Tokens: For Want of a DaughterBy Morpheus        Jill frowned as she looked down at her 10 year old son Jeffrey.  "Whyme?"  she asked in exasperation, throwing her hands into the air at the same timeas if to surrender.  "What did I ever do to deserve this?"        "I'm sorry." Jeffrey said, his eyes staring at the floor in shame.  Hereally felt bad about having broken his Mom's vase. The one that his grandmahad given her just before she'd died.  It had been an accident, though thatdidn't seem to matter to Jeffrey's Mom.  At first she'd gotten really mad,which had scared Jeffrey, but not nearly so much as what she was doing now.He glanced up nervously towards his Mom, but she didn't seem to really benoticing him anymore. Instead she was still talking to herself, or moreaccurately.....complaining.        "Good for nothing son." she growled to herself, "I bet this wouldn'thave happened if I'd had a daughter."        Jeffrey winced, having heard his Mom's wish for a daughter many timesbefore but not as painfully as this time.  She'd always wanted a daughterand had been especially disappointed that Jeffrey was the only child she'dhad before his father had been killed in a mugging.  In the years since,Jeffrey had frequently heard his Mom wish that she had a daughter as well,though he'd always suspected that she wanted one instead of him.  And now,now he knew that he was right.  She didn't want him. She didn't even lovehim.        "This was given to my mother from hers, and from her to me." Jill criedas she picked up the shattered pieces of vase, "But now I'll never be able togive it to my own daughter."  With a grimace she seemed to silently add "IfI had one."        "I'm sorry." Jeffrey whispered with tears in his eyes, then he turnedand ran back to his bedroom as quickly as he could and threw himself onto hispillow to cry.--------------------        The next day, Jill sat at work, frowning as she stared at her computerBut didn't pay any real attention to what was on it. Instead, all she couldthink about was the day before. Tears still threatened to come to her eyesas she remembered the vase being shattered on the floor.  It was the lastthing her mother had given her, and had been in her family for threegenerations being passed from mother to daughter. It had already hurt herthat she might never have a daughter to pass it on to herself, but with thevase being destroyed, it just hit her all that much harder.        Jill sighed and rubbed at her eyes, reminding herself that 32 wasn't tooold to have another child and she certainly still had most of her looksHowever there weren't any real prospects for a father either.  Not sincewhat had happened to Bill.....  Then with a strong sense of guilt, Jillstared down at her hands, remembering the way she'd lost it the day before.What would Jeffrey think of her for the way she'd been acting?  For whatshe'd been saying, even if she couldn't remember exactly what that had been.  It certainly couldn't be good, she knew that much.        Sadly, Jill wished that she got along better with Jeffrey. She lovedhim, she really did. She just didn't know what to do with him. How to react tohim. She'd grown up with only a sister, mother and a father who was almostnever there. Having a little boy around was something that she still wasn'tcomfortable with or sure of what to do about.  All the great times she'd hadgrowing up with her own sister and her Mom, all the mother daughter thingsthat she'd always dreamt of doing with her own daughter one day were nowgone.  That wasn't Jeffrey's fault and she tried not to let him see how shefelt, but she was sure that he knew, especially after yesterday's incident.        Then suddenly Jill's thoughts were interrupted by the phone ringing."Hello, Jill Marcus speaking." she answered.        The answer from the other end of the phone surprised Jill, "Hello.  ThisIs Principal Anderson at Lakewood Elementary...."        As the principal from Jeffrey's school went on, Jill's eye's froze andShe grimaced. After promising that she'd be right there, she slammed down thephone and growled, "A girl wouldn't be nearly this much trouble."--------------------        Jeffrey squirmed uncomfortably on his chair, glancing around thePrincipals office nervously and trying not to look at his Mom. She was definitelypissed and he had a sinking feeling that he wasn't going to hear the end ofthis one for awhile.        "His teacher said that he's been quiet and moody all day," PrincipalAnderson told Jill, "and then just a short while ago he got into a fightwith one of the girls in his class."  He paused for a moment, lookingintently at Jill with only a quick glance towards Jeffrey who was tryinghard not to be noticed. "Do you know what could be bothering him?  Havethere been any problems at home lately?"        Jill frowned thoughtfully when Principal Anderson was finished, thenanswered, "Not really. I had to ground him yesterday after an accident, butthat's about it."  The Principal nodded and they continued to talk forseveral more minutes before Jill got up and roughly grabbed Jeffrey's hand."Just wait till I get you home." she growled to him quietly as she half drughim out the door.        When they got to the car in the parking lot, Jeffrey gulped as heWatched his Mom's angry face, then stared down at his feet, trying to be asunnoticeable as possible. Maybe then she wouldn't be as angry at him, or atleast he hoped not.  