At length, Jim, physically a duplicate of Sharon's sister Michelle thanks to his (her, I suppose) magical Michelle mask, made it to Sharon's place for her party. Well, I'm definitely late, thought Jim, and shrugged her pretty Michelle shoulders before ringing the doorbell. "Oh, hi again, Michelle," said Jim and Sharon's friend Rick.
"Again?" Jim asked Rick in her best Michelle voice, but Rick didn't quite catch that because the party was getting noisy.
"I didn't even see you go out. Was Sharon making you run an errand or something?" asked Rick of the bogus Michelle. "That wasn't nice of her, what with your being jet-lagged from flying in to surprise her."
"Something like that," said Jim, and sort of wandered through the party, puzzled: everyone treated her as if she'd been there for an hour or more. Finally a light went on in Jim's re-shaped brain: another Michelle! Had the shopkeeper crashed the party in a Michelle mask like her own? If not, who else knew about the shop? And where was Sharon, anyhow?
"So how's England, Shelly?" asked a college-age guy: Jim recognized him as Roger, who'd long had a crush on the real Michelle.
"I like it a lot," said Jim, but went on, "Something's come up, Roger. Do you know where Sharon is?"
"I thought you were upstairs with her, Shelly."
Jim excused herself and
Sun Jun 29 09:44:57 2003