Head over Heels
(2/5/09)
A young man stands on a corner depressed. He sighs and runs a hand through his short brown hair. “I hate this time of year. It’s always so depressing.” He kicks a rock as he walks. “I wish. I wish something good would happen for a change.
The rock pings off a metal overhead light pole. He looks up and can’t look back down. He sees her. Across the street walking toward him is an intriguing beauty.
Her gray hair is tied in a pony tail which reaches her shoulder blades. It isn’t an older person’s shade, but rather a silky, shiny, almost natural color. His eyes drink in her expressive gray eyes. She is looking forward to something. Her lack of makeup and jeans show that she is practical and casual. Her jacket provides her warmth and hides her curvy figure but not from him. Her tennis shoes show him she likes the outdoors.
Ah. Now she could be the one. But with looks like that she’s probably already taken. Unconsciously, he stops walking to watch her. He watches her turn into a parking lot of an old abandoned grocery store. And then the automatic doors slide open and let her in. “Why would she go in there?”
Intrigued, he crosses in the middle of the street and carefully looks around the outside of the store without going in.
---
Tracey hears the doors open. It’s about time she showed up. She turns around and rushes into her friend’s arms, “Monique! Welcome to Cod’s Invention Emporium.”
After a friendly hug, Monique steps back, “Ok, Trace, why have you called me to your work?”
The red head bites her lip, “I needed someone to test out our newest invention.”
Not believing a word, “No really. Why?”
Tracey fidgets, “Fine. Mona, I need you to do a huge favor for me.”
“I’m listening.”
“This new machine was created for a friend of Doc and me. And, well, we were hoping to surprise him with you.”
The gray haired friend mulls it over for a moment, “So, essentially, this is a blind date.”
Tracey nibbles on what is left of her fingernails, “Yeah.”
Monique smiles, “So, is he cute?”
Tracey smiles back, “Oh yeah! I’ll tell you about him as I get you ready for the Sock Size Shortener.”
They head for the Bakery portion of the store. “Good name.”
“Thanks.”
---
The visitor outside finally get s his nerve up as he sees the ladies leave. He approaches the doors and tries to be as quiet as possible. They slide open with a small sound. Quietly he tails them.
“Good name,” says the one he likes.
“Thanks,” says the strawberry blond girl next to her. He is amazed at all the devices and gizmos scattered all over the place. Then she continues, “He’s nice and sweet and kind and thoughtful and he writes, too. In fact, he reminds me a lot of you. That’s why I think the two of you will be perfect for each other.”
The spy ducks behind a large mechanical something as they reach the back of the former store. Good. She’s not taken.
The inventor continues, “Now, I need you to put on this collar. This is the S. S. S. I’ll be pushing the button once you get into position and the device will do the rest and then this one will get you ready.” She takes a deep breath, “Ready?”
“Yeah. Let’s do this.” She laughs, “besides it’s too late to back out now.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” There’s a moment of silence before the red head continues, “I hope you are comfortable because I have to go help Doc now. I’ll be back later.” Slap! Slap! Slap! The man peeks from his hiding spot to see the red head in sandals walk away. He also sees the gray haired girl looking towards the other. He crawls down the aisle away from her. Then turning a corner, he stands up and heads back.
“Hi,” he nervously greets the woman who seems shorter than he remembered.
She looks at him, “Hi! Are you a friend of Tracey and Doc?”
“Yeah.” At least I don’t have to lie about that. “They asked me to come here to try out a new experiment.”
“Oh, that must be the one I’m in.” By now he is near her. She is on a conveyor belt. “You’ll need to put on that collar on the shelf.” He finds it and puts it on. “Now step over here and push the button.” He joins her on the slowly moving sidewalk and activates the device.
It’s then that he notices that she no longer has any arms. In fact, he can feel his shrinking and being pulled up. She smiles at him, “Hi, I’m Monique. But you can call me Mona.” She looks away for a moment, “It looks like we are going to be spending some time together.”
Realizing there is no way he’s going to be able to turn off or even reverse this, he smiles back at her, “Hi, I’m Sean. And you can call me Sean.” They both laugh at that.
“I’m a friend of Tracey. We’ve been friends for forever. So, how do you know them?”
“Well, that’s a special story, one for another time.”
“Awwwww, C’mon. I told you mine. You have to tell yours.” Sean looks skeptical. “Besides, we’re not going anywhere for a while.”
“Ok, fine. It all started when my friend KecoMaster told me he had someone he wanted me to meet …” Sean tells the story of how he met Uncle Ben and then Uncle Ben introduced him to Doctor Cod and Tracey.
Monique giggles and smiles and encourages the story along until, “Eeeep!” She leaves the conveyor belt and slides on socked feet into a box.
“You ok down there?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s a little weird not being able to catch yourself with your arms.” Sean looks down at himself and sees that he is almost a head on socked feet. Another inch or so, and he will be ready to head her way. But before he can do anything, he follows her.
“Woah!” He stops as he bangs heads with her, “Ouch. Sorry.”
