"What do we have here? My jockstrap in the hands of jock sniffer?" said Snake with obvious distaste as he
pulled the other door of the cabinet open.
Vinnie opened his mouth.
"I don't have time for this!" Snake snapped before Vinnie could speak, as Snake's fist made contact with
Vinnie's glass jaw.
In might have been seconds, minutes or hours, Vinnie wasn't sure. He came to rubbing his aching chin lying in
a pile of jockstraps on the equipment room floor. Vinnie was dazed and confused. He held up a jockstrap and
dropped it.
Then Vinnie remembered, "Ryan? Snake!"
He stood up and grabbed the cabinet door for support. He was a bit dizzy.
"How did Snake know?" Vinnie wondered aloud. "Well, I'd say it serves Ryan right, but that Snake needs to be
taught a lesson. Damn, he took Horst too. Here's Carter."
He held up the XL jockstrap embossed with Carter's face, and said, "If I change you back, you gotta do exactly
what I tell you to. Understand? Give me any grief, and you're just another jockstrap in the lost and found
forever. Got it?"
The emphatic bobbing of the pouch up and down signified Carter's agreement.
"Okay, Jock boy you were," Vinnie said setting Carter down on the floor, "Jocks strap you became. I wish you
were a jock boy again!" Vinnie clutched his amulet with one hand and crossed his fingers with his other. He
hoped this would work.
The jockstrap on the floor began to twitch and jerk around. Slowly, much more slowly than he had been
transformed in the first place, Carter began to grow and assume a less jockstrap and more human form. Vinnie
glanced at the clock on the wall, and then pulled up a chair to wait and watch. It took nearly 20 minutes for
Carter to regain the 180lbs he had lost when he had become a jockstrap. It was weird. He first appeared to be
like a sock monkey, then more of rag doll, then he was like a giant cloth mannequin, and finally, and abruptly
he was human. He stood up, with his jaw hanging open. He blinked and finally said, "Uh, thanks, Vinnie, may I
get some water. I'm parched."
"Get some water, then we'll go get Snake and Ryan and Horst," Vinnie said softly.
Carter hungrily gulped down nearly a gallon of water before he spoke again.
"Uh, can't you just change Ryan back wherever he is?"
"Well, I might, but if let's say he's in Snake's glove box. He'd end up bloody pulp growing to full size in a
confined space. Even worse if Snake's wearing him or Horst."
"Could I wear them both before you change them back. Uh, just for a day or two?" Carter asked nervously.
Vinnie didn't answer right away. Finally, he said- just to break the awkward silence - "We'll discuss that
after we get the jockstrap and Speedo back from Snake."
"Where do you think he took them?" Carter asked.
Vinnie grabbed the amulet and concentrated. He muttered, "Show me where Snake is now."
An image formed in his mind. Vinnie's jaw dropped.