Johann got her feet to the floor, stood trembling while she clung to the bed. (Dizzy.) (Of course. It will go away. Steady down, dear. Boss, I think we could walk . . . but let’s play safe and crawl. If we get dizzy again and take a dive on the rug, Winnie will be in here like a shot—and from then on they’ll feed us through the bars. What do you think?) (I think we had better reach that pot pronto before we have to blame it on the cat. We crawl.)
Getting to the floor was no problem; crawling was another matter, she caught her knees on the hospital gown. So she sat up-Johann discovered that her new body folded easily and naturally into a contortion young Johann had found difficult at twelve.
She did not stop to wonder. The bed jacket was no trouble; it fastened in front with a magnostrip, she shrugged it off and laid it aside. But the hospital gown fastened in back. (Stickstrip?) (Just a tie-tie. Feels like a bow knot. Careful, Boss, don’t snarl it.)
The gown joined the jacket. Unencumbered now, Johann resumed crawling. The bath-dressing room door snapped out of her way and she reached her objective. Presently she sighed in relief. (I feel better.) (That makes two of us. Want to try walking back? As far as we have something to grab onto? Or clear to the bed if we whistle a chair and have it roll in front of us.) (I’m game.)
Johann found that she was not unsteady on her feet—walking was easier than it had been for twenty years.
Nevertheless she stayed close to the walls, the bathroom having been equipped years ago with grab rails for a frail old man grimly afraid of falling. It took her close to a tall three-way mirror in the dressing room end. She stopped.
Then she stepped into the central spot and looked at herself. (My God, Eunice, but you’re beautiful!)
(My God, but we’re a sloppy bitch! BOSS, look at those toenails! Claws. Talons. And, oh dear, my breasts sag! And my belly is positively flabby.)
(Beautiful. Utterly gorgeous. Eunice beloved, I always wanted to see you stark naked. And now I do.)
(So you do. I wish I had had time to get looking nice before you saw me. Hair a mess. And—yes, I thought so. We stink.) (Hey!) (Sorry, hit the panic button by mistake. Boss, we’re going to have a hot, soapy bath before we get back into that bed. That’s straight from Washington. We can’t do much about flab in one day—hut we can get clean.) She turned and inspected her buttocks. (Oh, dear! A broad should be broad—but not that broad.) (Eunice, that’s the prettiest fanny in the state. In the whole country.) (Used to be, maybe. And it’s going to be again and that’s a promise, Boss. Tomorrow morning we start systematic exercise. Tighten up everything.) (Okay, if you say so—though I still say you’re the most gorgeously beautiful thing I ever saw in my life. Uh, Eunice? That mermaid getup you wore once—You were wearing a trick bra with it weren’t you?)
She giggled. (Heavens, no. Just me, Boss. And paint. But my breasts were firm as rocks then; Joe had something to work with. I guess that’s the nakedest you’ve ever seen me.)
(What do you think I’m staring at now, Beautiful?)
(Oh, I meant back before I was killed. When I was your ‘nice’ girl who didn’t dare let you see me as naked as I knew you would like, you dirty old man. Although you could have seen me naked—and much more beautiful—any time you had gotten up the nerve to ask.)
(I’m going to spend hours every day standing right here and staring.)
(No reason why you shouldn’t, dear; it’s your body now. But let’s put an exercise mat on the floor and get in that toning up at the same time. Most exercises can be done better with the aid of a full-length mirror. I think we—)
The door snapped open. “Miss Smith!”
Johann started with surprise, then answered savagely, “Miss Gersten, what the devil do you mean by bursting into my bath without knocking?”