Stepping out of the dressing room, preparing herself for the commotion when someone saw her around without a parental escort, she paused.
Looking past the door, she noticed that the floor attendant for this area still had not returned. Realizing something important she moved silently over to the counter, Joe pulled the stool out from behind it and dragged it, with some minor difficultly, into the changing room that she had just occupied.
Standing on it, she then extracted her old wallet from the pair of men's jeans hanging on the door. Jumping down, she pushed the stool back to were she found it. Pausing, she wondered what she should do next.
Putting the wallet in the coat pocket, she decided her next course of action was to get a coat that fit. Ducking on over to the clothes section were she had found the pajamas and underwear, she breathed a sigh of relief that she had encountered no one on the way over here.
Moving to the area with the coats, she eventually selected a spring coat that was purple with a white lining and was labeled as 'The Reversible Coat'.
At first she had a difficult time reading it and Joe worried briefly that the amulet had messed up his thought patterns, then she realized what had happened; Joe mind was slowly becoming that of a seven year old female.
Sounding it out, she eventually grasped the meaning and deciding it will do for the time being, pulling the coat on so that the purple was on the inside.
Zipping the white coat up, she pulled the wallet out of the old coat and put it into the pocket of the new one. Seeing no tags on the coat, she left the old laying under the display and than began to wander through the clothes, trying to think of her next course of action.
Then it came to her. She had two ideas. The first involved disposing of the Amulet of Zulo so that she would remain this way. The second idea involved finding a pretty dolly. This was something that bothered Joe at first, but in the long run, decided to go along with this train of thought.
Streaking through the store, she encountered several people and only paid the slightest attention to what they were saying. Reaching the jewelry section of the store, she then looked about to make sure no one was present. Seeing not even a floor attendant, she then slipped the Amulet of Zulo behind several other amulets and medallions. Breathing a sigh of relief that she was hopefully rid of the thing, she then started to wander toward the toy aisle.
On the way there, she stopped as some part of the old Joe took command and she thought to herself, "Need to find shoes."
Skipping down the aisles with shoes, she eventually found a pair that would fit over the feet part of her pajamas. Pulling on the ice blue shoes, she then recited a rhyme that her mommy had taught to remember how to tie her shoes. It was one that involved a cat chasing a mouse and how the mouse leaped over the cat and dove into the mouse hole.
Satisfied that she was wearing something to protect her feet, she then started making her way toward the toy aisle again.
Moving along the back of the store, she had encountered not a single person and had only stopped once to try and figure out a calender that read June third, two thousand eight.
Unable to figure out the meaning, she continued on her way. Just outside the toy aisle, a woman stepped out and put out a hand to stop her.
Looking sweetly up at the lady, she was about to say something when the woman began to speak.
"Are you a Joe Taylor, formerly Joe Gunther?" The woman demanded.
Having no answer to this, because something in her head said that she was Bethany McGruddy, she said nothing. But the truth of the matter was that she was scared because she could not remember anything of her life except her name.
"Are you Joe Taylor, formerly age fifty one, now age six? At one time working for a telemarketing company?" The one barked at her.
Getting no response, the woman held out her hand and said in a calming voice, "Come with us sweetheart. The order of Zulo would like a moment of your time and as a bonus, we'll also help to make everything alright."