might
not bug your guests so much," I suggested. "Just give her a chance."

Mike got up and opened his door.

"Hey, Kristen! Come here!" he yelled down the hall.

A moment later Kristen stood there in the doorway looking up at her
brother with a smile on her face.

"You want me to play?" she asked.

"No," Mike snapped. "You been buggin' my friend? Tell me you little
twerp."

"She hasn't been bugging me," I said.

"I'm asking HER," Mike said looking back at me and then at his sister.
"You leave my friend alone or I'll tell mom and then you'll be doing
MY chores for the rest of the week. Got that?"

The little white cat came to sat down beside Kristen.

"And get that stupid cat out of here," he ordered. "You aren't supposed
to keep that animal in the house. Put it in the garage where it belongs."

Kristen picked up Snowy and walked away with a sulky look on her
face.

Mike shut the door and walked back over to the game table.

"Okay, now where were we?" he asked.

"You know what?" I asked and said. "You are really mean to your little
sister. How would you like it if the tables were turned and you had
to take that?"

"Ah, come on, she knows I'm mostly kidding," Mike said. "It keeps
her in line and outa my way. That's the way it should be. Now roll
the dice or prepare to die from the wrath of a hundred monsters."

I continued to role play with Mike for a few more hours, then I headed
back home on my mountain bike.

Why I put up with Mikes display of temper against his own sister
was beyond my understanding. Hopefully things would work out in a
week or so and I'd be taking the heat in place of Kristen and she'd
get a chance to know her brother in my place.

I still couldn't help wonder why Kristen didn't switch places with
her brother to let him see what it's like when the shoe is on the
other foot.

CHAPTER TWO - MY LIFE
---------------------
The next day after a long day of school, I sat in the living room
and waited for Kristen's mom to drive up.

"Why do you want me to meet Kristen?" Jenny asked flipping the radio
stations on the big stereo. "I mean, she's just a little kid and I'm
sixteen."

"Well, for one thing, she doesn't have many older friends," I explained.
"And she needs to get away from her bully big brother."

There was a knock on the door.

I opened the front door and let Kristen in and waved to her mother
outside.

When her mother drove off, I shut the door and introduced Kristen
to my sister Jenny.

"Hi," Jenny said waving. "Cute dress."

Kristen blushed looking down at her red outfit,"Thanks."

Just then Jenny got up and picked up the phone.

"Got to call my boyfriend," she said bringing the phone out and into
the kitchen. "If you don't mind I need some privacy."

"Okay, no prob," I said. "Then I'll just give our guest a tour of
the house."

"Perfect break," I said leading Kristen up the stairs. "Come on,
I'll show you my room and we can talk more about our arrangement."

We went into my room and I closed the door behind us.

I sat in my chair at the drafting table and Kristen sat at my regular
desk chair.

"Nice room," she said looking at all the sports pendants tacked to
the walls.

"Yeah, well, it's home," I said shrugging. "Anyway, now it's my turn.
This is going to be easy since most of my family ignores me anyway.
I'm a Senior in High School."

"I go to a private school for girls only," Kristen interjected.

"I dress however I like which is usually blue jeans, a t-shirt, sneakers,
or whatever," I said. "There are some suits and ties in the closet
but I never wear 'em anymore except to weddings or funerals. I'll
show you how to tie a tie or you can just use clip-ons. As you can
tell, I'm trying to become a draftsman. I draw mostly mechanical designs
and stay far away from architectural design. This drawer is full of
templates, pencils, erasers, brushes, and all the other stuff needed
to draw what I draw. I use my dads computer downstairs for the computer
automated drafting programs. Anyway, you don't need to continue my
drafting while you're in my body. Do whatever suits you best but doesn't
get me out of character and into trouble."

"What about shaving?" she asked.

"Oh yeah," I said standing up and opening my top dresser drawer.
I pulled out an electric shaver. "Electric. No fuss, no cuts, and
very quick. Think you can handle it? Here's some cologne and some
other stuff."

I pulled out a jock strap and held it up briefly,"Jockstrap. I only
wear it at P.E. or track and field. It's use should be self explanatory."

"Can I try?" Kristen asked standing up and grabbing it from me.

"Better not do that," I cautioned.

Before I could do anything, she had the thing up under her dress
and out of sight.

"Feels weird," she said. "A bit loose in the front."

"Well, when you're me, it will be a bit tight in the front," I explained.
"Now give it back."

She stepped out of it and handed it back to me.

"What's this?" she asked picking up a half completed model airplane.

"Just an old hobby I never outgrew," I said. "Better be careful with
that. It's fragile."

I handed her a small notebook.

"This is a list of my relatives, their photos, names and addresses
and some brief facts about them," I said.

"Goodie!" she said. "I got one for you, too. I made it last night.
It'll be under my pillow, okay?"

"Okay, same here," I said. "I'll just leave this under my pillow.
There's also a list of friends that I have, including your brother,
and what to say to him. Things like that. Plus I have my entire schedule
in there along with locker combinations and everything. Oh, and I
hate veggies but I do eat them at my parents request."

I opened the door and gave her a tour of my house.

About an hour later we ate dinner and then Kristen's mom came over
and picked her up.

Over the next week I got to know Kristen's routine and she got to
know mine. This was a dry run. Friday afternoon we would try the real
thing.