“I hate feeling old,” Sarah said as she moved her sagging, wrinkled old body through the pool in time with the water aerobics instructor.
“Just think about this month’s bonus,” Jill said from where she exercised close by in the warm pool.
“Is that really all you think about?”
Jill smiled, showing perfect white dentures. Today she was a short, wrinkled old lady with wispy gray hair, although her face didn’t fit the shape of the head very well. “Why not? It’s better than whining about how miserable it is exercising these old bones.”
“I’d think you’d be furious,” Sarah said as she started a set of lunges that pushed her aching frame to its limits.
“Why? The payout’s going to be awesome.”
“I’d still be ticked. Instead of enjoying a little home time, you’re stuck exercising that old relic.”
Jill shrugged. “It’s what we do, remember? We’re donors. Why are you so surprised when renters come knocking?”
“It’s not that,” Sarah said with a frown. “It’s … I’m just frustrated that old biddy got rewarded with your body after wrecking poor Tawnya.”
“She’s a top ten renter. It’s in the contract.” Jill stopped and faced Sarah. “What’s really bothering you?”
Sarah blew out an old lady smelling breath. “I’m just anxious. I get my body back today and I’m suddenly worried what this old crone,” she jabbed a finger at herself, “has been doing to it.”
Jill shrugged. “If she damages it, you get the insurance payout.”
“I know. It’s just, I miss being myself.”
“Who you are doesn’t depend on what you look like,” Jill said with a smile, quoting the poster hanging over the door in the cafeteria.
Sarah splashed her and focused on pushing the old body through the exercise routine, but her mind wasn’t in it. Since voicing her concerns, she realized she’d been feeling that way more and more over the past few weeks.
Something needed to change.
YOU ARE READING
Saving Face
FantasyThere's no place like home. For Sarah, home is the body she grew up in, and she's gone far too often. In a near future where the renting of human bodies is possible, Sarah is a top model. She spends most of her time shuffling between temporary bod...
