“What?” they both exclaimed again.
“Good luck, my dears,” she said with a little giggle. And she saw herself out. The prince and princess hardly noticed her leave as they continued to stare at each other in amazement.
“I can’t believe it!” said the prince.
“Could it be true?” wondered the princess.
After gaping at herself for a few moments the princess suddenly became aware of the body she was in. Did she imagine it or did she feel stronger? A strange sense of calm seemed to permeate her.
The prince, too, was becoming aware of the body he inhabited. The first thing he noticed was that he seemed smaller and lighter. There was something else, too, which he was unable to identify, except that it made him feel more edgy.
“It is truly remarkable,” Princess Femina admitted, and her husband had to agree. “What do you suppose the wizardess hopes will happen?”
“I don’t know,” he confessed. “But it looks like we will be spending the next twenty-four hours, at least, finding out. It should be interesting.”
“I wonder what we should do,” she mused.
“I suppose we will, for the next few hours at least, go about our day as usual, with each of us taking the other’s place.”
“You mean me go to work for you?” she asked, horrified.
“Yes,” he replied. “That is exactly what I mean. I cannot just take the entire day off. I promised to be in by midday. Besides, you’ve stated enough times that you wish you had my life…so this should prove enlightening for you.”
“But I don’t even know what you do,” she protested.
“Interesting,” he replied. “I actually know what you do. Does that tell you anything?”
But she was too upset to answer his question. “Don’t you think it would be better if I—I mean you—were to beg off sick?”
He sighed and tried to speak calmly. His new voice sounded exceedingly high-pitched and whiny to his ears, but he couldn’t seem to help it. “Although I rarely argue with you during your incessant ramblings about how much more difficult and important the things you do are than the things I do, the reality is that I can’t just ‘beg off sick,’ and put things off the way you do. I actually have to be there or forfeit my position. You will just have to make your best effort…watch what the other fellows do.”
“I ca…I mean, I don’t think this is going to work at all,” she said.
“Now listen here,” he told her. “If I lose my position we lose everything we have. Remember how what you earn is yours and what I earn is ours? That means it pays for all of this!” He waved his arms around to emphasize “all of this.”
“Ah,” she said, “there it is. You earn more so your work is more important than mine.”
“Look,” he said. “Aren’t you the least bit curious about what I do all day? Or are you afraid that you won’t be able to do it?”
“I can do anything you can do,” she insisted.
“Fine,” he cut in before she had a chance to say more. “It’s settled then. I’ll see you tonight.” He kissed her as he led her out through the front door, then he promptly slammed the door in her face.
Princess Femina turned back toward the door, fuming. Now what was she supposed to do? If she went back in the house it would be admitting defeat. At length she realized that if she did not go to work in place of her husband today she would never live it down.
The truth was that she actually did know enough about what her husband did each day to know that she did not want to do it. Oh, well, it was only one day, after all. What harm could it do?
Twenty minutes later the princess groaned. The work was physically difficult and monotonous and the conversation was insipid. Her husband’s peers spoke solely of methods for constructing thing-things that she merely took for granted as being there. There was nothing to intrigue or stimulate her interest. Her muscles, or her husband’s rather, protested in spite of the fact that they were doubtless used to the abuse. She hated every movement and longed to stop but the other workers were already giving her funny looks and one busybody had actually asked if she was sick. She sincerely doubted she would be able to finish out the day. Each motion had to be forced; and she wondered that her husband never complained when he got home. Was it possible that he liked it? No, her mind could not conceive of that. How did he do it then? She remembered suddenly a conversation they had once, when she had used the word impossible.
“Nothing is impossible,” he had said. “You’re using the word impossible when what you mean is undesirable.”
She had argued the point then, but was he right? If he could do this, day after day, shouldn’t she be able to do it, too, given that she currently possessed the same strength of body? Was it more than superior strength that enabled him to do this arduous work?
She realized that physically she probably could do this work all day. In fact, mentally she could probably do it, too. The truth was that she did not want to do it. She didn’t like doing it. This realization made her feel better. It wasn’t that she couldn’t do it, it was that she didn’t want to. She even went so far as to convince herself that, if she had wanted to do it, she could probably do it better than her husband.
Now that she had settled all this in her mind she needed to figure out a way to get out of working the rest of the day. She mentally ran through her usual list of excuses and realized that none of them would work for her as a man. She could hardly claim, for example, that she was having “feminine problems.” Nor would it work, she reasoned, for her to say her child was sick, for it would be expected that her “wife” would manage that. What excuse did a man use to get out of work? She tried to think of the last time her husband had taken the day off and realized that she could not recall a single instance. Her mind could not accept the possibility that this substantiated anything other than her husband must simply love his job. Why else would anyone subject themselves to this day after day?
“I need one of you men to deliver a message to the main office,” she heard the foreman call out suddenly.
