TF (pillow. plushie, underwear, sunglasses)


Anna thanked heaven once again for the fact that she had such cool parents. After all, when she'd left for college she had been a mousy virgin with waist-length hair. She returned with a mohawk, a septum ring and a girlfriend.

None of this had fazed her parents. Her mom had taken to the clippers to refresh her haircut. Her dad and her girlfriend Bella had bonded over the Chicago White Sox. And her little sister Sarah had been fascinated by her nose jewellery, loudly pleading with her mother for one of her own.

"We'll see," her mother had said, which she knew was code for "I'm hoping you will eventually forget all about this".

Anna hadn't intended to come home at all. She had planned to spend her summer with her friends and her girlfriend, with plenty of sun, dancing and Venn machines. While she didn't Venn herself, she loved transforming her friends.

Then the phone call about her grandmother had come. Anna had headed straight home. She'd been thankful Bella had volunteered to accompany her. And now her grandmother was on the mend.

She loved being home. She loved being with her family. She loved just taking Bella around to her childhood haunts.

But she did miss the transforming.

She missed being at the interface of the Venn machine, scrolling through trying to find the perfect new form for her friends. And wearing them, of course.

But heck, there wasn't a Venn machine in a one-Starbucks place like her home town. She'd just have to wait until she got back to college.

Or would she?

*

"Guess what I saw today," her mother said. They were sitting down to dinner, crowded around the table.

"What?" Anna replied, passing the mashed potatoes to Bella.

"This weird photo booth at the strip mall."

"Weird? How?"

"Well, I couldn't figure out how to get into it. There were no doors."

Anna froze. Next to her, she felt Bella do the same.

"No doors?"

"Uh-huh. And no instructions. Just these three green circles overlaid on each other ... Honey, are you OK?"

Anna realised her mouth was open. "Yeah, mom, I'm fine," she said quickly. "Hey, where was this, anywhere?"

"The strip mall? Oh, honey, I forgot. It only opened last year. You know the bus station? Just opposite that."

Bella and Anna exchanged a look.

After dinner, they were definitely going for a walk.

*
"It's a real Venn machine," Bella said.

Although it was just after 9pm, the mall was shut up tight. The only thing that appeared to be in operation was the Venn machine itself, with its logo lazily swirling away.

Anna was perplexed. "What's it doing here?"

"Hey, ever heard about gift horses? It's here, that's all we need to know. Maybe there's so many Venn machines in the world they're even turning up out here." Bella was fumbling in her pocket for loose change. She inserted a quarter into the slot. Sure enough, the doors appeared.

Without even thinking much about it, Belle and Anna slid into either side of the machine. They stared at each other through the interface.

"So, if we're going to do this ... what are we going to do?" Anna frowned.

"I see what you mean," Bella sighed. "It's fairly pointless changing into clothes; there's nowhere for you to wear me to. But man, I want to transform so badly ... what?"

Anna had started to grin. "I have just the thing."

*

Anna walked around to Bella's side of the Venn machine to fetch her girlfriend's new form.

She walked home with the big fluffy pillow under her arm, and snuggled with it all night.

*
Bella's return to her human form awoke Anna a little after dawn. The girls wrapped their arms around each other.

"Bella," Anna whispered, "what was it like?"

"To be your pillow?"

"Yes."

"It felt good," Bella said, kissing the top of Anna's head. "Being so soft and having you wrapped around me ... it felt right."

"Were you happy to transform again?"

"Yeah, I was. It's been a few weeks since I'd been worn. I missed it." Bella paused. "I missed being something of yours."

"Aw, that's sweet."

"Anna?"

"Mmm?"

"Would you ever consider ... you know ... transforming?"

There was silence.

"Honestly? I don't know," Anna sighed. "The idea of being an inanimate object still scares me. But maybe ... You know, I read about a woman who used the Venn machine to give herself tattoos. I found that ... appealing."

"You want tattoos? Really?" Bella grinned. "They'd only be temporary ones, you know."

"But they wouldn't be painful."

"And would one of them be ... my name?":

"Maybe."

"And woiuld it be in a big heart on your bicep?"

