Microfiction #6: After I heard Everything Had Changed
After I heard Everything Had Changed I went to the store. The last time Everything Had Changed I couldn’t get toilet paper. This time the shelves were full and no one seemed alarmed.
“It’s a different kind of Everything,” the cashier assured me.
“Different how?” I asked.
He shrugged. I went home, wiped my son’s runny nose, and threw away some leftovers that had gone bad.
The next day We Were All Doomed. Dang, I thought. Better get some canned goods.
“It’s not that kind of Doom,” the cashier said apologetically.
“Are there very many kinds?” I asked.
He frowned. “Six?”
I thanked him for his insight.
My son’s cold was better but our cat had barfed in the clean laundry and I couldn’t remember where I put the book I’d been reading that was just starting to get good.
That was years ago. Things became better and worse than we’d imagined. Yesterday I saw the cashier inside an office building. He was wearing a suit and didn’t even look up as I passed by.
I’m Jenny. I research and write about people and technology.