“It’s ok.” Feeling the weigh, the box moves forward. Side by side, they sit in their container. He carefully shuffles backward with the parts that he has left that she doesn’t. “Ouch!”
“What?”
“You’re on my pony tail.”
“Sorry. You want me to kiss it and make it better?” He takes her giggle as a yes. A lid covers them up and leaves them in the darkness. He rises up on his toes and kisses her head.
Momentarily he is weightless as they drop onto something.
---
Tracey watches the box drop onto the wrapping paper and moments later the birthday present is wrapped. She picks up the present and raps on it lightly, “Mona, you in there?”
Mona’s voice calls out to her, “Yeah.”
“Ok, then we’re headed to the party. I’ll let you know when we’re there.”
“Okay.”
Tracey calls over her shoulder, “Doc, I wish you’d come. Everyone will miss you.”
“Indeed. But I need to finish this critical part. Maybe I’ll join later.”
Tracey heads out the door, down the street, and around the corner. Many blocks later, she arrives at a house with all sorts of people at the door and on the front lawn. She sees Jenna, another red head, looking concerned. The pink haired rock star, Tiffany, is enjoying being nervously misshaped by Sandra. Randy is watching nearby. Tanya is lounging on the grass with the rest of the band and Zoe.
Tracey reaches the porch. With concern in her eyes, she asks, “What’s going on?”
“Sean’s not home. We can’t have the party yet,” explains the red headed rubber girl.
“So, let’s go in and surprise him.”
Jenna answers, “We can’t. He locked the door.”
Tracey is surprised no one else has thought of this. “Well, we have a stretchable door opening mechanism here,” she gestures to the one shaping the rock star. “Or at least flatten Tiffany, slide her under the door, and revert her. She can open the door.
The pink one joins in, “Sure! Go for it, Sandra.”
The rest on the porch look mortified. “No! That would be breaking and entering.”
“I’m sure Sean won’t press charges. Especially for a surprise party.”
The package explodes. Tracey drops it startled. Before them is a full sized Monique in a black body suit and socks.
The librarian looks astonished but manages to finish, “But it’s his house.”
Tracey turns to her friend who is looking down into the box, “Mona, how did you get full size?”
The gray haired girl reaches down and lifts up her box mate. Everyone is stunned, “Sean!”
He blushes, “Hey guys.”
Everyone is silent except Tiffany, “Great! Now we can begin the party. Let us in.”
“I would if I could, but for some reason I can’t reach for my key in my pocket,” he agrees.
“That’s not good,” Tracey says concerned, “The bots that are storing your body converted the key to this material here.” She gestures to the black substance on the former sock girl.
“And my only other key is in the house.”
“I’ll help,” volunteers Tiffany.
Tracey rolls her eyes, “We should be able to get in easily with Sandra.”
Sean lights up, “Of course! Take me around back,” he tells his flexible friend. She takes him from Monique. The rest of the group follows. Up on the second floor he spots what he was expecting. “Up there! I think it’s open. Pink arms hold him tight as they head up and up. Splat! Sean’s face hits the well cleaned window.
Mona looks in a first floor window near their location. Carefully, she pushes in and to the side. The glass slides open. “Here’s a window we can go through!”
“Oh yeah, I forgot that I open the window when I wash my dishes,” he says as he comes down, “I guess I must have forgot to lock it.”
The arms lengthen again sending him through the window. After several crashes into walls and mixed signals, he finally reaches the door and unlocks it with his mouth. He signals Down, Back, Forward. Sandra follows them exactly smacking his face into the door handle which knocks him out of her hands. “Ouch! Being like this certainly has its disadvantages.”
Sean finds himself rolling backward. He adjusts his feet and stops right side up. He watches the long limbs feel around for him on the floor. After a moment they retract. “Well, shoot, now what am I going to do?” Then he sees the end table near the door. “My key! I’ll get my key and head back to the kitchen. They’ll let me out and we can unlock the door.” By sliding his feet he turns himself toward the table.
He rocks back and forth on his toes and then splits his feet and pushes. Quickly he rolling forward. He puts his feet in front of himself and jumps. The momentum keeps him rolling in air. His face hits the wall and he drops onto the key holder. He now sees the flaw in his plan. “Crud. I can’t grab it like this. Well, maybe between my toes.”
He looks and sees how close he is to the door. Maybe. Maybe if I step on the long door handle and open the door for my friends … “One good jump should do it.” He twists and aims. And then much like before, he rocks and jumps.
He sails through the air and his toes touch but not the full foot like he planned. No! I’m too close! In desperation, he bites at it. And catches it between his teeth. His momentum carries him down with the handle clicking the lock. Heh heh heh. Being like this certainly has its advantages.
A tentative hand pushes the door open. Soon a rush of the party goers crash into the house forcing the door wide open. Sean is pinned between the wall and the handle.
“There you are!” Hands close the door and pull him off his perch. He finds the hands belong to Monique. She pulls him into an embrace.
Before he knows it they are on the recliner chair, him on her lap. The party goes on with gifts and cake, but he hardly notices it because he and Mona talk through the whole thing while cuddling. He smiles at her and she at him. This definitely has its advantages.