Anna laughed. "Why, would that turn you on?"

"Having my name on you? Sure!"

"Oh, you're so conceited ..."

"You love it."

"Damned right."

*
Their evenings began to fall into a pattern. After dinner, they'd go out for a walk. They'd end up at the Venn machine. There, Anna would change Bella into something. Mostly it was a pillow, a couple of times a teddy bear. Once it was a lacy white teddy, simply because Anna felt horny. She would arrive back to a darkened house and creep up to her room.

And nobody else knew.

Well, almost nobody.

*

"Sarah, what are you doing here?"

Her little sister was seated in the bedroom's sole chair, doing her best Blofeld impression.

"Well, well, well. Who do we have here? Could it be my big sister Anna?" Sarah steepled her fingers. "And what is she holding? A pillow? Could that pillow be ... her girlfriend Bella?"

Anna blinked. "What are you talking about? How could my girlfriend be a pillow?"

"Well, I don't know ... maybe it's because you changed her in a Venn machine?"

Anna scowled.

Sarah shrugged. "Hey, just because Mom doesn't know what a Venn machine does, doesn't mean I don't know what a Venn machine does."

"OK, so we used the Venn machine. So what? It's not a crime."

"Here's the deal." Sarah sat forward. "I wanna use the Venn machine too. But I can't because you need two people. So, on Saturday morning we go to the Venn machine and you change me, or I go to Mom and tell all."

"You won't do that. Mom wouldn't care."

"OK, you're right. I wouldn't do that." She fell to her knees. "But please please please change me anyway? Please please please?"

"I'm going to have to talk to Bella about it, so no promises." Anna sighed. "You know, when she stops being a pillow."

*
"I don't see the problem."

"The problem is, she's my little sister!"

"Who is 16 years old," Bella pointed out. "She's old enough to make her own decisions concerning Venn machines."

"She's too immature."

"If she's too immature, then the Venn machine won't change her at all. So we try, she doesn't change, and we're off the hook ... or she does change, which proves she's mature enough."

Anna breathed out heavily. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"So I guess the big question is: what does she want to change into?"

"She has a list of about 200 things, starting with puppies and kittens, then lions, foxes and birds ... why are you shaking your head?"

"Turning her into an animal? How are we going to deal with that in this tiny town for eight hours? No. She's going to have to be an
inanimate object."

"Well, this gets better and better."

*
Saeah blinked. "An inanimate object?"

"Is that a problem?"

"I don't know ... tell me about being an inanimate object."

Bella stepped forward. "I've been a dress, shoes, jewellery ... It feels good, to tell you the truth. To be worn, it just feels fulfilling ..."

Sarah was jumping up and down. "I know! I know!"

*

Saturday morning rolled around, and the trio explained they'd be going shopping and wouldn't be back before dinner.

"Or until my sister isn't a pair of sunglasses anymore," Anna thought.

Sarah did make a good pair of sunglasses. A pair of Rayban Wayfarers that were worn first by Anna, then Bella.

"Oh God," Sarah said after changing back. "I can't believe how good that felt." She raved about the special qualities of being sunglasses all the way home.

We've created a monster, Anna thought. She knew right there it wouldn't be her sister's last Venn experience.

So if she enjoyed being an inanimate object so much ... why can't I?

*
A week later, Anna and Bella and their luggage were deposited at the bus station for the ride back to college.

"You don't have to stick around, folks," Anna said. "We've got another couple of hours to wait. We might just go and do some shopping before we leave."

"You mean we might just go and do some Venning," Bella grinned after Anna's family had taken the hint and gone home. Anna winced as she recalled her sister's knowing look.

"Actually, I have an idea," Anna said. "If you're game, it could save us some money."

"Game? Me? Sure!"

*

Anna sat on the bus, flipping through a magazine. She had a six-hour ride ahead of her, but at least she was travelling light. And she'd miss her girlfriend on the ride ...

Without thinking too much, Anna touched the ring that ran through her septum.

The decorative ring she'd just inserted in the restrooms at the bus station.

... But in some ways Bella - and their luggage - had never been closer.