Jim felt like 'she' had been standing at the roadside for a couple of years
when a car finally came into sight and... passed her. Or rather, it slowed
down and stopped right in front of her. But she could have sworn it had
passed her first!
I must be tired, she thought. Or maybe I'm seeing alternate
realities or something. At least she was still in the reality where the
car had stopped, so she took advantage of the situation before it changed.
She ran over, opened the door and jumped into the passenger seat.
Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice said. The inside of the car was so
full of strange instruments it looked like a mobile version of a mad
scientist's lab. The driver, who somehow seemed to be sitting further away
than the width of the road, muttered as he checked some instruments, then
turned around and held out his hand.
"Welcome on board," he said. "I'm Emmett."
Just like in the movie, Jim thought as she took the proffered
hand (realizing they must be close together after all). "I'm... uh...
Jenny."
"Sure you are," Emmett replied in a hurt tone. "Emmett
is my real name, you know."
Before Jim could speak again, the driver pointed to the instrument he
had checked, and continued: "I've got some pretty advanced equipment
in here. This little gadget, for instance, tells me that right now there
are two males and a female in here."
Jim looked around. "There's another man in here?"
"Yes, you. The female is my dog in the back seat."
"Are you sure?"
"She had puppies last spring. And before you came in, the
instrument said one male and one female!"
It finally dawned upon Jim that he ought to be grateful for the fact
that even though the physical transformation had come pretty far. he was
still male enough to register on some kind of instrument. Maybe this guy
could help him with his problem? He seemed to be a pretty advanced
scientist after all...
Sun Sep 05 11:38:42 2004