Princess Femina nearly fell over herself to get the man’s attention, throwing down her tools and yelling a bit too loudly perhaps, “I will. I’ll do it. Over here. I’ll go!” She did not care that everyone was staring at her. She smiled happily at the foreman as she approached him. “I’m your man,” she said with a giggle. “Happy to help!” She was so glad not to be laboring anymore that she was giddy.
And so Princess Femina was well on her way to getting through the remainder of her husband’s workday.
The prince, meanwhile, had arrived at Princess Femina’s office with genuine curiosity. It would be interesting to see how she spent her time there. As he walked into the workplace he was immediately swarmed by three females who grabbed at him excitedly, even as they all spoke at once.
“You will never believe…”
“I can’t wait to tell you…”
“Let me tell her…”
“Whoa,” he said, putting his hands up in alarm. “What’s happened?” His heart stopped for a moment, preparing for the worst.
“He said it,” said one of the women solemnly. They all stared in expectant silence at Princess Femina.
The prince stared back at them uncomprehendingly. “Who said what?” he asked, determined to get to the bottom of this seeming emergency.
The women laughed. “Come on, silly,” said the one who had spoken before. “I’ll give you all the juicy details.”
They pulled the prince along with them into a room, where they immediately began fixing coffee and snacks.
“I took your advice to the letter,” the woman continued. “And last night, finally, he said the ‘L’ word!”
“The ‘L’ word…you don’t mean…love?” The prince was aghast.
“Yes!” she continued, not noticing his discomfiture. “It was so romantic. You should have seen how shy he was about it.”
“I do not wish to hear this!” the prince int
erjected. He found the communal sharing of intimacies between these women distasteful. But he was even more disgusted by the way every little sentiment he felt seemed to reflect itself into his voice, causing it to unexpectedly rise into a higher-pitched tone without any warning. It seemed that it couldn’t be helped. The thing automatically changed with his moods. And that was another thing; he was beginning to feel as if he were a raging storm of emotions. It was clouding his judgment. Even so, he still had enough of himself left to know that he was not interested in hearing these women speak so frankly about the poor sap who had confessed his love, no doubt believing he was having a private moment. He was glad he didn’t know who it was.
“What?” all three women exclaimed in unison, their voices sounding very much like his own had, only a moment ago.
“I think you women are shameless to discuss such a private moment as if it were an anecdote,” he told them. “I have too many important assignments waiting for my attention to sit here and listen to this foolishness,” he added, having heard his wife mention her “important assignments” enough times to realize she could not possibly have time for these women’s nonsense.
The women stared openmouthed as Princess Femina left the room in a huff. When she had gone they turned to each other. Could it be that time of the month again already?
The prince shook his head and went into Princess Femina’s work room. He immediately noticed the pictures of him and their children strewn about and smiled. He would try to accomplish as much as possible for his wife today, so that she might have it easier when she returned. He reached into her assignment box and pulled out the top page. He had to read it twice to believe it. Suddenly the strange emotions that had been building within him throughout the morning exploded. How dare they? He could clearly see why his wife complained.
He marched down the hallway to the office of Princess Femina’s employer.
“A word,” he said as he stepped inside and sat down.
“Of course, Femina,” said her employer. “Anything for you. How are the children?”
The prince waived his hand, causing the eyebrows of the man he addressed to rise in surprise as he said, “They’re fine. Listen, I want to talk to you about this assignment.”
“Oh, you do not have to run any ideas by me,” he said. “I trust you completely.”
“A monkey could be trusted with this assignment,” replied the prince. “Surely you have something better than this.”
“I disagree,” said the man with a tight smile. “This assignment is extremely important to us.” The employer looked away as he said this and for the first time in his life the prince understood the frustration of being condescended to. He actually felt the same outrage he had heard his wife express so often.
“Look,” said the prince, meeting the employer’s eyes. “I can’t presume to know what your position is—I don’t. But I give you my word that if you let me have a chance with something more important you will not be disappointed.”
Princess Femina’s employer looked away again and sighed. He was obviously uncomfortable. “We have had this discussion before,” he said slowly. He seemed increasingly nervous. “I’m trying the best that I can here to be fair, but I am the one who is liable for assignments that are not completed.”
“Of course,” said the prince. “And I give you my word that I will not let you down if you will just give me the opportunity.”
The employer looked skeptical. He seemed a nice enough fellow. “All right,” he said after a long moment. He shuffled through a large pile of papers and pulled a page out from among them. “Have a look at this assignment and see if it appeals to you.”
“Thank you,” said the prince, pleased.
“I have never doubted your ability, Femina,” said her employer.
The prince took the new assignment into his wife’s workroom. Upon review he noted with satisfaction that it was much more interesting and challenging than the previous one. Princess Femina would be pleased. He had managed in a matter of hours to accomplish what she had not been able to do in months. Perhaps this would show her that the opportunity was truly there if only she would commit to it and apply herself more fully. Didn’t her employer himself hint at the very same thing?
