It was indeed Carl. As per usual he walked right into the apartment. “Sorry it took so long,” he said.
“Couldn’t decide what shirt to wear.” He appeared to have on a simple sweatshirt. He went into the kitchen
with the things he brought and put them on the table.
“Carl, is that a scale?” Rachel asked him.
“Yes, it is,” he answered.
“Why’d you bring that with you?” she asked.
He placed it on the floor. “Here, let me show you,” he said. He stepped on the scale, which was electronic.
“Look at it,” he instructed us. The number displayed was 250. “Another ten pounds in an hour. I don’t know
if these pants will still fit me by the end of the night!” He sounded both excited and nervous.
“Let’s not worry about that right now,” I said. “You need to meet everyone.”
“Actually what I need to do,” he said. He stepped off the scale and took off his sweatshirt. He had a t-
shirt underneath the sweatshirt. “Is get this off. I don’t even know why I wore it.”
“I’ll take it,” said Rachel happily. She took the sweatshirt from him and walked into the room to toss it on
the pile.
We introduced Carl to my siblings and Joyce. Carl also caught immediate notice of Joyce being essentially
bottomless. “That’s a bold choice,” he said. “But you could make it work.”
Joyce just smiled at him. “I can make anything work,” she said.
“I’m sure,” said Carl.
When Carl was introduced to Pam, things got a little interesting. “So you’re not into women, huh?” Pam asked.
Carl immediately sensed something about Pam. “Uh oh, are you one of the man-hating types?”
“No,” said Pam defiantly. “I just think men are unable to think without their dicks.”
“I guess we’ll all know if that’s true or not rather soon, won’t we?” Carl retorted.
“If we all make it that far,” was Pam’s reply.
“Ooh, a challenge,” Carl shot back. “I can keep up with the best of them.”
“I’m the best at a lot of things,” said Pam.
“We’ll see,” said Carl.
“That’s enough, you two,” I interrupted. “There’ll be plenty of time for insults later.”
“Once the liquor starts flowing, I’m sure,” said Pam.
“Heaven help us all,” I said. Everyone laughed at that thought.
We all sat down and put on a movie. I noticed some things changing during the movie. First of all I felt
hair touching my ears and the back of my neck. The only times I would ever feel hair in those areas is if I
was long overdue for a haircut. I also studied my hands very carefully. I could swear that my fingernails
had grown longer. My fingers looked thinner and my hands looked a bit smaller as well. I wondered how much
some of my other features would change.
The movie ended and I glanced at my watch. It was 6:30. I stood up and said, “Probably a good time to break
out some food.” Everyone else voiced their agreement. As I went to take a step I almost tripped.
“Clumsy much?” Pam asked.
“Oh ha ha,” I said. “Something’s weird.” I tried to move my foot inside of my shoe. The shoe slid up and
down my entire foot. That is to say my shoe no longer fit. “I think my feet have shrunk. Look at this.” I
sat down, held up my foot and showed everyone how it shifted.
Scott and Carl then looked at their own feet. They had the same predicament. Their shoes simply no longer
fit. Scott sat down and just kicked them off his feet. “No sense wearing these if they won’t fit,” he
remarked. Carl followed suit and removed his shoes. I shrugged my shoulders and did the same. I tossed mine
on the small pile of discarded clothing. Scott and Carl put theirs in the same general area as mine.
Scott looked at his feet a bit closer. “They still look like my feet,” he said. “And yet…they don’t. This
is going to get trippy.”
“Oh, we have plenty of stuff to help with that,” Rachel assured. “Let’s get this party started!”