Three Short Shifts

3: Tori

Sam almost believed Tori. Certainly, she seemed sincere enough – if what she was saying wasn’t true, she definitely believed it was.

‘I have complete control of my molecules,’ she had told him. ‘My hair really is blue – this isn’t dye.’

Tori was a statuesque six-foot-one, pretty much the same height as Sam. There was something about the way she held herself that made the idea she could alter her appearance plausible.

‘Look, I’ll make myself brunette.’

She closed her eyes and screwed up her face in concentration. Gradually, her hair faded from the bright blue Sam was used to until it was a pale, almost white blonde. She let out a final grunt of effort and the transformation was complete. She opened an eye, curiously peering up at a stray strand. She frowned as she realised that she hadn’t achieved the colour she was aiming for.

‘Okay, not perfect, but you get the idea. What do you think of that?’

Sam was gobsmacked.

‘That’s amazing. You really have the ability to change what you look like?’

‘More that that,’ said Tori proudly. ‘I can become other people, animals, all sorts of stuff. Here – I’ll show you.’

Again, she closed her eyes and concentrated. This time, she balled her hands into fists and tensed her entire body. She shuddered and shook, leaning this way and that, gasping and sighing as she wobbled back and forth trying to change.

Nothing did, though, not even her hair.

‘This is a bit embarrassing,’ she admitted. ‘I didn’t think it would be so difficult to do it in front of someone. I’m finding it hard to..,’ she waved her hands about, trying to convey something she didn’t really have words for, ‘…do it. I sort of – I don’t know – make myself change. No, that’s stating the obvious, isn’t it? I mean, the way I make the change. It seems odd with someone watching.’

‘I could go out while you do it,’ suggested Sam.

‘No, I want you to see what happens,’ insisted Tori. ‘Here, let me try being an animal. A dog should be easy enough.’

Without any apparent self-doubt, Tori got down on all fours. The grunting and the swaying and the straining began again, but Tori resolutely stayed herself.

‘You’re not having me on?’ asked Sam. ‘I mean, the hair’s pretty incredible. You can’t really turn into a dog – can you?’

Just then, a tail sprouted out of Tori’s rear. She wagged it, enthusiastically.

’Well, part of one, at least,’ she laughed.