With this in mind the prince resolved to tackle Princess Femina’s assignment with the full extent of his abilities. He had suddenly replaced his desire to please his wife with the even stronger desire to put the little complainer in her place. He hoped that by succeeding so fabulously where she had failed he would be able to quiet her continual rumblings of how unfair life was. In short time, he was fully absorbed in “her” assignment, and he felt certain he would in one day make a name for her forever in her career. But ere long, there came an interruption from one of the women who had accosted him moments before. She approached him coolly, apparently still grudging his behavior toward her news. It was for his wife’s own good he reminded himself; this woman could only drag her down.
“You have a visitor,” she said haughtily.
“Who is it?” the prince asked, but she had left as quickly as she had come. With a sigh of annoyance—he did not like being interrupted when he was just getting into his project—he followed the woman out of the workroom. She led him to a room where he saw his youngest child with her governess.
“What is it?” he said in alarm.
“It’s another attack of the lungs,” said the governess.
“Yes…?” he prompted.
“So I will see you tomorrow and we will try again,” she concluded, preparing to leave.
“Hold it,” said the prince. “You can’t just leave. You’ve got to take her with you.”
“I thought I made it quite clear that you must manage on your own when your child is ill,” said the governess firmly. “I cannot be expected to risk my own health.”
“Of course not,” the prince agreed. “But I don’t believe this is catching.” He knew his daughter had a minor ailment that plagued her lungs but he was fairly certain that it posed no real danger to her or those around her.
“Nevertheless, my policies must be strictly adhered to,” said the governess. “I do not see why we must have this discussion every week.”
“Every week?” repeated the prince. “We have this discussion every week?”
“Your daughter has these flare-ups quite often, as you know. It seems we end up having this conversation each and every time.”
“I see,” said the prince. He looked at his little daughter then and his heart leapt at the sight of her, listening quietly to their conversation. She had never looked so adorable before. He had the urge to squeeze her very hard. He knew that he was seeing her through his wife’s eyes and with her emotions. The feelings he experienced were staggering. “Thank you,” he said to the governess. “You may go.”
He took his little girl by the hand and led her to his wife’s workroom. “Well,” he sighed. “It looks like you’re stuck with me today.”
“We aren’t going to stay here?” asked his daughter. “You promised you wouldn’t make me stay here anymore.”
“Just sit still for a little while,” he told her, giving in to his urge to kiss her at last. He held her for a moment. He was suddenly filled with a horrible feeling of shame and remorse and he abruptly released his daughter. What was the matter? He examined his daughter’s face. It revealed the usual combination of guileless innocence and sharp curiosity. There was nothing in her expression that condemned him, and yet…there was a lingering culpability that shrouded over him. Thinking about making his sick little girl stay here while he worked made the feeling more intense. But when he thought about going to Femina’s employer to try and explain why he could not complete the assignment he was filled with even more dread. What was he to do?
“You know you’re not supposed to have her in here,” he heard from the doorway. It was the dreaded female again. She seemed a little more sympathetic now however.
The prince wondered what P
rincess Femina did when this happened. Perhaps this woman would know. He decided to take a chance. “I’m not sure what to do,” he admitted. “I specifically asked for this assignment and now I have no choice but to finish it.”
“I thought you had finally given up on all that,” the woman said. “What possessed you to put yourself through this again, knowing what would happen?”
“This has happened before?” he asked.
She laughed and shook her head. “Some people never learn.”
“I don’t want to cause her to lose her job,” he said.
“What?”
“I mean me. I don’t me to lose my job.”
“What’s gotten into you?” asked her friend. “You know that can’t happen. Our positions are protected here, being women.” The prince stared at her in shock. He was beginning to feel sick from the strange and unwelcome desire to cry. How foolish he had been. But in fact, hadn’t it all been just a little too easy?
“Anyway,” continued the woman. “He probably knew this would happen and had someone backing you up, just in case.”
The prince nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He looked at the assignment he had begun. It was just the kind of thing his wife would have loved. Just the scraps of information he had gathered about her work from her ramblings had been enough for him to have done very well with the assignment. She could have done it in her sleep. But alas, another, more important duty called. He glanced at his daughter. She was looking at him to see what he would say. He suddenly felt ashamed to be discussing this in front of her. He knew that Princess Femina would not have allowed her daughter to feel bad in this circumstance. He was suddenly filled with love and compassion for them both.
“Stay here for just one more minute,” he told his daughter and he made his way back to the office of his wife’s employer. He stood in the doorway instead of entering this time.
“Problem?” the employer asked, kindly enough, given the circumstances.
“I, uh…my daughter seems to be feeling a bit under the weather,” he said sheepishly. He felt profoundly humiliated and subjugated. Yet surely taking care of one’s sick child was not something that should be a cause for disgrace.
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