Weekday Entertainments

100 Trials

Cruising down the road, his foot was planted firmly on the gas. In the distance a stop light slowly appearing as the car grew nearer. Mentally preparing himself, he thought to lift his foot off onto the break, but it didn't budge,

 and he was glad it didn't.

 It wasn't just a show of bravery, it was more than that. So much more than the others would have believed.

On July 24th, 1999, Brian Lee would be cheating death for the hundredth trial in this lifetime. Easily enough he just had to run the red light, cruise through at no more than the speed limit and come out the other side, unscathed, gritty smile on his burly face.

"You got this Lee..." His chuckled to himself in the empty car, on the lonely road, speed climbing and the inaudible cheering voices around him like a slow motion film not registered.

His excitement to finish yet another trial was only rivaled by his pride of completing the 100 once again. He'd done it before, not just once or twice, but dozens of times. He always enjoyed the thrill of waking up in another body after the 100 trials, only to receive a hundred more. His favorite was by far "100 Kisses", he didn't know any guy who wouldn't love it. His current "100 Death Cheats" was a life of adrenaline, but he was always happy to see them go.

The red light flashed ahead of him, like a warning.

It flashed above him, a red scream of a car horn.

The light flashed behind him, green.

The screams erupted around him, one voice in particular, the one he was hoping to hear all afternoon.

"BRIAN LEE EVERYONE. CHEATED DEATH ONE HUNDRED TIMES, FOR A TOTAL OF NINETY-NINE HUNDREDS. GIVE IT UP BEFORE HIS TRANSITION FOLKS."

And they cheered like no tomorrow, danced with Lee and let him drink their beer when he misplaced his. And if unofficial hundred trials counted, he would've reached his golden goal, because he definitely kissed a hundred ladies that night.

When Brian Lee reached his apartment that night, he lay in bed, clutching the blanket to his chest. Acknowledging his record breaking trials, he prayed for an agile body and a strong mind, a great courage and a kind heart to wake up in tomorrow. He'd done it enough times to understand it wasn't just the soul in the body that made him successful, it was the body he was lent. The carried their own strength, he borrowed that too. But he knew how to make due, he'd been tried before, "100 Hiking Landmarks," when he'd woken up in a body with no legs.

Still the uncertainty chewed at him that night, and the wind rustled outside, slamming the window. People believed in him, he reminded himself, finally letting his eyes shut heavily.

"Good morning Lucy Creek, your trial is: Give Birth a Hundred Times. Do you accept the challenge Lucy Creek?" The nurse asks Lucy Creek, holding a clipboard in hand, ready to read rules, regulations and important health factors of Lucy's body.

"Yes, I accept."

"Wonderful. Lucy Creek, you will give birth every day for one hundred days, it is important to note there will be no real children involved in these trials, only simulations. However the sensations and experiences of childbirth will be those of a natural birth. A fake embryo will be expelled from the pregnant body through the vaginal area, and the process will begin again the next day."

Lucy Creek nods, stroking the bulging belly, already feeling simulated kicks.

"Lucy Creek, age, twenty-three, date of birth, August fourteen, 2008, no record of illness or discapacities, IQ level of 165, gender...male."