What a Christmas eve. The worst snow blizzard in a century
was howling outside and I just got a call from work. Seems some dumb ass
brought the whole system down and now I needed to go into work to fix their
mistake. Great.
Bad enough I had to bundle up to go out into the bitter
cold and snow but to add insult to injury when I got there it turned out to be
nothing more than someone tripping over a server connection that only had to be
plugged back in. Someone’s boss is going to hear about this one in the morning.
I trudged my way back to my car, which by now had a few
inches of wet snow piled on top of it, and headed back home. So much for my
Christmas eve. Bah humbug.
I finally got back to my warm nest. Now to relax. After
getting out of my wet gear I went to pour myself a drink. That’s when I noticed
this basket by the tree that I swear hadn’t been there before. My curiosity
aroused, I glanced at the colorful tag attached. Ha! “Merry Christmas! From
Santa” was printed in bold golden letters. Santa indeed! I had given up
believing in Santa a long time ago. Still…
I downed my drink, feeling the warmth of the liquor
spreading throughout my cold body, and started to inspect this strange present
further. I picked up one of the four small boxes. It had a silver “1” embossed
on the wrapping. Strange. I looked closer at the remaining three. Each was a
different color and, like the first, had a number on it. I started to open the
box with the “1” on it. It was Christmas after all so I wasn’t breaking any
rules. Nestled inside red tissue paper was a tree ornament of a golden slipper.
While quite beautiful, it did seem like a rather odd gift for a man of my age,
but not really thinking too much about it, I hung it on a branch of the tree
and started to reach for the next box. Before I could reach down to get the
box, a bright light started to emanate from the slipper, engulfing me totally
in blinding whiteness. I must have passed out for some unknown amount of time,
finding myself in strange surroundings when I came to.
My body was craving a smoke, which was odd since I never
indulged a day in my life. Instinctively I reached over to the night stand to
grab a cigarette and lighter. That first hit of nicotine cleared my thoughts,
but why? I swung my feet over the edge of the bed to the waiting softness of
plush carpet below. Awake but still not quite focused, I stood in amazement as
I looked at the room around me. I had never seen such a bedroom before. I
slowly made my way over to glass doors overlooking a porch, feeling my legs
move much more easily than normal. As I opened one of the doors and stepped
out, the piercing cries of seagulls overhead and crashing waves assaulted my
ears. The strong scent of the ocean tickled my nostrils. I stood there for a moment
watching the waves caress the sand, so serene and peaceful. I wondered what the
rest of what I guessed must be a high-priced beach house must be like.
A sudden cool gust of wind made me shiver, making me
realize I had very few clothes on. I looked down to find I was wearing only
boxers. Stranger still, they weren’t on my normal body! Instead of my pasty
thin legs I was looking at well-muscled hairless tan legs. And I had abs and
pecs! Confused, I retreated into the room, trying to decide if this was all a
dream or real. I mean after all how does someone suddenly find themselves in a
different body? My mind was telling me that was simply impossible.
