"I can't believe Chanelle called off again! I feel like she's taking advantage of me and the doctors! It's such bullshit! What if all of us said we don't have anyone to watch our kids through this?! I know school and daycare is closed but you're telling me that you have nobody who could watch your kids?! No one! That's such bullshit" Gina Overholt ranted in the front office. "I have never called off in20 years and I sure as shit wouldn't call off because no one would watch my kids for me. Just because the government says you cannot miss 12 weeks of work to watch your kids...no! This is crap!"
"Calm down Gina. I don't think it's taking advantage of anyone. She can't help what her situation is. You're lucky you never had to do something like this" the office manager Annette said in a disapproving manner.
"I never made bad decisions like she did!" Gina shot back. "4 kids by 3 different guys. Where are the baby daddy's? You're trying to tell me that her current man really works day to day and doesn't know his schedule in advance?"
"You'd have a lot more empathy for her if you were in her shoes" Annette said.
"Well I'm obviously not in her shoes!"
"That's exactly your problem Gina. You never put yourself in someone else's place. You never consider what it would be like to live their life with their circumstances. Not everyone's life is the same. Not everyone has your luck. Great! You had your parents already retired when you had kids. You had in laws and aunts and uncles and cousins. Chanelle doesn't. Honestly, just once I wish you could see how hard some people have it. Maybe you'd actually understand and have a heart" Annette said.
Gina stomped away mumbling.
The next day Chanelle was back in the office. Gina gave her a dirty look as she walked past and said Good Morning in an insincere tone.
Chanelle made her way to the front office just shaking her head "What crawled up her butt and died?" She jokingly said to Annette.
"You know Gina...cold hearted…" Annette said rolling her eyes but smiling at Chanelle.
"Oh I know she's pissed at me. I can't help it and she knows it! What am I supposed to do? Leave my 9 year old in charge? But every time I call or text her to let her know I need to be off, I'm just scared to death. I know she wants to go off on me…" she said shaking her head discouraged.
"Don't worry about her. I have final say on staffing and if she starts giving you shit; just let me know. I wish there was more I could do" Annette added.
"Thanks Annette" Chanelle said.
"I honestly wish that the two of you could switch places. Let her see what it's like in your shoes" Annette said.
Chanelle's jaw dropped and she laughed "That would be awesome! Teach her quite a lesson! If only...I would swap with her in a heartbeat! First, I'd be the boss, second, she would see exactly what I go through. Her husband does everything for her...I'd love to be as spoiled and pampered as she is"
"And her kids are teenagers so they're mostly on their own. She always complains that they both stay in their rooms all the time" Annette added.
"If only…" Chanelle said wistfully. She broke out laughing "Her white ass would be so lost being a black girl!"
Annette laughed as well as Chanelle walked off. Once she was alone, she closed her eyes and concentrated "I wish Gina could see what it's like in Chanelle's shoes. If it is in any way possible, I sincerely wish those two could switch places with each other"
Annette opened her eyes and smiled as a slight shiver ran up her spine. She smirked picturing how bad Gina would freak out if her wish could actually come true "It would serve her right" she added.
Chanelle walked down the main hall only to run directly into Gina.
"The Docs are all doing Telehealth calls so you can help me clean and restock the rooms" Gina said.
"No problem" Chanelle said cheerfully.
As she followed Gina down the hall, she saw it. For the briefest moment, she saw herself in front of her. The box braids, the swaying hips, she even saw the change of shading and color from Gina's palm to the back of her hand.
Then she blinked and it was simply Gina in front of her. Gina with her pale white skin, blue eyes and shoulder length light brown hair. She was smiling when they reached Room 9 at the end of the hall.
Gina actually did like Chanelle. She knew she was a good hard worker when she was there. It hadn't been an issue until recently when the schools and day care centers were shut down.
Gina didn't deal with frustration well. Any deviation from her schedule and normalcy tended to set her off.
They got into room 9 and the door swung shut behind them. Gina turned and faced Chanelle putting her hands on her hips "I'll scrub down if you restock the gloves and swabs"
Chanelle nodded and noticed Gina's nostrils were flared outward. "Dang...she must be mad and just not saying anything" she thought. But then she noticed that her nostrils weren't going back down. They just looked bigger and wider. It looked odd with Gina's small little nose.
"What? Do I have a booger hanging out?" Gina said swiping the back of her hand over her nose.
"No...I think you got it" Chanelle said softly and unconvincingly. She was trying not to stare but she swore that Gina's nose was growing bigger. It was flattening down and growing wider. From the bridge to the base, her nose was laying down and spreading out.
Chanelle turned her back and went to beneath the sink to get more gloves out. Her eyes were big and wide in a sort of questioning shock.
She hummed a high pitched "Hmmmmm" as Gina shook her head and grabbed some paper towels.
