Helene wasn’t expecting company that Tuesday evening. She’d just wrangled her two kids into bed and was considering whether eating three fun-sized candy bars qualified as dinner. The knock at her door was startling, especially at nine o’clock.

When she opened it, she found herself staring at a thin, slightly nerdy-looking young man in his early twenties. He stood awkwardly, his hands clasped in front of him, as though he was waiting to be scolded.

“Yes?” Helene asked cautiously.

The young man smiled in a way that looked familiar and strange all at once. “Helene, it’s me. It’s Mom.”

Helene blinked. Then she blinked again. “I’m sorry, what?”

“It’s me, Susan. I’m your mother. I… well, I swapped bodies with a young man named Hayden. Isn’t it marvelous?”

Helene stared at him as if he had just announced he was a reincarnated penguin. “You… you’re telling me you’re my sixty-one-year-old mother. In the body of a twenty-three-year-old man.”

The young man nodded eagerly. “Yes! Finally, you get it.”

“I do not get it,” Helene shot back. “I’ve never even met Hayden, whoever he is. All I see is some kid who’s younger than me standing on my porch claiming to be my mother. And if you’re trying to sell me a new religion, this is the worst pitch I’ve ever heard.”

But there was something in the way he shuffled from foot to foot, the way his lips puckered when he was nervous, even the exact phrasing of, Isn’t it marvelous? that tugged at her memory. Against all reason, part of her recognized her mother’s voice coming through this stranger’s mouth.

Susan---at least, the man who claimed to be Susan---beamed. “You believe me! I can see it in your eyes. Oh, Helene, isn’t this wonderful? Don’t you see how happy I am? I’ve been given a new lease on life. I’m young, strong, and---well, thinner than I was at sixty-one.” He patted his flat stomach with pride.

Helene dragged a hand down her face. “Mom, you’re a man. And you’re younger than me. Do you realize how insane this sounds? How exactly am I supposed to explain this to my kids? ‘Hey children, Grandma is now a twenty-three-year-old guy. No, it’s not a joke. Yes, he’s younger than Aunt Linda.’”

Susan frowned. “Why aren’t you happy for me?”

“Because my kids are going to grow up with a grandma who looks like their older brother!” Helene snapped. “They’re going to be in therapy by age twelve!”

But Susan wouldn’t be swayed. She lifted her chin with determination. “Well, I intend to make the best of it. I’ll live life as Hayden now. I’ll be discreet---no one will know the truth.”

For a while, Susan managed. She kept the secret, walking around in her borrowed body, trying her best to act like the young man she appeared to be. But the world was trickier than she’d anticipated.

The first real test came at a nightclub, of all places. Helene had begged her not to go---“Mom, you’ve never been to a club even in your real body! What makes you think you’ll enjoy one now?”---but Susan was determined to experience “youthful vibrancy.”

At the club, Susan found herself overwhelmed by flashing lights and music that sounded like car alarms fighting with blenders. She perched awkwardly near the bar, trying to look casual. Next to her stood a pretty young woman wearing a sequined top.

Susan smiled kindly and said, “My, what a lovely blouse! You shine like a chandelier!”

The compliment was innocent enough. But the woman’s boyfriend, a muscular man with the kind of jawline that could cut diamonds, took offense. He glared. “What did you just say to my girl?”

Susan raised her hands. “Oh, nothing untoward, I assure you. I was just admiring her apparel.”

“Apparel?” The boyfriend stepped closer, looming. “You think you can hit on her in front of me?”

“No, no, heavens no! I only meant---”

But the boyfriend wasn’t listening. His fist came fast. The punch connected.

Susan crumpled, dazed. Everything spun. She heard shouts, then silence. When she woke, she was in a hospital bed.

The doctor leaned over her, clipboard in hand. “Sir, can you tell me your name?”