~Slop~

Chapter 1
Admissions

Chapter Description: Jack gets some great news.

"It’s nice of you to meet with us on such short notice."

The man in black sat down. He was tired, he had been to four other houses before this one just today. He was an admissions counseler for a new College that had opened up just a few years ago, called "Michael Slope’s College of Open Admittance". A very inconspiculous name.

"It really is now bother" said the man. "It’s my job."

"His guidence counsler recommended you for students... with no other choice." said the mother. Her and her husband sat uneasily on the couch, sitting across from the man.

"Yes, that is what our school is for, Mrs..."

"Arnold." said the woman.

"Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold. I understand you son got denied from all the colleges he applied to."

"Yes, that’s correct." Mr. Arnold chimed in. "He tries hard, but he never has succeeded much. He just has trouble."

The man smiled. "And you think going to our school will change that?"

Mr. Arnold shifted uneasily. "Yes.. We know, by the way. We know what Slope’s really is. What they do. We think maybe if we had another go at the whole... parenting thing, maybe Jack will do better."

The man smiled. "Alright, yes, then you’ve done your homework. Is that the only reason?"

Mrs. Arnold looked at her husband. "No..." she said. "No. It’s not the only reason... Trust me, he really is a great kid... but he’s going down the wrong path. He’s going to end up working at a supermarket soon enough... "

"And?"

"And... He hates us. He hates his life here, and he hates us. We’ve been awful parents, and he hates us because of it... We want our little boy back. We want him to love us. To love his parents. Is that too much to ask?"

The man smiled longer now. "No, it isn’t. That is why we are here. To help broken families like yourself. To help. And in turn, doing the things we do to kids like Jack, we are also helped. It improves us. Grows us. It is a symboitic relationship."

"So... you’ll help us?" said Mrs. Arnold.

"Oh yes." he said. "But I need you to write down something on this piece of paper. An age. Any age. more specifically, the age you want Jack to be when he returns home in six months. And then, next to it, I want you to write a Gender. Little boy, or little girl? you decide."

"Oh, boy!" yelled Ms. Arnold. "Change their sex? how could you do that to a child?"

"We have our ways." said the man. "And if you mean how could we do it ethically, how could you change the age of your own child?"

"We already said that--"

"I know what you said." said the man. "I know. Fill out the rest of the sheet, please. Birthyear, Gender, hair color, eye color, sexual orientation, those sorts of things. We can mold him into whatever you wish him to be. He is just the human life we are using."

Mr. and Ms. Arnold spent quite awhile figuring out exactly what they wanted in a child. They sat for an hour, maybe two, hemming and hawing whether to change anything or to change everything.

"Mom, who’s this?"

Jack had walked in.

The man grabbed the paper from Ms. Arnold. "I was just leaving." he said. "I’ll be seeing you soon."

"I’ll show you to the door, sir." said Jack’s dad.

Jack and his mom stared blankly for a second at eachother.

"What the hell was that?" he said.

His mom switched gears and prepared to lie. She put on a smile.

"Sit down honey. We have some great News."

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