Camp Turkey Part 1 of 13 (Patreon)

“Kurtis, can you come down here?” Kurtis heard in an Alexa announcement. Mom was always making these announcements instead of coming to his room to talk to him. But Kurtis knew there wasn't any advantage to ignoring the message. She would just message again. She wanted him and he had to come.

Kurtis got off of his bed where he was watching TV. Getting off his bed wasn't as easy as it had previously been a year ago. Ever since losing his job and having to return to his parent's house, Kurtis had become depressed and gained a great deal of weight. Before his job loss, he was only a little above weight at 195 pounds, but since moving in with his parents, Kurtis had ballooned up to 268 pounds.

Kurtis had determined he wouldn't let his weight get over 275 pounds, but at some point, he had also determined not to become over 250 pounds. Thus, Kurtis didn't have much of a track record when it came to this sort of thing. Regardless, he got off his bed and trudged to where his mother was summoning him. He assumed she would be in the kitchen or the living room. It didn't matter, since one needs to pass the living room to get to the kitchen regardless.

Kurtis didn't like being bothered. Not that he could complain. This was his parent's house. Kurtis shared the house with his mom, dad, and two sisters, Delaney and Samantha. Kurtis was the oldest at twenty-six-years old. Samantha was the middle child at nineteen. Delaney was the baby at ten. There was a wide separation in the siblings' age. Mom never explained why there was such a difference. Maybe there wasn't any reason for it at all.

In the kitchen, Kurtis saw both his mother and Samantha. Kurtis didn't want to sound too surly. He put a semi-smile on his face as he asked, “Yes, Mom, what would you like?”

“I'm not going to beat around the bush. Kurtis, we have a problem, and you can help us a great deal.”

"OK?”

“As you know Samantha was going to be a counselor at the Happy Land Day Camp this year.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Delaney and a bunch of her friends were going to go to the sleep-away camp with Samantha as their counselor.”

Kurtis didn't like that mom mentioned that Samantha was supposed to be the counselor.

“I'm sure they will have loads of fun.”

“But Samantha can't go.”

“She can't?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I don't want to go into it. She just can't do it. It's something that can't be helped.”

“Is she OK?”

“She'll be fine.”

“But, what does this have to do with me?”

“I want you to take her place.”

“Take her place?”

“Yeah.”

“At camp, with a bunch of girls?”

“Yeah.”

“I can't do that.”

“Why not?”

“I'm looking for a job.”

“You can wait until the summer is over. No one hires during the summer anyway.”

“It's a girls' camp.”

“It's not a girls' camp, it's unisex.”

“I mean all the campers in her group are girls. I'm not a woman. It'll look strange for me to lead them.”

“No, I'll fix that.”

“Look at me, I can't be a camp counselor for a bunch of girls.”

“Someone has to, it's too late to find anyone else. You know if you don't do it, all the girls will be disappointed.”

“I would if I could, but I can't.”

“No, Samantha can't. You just don't want to.”

“It's too embarrassing. I'm an old man. They'll think...You know what they will think.”

“They won't think that. I have a plan.”

“What?”

“I'll use IT to make everyone treat you like Samantha.”

Kurtis knew what mom was referring to. They could use the orb to change reality. Kurtis didn't know why they didn't use the orb to get him a job. It wasn't fair. There wasn't any use in arguing with mom. She wasn't going to use the orb to help him. She insisted that he do it for himself. Kurtis couldn't use the stone himself, only women (and girls) could use it.

“Wouldn't it be simpler to use the orb to simply fix Samantha's problem...whatever it is?”

“No, this is the best way.”

“Why?”

“It just is.”

“What do you mean 'treat me like Samantha? Everyone will treat me like I'm a woman and I'll have to wear woman's clothes?”

“No, of course not. You will be the same as you always have been, just you will be expected to be the camp counselor. Samantha doesn't want to be a man any more than you want to be a woman. The orb is a trait swapper, it doesn't make things up out of whole cloth.”

Kurtis finally understood why the orb couldn't be used to get him a job. He would then be stealing someone else's job. That wasn't right.

“But I don't know how.”

“I'll let you have all of Samantha's knowledge when it comes to camp. She won't be needing it anyway. She can't go.”

“So, then what will you be swapping with me exactly?”