Then, while his Mom was unlocking the car door, henoticed something on the ground, half under his foot. It was some sort ofgold coin, a bit bigger than a quarter.   Curious about what it was, Jeffreybent over and picked it up, hoping that she didn't see him.  As soon asJeffrey had the small metal coin in hand, the car door unlocked and heclimbed in, not bothering to look at the coin clutched tightly in his hand.        Once he was sitting in his seat and the car was moving, Jeffrey took thechance to glance nervously at his Mom again. She was still mad but shewasn't looking at him. In fact, at the moment she almost seemed to be tryingto ignore him, which he suspected meant that he was in even worse troublethan he thought.  He grimaced as he remembered the stupid girl that he'dbeen fighting with earlier.  It had started off silly enough, with Melissaand a couple of the other girls joking around, and then they got to teasingJeffrey and a couple of the other boys.  They'd all joked around plenty oftimes and it had never bothered Jeffrey before. But this time, when theysmugly insisted that girls were better than boys, something inside of himhad just snapped.  All he could think about was that his Mom didn't wanthim. That she wanted a girl instead.  Suddenly Jeffrey had just gotten angryand hit Melissa.  Minutes later he was in the principals office.        Gulping, Jeffrey looked back down to his hands, realizing as he did soThat he still had the coin in his hand.  Curious, he glanced down at the surfaceand saw a picture of a lamp, just like the one on Aladdin.  Flipping thecoin over, Jeffrey saw that it had the word TOKEN and below that it saidGOOD FOR ONE WISH.  It reminded Jeffrey of one of those game tokens thatthey used for video games in the mall arcade. However this one was too bigto go into the normal coin slots so he wondered just what it was for.        After finally getting home, Jeffrey climbed out of the car, stillClutching the funny coin in his hand as he slowly made his way inside behind his Mom.The fact that she hadn't said a word the entire drive home only made Jeffreymore nervous and apprehensive about what she was going to do to him.        Jeffrey grew even more nervous with every step, but when they wereFinally inside the house, his Mom turned to him and snapped. "I hope you're happy.You seem to love causing trouble.  Do you realize how embarrassing that wasfor me?"        "I'm sorry." Jeffery tried apologizing, but his mother cut him off.        "I don't want to hear it" she snapped furiously. "You broke my vase, youget in trouble at school. All you've done lately is make problems foreveryone else. Don't you ever think things through." Jill grimaced as shestared down at her son, barely containing her fury.  Neither she nor hersister had ever caused so much trouble when they were young and she couldn'timagine how any child of hers could.  "A girl would at least behave." shemuttered to herself, not noticing the way Jeffrey's eyes went wide and tearsbegan to come out.        "But Mom..." he protested quietly, rolling the odd coin around betweenhis fingers, trying to draw some comfort from the small object.  It didn't helpmuch but it did allow for some distraction from the pain that he feltinside.        Jill barely noticed her son, once again talking more to herself than tohim.  "After all I've done for you.  God, I wish Bill was still here.  Iwish I'd had a daughter..."  Then she paused for a moment, once againnoticing Jeffrey standing there, rolling something around in his hands."What?" She suddenly demanded. "What the hell are you playing with?  Howdare you play with something while I'm talking to you."  Then with that Jillgrabbed the coin out of Jeffrey's hands.        "Mom." he gasped as she snatched it away. "But that's mine."        "Not anymore."  Jill clutched the small metal object in her hand, notbothering to look at it and see what it was. She was still too upset. Allher years of frustration and disappointment seemed to come forth at the sametime as the anger over her son's misbehavior.   "I didn't spent nine monthscarrying you so that you could become some kind of hoodlum. It's obviousthat I'm a failure as a mother."  Tears were pouring down Jill's cheeks asthe confusing mix of emotions swirled inside her. Even as she said thewords, she felt almost overwhelmingly guilty for them, but at the moment sheno longer seemed to have any control over her emotions.  "You have no ideawhat I've done for you....to have what feels like a basketball inside ofyou, and then give birth.   God, I wish you could know what it feels like tohave a baby."        A sudden burst of light exploded from Jill's hand, and she dropped theglowing coin in surprise. It hit the floor then started spinning aroundrapidly, looking almost like a glowing ball of light which then lifteditself up off of the floor and floated in the air between Jill and her son.        "What's that?" Jeffrey asked, more curious than afraid.  Never before inhis life had he seen anything like that.        Jill shook her head, her anger and resentment lost as surprise replacedthem. "I don't know"  she answered quietly.        But before any real answers came, Jeffrey was startled even more by astrange tingling feeling throughout his body.  He felt very, very odd,especially when he realized that he was glowing a little bit, though notnearly as much as the coin that was spinning in the air in front of him.  "Idon't feel very good." Jeffrey complained, beginning to get scared.        