Page 166 of Switch!

“Can you though?” she asks. “Switch bodies, I mean.”

The question would seem odd, if I didn’t already have my own doubts. “Let me ask you something. Why do your ears tingle so much?”

Trixie snaps her fingers. “I knew it! We swapped powers!”

“I think you’re right. My mom asked me to possess her and I couldn’t. But I’m also not very good at telling when people are lying to me. How am I supposed to interpret an ear-tingle?”

“That’s just Phase One,” Trixie says enigmatically. The Cheshire grin slips off her face. “I also tried switching bodies. Twice. Both times I got freaked out when entering the void, and when I came back, I ended up barfing.”

“Damn.”

We consider this in silence.

“I guess that explains why I wasn’t able to possess Jesse. I wasn’t just weak. I lost my powers when switching places with you.”

“It was horrible,” Trixie moans. “I hid under the bed when Jesse let the paramedics in, like you wanted me to. I hoped they would be able to help. There wasn’t anything I could do, but it felt wrong to abandon you like that and—”

“Everything worked out fine,” I say, placing a feminine hand over boney fingers that used to belong to me. “Mostly. We got my original body back at least, so mission successful.”

“Sure, but I’d like mine back now, if you don’t mind.”

“Me too. Now that we’re back together, maybe we can figure it out. I can coach you.”

“Let’s try,” she says, hopping to her feet.

I join her in the empty area between the coffee table and television and look her up and down, which feels like checking myself out. I suppose we don’t have many secrets, in that regard. “I guess you’ve uh… seen everything.”

Trixie smiles. “Yup! And you?”

“Yeah,” I say, unwilling to make eye contact.

We stand there awkwardly until I do.

Trixie shrugs. “A lot of friends play doctor when they’re little. We’re just late bloomers.”

“More like freaks of nature.”

“And it’s awesome. I take back what I said previously, by the way. It’s actually pretty cool to pee while standing up. I’m going to miss that.”

“I sure do,” I grumble playfully. “Before we begin, maybe we should put on some loud music.”

Trixie cocks her head. “How come?”

“You don’t remember me screaming?”

She looks shocked. “No! I lost consciousness and woke up in your body.”

“Oh. Well…” I explain what I did to switch bodies with her, hoping it’ll be instructional. By the time I’m finished, she’s wiping emotional tears from her eyes.

“You did all of that to save me?”

“I guess so,” I admit sheepishly.

Trixie throws her arms around me. “That’s so sweet!”

I chuckle while hugging her back.

“And totally unnecessary,” she says when disengaging.