"Nobody knows what caused it?" Jim asked. "Nobody," Sharon repeated. "Well, it's still your birthday, so I'm coming over," Jim said. "All right. Be careful," Sharon sighed. Jim hung up the phone and went downstairs. His mom was staring at the TV, mesmerized, until she noticed Jim. "Jim! Have you seen the news?" she shouted. "Everything's turned into a cartoon." "I knew that already. I guess I'll just have to deal with it," Jim said, grabbing a bagel and going out the door. Jim walked down toward Sharon's house, and noticed all the people. Some of them were trying to go on with their lives. A few of them were doing strange things, testing the new rules of a cartoon reality. One woman was walking to the post office apparently headless, until Jim noticed her carrying her head under her arm. Jim detoured through the middle of town, and passed the edges of the shady area of town, stopping to take note of a prostitute loitering on a corner. She kept trying to get a customer, and every time she failed she'd close her eyes and her breasts would grow a little. Every now and then her face would change and her hair would change color as well. Jim continued on, passing a cheap hotel and peeking through one of the windows to see a woman just waking up. She blinked for several seconds, looked around the room, and then down at herself. She pinched herself and fell over in surprise when the bit of skin she pinched stretched an impossible distance. She reached up under her nightie and did something that caused her to open her eyes wide enough for her eyeballs to fall out. She got up, stumbled around to pick up her eyeballs, and went into the bathroom. Jim smiled and headed off to Sharon's house. Jim finally got there, just in time to see Sharon's parents leave for work. Jim knocked on the door, Sharon answered. "Jim? Is that you?" Sharon asked, studying Jim's cartoonified features. "Yeah. You're looking pretty good yourself," Jim commented. Sharon blushed. "Come on in," she said. Jim went in and sat on the couch. "So, what do you want to do?" Sharon asked.
Wed Sep 15 14:31:10 2004