The Transformation

After staring at a computer screen for hours, trying to ignore the screaming muscles in my back and the tenseness in my shoulders, I push away from my desk. The white and black words have run together in my mind into a jumbled mess of a headache. The air hums with the buzz of machinery. The recycled air is stifling as I type a one-word e-mail and press send. Pulling on my coat, I smile as we walk outside.

As soon as the cool air hits our cheeks, we are transformed. Instead of two women dealing with the drudgery of office life, two girls scamper through the parking lot. When people look out their windows, they see a lanky girl with wispy white ringlets and a shorter beaming girl with short black pigtails and rosy apple cheeks. They giggle as they walk through the grass, kicking at rocks and picking up acorns of interest.

They chatter excitedly, ignoring the stares from the workmen around them. The dark haired girl plays with her toy pig, who is fond of swimming in mud holes and prancing in clovers. The blond looks at the sky with her wide blue eyes, completely in her own world. The other girl's giggles interrupts her reverie, and she follows grinning. She'll have plenty of time for her own world when she's alone again.

They circle the building, inspecting the clovers and gently touching the red and brown leaves. The dark haired girl's grin causes the blond to show off, crushing the fallen nuts from the tree with her over-sized pink cowboy boots. With her friend she is confident, bossy even. The dark haired girl's peals of laughter fill the air, and the blond smiles in shared happiness. The freedom they share sings in their hearts. They skip down the sidewalk, and slow as they walk to the door. Their smiles fade into pouts as they pull the door open.

Once they pass the threshold, they return to women again. Sharing one secret smile, they both sit back down at their desks, waiting until they can be transformed once again.