‘As the snow continues to fly and pile up, the Minnesota State Highway patrol reminds you to please stay off the roads unless it is an emergency…’

Denise Hill had woken up just enough to hear the latest weather report and confirm that it was going to be another day of going nowhere. The weather was bad all weekend but had gotten worse on Sunday night. Now on Monday morning she knew that her salon would be closed and her daughters’ school was too. “Stay in bed Dakota” she called across the hall to her 10 year old daughter, “No school today; sleep in”

Dakota heard her mother’s voice and barely registered it. She simply flipped over onto her other side and curled up even deeper under her covers and went back to sleep.

At 10:15 Denise finally padded her way down the hall and into the living room. Her long black hair was messy and she ran her fingers through it, scratching with her long nails and yawning. She wore a gray Henley and a pair of baggy green lounge pants that her red painted toes peeked out from beneath shyly. “Hey Kiddo” she said to her daughter who was sitting on the couch.

“Morning Mom” Dakota replied without looking away from her TV screen. Denise heard the characters from Gravity Falls as she walked through the room and opened the blinds on the window.

“It’s still snowing” she said while staring out at the swirling blanket of white.

“Yup” Dakota replied.

Denise sighed “Well…looks like another fun filled day of doing absolutely nothing” she said sarcastically.

Dakota continued watching TV while Denise made herself a bowl of cereal and sat at the table. She flipped through her Facebook page, played games on her phone and generally killed time for a while.

“I’m so bored” Dakota said as she stretched out on the couch.

“I know girl” Denise replied as she got up and walked to her room with Dakota following.

Denise gathered up laundry to start a load as Dakota sat on the edge of the bed; feet dangling off the end, drumming up and down. Denise crossed the hall and picked up her daughter’s dirty clothes and gathered everything together she heard Dakota call from her room “Hey Mom: Check this out!”

Denise stood in the doorway of Dakota’s room and watched her daughter clump forward awkwardly to Denise’s door.

“You’re walking like Frankenstein” Denise said giggling.

“But check it out Mom: Your shoes almost fit me” Dakota said balancing precariously in 3 inch heels.

“Still have a little way to go” Denise said with the raise of an eyebrow. She went downstairs with the laundry, leaving Dakota smiling and about to fall.

Dakota took cautionary baby steps back to the bed and sat down, slipping her feet out of the heels. She looked at her Mom’s closet and thought “She won’t mind…”

By the time Denise came back upstairs with the load that had been done the day before, all she could say was “Oh My”

“How do I look?” said a beaming Dakota as she put her hands on her hips.

“Uh…wow” Denise said laughing. Dakota was totally decked out in Denise’s clothes. She was wearing a pair of black leggings that were very tight on Denise but hung loosely on her. Dakota had also put on a   black sweater and had a leopard print scarf tied loosely around her neck. The heels were back on and she was trying to put her hair up in a bun like Denise usually wore but was not having much luck.

Even with the help of the heels Denise was still much taller and she stood in front of her daughter with a smile on her face “Look at you!” she said. “You look awesome”

“Thanks” Dakota replied. “I almost fit into all your clothes already”

Denise nodded “It won’t be too much longer before you’ll be stealing them from me” as she put the clean clothes out onto the bed and began to fold. “When I get everything folded up, I’ll help you do your hair and make-up” she promised.

Denise sorted the clothes and took an armful across the hall. As she was putting them away, she smiled “I wonder…” she thought.

Denise dropped her pants and pulled her top off quickly and quietly. She grabbed her daughters long brown skirt and quickly stepped into it. She sucked in and managed to get it zipped. She grabbed a white sweater that was big on Dakota and pulled it on. It was tight across her chest and the sleeves came up over her wrists, but it fit. Finally she grabbed a pair of white canvas shoes and crammed her feet into them; a tight fit, but it would do for the moment.

“Ta-Da” Denise yelled as she jumped around the corner and into the hallway. Dakota’s eyes widened and she laughed out loud at the site of her Mom in her clothes.

“Well, what do you think?” Denise said as she did a twirl in the hall. “I almost fit into your clothes too” she said jokingly. “Maybe I’ll be the one stealing your clothes soon” She stuck her tongue out and swayed her hips towards her daughter.

Dakota crossed her arms “Really young lady; you are acting so immature” she said unable to contain her laughter.

“Whatever…Mom” Denise mocked back. She dropped her arms to her side, failing to notice that her sleeves were fitting slightly better than before.

Denise walked forward into her room and she stood in front of her daughter as she straightened the scarf around her neck. She turned Dakota around so she could fix her bun in her hair when she stopped. A look of confusion crossed her face “Your hair looks darker Kota…what did you do to it?” she said as she ran her fingers through her daughter’s hair. It was light brown, but strands of black seemed to be intertwining in.

“Nothing” Dakota replied but brought her hand up to her head nonetheless.

