After a shower, Jim felt somewhat human and the events of the night before more distant. He couldn't help but wonder if the old guy survived, and considered going to the hospital to find out later in the day. His only hesitation being what he would learn when he went there. The old man was his own Schrödinger's Cat, and it comforted him to think that he survived as long as he didn't do anything to learn otherwise. Jim's attention drifted back to the silver disc in the sink, and after he started washing it he began to worry about the writing on the face. The text there was gone again, as though nothing had been there. The other side still registered that the disc was his property...or the old man's, if by the strangest cosmic coincidences, the old man was also named James Russell.
"Man daytime TV sucks ass!" Rick complained from the living room. "Your cable sucks!" Jim shook his head and sighed. Rick was such a whiner, and Jim knew that Rick's own TV and channel lineup was even worse, which was why Rick camped at Jim's house on his days off. "There was only the end of that other show that was even remotely interesting and informative. Now it's all crap."
Stuffing the silver disc into his pocket as a mystery for later, Jim groaned and started for the living room. As he reached the bathroom door, his eyes drifted over to one of his girlfriend's tampons, left in a half open drawer as an emergency supply. Smirking, Jim grabbed it and walked out to the living room to further complaints from Rick about the quality of the shows. "Dude, here..." Jim said, handing Rick the tampon, "...you may need this if you are going to be such a whiny bitch."
Rick grabbed the tampon and said, "Ha ha ha...very funny. Your cable does suck."
"Yours sucks worse...", Jim retorted.
"Yeah...well...", Rick said, adding, "...you suck", then he got a strange look on his face. "Ugh...those breakfast burritos are not sitting well..." Rick said, then he scrambled to his feet and hurried towards the bathroom. "I think I'm going to hurl."
"Dude, don't miss the freaking bowl this time." Jim warned, remembering the last party where Rick had gotten drunk.
As Jim heard Rick splashing water in the sink, his mind drifted back to the disc in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at it again. Words once again were printed on the front face of the disc, this time they read, 'Rick may need a tampon.'
"HOLY SHIT!" Rick yelled from the bathroom.
The writing on the disc faded before Jim's eyes, and Jim dropped it in a panic, both from Rick's yell, and the impossible change in the silver disc. Jim jumped up and ran to the bathroom.
Mon Aug 01 21:22:56 2011