Switcher Tales by Melanie Brown

Reset Switch by Melanie Brown on Kindle

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The Switcher virus wasn't done with Harry Grant...

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Reset Switch
by Melanie Brown
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Harry Grant at 25 fell victim to the international criminal, Ron Simon, AKA the Switcher. Poor Harry had been mind-swapped with an old man of 65. Forty years of his life stolen in a moment…

Merope, Maybe : 18 / 19

 

"Thanks for all the stuff," he interrupted gruffly. "I guess that's everything — and this is goodbye."

"Goodbye?" I exclaimed. "Why does it have to be goodbye?"

He gestured helplessly. "I don't know! What else could it be?"

 

Merope, Maybe : 17 / 19

 

"I called Anson — or I thought I was calling Anson —
and I asked him the age-old question: Who was that lady I saw you with?
and he replied, That was no lady — that was Anson Charpont!"
Ross followed his narration with a throaty chuckle.

 

Merope, Maybe : 16 / 19

 

In a nutshell, the song is about all the crazy, misguided things
a man might do if he fell for a woman: things like:
get a job, rent a decent apartment, bathe more frequently...

 

Merope, Maybe : 15 / 19

 

"Here's the thing, Merope," Agent Kirchmeyer said.
"If we take what you said at face value, what do we have? Something about cylinders.
We don't know what these cylinders are. Frankly, they sound like rolls of money.
Which, of course, is nice for him, but not really remarkable,
if you know anything about the Switcher."

 

Merope, Maybe : 14 / 19

 

Carrie, delighted, smiled. Her eyes sparkled. "I knew something was up! It's like Freaky Friday, isn't it?" she laughed.

"Well, yes, I guess it is," I admitted. "Except that I'm not his mother."

Mukti's eyebrows went up. "And we can't switch back," he added.

 

Merope, Maybe : 13 / 19

 

Suddenly, I felt a warm, wet tongue give a quick lick to my right ankle.
I yelped and scrambled my way out of the car, clutching the plastic bag.

"Hey, sorry about that!" said a young male voice. "I tried to stop her,
but you know... dogs..." as if the word dogs explained everything.

 

Merope, Maybe : 12 / 19

 

Returning to the diagrams on the computer screen, I told them, "This is important. I think I need to call the FBI."

"Okay, fine," Cleo agreed. "But I'm sure they're sleeping now. You can call them in the morning."

 

Merope, Maybe : 11 / 19

 

"A liability?" she repeated. "Is that what concerns you? That he's a liability?
Weren't you and I liabilities for each other?"

"The moment you told the processing people that you accept him as Anson Charpont,
he became for all intents and purposes, legal and otherwise, Anson Charpont. In every way!"

 

Merope, Maybe : 10 / 19

 

Grinning, she took a few steps back, away from the car, and pointed to its dusty license plate.

"Nebraska," I read. And a bumper sticker: "We Don't Coast." I frowned, not understanding.
Then a light came on in my head. "Oh! Is this *my* car?"

 

Merope, Maybe : 8 / 19

 

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you Americans, the moment something happens to one of you,
the first thing you do is create a support group,
and the second thing is that you go on TV."

I thought about that for a moment. "Yeah, probably," I admitted.

 

Merope, Maybe : 7 / 19

 

"I don't know," she replied, undaunted. "But think about vampires:
how come some people get bit and die, and other people get bit and turn into vampires themselves?"

"I don't know the answer to that," I exclaimed, exasperated,
"but vampires aren't real!"

 

Merope, Maybe : 6 / 19

 

When Matt said That's the protocol, it reminded me of something my grandfather told me
about his time in the Army: "The most important thing you can learn in the Army
is that there's a right way, a wrong way, and the Army way."

"How do you know which way is the Army way?" I asked him.

"It's in the manual," he replied.

 

Merope, Maybe : 5 / 19

 

He smiled and looked me in the eyes,
and in that moment I didn't like him any more.

He said, "It's pretty simple. There are links missing from the chain.
We don't have John Doe number one, and we don't have Anson Charpont.
All we have is you."