Denise looked down and adjusted her shoulders; the sweater didn’t seem as tight now. “Must be stretching it out” she thought “Shoes too” she added as she wiggled her toes in the shoes, noticing how they didn’t feel pinched anymore.

When she looked back up she said “Those heels must really be helping your height Kota…your bun is right in my face”

“What” Dakota said as she turned to face her Mother.

Denise gasped audibly when Dakota turned to her. Her hand shot to her mouth “Kota!”

Dakota took a step back quickly and said “Mom! What’s happening to you?!”

Denise quickly scanned down her body and back up her daughters’ until their eyes met. She was near panic as she realized that her daughter was almost eye level with her “I…I don’t know!”  She yelled.

“Well do something to stop it” Dakota pleaded with her realizing that something was very wrong.

“I don’t know what to do!” Denise said before adding “Oh God” as Dakota became the taller of the two of them.

Dakota saw panic on her Mom’s face and she was scared too. She was now looking down into her Mother’s eyes. “Mom! Your eyes! They just….they just…”

“What?” Denise pleaded

Dakota couldn’t put into words what she had just witnessed; while staring into her Mom’s eyes, they had changed shape and color. In fact she realized; they were her eyes. “Oh my God Mom your eyes look like mine!” she finally yelled.

Denise’s hands went to her eyes and rubbed them “What?” she said and then it hit her: The darkening of Dakota’s hair and her growing taller and now hearing that her eyes looked like her daughter’s. “We’re switching bodies!” she yelled.

Dakota’s eyes went wide and changed to a much darker brown at that instant just before she screamed at her Mother’s words.

Denise now screamed too. Denise watched her daughter’s nose become thinner and longer. She watched her cheeks rise up and become defined. Her mouth filled out and her chin became pointed. Denise’s scream rose higher in pitch as she saw her own face before her now as Dakota’s hair continued to darken and grow.

Dakota’s scream was getting deeper as she continued to watch her Mother shrink smaller and smaller before her. She watched her mother lose her mature features only to be replaced by her own familiar childish face. She watched as her Mother became skinnier and lost her womanly curves.

Denise ran out of breath for her scream and she panted watching her daughter’s body grow and mature and change into her body. The leggings stretched over her expanding legs, hips and rear. Her feet now fit snugly in the high heels and the sleeves of the sweater came down to her thin wrists. Even her manicured nails now resided on Dakota and she felt a slight jealousy as she watched her fill out the sweater as her body continued to change.
Denise looked down at herself and saw that she now had the body of her daughter and her clothes had gone from being way too tight to being a bit too big on her.

Dakota was on the verge of tears; her breath was hitching and catching in her panicked state. She looked a foot down in height and managed a very confused “Mom?”

Denise just nodded “It’s okay honey; it’s going to be okay” she said in a child’s voice.

“What happened Mom” Dakota was talking fast “Why am I you and you’re me now?”

“I don’t know” she said honestly and shrugged her narrow shoulders “We’ll figure this out though”

“How?” Dakota began to pace back and forth, her walking in heels improving by the step.
“I know” Dakota yelled “We have to switch clothes. If we change clothes and you put on your clothes again and I put on mine; then we should switch back, right?”

Denise just simply began to undress along with Dakota. It was a bit of shock to both of them as they saw each other as they changed. Denise was now swimming in her own clothes and Dakota was squeezed into garments that had been too big on her that morning.

They looked at the other but nothing was happening. “Why isn’t this working?” Dakota asked.

Denise couldn’t reply; she just lifted her arms up in the heavy sweater and let them fall to her sides dejectedly.

Denise felt like crying but didn’t because she didn’t want to upset Dakota. Instead she just stood there silently shaking her tiny head back and forth.

Dakota now shed the tight clothes “This isn’t going to work” she said plainly and she grabbed the green lounge pants and gray Henley and put them on.

She put her hands on her hips and looked down at her now 10 year old Mother. “Go ahead and take those off; it doesn’t look like we’re changing back that way” she said, somewhat taking control of the situation as Denise was slowly losing her composure.

Tears began to form in Denise’s eyes as she stepped out of the big heels and easily pulled down the leggings. Dakota didn’t feel right seeing her Mom in her body starting to cry. Something else was changing between them Dakota realized as an overwhelming feeling of protection came over her. She watched her Mom put on her sweatshirt and fuzzy pink lounge pants and she went and got on her knees before her. Dakota took Denise by the shoulders and looked into her teary eyes “We’re going to be okay” she said nodding.

Denise just nodded confused and thought: “Why am I losing it like this? Why did it feel so good to be told by someone bigger than me that it was going to be okay? Why was Dakota adjusting so much better than me to this?” She was the Mom; she was 36 years old; she was supposed to be the calm one but instead she was just feeling overwhelmed and scared.