Chanelle's heart took off beating fast in her chest, just pounding against her ribcage. Adrenaline was kicking in and she was confused as to just why. She felt an odd numbness and tingling in her face and tried to explain it away to smelling the cleaning supplies Gina was spraying.
Chanelle stood up, a box of gloves in her hands, Gina had her back to her and Chanelle's eyes widened all over again. Gina's scrub pants looked stretched tight across her ass. "Girl never had a booty like that?!" Raced through her mind.
"I am losing it!" She thought "I am seeing shit!"
Chanelle dropped the box. It landed between her feet with a thud. She quickly bent to pick it up and as she stood back up, her pants felt loose, they even slipped down away from her waist forcing her to grab at them. But with her hands full, she absolutely froze as her weave extensions began to come undone.
"What the hell?! Oh no…" Chanelle said as she put the gloves down and cinched up her pants and grabbed at her extensions as they came undone and fell out.
"What is your problem back there?" Gina said turning around to face her. Both women froze.
Gina scanned Chanelle up and down. Something was off, something was wrong with her appearance "what the…?" She shook her head clearing the sudden cobwebs "are you? Are you taller?"
Chanelle shook her head "I...I...don't know?" Although she now realized she was looking slightly down at her boss. Something she realized she had never done before.
Gina had a confused look as she rose up on the balls of her feet to get back to equal.
But Gina knew there was something wrong "why is your hair falling out?!"
Chanelle had caught all of her extensions as they fell out one by one.
"Why is your hair moving on its own?! How is that even happening?!" Gina said as she saw the remaining shorter braids undoing themselves and straightening out.
Chanelle's hair was standing on end. She looked at Gina while clutching her extensions. Her whole head tickled as her braids worked they're way out. As her hair stood on end, Chanelle's big brown eyes strained looking upwards.
"Chanelle...your hair...it's getting lighter. It looks thinner too" Gina said leaning forward.
Chanelle laid her extensions on the exam table and brought her hands up. Her fingers ran through her hair "you're right...it doesn't even feel like my hair...it's thin and slick"
Gina's vision blurred at that moment and she squinted down her eyes. When she reopened them, blinking heavily and wiping her eyes with her wrists, her eyes had changed from blue to brown.
"Ohmygod!" Chanelle said seeing Gina's eyes.
"What's going on here?" Gina said "this isn't right and...oh my god what is up with your nose?"
Chanelle's hand shifted from her hair to her nose which was shrinking under her touch. The bridge and base tightened up and lifted, even getting a slight upturn at the end.
Gina felt overwhelmed and a scream sat frozen in the back of her throat as she felt her hair begin to rise up.
An odd tingling sensation like electricity ran over her scalp as her hair stood on end. It started to darken and thicken "AAAHHHH!" She gurgled out as her hair began to separate in a dozen different places. She felt tugging and pulling as 3 pleat braids began to take shape guided by invisible hands.
Chanelle dove for the upper left hand drawer and the mirror that was in it. Her vision blurred momentarily but she passed it off as nothing but her own big brown eyes were narrowing down and had already turned blue in color.
Her hands were shaking as she opened the drawer. Pulling it out and flipping it over, Chanelle went into shock.
"Oh God!" Her free hand ran over her cheek, pressing down and leaving white marks in her lightening skin "How can this be?"
Chanelle spun, Gina was perplexed seeing her then her jaw dropped even more seeing her reflection.
Out of focus and not centered up at all. She drove forward and grabbed the mirror "I'm! I look...black?!"
Her hair was dark and in short box braids. Her skin was dark and getting even darker. Her blue eyes were brown, her nose was wider, her cheeks were setting lower. Her lips were plumping up and her teeth were shifting inside her mouth.
"What's happening to us?" Gina said looking down at her upper chest and her forearms as her skin changed from white to black.
"I honestly don't have any idea!" Chanelle said taking a step back. Her hair was laying down and styling out differently, taking on Gina's style. Her cheeks were rising up higher and rounder. Her lips were thinning and her teeth were shrinking down smaller. Chanelle's chin pulled back, her jaw shifted as her face became more and more like Gina's.
Gina's chin and jaw shifted forward and set wider taking away the heart shape of her face and making it rounder overall. Her neck shifted and her skin color continued changing. Her ears lifted, her forehead and eyebrows changed, both growing darker in their own ways. Gina grabbed the mirror to see Chanelle's face looking back at her.
Her jaw dropped as the hair extensions rose off the exam table, floated momentarily and then began attaching themselves to her existing short natural braids.
"Holy crap this is some weird assault happening right here!" Chanelle said watching her boss change in front of her eyes. She felt her soft thin hair layer and lay against her ears and neck. Her ears lowered and came in closer, her forehead shrank down and her eyebrows thinned and lightened in color. She moved her jaw back and forth feeling her face move differently, hearing her jaw crack as her neck lengthened.
