Her family was extremely wealthy and she had never wanted for anything.
This may have been the reason that she so often did exactly what she wanted. Naturally, she didn’t work and travelled a great deal. She first heard about the ‘tunnel of change’, the mystic journey to antithesis, from a friend who had invisible web internet connections with people who knew about such things. Being the sort of young woman who would give just about anything a go, she made plans. It had been revealed to her that located in an underground city in a middle-eastern country, famous for its vast network of subterranean tunnels, only a small part of which was open to the public, there was an amazingly special tunnel. It’s a passageway that runs along the back section of the city, and not open to the public. It is claimed that only those who can pass through the mystic barrier that blocks the midway point are able to walk the entire four-hundred metre length of it. She was told that it was irreversible. It was said that when you emerge you are guaranteed to see the world in a completely different light.
Within the week she was on a plane. On arrival she booked into a hotel and began studying the maps and other materials her friend had provided. On the following day she set out and without too much trouble used the map and diagram to find the relatively small opening to the passage. It had been cleverly camouflaged with a heavy growth of bushes. Once inside, after a few paces it opened up to a full height. Although the day was bright outside, she needed the torch that she’d been told she’d need to make her way. Half way in, she came to what had only been described to her as the mystic barrier.
It looked like a large, thick pane of frosted glass set into the rock. Tapping it with the torch told her it was solid enough to bar her way. She stood thinking for a while. Intuitively, she rested her fingertips on the panel and felt it give. She push slightly and her hand went through. She pulled it back and checked that no harm had come to it. Knowing the answer, she proceeded to gently part the barrier, much like opening a pair of curtains. She felt a little like Alice in Wonderland as she stepped through. Once she was on the other side, she stood feeling really pleased with her achievement as she watched the barrier close. As she made her way along the remainder of the tunnel, and noting a glimmer of light growing brighter at the end of it, she was aware of a tremendous sense of excitement building.
When she emerged, she certainly found that she saw the world in a different light.
She was now male, black and extremely poor.