To figure out what's going on.

"Honestly?" Joseph said. "I just want to know what's happening to me. I want to know more about this."

Both women smiled. Beth spoke. "So you want to experiment? That sounds good. I wouldn't mind learning more about my condition either. What do you think, Ellie?"

"Hey, that sounds good to me. Of course, it's probably because it's what Joe here wants. Can I call you Joe?"

"Uh, sure. I don't mind. So do either of you have any ideas?" They looked at each other and shrugged.

"Not right now, but obviously we should come up with some." Ellie said. "The question is, how can we change or manipulate what you want? Or test the boundaries of what this thing can do?"

"I think if he wants to experiment and learn more, then wanting other things will come naturally - he'll want to see if they work. I know - is there any physical feature of either of us that you'd like to change?"

Joseph was not sure how to respond. Normally that would be an incredibly loaded question. He looked over the two of them. "I guess... Ellie, maybe I wish you were taller?"

Ellie frowned. "I- I- I don't know how to do that." She took on a pained expression. "I can't just... ok, hang on." She got out her phone and started typing furiously. Beth peered over her shoulder and laughed. "She's googling heightening surgery. Babe, you don't really want her to be taller, do you?"

Joseph swallowed. He realized he had to sell this or an innocent stranger would go out of her way to get a painful and experimental surgery on his whim. "No, no. I think you look great how you are. I just wanted to see if you'd actually grow taller based on my wishes."

Ellie eyed him for a second, trying to gauge his sincerity. Finally she sighed with relief. "Thank God. Some of those procedures looked horrible. Not that I wouldn't do them for you - they'd just put me out of commission and unable to really help you for months." Her face lit up as an idea struck her. "Hey, here's a thought. I think I'm pretty bright - I might make you feel intellectually inferior. Don't you want me to be a little less intelligent?"

"Or maybe way less intelligent?" Beth said with a grin.

Joseph thought about it. "Not really, but I guess for the purposes of this experiment I'd like to see if you can be less smart. So yeah. For now, that's what I want."

Ellie blinked a couple of times. There didn't seem to be any real change in her demeanor. "Ellie?" Beth asked curiously. "Do you feel any different?"

"Not really." Ellie shrugged. "I guess maybe a little. How can we test this intelligence thing?"

"Can you explain what you do for a living?" Joseph asked.

"I, uh, work with computers. I'm a programmer. I write Python for a bank." Ellie thought about it. "I don't think I could do it right now. I don't even really remember how to write Python. I guess I am a little dumber." She laughed. "It doesn't bother me, though. I guess it's because you want it? I'm having a hard time keeping track of all of this suddenly."

Beth was curious. "So would you say you're just acting less smart, or are you really dumber? Is it just roleplaying Joseph's fantasy?" She thought of something and turned to Joseph. "And you want her to be honest, right?" He nodded.

"I don't know, I feel different. I don't think it's fake. I can't actually remember how to write code. I'm pretty dumb. I wonder if I can get dumber?" Ellie smiled innocently, not knowing if Joseph would catch the obvious invitation.

Joseph sighed. "This feels wrong but I want to know how far we can push it. Ok, Ellie, for now - and remember, this is just for now - I want you to be really stupid. Like, really stupid. Barely capable of holding a conversation stupid. And, uh, I don't want you to pretend. I want you to actually be that dumb."

This time the change in Ellie's countenance was immediate. She looked at him with confusion. "You want... I'm..." She trailed off thoughtlessly, then came back to herself after a moment. "Wow. Yeah, I feel real foggy." She sat in a stupor while Beth giggled.

"I think your wish came true." Beth said. "Hey Ellie, can you walk me through making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?" The other woman stood and Beth stopped her. "No, no, I mean tell me the steps. Give me instructions."

Ellie frowned. "Well, you need, um, peanut butter and jelly. You get a knife out and put the peanut butter... oh shoot, I forgot. You need bread. You put the bread on a thing. Like a plate or something. Then you get out some peanut butter. Not like just peanut butter, you get the jar. You unscrew it and dip the knife in and the peanut butter should, like, stick to it. You can unstick it on the... did I tell you about the bread? The bread should be out and you unstick the peanut butter on the bread." She looked at Beth hopefully. "Did I get it right?"

Beth laughed and patted her head. "Close enough. I think our experiment worked."

With Ellie beaming at the praise, Beth turned to Joseph. "So what do you want to try next?"