Carrie shouted that they had to outrun the burgeoning block, and the two started on a mad dash passed the store fronts as new stores literally popped into existence as they ran by. John slowed up as Jessica Rabbit's Torch Song Tavern appeared complete with a detailed poster of the proprietress.
"Huh?" Carrie asked pausing as she heard John's footsteps stop. She turned as Popeye's Diner materialized next to her with a help wanted sign in the window.
"Ah, youse just in time, nyuk, nyuk, nyuk," chuckled the salty sailor in a chef's hat as he emerged from the new shop.
"Wait- wha-" Carrie began, but Popeye had already thrown a waitress uniform over Carrie's head. She gasped as the tall narrow waisted dress reshaped her. Her eyes became literally wide as sauce pans as her reflection in the diner's glass window showed her changing into an Olive Oyl clone.
"Now wez pushin' the spinach souflee, hon," Popeye explained as he shoved Carrie Oyl toward a shiny red booth with a moustachioed fat man in a black suit.
"What'll ya have, sir?" she bit her tongue to keep from saying the character's name, Wimpy.
"How are the hamburgers today?"
Popeye's voice whispered, "Push za spinach."
"Uh, we've got an excellent spinach souflee tonight," Carrie mumbled.
"No hamburgers?"
"Would you likes a hamburger with Spinach Souflee topping?" Popeye shouted from the kitchen.
"Yes, a dozen please, uh, and hold the spinach souflee," Wimpy ordered.
Carrie rolled her eyes, but she found herself writing the order on the pad that she found in her apron pocket, and then walking behind the counter to pin the order to the rack. She said in a nasal voice, "12 Spinach Burgers Hold the Spinach!"
Her eyes stole a glance toward the doorway. She new with every 10 seconds she was getting farther from John and farther from the hole store. She might be trapped in the diner forever. She had to escape.
The bell rang and Alice the Goon entered.