Chanelle's skin continued to lighten. She barely looked black, her skin was barely even tan that she could see.
She pulled at her sleeves seeing really pale white skin on the back of her arms. She tugged at the top of her scrub top and saw her cleavage. Light skin and shrinking breasts were what she found.
Chanelle's hands were also changing. The dark skin of the backs of her hands and along her fingers were fading to pale white. The two toned skin of her hands were gone. Now the light tone of her palms dominated her entire hands.
Veins and bumps became more apparent and obvious. Her nails pulled down shorter and her skin grew rougher. Her hands looked older and it hit her "if I'm changing places with Gina, I'm getting her age too! I'm going to be like 20 years older!" Chanelle was 27. Gina was 46.
Gina's chest began to lift outward. Her bra tightened. She felt it stretching across her back, the shoulder straps dug into her flesh. Her scrub top tightened as well under her arms with her increase in chest size.
Chanelle wasn't fat at all but her bust, hips and ass were all larger than Gina in those areas. Gina was receiving Chanelle's curvy body.
Gina couldn't deny seeing her dark skin on her upper chest as it rose up prominently beneath her eyes. The bra strained and she whipped her head back and forth feeling the extensions fly around her face for the first real time.
"Hmmm mmmm...no...this is not happening" Gina said defiant. "I'm dreaming or something! I can't be actually, physically changing into you"
"I'm just as confused about this as you are! I don't understand this one bit!" Chanelle said stomping her right foot. "I'm not supposed to be you!"
"Well I absolutely CAN'T be you!" Gina fumed. "If I turn out to be you…no, no way, I just can't?!"
"Well I can't help it. I can't stop this and I can't control it and if you think I want to be you, I don't want to switch places with you"
"You won't get to miss work if you're me" Gina dug at her.
"Oh. Oh you think I want to miss work?! Do you think I am lying to you just to get out of work?! Let me tell you something; I don't. I hate my situation and the fact I don't have anyone who can help me out. Do you think that's fair or fun because it's not. It sucks! It's sad is what it is but...if this keeps up, you're about to find out for yourself" Chanelle said.
Gina's jaw dropped in shock "what do you mean? I'm not going to live your life for you and you sure as Hell don't get mine in return!"
"So, you're thinking that even if we switch bodies you still get to go home to your husband and kids looking like me?! No. Sorry that's not how bvb this would work. We switch bodies we switch lives and everything"
Gina felt faint. Her whole world wavered and she grabbed the exam table to steady herself as her mind raced thinking about what all this actually meant "I'm going to be a 27 year old black woman with 4 kids and no husband?"
She looked over and saw her face with a rather smug look on it staring back at her "And she'll be MY boss"
"Shoe's on the other foot now" Chanelle said folding her pale arms over her smaller chest.
"Is this…? Is this permanent?!" Gina gasped.
"I have no idea...absolutely no idea" Chanelle said as her stomach and sides began to shift.
Her ass and hips had already come in somewhat at the very beginning and now, they began to reshape.
Gina's midsection gurgled loudly and her hands went to them. Her fingers pressed down as her belly squished and squirmed. Her waist shifted and her hips spread further outward.
Gina could feel heart rush over her face as her scrub pants pushed out as her ass grew larger.
"Haha...giiiirrrllll...Mmmm! Now you got that black girl booty!" Chanelle mocked "And look at me...got a flat white girl ass now!" She laughed "Never in a million years did I ever think I'd have a white girl ass...let alone a white girl face, plain, thin hair...guess I just moved to the privileged side of life. You're about to find out all the things you never knew you took for granted"
"What are talking about?" Gina said in a soft and shaky voice.
"I'm saying don't get pulled over" Chanelle said as her thighs began to lift. "I'm saying get used to white folks like me staring at you in the store...watching to see if you steal something. Shaking my head judgementally if your kids act up all. You'll know exactly what I'm talking about soon enough. Like when we walk out of this room and the Doctors treat you completely differently than they did this morning. Oh you will see"
Gina's thighs slipped outward and suddenly her eyes fluttered. Both hands went to the table and she grimaced "Hhhhmmmmm!" She shivered all over as she bit her lower lip.
Chanelle staggered backwards and grabbed the countertop behind her "oh...oh God!" She purred, turned on despite herself as her clitoris throbbed vibrantly as she felt everything changing.
"My knees are weak" Gina admitted as her body changed in the most intimate way. She felt her skin slipping and sliding into new positions. Her clit surged forward rubbing against the skin as effectively as any man's touch. She held back even as her muscles clenched.
Then, both women stood up. Chanelle shimmied her hips and shoulders as Gina shook all over even down to her dark tan fingers.
Under their scrub pants, their changes continued to their legs.