All Jill could do was stand there in shock, her mouth dropped open atThe sight of her glowing son. It took her a moment to realize that somethingeven stranger than glowing was happening to him. His hair looked longer thannormal and there were other things as well. Then right before her eyes,Jeffrey started to grow.        "What's happening?" Jeffrey cried as his clothes all started pinchinghim painfully.  He felt so odd...so...tingly.  Then much to Jeffrey's relief,his clothes began to feel looser again, though he was more than a littlestartled when he looked down and noticed that he was wearing a pink dressinstead of the blue jeans and T-shirt that he'd been wearing a momentbefore. "Oh my God...." Jeffrey gasped aloud, startled to hear a girlsvoice.        "Jesus Christ!" Jill exclaimed, unable to tear her eyes off of thelittle girl who used to be Jeffrey.  There was no doubt by looking at him thatJeffrey had indeed turned into a girl, though even more startling was thefact that he looked like a 12 year old girl instead of being the same age hehad been. There was even the noticeable swellings on his chest that hintedat greater future development.  While Jill continued to stare at Jeffrey,she felt confused, unsure and at the same time, completely in awe that oneof her greatest wishes had been granted. She now had a daughter. However,that didn't explain why Jeffrey was still obviously growing. He now lookedto be nearly 14 years old.        Jeffrey stared down at himself, his mouth dropped open as the two bumpsOn his chest continued to grow bigger.  Even his silly pink dress seemed tokeep growing and changing, now looking a lot less frilly and more mature,but still fitting him perfectly.  The ground was looking further and furtheraway with every moment as well, making Jeffrey gasp at the realization thathe was growing bigger.        "Mommy?" Jeffrey asked nervously, hoping that his Mom would have someanswer about what was happening to him.  But at the same time, he had anervous fear that she might be the one causing it. After all, didn't shekeep saying that she wanted a girl instead, and as much as he didn't want toadmit it, there was no denying that he seemed to have been turned into one.When Jeffrey didn't receive any answer, he looked up at his Mom and gasped,almost as surprised as he was over what was happening to himself. She wasglowing. Just like him and the funny glowing ball in the air.  And odderyet, she didn't seem nearly as tall as before. He knew that this was mostlybecause he'd been growing, but that certainly didn't explain why her clotheslooked very loose on her.        Jill frowned as a tingly sensation washed over her body, already beingshocked to see that Jeffrey, now a 15 year old girl, was nearly the sameheight as she was.  But with the new sensation, Jill was even more startledto realize that she was glowing now as well. And what was more, all of herclothes were hanging on her loosely.  Then much to her growing horror, Jillsaw that the girl that had been Jeffrey was now larger than she was.        "Oh no." Jill cried in horror as realization dawned on her.  She wasshrinking at the same time Jeffrey was growing...at the same time he wasgetting older.        Jeffrey however was amazed, even excited at the thought.  He was gettingbigger and bigger and even though he seemed to stop growing taller, he stillfelt all tingly and knew that he was still changing. He grasped at the twobumps sticking out of his chest, smiling at how strange they felt on him.They were just like his Mom's, except even bigger. With the thought of hisMom, Jeffrey frowned and looked at her, seeing that she was still glowingbrightly and that her clothes had gotten even looser and were barely hangingon her. She was not only shorter than he was now, but looked as if shecouldn't be any more than 14 years old, and she was still getting smallerand  younger. Soon she didn't even have any boobies at all and startedgrabbing at her chest and crying.  The sight made Jeffrey wince in guilt atthe fact that he'd almost been enjoying this when it was obvious that hisMom was feeling  really scared. A stab of pity shot through his heart and heslowly moved over to comfort her.        The sight of her 10 year old son having been turned into what seemed toBe a 20 year old woman was extremely shocking to Jill. The woman that Jeffreyhad become seemed so tall, but she knew that her own sense of height wasn'tvery accurate at the moment.  She winced at the thought, clutching her flatchest and loose clothes even tighter, trying to stop from crying but notsucceeding too well. Then the woman...Jeffrey started slowly walking over.Jeffrey wiped the long brown hair away from his pretty face, making Jillwince yet again. He looked so much like she had when she was that age...orat least the age he appeared to be. After a few seconds, Jill noticed thatJeffery was no longer glowing or changing.        "Are you all right?" Jeffrey asked nervously, feeling very sorry for the9 year old girl that was his mother.  She shook her head, looking angry andscared at the same time.  "It'll be all right" he lied to her, not sure thathe believed it at all. As he hugged his mother, trying to give her whatcomfort he could, he could feel her shrinking even more in his arms.  Herhead was pressed against his boobies and he slowly had to move into akneeling position so that she could keep it there. He couldn't believe thatthis was really happening.  