"And how is that a problem?" I asked, my mouth suddenly gone dry.

 

Merope, Maybe : 3 / 19

 

"I get the picture: The processing center looks at my old world and my new world and asks each one if they want me."

"That's a good way to put it. Then, if you're a no-go in both directions, they give you their whole-new-life bit. It's a package deal: a new name, a Greyhound bus ticket, and the offer of a shitty job that you'd never take. They walk you to the door, tell you the world is your oyster, and give you a great big swat on the butt, 'cause it's your birthday."

 

Merope, Maybe : 2 / 19

 

"Incidentally," he added in a quieter tone, "my girlfriend can be quite jealous."

I paused in the doorway. "Okay, noted. Does she live with you?"

"No... not yet, anyway. But if she calls, don't talk or make noise, alright? And if she comes over, just... act normally."

"That's what I usually do," I assured him.

 

Merope, Maybe

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This story takes place in Melanie Brown's Switcher Universe.

Anson, a pot-bellied retiree, twists his ankle and falls into the Switcher's aura.

Now he finds himself in the body of a woman named Merope Goddard --
or one of three other possible names.

Melanie Brown's Switcher Universe

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The Switcher is a character invented by Melanie Brown, and best explained by her in the first Switcher story here:
https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/82175/switcher

Melanie generously opened the Switcher universe to others, and a number of interesting stories have followed, both by Melanie and by other writers.
 

A Minority Of One : 9 / 9

 

I sat there, stunned. This was bad, very, very bad. I was scared,
and for once I was scared for someone other than myself.

If Meredith stole that money -- if Meredith tried to steal that money,
it was bound to end badly for her.

 

A Minority Of One : 8 / 9

 

Lois came in and saw my look of confusion. “This is so weird,” I said. “And awkward.”

“It’s only awkward if we make it awkward,” she told me.

 

A Minority Of One : 7 / 9

 

“We have to get you a phone, and I guess we should talk about allowance.”

“What did you give Celine?” I asked.

He laughed. “Celine was a thief,” he replied. “You don’t need to give money to a thief.”

 

A Minority Of One : 6 / 9

 

In romantic comedies someone holds off telling something important,
and it screws up everything.

You watch the film, and find yourself shouting, “Just say it! Just tell her!”
but they don’t. It’s always “the wrong time.”

 

A Minority Of One : 5 / 9

 

“Are you kidding me?” she asked, incredulous. “You’re 42 years old!
You don’t need to ask your so-called parents. Seriously!”

“I’m thirteen,” I retorted, “in case you hadn’t noticed. By the way,
have YOU looked in the mirror lately, Mrs. Shearpen?
You’re not a forty-year-old man any more either!”

 

A Minority Of One : 4 / 9

 

Lois laughed. “Did you ever read No Exit by Sartre?
It starts off like this -- a guy ends up in Hell,
and the first thing he asks for is a toothbrush.”

“Um, I don’t feel like I’ve landed in Hell,” I told her.
“I hope you don’t feel that way.”

 

A Minority Of One : 3 / 9

 

“If you walk out of this room, if we never see you again,
I will think about you every day.
I won’t want to, but that’s what will happen.”

 

Song of the Switcher

 

Song of the Switcher
by Melanie Brown
Copyright  © 2020 Melanie Brown

It just wasn't Steve's day.


This is a "side-quell" to Switcher as the story takes place simultaneously with Switcher. It helps to read Switcher first -- Ed

A Minority Of One : 1 / 9

“Huh,” I said, taking it in. “So how do they switch back? The people who got switched?
Do you bring them together and poof! they’re back to who they were?
Or does the switch wear off after an hour or a day or something?”

A Minority Of One

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This story takes place in Melanie Brown's Switcher Universe

The Switcher strikes a group of four friends, scrambling their relationships,
leaving none of them in their own body.

One of the four is Leo, a 42-year-old con man and swindler,
who now finds himself in the body of a thirteen-year-old girl --
a girl with a troubled history of her own.

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