Dakota couldn’t explain it to herself either. Filling the role of comforter and protector just felt natural to her all of a sudden. But she took Denise by the shoulder and guided her into the hall. They walked together into the living room and both sat on the couch. Denise’s feet rose off the ground as she scooted back on the sofa.

Dakota tucked her left leg beneath her as she sat. She caught a glimpse of her red pedicured toenails and she absent mindedly picked at her long fingernails. She raked her brain as to why this could have happened and how they could reverse it.

Denise was shell shocked: she held her small hand up before her face and turned it over slowly and gently for several seconds before easing it down to rest on her stomach “I’m a kid” she said out loud.

Dakota had been lost in thought, but she snapped back upon hearing the voice next to her.

“I can’t be a kid again” she said with a rising panic in her voice “I can’t be you” she added looking at the larger figure next to her.

“I know” Dakota said reassuringly and she patted Denise’s hand. “I can’t be you either; can you imagine what people’s hair would look like if I had to style them?” she said trying to get Denise to laugh.

“You’ll get me fired!” she said.

“And if you think you can still do fourth grade work…you might be in for a surprise” Dakota added in.

They tried everything they could think of over the next few hours but nothing changed them back. They both went on the internet and scoured every site they could find but that also turned up nothing real. There were plenty of stories, but no solutions if it actually happened.

“We’re doomed” Denise said finally “We’re going to be stuck like this forever”

“We will figure this out” Dakota said as reassuringly and positively as she could manage. “The only good thing is that the storm hasn’t stopped yet. So we have another day off tomorrow”

“I’m tired” Denise finally said.

“Yeah; let’s get some sleep. Maybe that’s what we need to sort this out” Dakota said.

They walked down the hall with Denise in the lead. She stopped suddenly in the hall between the bedroom doors. Dakota stopped short of running into her with an audible “Whoops”

Denise turned and looked up “Uh…what room should I go to?”

Dakota blinked and smiled “Oh, I hadn’t thought about it. I was going to go to my room, but…”

“Yeah” Denise said flatly “Maybe we should switch rooms too tonight”

Dakota fought off the awkwardness with a shrug “Yeah. I guess we could” and she broke to the left instead of the right.

Denise stood in the hall and watched her daughter, in her body, enter her room. She could tell she was blushing as she ducked her head, said “Good Night” and turned into the door on the right.

“Good Night” Dakota said after her gently closing the door.

Dakota flopped on the end of what was now her bed “What are we going to do?” she thought again. She took several deep breaths and rubbed her forehead. She got back up and went into the attached bathroom. This was the first time she had been by herself in this body she realized as she stared at the reflection in the mirror. She gently touched her face, starting with her cheeks and letting her hands slide down past her jaw and onto her neck. She pulled the collar of her shirt out and she peeked down the front. She was embarrassed by her own actions; I mean it was just a body.

She looked at herself a bit longer, trying to relax and take stock of the situation. She saw the make-up stacked along the sink and a thought suddenly entered her mind “I know what I’m doing…I know how to put that all on if I think about it. I know how to cut and style hair if I think about it. I know how to do a manicure and a pedicure” she thought running through the steps in her mind “Oh my God! I’m really turning into my Mom. I have her thoughts as well as her body”

Denise, meanwhile, was sitting on the end of what was now her bed. She had opened the closet door to reveal the full length mirror that was on the inside. She stared at her young immature face and body. The fear was still there but it had lessened. There was also some anger and resentment at being in her daughter’s body. “I already did this once” she thought “I don’t want to have to grow up all over again. Adulthood was a reward; going through puberty again, going through school again” she shuddered slightly. She climbed into bed and curled up under the covers and quickly fell asleep.

Dakota woke up slowly. She opened her eyes and saw long black hair in front of her face. She really didn’t think anything about it. She brushed it back and turned onto her back. She glanced at the clock and read 8:42 as she gathered her bearings. “Snow day” she thought “I don’t have to go to work today and Denise doesn’t have school”

Then her eyes opened and she sat back and into a full sitting position. She looked down and saw her body before her. Her legs crisscrossed, her bare feet pointed out as her hands touched her chest and picked at the ends of her long black hair. She scooted off her bed and padded across the room and she quietly opened the door. She tiptoed across the hall and watched the sleeping girl.

She began to ease herself back out of the room when she heard “It’s okay, I’m awake Mom”

Dakota smiled at her daughter as she crawled out from under the covers and walked over to her.

“How’d you sleep last night Honey” Dakota said to Denise.

“Fine; so another exciting day stuck inside huh” Denise said to her Mom.

“Yeah, but it has stopped, so tomorrow it will be back to the real world for both of us” Dakota said as she walked down the hall.

“Ugh…I have a test tomorrow” Denise said shaking her head making her light brown hair sway.

“Yeah and I have my least favorite client coming in, plus I’ll have to try to rebook everyone who couldn’t get out the last two days” Dakota added in like everything was perfectly normal.