“Her status of being Delaney's camp counselor and everything she knows about being a counselor.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes, you will swap everything you need to be a counselor and nothing more. You will still be you.”

“...and I will know what I need to know so I won't make a fool of myself?”

“Yeah, you should have fun too. You'll spend your summer in the fresh air. Maybe you can lose some weight.”

Kurtis gave his mother a look. He didn't like to be reminded of his weight.

“I'm sorry.”

Kurtis nodded.

“Will you do it?”

“I still don't want to.”

Mom showed him the orb and then used it to swap Samantha's status as a counselor as well as her knowledge about being at camp. She didn't need Kurtis' permission.

“Do you feel any different?”

“No.”

“Will you do it?”

“I still don't want to,” Kurtis said. But he felt slightly differently. He remembered being a counselor before. He also remembered several years at the camp that Samantha spent there as a camper. She had fond memories of it. Those memories now belonged to Kurtis.

“Think of how happy Delaney will be. You don't want to disappoint her.”

“Maybe it won't be too bad?”

“So, you'll do it?”

“I guess so. But I want to keep the orb so you can't use it against my will like you just did.”

“I won't. I promise.”

“I'll only do it if I have the orb with me!”

“You can't use it. You're a man.”

“Neither can you if I have it.”

“OK, you had better not lose it. If you do there won't be any way of reversing the process.”

"Whatever.”

In the other room, out of everyone's sight, Delaney heard the conversation. She knew about Samantha not being able to take her. She also knew about the orb. But this was the first time she saw the orb in action. She felt the change because she saw it being used. If she hadn't, she would have never known there had been a change in who was going to be her counselor. She would have believed that Kurtis was supposed to be her counselor, 'like he had been the year before'.

Kurtis remembered the fun he had at camp, both as a camper when he was growing up and as a counselor for the last two years. It was these joyful memories that convinced him to do as mom requested. It wasn't all peaches and cream. Kurtis remembered another counselor, who was, to put it mildly flirting a bit too openly with him. Those memories weren't his, they had been Samantha's. But Kurtis didn't think this year he would have any trouble with Adam. He had changed, sort of. He was much older now at twenty-eight (Samantha was only nineteen) and he was a man. What happened before, Kurtis believed wouldn't happen again. Also, between last year and this year, Kurtis had gained a lot of weight. Kurtis wasn't happy about it, but he was sure that would dampen Adam's ardor. If not, Kurtis would have to be more forceful than Samantha had been and put a stop to it right at the beginning.

Kurtis hadn't had any plans for the summer. In an instant, that changed. As he returned to his room, Kurtis decided he was excited. The camp was a fun place and he would be with his baby sister who he adored. In a sense, he would have more in common with her than he ever had in his life. It would be fun to help his sister out. Kurtis knew how much she was looking forward to going with all her friends.

This would be the first time that Kurtis would be going to sleep-away camp. When he was younger, his family couldn't afford to send him.

Kurtis would have had fun at camp like his sisters. He would be in the boys' groups. He was as boyish as any boy. But that didn't mean he wouldn't have just as much fun as Samantha or Delaney, even though the activities were somewhat different.

Kurtis had become excited when he reached his room. He looked in his closet and found 'his' old counselor uniform. He looked at it, it was in a women's style because he was in charge of a girl's troop. The campers could wear whatever they want, although they all received camp t-shirts and shorts. But the staff had to wear what could only be called the camp uniform. For the men, that would be loose-fitting slacks and polo shirts. But for the women, the uniform was more like a dress. It had a polo-shirt-type bodice in light red, bordering on pink, and a pleated skirt that descended to the counselor's knees. There was spanky in the camp colors to preserve the woman's modesty of course. On cold days, they could wear their uniforms with tights. But that was the uniform, and every female counselor was expected to wear it.

Kurtis couldn't fit into the uniform he had hanging in his closet. He had gained too much weight for that. He would have to buy a new one in his new size. Even though Kurtis would be wearing a dress, he didn't have to wear panties or a bra under his uniform. Due to his weight gain, he might need some support on top, but he didn't have to wear a bra. He was still a man. Despite that the proper uniform was mandatory. Kurtis even remembered wearing it the year before without anyone complaining. He knew he would have to wear it this year too.

Kurtis took the uniform and brought it to the kitchen to show his mother.

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