There was a 4 year old girl in his arms that hadbeen his mother. She seemed so tiny and helpless, becoming even more so asthe seconds passed.        "Please no..." Jill cried weakly, no longer even wearing the clothesthat had fallen off of her body. She could barely even remain standing anymoreand soon found herself about to topple over, and would have if Jeffreyhadn't picked her up.  Being held in his arms was so humiliating, but at thesame time rather comforting. She was so overwhelmed with emotions that Jilljust started crying even more, this time doing so much louder than before.        The baby that was screaming in Jeffrey's arms made him wince at thehorrible noise, though even more so at the thought that this was really hisMom. Then the infant grew even smaller and started to glow brighter than shewas.  At that moment, the tiny baby vanished and Jeffrey fell to the groundas an intense pain filled his stomach.  Jeffrey nearly screamed from thepain, though just as suddenly as it had appeared it had vanished.  He gaspeduncomfortably as he tried standing back up again, just beginning to noticethe bulge in his stomach. It looked almost as if he'd swallowed abasketball, and almost felt like it as well. He felt sort of bloated andswollen, but even more uncomfortable than that.        "Oh God" Jeffrey groaned as he stood back up, gently holding his stomachin confusion.  He'd never felt anything like that in his whole life.  WhenJeffery got unsteadily to his feet, he stared down, gulping audibly at theway his stomach pushed out. It looked absolutely HUGE and felt even more so.  "Shit!" he exclaimed, knowing that he'd normally get in trouble forswearing but at the moment not caring.  At the moment he didn't even see his  Mom anywhere, but with another glance down he had a horrible sinkingfeeling that he knew exactly where she was.        Then suddenly Jeffrey nearly fell back to the ground as a wave ofDizziness washed over him.  While Jeffrey closed his eyes, trying to hold back theconfusion and panic that was threatening to rise, he felt something soft andgentle touch inside his mind. It was almost as if a feather had gone throughhis thoughts, then was gone.        Jeffrey nervously opened his eyes and glanced around fearfully, stillfeeling confused.  His eyes immediately fell upon the glowing ball of lightthat was floating in front of him. The coin, which was still spinning aroundinside was just barely visible through the glow though it quickly seemed togrow even less visible.  Suddenly the ball of light exploded into abrilliant flash and was gone, leaving no trace of either it or the coin.        "Holy shit." Jeffrey whispered to himself, closing his eyes again andtrying to make sense of what had just happened.  Then much to his surprise,Jeffrey realized something odd.  His thoughts weren't quite the way theynormally were. Strange thoughts and memories were flittering around hishead, unfamiliar but oddly comforting as well.  A memory of his first periodtickled the edge of his awareness, quickly followed with his first kiss, hishigh school graduation and even the one night stand he'd had seven monthsago which had gotten him into his current situation. Jeffrey gasped at thesudden realization that even his mind had changed. He remembered his wholelife, as if he'd actually grown up as Jessica Smith, the girl that he nowknew without a doubt was him.  Jessica was his new name. Her new name. Atthe same time however, she also remembered everything in her previous lifecompletely. It hadn't gone away or faded in the slightest though the newknowledge and memories couldn't be denied either.        Jessica glanced around nervously, noticing several signs around the roomthat things had changed, though they weren't quite as extreme as might beexpected.  Most of those seemed to be family pictures which were gone, andher old things.  Not a single toy for a little boy remained in the room, oreven a hint that one had ever lived there.  Instead the room was filled withthe articles of a single woman.        With a sad and guilty sigh, Jessica stared at the spot the coin haddisappeared at, knowing that the coin had obviously been responsible forwhat had happened, and just as surely knowing that it was gone for good. Ithad done it's magic then departed.  She frowned even more deeply, a tearsliding down her cheek as she thought about what had just happened to hermother and her.        Lost in her thoughts, Jessica gently held her large pregnant belly,Smiling almost in spite of herself as she thought of how amazing it was that sheactually had another life inside of here.  That she was one day going togive birth, to her own mother no less.  That made her smile even more,though she wasn't sure wether to break into laughter or tears at the irony.Her mother had wished that she was a girl and been granted that wish as wellas the more recent one which had caused their trouble.  However, it was herformer mother that was now going to be the daughter instead.        "I don't know what I'm going to do." Jessica mused aloud, gently rubbingat her swollen stomach.  "But I'll make due."  Then shaking her head faintly,she added, "We'll make do."  Jessica let out a loud sigh, staring off almostinto space before she directed her voice at her belly and said, "This isdefinitely going to be weird." The kick that she suddenly felt against herhand from inside her stomach seemed to agree.  "Weird indeed."THE END