"Whoa!" Gina exclaimed as she suddenly felt a bit of mobility in her chest. She looked down and saw that she was now wearing Chanelle's scrubs. Gina had on light blue originally while Chanelle was wearing maroon ones. Now they had flipped.
"Oh...Supervisor colors" Chanelle said "RN scrubs" she ran her hands over her better fitting blue scrubs. She looked across and smirked "Maroon means $13.00 dollars an hour. Maroon means cleaning up puke and shit. You're a Medical Assistant now. You lost your degree to me too in all this"
Chanelle felt her knees pop. She reached down and grabbed the bottoms of her pants and lifted them to her knees. She did a little dance watching the color drain from them. Her skin simply faded from brown to white. Her skin pricked up before smoothing back down.
Chanelle dropped her pant legs but as they came down to her ankles, her shoes vanished, popping off her feet, taking her socks with them and leaving her barefoot.
Gina had been looking at Chanelle's calves tone up as their color toned down. She fully recognized those legs as her own. Her mind was swimming, coherent thoughts seemed incapable of forming, she was so confused and frustrated. "This can't be happening, this can't be real...there's no way this is going on" Her eyes scanned Chanelle up and down, everything was hers. It was like looking into a bizarre mirror.
As her eyes scanned back down to the ground, she was staring at Chanelle's shoes just as her pant legs dropped down and those shoes vanished.
Gina's big brown eyes widened yet again in wonder seeing her bare feet so suddenly exposed.
Gina was still staring when she jolted down.  She felt a hard hit to her heels followed by coldness and her eyes trained back to find her own tennis shoes gone and her own pale white feet on the cold tile floor.
"Still my own feet...at least for the time being" she thought as she viewed her short toes topped off with red nail polish.
Gina lifted her toes and out of the corner of her eye saw that Chanelle was moving her own toes in a similar manner, wiggling them up and down, her brown toes appeared longer and were topped off with white nails.
Chanelle giggled as her nail polish began to change first to pink before deepening to red. As her nails started to shrink down smaller and change shape, her toes did as well. Her skin tone lightened to a pale milky white.
Her arches rose up as her heels shifted "From head to toe" Chanelle said.
Gina pressed her toes down hard against the floor, embracing the cold. She stared down as her nail polish faded to pink before going bright white. The white really stood out as her toes began to get darker in color.
Her toes grew larger and longer and her nails reshaped to fit them perfectly. The soles of her feet remained pinker in color as the tops darkened to match all the rest of her skin as her heels shifted wider and her arches lowered.
Both women stared at their feet and both jumped in surprise as in the blink of an eye, both were wearing shoes again; each other's shoes.
Chanelle's gray and maroon Nikes on Gina and Gina's white and blue Adidas on Chanelle.
"Now you'll see what it's like in my shoes" Chanelle said "And my scrubs...and my everything Gina" Chanelle looked her over "You can really pull off the braids"
"Shut up...just shut up! You're not going to get away with this. I'm going to figure out how...how you did this and I'll reverse it. I'm not going to live as you. You can't keep us like this…" Gina said looking at her former body and feeling like everything was slipping away from her.
"I told you that I didn't have anything to do with this. I don't know how it happened or why it did but maybe it's a version of extremely pervasive karma. I know how you were so pissed off at me for having to do what I did for my kids. So since it was so mind boggling strange for you and there was no way you could understand it. The fates decided to flip us...switch our lives and situations so you could understand and see for yourself what my life is like. How different it is from your own and how you could manage to live it. So now here we are. I don't know for how long this could last. Maybe it's like a movie; you learn a lesson on humility and empathy and then we swap back or...maybe this is forever" Chanelle shrugged "But either way we're going to find out"
Gina could only shake her head. Her long braids flowing around her. "No! This is impossible!" She put her hands back out in front of her playing them out and staring at how different they looked.
"Yeah it should be impossible so I guess we'll chalk this up to a miracle. You go to church. You believe in miracles…" she shrugged again.
As she talked, her mind was racing. All kinds of additional nursing situations and solutions, procedures and techniques; knowledge.
Slowly her jaw dropped again realizing that she was gaining Gina's education and experience. Gina stood across from her with an extremely worried expression on her face. Her eyes pleaded at the ceiling as her breath came in quick and ragged short bursts as her lips quivered.
Gina couldn't explain the feelings rushing through her. Overwhelmed initially by her physical changes into Chanelle but now a fog had settled into her mind as decades of nursing experience simply flowed away from her. Like grasping at steam, she couldn't stop a single thing. Everything was out of her control. All she wanted to do was break down and cry but a stubbornness still remained even as her education left her only to transfer to the woman who now not only looked like her but also now thought like her.
Both women stiffened as additional knowledge passed between them; personal knowledge.
The tension in the room was palpable. But then, both women slumped, the moment passed; it was over.