In the world Gary, Jack, and Sandra knew, the highway that ran past the university was a heavily-trafficked 6-lane affair, where franchised fast food and strip malls stretched in both directions. But now, with no university, it was a lonely 2-lane strip through the trees.
As Gary drove, straining to see through the rain-splattered windshield -- the cracked rubber on the wipers wasn't doing much to clear it -- he muttered, mostly to himself. "Okay, maybe the university just moved. I mean, maybe it's somewhere else. Or maybe we'll just find a different university. One with a physics department. Quantum physics..."
Finally, Gary saw some bright lights on the side of the road ahead, and as he got closer, he felt better -- it was a modern-looking gas station/convenience store. He didn't recognize the logo at the top of the sign, "Esso," but the important part was right underneath that, where it said "24-Hour Food Mart." He pulled in next to the pumps, under the overhang, where they were the only car. The three got out of the beaten-up vehicle and headed inside.
As they walked in, the nondescript 20-something male who was sitting at the cash register quickly refolded a fold-out page in the magazine he was looking at and stashed it beneath the counter. He mumbled something that might have been "Evenin', folks."
More to check out his changes than anything else, Jack made a beeline for the men's room, but the door wouldn't yield to his pushing. This time the clerk was a little louder. "Men's outta order," he said. "Use the ladies'. Nobody in there."
Jack sighed and stepped a few feet to the right to use the other door. He walked in and was instantly thankful that the room seemed to have actually been cleaned at some point in the recent past. There was even a mirror above the sink that didn't have too many scratches on it. In the harsh glare of a humming fluorescent light, it was obvious that he was now wearing a pink jacket over his black denim shirt, and his body wasn't shaped right -- his waist was far too narrow, his shoulders had become thinner, and his hips had expanded somehow. And then he noticed that his dark hair seemed a bit longer. And then he noticed some swelling on his chest, beneath the jacket and shirt.
Meanwhile, Gary was talking to the clerk while Sandra was walking slowly around the convenience store, looking at the various junk food items on display.
"Well, I dunno," said the clerk. "I just moved here a coupla months ago. My ma got sick, and --"
"But you haven't heard of Hilltop State University?" asked Gary. "It was --" He suddenly realized the problem -- if they'd built a university anywhere but on top of that hill, they wouldn't have called it that. "Okay, never mind. Just -- what's the nearest university?"
"Uh..." The clerk scratched his head. "Yeah, like I said, I'm not from around here..."
"Okay, then where'd you go to school?" demanded Gary, and immediately regretted his choice of words as the clerk's face fell. "I coulda gone to Chicago Community College," he said, "but then my step-ma had her accident --"
Gary waved toward a display rack that was sitting on the counter. "Can I at least look at one of these maps?"
The clerk shook his head. "Not without buying one, you can't. I'd get in big trouble - -"
"Fine, fine," said Gary, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket. Fortunately, it seemed to have stayed relatively dry.
"Hey, that looks like a pretty nice car," said the clerk. "Don't you have one of those GPS thingies in there?"
Gary looked up from his wallet, then followed the clerk's eyes through the plate glass window to the spot where the beat-up Range Rover had been parked. Instead, there was now what looked like a shiny black luxury sedan. Gary looked back at Sandra, who was standing in front of the magazine rack, a Consumer Reports Auto Buying Guide in her hands. She dropped it, and the two of them ran outside.
They circled the car cautiously, almost as if they were worried it would explode. "Studebaker Commander XL," Gary read from the silver letters attached to the trunk lid.
"What did you say?!" exclaimed Sandra as she walked to the back to see for herself. Meanwhile, Gary had walked around and was peering in the side windows, verifying that there was a screen in the middle of the dashboard that was probably "one of those GPS thingies."
"I was just looking at this exact car in the magazine!" Sheila exclaimed. "My dad's a car guy, so I've heard of Studebaker, but they went out of business in the '60s, I thought."
Meanwhile, Gary realized he had a car key in his pocket. "Guess they're back in business," he said, pulling out the key, attached to an alarm fob, and only being slightly surprised when a press of the "unlock" button caused the car's lights to turn on and the door locks to make mechanical noises. "But the bigger mystery is -- why do we have one all of a sudden?" He turned toward Sandra, and his jaw dropped. "And how long have you looked like that?"
"Huh?" asked Sandra. Her wavy red hair now extended slightly past her ass, and that was only a minor detail. She now had an hourglass figure, with melon-sized breasts, a tiny waist, and oversized hips. Her jeans had become a tight denim miniskirt, showing off her shapely legs, made even shapelier by the black sandals with 6-inch heels that she wore. Her white sweater was now more of a halter top, showing off her flat stomach and the charm dangling from her pierced navel. Her face didn't seem to have changed much, although it was covered with plenty of makeup -- the lips might have swelled a little, but that might have just been the effect of the bright red gloss they were now painted with.
At that point, a cute, dark-haired woman came running out, wearing a pink jacket and blue jeans, clutching a purse. "Where the hell did you guys go?!" she asked. "Where the hell did our car go?!"
"Jack?!" said an incredulous Gary and Sandra simultaneously.
"Sandra?!" said the woman, almost simultaneously with the two of them, and then blurted, "You look like a hooker!"
"And you look like a girl," shot back Sandra.
"Uh, let's get in the car," suggested Gary.
"I look like a girl because I am a girl," said Jack as he -- she got into the back seat. "I watched myself change all the way in the fucking mirror."
Gary figured out how to turn the car on as Sandra rummaged through the glove compartment. "Okay, here," she said, pulling out one of the manuals gingerly, due to the fingernails she'd suddenly realized were about half an inch long and fully manicured. She read the title aloud, "2008 Studebaker GPS Navigation System Supplement."
"Nah, this thing seems pretty self-explanatory," said Gary, pressing virtual buttons on the touch-screen display. A computer-generated map appeared with the black outline of a car in the middle of it, showing that it was sitting just to one side of a slightly curved red line.
"So you think we need to find the university?" asked Sandra. "A university? I mean, we keep changing. Or, at least, Jack and I keep changing."
"Yeah, maybe we should try to get help quick," suggested Jack.
"Hmm," said Gary. He pushed the screen a couple of times. "Okay, here's the 'points of interest' list. What do you want me to look for?"