More Explanations

"Now," Justice locked eyes with Tim and grinned, "you make a trade."

"But can't you just stop the truck? Weren't they breaking some sort of rule by trying to kill us?"

"I can only help so much, sweetheart," Justice said, "and our arrangement only allows for this. Fair trades are untouchable by the likes of them. I'm only the facilitator, you're the one trading."

"Okay, I get it," Tim said with a frown, remembering the costs of his previous trades. He wished he could avoid another deal, but looked at the truck poised to destroy both him and Nancy, he could see no other choice.

"Could I ask a few questions first?"

"Shoot," the old woman said, poking her left pinky at him, causing an explosion of sparks at his feet.

"I think you might have overshot some stuff," Tim said, "on the trades, I mean. Like, Nancy is attracted to me now instead of to Gary, but she's, like, really attracted to me. She was never into him that much, as far as I know."

"Oh, you think that I just..." she paused, then giggled, "I didn't take how much she was attracted to him, I gave it all to you. All of his attractiveness."

"All?"

"All," she said again, "Gary is now the complete absence of attractiveness. It is impossible to be attracted to him. I took every ounce out of him, squeezed him like a sponge, and gave it all to you. You have all that you had before the trade, plus every smidge that Gary had."

"Shit," Tim said, "No wonder she's all over me."

"I'm pretty sure there are more than a few ladies out there who would consider you quite the hottie now," Justice said, "You're welcome, by the way."

“Uh, yeah, thanks,” Tim sputtered, “so then it was the same with my dad?”

“Complete absence of authority. He couldn’t upsize his fries at MacDonalds without someone helping him. Nobody would take him seriously. You got every drop, plus your own.” Justice squinted and wiggled her fingers, “quite a few people would have a difficult time saying ‘no’ to you now. Another win.”

“But what about this?” Tim grabbed his dress, “why am I a crossdresser now?”

“You’re not!” Justice said, “who told you that you were a crossdresser?”

“I mean, I’m wearing women’s clothing…”

“You are wearing Tim’s clothing!” She said, indignant, “you traded for the ability to have your own clothes, and I did that. Every article you are wearing is your own. Now your father, on the other hand, couldn’t own a pair of socks. If you have him a t-shirt as a gift, he would think he was supposed to use it as a rag. HE wears women’s clothes.”

Tim’s head spun. “But guys don’t wear stuff like this,” he complained, “guys wear jeans and shirts and boxer shorts, not skirts and panties and blouses.”

“All constructs,” she said, “if you’ve been around as long as I have, kiddo, you’d see it too. Fads come and go. In a couple thousand years, all men will probably dress like that.”

“But couldn’t you just…”

“No can do,” she shook her head, “it’s an artifact of the previous trade. If I changed it now, my sisters would eat you alive.”

“But I could just go buy some men’s clothes, like at a store, right?”

Again she wiggled her fingers. Her ancient face scrunched up.

“That isn’t clear to me,” she said, “you could try, but it might not work. Seems that the course my sister Destiny was keeping you on was quite rigid, and my intervention has made it skip the groove. Your future is still quite rigid, just not in the way she wanted. I can see many of your life’s possibilities, but in all the images I can see you aren’t wearing men’s wear. I honestly don’t know what would happen.”

Tim sighed deeply, his heart sinking in his chest.

“Buck up, little camper!” She punched him on the shoulder, “You got the long end of that stick! That girl in there is crazy about you, and your dad won’t bully you ever again! Besides, I hooked you up with a sweet deal on that closet. Talk about options!”

“Yeah, what’s the deal with that? I’m a student still, right? How can I afford all those clothes?”

“You can’t,” she said, a mischievous tone in her voice, “I slipped that little deal in there as a bonus. You had a little weight left over in your trade with your dad. I did a quick search through his possibilities and found that one of the things he did at work was receive custom order shipments from clothing manufacturers. It would be too heavy to take it all, so I took the sliver that was closest to what you were wearing, what the previous trade had dressed you in.”

“I don’t get it.”

“From now on, the company your dad works for doesn’t receive custom clothing orders from anyone who makes high heeled shoes, skirts, lingerie, you know, like the stuff in your closet. That goes to you now.”

“But I don’t have to pay for it?”

“Not a penny! I didn’t touch that part of reality. The people who would have normally ordered it still order it and pay, but now they order it in your size, and have it shipped to your house,” she started cackling, “nobody will ever think there’s anything weird about it! They’ll all think it’s perfectly natural! Ain’t I a stinker?”

Tim was dumbfounded. He could hardly wrap his head around what the immortal was saying, let alone come to terms with the fact his extremely feminine wardrobe would be constantly updated with new outfits, all perfectly tailored for his body. But if what she was saying was right, there was nothing he could do about it.

And so he decided to push it from his mind and focus on the trade that would save his and Nancy’s life.

“Okay,” he mused, looking around him, “let’s find a trade. What do we have to work with?”